"We won."
Jin, who had been watching the entire engagement through a Peeper, let out a relieved sigh.
"It was worth the effort to keep that Guardian sealed."
The Guardian, the Magic Federation’s trump card golem, had been prevented from waking up by the Shinobi Squad Jin had dispatched.
『Yes. Regarding that Guardian, what are your instructions?』
"It's completely immobile now, isn't it?"
『Yes, My Lord.』
"Then I’ll have it brought here for research. After all, 'know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be in peril.'"
『Understood.』
While the transporter had a short teleportation range, Azul Lake was near Kashimnole Base, and the submersible base was stationed there.
By moving the golem to the submersible base at Azul Lake through a few short-range teleports, it was successfully delivered to Hourai Island without further complications.
"Oh, so this is the Magic Federation's Guardian."
Jin’s face softened with a look of delight as he inspected the Guardian that had been brought into his workshop.
"As expected of a Guardian, it’s quite large....Perhaps I should show it to Lordtoss and Ludmila as well."
With that, Jin instructed Hope to go and summon the pair.
Two minutes later, they arrived.
"Jin-sama, I see you have invited Ludmila here as well!"
"Of course. She’s your fiancée, Lordtoss, and she’ll be a companion traveling with us from now on."
As he spoke, Jin held out a Fellowship Bracelet to Ludmila.
"Ludmila, would you be willing to join the Jin Family?"
Ludmila stared at the bracelet in surprise before accepting it with a radiant smile.
"Yes, with pleasure!!"
Incidentally, Ludmila's bracelet was a marble pattern of white and gold. It was likely designed to symbolize her grey hair and gold eyes.
"Now then, this is what I wanted to show you."
"A golem! This one looks a bit unusual," Lordtoss remarked with interest.
"Yeah. It's the Magic Federation's Guardian that we happened to acquire."
"Hoh..."
"First, the materials. The exterior is something remarkably close to 18-8 stainless steel."
Jin noted that the mixing ratio of the elements was extremely similar.
"Now, let's remove the outer casing. Reiko, Hope, give me a hand."
"Yes, Father."
"Yes, Jin-sama."
Even a single component seemed quite heavy. Jin didn't push himself, leaving the physical labor to Reiko and Hope.
"The muscle tissue isn't made of biological materials," Lordtoss observed as he peered inside. Jin nodded.
"You're right. This is... what you might call shape-memory magi-duralumin."
It was a concept Jin had explored before.
A shape-memory alloy possesses the property of "remembering"—reproducing—a specific shape at a certain temperature. Even if it is deformed, it will return to its original state once it reaches a predetermined recovery temperature.
If one were to make a spring from this material and stretch it, it would return to its original length upon reaching that temperature.
The concept was to utilize this as artificial muscle.
In Jin's case, he had conceived of a magi-duralumin that would return to its original shape when a specific amount of mana was applied. However, since his experimental developments at the time had not surpassed the performance of biological materials from magical beasts, he hadn't pursued the research further.
That said, among commonly used muscle materials, it offered outstanding practicality and durability.
The material used here was a shape-memory magi-duralumin from that same lineage.
"It's almost identical to the prototype I made in the past."
Jin reflected that if they had developed this independently, their technical capabilities were not to be underestimated.
He continued the decomposition, deepening his analysis.
"Hmm..."
This golem also housed a control core in its head, with an ether converter and mana driver in its chest.
"They're strangely fastidious in some regards."
In the Adriana-style, the control core is also housed in the chest. This was done with protection as the primary concern. In a golem, which is a culmination of magi-craft, there is more than enough room in the chest to embed such vital magi-devices.
"The skeleton isn't Adriana-style; it's that other system."
"It appears so," Lordtoss agreed.
"I’d really like to meet the developer at least once, honestly."
That was Jin's sincere sentiment.
The chance to speak with someone who had designed something of this caliber—a technical exchange with an engineer who didn't follow the Adriana-style—would surely be a fruitful experience, Jin thought.
"Though they likely passed away a long time ago, so it's probably impossible."
Jin was well aware of that reality.
"Now, there's one more thing I realized after taking it apart."
Jin looked at Lordtoss, who nodded in return.
"So, it really is as we suspected?"
"It seems so."
"U-Um, excuse me, what are you two talking about?"
Ludmila, unable to follow the technical shorthand, asked for clarification.
"Ah, sorry. This golem has countermeasures against a Magi Emulator."
It was a system Jin had worked hard to develop and had now implemented in all automata, golems, magi-brains, and Magi Machines associated with Hourai Island. He had named it the magi-certifier.
"However, I didn't expect them to simply make it reject Magi Emulators altogether rather than using a magi-certifier."
Jin muttered, half in admiration and half in exasperation.
"Um... what does that mean exactly?"
Even with that explanation, it was still incomprehensible to Ludmila, who lacked a foundation in magi-craft.
"To put it simply, it doesn't recognize a 'Master.' It simply has a set of 'permitted actions' pre-determined."
Since this golem was a Guardian, its primary inputs were:
'Protect Kashimnole Base.' 'Eliminate those who attack the base.'
As long as an order did not contradict those two principles, it would obey anyone.
"...That sounds like it has a significant loophole."
"It does."
Ludmila spoke, and Jin agreed.
『My Lord, if it were me, I believe I could persuade it to self-destruct by arguing that such an act was necessary for the defense of the base.』
Laojun offered its opinion.
"I see... but I don't think it has the processing and judgment capabilities sophisticated enough for that kind of logic to work."
『No, it is possible because a self-preservation command is not incorporated into its principles.』
"Is that so?"
『Yes. If commands are delivered and layered at a rate faster than its processing speed.』
"I see."
In this manner, the analysis of the enemy's technical capabilities steadily progressed between Jin and Hourai Island.
Incidentally, once the analysis was finished, the Guardian was quietly returned to its original location and integrated into the new military strength of Nostalgia.