“O-Onii-chan…”
“Hanna!”
Jin and the others had completely let their guard down. Moreover, the timing was bad as well.
Because they were travelling via carriage, the Hanna full-time SP were a bit behind.
There would have been no problems whatsoever if Reiko was the first to get off. There’s no point saying that now, though…
On top of that, Jessica and Gloria also went towards the forest to check.
Furthermore, the man must have also been using magic tools with hide effect.
The SP might have been aware of the man’s presence beforehand but as his intentions were unclear, they were a bit late in coping with the situation.
Misfortune kept piling up for Jin’s side which was fortune for the man. (No, considering what happens next, it would probably be better to say the man was unfortunate.)
“Do-don’t move! You all, get off of the carriage!”
“…Let’s do as he says for now.”
Saying that, Lieschen princess jumped off from the carriage. Following her, Jin, Elsa and Reiko also jumped off.
“Princess!”
Jessica and Gloria also came back hurrying.
“You bastard! What do you think you are doing?! Let go of the child!”
But the man who restrained Hanna boldly laughed.
“Hmph, if you care for the princess’ wellbeing, stay 10 meters away from me.”
“Nn? Princess?”
Hearing that, all of them there realized. The man had mistaken Hanna, who was wearing the princess’ dress, for the princess.
But that did not comfort them either.
Slowly getting off of the carriage, Jin whispered to Reiko,
“Reiko, what is Iris and Azalea doing?”
Reiko changed her vision to infrared and answered after surveying Hanna’s surrounding,
“Yes, with just 1 more step…”
“Gyyyaaaaaahhh!”
The moment Reiko started saying that, the man’s shriek could be heard.
Everyone except Jin and Reiko looked with their eyes wide open.
Before they even realized, two deep black golems had appeared. One was guarding Hanna and the other was holding down the man.
And the man’s hand was curved to an improbable direction. At about 3 points.
“Onii-chan!”
Hanna came running towards Jin with teary eyes. Jin also went running towards her, hugged her and stroked her back.
“It’s all fine now. I am sorry. I made you experience something awful.”
“No, I believed you would save me.”
Jin gazed at Iris and Azalea told them ‘Good job.’
“Wh-what are these? These pitch black golems?”
Finally, the princess was able to open her mouth to say those words.
Jin told the princess he would explain it to her later and turned to face towards the man.
“Oi, what was your aim in doing all this?”
But the man still stayed there, lying in pain and snorted.
“Alright then.”
But that wasn’t a good move for him.
“Iris. The other arm too.”
As Jin said that, Iris twisted the man’s left arm. On the other side, Jin was holding Hanna close to not let her see that.
After a breaking noise, the man’s shriek once again filled the air.
“Gyyyaaaaahhhhh!”
Jin was not a saint. He is lenient to friends and family but to that extent, he doesn’t show any mercy to his enemies. This time, the man made Hanna cry. That infuriated Jin’s wrath.
“The next will be your hip joint… This is the last time I am asking. What is your aim?”
Crying like a baby with snot dripping from the man’s nose, he opened his mouth,
“……I… want…ed… to… run… Wanted… the… carriage…”
Jin requested Elsa to give the man some pain killers so that he can speak. Nodding, Elsa said,
“Schmerzmittel.”
It stopped the pain. But both of his shoulders were still broken.
“Why did you want to run?”
Jin glared at the man. Resigning, the man confessed,
“Soon… this place will be attacked by about 50 men. They are all hooligans. I was their ally but changed my mind and wanted to get out. To do that, I needed to bid farewell to this place as soon as possible. And so, I wanted a horse or a carriage.”
At that moment, footsteps of a great number of people could be heard from the forest.
“Mm?! It seems like he is speaking the truth.”
The princess turned pale. It would take time to even close the castle gate. The possibility of it not closing in time is higher.
“At this rate, Alban will be attacked defenseless! Jessica, Gloria, we will defend!”
“Yes, princess!”
“Roger.”
Then the princess turned her pale face towards Jin,
“Jin, you guys return inside the castle with my carriage. They probably can’t attack that easily inside the castle.”
“What about Lies-sama?”
“I will hold them back as much as I can. Don’t worry, I can use at least water ball and water bullet.”
Saying that, the princess looked at the puddle.
‘This princess intends to become a shield herself?’ Jin was appalled.
“Tia, hurry back to the castle and convey this to the soldiers inside. If they move, then 50 people or so wouldn’t be much of a problem.”
“But, princess…”
Tia hesitated. As expected of a work from the Great Magic War era, it is built well around these portions.
“……………”
Jin closed his eyes and thought for a little bit, then opened them and said clearly,
“No, Tia, you protect princess Lies. Jessica-san and Gloria-san, you just need to arrest the bandits.”
Hearing that, Elsa muttered with a low voice,
“Well, that’s like Jin-nii.”
“Y-you… What are you…”
At that moment, the head of the bandits appeared from forest. Bringing along one golem.
“Wha! They also have a golem!”
“At this rate, I doubt we will be able to hold down even half…”
The princess was surprised and Jessica was getting tensed.
“Jin-dono, you…”
And so Gloria was about to say something but paying that no heed, Jin gave instructions to Reiko.
“Reiko! Stop them! But, don’t kill them if you can.”
“Yes, father.”
Reiko kicked the ground. Or so the moment one would comprehend that, few of the bandits fluttered up in the air and were smacked to the ground.
“Yo-you people…”
“Wh-what is that girl…”
“……That’s the first time I saw someone up in the air like that.”
The princess, Jessica and Gloria, all three of them doubted their eyes.
About 50 bandits were lying face down on the ground.
And the golem got blown away 20 meters by Reiko’s kick and had crashed into a tree, bending in a weird way.
“I am done.”
In less than a minute, Reiko had neutralized 50 people. It can’t be imagined with common sense.
Even without saying anything, their eyes spoke for them. ‘What are you people?’.
“I am sorry but let us tie them up before that.”
Saying that, Jin used the fainted bandits’ belts and band like objects to tie them up.
Reiko and Elsa also helped. Jessica and Gloria also came helping a bit late. And within a few minutes, they were all tied up.
“Now then. Let me ask again. What are you guys?”
Lieschen princess asked Jin. Having prepared himself, Jin decided to tell them a part of the truth.
“Ah… Yesterday, I told you about the golem incident, right, Lies-sama?”
“Ye-yes.”
“At that time, the one who did the most in suppressing the rampaging golems was Reiko. She is an artifact and my precious daughter.”
Placing a hand on Reiko’s shoulder, Jin explained.
“Due to that, Egelia kingdom gave me the title of honorary magi craft man.”
He cut off most of it but this was still true.
“So that’s how it was…”
Seeing Jin’s ability as a magi craft man and Reiko’s power right now, they honestly felt that it was the truth.
Impressed, Jessica said,
“Even still, Reiko is quite amazing. To think she is stronger than a golem.”
“Ah, right, what happened to the black golem which saved Hanna just a while ago?”
Gloria asked while looking around. Jin answered,
“They are golems who protect from the shadows. They fell behind a bit this time, though…”
Hearing that, the princess’ eyes glittered.
“As I thought, my eyes were right! Jin, won’t you make some golems for my country as well?”
‘So it did turn out like this’ Jin thought to himself. Letting out a sigh, he replied,
“Well, it would depend on the conditions.”