Magi Craft Meister

What crawled out of the ruins were gigantic insects—if you looked closely, they were ants. And they were swarming out in droves.

“Mega-Ants!?”

They resembled a species of monster rarely seen in mines called “Mega-Ants.” However, the scale was off by an order of magnitude. A standard Mega-Ant was at most 30 centimeters long, but these monsters were nearly two meters in length.

“A-Aaaah!”

Screams erupted. A soldier from the Kingdom of Celuroa’s border patrol, overcome by panic and attempting to strike one down, was sprayed with a substance by the monster.

“Gwaaaaah! Ahhh! Ahhh!”

The soldier thrashed on the ground. White smoke was rising from his face, hands, and body. It seemed the creature had sprayed something acidic; the sword he held was already beginning to melt.

“Golems! Attack the monsters!”

Seeing them as a greater threat than the Egelea Golems, Trist Clarot quickly redirected his orders. Paul Raid did the same.

“Attack the monsters! Knight unit, fall back 30 meters!”

Judging that there was no way to withstand the liquid spat out by these Mega-Ants, Trist decided to move his human subordinates away from the front lines.

“Gwaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts so much!”

“Gyaaaaah! My arm! My arm!”

However, the soldiers of the Celuroa Kingdom, caught by surprise from the rear, were too late to flee. Those doused in the Mega-Ants’ liquid had their flesh seared and were left writhing in agony. Neither leather armor nor metal breastplates could resist the acid; they were melted through in seconds.

And for the soldiers who fell, a horrific fate awaited: they were consumed by the Mega-Ants. As they were eaten alive—their flesh torn away, their bones crushed—the agonized screams of the soldiers were so pitiable that even the knights of the Egelea Kingdom, who had been their enemies just moments before, felt a sense of dread and sympathy.

“Golems! Do something!” Trist shrieked.

Finally, the combat Golems succeeded in taking down a single Mega-Ant. It had taken four of them working together to achieve that much. Even more chillingly, five or six other Mega-Ants swarmed the corpse of their fallen comrade and began devouring it.

“These things… they even resort to cannibalism… what gluttonous creatures.”

Even Trist shuddered.

—

The entire scene was being monitored back in the Egelea Kingdom via a “Magi-Monitor.”

“If those 500 Golems were meant to contain these Mega-Ants… no, by now, they should be called ‘Giga-Ants.’ Could they have been sealed away to suppress these Super-Giant Giga-Ants?”

Watching the screen, the Minister of Magic, Kerihidore, twisted his face in disgust.

“The reason there were no Giga-Ant carcasses left behind despite all the broken Golems is surely because of that gluttony of theirs…”

He organized his thoughts as he watched the monitor.

“But, are there specific conditions that trigger the emergence of Giga-Ants? When our previous survey team entered the ruins, nothing like this happened…”

There was too little information to know. But if they could solve that mystery, they might be able to repel or disperse the Giga-Ants.

“…It is frustrating to deal with such limited information.”

Regardless, it was a major crisis. Just then, Marquis Boyd Nors Galeri, the Chancellor, arrived. He had been summoned earlier during the scuffle with the Celuroa Golems.

“Kerihidore, did a skirmish with the Celuroa Kingdom really occur?”

“…No. Something far more outrageous has happened now.”

“What!?”

Kerihidore silently pointed to the Magi-Monitor. Thanks to the advice Jin had given them previously, they had improved the polishing precision of the Magi-crystals used for the camera, resulting in a significantly clearer image.

“Good heavens… what in the world is that monster?”

Kerihidore briefly explained the situation and his own deductions. The Chancellor listened to the sequence of events in silence, and once finished, he spoke in a strained voice.

“…We have no choice but to request reinforcements.”

“Request reinforcements? From whom!?” Kerihidore asked, stunned. In response, the Chancellor named a single person.

“‘Kunlun-kun’… Lord Jin Nidou.”

“I see.”

Neither the Chancellor nor the Minister of Magic had forgotten the power demonstrated by Reiko during that Golem Party. No, it would be more accurate to say they *could not* forget it.

“He is currently visiting the Klein Kingdom to showcase his new airship. He is scheduled to return here tomorrow, but considering this is an emergency, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask him to advance his schedule.”

Whether it was unreasonable or not was beside the point; the current situation could not be ignored.

“It is not the scheduled time for communication, but this is a state of emergency. I will contact him via ‘Mana-phone.'”

Leaving those words behind, the Chancellor ran toward the royal palace.

—

“Oh my, oh my! Jin, I am truly impressed!”

In the Klein Kingdom, Princess Lieschen was ecstatic as she rode Jin’s new airship, *Kunlun 2*.

*Kunlun 2* floated in the blue sky. The circular “two-draw” pattern of Jin’s family crest was prominently displayed on both sides.

“There is so little swaying. This is truly delightful.”

In the Princess’s hands was a copy of the map Jin had gifted her recently. Possessing the “Magic Eye of Far-Seeing,” she had begged Jin for this sky journey so she could gaze upon her homeland from above while following along with the map.

“And I am also in awe of the accuracy of this map. Even with my eyes, I could never hope to create a map so meticulous and detailed.”

“I take my hat off to you,” Princess Lieschen laughed.

“Your Highness, shall we return soon?” asked Jessica Norton, captain of the Royal Guard, who had accompanied them as an escort.

“Jessica, surely a while longer is fine? The sun is still high.”

“Sigh…”

Jessica, who had been guarding Princess Lieschen since she was a small child, was indulgent toward her. She was weak whenever the princess pleaded with those upturned eyes.

“Say, Jin, can we fly over the Leonard Kingdom?”

“We *can* fly, but… you will get scolded, you know?” Jin replied, glancing at Jessica’s troubled expression behind them.

“Muu… I suppose it cannot be helped.”

“We will descend now. I will take you for another ride later.” Jin said with a bitter smile, turning *Kunlun 2* toward the royal castle.

“Muu, that is a promise.”

Princess Lieschen nodded, though she pouted slightly. Then, looking down at the royal castle with her special eyes, her expression turned to one of shock.

“Jin! It seems something has happened!”

“Eh?”

“There is a commotion at the castle. It would be best to return with all haste.”

Prompted by Lieschen’s urgent tone, Jin instructed Reiko to increase the speed of *Kunlun 2*.

“Reiko, hurry back to the royal castle.”

“Understood, Father.”

When it came to high-speed flight, Reiko—with her superior reaction time—was the one for the job. *Kunlun 2* aimed for the castle at its standard maximum speed of 100 km/h.

“F-fast…”

“…It is fast, indeed.”

On the way there, they had traveled at about 50 km/h, but the return trip was double that. Because it was an airtight cabin, they didn’t feel the wind, but watching the castle rapidly looming larger, both of them felt a slight nervousness that they might crash.

About five minutes later, they touched down in the royal castle courtyard. A knight acting as a messenger rushed toward them.

“To use a knight as a messenger… this must be a grave matter, surely?” Lieschen said, her face taut with tension.

Then, the knight, who had run over breathless, shouted at the top of his lungs:

“A request for emergency assistance for ‘Kunlun-kun,’ Lord Jin Nidou!”