Going back in time a little–Jin, on the other hand.

“….Alright then, let’s proceed with that. I can leave the preparations to you, right?”

[Yes, my lord. Please, leave it to me.]

After consulting with Laojun and then giving him several instructions to prepare for the coping method, although he felt painfully reluctant, he headed towards Kaina village without seeing Reiko off.

First, he went to the office of Nidou castle and ordered Butler B to bring Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud who were around the workshop over.

“Belle, prepare tea. Barou, bring two more chairs.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The office was a western-style room, not a j.a.panese one. It had wooden flooring and a big table and chair.

Thinking that the talk might be long, Jin made Belle prepare some tea.

While Jin was going through the sequence in his head once more, Butler B came back with Lis.h.i.+a and Pascaud.

“Sorry for calling you out here. But it’s an emergency situation.”

As Jin came saying that as soon as they entered, Pascaud, who looked like he was about to say something, also held his tongue.

First, he offered them to seat and then to have the tea Belle poured. After drinking a sip and regaining their composure, Jin let dropped the bomb.

“It seems like Earl Walter has pa.s.sed away.”

“Ehhh?!”

He was careful to say that after confirming they finished drinking so that they didn’t spit it out.

“…..I just got the message a while ago.”

Jin put the message he made Laojun make on top of the table.

“The time of death was this noon. The symptoms started with lethargy and lead to a fever and pain all over the body. And at the end…”

Lis.h.i.+a’s face turned pale. She didn’t feel the pain but she remembers having felt the lethargy and her temperature rising.

“And to add more to this unfortunate event, this seems to be a contagious disease and birds are the source of contagion.”

“…..I, I… the birds I, brought… were… they, pigeons?!”

Lis.h.i.+a barely finished the sentence, looking as white as a sheet. She probably thought that she was the reason behind Earl Walter’s death. She looked like she would faint any moment now. Realizing that, Jin followed up.

“Ms. Lis.h.i.+a, the one who infected your pigeon was the Earl Walter.”

“Eh?!”

“It was done under his instructions by his underlings, to be precise.”

“….wh-what do you mean?!”

And there, Jin explained how the Earl wasn’t satisfied with Jin receiving this land as leasehold land and how he hara.s.sed them by buying all the salt and what not.

He also simply explained how Earl Walter also tried to use her to spread the disease to the Kaina village this time.

“I-Impossible! You would say the Earl did this even for an instant?! Oi, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Do you have any proof? This can be taken as defamation if you don’t, you know?!”

In contrast to Lis.h.i.+a, who had gotten into thinking, Pascaud snapped and pressed on Jin.

Of course, he predicted such a situation.

“Evidence, eh? First of all, the main source of the disease, Earl Walter, pa.s.sed away this noon. And, after a little examination, the butler and attendants working at the mansion also started feeling lethargic. Among them, there were also some who were down with a fever.”

As Jin kept speaking plainly like that, Pascaud was at a loss for words.

“B…… but, you can’t just say he’s the culprit with just that!”

But then he came objecting. And as he said that, he realized something.

“…..Oi, don’t go saying nonsense! What time do you think it is?! No matter how fast the carrier pigeons are, there’s no way they can come here that fast! In the first place, who came relaying such a big incident at the Earl’s mansion?!”

However, Jin and Laojun also predicted that.

“Please read the letter.”

Saying that, he handed over the letter on top of the table to Pascaud. Pascaud s.n.a.t.c.hed it from Jin’s hand and skimmed his eyes through it.

“…..It seems to say what you’re saying…… and the sender is…… Deus Ex Machina? ………where have I heard it before………”

But Lis.h.i.+a immediately recalled.

“Mr. Jin! Do you know this person, Deus Ex Machina?!”

She asked Jin, sounding impatient and fl.u.s.tered.

This was also within expectations. After all, when returning Lis.h.i.+a’s sword, he had said ‘I got it from Machina’.”

“I wouldn’t go as far to say I know him. But we have met a few times……Ah, I can’t talk about him since I promised him.”

He made it so that he’s an acquaintance of Machina, but a very complicated kind. Although, when this gets known to the Kurain Kingdom’s heads later on, it would it harder for them to deal with Jin.

“I see……”

Kurain kingdom, Francis kingdom, Serroa kingdom and Egelia kingdom. The war controlled by the Unifiers was forcibly ended by a mysterious man who called himself Deus Ex Machina–everyone who partic.i.p.ated in the war knew that. Although the man had called himself that at the capital city of Egelia kingdom, Asunto, it was soon conveyed to Kurain kingdom with the Mana Phone.

“….I see, so it’s information from that man, eh?…… Then it has some credibility.”

Pascaud also reluctantly buried the hatchet. And that was when Jin went on to persuade them.

“….And thereupon, the important thing right now isn’t finding out who the culprit is.”

br>

Reverting his tone back to normal, Jin started speaking to Lis.h.i.+a. He pointed out the culprit to make Lis.h.i.+a feel less guilty.

“…I understand. We should prioritize restraining the spreading of the disease, right?”

After calming down a bit, Lis.h.i.+a understood what Jin was going on about.

“Yes. As also written in that letter, it seems like Deus Ex Machina is also investigating the disease at this moment…… Ms. Lis.h.i.+a, what do you think would be best to do, going forward?”

Jin thought Lis.h.i.+a might have a good opinion on the matter as she was on the relief knights’ squad.

After thinking for a bit, Lis.h.i.+a opened her mouth.

“Of course, it is vital to get rid of the disease. And the only way to do that is, I think, trace back our path and examine and cure the people along the way.”

Lis.h.i.+a said that but her expression didn’t clear up. And reason behind that would be clear after what she said next.

“But, the area in most danger is Rakham, isn’t it? It has been days since the contagion there.”

From the info he got from An and Elena, he knew that the period needed for the disease to infect was from about 2 to 5 days. Judging from the fact that Earl Walter pa.s.sed away, the people in the mansion are also probably in danger now. The people of Rakham might still have a bit of a grace period.

“Moreover, we don’t know how to cure it.”

And there, Jin asked Lis.h.i.+a,

“What is the healing magic you use, Ms. Lis.h.i.+a?”

“I can use ‘cure’ and ‘recovery’.”

Both are surgical methods of healing.

“….I am sorry, I can’t cure the disease.”

Saying that, she hung her head in depression. But this was also within expectations.

“That’s fine. I have a magic crystal here with the ‘medicare’ magic in it. You can activate it if you apply a bit mana to it.”

Jin took out 2 magic crystals from his pocket and put them on the desk.

“Eh? Eh?”

It is true that there are magic tools which have magic formulas needed to activate a magic embedded in them. However, that isn’t something so common that you would pull them out of your pocket whenever you feel like it……… Thinking that, Lis.h.i.+a was dumbfounded for a moment.

“As such, I am guessing we will receive some new information from Deus Ex Machina by tomorrow morning. Let’s decide on our final course of action based on that.”

Like this, the talk proceeded exactly as they thought it would.

After going about half way through the discussion, the 3 took another sip of the now lukewarm tea and took a breather.

“….Haa, as I thought, you are an acquaintance of Machina, aren’t you, Mr. Jin? I had been meaning to ask you since my sword was delivered to me.”

“Well, yes…… Although, it seems like he doesn’t like being tied down and so he prefers not to come in front of people.”

“Fufu, actually, I had also been thinking that maybe Mr. Jin is actually Mr. Machina.”

That’s quite perceptive of her…… Or rather, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it would be weird for her to not think that.

“………….”

Lis.h.i.+a just smiled as Jin remained silent.

“No, it’s fine either way, even if you are Mr. Machina or not. What’s important now is to stop the disease from spreading.”

“Right. And I think, as you people are n.o.bles, Ms. Lis.h.i.+a and Mr. Pascaud, you have more leeway in moving about helping people.”

After having come that far, Pascaud finally opened his mouth again. Seems like he came to terms with himself.

“….Mr. Jin, I promise you, I will put forth every effort. However, I still don’t believe that the Earl was behind all this.”

Jin replied with ‘that’s fine’. After all, it’s important to block off the disease now.

“And so, what will you be doing, Mr. Jin? Don’t tell me you will stay here and not work?”

Pascaud said, half glaring. Well, although, it isn’t that impactful even if he glares as the corners of his eyes are drooping.

“First, I will prepare the medicine.”

Saying that, he took a healing medicine from the shelf and put it on the table.

br>“This medicine has the ‘medicare’ effect. However, I have a limited amount of them, so I need to create more.”

Pascaud looked at that ampoule with great interest and Lis.h.i.+a became stiff.

“M-Mr. Jin, y-you said it has the, effect of ‘medicare’?”

“Yes. What about it?”

“What about it?! Isn’t that a very rare magic medicine?! These would cost 1 gold coin each in the kingdom!”

10,000 toll, about 100,000 yen. That is how precious a highly effective healing medicine was. Jin and Laojun didn’t think about its worth that much.

However, here, the results of reading that alchemy book came to play.

“That’s because alchemy hasn’t developed much. It can be made more easily if you were to use the newest alchemist, Eschenbach’s method.”

That was half true. As far as Jin read about Toa Eschenbach, Shouro empire’s alchemist, he had guessed that ‘there is a chance of creating a highly effective medicine if one applies magic to a dense, ether liquid’. Jin was impressed when he read that.

“…..Is, that… so……”

Lis.h.i.+a also withdrew, as it was Jin saying that. After all, it’s always better to have more medicine.