「Golems!?」
「That’s definitely one of Valentino’s golems!」
The golem that broke open the door had been owned by Valentino in the competition and was made by Lord Valerio.
「That guy, did he get reckless because he’s cornered?」
Then another figure appeared, it was another identical golem of the same type. 「Two golems! Did he make enough profit from smuggling to spend money like that?」
The two golems approached with firm steps while soaking in water up to their chest.
「I guess they came eyeing the evidence of the El Dorado Transactions.」
They are advancing straight towards 3 ships, Marcia’s catamaran being among them.
Reinhardt called out to Lorelei;
「Yes creator.」
The Mermaid type golem, Lorelei, appeared from the water.
「Wait, Reinhardt, do you really intend to stop both of them with just Lorelei?」
Lorelei’s leather material puts it at a disadvantage against a metallic enemy. While Jin worried he was told,
「Oh, even though it looks like this, Lorelei’s combat power is high, although it’s limited to the water.」
Saying so, he issued instructions to Lorelei.
Lorelei disappeared into the water, and the next moment, the two golems lost their balance as though they had lost their footing and fell down.
「Good! Well, we’d better get out of here before it’s too late.」
Reinhardt tries to make Elsa and Marcia evacuate the dock first, but
「I refuse! If left alone as is, won’t those golems destroy my ship?」
「Yes, of course. Apparently, those two golems seem to be a semi-autonomous type, and will keep working towards their goal until they are destroyed or complete it.」
When Jin said so, Marcia asked about what a semi-autonomous type was.
Reinhardt answered her question.
The reason semi-autonomous types are made the most is because they have some autonomy to react to a situation.
For example, you don’t have to give it detailed instructions when you say「Bring me ***** 」.
Conversely, an advanced autonomous golem would require a significantly higher skill to create than the average Magic Craftsman, which are already limited.
「Well, here it is too narrow…」
On the other hand, Jin was troubled. Reiko was in another room fighting at 10-20% against identical golems, but because of how small the docks were, her fighting ability was hindered further due to the probability of causing collateral damage to the surroundings.
When Reiko strikes with sufficient power to destroy a golem, the force is likely to be transferred behind it too, powerful enough to break a wall.
After looking around the dock, Jin found out whether or not there were any good methods of attack.
「Reiko! Knock that fishing weight into them!」
The weight, or ballast, weighed around 20kg. It’s used instead of an anchor to fix a ship in place temporarily.
「Yes, Father.」
Reiko lifted the lump of iron lightly with 20% of her output and threw it at the golem.
「Aaah!」
Whose voice was that?
The weight that Reiko threw crushed the upper body of the golem and protruded outside of the dock.
「It’s good that the door was open…」
Jin was relieved that the golem was forced out without breaking the door. Furthermore, Reiko hurled another weight at another golem.
The second golem raised its hand in order to catch the weight, but Reiko had thrown it with 20% of her total output.
The lump of iron that was flying at a super-high speed crushed the arm that was held out and the upper body as was and kept flying out to sea without losing any speed.
「…………」
「……」
Everyone who was watching were stunned like deers in headlights.
The first to return to their senses was Reinhardt.
「Lorelei, find the Control Core of the golem!」
「Yes.」
When analyzing the control cores, the criminal can be identified. Lorelei immediately retrieved the 2 Control Cores from the water.
On the other hand, Reinhardt began explaining the situation to the guards who had finally gathered. Elsa supports him from the side as well.
Jin who saw all of this thought it would make a good reference as expected.
「I see, the two golems forced open the door to the dock and attacked.」
「The guard is also hurt, but he’s also saying that without a doubt.」
「Anyways, please come to the lord’s place.」
「We’ll secure the crime scene」
They had caused a large uproar. Jin and the others were going to the female lord who rules the southern part of the Elias Kingdom including Port Lock, Dominique de Firentsiano, as important witnesses.
＊ ＊
Meanwhile, at the government building where Dominique de Firentsiano is…
Three subordinates of Marquis hudson and Valentino do Hudson were confined to a room on the 2nd floor for an investigation. For an aide to a feudal lord, it wasn’t a jail cell but a room in the government office building.
A detailed interrogation was scheduled to take place tomorrow.
As two guards were placed at the only entrance to the room…
The sound of broken glass resounded from behind the closed doors.
「What the!?!」
The guards were surprised by the sound and opened the door to see in the room and were astonished.
「G-Golem!?」
Two golems were there. If Jin saw this, he’d notice that they’re the same golems that attacked the tax carriers from Kaina village.
「Fufufu, as long as these guys are around I can’t be caught. I have no use for this country anymore.」
As he said so, Valentino was already disappearing through the escape hole, the golems rushing after him.
「W-wait!」
One of the guards runs out in pursuit while the other ran in order to report it to the lord.
「What was that?! Valentino has fled!?」
The lord who heard the report couldn’t believe their ears. It appeared that a noble’s son with a clear parentage ran away for fear of conviction.
「Hurry up and arrange a search!」
The subordinate followed the instructions, but there were few guards in this town. One by one they gathered increasing from the original 10 to 20 people.
Even with the resting half, their numbers were not enough to handle two golems.
And then…
「Lord Firentsiano, the visitors from the Shioro Empire, Reinhardt and Elsa, and the championship team “MJR” are here to see you. They are with the harbor guard as well.」
If it was only Jin and the others, they would have been put off, but when the female lord heard they were with an aristocrat, she ordered to let them through while thinking it was annoying.
Her appearance began to change as she listened to their story.
When Reinhardt cast [Read] on the Control Cores of the golem to display the instructions contents,
「Destroy the ship of team 35 and recover the evidence of the El Dorado transactions that were hidden it it. The person who gave these orders is… Valentino!」
(ED: Well done Sherlock!)
「The evidence has already been collected, This is it.」
Reinhardt put the evidence on the table. The complexion of Firentsiano turned pale and confirmed that the crest was one that Valentino used.
「When the story is put together, Valentino seems to have been involved in smuggling.」
A year ago, the El Dorado was meant to be gifted to the Royal Family, but it went missing and was presumably stolen. The same El Dorado was then found hidden within Marcia’s ship, which was also accompanied by the smuggling contract.
「A carved seal of an ‘E’ is engraved on the evidence.」
The stone’s appearance was written within the contract, and it depicted that all of the stones shared the same ‘E’ marking.
「But, it was often hidden in such a place, wasn’t it?」
The female lord regarded a strange thing, Marcia thought for a little.
「Oh, it must be that then. A magic craftsman wasn’t found to participate last year, but this year they could so the ship was being remodelled.」
At that time, anyone could approach it since it was stored at a beach and not a dock.
It was a ship with an unusual shape, so it worked well as a marker.
「…There was a report that they pursued a suspicious person. When they caught up with him and inspected his personal belongings they found nothing.」
The Marquis said so while looking at the past records.
At that time, Marcia saw Valentino and was gloomily told to “Be his mistress”. Because it was bothersome, she went to the neighbouring town where her father’s shop was with the catamaran.
Valentino who intended to collect it immediately seemed to have gotten impatient.
「He only found it again when Marcia decided to participate in the competition with the ship that hid the evidence of his smuggling.」
All of the reasons became clear with this.
「When we interrogate Valentino, we’ll also find out the third party responsible that stole and are trading the El Dorado.」
Reinhardt said with a relieved face, but the female lord frowned.
「In fact… some time ago Valentino escaped from custody with the aid of golems.」
「What?!」
「I have to report to the imperial capital and place Valentino on a wanted list. Reinhardt, could you go with me?」
「Yes, of course.」
Jin and Marcia left at that point. From then on, there was no place for civilians.
＊ ＊
The next morning, Jin and Marcia bid farewell at the port.
「If you come to town, make sure to visit me, because I will build up [Marcia’s Shipyard] magnificently!」
「Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Make a lot of good ships!」
Jin and Marcia shook hands and parted in this way.
＊ ＊
Afterwords:
Other than Valentino, another person was arrested for the smuggling.
One of the guardsmen was hired to set fire to the dock. They were off duty, but they approached the dock area with free entry by site.
It also came to light that the guard captain committed multiple misdeeds and was also receiving a bribe from Valentino. He was dismissed and jailed.
The men who were stunned by Reiko when they tried to attack Marcia were caught for another incident in the neighbouring town, but they confessed readily when they considered their other crimes and were interrogated.
Later on, a large number of Death Sea Serpent corpses were found off of Io Island, but there were no witnesses who could be questioned about it.