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“Huh? Isn’t Regulus in the middle of a desert?”
“Oh, it certainly is. But Regulus is a floating city.”

While we were carrying usable materials from the workshop down into the underground, Mr. Mintark told me all about Regulus—and it was the kind of story that made my heart race with excitement.

A huge city, floating on water in the middle of a desert—it sounded like something straight out of a fantasy novel. I couldn’t wait to see it with my own eyes.

“They drew up water from an underground aquifer using magecraft, creating a massive flow of water. The entire city was built on top of that. And supposedly, it was all done by the king alone.”
“The king built a whole city by himself!? That’s amazing…”
“His skill as a wizard might be on par with—or even greater than—Lady Laika’s.”
“Hey! My master won’t lose to anyone!”

I didn’t know much about wizards or magic, but even I could tell that my master was exceptionally powerful.

Sure, the king who made a lake in the desert sounded incredible—but I was pretty sure that if my master had enough stamina, she could probably manage something like that too. Probably.

“Hmmm… Looks like I’m going to have to meet this king myself. I need to make sure he’s really someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with my master.”
“Ms. Momose… he is a king, you know. It might be a bit disrespectful to say that…”
“Oops—good thing you said something, or Master would’ve scolded me again. That was close.”
“To speak of your mentor so casually in front of her disciple—how terribly rude of me. Please forgive me.”
“No, not at all! Anyway, I should get back to work—please tell me more about Regulus later, okay?”

I couldn’t spend all day chatting. The longer it took to finish the robot, the longer it would take to catch up with my master.

She was sweet and kind, but when she got angry, it was terrifying—especially because she was smart enough to point out exactly what I’d done wrong, in excruciating detail.

But she was also a good person, just as good as she was scary. She had helped me when I was a stranger, and even now, she got angry for the sake of people she’d just met.

“Let’s see… what we still need is a bunch of rebar, a ton of wire, and as many cables as we can get…”

That was why I was sure she must’ve been even angrier than I was when she rushed into this workshop. It had been nothing like the place I saw during my first visit. It was wrecked beyond recognition, with dark red bloodstains smeared across the hallway.

Inside the rooms were the remains of golems that had fought desperately, and the shattered pieces of works that had only been halfway completed.

“…It’s awful.”

I was angry too, and I couldn’t forgive whoever did this. That’s why I couldn’t let this energy go to waste. I had to turn it into something that moved me forward—keep my hands and feet moving until I found the right person to take it out on.

“What’s awful? You talkin’ about me?”
“Wah!? M-Mr. Arnitta, you were here!?”

Startled, I nearly dropped the precious materials I was carrying when Mr. Arnitta suddenly slipped his face out from the shadows of the room.

I hadn’t seen him at all since I got back from the Magecraft District—I never would’ve guessed he’d been tucked away in a corner of this room the whole time.

“Geez, don’t scare me like that. Nothing can get done without you, you know?”
“Well, we can’t really get started on the real work until tomorrow. It’s late—why don’t you head back to the inn, missy?”
“Nope, I’m staying overnight! We still don’t know what might happen.”

We hadn’t found a single mini-dinosaur since then—apparently my master had taken out almost all of them. The rest were finished off by the church and the guards, but we couldn’t say for sure there weren’t any stragglers left.

If Mr. Arnitta got attacked too, it’d be a huge problem. I’d feel much better staying over as a bodyguard, just in case.

“A young girl like you shouldn’t overdo it. You’re a fine-looking lass—ought to be out snaggin’ yourself a good man.”
“Ahaha… Sadly, I’ve never had a boyfriend—not even once… More importantly, what are you doing all the way over here, Mr. Arnitta?”
“Lookin’ for any personal effects that might’ve been left behind. Most of the bodies… they’re in no shape to be shown to the families…”
“…I see.”

Mr. Arnitta was the one in charge of this workshop. No matter how unreasonable the cause, he was still the one responsible when his staff ended up dead.

But even more than that, he seemed like he just needed to come to terms with it all himself—and I didn’t know what to say to that.

“…I’ll help. I should look for small items that we can identify, right?”
“You don’t need to waste your time on an old man’s work. Get some rest, missy.”
“When my head’s not working, I get my hands moving—that’s kind of my motto! …Though it has led to me eating a dragon gem, so…”
“That’s a bad habit, girl. You should break it.”

We traded light remarks, and the heavy air around us began to lift.

Searching for mementos by lantern light after the sun had long since set didn’t go particularly smoothly, so naturally, the more time passed, the more we found ourselves talking.

“Say, missy. You said you saw one of those raptors, didn’t you? Did anything strike you as odd?”
“Something odd…? Hmm… Sorry, nothing comes to mind.”
“No need to apologize. It’s just… I can’t help but notice how precise their destruction was.”
“Precise…?”
“Yeah. Take the materials you helped haul out, for instance. Aside from a few exceptions, the simpler steel stock suffered the least damage.”

Now that I thought about it, Mr. Arnitta was right. The workshop had been ransacked, and yet more materials than I expected were left untouched. I’d just chalked it up to luck, but of course, the head of the workshop had a more discerning eye.

“While I was checking for personal effects, I took a little walk around the workshop. The way those things tore the place up—it wasn’t random. It was inconsistent, like they were following orders… like they had a purpose.”
“A purpose… So maybe they were looking for something? Was anything stolen from the workshop?”
“I considered that too, but from what I can tell, nothing’s missing. Not anything big, at least. Can’t speak for the small stuff—it’s hard to keep track of all that.”
“Hmm… If stealing wasn’t the goal—then maybe there was something they wanted to destroy?”
“…That would explain why the worst of the destruction was—”
“Mr. Zaif’s lab!”

I remembered clearly—after hauling rebar and wire from all over the place, that room had been in the worst condition by far.

Come to think of it, the only reason Master came to the workshop in the first place was because Mr. Zaif had summoned her. He must’ve been trying to tell her something.

“The telescope… That’s right, the telescope. It was completely smashed—beyond recognition.”
“Zaif’s research, huh? So that was something the raptors’ master found inconvenient…”

Even if we could piece together a theory, we still didn’t know why. Why would someone go to such lengths—do something this cruel—just to stop the telescope from being completed?

“But Master realized it in that moment. That’s why she went to Regulus, to find answers.”
“…Then we really do have to hurry after her. Let’s call it for tonight. Starting tomorrow, we’re going full throttle—hope you’re ready.”
“Right! Let’s finish the robot fast and catch up with Master! …Oh, do we have a name for it yet?”
“Ahh… I’ll think of something by the time it’s done.”
“I’ll come up with a cool one too!”

With only the lantern to light our way, it was getting too difficult to continue the search for keepsakes. Besides, we now had an even more urgent reason to get to Regulus.

What exactly did Mr. Zaif entrust to Master? And why would someone go so far as to destroy the telescope? The answer must be waiting in Regulus. Starting tomorrow, we had to finish the robot—and I needed to think of a really cool name, too.