8-11 In Pursuit

To stabilize Mine’s condition, Sally had her drink one more mouthful of the remaining medicine.

This time she managed to have Mine drink the whole thing without spilling it.

“Sigh, she should be fine now. Now we just wait and see.”

Now Mine was breathing calmly.

“She seems to have also suffered considerable mental damage, so it will take some time until she wakes up.”

Sally said and so,

“Doctor, could I have Mine hospitalized here for a while?”

Jin tried asking.

Sally replied,

“Mh-hm, this is a house of healing so I don’t mind. However, as a healer, I would like you to tell me about that medicine.”

And she brought out her bargaining point. Well, the topic was going to come up no matter what so,

“Sure, alright. I made that medicine.”

Jin replied honestly. He thought this healer Sally was somehow trustworthy. She was a woman, but she gave off the same impression as Reinhardt and himself.

“You made it!? Are you an alchemist?”

Sally was astonished.

“No, I’m a Magi Craftsman. I heard of the recipe of the restorative medicine from somewhere, so I made one as an experiment.”

“Whawhawha-what? You heard of the recipe? You heard of the recipe that’s more valuable than life to alchemists?”

Sally was even more astonished. Oops, Jin thought, and decided to alter the story.

“No, the one I heard it from was an Automata, you see. Not only that, but one from the times of the Great Magic War.”

“Whaaat?”

Sally was well surprised. Jin had thought she’d be calm and collected, but maybe she was unexpectedly an easily excited person.

“The old Automata, see, after telling me that they completely stopped working, and that was the only thing I heard. Furthermore, the information was incomplete.”

Jin then just told her that he had made the medicine by using healing magic to charge the serum of a devil beast, which he had made by settling some of the blood he had had on hand. The centrifuge and the like would’ve been difficult to explain and so he omitted them.

“Hmm, so it was that kind of technique you say.”

However, despite that Sally appeared to have had some kind of an inspiration, and while grumbling she ruminated over the recipe.

“I can’t get my hands on a devil beast’s blood…But isn’t there something better than a devil beast…What’s important is the included Magic Energy…In that case…”

“Excuse me, doctor.”

Jin was irritated at Sally who was immersed her own world with no sign of returning, and he called out to her in a quite loud voice. Even more than Mine, he was worried about Elsa.

“Hm! Wh-what is it?”

“Mine will be fine now, right?”

“Mh-hm. As long as she recovers like this she should be fine.”

Hearing that, Jin made up his mind.

“Sorry about this, but could I trouble you to keep an eye on her here until she’s well?”

“Hm? I don’t mind, but there seems to be some story here.”

Sally said, and Jin summarized the story of Elsa and Mine to her.

“Hmm, she ran away with someone’s daughter. And got attacked midway, I suppose.”

“Huh. Well, I can’t think of anything else that might’ve happened.”

“And so I guess as far as her employer is concerned, she can’t go back to him.”

“Because she’ll be punished, I see.”

Sally thought about it for a while then,

“I understand. I’ll look after her for a while, why not until her health improves. It’s the least I can do after you told me about the restorative medicine.”

She said undertook the task.

Jin bowed and,

“Thank you, doctor. So, here’s the payment for the time being.”

He said and handed over three gold coins, that is, 30000 Torr.

“This is way too much…”

Sally started to say, but then guessed that it must also include the money for keeping quiet and accepted it without saying anything else.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

As Jin didn’t have to worry about Mine for the time being, he hurried back to the hotel. It was already evening, but it seemed that Reinhardt still hadn’t returned. He then decided he’d leave a message.

“Could you please tell Reinhardt that there’s something I’m a little worried about so I’ll go check on it, and that he doesn’t have to worry about me.”

He asked the butler Claude to convey that to Reinhardt, left Ann in his room, and under the darkening skies he departed looking for Elsa.

Time was precious. It would be good if he had the golem horse Koma, but it couldn’t pass through the carriage’s Warp Gate. With no other option, he detached a horse golem from the carriage and straddled it. As there was no saddle it was unsteady, but as time was of the priority he endured it.

His destination was upstream of River Torres.

Jin decided to call the Air Force for backup when it’s needed.

Sky units from 71 to 75 were defending Jin, while Raptor units from one to five had the duty of staying on alert at a high altitude. They would probably arrive by the end of Jin’s 20-kilometer journey.

“Oh, but the bottleneck is that landing will be difficult.”

Although it was this late, Jin noticed a flaw in his plan.

“If I’m not mistaken there was something called a VTOL aircraft. Once I go back I should try building one…”

While thinking that, Jin moved in the evening’s darkness. The golem horse’s back just shook and he was concerned about Elsa, but on the other hand his head was filled with idle thoughts.

“Reiko has been strengthened, but my own body hasn’t at all been. I really must finish making some personal equipment soon.”

Night vision goggles to see in the dark, or the power suit whose development came to a halt midway, or something. Jin’s thoughts had no end.

“Oh, if Reiko could fly too that’d be great.”

He came up with that, which would result in her becoming unstoppable by anyone.

This was in a sense backlash from his reservation.

Jin wasn’t a pacifist in particular. On the other hand, he wasn’t quick to quarrel either. Basically he went easy on his friends, and had no mercy for his enemies. Although, that’s probably how most people are.

Jin wasn’t particularly fond of Mine. She’d complain at the drop of a hat, if pushed he’d describe her as weak-headed.

However, while that may be true, Jin wasn’t as cold-hearted as to just silently overlook how she had been treated. All the more now that he had been told she was Elsa’s real mother.

He’d track down Elsa and settle the debts with whoever made Mine suffer through that. That’s what Jin was thinking.

However, he didn’t realize that “whoever made mine suffer through that” was no longer in this world.

“…So tiring.”

Jin was worn out by the saddleless and continuously shaking golem horse’s back.

“Ahh, having a motorbike would be more comfortable. Even a bicycle would be fine. I’ll make one later.”

It seemed that the shackle of Jin’s so-called restraint had leapt into another dimension.

“Father, are you okay? Would you like me to carry you?”

Reiko asked with concern, but having a 130-centimeter girl carry him in her arms or on her back to his destination was too shameful for Jin and he refused the proposal.

“Is that so? If you get tired, please tell me so.”

“Yeah.”

He replied, but the chances of Jin voicing his complaints to Reiko were rather low. It was about the dignity of a father.

In the first place he wasn’t too tired to walk, just tired of the saddleless horse’s shaking, and so walking would pose no problem.

In addition, he couldn’t go fast. Right now, the SP were going ahead in the direction of travel while on the lookout, so he couldn’t go any faster.

As the enemy base drew near, he had to slow down for the sake of cautiously getting near it.

He was worried about Elsa’s safety, but Jin judged that supposing he was seen, Elsa would very likely be in even more danger, and so he restrained himself from acting rashly.

Any time now he’d be a short distance away from the destination. He had to make ensure the enemy didn’t suspect anything.

Until now he had traveled the to the side of the highway, but finally he decided to take the path where there was no road.

“Father, to make it more efficient, should I have the SP go ahead as outriders?”

To push his way through the bushes he would need to use substantial strength. That’s why she mentioned having the SP go ahead as outriders, or in other words cutting and clearing the way through bushes. Of course, with utmost silence and secrecy.

“Right, go ahead and do that.”

And so it was arranged that Dahlia and Canna of the SP showed themselves and led them. The other members were wary of the surroundings. Reiko was closest to Jin protecting him, and they carried on.

After about fifteen minutes, Dahlia who had been going ahead stopped moving.

“Chief, there is a building.”

Just as she reported, if you looked closely, in the darkness there indeed was something like a stronghold.

“I can indeed feel the Magic Energy of the brooch Father made.”

Reiko said. In the brooch Jin had gifted Elsa were small Magi Crystal studdings, which had his Magic Energy in them.

That’s why Reiko was able to perceive its existence at this distance.

“Well, let’s finally get to the infiltration.”

Jin said, but,

“Father, there is no need for you to do it yourself. The SP is for times like this. Just give them the order.”

Reiko rebuked him.

That made Jin feel vaguely ashamed, but it was true that Jin’s corporeal strength was low.

“Alright, then I’ll command you. First track down Elsa. Do not be found.”

“Yes, Chief.”

Without a sound, the SP disappeared in the direction of the stronghold. Jin thought while watching it.

(It might be interesting to make a magical puppet that moves according to my will.)

Despite thinking it a bit imprudent, even at this occasion Jin thought about craftsmanship.

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