08-29 Hourai Island’s Troops, Mobilized

While Jin was lamenting his naivete, the troops were preparing to sortie.

And after worrying about it, he told Elsa on Kunlun Island that Reinhardt had been kidnapped. As he thought this development would result in him not having lunch with Elsa tomorrow.

And in doing Elsa wouldn’t be able to be in contact with Jin, so as not to unnecessarily worry her he decided to explain the situation at once.

“Unifilers…Even Rai-nii…”

Elsa’s voice sank.

“Jin-nii, save Rai-nii.”

“Yeah, I’ll save him. Well then, I’ll be going.”

Jin cut the call and continued the preparations.

The VTOLs from Falcon-1 to Falcon-3 were possible to dispatch so he had them included. The Air Force golems from Sky-11 to Sky-13 would be in charge of the piloting.

“Let’s see, looking at this now the means of travel are still lacking, huh.”

Jin felt that the means of travelling to the exact location where things were happening were lacking.

“I guess supersonic aircraft is needed…No, something more than that.”

What came to his mind was Warp Gate malfunctions. Without one on the receiving side the warp location would be unknown, but supposing that it could be controlled…

When the perparations to sortie were in order, Jin boarded Falcon-1 and left Hourai Island.

Along with him on Falcon-1 was Reiko, and the 10 SP members following Jin. Reiko had also diligently brought the railgun with her. Furthermore a small Warp Gate was loaded on board.

On Falcon-2 were the Army golems from Land-41 to Land-60.

Finally on board the Falcon-3, just in case, was the Navy golem Marine-5 along with the boat Hydro-5 which had been suspended. Ann had suggested this to have the possibility of using it on the large river Azul.

Falcon-3 flew in the night sky at its maximum speed. About 600 kilometers per hour. It was an astounding speed for its large fairframe.

“If I had an aircraft carrier ready and had deployed it to the western seas, getting all the way there would be fast with a Warp gate.”

Mid-transit, while Jin was worried about Reinhardt there was nothing he could do about it so he thought about parts where he was lacking and of ways on how to improve them.

“Right, Reiko.”

“Yes, Father?”

“I want to ask you. Do you think a Warp Gate’s malfunctioning could be controlled?”

Jin asked Reiko who had gone around the world with Warp Gate malfunctions multiple times to search for Jin. He was trying to get some hints from Reiko’s experience.

“While they were malfunctioning there didn’t seem to be any directionality to them. Neither could I sense anything in common with the locations to which I was warped.”

“Is that so…”

Jin was a little disappointed.

“But, there was one interesting phenomenon.”

“What was it?”

“Yes, there appeared to have been a connection between the Magic Energy consumption of the Warp Gate and the end point’s distance from the research laboratory.”

In other words, according to the impression Reiko got it seemed that when it consumed a lot of Magic Energy the warp distance was long.

“There had been no way to measure it until now, but the current measurements point to that. In other words, the northern mountain of Kaina Village, the forest on Blue Land’s outskirts, and Port Rock all are nearly the same distance away.”

That was good news. If the Magic Energy consumption could be controlled, only thing left was the direction.

Warp Gates were Magi Tools that connected two points in s.p.a.ce.

During a warp, the receiving side merely marks where to go, and the propelling side could be said to do almost all of the work. Jin too understood that much.

“So that means that if only the receiving side could be marked without equipment…”

During the one hour and a bit journey to Dali, Jin devoted himself to thinking about this.

“Father, we’re soon above Dali.”

“Ah, is that so.

Jin stopped speculating and returned to reality. Here too it was night. Jin could see nothing with his eyes.

“Falcon-1, cancel stealth. Reiko, please look down. Do you see anything conspicous?”

Reiko received the order from Jin to look for suspicious objects with her eyesight. He himself also put on the reinforced clothes and the helmet.

“Nothing in particular at the moment.”

Unfortunately however, nothing was found.

“s.h.i.+t, so we really are too late.”

Jin thought of ways to find Reinhardt.

If he knew Reinhardt’s Magic Energy Pattern he could search for him with the detector on Hourai Island, but right now he didn’t have something like that on hand.

“There’s no Magic Energy left in the Guild card case either, huh.”

Then he suddenly had an idea and got in touch with the SP units Sage and Cosmos who were supposed to be in Dali.

“Yes, Chief. Sage speaking.”

“Alright, listen, in order to search for Reinhardt, isn’t there anything that has Reinhardt’s Magic Energy pattern in it left behind?”

Jin asked and the reply came immediately.

“Yes, there’s the destroyed Schwarz Ritter.”

“What!?”

Jin was surprised. According to the report he was lying around with his limbs torn off.

“So the opponent is able to destroy Schwarz Ritter that badly.”

There was a remarkable difference in power compared to the enemy golems he had faced until now.

“Oh well. Anyway, can you carry Schwarz Ritter here?”

“Yes. If the two of us overlap our Stealth fields I think carrying it will work out fine.”

“Alright, then please hurry. Rendezvous in…”

They met with Sage and Cosmos ten kilometers away from Dali, upstream along the river Azul. Of course, stealth was operational at the time of the landing.

This area across the river was visible from the Celuroa Kingdom’s ramparts so there were no villages. Jin wanted to ask if this was a defense plan or what.

Ten minutes after Falcon-1 landed Sage and Cosmos came. They were indeed fast.

“Good work, Sage, Cosmos.”

“Chief, apologies for being unable to protect Reinhardt-sama.”

The moment they arrived the two apologized, but Jin just told them not to worry about it.

“More importantly. Schwarz Ritter, he’s really done in, huh…”

Because the limbs had been torn off forcibly, there had been Magic Energy leakage and he had ceased operating.

“However, that’s unrelated to the Control Core.”

Jin muttered while taking out the Control Core from Schwarz Ritter’s chest.

“Alright, this should be enough to recognize Reinhardt’s Magic Energy pattern. Sage, take Falcon-1’s Warp gate to Hourai Island, and hand this Control Core to Laozi. Then have him look for Reinhardt’s whereabouts. There hasn’t been long so there’s no way he’s that far away from Dali.”

“Understood.”

Sage took the Control Core and pa.s.sed through the Warp Gate to Hourai Island.

Jin simply waited contact from Laozi. While waiting he thought.

“I should install Magic Energy detectors on the Falcons and Raptors too, huh.”

Then he realized something.

“Oh, right. To raise the position calculation’s accuracy I should install them not only on Hourai Island, but on Kunlun Island and the aircraft carrier I’ll complete afterwards.”

If location was far away from the measuring instruments, adding another set of measuring instruments would increase the precision as if the target was closer. This would also be effective when loaded on the Falcons which could come to a stop midair.

While thinking about that Laozi’s contact came.

“That’s fast. So, did you find him?”

“Yes, My Lord. Reinhardt-dono’s Magic Energy is great so identifying him was simple.”

At the same time Laozi being familiar with this must’ve speeded up the process.

“So, the location?”

“Yes. Ten kilometers north from the location My Lord currently resides in, just by the river.”

“Got it. Good work.”

Nearly at the same time as he hung up Sage came back. She was holding a simple map.

“Chief, I’ve brought a rough map from Laozi.”

“Sage, good work. Alright, Falcon-2 and 3, land!”

While stealthed the two planes descended. Unlike jet engines, Magi Jet Engines didn’t make a sound. They kicked up some dust, but that area had a lot of gravel so it wasn’t a problem in particular..

Even if someone noticed, as the landing would be brief by the time a patrol came around they’d probably have already taken off.

“Units from Land-41 to Land-60 go on land. Sage and Cosmos too. Lower down Hydro-5. Me, Reiko, and Marine-5 will go there by boat. Falcons from one to three will provide protection from above.”

“Understood.”

It was a land, sea, and air encirclement tactic. The preparations were completed in three minutes. Jin and Reiko boarded Hydro-5 while Falcons from one to three took off to the skies.

“Alright, sally out!”

At Jin’s command the Land units broke into a run. Once they had neared the enemy base Sage and Cosmos would handle the stealth equipment so that they could spread out for the encirclement.

Jin continued upstream in Hydro-5 piloted by Marine-5. He no longer cared about being seen.

“This time, I’ll make those d.a.m.ned Unifilers regret it.”

The self-identified eighth subdivision’s branch head Purcell didn’t have any important information. Apparently he had in truth occupied a lower position. A small fry who had gained status in the Unifilers using money.

They weren’t stupid enough to share important secrets with some upstart newcomer like him.

Jin was worked up and thought that this time for sure he would extract major information.

Hydro-5 continued on the river at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, or at nearly 27 knots.

Meanwhile, the Army golems also dashed at nearly the same speed.

After traveling on foot the distance of ten kilometers in a little over ten minutes, the base they had headed towards was right in front of their eyes.

It was one of Celuroa Kingdom’s abandoned lookout forts.