After entering the Shouro empire, Jin and the group’s journey was peaceful and uneventful.
They stopped at Boltoro city for a night after crossing Banmu.
And after crossing the city of Danga, they stopped at Denzana for a night, as well.
They crossed the Divide river by a ferry and were staying at the city of Panyu at the moment.
“Whoo, it sure is nice not being busy, huh?”
Reinhart said softly.
Jin, Reinhart, and Matheus were relaxing on a veranda bench at an inn. The Divide river was also in view.
The days were long in spring and so it was still quite bright outside.
And in front of them, Shouro empire’s specialty, airbell juice was presented.
It was in juice form so even Jin couldn’t tell what fruit it was but the taste was completely of strawberry.
“Ah, this nostalgic taste…… Jin, this airbell fruit, you see, grows all around the country. So the kids pick them and eat quite a lot-raw or even as a juice, like this. Of course, it is also being cultivated and this is the taste of the cultivated fruit.”
Reinhart was really delighted being back home. Jin was thinking that it would be a nice souvenir for Elsa and Hanna.
“That reminds me, Reinhart. When we used to go to the backhills to pick strawberries, Elsa also used to stick along quite often.”
Matheus was feeling nostalgic, thinking about the past. Reinhart nodded and said,
“Yeah, we 3 used to go there quite often. There was also this time when Elsa was about to cry because she couldn’t pick many strawberries.”
If Elsa were listening now, she would’ve been quite embarrassed.
＊ ＊ ＊
“That’s weird. The scheduled date has already passed.”
Gibbeck was worried as Roland, who had been there last month, said that he would come again this month but hadn’t yet arrived. Barbara was also feeling anxious.
“It is also weird how Rock, Jeff, Dave, Howard and Rick still haven’t returned. I wonder if something has happened to them…”
And at that moment, Jin’s proxy golem, Butler A came in.
“Gibbeck-sama, excuse me.”
Gibbeck was already used to that appearance and could converse normally with him now.
“A? Did something happen?”
As it is also kind of a bother to call him by Butler A every time, the villagers just call him ‘A’ affectionately.
“Yes. It seems like there has been a landslide in the middle of the highway. And that’s why the people who were recruited were held up.”
“What?! I won’t ask where you got this info from but, is it reliable?”
“Of course.”
Gibbeck pondered with a troubled face.
“Uncle, there’s nothing to ponder about! It will be fine if we just clear the landslide!”
Barbara said cheerfully.
“Oi oi, there’s no way I can send out people when I don’t even know the place or the scale of the landslide.”
“Oh? But A would know that, right?”
“Yes.”
To Barbara’s calm judgement, Gibbeck was a little embarrassed.
“Ah, hmm, I lost my composure and forgot to ask. Well, where is it?”
“Yes, it seems to be between Doppa and Rakunoo.”
“Alright, let’s send out Gon and Gen, also the golem horses, Ain and Tsubai. The ones joining…”
“Please wait.”
Butler A stopped Gibbeck.
“Why are you stopping me?”
And then Butler A resumed calmly again,
“I said they were held up. The roads have been opened again.”
“What? You should say these things first!”
“Yes, I was about to tell them in order but you didn’t let me finish.”
Butler A’s style of talking also had fault here. It would have been better if he had just started with the recent update.
Moreover, as he’s always calm and composed, and he speaks indifferently, it is quite easy to interrupt while he talks.
“Then they will all be returning in a period of days, right?”
Gibbeck asked.
“Erik… and Roland-san will also come, right?”
Asked Barbara.
＊ ＊ ＊
The previous day, at Hourai island.
(According to Deneb 29’s additional reports, it seems the landslides were indeed the work of earl Walter, eh?)
Laojun was lost in thought.
(However, there are no physical evidence… It would be a bit early to move now.)
Laojun was planning to utterly crush anyone who displayed intentions of opposing Jin. And the methods he would use weren’t limited to physical ones — it included social and economical strategies, as well.
(First, let’s get rid of this meaningless pestering… Let’s make the Nostalgia take care of this as well.)
Coming to that conclusion in a matter of seconds, Laojun immediately contacted Elena.
Fortunately, Elena was free at the moment and Laojun could inform her of all the necessary details at one go.
[I understand, if they ask me anything, I will tell them that it was the work of Nostalgia.]
And with this, the necessary arrangements were made. Laojun decided on going forward with his plan during midnight, when there would be less witnesses.
And then came midnight. The moon had come out, dimly illuminating the land. It was too dark for humans but that didn’t matter to the golems of Hourai island.
At the location of the landslide.
Outside of anyone’s knowledge, Condor 1, Pelican 3 and Raptor 2 were present. Condor 1 had a Daidara loaded.
Daidaras are huge golems about 15 meters high and weighing 8 tonne. Compared to the Titans, they were heavier and their movements were dull but they were capable of more precise movements.
Their highest output power rivals even Reiko’s momentary highest output. Well, they were about 11.5 times bigger, 267 times heavier so that should be quite obvious.
Or rather, although for a moment, Reiko just being able to output that much power is amazing.
Returning to the main topic…
First, the Condor 1 used ‘hide’ on the loading at maximum output.
Hide was the lesser version of Stealth and did not erase the user’s presence. However, as there was no one around, that was more than enough.
Rando 21 to Rando 24 were guarding the surroundings, checking if there was anyone coming close.
After finishing the preliminary arrangements, they started their operation.
Daidara kept clearing up the boulders without breaking them with its absurd power and precise movements. There was no need to worry about where to put them.
That’s because Pelican 3 had an experimental warp gate loaded, which didn’t need to have a receiving warp gate to work. The other side of the warp gate was on top of the south sea.
Some air force golems were dispatched to that area to calculate any errors.
In other words, they were also making practical use of the equipment while getting work done. The result of which was just passable. The largest error was of about 30 meters.
And, in this fashion, the combination of the golems and their work took only about 15 minutes to clear the road of the boulders.
[Daidara and Condor 1 are to return. Smith 101 to Smith 110, begin servicing the road.]
Laojun gave the next order. 10 Smiths came out from the warp gate equipped on Raptor 2.
[Get the road up and ready. Also, fix the hill so that another landslide is impossible.]
Complying with Laojun’s orders, the Smiths got rid of the debris on the road and used fusion on the hill which actually stopped any further landslide.
They filled up the places where the boulders were supposed to be with the debris on the road and used ‘hardening’ on them to make them even tougher.
[Lastly, I will make it so that it looks like it is Nostalgia’s work.]
Laojun planted a metal plate he had fixed beforehand into the rock cliff with ‘7th May, 3457- fixed by Nostalgia’ written on it.
And once that was over, all the golems and air units took off.
All that was left was the cleanly fixed road.
＊ ＊ ＊
“O-o-ohh?! What happened here?!”
Early next morning, the soldiers blocking the road for hazard prevention were shocked when they saw the road.
“What exactly happened during the night?!”
“It says here that it was Nostalgia!!”
There was disorder for some time but passage was permitted that morning and Rock and the five others safely passed through. They reached Toka village that night and the rest of the places between the villages the day after.
[Land R, reporting. Rock-san and the other recruited soldiers located. They all appear to be fine.]
Behind the scenes, Land R and S were deployed to find them.
[Laojun, receiving. Keep tagging along stealthily like that till the village.]
And so, as the two Lands were protecting them behind their backs all these time, Rock and the others safely reached Kaina village 9 days later.