“Who… Who are you?”


  Gloria, unaware that it had been a golem who had saved her from the giant earwig, asked her savior as if it was another human.

  “We are a golem unit dispatched by Deus Ex Makina.”


  Land 11 answered on its behalf.

  “From Lord Makina?”


  “…We’re saved!”


  All 8 giant earwigs had been slain.

  Some of the soldiers seemed to know about Makina, and sank down to the floor on the spot in relief.

  “…You guys are no ordinary people… How dare you do that to my lovely giant earwigs!”


  Eight Land Units, 12 to 19, surrounded the demon girl Alciel, who had lost her temper. There was no escape anymore. They kept a distance of around 2 meters from her and deployed their barriers to keep Alciel in check.

  Since they didn’t know what she was capable of, they avoided direct contact with her. Because the eight Units’ barriers were in contact with each other, there was no room to escape.

  “If you submit quietly, we will cause you no harm.”


  “Don’t make me laugh~! ‘Divieniunschiavo’!”


  Alciel cast an enslavement spell. However, it had no effect on the Land Units, who had already taken measures against such spells.

  Land 11, who was the leader of the dispatched unit, spoke to Alciel.

  “That spell is ineffective against us. However, ‘Distruzione’ or ‘Gravita’ are a hassle. Activating Magi Jammer.”


  This also disabled the Lands’ barriers, but that wasn’t a problem. Alciel was already a mouse in a bag.

  “How come you know so much about magic~? ‘Gravita’!”


  Alciel desperately cast gravity magic, but nothing happened.

  “W-What? How? What did you do~?”


  Not surprisingly, Alciel was confused by this.

  “I’m under no obligation to answer. But would you answer our questions instead?”


  “Do you really think I’m just going to sit tight and answer your questions~?”


  “In that case, we have ways to help you cooperate.”


  Land 11 approached Alciel, who was still surrounded by eight other Land Units, extended its right hand at her and tried to activate “Paralyze”.

  There was another way to stun her with a direct attack, but it chose to do it this way instead.

  Not only Alciel looked like a little girl, but since last time even the demon Androgias was easily turned into ashes, Land 11 feared her body wouldn’t be able to take it.

  So it decided to use “Paralyze” instead, but in the end, it turned out to be a bad move.

  Fundamentally, no other spells would work as long as the Magi Jammer was in effect.

  The very moment the Magi Jammer was briefly interrupted so that Land 11 could use “Paralyze”, the surrounded Alciel disappeared in an instant. It seemed that she was desperately trying to escape and kept activating her transfer spell the entire time.

  Alciel’s transfer spell was successfully activated the moment the Magi Jammer was interrupted, allowing her to reappear about 5 meters behind the Lands.

  She also managed to activate her transfer spell a second time before Land 11 was able to reactivate the Magi Jammer.

  This time, Alciel had vanished without a trace.

  “…It appears we’ve allowed her to escape.”


  Land 11 murmured in disappointment. Then, he slowly turned towards Gloria.

  “I-I’m Gloria Ohlstat, Deputy Captain of the Klein Kingdom’s Female Knight Corps. Thank you very much for your assistance.”


  Gloria must have realized that Land 11 was the leader of the dispatched unit. She promptly bowed and offered her gratitude.

  “No need to thank us, we’re just following orders from Lord Makina. I see you’re injured.”


  Gloria shook her head…


  “There are others here who were injured more severely than me.”


  …And looked at the soldier that had been bounced off by the giant earwig’s tail swipe.

  However, that soldier was already being treated by Nurse Alpha.

  “Is… Is that golem also here on Lord Makina’s orders?”


  “Yes. I am Nurse Alpha. I specialize in healing.”


  “Lord Makina is a truly remarkable person…”


  Then, as she was casually looking at Nurse Alpha, Gloria unconsciously muttered…


  “Miss Elsa?”


  Laojun, who was being informed of the situation real time through Land 11, noticed the mistake that it had been to allow Gloria to see Nurse Alpha, who looked exactly like Elsa.

  And so, he quickly prepared an excuse and passed it on to Land 11.

  “Yes, Nurse Alpha was modeled after Elsa, who had temporarily been under our protective custody.”


  “Hmm, I see. Well, it’s not as if I was meaning to pry.”


  Gloria appeared to be convinced. She seemed to be pure at heart.

  “Treatment is now complete. Only Gloria is left.”


  After finishing tending to the soldier, Nurse Alpha approached Gloria.

  “Ah, right. Thanks.”


  “‘Sterilization’. ‘Heilung’.”


  First, Nurse Alpha sterilized Gloria’s wounds, and then proceeded to heal them. The healing magic healed the wounds on her arms, shoulders, and cheeks.

  “Ah, amazing! It doesn’t hurt anymore! Thanks.”


  Though brief, Gloria bowed in gratitude like a knight would.

  “Well then, we’ll be taking our leave. Take care on the rest of your journey.”


  “Please convey my earnest thoughts to Lord Makina. Tell him I’d like to meet him one day.”


  “Will do.”


  Gloria and the soldiers reorganized their formation and saluted the Land Corps. Gloria’s command came soon after.

  “Let’s go!”


  Gloria and her party continued their march towards Doppa.

  The eyes of the soldiers now glimmered with respect for their captain.

  She had faced those monsters without taking a single step back in order to protect them.

  As the party faded into the horizon, the Land Units returned home.

  A little closer to Rakno, Pelican 1, which had a Warp Gate installed, was waiting a little away from the road.

  And of course, Pelican 1 continued to watch over Gloria and the others until they safely reached Doppa.

  ＊　　　＊　　　＊


  “Is Gloria safe?”


  Jin and Elsa, who were following the battle through Laojun, let out a sigh of relief.

  “The demon this time called herself ‘Alciel the Puppeteer’. Though she looks like a little girl, we’re not sure about her true age.”


  “Right.”


  “It’s too bad we couldn’t capture her. Still, we were able to get valuable, albeit incomplete, information on the transfer magic they use. I believe we were fortunate to encounter Alciel at this time.”


  There is virtually no way to defend against transfer magic.

  What if they used it to transfer to Hourai Island and destroy Laojun? That would be an immeasurable loss.

  Also, the more information they could gather about the enemy, the better. Jin waited for Laojun’s explanation.

  “First, the destination for transfer magic seems to be limited to places directly in line of sight and previously specified locations.”


  That was the information obtained instantly via the “Inspection” used by Lands 12 through 15.

  It was when Land 11 briefly interrupted the Magi Jammer in order to try to paralyze Alciel.

  Laojun had instructed the Lands to obtain as much information as possible, and no matter how small, about the demons’ magic.

  Because of that instruction, they used “Inspection” to see how the demon would react to 11’s “Paralyze”.

  But as a result, instead of sensing the demon’s reaction, it sensed the flow of magical power that accompanied the activation of transfer magic.

  “I see. So we would be safe to assume that there’s no need to worry about being attacked at Hourai Island for the time being?”


  “That is correct, My Lord.”


  It turned out that it couldn’t be used like a transfer machine. It appeared that transfer magic posed no real threat for the time being, but Jin wanted to make absolutely sure for peace of mind.

  “I’ve been doing nothing but developing weapons so far, but maybe I should improve our defenses as well?”


  “Are barriers useless now, Brother Jin?”


  Hearing Jin’s muttering, Elsa asked him that question.

  “Yeah. They’re not without their flaws.”


  “Flaws?”


  “Right. You know how there are Magic Barriers and Solid Barriers?”


  “Yeah.”


  “Basically, Magic Barriers don’t allow magical power to pass through, while Solid Barriers ward off fire, blunt forces, and swords.”


  Jin’s conclusion was that in the same way that they blocked incoming attacks from the outside, they also blocked outgoing attacks.

  “The only exception is when you use a magical tool like my bracelet to activate a spell at the same time that a ‘Barrier’ is deployed. Since it is perfectly synchronized, you can, for example, shoot a ‘Laser’ and disable the barrier just on the point where the attack should go through.”


  However, normally, “Barrier” and any offensive spell would be generated separately, so if you have a barrier deployed, you wouldn’t be able to attack either.

  “I wouldn’t be able to shoot a Magi Cannon or anything like that from inside a barrier.”


  “Ah, right.”


  “That’s why I think that barriers have room for improvement.”


  “I see. That’s very clever of you, Brother Jin.”


  “So I’m wondering if there are other ways to fend off attacks that could work better for us.”


  A “Barrier” was one of many kinds of protective wards.

  Jin then spoke of ideas such as wards that can absorb magic, wards that can reflect attacks, and wards that transfer the damage of an attack to a specified target.

  “…Amazing. To come up with these great ideas… You’re a genius, Brother Jin!”


  “Ah, no, these are all things I’ve seen somewhere else.”


  After being complimented by Elsa, Jin confessed that he had seen those concepts in books.

  Specifically, in manga and anime he had seen back in his homeworld.

  “The people from your world are really impressive, Jin.”


  “Yeah, some of them are incredibly creative.”


  Jin reminisced about Japan, his country of origin, which was also home to possibly the most creative and delusional people to be found in his world.