After leaving Crosus, Alt-Elbein...... no longer needs to use an alias, he has returned to Special Investigator 99.

Special Investigator 99 did not go north to Hajsus, but west. He was heading west toward the Maise Plain.

The old man is watching his every move. .......

This is nothing strange.

<

And if there was an exposed rocky area along the way, with little danger, it was a natural place to rest and camp.

Fortunately, it was in the middle of the wilderness, so it was secluded and almost free from wild animals and pests, which was one of the reasons why it was chosen as a resting place.

<> in this exposed rocky area, ...... then it would be deliberate. Then ......>>

The old man checks the topography of the area.

The old man decides that he will not go out of his way to check such a place, and wonders how he can get Special Investigator 99 to come here.

The old man transfers a "mini craftsman (Smith)". The "miniature craftsman" is only 10 cm tall, so there is little chance of it being found.

Then he gives the following instructions.

Roger that.

Smith, the miniature golem craftsman, is good at producing sounds in the high frequency range.

>

Let's try to make a meaningless intermittent sound at around 30,000 Hz.

Most golems can hear this level of ultrasonic sound.

Humans can hear at most 20,000 Hz, but dogs can hear 50,000 Hz, cats can hear 100,000 Hz, and dolphins can hear 150,000 Hz. Cats can hear up to 100,000 hertz, and dolphins can hear up to 150,000 hertz.

* * * *

Arriving at the camp before dusk, No. 99 rested his horse and ordered Golem to be on the alert.

"The horses' mangers are ...... well stocked."

There was hay in a secret hiding place. He takes it out and feeds it to the horses.

At the same time, he brings out three barrels of water, two for the horses and one for himself.

Then, a report comes in from Golem.

"Strange sound?"

"Hmm, where is it coming from?"

<

"Mm......"

No.99 thought for a while.

He had been here several times before, but had never heard such a sound.

Nor had any of his colleagues reported anything like that.

"Are you still hearing that sound?"

"Hm, the contents are meaningless, are they not?"

>

At this point #99 decides to investigate the identity of the thing emitting the intermittent sound.

"Okay Golem, you go ahead and go to the source of that sound. Then stop a little before the source and call me.

.

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

The old man saw through his peepers that this order had been given.

He could not hear the voice, but he knew it from the movement of the mouth of No. 99. <.

Let's forward <<<< to the cave. And let the > disguise himself.

of <> is transferred to a very shallow cave, and > covers it with soil and sand to make it look as if it has been there for decades or centuries and has only recently peeked its face.

35 seconds until the end. The has not arrived yet.

.

The old man waits for the result of his disguise.

* * * *

is autonomous and can make its own decisions to achieve its goals.

The , under the command of the 99, slowly and cautiously approached the rock where the cave was located.

Auditory search reveals no living creatures around.

It is unstable on its feet, so it walks slowly. He had such a good sense of balance.

He approaches the large rock on which the old man has placed and discovers the cave.

<> takes this opportunity to make a short, intermittent sound.

>

And that was enough.

> peeks inside the cave and spots <>.

At the right moment, the old man turned on the searchlight on <> dimly for a moment.

It is quickly turned off and the intermittent sound is cut off.

checks < and makes a U-turn to report to the 99.

"Hmm, so the mysterious Golem has been found. ...... is out of order, and it doesn't look like it can move."

Special Investigator 99 wondered what to do with this golem.

"There are three ways to go: ......"

1, Pretend that you did not see it.

2, Bring it back.

3, Go back and report the discovery of the mysterious golem.

The first is impossible.

The remaining options are 2 or 3, but 2 is more likely to take the credit.

The elite are also highly demanding of recognition.

The question is whether it is safe to take it out, 99 decides.

"Okay, let's take a closer look.

So No.99 and < went to check the mysterious golem they had found.

"...... this?"

No.99 observed the golem from a distance of about 5 meters.

The first thing he noticed was its odd shape.

It has no head. It seems to me that it is not missing a head, but rather that it was not made in the first place.

It has four arms and two legs. It seems that there are no missing limbs, but it is a strange shape that I have never seen before.

The fact that its entire body is almost completely buried in the ground indicates that it has been immobilized here for a long time.

Probably, the recent rain has washed away the soil covering it, exposing a part of it.

It is more correct to say that some of the functions were still alive, rather than that it started to move as if it remembered ...... for some reason, No. 99 judged.

It seemed to be safe, so he approached it up to 3 meters.

The surface of the object was dirty, indicating that it had been there for quite a long time.

"If I can bring this back, I can make a contribution to the principality.

Looking at the joints of its arms and legs, it was in a very bad shape and was not likely to be able to move, so he decided that it would not pose a threat.

"Okay , dig out that misshapen golem."

>

No.99, who had once again moved away, watched from a distance as his dug out the misshapen golem.