09-05 Opened Hostilities

“My Lord, there’s a report from Regulus-2 who was dispatched to Cline Kingdom’s capital.”

A voice was heard.

“Laojin, huh? That’s something I want to hear directly so please transfer the call here.”

A bit earlier, Jin had decided to call the intellect overseeing Hourai Island Laojin and his human terminal Laozi to avoid confusion.

Although they were both names that on Earth referred to the same person or more precisely sage, they were effective with preventing confusion.

“This is Regulus-2.”

“It’s Jin, what is it?”

“Yes, the neighboring Frantz Kingdom has violated the border of Cline Kingdom. This appears to be the third time this year.”

“Cline Kingdom, is it?”

The country where Kaina Village where Hannah lived was, and which Lithia was affiliated with.

“Rumor has it that Frantz Kingdom is something like a vassal state of Celuroa Kingdom.”

“I see.”

Celuroa Kingdom was also the country most suspected of having ties with the Unifilers.

Jin was reminded of the (still incomplete) map of the world.

Frantz Kingdom and Cline Kingdom were to the north of Celuroa Kingdom.

If Frantz Kingdom was a vassal state and Cline Kingdom was successfully made to submit, Egelia Kingdom and Elias Kingdom would remain.

What aims Celuroa Kingdom had for the easternmost Leonard Kingdom was unknown, but after the remaining two countries Celuroa Kingdom’s original goal of re-establishing the old Dinar Kingdom could be said to have been reached.

“My Lord, there’s a report from Capella-1 who was dispatched to western Cline Kingdom.”

Capella-1 was the Quinta dispatched to western Cline Kingdom.

“Frantz Kingdom has declared war on Cline Kingdom.”

“What!?”

Just when he had got the news of the recent border violation, this happened.

“My Lord, there’s a report from Mira-1 who was dispatched to Egelia Kingdom.”

Mira-1 was the Quinta dispatched to Egelia Kingdom’s capital together with Deneb-1.

“What is it now? Are you about to tell me that this time Celuroa Kingdom has declared war?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.”

“What the!?”

Celuroa Kingdom against Egelia Kingdom, Frantz Kingdom against Cline Kingdom. Right now the bunch of small nations was in an uproar.

“Are Shouro Empire and Elias Kingdom peaceful?”

Loujin replied.

“Yes, it appears that nothing is going on in those countries at present.”

“Hmm…”

Jin thought. What should he be doing now? Then he remembered to first of all contact his friend Reinhardt who could judge the state of things in a time like this.

“If I’m not mistaken, Reinhardt’s supposed to still be in Dali or somewhere around there.”

To be precise he was in the town of Jiron on the opposite side of river Azul from Dali. The reason was that he was still occupied by matters regarding the Unifilers Jin had captured.

“How should I go meet him…”

After all, it probably had to be at midnight with the stealth aircraft.

“Alright Laojin, prepare Falcon-1. Also take care of the Warp Gate tuning. Also the golem horses for travel.”

“Yes.”

At that moment Ann made a suggestion.

“Master, I think it’s doubtful having Warp Gates lead directly here to Hourai Island, with the exception of the ones from locations can be completely trusted.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Nothing is perfect. However unlikely, you must consider that the enemy could come here using a Warp Gate too, and having the Warp Gates’ security broken through is also possible.”

Ann’s claim was reasonable, and Jin nodded.

“Got it. It’s alright to send people out, but when coming here going through for example Kunlun Island or something would be a good layer of security, is the gist of it, right?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“In that case…Where would be good?”

It wasn’t possible right away, but Jin was thinking of using the aircraft carrier as a relay base. If something happened, in the worst case it should be alright to just blow it up.

Thinking about it that way, instead of an aircraft carrier just a simple floating island or something seemed like it would do.

And so travel to Hourai Island without direct passage through a relay base –with the exception of times when the other party’s identity could be confirmed using a ManaCom– was included in the plans for the future.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

That evening. Eight in the afternoon on Hourai Island. Reinhardt got in contact as usual.

“Jin, I’ve finally been set free from the annoying explanations and procedures and whatnot.”

“Sorry for the trouble, Reinhardt. By the way, did you know that war has begun?”

“Yeah. I heard about it some time ago. Celuroa Kingdom declared war on Egelia Kingdom, right?”

“Not only that. Frantz Kingdom has also declared war on Cline Kingdom.”

“Huuh?”

Reinhardt was surprised. No wonder.

“There’s something I’d like to consult you about, so I wonder if you could come over here?”

“By over there you mean Hourai Island, right? It’d be my pleasure!”

“Alright, I’ll come meet you after this.”

After the conversation was concluded, Jin warped from Hourai Island to Jiron’s outskirts to the Warp Gate on Falcon-1 which had already arrived there. Accompanying him were Reiko and the SP unit.

“Is that the town of Jiron?”

Falcon-1 landed on the river beach around two kilometers away from Jiron. Jin who had come out of the Warp Gate on board idly stared at the street lights with the night sky as their background.

“Alright Reiko, let’s go meet Reinhardt.”

“Yes, Father.”

Jin’s golem horse Koma was on Falcon-1, along with another golem horse.

Jin mounted Koma and Reiko mounted the other horse and they headed for Jiron. Jin was of course wearing the reinforced clothing. The SP unit followed them by running.

Moving like that it took them merely three minutes to get to Jiron. Strangely this was not a walled city, instead a wide canal enclosed the city.

Its width was about 20 meters, not something a normal human could leap over. Also, the moat’s walls were nearly vertical in addition to the drop to the the surface of the water being over five meters high, so even if you used a boat it would be difficult to get on and off it.

Nearly all of the many bridges were drawbridges with had been raised for the night. Only in two spots were the bridges crossable, but they were guarded by sentinels apparently to not let anything suspicious pass.

“Now then, how are we going to get Reinhardt out?”

Jin was pondering it but,

“Father, I shall jump over and bring Reinhardt-san back with me.”

Reiko proposed.

“Hmm, I wonder if that’ll work.”

That seemed to be the best option in such a short period of time, so Jin decided to go with it.

“Listen, use a [Barrier] and don’t go anywhere, please. And SP, you protect Father well.”

“Yes, Sister.”

Reiko who was prone to worrying looked like she wanted to say something more, but as she was urged on by Jin she at last headed to the town.

First she chose a place where there were no people and jumped over the canal. It was a trivial matter for Reiko.

“Reinhardt-san said he was in an inn called ‘Forest Badger Inn’.”

She had also heard its rough location so she soon found it. There Reinhardt was waiting in the entrance hall of the in.

“Reinhardt-san.”

“Oh, Reiko-chan. Where’s Jin?”

“Father is waiting on the other side of the canal.”

“Is that so. Well then, let’s go there at once.”

After a simple exchange, Reinhardt went outside with Reiko. Something was in his somewhat large baggage which he took with him.

They soon arrived at the canal.

“Err, how are we going to cross this from here, I wonder?”

Reiko approached Reinhardt who looked doubtful. She then extended her arms.

“Eh? Uhh, don’t tell me, don’t tell me you’re going to?”

Reinhardt turned somewhat pale. But Reiko looked like she wanted to get it over with as he held Reinhardt in her arms. The scene of 130-centimeter Reiko carrying the 185-centimeter Reinhardt was surreal.

“Let’s go.”

“Eh, hold–, ah, aaaaaaaahhh!”

While carrying Reinhardt Reiko effortlessly jumped over the 20 meter canal and ran to Jin where Jin was without a pause. While still carrying Reinhardt.

“Father, I’ve brought Reinhardt.”

Reiko appeared in front of Jin while carrying Reinhardt and said.

“…He– hey there, Jin.”

“Hey there, Reinhardt.”

Their reunion was somewhat awkward.

After that Reinhardt got on the golem horse while Reiko rode together with Jin on Koma, and they headed for Falcon-1. As an aside, Reiko seemed happy to ride together with Jin.

From there they arrived at Hourai Island in an instant using a Warp Gate.

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