Stearleana’s room was on the guesthouse’s 3rd floor.
There was a maid in that room as well, but since they were about to discuss a private matter, she was asked to leave.
“So, what did you want to discuss with me?”
Stearleana asked while pouring the tea the maid had prepared before leaving.
“Well, first of all, I wanted to know if you’d join us as a partner, Stearleana.”
Jin went straight to the point. Perhaps he had been too straightforward about it, since Stearleana didn’t seem to be able to grasp the meaning of his words.
“What do you mean, “as a partner”? Not as friends?”
“Yes, as a partner.”
Having finally understood the meaning, Stearleana’s face became brighter.
“… Could it be that I’ll learn a lot more about you, like your secrets and so on, Jin?”
“Ah, yeah, well…”
“Let’s do it then! I won’t have to come back to my home country either!”
After hearing those words, Jin asked her again in order to double-check.
“… Do you really mean that?”
“Huh?”
“Are you really okay with leaving your country in order to learn Magi Craft? Are you ready for that?”
Feeling Jin’s tone of voice and Reinhardt’s mood, Stearleana changed her cheerful manner of speaking into a more serious one.
“Yes, I’m okay with that. How about I show you some proof of that?”
Stearleana opened one of her dresser’s drawers and reached for her bag inside it. Then, she took out an ID card from it. It looked like a passport.
“If I don’t have this with me, I can’t go back to my country. I’m willing to offer this to you.”
Jin pushed the ID back into her hands.
“I understand. But you don’t need to go that far. There’s only one thing I’d like to ask your permission for, though. Please let me use Transinfo.”
“Transinfo? What kind of magic is that?”
Jin decided to answer that question honestly.
“It’s a spell that reads what’s in your mind and transfers it into a Magi Crystal. You can use it to quickly tell if someone is lying.”
People would normally be creeped out by the idea of having their thoughts read like an open book, but Stearleana didn’t seem to be too worried about it.
“Yes, go ahead.”
Stearleana’s dignified attitude made Jin feel a bit awkward. But in the end, he had to do it if he wanted to move forward.
“Transinfo Lvl 8.”
“Kya!”
For a brief moment, Stearleana let out a small shriek of discomfort.
“Will this do?”
Stearina asked Jin as he stared at the Magi Crystal resting in his hands.
“Yes, all there’s left now is to analyze it. But that’s the easy part.”
The magic tool he created the other day together with Laojun was called “Thought Checker”. It looked like a cube, about 15 centimeters wide.
It had the same structure as that used for golems’ Control Cores. The most particular thing about it is that it used a sub-Control Core for storing memories.
Once a Magi Crystal was loaded with a mind’s contents, all there was left to do was to set the crystal into this sub-Control Core.
The Control Core would then automatically scan over the transferred memories and thoughts, and check if there was any lie in Stearleana’s feelings of becoming their partner.
As soon as that’s done, the Magi Crystal then would erase those stored memories and thoughts in order to protect her privacy.
Its vocalization ability was a primitive “word combination” type. In other words, a simple combination of a few pre-built words. Complex conversations weren’t entirely impossible, but they would take a lot of time to implement.
This was also made so in order to protect her privacy. In other words, no matter how much one would like to peer into her memories, they wouldn’t be able to.
With this, Jin reviewed Stearleana’s consciousness, and got a “No problem, Aptitude A” result. By the standards of the Hourai Family, “A” was a level where a person holds no intention to betray someone. Laojun was particularly picky about this one.
“Sorry for doubting you, Stearleana.”
Both Jin and Reinhardt started by bowing their heads in apology.
“I think it will be clear after this why I had to go to such lengths to confirm this.”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it.”
With this, Jin and Reinhardt left the guesthouse, and quietly headed for Jin’s carriage accompanied by Stearleana, who had been deemed qualified to become their partner.
After making sure there was no one around, they used the Warp Gate that was installed inside the carriage.
“W-What was that?”
Jin, Reiko, Reinhardt, and Stearleana appeared in “Shinkai”. Since it had been her first experience using the Warp Gate, Stearleana was both surprised and excited about it.
“We have relocated instantly using this Warp Gate.”
“Eh, eh, eh? Warp Gate?”
“Yeah. You’ll get used to it.”
Then, they headed for Hourai Island.
After going through the entrance hall from the Warp Gate’s room, Jin uttered the usual lines as soon as they left the laboratory.
“Welcome to Hourai Island, Stearleana.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Stearleana was surprised by the Warp Gate, but soon learned that it had been just the beginning.
The rest was just the usual course.
She was surprised by the golem maids, the mountains of materials, the facilities, the toilets, and the hot springs.
“… I don’t want to go home anymore…”
That’s what she really thought.
However…
“But you’ll have to return soon.”
“Huh? Why? I want to stay here longer!”
“… But if you stay here for too long, you’ll be reported as a missing person, and a search party will be dispatched to find you, right?”
They would all be suspected instantly because she had been last seen heading out together with Jin and Reinhardt.
“Uhhh, you’re right…”
“This doesn’t mean you can’t come here anymore. Tomorrow, we’ll pretend you’re returning to your country, and then I’ll pick you up on the way.”
“Really? I’m looking forward to that!”
With that, Stearleana was set to return to the Shouro Empire.
“Well then, please use this.”
“Umm, a Mana Comm, was it? Thank you. I will.”
After sending Stearleana back to the guesthouse, Jin and Reinhardt decided to go to Reinhardt’s parents’ home for the time being.
The “Scarlet Trail” was fast enough to take them to Count Randall’s residence by evening. Jin’s carriage would return there by land later. It was a huge advantage to not have to run by carriage through the night all the way there.
“By the way, Jin, what about Elsa and the others?”
Jin and the others had a relaxed chat after dinner.
In response to Reinhardt’s question, Jin explained the situation in Kaina village.
“Hmm, it was hard, but Sally Milleshan seems to be a very good doctor.”
“Did you say Milleshan?”
A curious Berthie asked from the side.
“Isn’t she a dark-blonde haired, blue-eyed woman in her late forties…? She hasn’t reached her fifties, has she?”
“Ah, yeah, looks like we’re talking about the same person. Though I haven’t asked her her age.”
After hearing Jin’s answer, Berthie clapped her hands and seemed very rejoiced.
“Well! In that case, she must be related to that doctor!”
“That doctor? Do you know her, Berthie?”
Reinhardt had never heard about the Milleshan family.
“Yes, I know about Clara Milleshan. It’s thanks to her that I’ve been able to be born into this world.
“What do you mean?”
“I guess I never told you about this. My mother, Hilde, was born during the eight month of her mother’s pregnancy. In short, she was a premature baby. Because she was born prematurely, she fell to illness, and at one point, her life was at stake. But Dr. Clara saved her. Of course, this is a story I heard from my grandmother.”
It seemed that Sally was related to that healer Berthie talked about, Clara Milleshan.
Berthie assumed that she could probably be her daughter, based on her age. The dark-blonde hair and the blue eyes were things she would have inherited from her mother.
“Wasn’t she also using the healing magic they use in the Shouro Empire…?”
Jin also seemed to remember that. Was Sally Clara’s daughter after all?
“But why was she in the Celuroa Kingdom…? Could it be…?”
“Do you know anything about this, Berthie?”
“Yes, but this is also something I’ve heard…”