The distance between Avalon and Kawaha Village in the Kingdom of Franz was roughly six hundred kilometers.
At present, Avalon's airships could reach speeds of 150 km/h, meaning they could traverse that distance in about four hours.
Maintaining a smooth flight, the two Avalon airships arrived at Kawaha Village before sunset.
Since the village had no suitable landing site, they had no choice but to touch down on the main highway.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Greeting them upon arrival, naturally, was Deus Ex Machina. By his side stood Squire Rei.
While neither had been present in Kawaha Village during the initial subjugation, they had arrived via transporter before the airships landed.
"Maquina-dono, thank you very much for contacting us regarding this matter."
The man who had flown in from Avalon was Jorda Carter, captain of the World Security Guard's Second Airship Unit.
"Ah, we met before on the Pandor Continent, didn't we?"
"I am honored that you remember."
Back when Guillermo Marukitasu staged his rebellion on the Pandor Continent, it was Jorda Carter who had led a unit from Avalon to help suppress it.
At that time, the two had briefly crossed paths.
"After hearing about the situation from Jin-dono, I conducted an independent investigation into the cave-in at the Torom Mine in the Shouro Empire and discovered the existence of the Golem wolves. Following their trail brought me here."
"I see. As expected of you, Maquina-dono."
For the time being, Deus Ex Machina held qualifications equivalent to the World Security Guard, granting him free travel among nations belonging to the World Conference.
However, "equivalent to" did not mean "the same as."
In other words, Maquina did not have the authority to remove criminals or suspects from a country without that sovereign nation's consent.
Refraining from granting an individual such extra-legal power had actually been Maquina's own request.
That was why he had sought to hand custody over to the World Security Guard on this occasion.
With the airships parked on an active highway, there was no time to linger. Once custody of the terrorists was secured, Jorda Carter bid farewell to Maquina.
"Well then, we shall take our leave."
"I wish you a safe journey."
"Thank you very much. Until next time."
With that, the Torom Mine cave-in incident in the Shouro Empire was finally brought to a close.
Back on Hourai Island, Jin was receiving this report from Laojun.
"In the end, why did those defective Golem wolves cause a cave-in in the first place?"
That was the single point Jin could not quite wrap his head around.
While it had ended up disrupting Jin's project—the Adriana Memorial Hall (tentative name)—the whole method felt far too crude.
"Yes, My Lord. Regarding that matter, as it was ultimately carried out by Golem wolves..."
"We can't know for sure, huh?"
"We can make several conjectures, however."
"Yeah, that's fine. Let me hear them."
As far as Jin was concerned, all he wanted was a plausible explanation to clear his mind.
"Very well, then....It is believed to stem from an issue within the Golem wolves' control system."
"Yeah?"
"That is to say, their behavioral base appears not to have been a Rock Wolf, but a tagun."
A tagun corresponded to a raccoon dog on Earth. It was an omnivorous animal resembling an equal blend of a badger, a raccoon, and a masked palm civet. Although few in number, they could be found throughout Planet Ars.
The fauna of Planet Ars had been sparse ever since it was modified by the Origin Clan.
"A tagun, huh... Do they prefer burrowing underground?"
"They do share such tendencies. Therefore, after breaking loose, it likely fled straight into the mine shafts."
"Wait, then what happened to the Golem wolf that escaped?"
"It appears that through Forced Operation, they made it dive deep into the shafts to damage the support beams, after which it was summoned back and retrieved."
So it had not simply stayed to nest in the tunnels.
"They used an emergency magi-device designed for controlling and summoning it."
"Kind of like a dog whistle?"
A dog whistle was a device that produced ultrasonic frequencies inaudible to humans but audible to dogs.
In reality, such whistles also produced frequencies within the human hearing range, not to alert bystanders, but because pure ultrasonic waves attenuate rapidly and fail to travel long distances.
"No, it appears to function via magical power rather than sound."
Apparently, such an item had been found among the magi-devices confiscated in Kawaha Village.
"Well, that makes sense."
Considering it was called Forced Operation, direct magical manipulation was far more plausible. Jin wondered if it could be considered a primitive signal generator from the era before manacams or manaphones were developed.
"And while there were ten Golem wolves in Kawaha Village, what about the rest?"
"Since the final batch delivered to Meagi Ides consisted of ten units, the remainder were likely scrapped and repurposed by Dright Coatzpert."
"That sounds likely enough....Yeah, that covers most of what I wanted to know."
"If anything else comes to mind, please ask at any time."
Meanwhile, on the fifth—the day following his apprehension—Dright Coatzpert was transferred to the royal capital, Loizart.
He was treated not as a criminal, but as an important material witness.
"Um... what is going to happen to me?"
Even so, the magi engineer wore the expression of a condemned man being marched to the execution grounds.
In truth, his sentence was not expected to be particularly severe.
"Well, you'll probably just be enclosed for a few years," No. 0, the leader of the escorting intelligence team, said to the other operatives.
"Enclosed... what does that mean?"
Hearing the unfamiliar phrasing, No. 8 asked in return.
"Ah, enclosing basically means heavily restricting their freedom of movement and contact with outsiders, while putting them to work crafting whatever the state demands."
"I see. So the idea is to put his technical skills to good use for the Empire."
"Precisely."
Through this arrangement, if he contributed meaningfully to the country, his period of confinement would be reduced, and securing a position at a state-run workshop would not be out of the question.
"For my part, I think that is the most reasonable outcome," No. 0 concluded.
"Hm. So the mastermind has been secured in the Kingdom of Franz, then?"
Word had reached Emperor Ernst II of the Shouro Empire that Deus Ex Machina had apprehended the terrorists.
"With this, the matter is virtually settled."
"Indeed. Now we can proceed with the construction of the memorial hall in peace."
Because lingering danger had been a concern, imperial guard soldiers had been stationed at the construction site, but Ernst II noted they could now be safely withdrawn.
"If something were to happen at the construction site, we would have no right to face Jin-dono."
"Quite so."
Ernst II and the Chancellor exchanged looks and smiled.
It was a day filled with pleasant, gentle warmth, carrying the unmistakable promise that spring was just around the corner.