On 12th of May, Jin and the others would be staying the night at Riale. The distance from there to Roizato is less than 40 kilometers and it takes about a day to get there.
During the afternoon that day, Jin was spending his time inside the carriage, listening to Reinhart’s story.
“Ohh, so that’s Riale.”
And in the evening, they reached Riale.
They headed towards the carriage station on their carriages.
A noticeably distinctive, pure white carriage was there. It was small sized and was pulled by two horses.
“That is…? Is it…”
“Reinhart?”
Hearing Reinhart muttered seeing the carriage, Jin also closely examined at the carriage but couldn’t find anything that unusual. If so, the crest… seems like he knows the owner.
“S-she…”
Matheus also muttered.
“Reinhart-sama~!”
A girl’s voice could be heard. When he turned his head, he could see a girl in a dress, running their way.
“Belche?!”
“Reinhart-sama! I’ve wanted to meet you!”
She ran up to him and jumped on him.
Although he staggered a bit, Reinhart caught her perfectly.
“Belche, it has been so long! I am glad to see you’re doing well!”
He hugged her saying that.
“You’re way too late! I have been waiting so long!”
Saying that, she also hugged him back.
After a while of them being like that,
“Ah, Belche, Reinhart. We are in front of people so maybe leave it at that?”
Matheus said clearing his throat with an ‘ahem’ and with that, the two separated, blushing.
After straightening herself, the woman called Belche smiled towards Matheus and said,
“Welcome back to you too, brother.”
“Yea, I am back, Belche.”
After such an exchange, Reinhart tapped Belche’s shoulder, faced towards Jin and said,
“Jin, I will introduce you. She is my fiancee and Matheus’ younger sister.”
And then, Belche took over giving her name,
“I am Belche Gaist Fon Scarlet.”
She finished saying with a curtsy.
“Belche, this is the Honorary Magi craftsman of Egelia kingdom, Jin Nidou, my guest.”
“I am Jin.”
Jin greeted in Japanese style with a bow.
“If you’re Reinhart-sama’s guest, then you’re also my guest. Jin-sama, welcome to Shouro empire. I welcome you.”
Belche had slightly wavy, blonde hair and green eyes. She was about 150 centimeters tall, far shorter than even Jin.
She seems kind and friendly and judging from the fact that she came all the way here to receive Reinhart, she is also pretty lively.
“I already have booked the inn!”
Saying that, she had her hand taken by Reinhart very naturally and the both of them started walking towards the town.
Jin and Matheus also followed them.
“…She prioritizes her fiance more than me, her brother, eh?”
Mathues muttered but Jin pretended he didn’t hear.
The inn was a luxurious hotel in the center of the city.
Dinner was a banquet. The whole place was reserved.
“Reinhart-sama, it must have been hard being out so long. I want you to have a great deal of fun tonight.”
Saying that, Belche sat beside Reinhart and poured him wine.
“Thanks, Bell.”
“Ufufu, it has been a while since you’ve called me that, too, hasn’t it?”
The atmosphere around them was very different. So much that even the blockhead Jin could understand.
“It seems the aura is different just there, huh…”
As Jin muttered, Matheus, who was sitting beside him whispered in a low voice,
“She has been deeply in love with Reinhart since long ago, Jin-dono.”
“I see…”
Reinhart was cheerful, talking with Belche.
Seeing this unexpectedly different side of Reinhart, Jin was having fun too.
The food, too, although not anything rare, was made really well and was possibly the best they had since entering Shouro empire.
At the time, maybe Reinhart said something to Belche, which made her ask Jin,
“Jin-sama, could you introduce me to your automata?”
“Eh? Ah, yes… Reiko, come here.”
Jin called Reiko, who was standing behind and introduced her,
“She is Reiko, my daughter.”
Reiko slightly bowed and said,
“I am Reiko.”
Seeing that, Belche wore a beam on her face and,
“Fuwah, so cute! I have never seen an automata as wonderful as Rayko-chan! No wonder Reinhart-sama invited her, as well.”
“He has always liked cute stuff, after all.”
Matheus followed.
Belche continued,
“I have also brought mine along… Neon! Come along!”
And called her automata’s name.
“Yes, miss.”
An automata with the appearance of a ten year old girl came along. She also had wavy, blonde hair like Belche and green eyes. Or rather, she looked pretty much like Belche.
She was wearing a navy blue maid cloth.
“This girl is my automata, Neon. Neon, introduce yourself to everyone.”
“Yes… Everyone, I am called Neon. Nice to meet you.”
Her way of talking was bit unclear but she had very human-like movements. It must be the work of quite a skilled magi engineer, Jin thought.
“Good job, Neon. Jin-sama, this automata is the work of the best magi engineer of Shouro empire, Gebalt Ackerman.”
Even though she said that, Jin just thought ‘And who is that?’. And so, he couldn’t reply anything other than ‘I see’.
Grasping the situation, Reinhart followed up by saying,
“Jin, Mr. Gebalt is my master’s senior apprentice. We were both the best pupils of the previous magi engineer maestro, Siegmundt Glynbarth-shi.
“Magi engineer maestro?”
“Ah, you don’t know about it, do you, Jin? Magi engineer maestro is the title given to the best magi engineer in the empire.”
Jin was drawn in by Reinhart’s explanation.
“Hmmm, I would like to meet him.”
“Yep, I thought you’d say that. It’s fine, I will try to do something.”
Reinhart promised. Seeing that Belche said,
“Reinhart-sama seems to pay attention to Jin-sama’s needs. I am a bit jealous.”
Jin was a bit startled to hear this but as it didn’t seem to have any deep meaning, Belche soon changed the topic.
“Is Rayko-chan good at doing something particular? Neon is good at singing and dancing. Let me show you… Neon!”
“Yes, miss.”
Neon took a few steps back and started preparing. She has the intelligence of knowing what to do just from the context of the conversation.
“It’s not so good but”
Saying that, Neon slowly started to dance. It was a slow style dance like the ones in Southeast Asia, Jin thought.
She might not be able to move too fast due to the structure of her body too.
Before long. She also started to sing while dancing. Even Jin couldn’t understand the lyrics. There was probably a melody in her head to which she was trying to sing along impromptu.
But even then, it was not at all inferior to Ceres’ dance in that golem party and the singing was as good as Zuingel there.
“Thank you.”
After finishing her dance, she bowed and stood behind Belche.
“Jin-sama, I would be really happy if your Rayko-chan could show us something as well.”
Belche requested with sparkling eyes, to which Jin couldn’t refuse and called out Reiko.
“Reiko, can you show us something?”
“Yes, father, leave it to me.”
Reiko easily accepted and walked to the area where Neon had danced.
Author note:
At last, Reinhart’s fiancee makes her entrance.
Lolic… no, nothing.
What might Reiko show them?
Bend an adamantite pole. Instantly kill 20 of Reinhart’s subordinates. Make origami with a 5 mm thick iron plate. Something else