The interrogation of the suspicious man whom Reiko captured is still going on.

However, the man has started to keep silent, so no progress has been made.

"I'm at a loss. If you don't talk, I won't be able to clear your suspicion, will I?

Now Sergei, the village head, is addressing the man.

"......"

At that moment, the sun suddenly faded.

"Oh, here it comes."

He looks up and sees a huge airship floating in the sky.

"Jin-san, Jin-san, what is that?

Sergei, the village head, sounded anxious.

"It's Aristotle, the deus ex machina. I called him here to support us.

"Oh, I see..."

Speaking of deus ex machina, Sergei recalled that he and <> had come to the rescue of Guillermo Marchitas when he had attacked them.

The rescue operation was mainly carried out by <>, and the confrontation with Malkitas was a deus ex machina.

"Deus ex machina?　Why is he here in the middle of nowhere?

Hearing this name, the captured man looks panicked.

"What?　You know the name of Machina?"

Jin looked curious.

"Then that's a good thing. You'd better tell us everything you know before Makina comes here, wouldn't you?　Makina is not as naive as we are."

"Guh, muh ......."

The man, his face pale, hesitated for a moment,

"......You're right, I may be the thief you ...... are talking about."

He opened his mouth.

"But there is a reason why I attacked Fan village.

"What is it?"

We, the Revolutionary Party, wanted food in order to achieve our noble goal.

What noble purpose?

Jin asked back.

"Yes. There is no one else who can unite and rule this continent but His Majesty Vladimir Khangasone Mercana!"

"Vladimir Hungazone Merkana?"

The name sounded vaguely familiar.

"Call me your majesty, geezer!"

The man shouted at Jin, who had called him by that name, in a rage.

"To you, it may be His Majesty, but to us commoners, he's just a dictator. He is nothing but a tyrant.

Kachéa said.

"What the hell, you little girl!"

The man became even more furious. And then she continued.

"The Revolutionary Party?　You make me laugh. They are just bandits, aren't they?

"We are not bandits!　Our cause is ......."

The ends don't justify the means, do they?

Katya covers the man's words with more words, as if to drive him further away,

"Before that. The ends themselves are anachronistic. It's a moldy philosophy.

He said, as if to stir up the situation.

"What do you know!　Don't talk about us, who were deprived of our continental hegemony before we even knew what was going on, and called bandits!

Ka-cea sighed in a conspiratorial manner,

"I won't talk about it if you don't want me to. That's what I call "thought-stopping". ...... Well, it suits those who can't judge right and wrong by themselves.

"You little girl, you're so cocky ......."

"What are you, a little girl who is being talked down to by a little girl?"

"d*mn, d*mn, d*mn!"

Even Jin can see it coming here. KaChea is intentionally trying to stir things up with this man. She must have decided that it would be easier to get information out of him.

However, it seems that the normally quiet Cachéa is pushing herself too hard to do that much, and if you look closely, you can see that her legs are trembling a little and her forehead is sweating.

So Jin decides to take over from there.

"In general, he hurts the people he is supposed to protect and steals their food. What do you call this if not tyranny?　Oh, I think they're called bandits..."

"You!　You too mock us!

"That's why you're doing something that makes you look like a fool.

Jin follows Katya's lead and starts to stir things up.

"Oh, I shouldn't make fun of fools. They are idiots to begin with. He can't be any more stupid than that. Excuse me."

"You're ......!

The guy looks like he's about to blow steam out of his head, so Jin takes the opportunity,

"I'm sure your friends are all a bunch of geezers, aren't they?　What can you do with 10 or so people?

The man then made a big talk and said, "You know, I don't know what you can do with only ten or so people.

Then the man said in a big tone,

We have mages and engineers who excel in magic. There are also many former knights. Be in awe of our revolutionary party of over fifty!

He told us the information we wanted to know.

Meanwhile, Katya seems relieved and hides behind Jin.

At this point, Reiko tugged on Jin's sleeve.

Then Jin decided to pull back and left the place for a while with Reiko.

"So, what's the matter, Reiko?

"Yes, father. ...... don't you think that the man's behavior resembles the reaction of a person who has been hypnotized?

"I thought so. ...... you think so too?"

"Yes, I do. Yes, I agree with you.

"I see. ......

Long ago, when Jin was not yet known to the world as a Magecraft Meister.

He remembered that an archaeologist named Lukor, whom he had met at the ruins when he was traveling with Reinhardt and Erza to the Shoro Kingdom, had reacted in a similar way.

"Then I wonder if it can be unlocked by <>?"

> is a magic developed by Elsa that can remove suggestion and hypnosis.

"Yes, I think it is worth a try."

"Yes."

However, Jin himself cannot use . So, Jin called up via Reiko.

"You wanted to see me, master?"

Enju2 comes immediately.

"Please try to wake this one up."

"Yes, Master. <

Oh!　......"

<> is that, unlike or >, it does not electrocute you.

In other words, there is little physical pain and you can act immediately after the hypnotic state is released.

And the man was, as expected, under the influence of hypnosis or strong suggestion.

"......This is ......where I've been, I've been at the mercy of those bandits. ......"

The madness was gone from the man's eyes.

"I was brainwashed after all. ......"

Jin sighed.

"This opponent is a nuisance. ......"

From his past experience, the opponent who can use the brainwashing magic is very troublesome. Or rather, the real enemy is that person.

Jin thought that he had to confer with the deus ex machina, and waited for it to come down.