The next day, on the noon of July 27th, at the capital city Roizart…
Reinhardt was waiting for Jin at the public square that was in front of the Imperial Palace.
“I thought he’d be here by now…”
Two hours before, Jin had told him via the Mana Comm that he would be arriving around noon.
“Master Reinhardt, over there.”
Noir, who was standing next to him, pointed at the western sky, just above Lake Tosmo.
“A blimp?”
There was something flying in the sky.
“No, it’s a bit too small… And there’s two?”
There were actually two of those flying machines. And they were getting closer and closer.
At that moment, a blue-haired automata appeared beside Reinhardt. It was Ann.
“Master Reinhardt, Lady Elsa and Master Jin are currently riding those ‘flying balloons’. Please tell everyone in the castle.”
“G-Got it.”
Reinhardt hurriedly went to the closest Imperial Guard he could find. He then told him that those were ‘flying balloons’, and that Jin, the Magi Craft Meister, was currently on one of those balloons. Then, he told the guard to relay that information to the other guards.
Since it was Jin, Reinhardt didn’t think his aircrafts would be damaged if the guards were to try to shoot them down, but just to be as sure as he could, he also told the guard to report it to the empress as well.
A few minutes later, the ‘flying balloons’ flew just above Reinhardt’s position.
“…So, you’ve gone and made yet another new thing, Jin…”
Turning around to the familiar voice, Reinhardt found the current Empress of the Shouro Empire, Gelhart Hilde Von Rubies Shouro, standing behind him. Naturally, she was escorted by five Imperial Guards.
“Hmm, aren’t those the same ‘flying balloons’ the Unifiers used to use for aerial transportation?”
The one who said that was the Minister of Magi Technology, Degauss Furt Von Manishlas.
“There are two of those. Lord Jin is in one of them, and in the other one… Lady Elsa, perhaps?”
That was the chancellor, Jung Fowls von Kebsler. There were many other people, including Christoph, who was the Vice-Minister of Magi Technology, and the Captain of the Imperial Guard.
Everyone seemed to have dropped whatever they were doing to come rushing outside upon hearing that Jin was coming from the sky.
The ‘flying balloons’ that Jin and Elsa were flying on slowly began to descend, and finally landed in the middle of the public square that was in front of the Imperial Palace.
The door of their gondolas opened, and Jin and Reiko appeared from one of them, while Elsa and Edgar came out of the other one.
“Welcome, Jin Nidou! What a surprise!”
The empress was the first one to receive them. Jin and Elsa bowed to her in response.
“Your Majesty, I’m sorry for the sudden visit.”
“Don’t worry about it. You the Magi Craft Meister and an Honorary Knight of this Empire. Of course I would personally come here to greet you.”
After the ‘flying balloons’ had deflated, Jin removed something that looked like a Magic Tool from them, and turned to the empress.
“Your Majesty, could I entrust these ‘flying balloons’ to your care?”
“Of course.”
The empress then chose two of her guards and had them take care of the ‘flying balloons’.
After that, everyone went into the Imperial Palace.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Once again, I apologize for the sudden visit.”
The first thing Jin did after they all arrived at the conference room next to the empress’ office and everyone else had taken their seats.
“Don’t worry about it. Is there some pressing matter?”
With a friendly tone of voice, the empress urged Jin to talk.
“Thank you. There are a number of topics I’d like to discuss with you all. …I’ll start with a report about the demons.”
“Yes, I received a letter from Lord Makina last night. A demon had appeared in the Klein Kingdom.”
In order to increase the story’s credibility, Jin had already reported the incident using the Makina alias.
“Is that so? …Well, in fact, the other day, in the Celuroa Kingdom…”
Jin then started to explain the events that occurred in the Celuroa Kingdom, which ultimately resulted in Stearleana’s defection from her own country.
There were no laws in the Shouro Empire criminalizing illegal immigration. Reinhardt had personally verified that as well. For that reason, the empress said nothing to that effect. But she was still skeptical about the news regarding the demons.
“Hmm, I don’t know about that…”
“I know we have no concrete evidence to support this.”
As a preface, he added that the demons might have been pulling Marcus’ strings as well.
“We can’t overlook this!”
The chancellor’s expression changed completely.
“We still don’t know what the demons’ true goals are, but judging how they’ve been acting across these countries, it’s not likely to be anything friendly.”
“Hmm, I agree. Do you know anything else about them?”
“Yes, I have some info about the magic they can use.”
“Lord Makina has also provided some information about that in his letter. He wrote about gravity magic, teleportation, and explosion magic.”
Of course, Jin had already informed them about that beforehand as well.
“Yeah, and their power is not to be underestimated. We can’t be too careful about them.”
“…At any rate, we need to be careful in case we have some undercover demons in our midst.”
The empress had a troubled expression on her face.
“That’s what I think. And it makes me wonder if we need to discuss not only within the Shouro Empire, but with the other countries as well.”
“Hmm, that’s right. Your Majesty, let’s bring this to the table during our next scheduled meeting this afternoon.”
The Mana Phone, which Jin had distributed to each country through the Nostalgia Party, was used as an effective means of communication between each country.
First of all, the scheduled phone meeting. Due to time differences, the time at which it takes place would be slightly different, but in the case of Roizart, the capital of the Shouro Empire, the calls with the Kingdoms of Celuroa, Egelia, Franz, Klein and Elias were scheduled to be held at 8:00 am and 2:00 pm.
For instance, the time difference from Alban, the capital of the Klein Kingdom, which is the most eastward of the countries, is 2 hours and 40 minutes. In other words, the scheduled times in Alban would be 10:40 am and 4:40 pm.
With this, the Shouro Empire and the small countries would work together against the demons’ plans.
“Next, I have a gift for you.”
The empress was quick to guess.
“Could it be you’re giving me one of those ‘flying balloons’?”
“Correct.”
The empress was so overjoyed that she seemed about to hug Jin tightly.
“Really? Amazing! Thank you, Jin! No, a mere thank you won’t do. How can I repay you? I’ll do anything I can.”
“Well, I do have one request.”
“What is it?”
The empress composed herself and showed her willingness to listen to Jin.
“I would like to have a permit that allows me to freely enter and leave the Shouro Empire. And, if possible, I would like that permit to be extended to my friends as well.”
“Hmm, I see. That’s what those ‘flying balloons’ are for.”
The chancellor seemed to have guessed the true meaning behind Jin’s chosen method of transportation for coming here today.
“Correct. Traveling through the air effectively ignores checkpoints. I was hoping there was some kind of permit so that entering the country wouldn’t be considered as illegal entry.”
Jin then continued by saying that he intended to send two ‘flying balloons’ to both the Egelia Kingdom and the Klein Kingdom each.
“I see, something that works for you to be able to enter a country that recognizes you as the Magi Craft Meister, right? And you’ll then be asking the same of the other countries?”
“That’s right.”
This is what he had consulted with the Laojun, Ann, and Elsa the previous night. Instead of secretly going back and forth all the time, it was better to move across countries by using his status as the Magi Craft Meister.
After that, he was planning to make an approach about this in the Elias Kingdom as well.
“Understood. Well, as for your friends, how does being able to take up to 10 of them as long as they’re accompanied by you sound?”
“Yes, that’s great. Thank you very much.”
The empress then commanded the chancellor to take care of the required paperwork as soon as possible.
“By the way, though they are ‘flying balloons’, I’d prefer if we could call them ‘hot air balloons’ instead, to differentiate them from the ones the Unifiers used to use.”
Jin began to explain the basics of hot air balloons.
“That sounds like a more fitting name, don’t you think? Since the balloon is inflated with hot air…”
“That’s right. The ones used by the Unifiers relied on fire magic to generate the hot air that would inflate the balloon, but my hot air balloons are different.”
“Hmm… Can you elaborate?”
The Minister of Magi Technology, Degauss, leant forward in curiosity.
“Ah, sure. I’d like to do that by showing it to you in practice.”
“Okay, in that case, let’s go to the public square just outside of the Imperial Palace!”
By Her Majesty the Empress’ final word, everyone present headed back outside towards the public square.
