After receiving the title of Magi Craft Meister in the Shouro Empire, Jin returned to Horai Island that same night.
Together with Laojun, the brain of sorcery that supervised Horai Island, Reiko, Jin’s masterpiece Automata, and Ann, the Automata created during the Magi War, Jin studied the plan that had been brewing for quite a while.
“You’re right. I think that’s a good idea.”
“Reiko, what do you think?”
Jin also asked for Reiko’s opinion, who also served his predecessor.
“Yes, I think it’s a very good idea.”
“What about you, Ann?”
“Yes, I think it’s a good idea, Master.”
“I see …”
Jin’s idea. It was a plan to globally open the Holy Land of Magi Engineering to the public beyond the framework of each country.
Adrianna Balbora Ceci, the former Magi Craft Meister, had a dream of making Horai Island the Holy Land of Magi Engineering.
However, the dream did not come true, and Adriana died in disappointment.
Jin, who became her successor after 1000 years, decided that he would inherit her dream and make it come true one day.
Unline back then, Horai Island had now risen and widened due to crustal movements, and with Jin’s additional knowledge, it had become one of the world’s leading military base.
Opening that area to the general public would be extremely dangerous.
And hence the main topic of their discussion was whether or not to officially open Konlon Island to the general public instead. The replica of Horai Island had recently been finished on Konlon Island.
“But I feel uneasy opening Konlon Island to the general public.”
“Eh?”
It was unexpected of Ann to object.
“As far as I can tell, even Konlon Island far exceeds the standards of the world today.”
“Well, you’re right about that.”
“If it’s open to the public, I don’t know what kind of people it will attract. Technologies of too high a level could potentially create envy and cause conflict.”
“I see …”
There are people in every country, organization, or even individuals who had strong desires to monopolize.
The technologies and materials that existed on Horai and Konlon Islands would be the coveted targets of every country.
From that point of view, it was no wonder people had always possessed a tendency to prioritze the interest of their own country.
“I think the idea of creating the Holy Land of Magi Engineering is wonderful.”
She re-established her introductory remark and began to express her thoughts.
“Due to the Magi War, the world culture and civilization today have retrogressed compared to 300 years ago. It was the official stance of the ‘Unifiers’ to return the world standard to the pre-war level. However, not everything from 300 years ago was wonderful. Therefore, the Unifiers look to the past for reference … Wouldn’t it be best for Master to focus on and think about the future, and leave the past to the current Nostalgia?”
“The future, eh …?”
He understood what Ann wanted to convey. There was no necessity for Jin to follow the same path as his predecessor. The background of the era back then was different, after all.
“Well then, what shall I do …?”
“My Lord, in that case, you should use a place where no one could ever claim territory.”
Laojun was right. But the question was, where would that place be?
“One would be the bottom of the sea.”
“What?”
Jin was surprised because what Laojun suggested was out of the ordinary. However, there was also an example of the intermediary base “Shinkai” of the Transfer Gate Warp Gate. It was not that absurd of an idea, after all.
No country would bother to claim the bottom of the sea as its territory. There would be no way to utilize it in the first place.
“The other one would be in the air.”
“Huh?!”
This time, Jin was really taken aback. Floating such a big thing in the air … However, as expected, Jin quickly overcame his surprise and realized what Laojun meant.
“I see. Is the analysis of Gravity Magic progressing?”
“Yes, My Lord. According to My Lord’s knowledge of the, what was it called, ‘Space Station’ … if we could build a structure like that in space, no country would try to claim it as its territory.”
“That’s right, but …”
Jin felt that idea was a little too grandiose and wondered what would happen if he were to suddenly launch a space station.
“Would it work to use a large ship?”
Reiko gave her suggestion, but Laojun disapproved it.
“Reiko, it’s unfortunate but a ship would not be suitable for research because of the unsteady environment.”
“Oh, you’re right …”
Precise research could not be conducted inside a swaying ship. And so, the idea of ??a ship was rejected.
“Perhaps, there’s an option further north.”
The place that Laojun referred to in the north was the land of the demons. Sure, no country would want to claim it as its territory, but it would be too unrealistic.
“There’s also another option.”
With the keywords “land of the demons”, it seemed that Laojun found a new candidate site.
“Where is it?”
“The old Lenard Kingdom.”
“Oh, there …”
Jin learned about that place recently when chasing “Lardus the Jest”, a demon under Earl Walter, a nobleman of Klein Kingdom.
Lenard Kingdom was once existed there, but had fallen into ruins long ago.
“Since the kingdom has fallen into ruins, it currently doesn’t belong to anyone. What do you think?”
“Well, yeah … remind me, why did Lenard Kingdom fall into ruins again?”
Quintas had been dispatched to investigate the place, but had they discovered anything?
It was no trivial matter that the kingdom was completely obliterated along with all the people. War, plague, massacre … there were several possibilities, but none of them would cause such a thorough annihilation.
“Yes, according to the survey results so far, the people of that kingdom didn’t seem to die.”
“What?”
“The conclusion from the Quintas’ findings was that it was impossible for corpses, bones, and ashes to completely vanish due to sickness or massacre.”
Laojun was implying that the whole civilization could have migrated somewhere else in groups.
“There was no evidence of destruction in the buildings that remained either.”
“Did you hear anything from the remaining humans?”
“They don’t seem to be the original denizens of that kingdom. They migrated from other countries and didn’t seem to know anything.”
The investigation into the cause of the annihilation of the Lenard Kingdom seemed to have entered a dead end.
“Then we should avoid stepping into Lenard Kingdom without knowing the cause of their annihilation in the first place.”
“Yes, that would be wise.”
In that case, no good candidate site could be selected.
“Please show me the map.”
At Ann’s request, Laojun projected the current map onto the Magic Screen on the wall.
Staring tentatively at the map, Ann then pointed to one place on it and said,
“How about here?”
There was a cluster of small islands off the eastern coast of Lenard Kingdom. Ann pointed at one of those islands. It obviously was located within the territory of the former Lenard Kingdom and had a reasonable size comparable to Konlon Island.
“That’s certainly an uninhabited island. There are no dangerous large animals, and the resources are reasonably abundant.”
Horai and Konlon Islands were located roughly on the Tropic of Cancer, so were those islands. Therefore, they would have a similar climate.
“Hmm, would that be the most suitable site to develop the Holy Land?”
“Yes, considering the various advantages and disadvantages, I would think that is the best site.”
Laojun finally agreed.
“All right. Well then, let’s leave Horai Island as it is and only my ‘family’ has access to this place. Since Konlon Island is something like our vacation home, that island … hmm, shall we call it ‘Fuso’?”
Fuso was also the name of an island where legendary hermits live.
“Yes. Then, would it be all right to build a reserach institute on that Fuso Island with the scale comparable to the original size on Horai Island?”
“Well, please start from a large enough plot so we can expand it later when necessary. Also, please pick a location that will allow us to build a ship.”
“Affirmative. Is it okay to proceed with the development on Fuso Island as appropriate?”
“Yeah, go ahead. Also, let’s prepare dedicated Golems for the project.”
“Yes, please leave it to me.”
Jin determined the general objective and left the details to Laojun and Ann.
As such, the new era of Magical Technology would be coming soon.
Looking out the laboratory window at the spreading dawn, Jin smiled as he thought about how life would get busy again.