Magi Craft Meister

704

21-15 All’s Well in the World

The next day, Jin visited Marcia’s workshop, bringing Elsa with him.

Reinhardt still had official duties to attend to as the official ambassador.

“Ah, Mr. Jin—and could that be… Elsa!? Could it really be Elsa?”

Jeremy, who was sweeping in front of the shop, noticed Elsa and blushed bright red.

“…Yes, I’m Elsa.”

“I knew it! Wow, I’m so thrilled!”

Jeremy took Elsa’s hand and practically danced in excitement.

“…Huh?”

“I watched the Golem Boat Competition! Your head-to-head battle with Manager Marcia is still etched in my mind!”

“Oh… I see.”

Jeremy’s high-energy excitement made Elsa shrink back a bit.

“Hey, Jeremy, what’s all the commotion in fron—Elsa!?”

Bacchus noticed Jeremy making a fuss outside, came to check, and then noticed Elsa as well.

“E-Elsa!?”

It appeared Bacchus was also a fan of Elsa.

Seeing Bacchus, whose breathing had grown excited, Elsa quickly moved behind Jin for cover.

“Um… I came to explain Marcia’s situation.”

“S-sorry! Please, come in!”

Jin, Elsa, and Reiko were then ushered inside.

“…So that’s how it is. She’s doing much better, but I’m making her take it easy today for safety’s sake.”

Jin explained the details. Although Jeremy and Bacchus had heard from Arrow the previous day that Marcia was safe, hearing the full story put them even more at ease.

“I see, that’s wonderful…!”

“And Elsa can use healing magic too?”

Bacchus’s eyes seemed to glow with dangerous enthusiasm again.

“S-so, um, about Arrow and the Cygnus, what’s become of them?”

Jin, recalling how hard they had pushed themselves the day before, wanted to check on their condition.

“Oh, they’re at our dock. …Over there, across the street.”

Jeremy pointed to a dock facing the sea, presumably their private workspace for building ships.

“All right, let’s take a look.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Elsa—who was starting to feel uncomfortable—tagged along.

“Oh…”

The dock was spacious enough to build ships up to around ten meters in length. Typically, it looked like they could work on multiple vessels in parallel.

Right at the front was the Cygnus, moored there with Arrow beside it.

“Ah, Creator.”

Noticing Jin, Arrow stood up and bowed.

“Arrow, thanks for your work yesterday. Marcia is safe. She’ll probably be back tomorrow.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“How are you holding up?”

Jin was worried, knowing Arrow had pushed himself to the limit.

“Yes, I feel some looseness in the joints of my legs.”

“I figured… All right, I’ll think about what to do. First, let me check the Cygnus.”

Arrow had already cleaned away the seawater and Marcia’s blood. Jin focused on inspecting the propulsion system.

“…Everything looks good.”

Elsa also examined it alongside Jin and marveled at how sturdy it was.

“…Now that I really look at it, I realize just how incredible Brother Jin’s work is. No wonder Lorelei lost.”

Having studied Magic Engineering, Elsa now fully grasped just how extraordinary the Cygnus was.

“All right, as for Arrow, this dock won’t do.”

With that, Jin devised a plan.

Returning to the workshop, he spoke to Jeremy and Bacchus:

“I’m heading back now and taking Arrow with me so he can look after Marcia.”

They readily agreed, raising no doubts. With Arrow absent, the covert mobile unit members Cattleya and Lotus would quietly guard the shop.

Gathering Arrow, Jin and the others didn’t go back to the guesthouse. Instead, they headed for the sea-carved cavern hiding the Warp Gate.

They transferred to Hourai Island, with Arrow accompanying them for the first time.

“So this is your base, Creator?”

“That’s right. Most of our siblings are made here.”

Reiko, the eldest “daughter,” explained, the scene feeling oddly heartwarming.

Jin led Arrow to the workshop.

“All right, I’m going to deactivate you for a bit.”

He dismantled Arrow on the spot.

“…I can’t have this happen a second time.”

Even though Cattleya and Lotus were on standby, they couldn’t follow Marcia out to sea (nor were they able). Jin decided it was best to improve Arrow’s capabilities in case of a repeat scenario.

He installed Hourai Island’s standard specs:

A skeleton made of 64 Light-Silver

Joints with Adamantite Coating

Magical Muscles equivalent to those used in the covert mobile units

Replaced the power reactor with a Magi Reactor, and added a small Force Generator

This would not only let Arrow swim freely underwater, it also opened up the possibility (in theory) of limited flight.

To support Marcia, Arrow could now use limited Engineering Magic—about a quarter of the capacity of Smith the craftsman. The current “Smith” boasted 70% of Jin’s engineering ability, so even a quarter of that was already above a typical Magi Craftsman.

Jin also added weapons for emergencies:

A Barrier Projector

A Paralyzer Gun

For anti-monster tactics, the ability to use Water Bullet and Water Jet

He also gave Arrow mid-tier healing magic abilities for dealing with injuries.

Finally, a built-in Mana Camu allowed contact with Laozi in emergencies, and Jin also added countermeasures against “Slave Rewrite Magic.”

He left the exterior as-is, though he did apply Hardening and Toughening enchantments.

“That should do it.”

“Brother Jin, could I have a word?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Elsa, who’d been watching, seemed to have something on her mind.

“I was thinking… maybe we should standardize the Golems, including the ones on Hourai Island?”

She suggested categorizing them by combat, security, general use, and so forth, along with standardizing parts and materials.

“Brother Jin, sometimes you make these impulsive, crazy modifications.”

Jin, fully aware, could only give a wry smile at her final comment.

“You’re right. There’s no upper limit to what we can do, but we can at least set some standard patterns.”

He agreed.

“We don’t have time today, but we should decide soon. Will you help me?”

“Mm. Of course.”

Elsa nodded.

For now, there were other matters to attend to. Jin, Reiko, Elsa, and Arrow returned to Potlock.

“Oh! Arrow!”

Around midday, Jin brought Arrow to Marcia, who was recuperating in the guesthouse.

Reinhardt, his schedule freed up that afternoon, joined them.

Marcia had recovered considerably and was already out of bed, walking around.

“Arrow found me, right? Thank you.”

“I was only doing my job.”

Arrow bowed. Seeing this, Marcia tilted her head curiously.

“Huh? Arrow, your movements seem different somehow.”

Jin was surprised by her sharp intuition, or perhaps it was simply because they spent every day together.

“Yeah, I had to push him pretty hard yesterday, so I gave him a tune-up. I did a little bit of improving, too—probably because of that.”

At Jin’s mention of “a little bit of improving,” Reinhardt, who knew all too well what Jin’s “little” could mean, felt his cheek twitch.

Marcia, however, seemed oblivious.

“Ah, I see. Thanks, Jin! …There’s a lot I need to talk about.”

“Me too. Today I’m finally ready to sit and listen.”

At last, Jin felt like he was truly in Potlock.

And so, he and his companions spent the remainder of the day catching up, talking long into the evening.