Chapter 504: Departure (1/2)
What Jin found at that corner of the store was definitely a fridge.
“…A fridge?”
“Oh, you have quite the discerning eye, Jin. This is a magic tool we’ve just recently got in stock. It was sold by an earl from the Egelia Kingdom…”
After all, it seemed that Earl Kuzuma was sponsoring their production and sales.
He was soon reminded of that red-haired Magi Craftswoman, Beana.
(Those two will be getting married any day now, huh. I’ll ask them about it if I get the chance.)
“…And this here is a ‘lighter’. …Jin?”
Jin, who had lost himself in his memories of the time when he saw Beana and the magic tool that they made in Blue Land, was returned to this world by Roland’s voice.
“Ah, sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“I see. So, this is a “water heater”. It’s pretty well done. I’m currently researching whether I can make them myself.”
Since there was no concept of ??patents in this world, this kind of idea came up rather naturally. And since the market was unlikely to suffer because of it, Jin decided not to say anything about it.
“If I have any questions about it, can I ask you for your help, Jin?”
Jin laughed and nodded to Roland, who asked that of him without knowing that Jin was (one of) the creators of all of those items.
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin turned down Roland’s invitation to stay overnight, and instead returned to Hourai Island.
“Well, preparations… are going to be rough.”
“What happened, Brother Jin?”
As Jin seemed troubled all by himself, Elsa suddenly showed up in the control room.
“Hmm? Ah, Elsa. Well, tomorrow I’ll be going to the Frantz Kingdom with Shion and I’ve been wondering what to look like.”
“Ah, so it was about that.”
Elsa had been worried it had anything to do with Shion having undressed herself in front of Jin in order to gain his trust.
“But tomorrow? You agreed to go tomorrow?”
“Yeah, that’s right. So, I got some information about the Frantz Kingdom from both Reinhardt and the Raglan Firm in the Klein Kingdom. Its government seems to be a tyranny of sorts, and the aristocrats appear to be in control, so that makes me think that knights would generally be in a good social standing. I was wondering from what country should I call myself a knight of…”
Jin explained that he wanted to introduce himself as a knight instead of as the Magi Craft Meister.
“…In that case, you should go in as a knight of the Shouro Empire.”
Elsa expressed her view. Going as a knight of the Klein Kingdom was out of the question since their relations with the Frantz Kingdom was rather hostile. The Egelia Kingdom was in bad terms with the Celuroa Kingdom, which was Frantz’s suzerain state, so he would have to avoid using that country as well.
“I think the Shouro Empire is a rather neutral option.”
Elsa concluded that the Shouro Empire shouldn’t be seen as an enemy because it has diplomatic relations with the Celuroa Kingdom.
“I see. So I should go as a knight of the Shouro Empire on a visit?”
“Yeah. And I can look for Shion’s sister.”
“Wait. You’re coming as well, Elsa?”
Jin was surprised by Elsa’s remark.
“Yes. I’m not sure you’ll be using the proper etiquette of the Shouro Empire if you go there all by yourself.”
That was more or less a pretty good reason. There was no way Jin could refuse after being called out like that.
“Understood. Make sure to bring your Guard Ring with you.”
“Okay.”
Thus, Jin, Reiko, Elsa, Edgar, Shion, and Lucas would all go to the Frantz Kingdom.
The time was right after dawn on the 7th of August. The place was in front of Nidou Castle.
It was a cloudy morning, and it seemed that it could start raining at any moment.
“Ok, so Shion, Lucas, Elsa, Edgar, Reiko, and I, we’re all here.”
Lucas had already met Elsa, but still was a little cautious because Edgar was a new face to him.
“Edgar is Elsa’s guardian Automata.”
After hearing Jin’s explanation, Shion spoke out with an impressed tone of voice.
“Oh, the Magi Craft Meister’s disciple is also very skilled.”
“Yeah, she is. So, are we all ready?”
“We didn’t need to make many preparations to begin with. But more importantly, how are we going to travel to this Frantz Kingdom?”
“We’ll fly there.”
“Huh?”
Jin explained to them what he meant.
The distance in a straight line between Kaina Village and Storsk, a village that was on the border between the kingdoms of Klein and Frantz, was approximately 300 kilometers. Such a distance could be traversed by airship in about 3 hours.