December 30, 4:00 p.m.

Jin and his crew had returned to the institute after their excursion on the cruiser .

"Well, it's New Year's Eve today."

"New Year's Eve?"

Yes, it is.

Except for Gromma, who was from Fuso, he did not know how to say New Year's Eve.

"The last day of each month is called New Year's Eve. Today is the end of December and also the end of the year, so it's called New Year's Eve.

According to the lunar calendar, a standard month lasts 30 days. In other words, the end of the month is , so it is said that the character for was applied to it.

In the solar calendar, a month can be 30 days, 31 days, 28 days, 2 The last day of the month is called "New Year's Eve".

"So on New Year's Eve, we do a few things."

Groma responded to this as well.

"New Year's soba!

Fusoh, Mitsuho still has some Japanese customs. It was passed down to us by our senior who had wandered into the area before Jin, <<<< Wise Man (Magus) >> Shuki Tsetsi>>.

There is a theory that it is to wish people to live long and thin like buckwheat, or to cut off bad luck because buckwheat is easy to cut."

"Heh. ....... I didn't know that either. Jin ......, are you from Fuso or Mitsuho?

No, I only know someone who is. Or, to be more precise, ."

Gromma did not ask any more probing questions, perhaps reading into the way he said it that there was something more to the story.

"Well, let's get back to the story. We are going to take a bath to cleanse ourselves and have New Year's Eve soba for dinner. ...... would you prefer hot soba or cold soba?"

As for Jin, he prefers morisoba.

As a result, it was decided that Zion and the other members of the Nordic Federation would have hot soba and Eira and the other members of would have cold soba.

Both are served with tempura. The morisoba also had soba-yu (buckwheat hot water).

Aside from that, Jin and the others took a hot spring bath to rinse off their bodies, which were a bit sticky from the sea breeze on the boat.

At the same time, the grime and fatigue of the past year were also washed away.

The golem maids cleaned the clothes they took off today as well.

"Thank you very much.

"Indeed."

"This is a luxurious way to use the golem. ......"

Eira, Cachea, and Gromma seemed to have their own impressions.

"Oh, that felt so good!"

"As expected of Jin-sama. ......"

The members of the Nordic Federation also felt refreshed.

Now that they are all refreshed after the hot spring baths, and their clothes are clean and fresh.

Tonight, they are sitting around the table in the living room of their .

"Tatami mats... I miss ...... tatami mats..."

Groma says happily.

"Is it a mat made of a grass called Igusa? I've never seen it before, but it feels nice to the touch and smells wonderful.

KaChea seems to like the tatami mats.

"Yes. Sitting directly on the floor like this is so relaxing!

Even Eira, who is a lazy person by nature, greatly appreciated the fact that she could sit directly on the floor.

Theon and his friends have been here many times, and tatami mats are in small supply in the Nordic Federation, so there were no notable reactions.

Then came the New Year's Eve soba.

"Wow, it smells good!"

Soba made with freshly ground buckwheat flour has a wonderful aroma.

Two kinds of sauce, sweet and dry, are served, and you can choose the one you like best.

Hitoshi prefers a slightly sweet taste, so he mixed two sweet tastes with one dry taste. The soup was a gem with a broth made from dried bonito flakes.

The condiments were wasabi and spicy daikon. Spicy daikon is an improved version of wild daikon.

"Tempura is also very crispy!"

Shrimp tempura and vegetable kakiage are included. They are freshly fried and quite hot.

Jin was careful not to burn himself while eating.

"The soba sauce at Horai Island is delicious, isn't it?"

Zion was slowly tasting the hot soba sauce.

"Dried bonito flakes and kelp, right?" he said.

"I heard they also add dried bonito flakes and kelp," Jin said.

Jin said. It's no secret. Especially to Zion and the rest of the family.

"I see. I'll try it next time.

The night of New Year's Eve slowly fades away.

* * * *

<.

The time difference from Horai Island is about three and a half hours, so it is late afternoon here.

Here, too, preparations were underway to welcome the New Year .......

However, there are no special events.

The most troublesome thing is to prepare files for the new year on the shelves.

Each department was preparing for the new year.

The deus ex machina III and Elena's group were still in .

Makina III in particular was inspecting the facilities in <>.

(......I left it alone for a bit, but there are still many deteriorated facilities. ......)

The original equipment was fine, but the equipment that had been added after Jin's death was deteriorating.

It means that the technology of Jin and the technology of could not be equaled.

(I hope to see more of this in the future.)

The <> who was piloting the third generation of Machina was quietly working on it with such impressions in his mind.

And then...

"This is ......!"

What Makina III discovered was a suspicious magic machine (magi-machine) set up inside <>. There were four of them. There was an additional one.

When they were analyzed, three of them were for eavesdropping, one was a bomb, and the extra one was a transfer magic circle.

(I would be surprised if the < had the technology of transfer magic circle. ......)

The master immediately reported to the old man. At the same time, he also made sure to disable the four magi-machines and the transfer magic circle.

The last report was made to Tomax Bartmann.

At the same time, Elena was reviewing the documents with permission.

Elena was reviewing them to the best of her ability.

Due to the strength of the leather and wooden paper, the search is done at about eight times the speed of a human being. At higher speeds, there is a risk of tearing the paper.

As a result, three data falsifications were found.

From a document from five years ago,

"It seems that the budget was used for something else.

and from a document from two years ago.

And a document from two years ago.

"Unknown cargo was entered into the warehouse."

And finally, from this year's paperwork,

"I think there may have been a leak of information."

It was discovered that four correspondence had been sent to an unknown destination.

"Well, this is a serious situation!"

Tomax Bartmann groaned with a bitter look on his face when he received the report.

It seems that New Year's has not yet come to him. .......