Chapter 364 (1/2)

12-09 The world’s second-best automata

The next day, Jin and Reinhart went to the workshop after having breakfast.

This time though, they were joined by Belche and Saki, the latter having spent the night at Reinhart’s house.

“Well then, let’s start with the skeleton.”

The night before, Jin and Reinhart had discussed the technical specifications of the automata after dinner.

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“How about neuter gender?”

“Do you mean making it without either a male or female shape?”

“Yes, that’s right. I mean, how much sense does it really make to add a definite gender to the automata in the first place?

When he said that, Jin hadn’t realized that Reiko was standing behind him with a slightly lonely expression to her face.

“Although the basic frame is a male one, right?”

“That’s right. Let’s just try to make it slender overall, and with a little longer hair.”

“Hmm.”

“For example, it would normally serve as a butler, but it could also wear female clothes in order to also serve as a maid if need be.”

“I see! That’s interesting! So it can be used for multiple purposes!”

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“The skeleton should be made out of aluminum.”

Just as she heard that, Saki spoke up as if surprised.

“Hey, Reinhart! You say aluminum, but a kilogram costs two million torr!”

As expected from an alchemist, Saki has a keen understanding of the market value of such high-grade materials. … And yet she has no sense of economy.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. Jin has donated the materials.”

“Donated…?“

“You’ll get used to it sooner or later. It’s useless to stick to preconceived ideas when it comes to Jin.”

Reinhart laughed as he told her that, but Saki stood in silence for a minute, as if trying to digest what she has just heard.

“… Hehe, I see, Reinhart. You got me there. To believe that it is impossible to discover new things within the common knowledge of this world is the alchemist’s creed. I’m so embarrassed…“

She then consented with an unusually relieved face.

Belche was not as surprised since even though her sense of economy was not as poor as Saki’s, she didn’t know as much about materials.

The suspended work resumes.

Its intended height is 160 cm. That’s just as hight as Jin, and only a little higher than Saki.

It has a slender body, and its target weight is 50 kilograms.

“First comes the skeleton. I’ve seen Jin’s work with golems, so I had a lot of things to consider.”

After saying that, he prepared a lump of aluminum. As a matter of fact, Jin had brought it from Hourai Island in the middle of the night.

Then, Reinhart begins to shape it. Jin also made things together with Reinhart several times in the past, but this is his first time seeing him use Engineering Magic with such seriousness.

Reinhart is considerably skilled, and it was evident that studying Jin’s way of doing things was not just for show.

The basic skeleton was completed in about fifteen minutes.

“What do you think, Jin? I want to hear your opinion.”

Jin then shared his honest thoughts with Reinhart.

“Impressive, Reinhart! I’m only taking a quick look, but I can see you’ve put a lot of detail into it! If I have to say something about it, it’s the fingers and wrists. You’ve used ball joints, but their movements seem heavy.”

After expressing his thoughts to Reinhart, Jin applied a fine coating to the joints using a small lump of adamantite.

“Oh, I see! You’re decreasing the amount of wear that the joints will get over time by making their movements lighter. I really need to study more.”

After that, Saki could no longer watch silently and interrupted them.

“Guys, I’m sorry to break into your passionate work, but let me ask you something. … Is that based on the human skeleton?”

Jin was the one to answer that question.

“Yes, that’s right. Automata are created by imitating humans. So what else would you use to imitate a skeleton?”

Groaning with a ‘Hummm’, Saki carefully looked at the skeleton that was lying on the workbench.

“Its ribcage and pelvis have been simplified, huh? … I’m sorry for barging in. Please continue.”

Then it was Jin’s turn. He arranged the Magic Muscles made out of Magic Fiber onto the frame.