In the capital city of Leusert, two hot-air balloons were seen guarding the sky over the city.

When Jin's airship approached, the crew wearing protective goggles saluted. Jin, who probably saw the emblem of the airship, was impressed by the quick response of the female emperor, which was worthy of respect.

Below, the knights are guiding the passengers to the landing site.

In the large forecourt of the palace, there were white circles painted on the ground, and Jin aimed at one of them as he lowered his airship.

Four knights of the Kingsguard greeted Jin and Elsa with a salute. Reiko moored the airship to a bollard.

"Sir Jin Nido, Magecraft Meister, welcome! His Majesty is waiting for you.

Two Kingsguard knights escorted Jin and the others.

One was about the same age as Jin, but much stouter, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful figure, and the other was a female knight, about 20 years old, also a slender beauty with blond hair and blue eyes.

The male knight followed Jin and the female knight followed Erza to the palace. Reiko and Edgar follow close behind.

They go to the office. It is not an exaggeration to say that they were waiting for Jin.

Waiting for them in his office on the second floor were not only the emperor, but also Prime Minister Jung von K?bsler, the Magi Engineer Maestro, and Gebhard Ackermann. And, to my surprise, Marcus Grinwald was with them.

"Welcome, Sir Jin Nido, Magecraft Maestro. And Miss Elsa."

The empress expresses her welcome to Jin, then breaks into a friendly tone.

"First, the reward I promised you the other day, one million dollars. ...... for a job well done."

"Thank you, sir."

Reiko tucked the 100 gold coins, weighing about two kilograms, into the pocket of her skirt.

"......Now, I want to hear your honest opinion from here, so say whatever you want to say. I forgive you. First of all, you need to stop being so formal. Is that clear?"

When no one objected, the emperor continued.

"Once again, as a reminder, let me give you some background for what we are about to discuss. ...... Prime Minister, please."

"Yes. ...... You know that to the west of our country there is a vast sandy area called the Hariri Desert. And that beyond it live a different race of people.

The Prime Minister looked around at everyone, and when he was sure there was nothing to say, he continued.

"A different tribe attacked us once about 300 years ago. They must have thought it would be easy to give humanity, which had been exhausted by the magical war. However, they were able to repel it with the power of ancient relics (artifacts).

So far, Jin knew this story.

"We have information that these foreign tribes are thinking of invading again. Of course, this is unconfirmed, but we can't just leave it at that. So, ......."

The Prime Minister lowers his voice a little.

"I am going to try to reactivate the ancient artifact in the basement of the castle."

Jin had been shown this artifact once. It was a huge golem, 20 meters tall.

"The first stage of the plan is a large golem, <>, 6 meters tall, which was shown by Marcus at the technology expo.

This seems to explain to Jin.

"We have manufactured and possess 10 <> from No. 1 to No. 10. The plan is to use their power to maintain the .

Because of its enormous size (20 meters), there will be many tasks that cannot be done by human beings. The was created to perform such tasks.

"Of course, <> itself is also counted as an asset. We have prepared special shields, swords, maces, and so on.

The Prime Minister then took a breath.

"...... and that's all we've done so far. Any questions?"

"Where did you get the information about the other side of the desert?"

This question was asked by Jin. Jin was convinced that the different tribe must share the same ancestry with the follower tribe of the demon tribe. Therefore, he would like to avoid conflict if possible.

"Well, it seems that you didn't know this. There are several towns near the Hariri Desert. And, unofficially, they are said to be in contact with different ethnic groups. That's where the information came from.

It is possible.

It means that they can communicate with the different ethnic groups. Fortunately, the language barrier is low in this world. There are some dialect-like words, but most of them are the same language.

Jin guessed that this was probably because the had brought the language.

"One more thing. You're not going to attack ......, are you?"

"Yes, of course."

The female emperor immediately answered Jin's question.

"The Shoro Empire will be on the defensive. This plan is also to protect the ancient artifacts in the basement from becoming a treasure trove.

At least, Jin thought, the woman emperor's words were true.

Jin was somewhat interested in the ancient giant golem. Not only was he interested in the size of the golem, but he was also interested in whether or not it had any special functions.

"I understand."

Seeing that Jin seemed convinced, the Prime Minister opened his mouth again.

"If Jin-dono is willing to cooperate with us, then we are a hundred strong, a thousand strong. Today we would like to check the ancient artifacts in the basement for now.

These words were addressed to people other than Jin.

"...... can I help you with something?"

The Prime Minister responds to Erza's unsure words with a large nod.

"Of course. Erza is a first-rate magical engineer, you know.

And what else?　The Prime Minister looked around at the faces of the participants,

"Nothing in particular, it seems."

After confirming that no one opened his mouth, he nodded to the emperor and stood up.

"Well then, gentlemen, I'm sorry to trouble you, but let's go to the basement together."

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

The underground was still low on free ether.

As before, we leave the covert task force (SP) on the ground. Edgar does the same, taking precautions. Meanwhile, Reiko follows Jin.

"It's still deteriorating. ......"

Jin mutters as he sees the red rusted legs of the golem on the fifth basement floor.

"This golem seems to have a mechanism that corresponds to the muscles of a human.

Gebhard Ackermann, the Magi Engineer Maestro, touched the huge leg and muttered to himself.

"First, the skeleton is repaired, followed by the muscles. Then the exterior, in that order, right?

Jin answered.

"No, first we have to do something about the free magic element (ether) anomaly in this space, otherwise we won't even be able to do the work satisfactorily.

"What do you mean?"

The free magical element (ether) is extremely low in this basement. Probably to prevent this golem from being stolen or inadvertently activated.

When Jin said this, everyone looked as if they had not noticed.

"There must be such a magical tool hidden somewhere..."

"Hmm. ......"

However, even if they tried to find them, it would be impossible without the use of magic.

Jin had a rough idea of what it was, but he did not bother to point it out this time.

"It would be a waste of time to search. In that case..."

The Prime Minister concludes, "Then we should bring the giant golem to the ground.

* * * *

A large-scale construction work was immediately started.

The giant golem was to be lifted up from a depth equivalent to five stories underground. First of all, a way to the ground must be built.

Fortunately, there is a courtyard directly above the giant golem hangar. It is easy to make a hole by removing the paving stones.

"...... Hmmm, of course."

Gebhard Ackermann looked at the paving stones and nodded in agreement.

"Look. Just above the hangar, the paving stones are divided into squares. It's only natural that there should be a passageway for storage in that location in the first place. And it could not be anywhere but here.

It is a logical conclusion.

The large golem is mobilized, and when the paving stone is removed, a square stone lid is found under it as well.

"I knew this was the right place."

The rest was quick. When the stone lid was removed, the huge golem hangar could be seen from above.

"Okay, let's hoist it up."

A tower was built over the hole and a pulley was hung.

From there, several strong ropes were lowered and tied to the giant golem. There were ten ropes. Each of them was taken care of by a .

"All right, pull!"

Markas shouted, and the ropes were pulled. But the giant golem is undaunted. is not holding firm either.

The weight of the giant golem is probably in excess of 200 tons. And <> is about 10 tons each. .

There was no way that they could be raised by a fixed pulley.

"It would be impossible unless we used dynamic pulleys and raised them in two or more stages.

Jin could not remain silent and offered his advice. Gebhard Ackermann, who had been trained as a teacher-automaton and leader (Fuhrer), was convinced.

"I see!　So this is when you use the pulley."

With the help of Jin, a two-stage pulley was prepared, the type that could lift the boat by a quarter of a mile.

This made it possible to lift six <>.

"Okay, pull slowly. ...... that's it, that's it, that's it."

Marcus gives the order, and Nos. 1 through 6 of the <> pull on the rope.

At that moment, the oars creak and the rope breaks.

The tower and the rope are carefully lubricated with <, and the team tries again. This time, they managed to lift it up.

I tried to move the tower when the foot of the giant golem was above the ground of the courtyard, but ...... failed.

We had no choice but to re-cover the hole where we had lifted the giant golem and gently lower it down on top of it.

The flooring was < and did not break under the weight of 200 tons.

The giant golem, an ancient artifact, is now exposed to the sunlight for the first time in 300 years.