Chapter 467: Seeking Asylum (2/2)

After taking a good look at Elsa’s face for a moment as if trying to remember…

“Elsa…? Oh, you’re that young lady! Long time no see! You’ve really grown up a lot!”

…Toa’s voice came out quite loudly and full of energy.

“Y-Yeah…”

Though he was but a commoner at the time, Elsa had met with Toa -who turned out to be Saki’s father- several times in the past.

“So are you Elsa’s husband, Jin?”

“Uh…”

“N-No, Brother Jin is, w-well, l-like a brother to me…”

With slightly reddened cheeks, Elsa desperately shook her head left and right. Saki, who was sitting right next to Toa, looked at her as if she thought that Elsa wasn’t acting like her normal self.

“Oh, looks like it’s a little more complicated than I thought, huh?”

After saying that, Toa didn’t pursue the topic any further.

As for Stearleana, she was looking straight at Toa.

“Can you create crystals with alchemy, Mr. Eschenbach?”

Toa let out a chuckle upon hearing her question.

“Haha, even though it’s called alchemy, it can’t create things out of thin air. It’s all a matter of changing something’s properties and making things do something else…”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes, though I once tried to create gold…”

Toa and Stearleana seemed to get along very well, as they appeared to be on the same wavelength.

Saki looked at his father, who was a little bit more enthusiastic than usual, as if she thought that he wasn’t acting like his normal self either.

“Anyway, I’m glad we’ve found a new home for Stearleana.”

“Definitely. I’m relieved to see that my father is okay with it as well.”

“Sis Saki, it looks like your father and Stearleana are getting along very well.”

It was Elsa who said that. Certainly, Toa and Stearleana seemed to be talking fairly intimately, even though they were meeting for the first time.

“Shall we head back to Hourai Island, Elsa? We have to take a look at Edgar.”

“…Right. Let’s go.”

That was the reason Jin gave Elsa for having to return to Hourai Island. Jin thought that Saki might have a lot of things to talk about with his father, who she hadn’t seen in quite some time.

In fact, there were many things Jin himself wanted to talk about with Toa, but he prioritized Saki and Toa’s father-and-daughter time. It was part of Jin’s characteristic thoughtfulness.

“See you later then, Saki.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Thus Jin, Elsa, Reiko, and Edgar all returned to Hourai Island.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“First, let’s power Edgar off.”

It was already night on Hourai Island, but the first thing they did upon returning there was, of course, taking care of Edgar’s maintenance.

The undressed Edgar lay on the workbench. His creator, Elsa, said the keyword “Stop”.

Jin and Elsa started to take Edgar apart according to the usual procedure.

“Ah, he did take some damage after all.”

Jin had asked Elsa what exactly had happened while Reiko, Hanna, and he himself were absent, but after carefully examining Edgar, he could imagine how the situation had been with a bit more detail.

“His skeleton is a little bent here and there… I’m glad we used aluminum to make it.”

Aluminum is not only a light and durable material, but also has a fair degree of elasticity. For this reason, it wouldn’t break even after being attacked. Had Edgar’s skeleton been made out of bronze, his bones would have snapped like a human’s.

“Let’s change it into Aluminum 64.”

“Yeah.”

It was a material that was stronger than regular aluminum, enhanced with the effects of the “Hardening” and “Toughen” spells. In addition, they reinforced the essential parts with adamantite.

Elsa did most of the work herself. Jin only stood by her side and offered her guidance when needed.

“Alright, now we need to increase his output.”

Considering Edgar also had the purpose of protecting Elsa, it was an undeniable fact that he was lacking in power to do so effectively. It would be more desirable to make him a little stronger than the Quinta.

They decided to replace his Magical Muscle with Sham Dragon material.

They also redesigned his ether converter and mana driver to be able to produce a higher output.

After three hours of work, Edgar’s repairs and upgrades went without a hitch.