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Published at 28th of October 2020 06:51:22 AM
Chapter 9-49: Volume 9 - Chapter 49 – Had Jin Been the One to Find Elena

09-49 IF #1: Had Jin Been the One to Find Elena

Content warning: violence, pain

Please think about this tale as something like a parallel world .

One day, one of the Quinta dispatched everywhere reported encouraging news through Laojin .

“My Lord, on the western shore of the Lake Azul there are ancient ruins that have been turned into a tourist attraction, but underneath it there seems to be a large room . ”

“Mh-hm, has that not been found before?”

“It hasn’t, My Lord . ”

“Hmm, seems interesting . Let’s try going for once . ”

Jin muttered, and Reiko raised an objection .

“Father, it’s dangerous to go personally to an unknown place like that . ”

“Mmh, I’ve got Reiko and since they’re ancient ruins let’s have Ann come along this time too . And I’ll be wearing the reinforced clothing and taking Muramasa and Masamune with me . ”

Reiko was still looking a bit sullen yet,

“There’s no other way, is there . I’ll take Peach Blossom and the Magi Cannon . Let’s also have the SP carry a Paralyzer, a Vibration Blade, and an Induction Radiator each . ”

She said . Jin who heard that wondered about what on earth she was going to wage a war on . But he kept his mouth shut since it seemed like Reiko would’ve asked him not to go since it was dangerous had he said it .

“If we go through the floatsink base in Lake Azul it won’t take long . Let’s wait until it’s midnight on the other side when we arrive . ”

Jin’s personal VTOL, Pegasus-1 flew out of the floatsink base in Lake Azul, and in about three minutes it was above the ruins they were looking for .

“The Quinta is coming to meet us . No humans have been found on the surface . ”

On top of the search by the Quinta who found the ruins, detection by infrared rays and sight revealed that there were no people around .

Judging that the risk of being witnessed was low, Jin made Pelican-1 land in front of an open space in front of the ruins . It was stone-paved just perfectly so landing was easy and done without raising any clouds of sand .

First the SP went out to watch the surroundings . A minute later, Reiko, then Ann left . Finally Jin got out .

“Good work on coming all the way here, Chief . ”

The Quinta in charge of the western shore of Lake Azul bowed .

“Thanks for greeting me . So, the ruins in question, where might they be?”

“Yes, over here . ”

Jin tried lighting the surroundings with a [Light Ball] . There buildings all around supported by pillars of stone strengthened with magic . However, the strengthening magic had completely faded and the structures had begun weathering .

Guided by the Quinta, Jin headed near the ruins . The Quinta came to a stop between two large pillars and said while pointing at the ground,

“There is a large cave underground here . ”

Jin examined the surface with [Sonar] and understood that there clearly was a large room underneath the ground . Jin then gave orders to Reiko .

“Reiko, try hitting here with 30% of your power . ”

After confirming that Jin and the others had retreated a bit further away, Reiko swung her pretty fist and struck the ground .

Along with a thunderous noise, the earth cracked and caved in . Reiko nimbly leapt away and avoided falling .

Once the dust settled, a large hole could be seen there .

“So dark . [Light] . ”

Even when using light magic to illuminate the hole, the bottom couldn’t be seen . The Quinta then said,

“Chief, I will try going down first . ”

And jumped into the hole .

A little while later a report came in through a ManaCom .

“I’m fine, there’s nothing out of the ordinary here . Please go ahead and come down . ”

Jin’s group then headed to the middle of the hole . Jin was carried by Reiko, while Ann and the SP went by themselves .

Once down the hole in the ruins, they found a rather wide room with passages to the left and right . Either direction would’ve been good but Jin decided to head for the smaller passage .

After continuing on for a while the passage sloped down . Although dim, there were perpetual light emitters that ran on Ether inside the walls of the hallway .

“They’re of lower grade than those in the research laboratory, aren’t they . ”

Reiko looked at the dim lights and commented .

Finally they saw a door . It was made out of iron, was covered in red rust, and once in front of it Ann said a few words .

“Master, this seems to be the emergency shelter room of the ancient fortress . ”

“Hmm, so is it likely there’s something inside?”

Jin asked Ann .

“Yes, the likelihood of there being Magi Tools or weapons and such for emergency use is high, I think . ”

“Alright, let’s try opening it . ”

Jin tried pushing but the heavy door barely budged . Reiko took over for him and pushed . The hinges creaked and broke midway, and the door fell to the inside of the room with a loud sound . It raised dust into the air .

“*Cough*, this is terrible . [Wind] . ”

Jin expelled the dust out of the room with wind magic . Now he became able to inspect the inside of the room .

Inside the room were, just like Ann said, quite a lot of Magi Tools . There were ones that had broken through the passing of years, but about a third seemed still u sable .

Jin ordered the SP to recover the tools . Then he noticed something at the very back .

“That’s a…”

It was a human shape . Jin could immediately tell it was an Automata . Its figure was that of a girl . But it was leaning on the wall while sitting on the floor without any life . Its left arm was broken, gone from the elbow down .

“That’s, it can’t be… the ‘Golden Princess of Destruction’?”

Ann said .

“Ann?”

“It’s just what I think is probable, but this Automata is the ‘Golden Princess of Destruction’ . She was a mysterious Automata that in the early days of the Great Magic War went around destroying my brothers and sisters . ”

“Hmm, I see…”


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After hearing that Jin proceeded to examine the Automata making sure not to touch it .

“The craftsmanship isn’t bad . ”

In the corner of his eye, Jin saw Reiko puff up her cheeks after hearing that and he hurriedly added .

“…Although it can’t hold a candle to Reiko . ”

Reiko’s expression returned to normal .

“Hmm, supposing we collect all the ancient Magi Tools, just leaving this Automata would be regrettable . Alright, Reiko, please carry her and then let’s go hom . ”

“Yes, I understand . ”

While carrying the Magi Cannon on her back and Peach Blossom on her waist, Reiko lifted up the Automata .

Feeling the faint Magic Energy coming from Reiko the Automata woke up .

“Are you the one… who woke me up? …H– hey, wait, what are you doing!?”

“Ah, she woke up . So she really had configured herself to wake up after detecting Magic Energy . ”

“Wwait, release me! I am the queen of Automata! Listen to what the queen tells you!”

She kicked and struggled, but Reiko’s solid grip was like a vise and no matter how much the Automata tried to shake and untangle her it didn’t matter .

“Y-you’re, could it be, you’re Adrianna’s…!!”

“Be quiet please . My Mother is indeed called Adrianna Balbora Ceci . ”

“I–I knew it! Le– let me gooooo!”

“I said be quiet . ”

Reiko put more strength into her arms that were carrying the Automata .

Along with a cracking sound the Automata’s skeleton was bent .

“Gyaaaaaah!”

It seemed that the Automata possessed some degree of feeling . Her scream echoed .

“You’re too loud . Father, please silence her . ”

Once asked by Reiko Jin got closer to the Automata and put a hand on its neck . Then,

“[Standstill] . ”

He had the Automata turn off half-forcibly .

“Ah, it became peaceful . ”

“This Automata really does seem to be the Golden Princess of Destruction, doesn’t she . ”

Ann said while looking down at the Automata Reiko was carrying .

“Hmm, I wonder why did she come to have a personality like that . I’m a little interested . ”

Jin said while watching the Automata that had gone limp .


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They were able to exit the ruins without anything happening on the return trip . When they were exiting the hole Jin was pulled up with a rope hung down by the SP who climbed up ahead of them .

They then boarded Pelican-1 and returned to Hourai Island via the floatsink base .

Now the examination of the Automata that had been brought to the workshop in Hourai Island’s research laboratory was underway .

“Hmm, the skeleton is Light Silver, the muscles are Magical Muscles . There’s a Mana Driver but no Ether Converter . ”

“Father, what does that mean?”

Reiko asked while holding down the Automata for hazard prevention .

“Mh-hm, you and the others use the Ether Converter to change the Ether in the air to Mana, then use the Mana Driver to convert the Mana to energy, correct?”

“Yes . ”

“This Automata has no Ether Converter and instead has an Ether Tank, and appears to use an Ether Driver to convert that to energy . ”

“What’s the result of doing it that way?”

Reiko had enough knowledge to tell the differences between the structures, but didn’t know anything about their efficiencies and such .

“Normally a Mana Tank and a Mana Driver are combined, but this Automata’s combination appears to sacrifice efficiency for a higher power output . ”

“I see, this is the first time I’ve heard of something like an Ether Driver . So you’re saying the efficiency is worse when converting Ether directly to energy?”

“That’s right . If you think about it, then probably before the Ether Stampede occurred the Ether in the air was thicker than now, so this must’ve been good back then . ”

Jin stated his guess .

“But Mother made me with the method I’m utilizing now though?”

Reiko asked a question regarding that .

“Ah, that’s just natural, since you could say that the predecessor had an ideology in her designs on top of the technology . ”

There’s the structure of increasing the power output with heavy work, and then there’s the structure that increases the power output by delicately managing the performance . It’s needless to say which one is better .

“What’s more is that this Control Core is somewhat strange . ”

“What might you mean?”

“Well, it looks like it’s been recycled and used twice . Although faint, here and there the old Magi Formula remains . ”

Jin said while gazing at the comparatively large Control Core .

“Isn’t this one of the reasons this Automata went out of order?”

While saying so, Jin completely cleared the old Magi Formula .

“And also, there’s the possibility that the manufacturer’s last words have something suspicious in them . ”

While talking, Jin freely used the Craft Magics [Read] and [Decompile] to search for that portion . And after searching for 30 minutes, he found it .

“This is it . ‘You are the best’, huh . ”

“‘You are the best’ is it . That indeed does seem like something that could make one odd if there was a single error . ”

Reiko could understand the danger as a similar Automata who had lost her manufacturer once .

“Hmm, but ‘You are the best’ . ”


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Jin tilted his head in confusion .

“It’s got to continue somehow, doesn’t it . You are the best ‘and stay like that’, or you are the best ‘and the brightest’ or something . ”

Jin thought of it a lot . Then,

“If it were me, I’d have wanted to say you are the best ‘daughter I could hope for’ . ”

Reiko said .

“Well, normally you’d say something like that, wouldn’t you . ”

Jin also agreed with Reiko .

“Well, let’s for now try repairing the parts that have deteriorated or faded with age . ”

Jin mended the flaws in the Automata . He then tried restarting it . Reiko was of course also monitoring her . Although more accurately Reiko was watching her restraints .

“…Where is this?”

The Automata opened its eyes .

“Are you the one who repaired my arm?”

There was no madness in the tone of her voice .

“Yeah, that’s right . Are there any other places that feel weird?”

Jin said and had Reiko slowly release her from her restraints . The Automata then tried moving its body and,

“No, not at all . I’m in very good condition . Thank you very much . ”

She said and bowed .

“To thank you for repairing me, I would like to work for you . Would you please give me a name?”

She said and bowed once more .

Jin thought for a while, then suddenly a name popped to his mind . It was rather unusual for Jin .

“Hmm, I suppose, in that case how about ‘Elena’?”

He said .

“Yes, my name is Elena . Please take care of me from now on, master . ”

Elena said and gave a deep bow, turned to face Reiko and Ann, then bowed her head and said,

“Pleased to meet you too, my sisters . ”

This is the world of ‘what-if’ . The world that would’ve been if Jin had found Elena . A story about a world of ‘what-if’ that would probably be a happy one for Elena afterwards .

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