Magi Craft Meister 646
18 King Klein’s Treatment Arc
19-33 Domain
There was something floating outside the window. It was a hot air balloon made by the Celuroa Kingdom. Or rather, a “hot flying balloon”
It was exactly like the ones used by the former “Unifiers”.
By the time Jin and the others had gone out onto the balcony, it had only gone up ten meters above ground. Since it didn’t even have a “Wind Thruster” installed, its takeoff speed is rather slow.
“Now that we’re outside, it’s the end of the line for them. …Elsa, tell Edgar to use one of his knives…”
“Sure. Edgar, aim for that balloon.”
“Yes.”
Elsa gave Edgar instructions before Jin finished speaking.
Edgar threw one of his remaining knives. It struck true, cutting through the balloon’s air sac and causing its gondola to fall.
“Huh?!”
The gondola crashed onto the courtyard, but there was nothing and no one inside it.
“Oh no! It was a decoy!”
It seemed that the all-purpose Golem was very shrewd.
“There is a possibility that they were investigating all sorts of state secrets… Where could it be hiding…?”
“At any rate, it’s trying to escape. It seems that it’s leaving Derait behind.”
Jin glanced at the floor.
Derait lay there, unconscious. It seemed that the all-purpose golem, Lecker, wasn’t just under Derait’s command, and had been tasked with digging up as much information about the Klein Kingdom and reporting it to its real boss.
This real boss might be this incident’s true mastermind. If that’s the case, the more time passes, the harder it will be to catch them.
“Reiko, can you detect it?”
Reiko has a Magi Detector installed. It has about the same range as a Magi Radar, but it’s still highly useful.
“That Control Core we just took out of that huge Golem… If they’re created by the same person, its Mana pattern will help you find it.”
“Understood. I’ll give it a try.”
Reiko received the Control Core from Jin, and after reading its Mana pattern, she searched for similar readings in the area using her Magi Detector.
“…Got it”, said Reiko in a quiet voice.
“…It is over there!”
Reiko pointed at the corner of the balcony, behind a wooden box.
“Edgar.”
“Yes!”
Another knife flew out of Edgar’s hand.
A metallic sound was heard, and the knife was knocked down at the same time as the spell “Hide” was undone.
The “Hide” spell can erase its caster’s presence, but if they make any noise or get hit by an attack, this effect is lost.
“Hmm? So that’s where you were hiding!”, said Princess Lieschen in a surprised tone of voice.
Now completely visible, Lecker seemed to realize that he could not escape anymore, and aimed for the one who looked like the easiest target.
In other words, the one in Jin’s group with the smallest physique… Reiko.
Lecker hadn’t seen Reiko making short work of the other heavy-duty Golem in the corridor, nor did he see her neutralizing the three combat Golems.
Therefore, he may have thought of attacking Reiko, who was the smallest, and if given the chance, he could even try to take her hostage.
“How foolish.”
Seeing this, Reiko faced Lecker.
She stepped forward, sneaking past Lecker’s outstretched arm and getting close to his chest. Then she punched with her small fist.
A heavy sound echoed, and Lecker was blown away.
“Ah.”
Just before Reiko’s fist had touched him, he had twisted his body in a desperate attempt to dodge, causing his flight’s trajectory – which should have crossed the balcony’s railing and ended in the courtyard – to shift slightly.
As a result…
“Whoa?!”
Jin wasn’t sure whose voice that had been.
The wall of the royal castle… the wall of Derait’s office was blown away along with Lecker.
“That wall is 70 centimeters thick…”
The voice of the frightened Princess Lieschen echoed.
＊ ＊ ＊
That night, Jin and Elsa were in the chancellor’s office.
“… There are so many things to talk about, I don’t know where to start… First of all, allow me to thank you.”
The chancellor bowed first to Elsa, then to Jin.
“His Majesty’s condition seems to have improved considerably. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Miss Elsa, Lord Jin, and the Shouro Empire for entrusting the two of you with this.”
“No, it was more than a coincidence that I found out the cause of His Majesty’s illness. If I hadn’t heard what Her Highness Lieschen had to say, I would have never realized.”
“Well, in fact, no matter how many healers we tried, all of them only managed to treat his illness without ever being able to find its cause, so it’s only what to be expected…”
“…Speaking of what is to be expected, my role as a healer is to cure diseases.”
“Oh no, no, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that…”
Words of gratitude and humility mingled. They finally reached a conclusion after a while.
“… I have to talk about our next topic. It’s about the former Minister of Industry Derait.”
“Yes.”
Jin and Elsa settled down and listened.
“As a result of our investigation, we were unable to prove any connection between Derait and the Celuroa Kingdom”
“Why is that?”
Derait had clearly mentioned the name of the Celuroa Kingdom to Elsa.
“No, more precisely, a connection to the royal family of the Celuroa Kingdom, or its government.”
“…”
“It is true that he had a connection with the people of the Celuroa Kingdom. However, this connection doesn’t fall outside of a personal level. There is nothing to prove that the Celuroa Kingdom itself, as a country, had a connection with Derait.
“That’s ridiculous! What about the 300 tons of wheat he gave the Celuroa Kingdom, or the Golems he received in return?”
Jin approached the chancellor with an angry tone. However, the chancellor had a regretful expression on his face.
“… That’s right, and we have received the Control Core you have submitted as evidence, Lord Jin… But no matter how much we try to read its contents, there’s no mention of the Celuroa Kingdom in it, or even the name of the Control Core’s creator…
The chancellor concluded that it had been prepared very thoroughly.
“But we haven’t given up on this. This time, it’s clear that that country has sent agents to our country and is trying to destroy it from the inside. In this case, there’s something we can do.”
The chancellor did not say what kind of thing this “something” was.
“Now, I’d like to talk about your reward, but…”
The chancellor began to speak with a sorry look on his face.
“Honestly, right now, our country’s finances are in dire straits. Or should I say, we’re nearly bankrupt. Therefore, it’s currently impossible to give you a monetary reward… I’m very sorry about this!”
The chancellor stood up and bowed deeply to both Jin and Elsa.
Neither Jin nor Elsa could remain silent after hearing the chancellor’s apology.
“… I came to treat His Majesty by order of Her Majesty the Emperor of the Shouro Empire. This was my official duty. So, there’s no need for a reward.”
Elsa spoke with determination. And looking at her, Jin’s eyes were filled with kindness.
“However, Lord Jin is the Magi Craft Meister, as well as an Honorary Knight. Someone like him cannot leave this country empty-handed.”
While saying that, the chancellor picked up something that looked like a document from the top of his office desk.
“I would like to grant Miss Elsa the title of “Honorary Healer”. And I would also like to repay Lord Jin’s by turning Kaina Village into an independent territory.”
“An independent territory?”
That wasn’t something Jin was used to hearing around here.
“I can’t blame you for not being familiar with this. It’s a system we have only recently created. As an independent territory, as far as foreign relations are concerned, Kaina Village will still be a part of the Klein Kingdom, however, in reality, it’ll become a part of Lord Jin’s territory.”
This meant that the Klein Kingdom would not interfere in Kaina Village’s affairs. This would effectively turn Kaina Village into “Jin’s country”. However, as the chancellor explained, it would still be a part of the Klein Kingdom on paper.
“It would be better to call it a domain rather than a territory. Regarding that dominion’s range, the Klein Kingdom will not be involved in the area consisting of Kaina Village and northward.”
“Understood. I accept.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The chancellor must have thought that Jin might not benefit from this, but the truth was different.
It could be said that there’s a blank area starting from the northern part of Kaina Village all the way up to the Great Isthmus of Pazdext. This was the same as saying that that blank territory was now part of Jin’s domain.
In reality, this meant that Jin had been awarded an area of land that was more than one-third of the entirety of the Klein Kingdom as his own territory. There were many ways in which Jin could use this territory effectively.
“Now, lastly, I would like to talk about the desiccant.”
The chancellor started speaking again.
“I want you to tell me about this desiccant you discussed with Derait.”
Since Derait’s successor hadn’t been decided yet, it seemed that the chancellor would be taking over his duties.
Seeing the face of the chancellor, who seemed to have lost a little weight, Jin became worried about his health.
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