Two SPs, “Marron” and “Plum”, were attached to Elsa as her security details. They were adult-female-type golems.
Although they were equipped with Paralyzers and other weapons, they could not utilize them to help Elsa escape. Because in this case, her biological father was merely bringing his daughter home, so it wasn’t in violation of any laws.
Elsa was taken to Georg’s lodge.
“Get in there!”
“… Ah!”
Georg pushed Elsa into a small room, shut the door behind him, and locked it from outside. Edgar was not allowed in the room with her, so he stayed outside.
“Reflect there until tomorrow morning.”
Georg left. A soldier stood guard in front of the room. Edgar was standing by as well.
“…”
The room was furnished with a shabby bed and a chair.
“… Father.”
Alone, Elsa muttered sadly.
“… That’s the current situation.”
“Marron”, one of the SPs who was attached to Elsa, was transmitting a report through Laojun. Jin had just returned to his room and was listening in via Reiko.
Jin thought that it would have been better to bring a Manacam. But it was too much of a hassle for the festival afterward.
“Marron, did you say you are in the room with Elsa, while Plum is outside? Did anyone notice your presence?”
Jin was worried since it was a small lodge.
“You need not worry about that. There are only a few people in this lodge.”
“… For the time being, tell Marron to give Elsa some assurance.”
Jin gave the instruction thinking that perhaps Elsa would feel uneasy being locked up alone in the room.
“… And then about tomorrow. … The schedule has gone haywire.”
Partly because it was unexpected for Elsa’s father to go that far.
“… Was he under some kind of mind manipulation …?”
Out of concern for the possibility of the dangerous mind manipulation, Jin instructed Plum, the SP attached to Elsa who was standing by outside the room, to covertly further investigate anyone with aberrant behavior.
“(… Miss Elsa.)”
“Who is it!?”
Being the only one in the room, Elsa was surprised to hear the voice.
“(Please stay quiet. I’m Marron, an SP who protects you as instructed by Mr. Jin.)”
Elsa remembered that Jin had mentioned it before, but had completely forgotten about them since they stayed invisible.
“(Jin would like to tell you not to worry. And to patiently endure until tomorrow.)”
“… Brother Jin said that? … Understood.”
Elsa just realized how encouraging it was to have someone there worrying and caring about her.
“(No matter what happens, I will always be here. There’s another SP, Plum, standing by outside this door. Your Automata, Edgar, is outside as well.)”
“… Thank you.”
Thinking there was someone there for her, she was deeply moved to tears.
As such, each thought was being resorted and the night progressed.
“I’m sorry, Mine. The schedule went crazy.”
Jin apologized to Mine as soon as he reached his hotel room.
“No, Mr. Jin. From what I heard, you weren’t at fault. It was just an unfortunate coincidence.”
Mine was worried, contradicting Jin’s anticipation.
“… That person … Elsa’s father has always been like that. He has a strong desire to succeed and would use any means necessary. Even if it means using his daughter as a tool.”
“If the Marquess let him know regarding the cancellation of their marriage tomorrow, the Viscount would surely give up.”
“No, he would try to offer her to another superior nobleman. He’s that kind of person after all.”
“…”
Mine knew a lot more about Viscount Georg Randol than Jin. If Mine said so, then it must have been true.
“Anyway, regarding tomorrow’s Gonkurrenz …”
Jin was considering his formation after Mine went back to her room.
“Father, please let me do it.”
Reiko, who had been silent up until then, volunteered.
“Reiko?”
“That man scorned my and taunted Father. Let’s prove him wrong in the public eye.”
“I agree. But you don’t have to …”
Reiko interrupted Jin mid-sentence and asserted.
“No, please let me do this. I’m honestly happy that Father treats me as a girl. But my purpose of existence is to be helpful to Father. If I can’t do that, I would be a pet doll for real.”
Jin considered Reiko’s words. Not only was she like a daughter to him, but also the world’s best Automata. Ironically, it had to be proven by letting her participate in the competition.
“Okay, Reiko. I’ll leave it to you. That being the case, I’ll run a maintenance so you’re in your very best condition tomorrow.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Jin laid Reiko on the table and shut off her magical power. He called 10 Mini Smiths and had them check Reiko’s parts thoroughly.
“The clearance of the right leg and knee joint is 0. It was reduced by 01 millimeter.”
“Left arm radius, 0. 1 millimeter distortion detected. Correcting.”
The Mini Smiths were performing precision checks that would be difficult to be completed by Jin. Thanks to their skills, Jin had been able to excellently maintain Reiko’s parts up until now.
“Thank you, Mini Smiths.”
A 3% improvement in her performance was to be expected after the maintenance and the adjustments. She was all set for tomorrow.
People sleep, but golems do not. After people had fallen asleep, Plum moved stealthily to carry out her orders from Jin. She approached Viscount Georg Randol’s room.
“Who’s there?”
A voice was heard in the darkness. Plum was noticed even though she was utilizing Invisible magic.
“I know you’re there. I have no idea how you do it, but somehow you’re using some kind of magic to conceal yourself, right?”
Plum, who had always stayed invisible, could move freely in the dark due to her infrared vision.
In exchange for the infrared vision, she had to sacrifice color, and settle with a lower resolution of the details.
The one who noticed Plum was a middle-aged man. It was Marcus Grinwald.
“What’s your target? Me?”
Marcus asked if “he” was the target. In other words, he was a person of importance, or he was too self-conscious.
The fact that he could detect Plum who was utilizing Invisible, only meant that he had some kind of ability.
Plum deemed conducting further investigation would be impossible, so she left.
“… Hmm? Running away, eh? … Fine, I have no intention to pursue anyway.”
Plum reported the incident to Laojun.
“It seems like that man has a significant ability.”
Even Laojun only knew as much, because there was too little information available. Rather, the problem was that Plum’s existence was detected even though she was utilizing Invisible.
“Could it be due to the noise?”
Bats used ultrasound to catch information about their surroundings. There was a high possibility that the man was using a similar ability or magic. “Sonar” was a magic that examined the inside of a substance. There was a possibility of the existence of a magic called “Echo”, Laojun gave a tentative conclusion.
“Making further assumptions would be meaningless … due to lack of information.”
Laojun instructed Plum to gather more information, but carefully and not to overdo it.
Then the breaking dawn marked the morning of June 22nd.
“Lord Jin! I heard you’ll be participating at the Gonkurrenz today?!”
Minister of Magical Technology Degauss queried, as he barged into Jin’s room. Jin was having breakfast.
“Oh, yes.”
Jin briefly explained what happened after the talk with her Majesty the Empress and the Degauss Minister of Magical Technology yesterday.
“Hmm, Viscount Georg Randol would do such thing …”
Minister of Magical Technology Degauss said with a sullen expression. Currently, Georg was the Commander of the Overseas Mission, as well as a military adviser to the Imperial Army.
It was no surprise that someone in such an important position would challenge others in Gonkurrenz so easily.
On top of that, the challenged party was a guest of honor of this country and was in the process of entering the government service.
“Degauss, you can think of it as an attraction. Right, Jin?”
Reinhardt, who also visited Jin’s room, said so. They were talking about a lot of stuff until Degauss barged in.
“Hmm, certainly … it’s an attraction. Shall we come up with a special plan for the Technology Expo …?”
The Minister of Magical Technology looked down and crossed his arms in deep thought. He lifted his head as if he had come to a decision,
“Okay, let’s go with that. Lord Jin, would you mind if the country takes over the operation of this competition?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you. Then I shall inform the Viscount as well. … Gonkurrenz will start at 9 am, as decided by Christoph yesterday.”