"Ronder?"

There was a bed in the lab, and Londer was lying on it.

His face was white and he looked lifeless.

Elena rushed over to him and confirmed that he was no longer breathing.

"Check to see if there are any other survivors."

Elena also instructs the combat golem.

And 30 minutes.

"Lady Elena, there are no other humans here.

The all-powerful golem reported on behalf of the others.

"Yes. Ronder's probably been dead for over a week. I wonder what happened to him.

What happened to the other researchers?

Maybe they got away. ......

Looking around the lab, Elena answered.

"A lot of the main equipment is missing.

Not even the golem that was supposed to maintain the facility is missing.

Someone must have taken it out.

"Yes, that's right. The question is, who are they?

Elena was investigating the laboratory, looking for clues.

"I don't see any ....... ...... Then we have to think about what to do with Ronder's body first."

He had not yet decomposed, but it seemed only a matter of time.

"Let's get him out of here and bury him somewhere.

Elena ordered the battle golem to carry Ronder out.

At that moment, a notebook fell to the floor from Ronder's pocket. Elena picked it up.

"There is something written on it. ......"

Something was written in very faltering letters.

"It seems to be something that Ronder left behind. Let's see... ......"

The writing is blurred and faint in places, but it seems to be decipherable.

Elena frowned.

"This is ......!　We have to get back here as soon as possible.

Elena buried Ronder's body, got into the hot air balloon and flew back to the headquarters at top speed.

"Look at this."

Without even greeting her return, Elena holds out her notebook to Jules.

Jules Lorrain took it, looked it over, and frowned. She then shows the notebook to Donald Callot.

"This is ......!"

Donald also changed color.

"I didn't know you were thinking of ...... this."

"That's why you wanted the facilities of our ...... then ."

Elena tells the two top leaders as they exchange this.

"But judging from the Shoo-relay ruins, I think it's safe to say that Ronder has transferred his knowledge to an automaton and regenerated it."

"Hmm. If there was no equipment or materials left, he must have taken them out.

"I wonder what he's going to do with it. ......"

And again Elena speculates.

"If Ronder was the leader of the bandit gang, he was probably just banditry to raise money."

"Mm. ......"

"A serious problem, but I'm afraid we've completely lost track of his whereabouts."

* * *

Naturally, this fact was conveyed to the brains of Horai Island, <>.

And he also has some information that the <> does not have. Taking all these information together, I was able to make a more in-depth guess.

The old man made a guess from the little information he had.

The same thing happened to No. 600012, a.k.a. <>.

And also, he had caused a split in his ego.

And there is a chance that <> knows where he is.

<

With his preparations ready to go out at any time, the old man decided to wait for things to start moving.

* * * * * *

said Lance, standing by the Kasaka River, which flows out of Lake Mijimo on the border between the Shoro and Franz kingdoms.

"We're almost there."

The goal is the north. There, according to Lance's memory, is the ruins of an unnamed fortress.

"That's where the warp gate is."

Lance had tracked the magical power leaking from the stolen warp gate parts and had almost pinpointed the location.

It is a backward compatible device of the Magi Detector developed by Jin.

From the Warp Gate, the magic power connecting it to its counterpart extends, and the Magi Machine is capable of detecting the aftermath of the Warp Gate.

Although they could only determine the approximate direction, they succeeded in identifying the location by combining the strength of the magic power, measurements made while moving, and the remains of the fortress.

In a sense, it is a dumb story, but the parts of the warp gate that were stolen had to be in a pair, and only one of them was used, which is meaningless.

This is why Lance was able to locate the location of the warp gate components.

"Perhaps that's where Ronder must be."

Lance does not know that Ronder is already gone.

He walks from one rock to another, from rock to rock, approaching the remains of the fort to avoid detection.

"Well, it's been modified. They must be here for sure."

The ruins of the fort seen from a distance. Ivy and wiggly vines are tangled around the outer walls, but the windows have been neatly trimmed.

"I guess they were trying to keep an eye on the outside."

Lance thought to himself, human-like, and wondered how he could sneak in.

"Catching them off guard, that's the only way."

Only the bandits would know that they were in the ruins of the fort. That would catch them off guard, Lance thought.

"They'll have a lookout, but at night."

Ronder was not among the bandits captured in the previous round of hunting.

Lance knew that the bandits were led by the man who had been Ronder's assistant.

<.

"I guess there are fewer of us now, so I guess there are some things we can't handle..."

Lance waited for night.

At 8 p.m., the sun had completely set.

At 11 p.m., as night falls, Lance begins to move.

He moves quickly from rock to rock, taking into account the possibility that a golem with night vision is watching over him. He wears a black cloth that he has prepared.

In this way, he successfully reached the outer wall of the fort without incident.

"Now, where do we break in from?

In order to maintain the appearance of a fort, some of the windows have been left untouched. Assuming that the rooms with such windows were probably abandoned, Lance began to climb up the ivy as a clue.

Lance, who has good night vision, climbs up without any difficulty, but it would be impossible for a human being to do such a feat.

After about five minutes, he reached a window about five meters above the ground.

I listened carefully, but there was no sound. Gently peering in, I saw the floor covered with dust and fallen leaves.

"Okay, let's sneak in through this room.

Lance climbed over the window and entered the ruins of the fort.