For three days after the successful operation of Alois III, Jin and Elsa remained in the Kingdom of Klein.

The King needed to monitor their progress.

In the meantime, Jin and Erza had secretly moved to the village of Kaina to let Hannah, who was worried about them, know that they had been successfully treated.

"Oh, yes!　Oh-sama, you're going to be fine, aren't you? You must be happy, aren't you, Ojyo-sama?　Thank you, Onii-chan and Onee-chan!"

Just seeing Hannah's smile made all the hard work worth it.

And then.

"Miss Elsa, Mister Jin, I can't thank you enough."

Alois III's color had improved considerably, and he was now able to thank the two men himself.

Although he was still in bed because he was not yet strong enough, he could at least stand up on his upper body on the third day.

Jin and his friends had an audience with King Alois III of the Kingdom of Klein in this state.

They wanted to directly thank the benefactor who saved their lives.

In attendance are three members of the blood family: First Prince Edmond, Second Prince Arthur, and Princess Rieschen.

The three members of the cabinet are Prime Minister Powell, Minister of Magic Clarotho Vados Queiroz, and Minister of Defense Fadas Rovs Fairgram.

The Prime Ministers make a brief report to the King. Then the illness is explained.

"...... Well, eating raw fish is not good for you. ......"

Alois III looks disappointed. He must like it very much.

"Father, your health is more important, please take care of yourself."

Princess Rieschen's words left the king speechless.

"......April and Persica juice are good for you, so please eat them!"

Elsa advises.

Jin had brought april from Horai Island.

He picked 10 apres-ples while they were still hard so that they would keep for a long time. It would be a little more effective if they were made into fresh juice and given to me to drink later.

All the fruits from Horai Island have a high percentage of free magic element (ether), and they are especially effective for the sick.

It would have been better to have them take a recovery medicine, but there was a risk that they would not accept it in this old-fashioned country, so I decided to give them fruits.

"Thank you. I'll let you squeeze it later."

Princess Rieschen received the fruit on behalf of the king and handed it to the king's personal attendant.

Not wanting to burden the sick with too much energy, they all leave the room. They moved to the small conference room.

"Now, Mr. Jin, Miss Elsa. It is thanks to you that we were able to resolve this disturbance.

The Prime Minister bowed his head and began to speak.

"I would like to mention that in the past three days, we were able to eliminate five agents who had infiltrated the kingdom.

Although he did not name names, he said that finding the five agents in such a short period of time had made the situation much more open.

One of them was Bodemann, a healer who worked in the healing room wing, although he was not named.

"The agents used various means to sabotage us."

Deliberately prolonging the treatment of the wounded and putting stale food in the meals were cute, but there were also some maneuvers that could have caused economic chaos.

The Prime Minister, who looked as if he were chewing a bitter bug, said, "I hate to even think about it.

"But these five are not the end of the story. There must be more. I have no intention of slowing down the pursuit.

The prime minister's troubles are likely to continue.

And it seems that former Industry Minister Delight was also an agent of the Kingdom of Celuloa.

This is because there is no physical evidence, only circumstantial evidence, and the man himself has not confessed to the crime.

He claims to have been a member of the Unification Party (Unifiler).

I guess it's true. He knew Elena.

"He was successfully groomed by the Hanks family, became the head of the family, and after his wife died, he proudly passed information to the Kingdom of Celuloa, but we have no proof of this."

The attempt to get information about the desiccant process from Jin seems to be part of that.

"The crime of distributing 300 tons of wheat alone is equivalent to the crime of death. If he finds out what he needs to know, he will be executed sooner or later."

The Prime Minister concluded with a somber look on his face.

"This golem was obtained by a Delight who sold wheat to a trafficker, but we have modified it and decided to use it in our country."

This time it was Minister of Magic Clarotho Bados Keris who spoke up. He is a red-haired, brown-eyed man of medium height.

He is not Rekar, the general-purpose golem, but the heavy-duty one.

Rekar's control core had been damaged beyond analysis by Reiko's blow, and although he did not say so because of the lack of evidence, Jin guessed that it was this golem that had put the servant into .

"Thank you, Jin-dono, for your skillful neutralization of the golem. I thank you.

"No, I'm happy to be of help in that way.

Jin replies with a few casual words.

"Oh, and his hot air balloon is not as good as the one Jin-dono gave me, so I decided not to repair it.

It had no propulsion engine, so it was natural that he would not repair it.

"It seems that the desiccant and dehumidifier are working well together, as well as the desiccant by itself."

The prime minister opened his mouth again. This is because a replacement for the Minister of Industry has not yet been found.

"We have ordered 100 tons of desiccant from the Shoro Kingdom. They will send it to us in due course.

"I see. I repeat, please be careful with moisture. If it catches fire or you get burned, it would be a big problem.

"Yes, I'll be careful."

And now the remarks were made by Jin and the others.

The first to open her mouth was Elsa. She talked about the disease.

"This time, His Majesty has been afflicted with a parasite called .

What is it?

Prince Arthur asked.

"It's the same worm we took out of you and the other two patients. I believe the eggs or larvae of the parasite were carried in the fish.

"My God!"

Elsa closed her mouth and thought for a moment before speaking again.

"...... Her Highness Princess Rieschen told me that Her Majesty has been visiting the shores of Lake Manuse every year. There must be some locals who have contracted this disease."

Elsa broke off again and looked around at the group.

"......You are partly responsible for the parasite that Your Highness has been harboring."

"......!"

Tension ran high on the kingdom's side.

"We have failed to inform His Majesty of the local outbreak of this disease. It would have been irresponsible if we had been so naive as to think that you would be the only one who would be spared."

"......"

Everyone was speechless.

Then the Prime Minister opened his mouth.

"......You are absolutely right. ......I am definitely partly to blame for this."

He hung his head and seemed even more listless than usual.

"I'm the one who gave the order to keep the residents away from the area because His Majesty was going to take a rest.

"...... No, it was the soldiers who actually did that, so Powell could not have known if there were sick people around."

Prince Arthur consoled the despondent Prime Minister.

"It is our brothers ...... who are more to blame, not me. Our father has been there every year, and I have been with him many times. I was unaware that such a disease existed."

"Oh come on, are you saying that I can't care about such things?"

"...... brother, I wouldn't have said that if you didn't make such a statement in a place like this."

Princess Rieschen bowed her head as the brothers exchanged a few words.

"......If such a disease is so common around Lake Manuse, then the problem lies with the government for leaving it unchecked. It is our fault for not paying attention to the local problems, for not listening to the local voice, for not helping the local people in their time of need. This has come back to our father.

"You are right, Your Highness. It hurts my ears.

Defense Minister Fadous Rovs Fairgram spoke up for the first time.

"The defense of a country is not only against visible enemies. Disease is also an enemy.

Then came the silence.

It was Princess Rieschen who broke the silence.

"...... Elsa, Jin, I believe that there are many people around Lake Manuse who are afflicted by the same parasite as my father the king. It would be ...... impossible to get them cured. ......"

As a human being, I know how you feel. I wish I could do something about it. .......

"Erza is from the Shoro Kingdom, I'm sorry, forget it."

Looking at the drooping princess, Erza thought about what she could do and opened her mouth.

"First of all, do not feed raw fish with parasites," she said.

This is a preventive advice. We must not have more patients.

Parasites are killed by cooking. If you must eat them raw, you must treat them properly.

"What is the treatment, Elsa?"

Princess Rieschen reacted.

"Yes, basically engineering magic cannot be used on living creatures. We can use it in the opposite way. We can see if there are any live parasites or eggs in the dead fish before cooking.

"Oh, I see. Then you can continue to eat my father's favorite trotters."

This is Prince Arthur.

"The first thing we have to do is avoid further parasitic infestations."

Elsa continues as if Prince Arthur's statement is lost on her.

"Okay. Thank you, Elsa. We will not depend on anyone else, but we will do what we can do first.

Princess Rieschen looked a little more mature as she answered.

"About the food..."

Jin now said what he had been thinking about.

"You might want to consult with the Kingdom of Elias. Since that kingdom is located in the south, it would be relatively easy to increase food production.

"Oh, that's true. It might be a good idea to send them some dried fish.

At this point, Jin was thinking of . He had obtained information via the old man that the Marquis of Florenziano had spread the news not only in the capital city of Borgia but also in the whole kingdom.

However, he concealed this information and only suggested that he would be assisted with marine products.

Likewise, I would suggest that the Kingdom of Egelea, which has the sea, would be asked to help with marine products.

After Elsa's case was settled, I thought about it calmly and realized that there was no need to be concerned about grain.

This may have eased the Prime Minister's burden, albeit slightly.

"If you feel tired, Prime Minister, you should drink some fruit juice.

"Oh, is that how it is?"

Jin casually recommends april juice from Horai Island, which is expected to have a restorative effect.

After giving some other advice, Jin and Elsa completed their mission for this visit.

* * * *

Jin and Elsa were preparing to leave.

It's not much, though. From the outside.

It is taking more time to wait for <, who is scattered all over the castle, to come back and put them in boxes, and to get the covert task force (SP) out of the castle.

"...... Jin brother, can't you help the sick?"

Elsa said as she was packing.

"Elsa is very kind. I'm sure you've seen a lot of the dark side of this country.

"Yeah. But that's not the same as abandoning sick people."

"Yes, that's true. I'll think about it when I get back to ...... Horai Island.

"That's why I love you, Jin."

Then Reiko interrupted.

"Father, the airship is ready."

"Oh, I see."

"......"

"Jin, Elsa, thank you for everything. I'll see you soon."

Jin, Miss Elsa, please give my regards to the Emperor.

We'll meet again sometime.

The airship soared into the sky, escorted by Princess Rieschen and the Prime Minister.

The sky of the Kingdom of Klein, which had not been clear for a long time, was blue and seemed to herald the coming of winter.