05-16 At the church

Reinhardt, who learned that the refrigerator was Jin’s work asked,

“Jin, when did you make this? Didn’t you say you’ve not been into this city? That means you made it in another city, so…”

It seemed like the piled up falsehoods were going to start toppling down, so Jin spoke frankly.

“Let’s see, it was in Blue Land”

“Blue Land?! I was making plans to go there next! And you’ve been there!”

Jin explained that he’s not seen all of the town. Only outside the castle walls.

“Hmm, is that’s so, then how did you go to Blue Land?”

While thinking about how the Port Rock investigation incident revealed Reinhardt’s poor reasoning skills, Jin replied

“…There’s a Warp Gate exit on the outskirts of Blue Land.”

“Oh, wouldn’t that mean if I went to Blue Land I could visit Jin’s home?”

It’s here, Jin thought. Sooner or later this day would’ve come.

“But isn’t there a barrier that restricts who can use the Warp Gate? I wonder if it’s possible to modify the restriction?”

Reinhardt kept rapidly throwing out pointed questions. Jin simply hoped Kunlun’s development was proceeding well.

“Hmm. I wouldn’t know without trying, but I think that as long as we entered together it would probably work.”

Jin decided that that’ll do as an answer for now.

Reinhardt was also satisfied with that, then told everyone that it’s time to go to the next place and went outside.

They lined up and got in the carriage which headed to the main street. The central street was paved with stones, so there was very little dust.

“This road is also pre-Great Magic War. Because Hardening and Strengthening have been applied to it, it has lasted this long.”

If carriages with iron wheels driving over it don’t wear out the stone paving, it must’ve been indeed reinforced with magic.

And at the end of the central street it stood.

“That’s this country’s oldest church.”

Even though it can’t be called popular, as expected religion hasn’t disappeared.

The church was entirely made out of stone, and it reminded Jin of some World Heritage churches he saw on TV.

“Everyone can visit it freely.”

Reinhardt said, stopped the carriage, and beckoned Jin to follow. Looks like it’s become more of a tourist attraction-like thing, even though it’s a church.

“There’s something I want to consult you about.”

At the entrance, while wondering how much alms to give, the gate opened. Gates five meters wide and ten meters tall, shaped like arches.

Inside, the floors were polished so that you could see your own reflection, and the walls were filled with engravings and murals. On the ceiling, there were skylights made of colored gla.s.s here and there.

“Indeed, it is an amazing piece of art.”

“It’s my first time here too. It’s very interesting.”

Jin and Elsa gave their respective opinions.

“Isn’t it? Modern techniques can’t reproduce even a single piece of that colored gla.s.s.”

Reinhardt pointed his finger at a piece of stained gla.s.s modeled in the shape of a flower.

“Because of the Great Magic War?”

“That’s right. It was a detestable war.”

Jin agreed. The Great Magic War caused this world’s culture and civilization to not only stagnate, but to even regress.

After a walk through a long corridor, the group arrived in the innermost place of wors.h.i.+p.

“Hey, look at that.”

Reinhardt pointed his finger at one of the paintings on the ceiling.

“!”

Jin’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Drawn there was a small circle rotating around a larger circle. And rotating around the small circle there had been drawn an even smaller circle.

That is, the picture depicted a star, a planet, and a satellite.

“Do you know what this is?”

Jin slowly opened his mouth to respond.

“…The sun, this world, and then… The moon, isn’t that right?”

Reinhardt was shocked after hearing Jin’s response.

“Jin! Isn’t this your first visit here? Why do you know the conclusion which took countless of successive generations of researchers to arrive at!?”

The surrounding tourists sent puzzled looks at Reinhardt’s sudden loud outburst. Elsa, who noticed this, chided Reinhardt,

“Rai-nii, you’re too loud. It’s better to have that talk in some other place.”

Reinhardt understood and let the matter wait for a better spot.

＊ ＊ ＊

It was lunch time, so Jin and the others went to a nearby restaurant. Luckily a private room was empty, and they sat down there.

“Now then, Jin, give me an answer to my previous question!”

Reinhardt asked Jin with a ragged breath.

“Before I answer, could I ask a single question? …Was my previous opinion considered heresy?”

This was an important matter. Even on Earth, when the heliocentric theory came to deny the old Earth-centric theory, many people were… Names like Copernicus and Galileo sprung into Jin’s mind.

“Uh? Not particularly, there’s no such thing.”

But Reinhardt gave Jin an unexpected reply.

The earth is round, and that could be easily confirmed by boarding a boat. It can also explain why there are four seasons.

Certainly, this world’s horizon looks spherical. Jin was fairly certain this world was smaller than Earth.

“Well, I’d say there exists people who think the world is flat.”

The roundness is an optical illusion, they’d say.

Then they’d finish with the words that it doesn’t even matter in our day-to-day lives.

“So, Jin, what’s your answer?”

If heresy doesn’t particularly exist then there’s not much to worry about. A weight was lifted off Jin’s shoulders. He was already thinking about how to escape with Reiko if worst came to worst.

“Oh, my teacher taught it to me.”

It was a doubtful line, but not technically a lie. His schoolteacher taught it to him, after all.

“I haven’t heard who taught it to my teacher.”

As expected, Reinhardt and Elsa misunderstand Jin’s reply.

“Hmm, Your master is indeed an amazing person.”

“That’s true. The theory started spreading through Shouro Empire only ten years ago.”

The theory itself goes back way further, but eventually a scholar used the drawing to explain various phenomena. That’s sort of a big deal.

“Excuse me. Here is your meal.”

At that moment, the food was brought in, and the topic changed to lunch.

Sauteed bird breast, grilled fish with herbs, a steak, and some light wine as a drink.

Jin didn’t recognize all the different birds, fish, meat, or fruit, but it was still delicious.

For dessert, it was Citran. Elsa looked like she loved it, and it was good that the compartment was private since she also begged to eat Reinhardt’s portion.

“Oh, Elsa, do you want to eat my portion too?”

“Is it okay?”

Elsa asked with a delighted look on her face, and Jin nodded.

“You can eat Reiko’s portion too.”

So as not to raise suspicion, a small portion was ordered for Reiko too.

In the end, Elsa ate everyone’s Citrans by herself and looked satisfied about it.

“Now then, Jin. In truth, I must do my last greeting rounds as a diplomat now.”

Reinhardt said after the meal.

“What are you going to do? Will your return to the marquis’s estate, or visit more places with Elsa?”

After considering the question, Jin asked if it’s okay that Elsa doesn’t take part in the rounds.

“Yeah. She’s not an official, you see.”

To which Jin replied,

“Then I’ll let Elsa decide.”

And to which Elsa said,

“I want to tour the town with Jin-kun.”