I was helping to record the instrument readings and turn them into graphs. Since I had done this several times before, I had become quite accustomed to it. However, that day, readings appeared that I had never seen before. When I graphed the results, the shape was distorted, which struck me as odd, so I immediately reported it to Fistoa-san.

“This is… Could you please show me your measurements over there?”

While examining the measurement results, Fistoa-san nodded repeatedly and concluded:

“It seems you are like the goddess of fortune. It looks like you’ve found what you were searching for.”

“Really? That’s great!”

“We still need to analyze the data, but at this point, pinpointing the location is just a matter of time.”

Although this should have been a step forward in our return to the country, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to feel genuinely happy. To mask my feelings, I asked Fistoa-san:

“What kind of place are you looking for? Oh, I’m sorry, I guess it’s a secret.”

“No, it’s not a problem to share that much. We are searching for an ancient ruin. Investigating that ruin is the objective of this mission.”

“Ancient ruins sound quite romantic.”

“Haha, yes, I suppose so. But honestly, I’m not very knowledgeable about archaeology, so even if we find it, I’m not sure I’ll feel a thrill of romance about it.”

I see; Fistoa-san wasn’t searching for it because he loved it. He was clearly approaching it purely as a job.

The tasks that followed were closely tied to the request, so I couldn’t help much. However, I did receive confirmation that the location had been found. The Crimson Automaton proceeded directly to the ruins, and since we were being escorted, we ended up accompanying them partway there.

“They’re still following us; how annoying.”

Since being protected by the Crimson Automaton, we hadn’t faced any attacks, but the Misumorof army had been trailing us at a consistent distance. Himari voiced her complaints, seemingly accustomed to it now.

“Just a little more patience; once the Crimson Automaton’s business is finished, we’ll be able to return to the country. Then we can contact Ranelle and make sure they receive appropriate retribution.”

“That’s right! I’m definitely not going to let them get away with this! I’ll have my sister teach them a lesson!”

With the prospect of returning home drawing closer, Himari seemed to regain her spirits. To be honest, I thought that even with President Ranelle’s power, dealing with the North royal family would not be easy, but I decided against sharing that thought with Himari.

After about a day of travel, we arrived at the site of the ruins. However, the ruins appeared to be buried underground and were not visible, set in the middle of an unchanging wasteland.

As the investigation was about to begin, the Crimson Automaton started unloading a lot of equipment from the ride carrier. Once most of the unloading was complete, they began transporting it towards a crevice in the wasteland. It seemed likely that the ruins were beyond that point.

“Yukiha! Look! The enemy is moving!”

I thought everything was proceeding smoothly, but the malicious intent that had been lurking would not allow that. The Misumorof army, which had maintained a consistent distance until now, suddenly closed in on us. They probably judged this as an opportunity to attack, seeing that many of the Crimson Automatons had entered the ruins and thinned their ranks.