Watching from the fortress as the three Neo-Magias ships made a 180-degree turn, Minister of Military Affairs Buena Haiti and Rokou B. Sihalo let out sighs of relief.
"O-Ooh... The Neo-Magias ships are pulling away, aren't they?"
"Has the combined fleet of the Magi Craft Meister and Deus Ex Machina driven them off, then...?"
"...Yet, are those two truly our allies?"
"What?"
At Rokou B. Sihalo's words, Minister of Military Affairs Buena Haiti felt a pang of suspicion rise within his heart.
(Indeed... It is hard to believe they came to our aid without expecting anything in return. Will they make demands of us later...?)
When trying to deduce the motives of others, people can only measure them against their own yardstick.
Although Minister of Military Affairs Buena Haiti was a capable man, he remained constrained by the framework of the state known as the Jagus Principality.
A decisive naval battle between the Neo-Magias and the Honeymoon Fleet had been averted for the time being.
Having observed the entire sequence of events through the Peeper, Laojun spoke.
"The automata aboard the Neo-Magias ships appeared quite frustrated, judging by their facial expressions..."
Though it could not hear their voices, it had managed to infer their feelings from their expressions alone.
"For automata of that grade to possess such rich emotions... It is quite unbalanced."
Jin agreed with that assessment.
"Yeah. Either their control cores were educated over a very long period with extreme care..."
"...Or they were copied, perhaps."
"Ah, good point."
In this case, the source of the copy was unknown.
A strong possibility was the Quinta unit that had briefly been captured.
And the other possibility was...
"A human, perhaps?"
"That's possible too....If all the automata commanding those ships are like that..."
"The question becomes who the original human was."
"Right. But..."
For now, they simply lacked enough information to solve that mystery.
"Which means the place where we might gather additional clues is..."
Laojun agreed with Jin's murmur.
"The key would likely be the Ruins in the western part of the Pandor Continent, after all."
"Yeah. Exactly. Have they found anything new over there?"
"Yes, My Lord."
Even while keeping watch over the Honeymoon Fleet alongside Jin, Laojun remained in constant communication with the deployed units, Sam 1 through 10.
"My Lord, it turns out the preserved food left behind is remarkably ancient. It dates back nearly two hundred years."
"...That old?"
"Yes, My Lord. It is quite similar to the Calorie Friends that My Lord created."
Laojun offered this evaluation after confirming the details via the Peeper.
"If that's the case, does that mean humans haven't set foot there in a very long time?"
"The probability of that is high."
"I see..."
Jin realized that a more exhaustive investigation would be necessary.
Just then, a golem resembling a small baby stroller appeared on the large magi-monitor in the commander room.
"Please take a look at this. It is a cleaning golem."
"Eh?"
"So rather than a general-purpose golem, it's a dedicated cleaning unit, huh."
It was shaped like a rectangular prism with slightly rounded corners, roughly the size of a clothes storage trunk.
It appeared to move on four spherical wheels mounted underneath.
"A total of ten units have been confirmed. They seem to be cleaning as they slowly patrol the interior of the Ruins."
"Hmm..."
Looking at its size and shape, Jin found himself pointlessly worrying about what it would do if any valuables happened to be lying on the floor.
"Is the true identity of that 'masked man'—I'll call him that since we don't know his name—still a mystery?"
Reinhard asked Laojun.
"Yes, Reinhard-san. Regrettably, all we can ascertain is that there is a high likelihood he is an automaton aboard that vessel."
Laojun answered.
Incidentally, Laojun had settled on addressing the members of the Jin Family with the "-san" honorific as a rule.
In the past, its usage had fluctuated between "-sama" and "-san."
The only exceptions were Jin and Elsa, who received "-sama," and Hanna, who was addressed as "-chan."
Be that as it may.
"Should we push one step further to gather intel?"
Jin suggested.
"My Lord, what do you have in mind?"
"We'll send an envoy to that ship."
"Jin, that would certainly be effective, but isn't it dangerous?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm thinking of having my Doppel and Deus Ex Machina handle it."
"I see..."
Publicly, Deus Ex Machina's combat prowess was established as being superior to Jin's.
"Furthermore, we must see whether they would dare commit the folly of antagonizing two great powers: Deus Ex Machina and My Lord."
"Yeah, there's that too."
Against an adversary attempting intimidation through military might, staging an even greater display of force was an effective move.
"I believe it would be best to display the Aristotle and Komet 1 through 10."
The Komet was an airship-type blow floater belonging to Deus Ex Machina.
With an overall length of twenty meters and a beam of five meters, it had a slender, elongated profile. They currently possessed fifteen of these craft.
"I see—flaunting our naval and aerial assets... showing our strength across sea and sky, huh."
Reinhard agreed with the plan.
"That sounds like a solid approach."
"Kufu, they'll probably be terrified out of their wits."
Saki chuckled.
On top of that, if the two principals—Deus Ex Machina and the Magi Craft Meister—boarded the vessel in person, the pressure would be overwhelming.
Squire Rei and Honorary Squire Reiko were with them—a force capable of taking on the entirety of Planet Ars on their own.
"If Jin isn't going in the flesh, then there's nothing to worry about."
"Kufu, worry or not, it's not a living body anyway."
"All right, let's go with that."
"Understood. I shall make arrangements for Deus Ex Machina. The fleet will continue pursuing the Neo-Magias ships as planned."
Just as Jin was about to grant his final approval to Laojun's words...
"...My Lord, it appears Duke Niestol Kirillo Jagus of the Jagus Principality has arrived at the fortress."
"Eh?"
It seemed the situation was poised for another sudden development.