“Officially, the Kugutsu clan is neutral, but in fact, it’s… split into two.”


  Belials’ tone of voice turned slightly more gentle towards the end of his sentence. Perhaps his feelings of gratitude towards Jin had calmed him down somewhat.

  “It’s very embarrassing to admit it, but we have an internal disunity.”


  Belials dropped his head slightly.

  Jin thought that kind of thing was fairly common, but he didn’t say anything about that. Instead, he asked a different question.

  “Am I right to assume that you’re good at manipulating monsters and beasts?”


  “That’s right. My specialty is controlling Grand Worms. It seems that the affinity with various monsters and beasts varies on each member of our clan, and only a few of us actually speak of what we can control.”


  “I see… Ah, that’s right, do you know anyone by the name of Alciel?”


  Upon hearing that name, Belials seemed to have been taken slightly by surprise.

  “Where did you hear that name? Alciel is my sister who went missing about a year ago.”


  “Hmm? …I haven’t met her personally, but I’ve heard she was last seen in human territory, in the Klein Kingdom.”


  “Is that so…?”


  A hint of concern started to appear on Belial’s face, but he quickly brushed it off and began his explanation.

  “…Her specialty is Giant Earwigs… And she’s also able to use Transfer Magic.”


  Jin was reminded of those Giant Earwigs that Alciel had used to attack Gloria and her party.

  “Do you know who’s good at controlling Giant Centipedes?”


  “Giant Centipedes? No, I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”


  Jin thought it had been a bit of a long shot, but he figured there was no harm in asking.

  “Well, if you don’t know, you don’t know. Don’t worry about it.””


  Then Jin remembered another thing that had been weighing on his mind.

  “Ah, right, another thing. Do you know who can control Hecatoncheires?”


  “Yes, I can think of about five people who can do that. About a month ago, someone named Endus was sent to the other side of the Great Isthmus of Pazdext.”


  Contrary to Jin’s expectation, it seemed that the more intelligent a creature is, the easier it is for those of the Kugutsu clan to control. According to Belials’ explanation, intelligent creatures had their advantage since they had a will that could be bent to some extent.

  On the other hand, he mentioned that the more primitive a creature is, the more suitable it is for manipulating.

  “So what’s the current state of the clan?”


  “Since the belligerent ones have been leaving our abode, please consider that there are about 20 or so members of the moderate faction still present. …However, all of them must have had those ‘Agujas’ implanted on them.”


  “I see…”


  At the very least, both the Kugutsu and the Shinra clans could be seen as victims of those dreaded “Agujas.”


  “The problem is that we don’t know how many clans were being controlled by that Magi Machine we stopped.”


  It was important to release all of the “moderate” clans from the control of those “Agujas”, but they had to start with the Kugutsu and Shinra clans.

  “I’m thinking about setting off tomorrow, but which of these two clans is closer from here?”


  Istalis answered Jin’s question.

  “If that’s the case, we, the Shinra clan, are closer. The abode of the Kugutsu clan is far off to the west.”


  “…That’s right.”


  Belials had a disappointed expression on his face, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  “Okay, then tomorrow morning, we’re going to see the Shinra clan. If they had been released from the machine’s control, then we’ll simply remove the ‘Agujas’ from them. And if not…”


  “What are you going to do?”


  “I’ll just use our paralyzers to incapacitate them all, and then extract the ‘Agujas’ from them all the same.”


  Jin then finished by saying that the Nega-Dolls might already be aware of the fact that some of the “Agujas” have been removed either way.

  Soon enough, they reached the end of their meeting.

  “Mr. Fabius, do you think you could show me some of the ancient Magic Tools you have?”


  Jin (‘s Substitute Doll) asked that out of curiosity.

  “Yes, of course. …Though there are some things that don’t work anymore. Come this way, please.”


  Jin (‘s Substitute Doll) then set 4 Mini-Smiths on his shoulders before following Fabius. Reiko went with them as well.

  “First is this.”


  There, in the deepest part of their abode, there was a Magic Tool with many windows. That was the “Magic Tool of the Gospel.”


  “I see… Can I touch it?”


  “Please, please, go ahead. I see no harm in exposing our secrets to you, Lord Jin.”


  Accepting his kind words, Jin (‘s Substitute Doll), together with the Mini-Smiths, removed the exterior of the Magic Tool.

  “Hmm…”


  “Oh, so that’s what it looks like on the inside. But I can’t make heads nor tails out of this.”


  The basic Magi Sequence of the exposed Magi Tool was very similar to that of the Mana Phones that Jin had given to each country by way of the Nostalgia group.

  After taking a brief look at the Magi Tool’s inner parts, they put it back together. It had been enough for Laojun to etch the image of its basic design in his memory.

  “What else can you show me?”


  “Here.”


  Fabius took Jin to another room.

  “These are the Golems we have been using to do our work for us.”


  Inside that room, there were a total of 14 black-gray golems. They looked the same as the ones that had attacked Jin and the others, and were repelled by Reiko and Ann.

  “We used to have a total of 20 of them, but as you know, 6 of them were destroyed during your incursion the other day, Lord Jin.”


  “Ah… I apologize for that.”


  This way of apologizing was unique to Jin. Laujun would have never been able to say something like that had he been in control.

  “And out of these remaining 14, two have stopped working.”


  “Please, let me take a look at them.”


  Jin had a particular interest in Golems and Automata. He started analyzing the two Golems that had stopped working without a moment’s delay.

  First was the material used to make them. It was an alloy unknown to this world, though Jin knew what it was.

  It was stellite, a highly resistant alloy consisting of cobalt, chromium and tungsten. It has excellent resistance to wear, corrosion, and heat.

  There was almost no tungsten in this world… or rather, on this planet. Instead, there was adamantite, but Jin thought that the metal used to build these golems could have come from another planet, namely, “Hale”.

  They had no artificial muscle tissue, so they seemed to be moving directly with magical power. That’s why their movements looked so clumsy. It could be said that this method for building Golems was unique to this area where the Ether concentration is high. In exchange they were highly durable.

  To Jin, only the material that had been used to build them could be used as a reference.

  They had stopped working because their Ether Converter had deteriorated over the years.

  “So Ether Converters have been used since so long ago… Perhaps my predecessor had also learned how to use them.”


  With that in mind, with the help of the Substitute Doll, Reiko, and the Mini-Smiths, Jin started repairing the Golems.

  They also replaced the Ether Converters on the Golems that were still operational, since they were considerably deteriorated.

  Incidentally, there was no shortage of parts because this region was capable of producing a high amount of Magi Crystals.

  “Thank you very much, Lord Jin!”


  As he saw the remaining 14 Golems begin to work properly, Fabius bowed at Jin over and over again.

  Next was the lighting near the entrance.

  Jin’s use of the Ether Jammer seemed to have overloaded the safe section of the lighting’s magic circuit, causing considerable damage to it.

  Still, it was quite easy to repair.

  Finally, it was the illusory barrier’s turn.

  “Oh, this is…”


  It was fundamentally similar to a 3D image projector. It consisted of several individual projectors that emitted images using magical power.

  The intersection of the waves emitted from those projections formed three-dimensional “dots”.

  The collection of all these dots created the illusion. Since they all formed a three-dimensional image, it wouldn’t seem unnatural when seen from multiple directions, and there was no way to tell it was an illusion without the use of the sense of touch.

  Furthermore, the illusory surface had the property of reflecting sound waves over a considerable range.

  As a result, the barrier could also deceive the ears, further enhancing its concealing capabilities.

  Jin was impressed to see magical power being used in this way.

  This concept of “magical power” isn’t a broad one, like “a supernatural, magical energy”, but a more narrow meaning, similar to “magnetic force”. It would be more accurate to speak of “magical force”, instead.

  ”


  After analyzing the data, Laojun provided that explanation.

  At any rate, the results of this analysis would surely enhance the defense network of Hourai Island.

  This data had definitely been a big haul.

  During their work, Jin was able to find and remove two suspected teleporting markers. This would prevent a surprise attack from the Nega-Dolls.

  Aside from this, Jin repaired an additional ten kinds of Magic Tools.

  As Jin repaired all the malfunctioning plates and magical circuits, Fabius kept on thanking him, saying how he had no words to express his gratitude over and over again.