While he waits for Lukor to notice, Jin turns to Reiko,

"Reiko, do you understand what Anne is trying to say?

Reiko asks. Reiko had just explained to him on behalf of Anne, who was having trouble with her speech apparatus.

Yes, father. She is like a cousin of mine, so she can speak on my behalf with magical synchronization.

"Cousin?"

I'm not sure I understand that expression.

"Yes. Yes. She and I have the same basic design. I think we probably use the same design basis as your mother. I can feel the magical vibrations for vocalization just by touching her like this.

I guess you could say it's like having a radio voice pop into the radio when the frequencies are close enough. Anyway, Reiko is able to speak on behalf of Anne. Perhaps because of this, Jin is relieved that she is not jealous of Anne in particular.

"I see...I see."

Jin is satisfied, but Reinhardt, who is standing nearby, has a question mark in his head.

"Jin, what do you mean?　Explain it to me so that I can understand.

Jin apologizes to Reinhardt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Reinhard. I think it's likely that this Anne was designed by the same person as Reiko. The details have changed, of course, but the basics are the same. That's why I said that Reiko is her cousin."

"Hmmm, so Reiko ...... is such an old design?"

Jin tried to remember what he had told Reinhardt about Reiko, but could not. He thinks he explained to Bina about the artifact that Jin had found, but he thinks he left Reinhardt in the dark about it.

"Ah. Reiko was originally an artifact-class automata, but she was quite damaged when I found her. So, I reassembled her using new materials while keeping the design as is, and that's what Reiko is now."

When I explained this to him, Reinhardt seemed to agree with me and made several large affirmative gestures,

"Well, that explains a lot. No wonder you ...... are so efficient, Reiko.

"Reinhard, if you're talking about Reiko, you don't have to put the 'missus' suffix on her now. Reiko.

"...... yes?"

There was a slight pause, but Reiko, who had no ill feelings toward Reinhardt and who had been told to do so by Jin, agreed.

"Well, thank you, Reiko."

"...... no."

"Anne, I'll take care of it later.

Thank you very much.

As I was doing this, Lukor, who had been knocked out, jerked away. Reinhardt was the first to notice.

"Hey, did you notice?"

I lightly tapped him on the cheek, and he finally opened his eyes.

"Ugh...... where am I?

"We're in the ruins."

"Ruins?"

It seems that some of his memory has been blown, so Reinhardt, on behalf of the others, explains what has happened so far.

"Hmm, I think I remember ...... something like that, ...... surely, I vaguely remember. By the way, can you untie me?"

Lukor said as he looked around at his figure tied up in the sleeve of his robe.

I was now back to my senses, so I cautiously untied my clothes.

"Well, that's a relief. By the way, are we in the ruins?

"Yes, we are.

"Hmmm, I never thought that the secret of the ruins, which I couldn't find no matter how much I looked for, would be discovered by you guys who just came here today. ...... I guess I'm retired now too. ......"

Lukor is a different person from when he was under hypnosis, this must be his true character.

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

Reinhardt resumed. The survey of the ruins is over and it is past midnight.

"I'm kind of tired. I'm kind of tired. I'm going back to my hut.

Lukor had built a hut near the ruins and was living there. Jin and the others returned to the wagon and took a nap until morning, and decided to visit Lukor's hut again when it was light.

"Elsa, I hope you are still sleeping," said Reinhardt.

Reinhardt said. Jin agreed, saying that he would be upset if he woke up and found them gone.

So they hurry back to the carriage.

As a result.

"Mr. Reinhardt, Miss Elsa is well rested.

The two are relieved. They get into the carriage quietly so as not to wake the sleeping Elsa, recline the seat, and take a nap.

Reiko and Anne are outside the carriage. Reiko was alert and Anne was working as a sentinel, though she was not in good shape.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next morning.

"It's terrible of you two to leave me behind and go to the ruins alone.

Sure enough, when Elsa woke up, she found Anne outside and had to explain where she had come from.

"I'm sorry, Elsa. You were sleeping comfortably and I felt sorry to wake you up."

"Bullshit."

"It could've been dangerous, and I didn't want to take you there. You have to understand, Elsa.

I don't know.

A disgruntled Elsa has no way out of this.

She has no choice but to prepare breakfast first.

She boils water and makes soup on the stove, which she has made herself. Cutting bread and soaking it in the soup makes a simple breakfast.

The village is poor, but it can't be helped, as they didn't expect to find so much in the way of food.

"Well, it's good sometimes..."

Reinhardt glances at Erza as he says this, but her mood does not seem to have recovered.

Reiko, sensing this mood, drops a sort of bombshell.

"Father, today is your birthday, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

What?

"Oh, I didn't know that."

The lines were spoken by Erza, Reinhard, and Jin, in that order.

"Yes. Your father's birthday is today, April 1, that's right."

Jin's information, which had been transcribed by Reiko, also included his birthday.

Coincidentally, it was also on April 1 that Jin was summoned to this world.

"Oh, I'm 21 years old now.

At the same time, it's been a whole year since I came to this world.

"Oh, I see. Jin, let's celebrate today when we get back to Yada village.

Reinhardt said hurriedly.

"No, thanks, I'm already 21."

But Jin doesn't look so happy.

"That's not true. It's a day to commemorate the birth of Jin-kun. It's a very important day."

Erza was the one who said that.

Erza was supposed to be upset, but when she heard that today was Jin's birthday, she seemed to have forgotten all about it.

"Well, I guess so."

Jin, who came from an orphanage, did not celebrate his birthday until his early elementary school years. After that, he was on the receiving end of celebrations.

Therefore, Jin, who was not accustomed to having people celebrate his birthday, hid his embarrassment.

After visiting Lukor's hut and talking with him, he decided to go back to Yada village, this time with Erza.

On the way, there was a loud noise and the sound of things breaking, and then it became quiet again.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Reiko, stay alert.

Hitoshi gave Reiko some instructions and headed for Lukor's hut, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.

The Lukor hut was located in a hollow about 50 meters away from the ruins along the cliff.

But...

"What's going on?"

The hut was crushed as if it had been trampled by a giant foot.

There was no sign of Lukor. Either he was crushed along with the hut, or he escaped. I hope he got out of there, because I don't smell blood.

Anyway, I guess we're stuck here.

"Well, let's go back to the wagon for a while.

Unsure of what to do, Jin and the others returned to the carriage and told the story to Anne and Claude, the butler, and asked their opinions.

Then, Anne made an unbelievable comment.

"I don't think you've done anything wrong with Giggles, do you?