Chapter 436: The Wonderful Hourai Island

Jin spared no detail about himself.

From everyone present, who couldn’t bring themselves to speak before…

“Brother Jin… Thank you. Thank you for trusting us with this.”

…Elsa was the first one to speak…

“Tsk, good grief. I knew you weren’t normal, Jin, but I would have never expected something like this.”

…Then Saki laughed as she said that…

“Ah, that’s right, Jin. Let us do our best to respond to your trust.”

…And Reinhardt nodded earnestly.

On the other hand, Berthie seemed to be overwhelmed by Jin’s story, as she grabbed Reinhardt’s sleeve tightly, but eventually relaxed her body.

“…Right. No matter what the story is, Jin is always going to be Jin. You’re my husband’s friend, and at the same time, my own friend as well, right?”

Mine also added to that.

“I never realized you were having such a hard time right under our noses. I’ll do my best from now on to help you as much as I can.”

Stearleana was completely befuddled, but still managed to pull herself together, and…

“Thank you for telling me about yourself, Jin. I’ll never speak of this with anyone else. Or perhaps I should say that I won’t ever need to return to that country.”

…Made such a bombshell announcement.

“T-That won’t do… I’d rather you come here again after returning to your home.

There was no exaggeration in saying that if she were to be reported as missing in the Emperor Shouro, it would turn into an international issue. Jin didn’t want to go out of his way to bring about unnecessary trouble, so he asked Stearleana to tread carefully.

Right after that had been settled, Jin moved onto showing some actual things.

“First of all, Daidara.”

It was a golem for civil engineering work. It had a huge body, 15 meters high and weighing 8 tons.

“U-Uoooh!”

“Kyaaa!”

“T-This is amazing…”

Daidara appeared, making the ground tremble under each step it took.

There was a huge difference between hearing about something and actually seeing it with one’s own eyes. Even Reinhardt, who had seen the artifacts of the Shouro Empire known as gigantic golems, found himself trembling out of Daidara’s intimidating presence.

Even looking at a single one of its movements was enough to show that it was vastly superior to the gigantic golem that Marcus had dispatched. Its movements were amazingly smooth and natural.

“J-Jin! You’re definitely the best! The Magi Craft Meister!”

“Thank you. …There’s one more. The transport aircraft, Pelican 2.”

The Pelican 2 was taken out of the hangar in the corner of the square in front of the laboratory. Elsa was the only of them who had boarded it before.

“Well, hop on.”

“Huh? Jin, isn’t this just like the vehicle you had me board earlier?”

Stearleana was quick to point that out.

“That’s right. It’s the same model.”

“Hmm? It looks a bit like Jin’s carriage?”

Jin boarded it last, after everyone else. The pilot was Sky 2.

“Okay, then, please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts…”

After making sure everyone had properly done as he said, Jin too took a seat and fastened his seatbelt.

“Okay, Sky 2, if you please.”

“Understood. Taking off.”

Powered by its 3 Magi Jet Engines, the Pelican was able to take off after a short run, but since it was the first ride for most of the people on board, this time they took a long takeoff run with modest acceleration and took off leisurely.

“U-Uwaaahhh!”

“W-We’re flying!”

“We’re really flying…”

“To think Jin holds this much power…”

Jin had told them that the machine was able to soar through the sky, but when the Pelican actually took off, everyone other than Elsa was overcome with excitement.

As they gained altitude, Hourai Island gradually became smaller and smaller, to the point that it could be clearly seen that it was a small island floating over the ocean.

“T-This is amazing… I knew we were going to be flying, but this is really something else, isn’t it?”

“Good grief, Jin. It might be too late for me to say this, but you’re amazing. Hats off to you.”

However, Jin took their compliments with a humble attitude.

“Well, this is nothing more than the Science from my world.”

In response to that, Saki gave further praise.

“This is a masterpiece, born from the fusion between science and magic!”

Berthie and the others were silently looking outside through the windows.

“Our current altitude is approximately at 10,000 meters right now. Things above ground look like mere dots from here.”

“Umm, Jin, could that under us be the Elias Peninsula?”

Of course, being a diplomat, Reinhardt had a general knowledge of geography.

“That’s right. This Pelican is now flying east… Sky 2, turn a little northward.”

“Understood.”

As we turned north, we could see a wide plateau under the path of Pelican 2.

“Could it be… Is that Blue Land?”

“That’s the city where your friend, Master Lewis, lives.”

Lewis was the name of Count Kuzuma. Reinhardt nodded at Berthie, and…

“How fast do you think could go, Jin?”

…Showed a bit of that engineer’s curiosity of his.

“We’re at around 300 km/h now. I wonder if it can reach about 500 km/h.”

Reinhardt was surprised at Jin’s answer.

“Ah, Jin… I’ll follow you for the rest of my life!”

It was Stearleana who had made such a statement with that coquettish voice of hers. Her blushed face showed that she was quite stimulated.

“To think that there is such a world! And my own country is so proud of its ancient history that they’re not open to trying new things. It’s a country that is so conservative that it has become a hotbed for those Unifiers. I don’t make crystal golems just because I enjoy it. I do it because that’s the only thing that I’m allowed to do!”

Stearleana opened her heart with a loud voice.

“I want to make more and more useful things for people! But day after day, day after day, all I get to do is research on crystal golems and beautiful Automata. That’s the only thing that’s allowed!”

That was probably part of the dark side of the Celuroa Kingdom. Stearleana poured her heart out and let her soul cry out for the first time in this high altitude, in this environment where no one had to be afraid of what others may think.

“You’ve had it rough too, Stearleana.”

As Jin said that to sympathize with her, Stearleana puffed her cheeks.

“This won’t do, Jin. Enough with the “partner” thing, okay? Won’t you treat me as your friend when you speak with me, just like you do with Reinhardt?

After she said that, Berthie stared harshly at Reinhardt, and Elsa and Saki did the same to Jin.

Pelican 2 drew a large arc as it soared through the sky. As it turned slowly to the east, the sea became visible again.

“Since I’m showing you so much already, I’ll tell you this as well. Right now, the fastest in Hourai Island is my own Pegasus 1, which can reach 800 km/h.

Everyone was left speechless after hearing that number.

However, Reinhardt notices that his sister didn’t seem as surprised.

“Elsa, you… Could it be that you’ve already boarded a plane before?”

“Yeah… When I got help from the Unifiers. Also, the other day, when I went to take the Klein Kingdom in order to help with the measures against the disease…”

Upon hearing that, Reinhardt shed bitter tears of regret.

“Waaaaah! I’ve never been so disappointed at the court service befooore!”

Sitting next to him, his beloved wife stared at him with cold eyes.

＊ ＊ ＊

After a 2-hour flight, they landed in front of the laboratory.

With a sidelong glance, Jin poured salt on the wounds of everyone else who were still unsure about how safe it was to walk around.

“Let’s go behind the laboratory this time.”

What was waiting for them there was a huge Warp Gate.

“This is a Warp Gate that doesn’t need a receiving end on its destination. It’s called “Transporter”. Unfortunately, it only works in one direction.”

“Whaaaaaaat!?”

In this world where even Warp Gates are treated as artifacts, Jin improved them and created new ones.

The only one who could say something was Reinhardt. Everyone else was so surprised that they couldn’t bring themselves to speak.