"......"

It was quiet in the car driving north. No one opens his mouth.

"......After all, what the <> did was in vain. ......"

Jin was the first to open his mouth, but his tone was heavy and somber.

Knowing that Jin came from the same world as Shuki Tsezi, Elsa and Saki could understand his feelings.

They had witnessed firsthand how their well-meaning efforts to help this world had turned out to be a vengeance.

"But Jin, here in ......<>, we have become decadent, but in Huso and Mitsuho, the <> is appreciated, isn't he?"

It was Goose who approached the dejected Jin.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence that Battaruf has become decadent," he said.

His words seemed to lift Jin's spirits a little.

"Yes, it might be so ......."

"Actually, father, I have brought you something like this."

"Hm?"

Reiko presented the Magi Crystal. Or rather, .......

A control core?

"Yes. It's from the golem that fell apart when I hit it. I thought it might tell us something.

"Oh, well done. Let's take a look. ......<>"

The engineering magic of reading information linguistically. The information was unfolded in MagiLanguage before the eyes of Jin and the others.

"......This is ......that is also the reason why ......"

Jin and Erza were absolutely stunned by the contents of the message.

"Hannah, don't look at it!"

Erza covered Hannah's eyes with a red face, but even she couldn't read the Magi language yet.

"Jin, what did you understand?"

Goose, who also did not understand MagiLanguage, asked. Saki looked as if she wanted to know too.

"Yeah, that's the thing ......."

Jin began to whisper. Erza tried to distract Hanna by talking to her in various ways.

"In a nutshell, it seems that the birth rate has dropped because people have started to things with automata instead of with humans."

However, to Shuki's credit, it seems that it was later engineers who added such functions, Jin added.

"......What a staggering story."

"......Totally."

Saki and Goose both looked open-mouthed.

Needless to say, everyone except Hanna thought, "How can you blame it on <......,>".

It is a bad example of how people sometimes take a terrible turn when they have too much time on their hands.

"......And then we can see the unusual < ......"

More than a dozen times more than Reiko, Luna and Soleil.

"Perhaps it's a procedure to get Clauden to do what he wants, but this is too unusual a value. ......"

"Father, this is no way for even an autonomous golem to make normal decisions."

"This is why you acted in a way that reflects Clauden's madness."

They all accepted this fact in their own way, so Erza asked what would happen next.

"Brother Jin, what are you going to do now?"

We are driving slowly at about 10 kilometers per hour toward the north for now.

"Well, we don't have ...... much time. ......"

"Jin, how about visiting just one more place?"

Jin nodded at Saki's suggestion.

"Yes, that would be good."

Then the question becomes, which town should we visit? One could think of a neighboring town because it is close, but the town that Jin wanted to visit was...,

"I guess ."

This is the town where Adriana Tierra, who became Shuki Tsetsi's wife, was born and where the Tierra family, who called themselves <>, lived.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm interested too.

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea.

I'll go wherever you want to go!

I think that's a good idea. I don't have any objections either.

They all agreed to go to Naminthe.

"Okay, it's decided.

So the car speeds up to 15 kilometers per hour.

"Jin, you and Reiko are amazing!　You are indeed the best in the world! No wonder you are the world's most skilled Magecraft Meister!

Goose spoke in praise of Jin and Reiko in the car. And then,

"I'm sure that the Shoro Empire has advanced magical technology. ......"

Guth looked a little distant, probably thinking of his father's home country, the Shoro Empire.

"That's not entirely true."

"Hmm?　What do you mean?"

Jin then explained briefly about the <> and the <>.

"I have heard about the <> from my father. I don't think that the Aether Stampede has had much of an effect in Fusor."

Perhaps it was fortunate that the area had a high concentration of free ether, but it did not seem to have rendered the magi-machines and tools completely useless.

However, some of the equipment did not work or seemed to move sluggishly.

"I guess it had an effect," Jin muttered.

As Jin muttered, Goose also reminisced.

"My father told me. If you depend on one thing too much, you are afraid of the repercussions.

These words expressed the feelings of everyone in the group.

(Come to think of it, ......)

When Jin used to work in modern Japan, a major business partner of his company dishonored a payment and the company temporarily lost its business.

At that time, some of the managers told him, <

(Easier said than done. ......)

(Easier said than done, though... ). A medium-sized company can't have so many clients.

But .......

(It's dangerous to rely on magic alone, isn't it?)

At that moment I heard Hannah's voice.

"Oh, honey, it's snowing!"

Since they had moved northward, there seemed to be some snow left in some places.

Hannah's voice reminded Jin of the village of Kaina.

(That's a village where people can live without magic. ......)

Although Jin had installed some magic machines and tools, it seemed that even if they were no longer available, there would be no major disruption.

(After all, we need to put science and technology as another foundation.)

(After all, it seems that we need to put science and technology as another foundation.) Jin was thinking about such things as he looked out the window and gazed at Hannah's innocent, frolicking profile.

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

The group traveled northward, passing the towns of Naygo, Tosemo, and Mayan, all of which were in ruins.

The same was true of Graciejo, which they reached that night.

"Next is Dalagoma, and then Naminthe..."

Guth mutters as he looks at the map in his hand. He had copied the map from Shuki Tsetsi's record.

"That's a very different name from Huso and Mitsuho.

In those two countries, there were many place names that could only be taken from Japanese place names, but here in Newell, there are none.

The same goes for the name of the country <>.

（It may be a country where a group of the originators settled and established.

Jin thinks that we can find that out by looking at the dome-shaped building in Naminthe.

"We should be there by noon tomorrow," he said.

Jin muttered to himself as he looked up at the sky, which was covered with thin clouds and sparse bright stars.

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

April 26th.

With the uninhabited town of Dalagoma by their side, the group continues northward.

Just before noon, something that looked like the town of Naminthe came into view.

"Is that it?"

Jin said, holding his hand over his eyes, and Goose looked in the direction of the town with a similar gesture and muttered.

"It looks like the walls are surrounded by walls. Is it the same as when Shuki Tsetsi was here?"

"The place where Tierra's family used to live goes around the outside of the town, doesn't it?"

While we are having this conversation, the town is getting closer.

"Well, it doesn't look too old.

"I wonder if there are people here?"

Just then, a car stops.

"Father, there is another barrier here," Reiko explains.

Reiko explains.

"It seems to be stronger than Battaghtarf's and has a larger range. What should we do?

"First, we should go to Tierra's house rather than the town. We should go around.

Yes, sir.

The car goes around the outside of the barrier to the left.

I wonder if the barrier is getting taller.

According to Shuki's notes, it was about 3 meters high, but looking closer, it appears to be about 5 meters high.

"It's over a thousand years old, it could have been built on or something."

"That's true."

A few minutes later, a gray dome came into view.

"That looks like it.

"Well, I can't wait to see what's waiting for us.

Jin felt more excited than ever.