Volume 3 - Chapter 22 – When a mystery is solved (1/2)
Some announcements before we begin. An editor has joined me, Nexias Faldoran. I will be releasing the chapters as I have translated them, unedited. If you want, you can wait a day or so (however long it takes him, but he can work much faster than me) for a cleaner version, or you can read it as I have translated it.
I’m considering switching to using the japanese honorifics and unique words (kanpai, -chan, -san, etc.) and would like your input on which you would prefer.
Lastly, I was alerted to a novel aggregator site, readlightnovel.com. Overall, it looks good, they give credit in some places, but remove it from the chapters. An example, on the page for MCM, they’ve only given credit to my page. I do think it’s a useful site and if you choose to read from there, please make sure they’re giving credit where credit is due, if you see a chapter on any novel that’s not properly sourced, please let the translators know and leave a message for their moderators, hopefully enough people letting them know will get them to ensure everyone involved gets their credit.
Other than that, sorry for being late this week. I have drill (my army work) this weekend and since I’m currently the only one in my unit authorized to open the arms room (a giant safe) and they needed it for prep work, I got pulled away fairly frequently this week and had to work around school, but hey, it means I get a bigger paycheck this month.
Now, without further ado, enjoy your the chapter.
~~~~~UPDATED WITH EDITS~~~~~
Translated by Falinmer
Edited by Nexias
03-22 When a mystery is solved
「Now then, in honor of everyone’s efforts, Cheers!」 (TL: would you rather I use cheers or Kanpai?)
Jin, Reiko, Marcia, Reinhardt and Elsa (4 people and 1 automaton) were celebrating their victory from the other day at a luxurious restaurant.
Although Jin and Marcia were invited by various aristocrats and merchants after the competition, the invitation they received from Reinhardt gave them a reason to decline them all, and were able to shrink away from the attention of the masses.
「No, I lost to Jin! There’s no way Lorelei could have won!!!」
「Really? I couldn’t believe that you were overworking Lorelei during the last stage.」
Both Reinhardt and Elsa obediently admitted defeat.
「Please tell me one thing, Jin.」
For now, they seem to want to hear various things about Jin’s origins.
The first thing that was asked in this conversation –
「Is it true that you came over to this continent with a ?」
Whether or not he expected it to be brought into the conversation, Jin thought about it deeply.
「Yeah, but, I don’t want to disclose too much information about it. If by chance it were to be broken, my means of returning home would disappear.」
Jin declined in a polite manner. Nodding in understanding, Reinhardt replied with another question.
「Is that so? I wanted to check it out, but it’s impossible isn’t it?」
「Big brother Rei, everyone has one or two things they can’t tell others about.」
When Elsa said so, Reinhardt also thought it was unsuitable to continue so he backed down.
「Sorry, but, some day I’ll be able to invite you guys to my home.」
When Jin said so in a semi-diplomatic manner, Reinhardt took the bait.
「Really? Is that so? It would be my pleasure! Ah, I have to go to another nation’s capital as a diplomat tomorrow, it’s regrettable, but I’ll definitely have to take you up on your offer eventually!」
「Y-yeah.」
Although Jin regretted mentioning the invitation, only the future knows what it will bring.
As the meal progressed, they began to talk about the competition.
The topic came to talk about the golems that Jin and Reiko had caught.
「In the end, there was no evidence of fraud by the operator of the ship, Riche, so she hasn’t been arrested. Valentino is being held in custody while the investigation continues.」
「Hmmm, that’s understandable, right?」
Because Valentino had several ways to handle this, Marcia made a complex expression.
「Marcia’s had various troubles, right?」
Jin understood Marcia’s feelings.
Sensing the atmosphere between Marcia and Jin, Reinhardt could tell that they would have a hard time talking about it.
It’s normally a topic that people don’t want to talk about, but after winning the championship and being in high spirits, drinking wine and becoming slightly intoxicated, Marcia began to talk about her problems before her participation.
「What? Can you explain in more detail please, oh, and also in chronological sequence.」
Reinhardt asked with an unusually serious look.
Marcia began with how she couldn’t find a Magic Craftsman and how all of the Magic Stones had been sold out. Furthermore, the price of bronze had doubled, and even poor quality bronze was being sold at an exorbitant price.
「Umm, after that, it was the arson incident.」
She recalled the fire that Reinhardt had put out that was going directly for their ship.
Since he thought there wouldn’t be another chance, Jin decided to speak as well.
「Umm, actually, the night before the last preliminary….」
He talked about how Reiko had repelled some intruders and dumped them far away.
「Is that… so. Hmmmm…」
Reinhardt put his finger on his forehead and began to brood.
「Even if it doesn’t seem like it, big brother Rai is smart.」
Elsa’s praise is done in a subtle manner.
「He isn’t just a diplomat for show.」
After sitting like that for a while, Reinhardt appears to have had an idea and looks up.
「At first, it appears that they intended to prevent Marcia from participating.」
Jin agreed with this,
「Yes, but I don’t understand why. Why was it limited to Marcia? Would it ignore other participants?」
Reinhardt shows a broad grin.
「It’s at that point that I thought “Perhaps it’s not Marcia who’s being aimed at, but the ship?”」
「Eh?」
In other words, Reinhardt’s explanation was that they wanted to destroy the catamaran.