Duke Niestol Kirillo Jagus of the Jagus Principality asked, "Why are you helping our country?"
It was a sentiment the Duke could neither understand nor relate to.
"Why, you ask?...Well, let me make one thing clear first. It is not that I came to aid the Jagus Principality."
"What?"
"Even if, hypothetically, that fleet had been targeting the Dahlat Principality, I still would have rushed over."
"..."
"In short, I simply could not tolerate their methods."
Piloting Jin D, Laojun replied while tracing Jin's own line of thought.
"I cannot overlook threatening the sovereignty of another nation through military force."
"............"
Duke Niestol felt the sting of those words, but he held his tongue and listened to what Jin D had to say.
"For the world to remain peaceful and undisturbed. That is my only wish."
"Th-that..."
Duke Niestol was about to reply, but—
"Deus Ex Machina-dono has arrived."
—the report made him fall silent.
"Understood. Show him to the bridge."
"Acknowledged."
Two minutes after that exchange, Deus Ex Machina and Squire Rei appeared on the bridge.
"Hey, Jin."
"Maquina, thank you for deploying the fleet."
Jin D and Deus Ex Machina exchanged a firm handshake.
Then, turning back to the Jagus delegation, Jin D introduced him.
"This is Deus Ex Machina. My fellow disciple."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Deus Ex Machina."
Adopting a distinct persona on purpose, Maquina spoke in a somewhat blunt tone.
"And this is my squire, Rei."
"I am Rei."
Rei gave a concise greeting.
She was clad in her usual silver light armor. Since she wore no helm, her blue-silver hair and ice-blue eyes left an indelible impression.
"You've been briefed on the situation, right?"
"Yeah, on the way here."
With that, Deus Ex Machina took a seat at the table.
Now they could finally begin discussing Neo-Magias.
"Right now, we are in pursuit. At this rate, we should catch up in about thirty minutes," Jin D explained.
In truth, because the Mentor controlling Maquina was in direct communication with Laojun, such an explanation was completely unnecessary; it was done purely for the benefit of the Jagus delegation.
"Mm. We have four ships, correct? Then I suggest surrounding them from all four sides—ahead, astern, port, and starboard—to force them to a halt."
This proposal came from Deus Ex Machina.
Jin D nodded in agreement.
"That's well within our capabilities. Let's do it....And what do we do once they've stopped?"
"We board them," Maquina answered without hesitation. "We board their vessel, get a look at the ringleader's face, and evaluate their technological level while we're at it."
"Sounds good."
Though this was supposed to be a joint strategy meeting with the Jagus Principality, it had essentially devolved into a private discussion between Jin D and Maquina.
While Duke Niestol Kirillo Jagus understood this was unavoidable, he still bit his lip in frustration.
"...Would you like to come along when we board their ship?"
Jin D asked the Duke, whether having noticed his irritation or simply following the natural flow of conversation.
"Hm? Ah, yes, of course I shall come."
Though caught off guard for a moment, the Duke quickly accepted.
"Your Grace! Might that not be too dangerous?"
Rokou B. Sihalo raised an objection, but Duke Niestol shook his head.
"No. If Jin-dono and Maquina-dono are accompanying us, there is no way it could be... dangerous."
Yet, in stark contrast to his resolute words, greasy sweat beaded across his forehead.
"Yes, Reiko and Rei will guarantee your safety," Jin D assured him with a bright smile.
Only twenty-five minutes remained until they caught up to the Neo-Magias fleet.
Meanwhile, on Hourai Island, Jin and his companions were engaged in their own discussion.
"...Come to think of it, though, why did the Neo-Magias crowd assume our fleet wouldn't chase after them?" Jin voiced a simple question.
Laojun offered an answer.
"Perhaps they assumed that we, too, had business with the Jagus Principality?"
"Ah, that might be it. After all, people have a tendency to judge others by their own standards."
Reinhard agreed with Laojun's assessment, considering it highly likely.
"Well, I'm certainly curious to see how they'll react once we do chase them down."
Hearing Reinhard speak so bluntly, Jin gave a wry smile.
"You can be quite wicked, Reinhard."
"Hardly. But if what I just said hits the mark..."
"Yeah. It would mean there's an intriguing—or rather, startling—truth behind all this."
"Huh? What are you two talking about?"
Saki did not seem to follow their train of thought.
"Ah, sorry, my bad....Um, remember how Reinhard just said, 'People have a tendency to judge others by their own standards'?"
"Yeah, I heard that."
"In other words, those automata are thinking like humans... No, they share the exact same thought processes as humans."
"Mm-hmm, and?"
"Which means... couldn't it be that they were originally human?"
"Wait, they used to be human?!" Saki exclaimed in disbelief.
Jin offered a quick explanation to ease her shock.
"It's not all that far-fetched. After all, memories can easily be copied using Trans Info."
From Jin's perspective, ethics were the only reason he refrained from doing it himself.
"Rokure... and No. 600012, for instance, manufactured both automata and homunculus bodies."
Hearing Jin's explanation, Saki regained her composure.
"That's... true. You're definitely right. If it's Markitus or the Magic Federation, pulling a stunt like that wouldn't be out of character at all."
Reinhard chimed in.
"Exactly. Ordinary automata would think far more logically, but because their behavior was so sloppy—or rather, so thoroughly human—Jin and I..."
...deduced that they might have originally been human, he finished.
"Kufu, not that this is entirely someone else's problem for us, though..."
After all, most of the current second-generation Jin Family members were homunculi who had inherited memories.
"Well, I get how you feel, Saki," Jin added reassuringly.
If homunculi had never been perfected, the members of the Officer Candidates Jin Family likely would have had their memories transferred into automata instead...