Chapter 487: Gossip 27 - The Ship’s Fate (1/2)

“Well then, thank you very much for everything.”

“Yeah, be safe.”

Eckert Techres, the most powerful merchant in Coupu, the southernmost town in the Celuroa Kingdom, had just dismissed a Magi Craftsman.

“Phew… Back to square one, huh?”

Eckert’s dream was to travel to each of the countries by ship.

It couldn’t be just any ship. It had to be the greatest ship in the entire world.

His dream was to build such a ship, and use it to travel around the world. That was the reason why he, who had been deemed a genius as a merchant by the age of 30, had been saving up all of his fortune.

However, that dream had been taken all the way back to the drawing board.

A business competitor had approached the site chief recently hired by Eckert and involved him in their plan for sabotage. Though it should have been kept a secret, word of the sabotage and the ship had somehow gotten out, so Eckert started to think that it could become very hard for him to start rebuilding his ship.

However, thanks to Jin and his friends being there at the time, the sabotage attempt hadn’t been completely successful.

The plan also seemed to involve attacking Eckert’s workers and technicians, but no one was killed or even gravely injured as a result of the attempt. Moreover, the site chief was captured on the spot after it was revealed that he had been the one to sabotage the ship.

The name of the business competitor who had plotted against Eckert was brought to light shortly after.

For better or worse, thanks to the quick action of Jin and his friends, there had been no casualties, so the penalty imposed upon the site chief hadn’t been that severe.

The business competitor who had been behind the sabotage had all of its property and assets seized, and was subsequently banished from Coupu.

Another reason why the penalty imposed on the Magi Craftsman who had worked as a site chief had been reduced considerably was that it was also found that his family had been taken hostage in order to force him to cooperate in the sabotage.

However, since he had also been given money for the job, he was also banished from Coupu, although his property and assets weren’t seized.

Being banished meant having no other choice but to go to someplace where there was no living infrastructure. It was considerably harsh, since they couldn’t stay within 100 km of Coupu.

Roughly speaking, they’d have to go north of Mt. Rawai, which towered to the north of Coupu.

“Well, he should be able to make a living wherever he is now.”

Since he was a Magi Craftsman, he should be able to find a decent job anywhere. The business competitor, on the other hand… Eckert was not concerned with what would become of him.

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“…”

A dock for shipbuilding built into the premises of his manor.

It was empty at the moment, but until recently, there had been a halfway built ship there.

The money to cover his economic loss had been paid from the assets seized from the business competitor, but that wasn’t where the problem was.

The problem was that the ship that was already halfway built had been completely destroyed.

Ultimately, it had been Jin’s automata, Reiko, who had destroyed the ship, but Eckert couldn’t bring himself to blame either of them. The automata had acted prioritizing human life above all, and if anything, he was grateful for the lives that were saved.

“Not to mention that one of the lives in danger was my own. I cannot in good conscience blame them for what happened.”

After saying that to himself, Eckert left the dock.

“Master.”

“Hm? What is it?”

When Eckert entered his manor, a butler hurried towards him.

“We have two Magi Craftsmen who have come seeking employment.”

“What!? Let them into the parlor quickly!”

Eckert’s face was painted with joy. Now that the man who had been the site chief has been dismissed, he was in desperate need of a new Magi Craftsman.

The butler quickly had them enter the parlor, where Eckert was waiting.

“My name is Altaf.”

“I’m Giena.”

The former was a robust man in his early thirties, and the latter was a woman in her late twenties. They said they were husband and wife.

“I’m Eckert. What kind of things can you do?”

Altaf answered this question on behalf of the two of them.

“Right. In general, we can do pretty much anything. But my specialty is making big things, while my wife’s very good with making small things.”

“Hoho, that’s reassuring.”

Eckert felt it could be too good to be true, but Altaf’s next words made his suspicions disappear.

“We have an assistant golem, so work is pretty quick.”

“What!”

There weren’t many Magi Craftsmen who had assistant golems. And those who did would be very skilled, without exception.

“We’ll be frank with you. We’ve come because we’ve heard that you’re building a huge ship.”

Rumors of the sabotage and business rivalry had spread across Coupu so much that they could no longer be denied. But on the flip side, if those rumors were to bring some good Magi Craftsmen to his door, then so be it.