After being done with Reinhardt’s moving for the time being, Jin thought about how to pick up Stearleana.
“Hmm, but there’s going to be a coachman…”
He couldn’t just take off with her right in front of her coachman. It was a difficult problem.
If it weren’t for the fact that she was inside the Shouro Empire’s territory, it would be possible to make it look like she had run off with someone, but with things as they were, it could turn into an international matter.
If she were on this side of the Celuroa Kingdom, then there shouldn’t be any problems (internationally, at least).
Jin thought hard about how to solve this problem. And soon enough, he came with an answer.
“That’s it!”
“Father?”
Puzzled, Reiko stared at Jin, who had shouted involuntarily and out of the blue.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing, I just came up with a good way to pick Stearleana up.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Reinhardt asked with a lot of interest.
“This may be a long shot, but I think Stearleana would be hiring a carriage to return to her country.”
“Ah, yes, I think it’s safe to say that.”
“In that case, I could…”
As Jin was about to finish, Reinhardt’s face showed that he knew what he was going to say.
“Take over the carriage, right!?”
“That’s right. By doing that, if I drive the carriage right away, there would be no need to have anyone riding it. Worst case scenario, I could just have a substitute.”
“Ohoho, that sounds interesting.”
Saki, who was sitting next to them, jumped into the conversation.
“If they have departed for Roizart this morning, a normal carriage could have reached Riare by now.”
Reinhardt also tried to guess the carriage’s position. In fact, since Jin already knew Stearleana’s magic pattern, he could use a Magi Radar to pinpoint her exact location.
“The quickest way to do this would be to go to Riare tonight or tomorrow morning, and change carriages there… But it’s a little far away.”
After saying that, Reinhardt was surprised to see a faint smile on Jin’s face.
“… Right. Distance isn’t a problem for you, is it, Jin?”
Jin nodded silently, and Reinhardt closed his eyes and sighed.
“I’ll tell you about that tomorrow too once I bring Stearleana.”
“Ah, I’m looking forward to it!”
＊ ＊ ＊
That night, Jin went back to Hourai Island together with Reiko. He was going to give one instruction there.
“Laojun, please prepare a dummy golem by tomorrow morning.”
“Understood. You are going to meet with Miss Stearleana, correct?”
It seemed that Laojun was aware of Jin’s plan after some conversation.
Then, he contacted Stearleana using the Mana Comm.
“Ah, Jin? What is it?”
“Actually, I have this planned for tomorrow…”
Jin explained his plan. Needless to say, Stearleana sounded pleased with it.
After getting a few more details ready, Jin spent the night in Hourai Island.
Dawn of July 2nd. Due to the time difference, Jin could take it easy for the first hours of the day (though he had stayed up late at night).
He took a morning bath, enjoyed a meal at leisure, and finally went out.
He used the transporter, which was becoming the standard. He went with Pelican 1 to get to the sky above Riare. He didn’t use Pegasus 1 because he was taking a carriage with him.
The time difference between Riare and Hourai Island is 5 hours. While Jin left Hourai Island at 8 in the morning, in Riare it was still 3 in the morning.
Using Invisible to stay out of sight in the black of night, he landed in the suburbs of Riare, bringing the carriage down with him. Of course, he brought both Steward as a coachman, and a brand new golem horse along. Though performance would be dropping considerably by doing so.
Even though he didn’t rush, he managed to arrive at Riare a little before dawn.
He had already passed this road once during his trip to the Shouro Empire, so he didn’t have much trouble finding his way forward. Jin parked the carriage on the side of the road and waited for the dawn.
It was 5 o’clock. Riare was an open town, and carriages started to move about early in the morning. Jin hurried, wondering if it was time to get there already.
“Let’s see, she said it was a hotel along the way, wasn’t it? Ah, is that it?”
He had asked her back when he contacted her through the Mana Comm, so he could tell right away.
“Kemeria Hotel… Yes, this is it.”
Kemerias were red flowers that looked like camellias. As the name of the hotel suggested, there were many kemerias planted around the building.
“Ah, Jin, you’re early.”
Even though it was 5:30, Stearleana was standing in front of the hotel.
“Good morning. You’re quite the early bird, aren’t you?”
“Oh, is that your carriage?”
Stearleana’s eyes began to sparkle as soon as she saw the golem horse.
“Ah, yes.”
“How lovely! Well then, let’s go!”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ‘huh’ me. I’ve already canceled the carriage I had signed up for, and I’ve also already checked out of the hotel.”
Upon closer inspection, Jin could see a great pile of luggage next to Stearleana. And the Crystal… Blue Topaz Golem, Selene.
Jin was surprised at their swiftness. He understood just how eager Stearleana was to go to Hourai Island.
“Got it. Let’s go, then.”
Since it was an 8-seater carriage, it could carry quite a large deal of luggage. With Reiko’s help, they quickly finished loading the luggage, and then Jin turned the carriage around and began to go back the way he came.
“Oh, this carriage is also very comfortable to ride. It hardly shakes.”
The power of the active golem suspension ensured the same quality while riding over cobblestones and rough roads alike.
“And it’s fast. Is it about twice as fast as a regular carriage, maybe?”
Although its performance had been reduced, it still could run at more than double the speed of a general carriage, just as the Stearleana had observed.
They left the main road at 6 o’clock and arrived at the landing point of Pelican 1.
“Anything you want to carry with you?”
“Ah, let’s see… A change of clothes, and… There, that should do it.”
With only the things she could carry on hand, Stearleana stepped down from the carriage.
“Well then, this way.”
She then hopped on board while under the effects of Invisible, with Reiko leading the way.
“Huh? Is it safe from this point on?”
Jin assured Stearleana that he would explain everything later, and then they went through the Warp Gate, followed by Reiko and Selene.
They went through “Shinkai” this time around. After explaining her roles in more detail, they headed for Hourai Island once again.
“Welcome back, My Lord. Welcome to Hourai Island, Miss Stearleana.”
Laojun greeted them. The four of them crossed the entrance hall and headed outside.
Waiting for them there were Reinhardt, Berthie, Elsa, Mine, and Saki, who Jin had contacted earlier. The whole Hourai Family had come out to greet them. They all offered their warm words of welcome.
“Welcome, Stearleana.”
They all said the same at the same time, but it was a heartfelt sentiment. Stearleana’s face brightened up instantly, then she replied.
“Thank you, everyone! Ah, I’m finally here!”
She sounded very excited about it.
Everyone gathered at the table set up in the front yard of the laboratory while they waited for Stearleana to settle down. Then, Jin started talking.
“Well, everyone, I’d like to begin by telling you that I’ve been keeping silent about some things.”
“Huh?”
“Brother Jin…”
“Since Stearleana is here, I’ll start again from the beginning.”
Thus, Jin started to talk.
About how he was born and raised on Earth. About being an orphan. About how he fell into a smelting furnace, probably to his death, only to appear in this alternate world.
About how the Automata that had been Reiko’s predecessor, created by Adrianna Balbora Ceci, spent the last thousand years searching for the second generation, finally finding Jin, and summoning him to this world.
About inheriting all of Adrianna Balbora Ceci’s knowledge, and Hourai Island.
And about what he had been doing ever since coming to this world…
He had already talked about most of this with Elsa, and Reinhardt already had a general idea about it all.
But Berthie, Mine, Saki, and Stearleana were rendered speechless out of surprise.