Although they went very off topic there, they still ended up returning to the original topic at the end-how to deal with Klein Kingdom.
“Jin, what do you plan to do?”
“Hmmm… I didn’t really plan on doing anything really… it’s a bother.”
Reinhardt let out a small laugh hearing his answer, but he wore a serious face the very next moment and warned Jin.
“That’s no good. Not only will they take you lightly, nothing will change on their side. And the fact that they won’t change means that they’ll probably do something similar again.”
“Yea, that’s probably what’s going to happen.”
“Just think about it, if these gigantic centipedes had made their way to Kaina village and there were casualties, could you have been as carefree?”
Jin’s expression stiffened.
“That is true. A firm response would be needed in such a case.”
“My lord, let us use Machina’s name.”
Laojun suggested.
“My lord is soft, Machina is hard. Let’s differentiate it like that.”
Hearing that, Stearleana voiced her doubt.
“Who is this Machina?”
“It is my lord’s other face.”
“Ah, as I thought. I thought I heard it before during the dispute…”
Stearleana understood.
“The one who saved those 4 is Machina. As such, let us use Machina’s name to give a warning to the kingdom.”
“But then, they might look into Jin and Machina’s relation, you know?”
“Officially, Machina has saved the four from the kingdom, as such, let us send them a warning as Machina.”
“They might look into Jin and Machina’s relationship in such a case, you know?”
“In that case, we could say that Machina is my lord’s senior as a disciple.”
Reinhardt nodded after pondering for a while.
“Right, I think it would also be better if we add that Jin and Machina aren’t that close.”
“Then we could say that my lord became a disciple after Machina became independent.”
“That should do it. Well, I doubt they would come ask in the first place, though.”
“How about we send them a few pieces of the chopped up gigantic pede?”
“Of course, with a document blaming the Klein Kingdom as well.”
Reinhardt and Laojun kept progressing the talk by themselves.
“Let’s also send a part of the broken general use golem. After all, we will be repairing them with 18-12 stainless steel instead of 5-½ nickel.”
By sending them a portion of the exterior, they would be letting the kingdom know what foolish move they made.
“How about we also send the ones responsible in Toka village along with it?”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Um, Bolton, Heintz, the coachman and… Viscount Buyer, was it?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, take ‘em out during nighttime and send them off to Alban.”
It seems Jin was quite angry as he could see the destroyed general-use golem lying in the corner.
4th of July, early dawn.
It would be fine to send it to Klein Kingdom’s royal castle via the transmission device. The Quinta in charge of Alban, Spica 7, was able to send it with minimal error.
Same day, in the morning.
There was a huge uproar in front of the royal palace in Alban, Klein Kingdom.
“W-what is, this?”
“Is it a centipede monster?”
“Who is there? ……M-Mr. Bolton? Even Heintz Lash!”
“Also Viscount Buyer!”
“…And who is that? The coachman?”
A piece of the centipede, a piece of the broken golem and the VIPs there were lying in front of the royal castle unconscious. There’s no way it would not turn into an uproar.
Considering that the piece is of a centipede of 10 meter length. It was a threat in and of itself.
“There’s a letter too? …For the Klein Kingdom’s King? The sender is… Deus Ex Machina?!”
“Call the prime minister!”
“The healing party as well! Hurry!”
The uproar finally calmed down after 3 o’clock.
Seven people had gathered in the king’s office.
Klein Kingdom’s King Alois The 3rd, minister Powell, leader of the order of chivalry Glen, leader of the 2nd knights’ squad Belnard, Bolton Ohlstat, Heintz Lash and Viscount Buyer.
“Now then, first off, Viscount Buyer. Let’s hear it. Bolton, you’re to intersect if the Viscount’s explanation has something missing or is unclear. Heintz as well.” said the prime minister.
Alois the 3rd was just glaring at the viscount in silence. Bolton was cowering in fear. Heintz was also on edge, being glared at by his superior.
Although his mental chaos had died down and his injuries had also been healed, he looked pale due to the tense atmosphere. However, since he was questioned, he couldn’t afford to stay silent and so he reluctantly opened his mouth.
“Y-yes… Firstly, we were at the Inada mine…”
He slowly started explaining the situation starting from his assignment there. Bolton also assisted in the explanation, and some details here and there and Heinz backed them up.
And then they came to the point where the centipede appeared.
“… A huge centipede crawled out from the back of the mine, and we had no choice but to retreat.”
Bolton added immediately.
“It was Deus Ex Machina who saved us, and it was also Machina who got rid of the centipedes.”
Hearing that, Viscount Buyer bit his lips and was trembling.
“Fools. Not only did you bring about loss of trust from Mr. Jin, but you also caused a disaster that you couldn’t solve yourself-making Machina, who is not even someone from the Klein Kingdom, fix your mess.”
The king was enraged.
“Did Mr. Machina really get rid of that monster?”
The Viscount was still in disbelief.
“Yes. Did you see the centipede piece that was left with you? The sword broke when they tried slashed it. Even as we see it here, I can understand that that monster is beyond our control.”
It can be cut with an adamantite blade. Unless it’s a super-fast vibrating sword, it’s definitely not easy.
“A part of the destroyed general-purpose golem was also sent. Ten of these golems were lost at once! …According to the letter, Mr. Jin is also indignant. But of course. We were secretly mining even after saying that we would give it to him. And to top it all of, a monster came out of the mine and it is now abandoned.”
The king’s voice slowly became sad.
“…I was stupid. I lost credibility and lost precious golems. I can no longer ask Mr. Jin to make more of them.”
Mining the natural resources from the mine without telling Jin was a breach of trust itself. What kind of a face is he supposed to make to ask Jin to make him more?
“…At this point, I have to consider completely transferring Kaina village to him, not just lease it.”
Alois the 3rd was at his wits’ end.
“Even Mr. Machina’s impression of us has surely gotten worse …”
Deus Ex Machina, who has the means to carry not only humans, but also the centipede pieces from Toka village all the way to Alban in just one day or less.
They assumed he had some sort of connection with Jin and wanted to deepen their bonds going forward but this is doing completely the opposite.
“…where did we go wrong?”
King Alois the 3rd regretted his indecisiveness and what he couldn’t say earlier.
However, in such a situation, the current situation cannot be improved overnight, and so his worries deepened.
Even so, he was able to dispose of Viscount Buyer as the person responsible.
He was well aware that this does not solve the problem. He only hoped that this would prove to be a warning towards the old nobles to act with care.
“Viscount Buyer is confiscated and deprived of his title. Exiled from the capital.”
The king himself declared the punishment. He had been taking a cut so this much was obvious.
On the other hand, Bolton Ohlstat and Heintz Lash were only rebuked and had their salary reduced for one year.
Afterwards, it was decided that the resources derived from the Inado mine loaded on the four wagons that returned a few days later would be transferred to Jin as is.
Furthermore, they also started considering making Kaina village Jin’s permanent land.
Such events in the Klein Kingdom were known by Laojun.
“Well, I suppose that’s a reasonable line.”
Kaina village will now become Jin’s land-not just a leasehold land. In other words, it would now be an independent area.
“Although, it seems it has not been made final yet.”
There is definitely a high possibility of it happening. It is not like he really wants it but it wouldn’t be bad to have it as his own land.
“In such a case, we need to stay unrelated to the Klein Kingdom… If that happens, my lord will be a feudal lord in its true sense.”
Laojun was secretly pleased.
“If that happens, we can develop Kaina Village boldly.”
And so Laojun began making plans for development straight away.