"...... torii?"

A < of the ruins that seems to have broken and fallen down.

It looked much like a torii gate of a shrine, as far as Jin could see.

"But there are some differences. ......?"

It seems to have only one horizontal bar. A torii gate should have two bars.

"......Well, okay."

Putting aside the similarities with the torii gate, Jin instructed Land21 to investigate what appeared to be an archaeological site.

He waited for 30 minutes.

However, there was no time to get bored as he was watching the images sent by Land 21.

"Oh, what is that?

and the old man would relay it so that the Land Unit could get a better view of it.

Three things became clear to me in this way.

The first was that there were stone statues in the shape of animals erected on both sides of the gate.

I found that this seems to be the case when I collected the pieces and assembled them.

Second, the color of the gate was red.

This is because the base of the broken gate was found and that part had not yet deteriorated and faded.

And third.

The broken gate is small. The original height is estimated to be around 1 meter.

"...... Shrine?　No, it is a shrine.

Jin thought of a torii gate and komainu (guardian dogs) from the broken gate and the animal statues on both sides.

"Then, what looks like a building at the back must be a stone shrine.

Erza and Milowina seemed to have heard this soliloquy.

"Brother Jin, what's a shrine?

"Jin-kun, do you have any idea about the ruins?"

"Let's see... ......"

Jin thought for a moment, wondering how to explain.

"...... like the church ...... in my hometown?　Yes, an uninhabited church, that might be close enough."

"Jin, your hometown is ......?"

"Ah."

Jin remembered something he had not told Milowina.

"Well, I'll explain in detail later," he said.

I'll explain in detail later. The ruins are more important.

"Brother Jin, there it is!

Erza pointed at the screen.

Lando's group moved a pile of rocks out of the way, and there was a small there.

I don't know what the rocks were piled up for, but the damage to this was minimal.

"......A shrine, after all."

It looked like a stone shrine to all intents and purposes.

* * * *

After thoroughly inspecting the surrounding area to make sure there was no danger, Jin and his colleagues stood in front of the shrine an hour later.

"It's a shrine for all intents and purposes. ......"

Jin looked at the shrine with a nostalgic look in his eyes.

"Jin, is this a church?"

Milowina looked at the small appearance of the church and asked.

"Yes, this is a , a building to worship the gods. I guess you could say that the statues of the gods were placed in a small building because they didn't want to be exposed to the rain.

"That makes sense."

Erza seemed to have understood the significance of the as I had just explained it to her.

In the case of Shinto, there are more gojintai (sacred objects) than statues of gods, but Jin was not that familiar with them. In fact, in the case of Tenjin-sama (Lord Michizane Sugawara) and Hachiman-sama, statues of deities are sometimes enshrined.

"I'm more interested in what is enshrined inside.

Jin reached for the shrine, but was intercepted by Reiko.

"Father, you don't know what will happen. I will open it.

"I see."

Jin looked a little disappointed and withdrew his hand.

Reiko slowly approached the shrine and opened the door, but at that moment a spark seemed to fly.

"Father, I knew it was warded."

"I guess so."

Jin would not have been able to even touch the door.

But Reiko opened the door as if there were no boundary.

"There are ...... books inside, aren't there?"

Jin was a little disappointed that there was no book, diary, or record inside, since he had thought that it must have been made by a Japanese person, namely Shuki Tsezi, given the shape of the book.

"But ...... what about that?"

Reiko would not allow Jin to touch it directly, so he peeked inside the shrine from a little distance and tilted his head at what was inside.

"...... some kind of statue?"

The statue, which seemed to be made of a white precious stone with a slightly transparent surface, appeared to be a likeness of an animal.

It has four legs, a narrow, pointed nose, and triangular ears.

It looks like a dog, but its tail is thicker and larger.

......It is a fox, after all."

It looked like a statue of a fox dedicated to Inari-sama.

"Reiko, can you take it out?"

"Yes, father."

At Jin's instruction, Reiko easily took out the statue of the fox.

There seems to be no more traps.

"Nothing is happening. There seems to be no danger.

Reiko hands the fox statue to Jin.

"Hmm."

Jin takes it and examines it.

"...... Jin, is that an animal?　I have never seen it before.

"Interesting modeling, Jin-kun."

According to Jin's knowledge, there are no foxes on the Laurentian continent. There is a fox called the "servile fox" on the continent of Gondor.

In this sense, too, it is likely that Magus intended to create this fox.

"These are not precious stones, but magi crystals.

The quality is poor, but they seem to be magi crystals of all attributes.

"<>"

Jin briefly examines what the magi crystals contain.

"Is this ......?"

Jin noticed something, and at the same time Reiko called out to him.

"Father, there are letters on the inside of the door.

"What?"

Jin looked at it first.

"What ......<......?　Is it Japanese or ......?"

And at the end it said Shuki ...... Tsui.

"Definitely the remains left by Shuki Tsezi."

The site was warded, but it seems to have deteriorated considerably.

The statue was a recording device.

Brother Jin, since you can read it, it means you can have it.

"Yes. It belongs to Jin.

Erza and Milowina also told Jin to look at the statue of the fox in his hand.