He pried open the door and in came the golem made by Sir Valerio, the owner of the competition, Valentino.
"He's been cornered, and he's gone berserk!"
Another golem of the same type appeared.
Two! Did he get bored with the money he made from smuggling and had them built?
The two golems were chest-deep in water, but they approached with sure footsteps.
"I guess they came for the evidence of that eladrite deal."
Of the three ships, they head straight for Marcia's catamaran.
Reinhard calls Lorelei.
"Yes, Mia Schepfel."
Lorelei, a mermaid golem, appears out of the water.
"Wait, Reinhard, you don't mean to stop those two golems with Lorelei, do you?
Lorelei is made of leather, not metal. When Jin, who was worried, asked him,
Lorelei's fighting power is very high, even though she looks like this. It is limited to underwater, though."
Lorelei then gave Lorelei instructions.
Lorelei disappears into the water. The next moment, the two golems lose their balance and fall as if caught flat on their feet.
"That's good! Now let's get out of here while we still can!"
Reinhardt sets up Erza and Marcia first and tries to evacuate them from the dock. But..,
"No! If we don't leave it alone, won't that golem destroy my ship?
"Yes, indeed. From the looks of it, the two golems seem to be semi-autonomous. They will not stop moving until they reach their goal or are destroyed.
Marcia asked Jin what he meant by semi-autonomous type.
Reinhardt answered her question.
The semi-autonomous type is the most common type, which has some autonomy in its behavior.
For example, if you give the command, "Bring me the **", it will work without detailed control.
On the other hand, if you want to give it more autonomy, the difficulty level will increase, and the number of magecraftsmen who can make magecraftsmen will be much smaller.
And.
"Hmmm, this place is too narrow ......."
Jin, on the other hand, was worried. Reiko could easily take on 10 or 20 of those golems, but in this narrow dock, there are only so many ways to fight without causing damage to the surrounding area.
With Reiko's weight, if she hits the golem with enough force to destroy it, there is a big possibility that she will be thrown backward as a reaction. If that happens, she will be thrown through the wall.
I looked around the dock for a better way to attack the golem, and I found it.
"Reiko! Hit them with that weight!"
It was a weight (ballast) of about 20 kilograms. It is used as an anchor to temporarily hold the ship in place.
"Yes, Father."
Reiko lifts the mass of steel with ease and hurls it at the golem at 20 percent output.
"Ah!"
Who was it?
Reiko's weight smashed the golem's upper body and sent it flying out of the dock.
"Good thing the door was open ......."
Jin is relieved that he did not break the door as the golem pried it open and entered. Reiko then threw a weight at the other Golem.
The second golem reached out to catch the weight, but it could not catch the mass of iron that Reiko threw at 20 percent output.
The mass of iron flying at ultra-high speed shattered its proffered arm, crumpled its chest, and flew through its upper body, still maintaining its speed, to the sea outside the dock.
"............"
"......"
Those watching were speechless.
The first among them to come to his senses was Reinhardt.
"Lorelei, find the control core of the golem!"
"Yes, sir."
If we can analyze the control core, we can identify the culprit. Lorelei quickly retrieved two control cores from the water.
Meanwhile, Reinhardt explains the situation to the guards who have gathered by now. Erza is standing beside him, supporting him.
Jin saw this and thought to himself, "I guess it is useful to be sure of one's identity.
"I see, two golems have pried open the dock door and attacked us.
"The guard is also injured, but he says he's sure of it."
Anyway, please come to my lord.
We're guarding the place.
All hell had broken loose. Jin and his team were to go to the Marquis Dominique de Firenziano, the lady of the southern part of the Kingdom of Elias, which includes Potrock, as a person of interest.
* * * *
Meanwhile, in the government building with Dominique de Firenziano, Valentino de Hudson, the third son of the Marquis de Hudson, is locked up in a room on the second floor for interrogation.
Valentino de Hudson, the third son of the Marquis de Hudson, was confined to a room on the second floor for interrogation. He is not in jail, but in a room in the government building, since he is an assistant to the lord of the house.
A detailed interrogation is scheduled to take place tomorrow.
With two guards at the door, it seemed that he would not be able to escape. But then...
Then he heard the sound of breaking glass inside the room.
"What?
The guards are startled by the sound, open the door, look into the room and are astonished.
"Golem!
There were two golems. If Jin had seen them, he would have recognized them as the same golems that had attacked him when he was carrying the tax in the village of Kaina.
"Hmmm, as long as these guys are around, I won't get caught. I have no more use for this country!"
With these words, Valentino ran out through the hole made by the golem, followed by the two golems.
"Wait!"
One of the guards ran out after him. The other guard ran to report to his lord.
"What? Valentino has escaped!
The lord could not believe his ears when he heard the report. The son of a well-known nobleman had run away for fear of being condemned.
"Find him immediately!"
I ordered my men, but there are few guards in this town. I brought 10 guards myself, and the original 20.
Half of them are on leave due to work commitments, which is a little insufficient to deal with two golems.
And then..,
"Mr. Florenziano, our guests from the Shoro Kingdom, Mr. Reinhardt, Ms. Erza, and the members of today's winning team <> are here to see you immediately. The port guards are with them.
Jin and the others alone would have been put off, but since the nobles were with him, he ordered the lady lords to let them through. I was annoyed inside.
But as soon as he began to listen to the story, the color of his face changed.
Reinhardt then applied a to the golem's control core, and it displayed the instructions,
"Destroy the ship with the number 35 and retrieve the evidence of the Eladrite deal hidden inside! The order came from ...... Valentino!"
"The evidence has been recovered. Here it is."
Reinhardt puts the evidence on the table. Florenziano's color changed even more and he said that this coat of arms must be the one used by Valentino.
"From what you have told me, it seems that Valentino was involved in smuggling.
Florenziano, the lady of the house, said that the eladrite that was hidden in Marcia's ship, which was supposed to be related to the contract, must have been stolen by someone a year ago when it was on its way to the royal family.
"The evidence for this is that it is marked with an E."
Indeed, all four of the stones in the diagram on the contract were drawn to have a small E engraved on them. There is no doubt about it.
"But how could they have hidden it in such a place?"
The lady is impressed by the oddity. Marcia thinks for a moment,
"Oh, it must have been that time, a year ago, when we couldn't find a magecraftsman to take part in the competition, but we were rebuilding the ship for the competition, just like this year.
The boat was not docked at the time, but on the beach, so anyone could get close to it, he said.
It is assumed that the ship's unusual shape made it a good landmark.
"......Then there was a report that they were chasing a suspicious person. I understand that when they were captured and their belongings searched, nothing was found."
The Marquis said, looking at the past records.
At the same time, Marcia said that Valentino had noticed her and she was so depressed about being asked to be a concubine that she had taken the catamaran to the next town where her father's store was located.
Valentino must have been upset because he had planned to retrieve the catamaran immediately.
"And when he found it again, he found that the boat he or his partner had hidden the evidence in belonged to Marcia, whom he had been wooing, and who was about to participate in the competition.
It all makes sense now.
"If we interrogate Valentino, we'll know who stole the El Rado lights and the organization he deals with."
Reinhardt said with a relieved look on his face. But the lady lordess looked reluctant,
"Actually,...... Valentino was rescued by a golem a few minutes ago and escaped."
"What?
"I'll have to report this to the capital and put out an APB on Valentino. Mr. Reinhardt, will you come with me?
Yes, of course.
Jin and Marcia will now leave. From now on, this is not a job for civilians.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Jin and Marcia said their goodbyes at the port.
If you ever come to this town, come and visit us. < is in good shape!
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. Build lots of good ships.
Jin and Marcia shook hands and parted ways.
* * * *
Anecdote.
The people involved in the smuggling operation, other than Valentino, were arrested one after another.
The person who set fire to the dock was a paid security guard. He was off-duty, but he had access to the dock area with a face-pass.
The captain of the guard was also paid by Valentino, and was dismissed and imprisoned after it was revealed that he had been involved in various illegal activities such as smuggling.
The men who were knocked unconscious by Reiko when they tried to attack Marcia were arrested in a neighboring town for another crime, but when they were questioned about their guilt, they readily confessed to the crime.
Later, a large number of carcasses of the Death Serpent were found off the coast of Io Island, but no one could answer the question of why they were found here.