On the morning of the 29th, after having a meal at the Royal Castle, Jin, Reiko, Arnold, Chel and four others ......2 at 8:30 a.m. The four and the two bodies were summoned to a small conference room.

"I am sorry for your trouble.

Prime Minister Dine was there and greeted Jin and the others.

"First of all, I would like to give you the identification card of that I promised you yesterday.

"Thank you very much."

"Thank you very much."

Arnold and Chelle are now treated as citizens of the Kingdom of Selroa.

"Next, I'd like to ask about the rewards for the research on the ancient base that you requested from Jin-dono, Arnold-dono, and Chel-dono..."

The Prime Minister offered Jin two kilograms of mithril silver (market value 9 million yen) and one kilogram of adamantite (market value 80 million yen). million yen).

Arnold and Chelle were offered two million tokens in cash (about 20 million yen) for the two of them. Arnold and Chelle were offered 2 million Tolls (approximately 20 million yen) in cash for the two of them.

Jin had no objection.

Arnold was no different.

However,

"What about the ownership of what you found?

Arnold asked, "What about the ownership of what you have found?

"Well, do you know what will be found or ...... likely to be found?"

The Prime Minister asked the question back.

"I can imagine what was at the base. I can't guarantee that it is still there.

"Well, of course it is. Well, what do you think is likely to be there?"

"............ a combat golem, a general-purpose golem, a magic brain, some materials, magic tools, and ...... some kind of vehicle, I guess. I guess."

"I see. By the way, what do you want if you find it, Mr. Arnold?

"A magic tool and a vehicle. However, I don't know what kind of things are left, so it's a matter of time before I find them.

"I see. ...... What kind of vehicles were there in those days?"

At this question, Arnold began to explain, thinking for a moment.

"Golem-pulled vehicles, hot air balloons or hot air balloons, and golem-powered boats," he said.

"I see."

As for Jin, he was a little interested in a car pulled by a golem.

He thought he would ask later whether it was a rickshaw or a carriage pulled by a golem.

* * * *

On this day, King Beaux-Arts was busy meeting a delegation from the neighboring kingdom of Franz, and Jin and the others decided that it would be bad to interrupt his official work, so they left the castle.

"Now, Arnold, are you sure you want to investigate the base as requested?"

Yes, of course.

Yes, of course.

Jin then instructed Hope to head for the area directly west of Mount Onouni.

It would take a little more than half an hour to get there, so Jin asked Arnold the question he had just thought of.

"Hey, what kind of a thing is this <> that you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah, that's it?　Well, it basically started with the idea of having a golem take the place of a horse in a wagon.

I can see that.

"The war was so prolonged that we had to spend a lot of money on military provisions and fodder on the battlefield. Eventually, instead of horses, they developed a golem-drawn vehicle.

"Did the golem pulling the car have any special characteristics?

"First of all, it had spikes on its soles.

I see. To prevent slipping.

I see. To prevent slipping. Then, they were made a little heavier.

No consideration was given to weight reduction, Arnold said.

"And the suspension system for the wagons?"

"Yes, it had one. "Yes, they had them, at least to protect the cargo at a minimum."

"I see. What kind of structure was it?

"Not much of a structure. It just used the torsion of the axle."

Torsion bar?

<

Jin imagined that the U-shaped axle has car bearings at both ends, and the U-shaped vertical bar is fixed to the frame.

There is no damper, but this would be enough to protect the load.

"Well, I guess they wanted more time for development."

"I guess so. ......"

Arnold blurted out. Jin was wondering what Arnold meant.

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"Yes?"

"Earlier, when you asked me what I thought might be at the base, you hesitated just a little bit, didn't you?　What was the reason?"

"Haha, you can't fool Jin. "......I thought it might be something."

"...... something dangerous?"

"Yes. <

That's a very dangerous word.

The ultimate weapon?

"Yeah. ...... Well, I guess it's a kind of wartime . The development code was the ."

"So that's what you mean. ......"

As a human being, I can understand it a little.

He wanted to have a good economic story to overturn the unfavorable war situation.

I imagine that they gave it a name and developed it .......

"<> was a decisive weapon ...... and it was incomplete and defective, but was it more than that?"

"I don't know either. I don't know either. It's just that my superiors at the time were talking about it.

"You don't think it's something that could cause an "ether stampede", do you?

"No, it is not. Because you said something about being able to destroy only your enemies.

"You mean a weapon that would selectively attack only the ? ......"

"Yes. We can't leave something like that behind, can we?"

"Yes. ......"

If I didn't know, I would have had to leave it alone, but now that I know, I can't help but be curious about it.

"You don't have any information about what it's like, do you?"

"No, I don't have any information about what it's like. ...... I heard that there was a secret development."

Well, yes, of course.

If it's a weapon that could turn the tide of the war, it must be kept secret from the enemy, and the information must be restricted from the allies as well.

"You mean that even if there are no weapons at the base we are going to, there might be weapons at some other base or facility?"

"Yes, that's right."

"......That's not good information."

Jin sighs.

* * * *

<

"Well, how do we find it?"

Jin, what kind of detection means do you have?

I can look for a free-magic etheric signature.

Oh, that's great, try it.

You'll need to narrow the area to increase sensitivity?

"Yes. The best guess is just west of Mount Onouni, about 20 to 50 kilometers from the summit.

"Okay."

Jin instructed Hope to launch the <>.

Hope flies the plane, and Reiko takes charge of the ether radar.

Then they fly for 30 minutes.

"Father, we're getting readings in the basement."

Reiko found something.