08-18 From Now On

To Reinhardt who asked Elsa if she had no intention of going back or not,

“No. Sorry.”

She said with an apology. Reinhardt made a truly, truly lonely face but,

“Well, if that’s the decision you’ve come to after thinking about it, it’s fine. Or rather, it’s not for me to judge whether it’s good or bad.”

He said and turned to Jin,

“Jin, please take care of this inconsiderate cousin of mine.”

Reinhardt said and bowed.

Jin had also thought that for the next while he’d probably have to take care of her and so he nodded.

“I’m not much good at anything but.”

Even Elsa remarked something like that. It didn’t appear likely that Jin would say he knew, however ‘taking care of her’ seemed to have turned out to have a different meaning altogether.

“…However, you really weren’t born in this world, huh, Jin.”

Once while bathing in Kunlun Island’s hot springs Reinhardt had unintentionally spoken of that.

“Hmm, well, yeah.”

“And so naturally you’re ignorant of the world’s common sense.”

“But, I now know.”

Reinhardt and Elsa both appeared to have accepted Jin’s unreasonable existence.

And in the middle of such an atmosphere,

“What’s left is to think about what to do from now on.”

Jin spoke of his other objective in inviting Reinhardt.

“From now on?”

“Yeah. I gave the Unifilers an ultimatum. They probably won’t stop despite that.”

Jin folded his arms and said with a serious look on his face.

“Those guys have the catchphrase of ‘pre-Great Magic War’ or something like that, but in fact, I think they just want political power. At any rate, I can’t stomach their methods. However I can’t put together tactics or think of strategies, so.”

Jin said and Reinhardt nodded.

“I see, I get what you’re trying to say. You mean you a person who can grasp the big picture?”

“I suppose. More precisely, I need the knowledge of someone like that. Because I can get it by using [Transfer Info].”

When Jin said that Reinhardt smiled bitterly and,

“Right, you had that as an option.”

He said.

“Actually, it appears to have been a common technique during the predecessor’s era? Well, it has its flaws: if the person themself stubbornly resists the transfer can fail, and it’s impossible to transfer information to people. In addition, people without the apt.i.tude can’t use it.”

“Hm? What about when you received the knowledge of your predecessor Adrianna?”

“Oh, that. It’s impossible because without having the same Magic Energy pattern as the person the information came from you cannot synchronize it. And for that reason even Reiko spent 1000 years looking for me.”

Hearing that Reinhardt felt discouraged.

“…Is that so. That’s a shame.”

“Can Rai-nii not learn [Transfer Info]?”

Then Elsa spoke out her mind.

“Indeed, if Reinhardt could use [Transfer Info] it would be good, but there’s the requirement of considerable apt.i.tude.”

Despite that let’s try testing for it now, he said, and decided to see with Reiko’s help if it was possible to transfer information from one Magi Crystal to another.

During their talk about how to begin doing that, as peers Jin and Reinhardt sounded very similar.

“Look, the [Magi Formula] is like this and the [Keyword] is like that.”

“Hmm, hm. It looks as difficult as I thought.”

“Well, as we’re just seeing your apt.i.tude it’s okay to not succeed in one go.”

“Got it. I’ll try. [Transfer Info].”

For an instant the Magi Crystal looked to s.h.i.+ne off with a pale light. Reiko was continuously using [Trace] to display the Magic Energy’s flow but,

“It’s unfortunate but your apt.i.tude looks to be low. But with training I’m sure you can use it up to level two.”

Jin spoke of his conclusion.

“Level two? How much is that?”

“Let’s see…”

Level one was the knowledge of language, two was movement and behavior patterns, general knowledge was from three to five, special knowledge was from three to seven, and subconscious information was from levels six to eight, Reiko explained. Because of the complex connections of information, the levels varied.

“So level two would be speech, movement, and behavioral patterns, huh…”

Reinhardt was disappointed. However,

“Even so, that means I can make more advanced golems than before!”

His recovery was quick.

“Rai-nii is indeed obsessed with craftsmans.h.i.+p.”

Elsa vacantly muttered from the side.

“…Do you want to try too, Elsa?”

Jin casually asked Elsa.

“Mm, let me.”

And so they tried having Elsa do the same thing.

“[Transfer Info]…How is it?”

“It appears you could use it to up to level three.”

“Whaaat! Elsa, I’m jealous!”

Reinhardt loudly yelled. Looking at him, Elsa stifled a laugh and smiled a little.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Anyway, that’s all about the apt.i.tude matters, but don’t you have any close people that are well-versed in strategy?”

“I don’t have what I don’t have.”

Reinhardt looked troubled.

“…Sama.”

“Eh?”

Elsa spoke someone’s name. Jin didn’t quite catch it so he asked her to repeat.

“Moritz-niisama.”

“Moritz?”

“He’s Elsa’s eldest brother.”

“Elsa’s brother?”

“Yeah. Moritz-dono has a weak body, but he’s ingenious enough call unmatched.”

The younger brother Fritz was a muscle-brain, and the elder brother the weak but smart type. Somehow it was a family line of extremes. Well, it would be good if the siblings would work together, but for example Elsa’s father Georg Randol von Amber and Reinhardt’s father Wolfgang Randol von Morgan are on bad terms. Siblings don’t necessarily always get along.

“It’s okay to have someone less excellent too though.”

As Laozi’s operation faculties are most likely tens of thousands times better than a human’s after giving him the fundamental knowledge he could simulate things by himself, and probably quickly become skilled.

“Actually.”

Jin then suddenly remembered something.

“Maybe it would be better to make something like strategists or staff officers too.”

“Jin?”

Reinhardt looked puzzledly at the pondering Jin. Jin quickly apologized,

“Ah, sorry. I just thought of something.”

Then,

“Well, it’s not like I need that in a hurry. In addition, I wonder if you could get your hands on full-body armor?”

“Full-body armor?”

“Mh-hm.”

Jin explained. How in Ann’s knowledge, something like ‘strengthened armor’ was described.

“Strengthened armor you say! I’m also interested. It’s probably going to be difficult procure one inside Celuroa Kingdom, but let me see what I can do.”

Reinhardt’s interest was piqued, and he started thinking about how to acquire armor.

“Finally, I was thinking about what I should do from now on, but…”

Jin said, and Reinhardt had a lonesome look on his face.

“Oh, right. I guess this is it, the end of the trip with Jin.”

“Eh?”

“Hm? Isn’t that what you were talking about?”

“No, no. I’m still interested in traveling. I’m sure there’s still many more things I’m unfamiliar with in this world, and I’m also interested in Shouro Empire, see.”

“Seriously?”

Jin smiled and nodded.

“Yeah. As if I’d lie about this. It’s just that I was thinking that I want to improve my equipment here for a few days.”

He explained.

“It’s tomorrow, right? The day of crossing River Torres.”

Reinhardt nodded.

“That’s right. For people there’s enough, but there’s very few available s.h.i.+ps that can board a carriage. If we miss tomorrow I don’t know when the next time is.”

Hmm, Jin though.

“I wonder if we could meet up later?”

At that question, Reinhardt said,

“It’ll be difficult but I think we could. There’s a barrier when crossing the river at the, it’s a region around the royal capital with special precautions for confirming how many people enter. When exiting, it’s done again and compared, and if the number rises or falls then that’s trouble.”

“In other words, it’s okay as long as I stay here while you’re in the zone of special precautions.”

“Well, that’s how it is. It’ll most likely take five or ten days.”

Jin thought once more. If it’s five days he’ll probably be able to make most of the equipment. The problem was the carriage. Without either Jin or Reiko, there was no one who could make it move normally.

“Father, would you like me to install a Warp Gate near the ruins of that stronghold?”

Reiko proposed.

“That’s right… Celuroa Kingdom is a little suspicious. Maybe we should make an advance base there.”

“Eeh?”

Jin had to explain things once more to Reinhardt who didn’t quite get it.