Black Knight sprang forward to halt the rampaging agricultural golem.
The difference in their abilities was stark, and the construct was subdued in moments.
"Emil, what about the stop command?"
"It won't respond!"
Likely because it had gone completely berserk.
"Then there's no choice... Black Knight, destr—"
"No, don't do that."
Jin's voice rang out, cutting him off.
He worried he might be overstepping, but Reinhard had asked him for help.
"If we want to pinpoint the cause of the malfunction, we can't damage the control core."
"You're the man from earlier..."
"We can talk about that later. Come on, let's shut it down... Reiko!"
"Yes, Father."
To an ordinary farming household, an agricultural golem was far from cheap.
In modern Japanese terms, it was treated like an expensive tractor or combine harvester.
It would be a shame to destroy it beyond repair simply because it had run amok.
That was Reinhard's reasoning.
Moreover, Jin and Reiko were already tentatively accepted in this world.
Springing into action, Reiko utilized her specialized vision, exceptional strength, and astonishing speed to sever the pinned-down golem's power circuit—namely, the link between the control core and its mana tank, an older energy storage unit.
Her method was a spear hand strike, plunging all five straightened fingers directly into the construct. It was an utterly surreal sight.
Naturally, the agricultural golem ground to a complete halt.
"Th-This is..."
Ludwig stared at what Reiko had done with a mixture of shock and awe.
"Is this automata Lady Reiko...? Then you must be the Magi Craft Meister!"
Ludwig seemed to recognize Jin.
"Yeah, I'm Jin Nidou. And this is Reiko."
"I knew it! It's an honor to meet you!!"
Grabbing Jin's hand, he pumped it up and down vigorously. The composure he had displayed earlier vanished completely. Emil, standing beside him, looked somewhat dumbfounded.
"Uh, well, let's take care of what's in front of us first."
"Ah, of course!"
Ludwig finally released Jin's hand and turned back to the deactivated agricultural golem.
"Why on earth did it go berserk...?"
It was a natural question, but one that could not be answered without an inspection.
Since there was still daylight, they decided to examine it on the spot.
"Jin-sama, would you be willing to lend a hand?"
"Well, we've come this far. Might as well see it through."
"Thank you so much!"
Part of it was honoring Reinhard's request, but Jin himself was genuinely curious about what kind of defect would cause such a rampage.
Stepping up to the inactive agricultural golem, Jin cast Analyze.
The spell Analyze varied greatly depending on who cast it.
It could only reveal information within the scope of the user's existing knowledge. Whatever the caster did not understand remained unknown.
In other words, when cast by Jin, it yielded a staggering amount of data.
"Ah... Well, how should I put this..."
Jin trailed off, struggling to find the right words.
"What's wrong?"
Knowing how Analyze worked, Ludwig had readily left the task to Jin, but the man's reaction struck him as odd.
"Seeing is believing. Give me a second."
Prying off the agricultural golem's chest armor, Jin removed the control core.
Reinhard and the others looked on from about two meters away.
"Decompile."
He read out the contents of the control core as a magi-formula.
"Ah... This is..."
"Nn... Terrible."
Exclamations of exasperation escaped Reinhard and Elsa, who had wandered over beside him.
"It's like a child's craft project..."
Harsh words slipped from Jin's mouth as well.
"You're right. There isn't a single safety circuit! Who in the world built this?!"
Sharing the exact same sentiment, Ludwig raised his voice in outrage.
"...And it cost quite a lot, too."
Looking at the broken golem and the snapped fruit trees, Emil spoke sorrowfully.
"Which merchant sold you this thing? I'll go give them a piece of my mind."
Ludwig patted Emil on the shoulder.
"I'll make them pay compensation, too. So don't look so down."
"Okay..."
Seeing that Ludwig was acting as a proper teacher, Jin reconsidered his urge to repair the broken agricultural golem and left it be.
It was better preserved as physical evidence of a shady transaction.
"Still, though..."
Wondering if anything could be done about the damaged fruit trees, Jin glanced toward Elsa.
"Nn, a few of them."
Accurately grasping the meaning behind his look, Elsa walked over beneath the snapped trees.
"Reiko-chan, please help me with this."
"Understood."
For the broken limbs that were still partially attached, Elsa had Reiko hold them in place to realign the fractures.
And then:
"Aufpfropf."
"Whoa?!"
She grafted the wood back together.
"It's originally a spell meant for grafting."
"Amazing..."
With that, Elsa managed to restore about two-thirds of the broken fruit trees.
"The ones snapped clean through or crushed at the break are a bit beyond this."
Even so, she noted that if they planed down the damaged cross-sections and held them flush, it might still be possible to reconnect them.
"Grafting... So you've been using it for selective breeding?"
"Nn. It helped develop sweet mikan, juicy Persica, and cold-resistant apulul."
Apparently, she had carried out a variety of breeding experiments alongside Topaz and the others.
"U-Um, what was that magic just now...?"
Emil, the orchard owner's son, asked with wide, astonished eyes.
"So-called plant magic. It's common in the Nord Federation."
"I-Is that true?!"
(Is that so...?)
It was news to Jin as well.
He would learn later that it was a field of magic developed primarily through Rolona's research, with Elsa lending her assistance.