In the materials storage yard Kachea pointed to, lumber for construction was piled up like a mountain.
At that very moment, a working golem stacked yet another load of lumber onto the pile.
"Ah, look."
"I see."
Back on Hourai Island, Jin left materials management to Laojun, so he hadn't noticed the problem here. Kachea, however, was entrusted with that sort of management in Avalon and seemed to have caught on immediately.
"Where's the site supervisor... Ah, over there, maybe?"
A makeshift building stood nearby with the flag of the World Conference fluttering above it. Seeing someone giving directions there, Jin walked over.
"Excuse me, do you have a moment?"
"What is it? This area is under construction, so we ask that the general public refrain from entering."
"I understand. My name is Jin Nidou, the Third Generation Magi Craft Meister."
Introducing himself right away proved to be the right call.
"P-Pardon my rudeness!"
The man who appeared to be the site supervisor bowed respectfully and greeted him.
"I-Is there something I can do for you?"
"Yes, you look busy, so I'll get straight to the point. Regarding that lumber, I think the way it's being managed is flawed."
Jin shifted his tone.
"The management, you say?"
Jin nodded.
"That's right. The old lumber is at the bottom, and the new lumber is stacked right on top. You're using it from the top down, aren't you? At this rate, the old lumber will just sit there indefinitely."
At this observation, the site supervisor gasped in realization.
"T-That is certainly true!"
"In this season, rainy days will become more frequent on this continent. You might want to cover it or set up a rain-repelling barrier."
"Thank you for the advice."
The site supervisor immediately issued instructions to the working golems to rearrange the lumber piles.
Instead of one single mound, they split the stock into two piles.
In other words, old lumber and new lumber.
They would use the old lumber first. Meanwhile, newly delivered lumber would be stacked in the second pile. Once the old lumber ran out, they would start drawing from the new pile, and any subsequent deliveries would go where the old pile used to be.
With this rotation, lumber would no longer be left sitting around indefinitely.
The reorganization took about thirty minutes.
Jin, Kachea, Reiko, and Hope sat under the work tent, watching the progress.
"They're quite efficient."
Seeing the crew resolve the issue immediately showed that capable people had been dispatched here, Jin thought.
"Looks like Mahalig's reconstruction will proceed without a hitch."
"Indeed."
Jin and Kachea exchanged a knowing smile.
Meanwhile, at Port Nadef, located east-southeast of Mahalig, Deus Ex Machina was repairing a Warp Gate.
"All right, that should do it."
"Oh, thank you very much!"
"Don't mention it. Once this is operational, travel will become vastly easier."
This Warp Gate was separate from the one that had been in Mahalig. It had been installed during the early development stages of the Pandor Continent and had remained buried ever since.
Its destination connected to Avalon.
It appeared to have been constructed back when the nearly revived Warp Gate network was shattered during the great turmoil caused by the Magic Federation.
Unlike the mechanisms on Hourai Island, its design was an application of the magic circles discovered in the Celuroa Kingdom. Although it took several moments between activation and actual teleportation, it was thoroughly practical.
"From here at Port Nadef, Mahalig is just a stone's throw away. It's exceptionally convenient for transporting goods and moving personnel alike," the administrator of Port Nadef remarked.
"If we built it directly in Mahalig, it would easily become a target in many respects, after all."
Guillermo Marukitasu had previously destroyed the Warp Gate located in the Ducal Palace along with the palace itself.
"I'm just glad we live in peaceful times now," the administrator said with a laugh.
"Well, in any case, this will make traveling back and forth to Avalon much simpler, but we need to run an initial test."
"I'll handle that," Maquina said. "Since I'm the one who repaired it."
With that, Maquina stepped onto the Warp Gate alongside Squire Rei.
Five seconds later, Maquina and Rei vanished, materializing almost instantaneously at the Warp Gate in Avalon.
"All right, it's a success."
Stepping out of the Warp Gate, they were welcomed by applause from the Avalon engineers.
"Congratulations on the successful repair."
"Thank you very much, Deus Ex Machina-dono!"
With this Warp Gate route officially open, the distance between Avalon and the Pandor Continent shrank drastically.
Furthermore, the members of the Revolutionary Party whom Maquina had captured the other day were sent through this very gate.
Their brainwashing had already been lifted, but they would undergo thorough examinations just to be safe, followed by a trial at the World Conference to determine their sentences.
Most of them, however, were expected to receive light penalties.
Judging from their knowledge, common sense, and personalities, the majority would likely be assigned to work under supervision within departments in Avalon.
After all, capable personnel were always in demand.
'The mastermind behind the scenes... is indeed the Jagus Principality, it seems.'
On Hourai Island, the management magi-brain Laojun had processed the incoming data, including the prisoners' confessions, and arrived at a clear conclusion.
'However, we have not dispatched the Quinta there yet. It appears we have fallen behind.'
Because the country's customs and culture differed considerably, it had been deemed unwise to infiltrate carelessly, limiting their intelligence gathering to observation via the Peeper telescope.
'According to Maquina's report, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Party seems to be located west of Mahalig, but...'
That, too, was swiftly pinpointed using the Peeper.
'This place... appears to have originally been the Ruins.'
In other words, it was a facility constructed by the Origin Clan who had migrated from Planet Hehl.
The Origin Clan had apparently excavated various mineral resources from across the Pandor Continent, depleting the deposits near the surface.
'It is likely a facility from that era.'
Laojun deduced that at the very least, decommissioned mining golems might have remained behind.
'However, the golems that Maquina faced were merely extensions of those developed in the former Mercana Principality.'
Thus, they posed no real threat to the forces of Hourai Island.
Even so, the current Jin strongly preferred to let the people living in this era resolve their own problems as much as possible.
While respecting that intention, Laojun weighed measures to keep collateral damage to a minimum.
'Perhaps it is time for the World Security Guard to step in under Maquina's leadership.'
Now that the Warp Gate was operational, the delay in deploying personnel was no longer an obstacle.
'Let us proceed along those lines.'
Concluding that these developments warranted a report, Laojun set out to monitor Jin's movements.