Volume 6 - Chapter 8 – A Good Bath (1/2)
06-08 A Good Bath
The lunch served white bread, fish karaage, vegetable salad, and Citran juice. The dessert was Pelshka fruit.
“Umm, could this pure white bread be…”
“Yes, we performed the peeling.”
Reinhardt was surprised by the whiteness of the bread, because the golem maids had diligently peeled the chaff off the wheat with their hands.
The girls’s special quality was to be able to continue such menial work far longer than humans.
“…Delicious.”
Beana had a mouthful, and gave her opinion on the flavor.
“But Jin, when you ate at my place, you said next to nothing while you ate. If you usually eat tasty things like this, how come you were so okay with it?”
“Oh. I’m not very picky. I’ve got a habit of just being grateful that I’ve got something to eat.”
“That’s, how should I say this, remarkable…”
Beana had some strange admiration.
“This is delicious.”
It looked like the karaage was to Elsa’s tastes.
Reinhardt’s interest was in the taste of the salad dressing,
“Something in this salad’s taste makes me feel like I’ve had this somewhere before…”
He sounded like a gourmet in some respects.
“It’s fish sauce I got from Port Rock.”
Jin said, and,
“Oh! That’s it! It’s that taste! I see, so there’s a way like this to combine it with spices too!”
He received praise again. Things like Jin’s various Japanese style dressings he made in the orphanage were his forte.
“But Jin, you said you’ve lived all your life here, right?”
“? Yep.”
Beana suddenly asked.
“Do you grow wheat and such on this island? Or do you buy it? If you buy it, doesn’t that mean you’ve been to Blue Land quite a while back?”
“Uh.”
Having the contradiction caused by the food pointed out to him, Jin was flustered. Reiko came to his rescue.
“Beana-san, if the Warp Gate’s adjustments and such went poorly it would be dangerous. That’s why it was primarily me who went to stealthily buy wheat and other things. The time Father went to Blue Land and met you was only after the adjustments were perfected.”
“Ah, so that’s how it is… What would happen if the adjustments weren’t done properly?”
“You would teleport into an unexpected place.”
“…I shouldn’t have asked.”
It seemed like Warp Gates became somewhat scary.
＊ ＊ ＊
After lunch, they enjoyed tea at ease, and finally the tour around Kunlun Island began.
Everyone got on a golem horse and began the trip around the island.
The three who weren’t used to riding like Jin were guided by the golem maids that accompanied them during the teatime. Reinhardt had Amethyst-100, Elsa had Aqua-100, and finally Beana had Ruby-100.
They couldn’t possibly see everything, so they went towards the mining site in the west. There was a hill in the place where the mining tunnels were, and it commanded a nice view.
“This horse is interesting after you get used to it.”
It looked like Elsa liked the horse golem.
“This one also moves wonderfully. Just like a real one.”
Unlike on modern Earth with its high-speed cameras, analyzing the walk of a four-legged animal is normally impossible. And that’s why animal-model golems had somewhat awkward movements that looked unnatural.
For that reason Reinhardt’s admiration could be said to have been just natural.
After an hour of enjoying the scenery… Although it was mostly just grassy plains, fields of bamboo, sparse woods and wilderness with nothing much to look at, but in any case, the group arrived at the mining site.
There, Army golems from 91 to 100 were working, and the sight was overwhelming. It was finally the debut of the male golem models.
“This is terrific.”
It was the place where dug up metals and crystals were sorted into piles.
Magi Crystals were carefully stored in a warehouse with a roof, while Magi Stones were stored together with other Magi Stones.
“As I thought, having a mine exclusively for one’s use is amazing.”
“I only succeeded it from my teacher, though.”
That wasn’t true. On Hourai Island that may be the case, but here on Kunlun Island the exploitation had only started during Jin’s era.
“Your teacher…Adrianna-dono was it? She must’ve been a great person.”
When Reinhardt said so, even though it was just for a moment, Reiko had a glad look on her face.