Chapter 301 Before daybreak

[My lord, Reinhart-sama is calling.]

Reinhart was calling Jin using the mana cam.

“It’s Jin, what’s up?”

[Ooh, Jin! Sorry for today!]

“That’s what you’re calling about? I didn’t really mind.”

He had thought something might have happened but was relieved to find out he was wrong.

[Matheus didn’t have any ill intention. He just misunderstood a bit.]

“Misunderstood?”

Jin wondered if he did anything which could be misunderstood.

“What did he misunderstand?”

And when he asked, Reinhart laughed and answered,

[That you and I are in a love relations.h.i.+p…]

“Eeehhhh?!”

[Right? Hilarious.]

But Jin couldn’t laugh. He didn’t think Matheus would have such a misunderstanding.

“I-it’s all cleared up now, right?”

[Of course.]

“…Then it’s fine.”

[Well, either way, I will try not to trouble you with these from now on.]

They gossiped for a while after which Reinhart cut the call.

“….I am tired.”

Mentally exhausted, Jin decided get into the hot spring once again.

“…Haa”

Stretching out his limbs in the hot water, he murmured to himself,

“Shorou Empire, eh… Sounds fun.”

＊ ＊ ＊

“Gyaaa–!”

“I-it’s a rebellion!”

“The criminals have escaped!”

On the afternoon of the same day, the Inado mine’s administrative building was filled with agonizing cries. The item keeping the criminals in check was the ‘Criminals’ collar’. This was an item equipped onto the criminal with which one can inflict pain on the wearer by pouring a specific mana into it.

And to pour that specific mana, a specific magic item is required.

Two of those magic items, the dominators, were set up in case of unforeseen circ.u.mstances but they were rendered useless somehow.

“Hyahahaah! Free! We are free!”

“Go, go! We will head for the north!”

“Don’t even go south by mistake! There are soldiers there!”

52 of these criminals descended the mountain with pickaxes, hammers and clubs in their hands. After going down for about 20 kilometers, the Toka village was south and the Kaina village was north.

There was food in the rest hut on the main road. The criminals devoured those and headed quickly towards north, being wary of pursuers.

With eyes full of l.u.s.t, they climbed the mountain pa.s.s. After climbing to the top, they could see the Herme river s.h.i.+ning below.

And beyond that, lied a peaceful village.

“I can see it! It’s the village!”

“Hyouhou! Food! Women! Warm beds!”

“Let’s go!”

“Ah, you! I will be the first!!”

The criminals went down with momentum.

The villagers of Kaina weren’t yet aware of this.

＊ ＊ ＊

The Kaina village exclusive defense/monitor magic intellect, Kous.h.i.+n, had informed them at Hourai island 15 minutes before.

It was past midnight in Kaina village and there was still a while to go before daybreak.

At Hourai island, dawn was just about to break.

Laojun pondered for a while about whether he should alert Jin about the situation. Since Jin had gone to bed early last night and it was a question of Kaina village, he decided to wake Jin up.

[a.s.sailant detected]

[They are aiming to invade from the Togo mountain pa.s.s]

[Reconstructing conversation. a.s.sailants identified to be criminals who received the labour penalty. Their objective discerned to be to attack Kaina village]

[a.s.sailants will enter the defense circle in within a minute]

“As expected of Laojun.”

[Much obliged. I would like to affirm the defensive capability of the system taking this opportunity and as such will not neutralize the offenders all at once. Please give your approval.]

“Yeah, I don’t mind. If no harm comes to Kaina village, that is.”

[Thank you very much. Please relax and watch the situation from here, my lord.]

There was no need for Jin to do anything. He just had to look at the screen provided by Kous.h.i.+n, listen to the reports and watch as Laojun took the necessary steps.

[52 a.s.sailants have reached Togo mountain pa.s.s. Collision with defense circle confirmed.]

And at the moment when most of the criminals started descending,

[Test 1. Paralysis barrier activate.]

＊ ＊ ＊

The criminals raced down the mountain pa.s.s.

There were some who were tired and left behind and….

“Gyaa!”

“Gaah!”

They came in contact with the paralysis barrier and pa.s.sed out. A total of 8 of them.

But the ones who scrambled to reach there first didn’t even notice the shrieks of the ones behind.

Their eyes had become bloodshot as they ran down.

[Test 2. Laser shot.]

“Eeh!?”

“W-what?”

Surprised shrieks arose from one of them. And naturally so too, as the pickaxe and hammers they had turned to dust in a moment.

While they were perplexed, their l.u.s.t couldn’t be stopped by just that.

[Test 3. Induction radiator, short time usage.]

“Gyaahhh!”

“H-hootttt!!”

The criminal collars they were wearing on their necks were made of metal. Sure they would panic if it suddenly became hot.

But that effect had faded after only leaving a slight burn in their necks.

“O-ouch… what was that?”

After that, they finally had an eerie feeling, so their speed decreased.

But even still, when they saw that the village was within their reach, they couldn’t stop.

[Test 4. Land W to Land Z, attack in stealth mode.]

“Geeeee!”

“Geeh!”

“Guugh!”

Short shrieks of pain came from the party behind and they kept falling down one by one.

“Wh-what? What is out there?”

On top of it being just before daybreak with darkness all around them, they couldn’t possibly see the Land units which had stealth mode on.

And thus, in the pitch black darkness, the thought of an enemy being around whom you can’t see was more than one could imagine.

“U-uwaaaaa!”

The men who were still okay ran for the Herme river bridge with all their might.

More so because they fell into a state of panic.

Fortunately (?), the 5 of them who didn’t faint, got onto the bridge. And at that moment,

[Test 5. Bridge trap.]

Both sides of the bridge were detached.

In other words, the bridge was no longer a bridge and those 5 were left on top of it.

They couldn’t move forward or back, as only the edges were cut off and there was a river underneath. Although the river’s width was quite narrow, it’s current was fast and deep.

“Ah, ahhh, d.a.m.n it!”

However, one of the courageous ones among them jumped into the river. One more followed him.

The other 3 didn’t have the courage and were left on top of the bridge with nowhere to go.

“Geeee!”

They collapsed with a short scream. It was the effect of the ‘shock’ barrier in the bridge.

[Test 6. Anti-human first-hand combat.]

“Haa, haa… somehow managed to swim over.”

“Looks like we are the only ones who crossed it.”

“All the food and women are only ours now!”

They had lost all their ability to make logical decisions. No matter how strong they were, they didn’t even think that it would be impossible to take a whole village just by themselves.

In front of those 2 men, who were soaked in water, stood two strange looking shadows.

“[To the trespa.s.sers–if you surrender now, we won’t harm you.]”

But it was pointless to those two who had lost their ability to judge properly.

“Shut it!”

“[Will now move on to eliminate]”

The shadows, which were Land A and Land B, used hip throw technique on those two and threw them flying.

“Gyeeee!”

“Gueee!”

For what it matters, they threw the trespa.s.sers such that they would land on their backs and, so as long as they do not break-fall, they probably weren’t die.

[Test complete as the trespa.s.sers are neutralized. Test 7, 8, 9, 10 and X shall be tested next time.]

And like this, just before daybreak, before anyone from the village realized, the a.s.sailants were neutralized.