09-36 The Dream’s End

“Well then, I shall begin dealing with the aftermath. There’s also those two who we took prisoner.”

“Okay, then I’ll be following after Father.”

“Yes, Reiko-san. Please take care of My Lord. And then, please tell him that last night we dispelled the mentally manipulated people close to Reinhardt.”

“Understood.”

Reiko headed to Kaina Village. Then Laojin began working on his proper duties.

“Now then, for the aftermath first comes the interrogation, doesn’t it…”

Laojin then gave orders to have the prisoners held in the Falcon which was still in Cline Kingdom interrogated.

＊ ＊ ＊

Reinhardt was in the supply base.

It was in a place about one kilometer north of the city of Astan.

Rocky outcroppings surrounded it and by cutting the rock, making pillars out of it, and placing beams on top of the pillars watchtowers, storehouses, lodgings, and stables had been built.

“I’m b.u.mmed out.”

While muttering to himself Reinhardt was walking between the lodging houses with Matheus. This was because he had just finished breakfast.

Yesterday en route to here, Matheus had asked questions like ‘what were those two black golems’, ‘were they new Schwarz Ritters’, ‘why did they suddenly disappear’, and Reinhardt had to smooth over things by replying with ‘I do not really know’, ‘I do not know’, ‘they seemed friendly, is that not enough’, ‘I am tired and sleepy already’.

Perhaps Mattheus too had sensed that he had his own circ.u.mstances so he simply gave up there, as he hadn’t asked a thing this morning.

But on this supply base there was another person, someone he didn’t want to meet.

“Oh, if it isn’t Reinhardt. So you came here.”

Just inside his heart, Reinhardt frowned

The one who showed up was Elsa’s elder brother, Fritz.

Because it was time for his replacement to come, he was also on the way back to their home country.

Multiple subordinates with worried faces were following him.

“I hear you were attacked, right? I’ve got strong complaints to make for Celuroa later. Oh well, it’s probably not as comfortable as in an inn, but in exchange it’s safe here.”

Fritz said smilingly. Reinhardt felt a little uncomfortable.

“Hm? What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

Fritz seemed puzzled and asked Reinhardt, having been fixedly stared at.

“N–no, nothing on your face but I was thinking that something about you is different, maybe.”

“Hmm, is that right? Everyone I’ve seen since morning says so, but surely I’m me?”

Seeing the awkwardly smiling Fritz, even Matheus couldn’t keep silent.

“Major, has nothing really happened?”

Fritz knit his brows just a little when asked.

“Nothing, really. If I had to say, at most I had a bad dream.”

“A bad dream?”

“Yeah. The strangest thing happened, I had a dream that I accidentally hit my head and lost consciousness.”

“…”

“It was a dream, you see? There’s no way I’d get a b.u.mp on my head or anything.”

With a slap, Fritz made a show of patting his head. Seeing that Reinhardt still couldn’t tell what was going on and,

“W–well, whatever. I’m going to my room.”

So he decided to leave the place for now.

“Alright, got it. Once my work hours are over I’ll be popping in for a visit. …Matheus, you come too. Please let me hear about yesterday in detail.”

Reinhardt returned to his room, and on the table was a familiar Magi Tool. It was a ManaCom.

“Just when did… Ah, as expected of Jin.”

With a nod, Reinhardt put it in his breast pocket.

＊ ＊ ＊

“How did it go?”

Through a ManaCom, Laojin asked Deneb-30 of the Quinta who had been secretly dispatched to where Reinhardt was from the sinkfloat base.

“Using the [Shock] magic, the treatment went well. No one noticed either.”

“It seemed to, yes. Just a moment ago, Reinhardt-san’s private SP Cosmos sent in a report. According to it, the [Seduce] magic Major Fritz seemed to have been under has been lifted.”

＊ ＊ ＊

In Egelia Kingdom’s capital Asunto.

The Minister of Finances Blaoroot was greatly perplexed. Because of the attack this time, the burden on the national treasure increased further.

And the Minister of Defense Judol and the Prime Minister Marquis Boyd North Galueri were both similarly greatly perplexed.

“At any rate, if this list is factual then it’s a huge problem.”

Spread out in front of the Minister of Defense Judol was a single sheet of parchment. Over a dozen names were listed there. Everyone held an important position in one ministry or another or were n.o.bles related to ruling major cities.

The t.i.tle of the list was ‘The puppets of the Unifilers’.

“Anyway, there’s no other choice than to check them one by one.”

“Mh-hm. Lastly, it says that ‘The [Shock] magic should be used to dispel [Seduce]’ but is it true?”

“I wonder… I’ve never heard of a spell called [Seduce]. Didn’t you say that too?”

“Yes. I, Judol, have been lacking in my studies.”

＊ ＊ ＊

In the city of Tetrada located in the western portion of Cline Kingdom, by afternoon finally order had been restored.

“Deputy leader, everyone’s lined up!”

“Mh-hm, good job.”

Cline Kingdom’s third chivalric order was standing in a row, but, without armor, helmets, swords, and spears, they certainly didn’t look the part.

“Even now the situation is unclear, but Frantz Kingdom army has retreated. First and second squads went to scout and confirmed it. There’s no mistake.”

There was a small commotion. But that soon disappeared.

“That giant golem could surely have if it so wished annihilated us. No, even the enemy army too. Because everyone lost consciousness all at once. To make matters worse, all the weapons and armor was lost.”

A temporary adjutant next to him addressed deputy leader Nicholas.

“That indeed seems to be the case. I wonder just where did it come from?”

“Even if you think about it you won’t find an answer. Rather than that, you have to think about what to do now. How many casualties were there this time?”

“T-that’s…”

“Hm? What is it?”

The temporary adjutant hesitated to say. Finding that suspicious Nicholas knit his brows.

“It can’t be, there’s that many of them?”

The temporary adjutant then fl.u.s.teredly refuted that.

“N-no, just the opposite! There are no casualties!”

“What?”

“There were many people wounded in the battles yesterday and today. Especially from yesterday’s battles there were many people on the verge of death from their wounds. However, we confirmed just earlier that everyone has recovered.”

“What… the…”

It was an incomprehensible tale. They did nothing and yet the wounded recovered. No, could it be…, Nicholas made a guess.

“That gigantic golem, there’s a chance it did something.”

He then again remembered what the giant golem had said.

“‘Use your strength not to go back to the past, but to build a prosperous future. Live not for the sake of destruction, but for the sake of creation’, was it. Perhaps that kind of society isn’t necessarily a pipe dream.”

＊ ＊ ＊

“We’ve lost contact with the hot flying b.a.l.l.s sent to Cline Kingdom and Egelia Kingdom.”

“What!? They had someone who could make them fall? I could see them dropping one or two, but all?”

“It’s said that Frantz Kingdom’s army is currently retreating to the national border.”

“Golems! What happened to the golems! The combat golems we snuck into Asunto castle!”

“A carrier pigeon brought a report that they’ve also been destroyed”

“Aargh… What in the world happened!”

“My lord.”

A clear and beautiful voice then cut in.

“O-oh, Elena. Where are you now?”

“Yes, I’m returning there with Donald right now.”

“Hm, at last I get to see your face. I can’t wait. So, what happened with Reinhardt?”

“I was going to erase him, but some annoying golems intervened.”

“What? If that’s how Elena sees them then…”

“Yes, they seemed to have been golems descended from the ones built by my bitter enemy whom I told you about earlier.”

“Hmm, it can’t be…”

“Do you happen to know anything about them?”

“Yes, some time earlier there was someone called Jin who apparently used golems to destroy the eighth subdivision.”

“Please tell me the details.”

“Hm, that guy, he…”

Elena listened to the explanation silently, but when she had heard it all her voice became a little rougher.

“My lord, I would’ve liked to have heard about this a little bit earlier.”

“S-sorry. I thought there could be no golems rivaling ours.”

Elena apparently cut the call by herself as she could no longer be heard.

＊ ＊ ＊

Kaina Village’s plaza was filled with dense smoke.

“Cough, it’s smoky. Sara, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Yes, master.”

Right now they were burning small Kherry tree chips to smoke the meat of the mountain deer Rock and others had caught,

Instead than burning, their purpose was to sputter smoke and so it was smoky. That’s where Sara came in. The golem maid Sara who had no need to breathe worked silently and very soon the preparations for smoking the meat were finished.

Only thing left was to keep smoking the meat until the moisture came out.

“I can’t wait, tonight’s booze will surely taste great.”

“Don’t drink too much like I told you, dear!”

Kaina Village was peaceful.