The lady addendant brought with her a young redhead girl who nervously bowed in front of Reinhardt and the others,
“M- my great, I mean, my greetings, my name is Beana.”
Earl Kazuma looked at the overly stiff Beana and said,
“Hey, no need to be so nervous. This is my friend, Reinhardt. She is Miss Elsa, Reinhardt’s cousin.
“I’m Reinhardt Randol.”
“Elza Randol.”
The two introduced themselves.
“N-nice to meet you.”
Beana’s stiffnes still hadn’d disappeared. Earl Kuzuma had Beana sit herself down at the table next to him and said,
“Beana’s a very excellent Magi Craftsman I got to know recently, and she’s got some ideas I’m interested in.”
“Earl, I- I’m not that skilled.
On the surface, Reinhardt appeared to be cordial to Beana who denied the compliments with a red face,
“No no, that’s not true at all. Refrigerator, was it? I’m not familiar with the structure, but the idea is magnificent. What with both being usable for preserving food and improving its’ texture.”
Beana cast her eyes down and looked ashamed,
“…No, I can’t call the refrigerator my invention.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Reinhardt was waiting for what on earth Beana would say next.
“Well… Even though it was only for a short while, another Magi Craftsman I asked for help did most of the development. I only helped with the assembly.”
After hearing that, Reinhardt’s impression of the girl in front of his eyes increased slightly.
“Was the name of that Magi Craftsman… Jin?”
After Reinhardt spoke, Beana’s eyes opened wide and she immediately leaned her body forwards.
“Jin! You know Jin!?”
Reinhardt felt her energetic reaction was a bit heartwarming and said,
“Yeah, I know him. He was the Magi Craftsman of the winning team of a golem boat competition in Port Rock a few days ago, you see.”
Earl and Beana responded respectively,
“Huh, as I thought. When I heard the name Jin, I thought there was a possibility it was him.”
“Eh, eh, eh? Jin won a competition like that!?”
It seemed like Earl Kuzuma had heard news of the competition. Beana, on the other hand, hadn’t.
“Earl-sama, why didn’t you tell me?”
The Earl responded to Beana pressing for an answer,
“Sorry, sorry. I wanted to confirm it before telling you. So, forgive me.”
After Earl had said all that, Beana had nothing to add and shut her mouth. The Earl resumed his conversation with Reinhardt.
“Was Jin’s craftsmanship amazing?”
“Yep. Thanks to him, my team finished second. Right, Elsa?”
Elsa was a bit surprised being brought up so suddenly, but still responded,
“Mm. Jin-kun’s golem and the propulsion device were both novel.”
Beana paid attention to the “kun” attached to the end of Jin’s name that came out of Elsa’s mouth.
“You call him Jin-kun?”,
Beana couldn’t resist asking Elsa.
“I do. He is a friend. I got this ring from him.”,
Elsa said somewhat proudly, smiled and displayed the ring on the middle finger of her right hand.
Beana’s mood deflated after having the ring shown to her alongside the explanation.
“Uh, is- is that so.
Beana stopped leaning forward and rested her body on the chair, this time leaning on the back of it, then stared at the ceiling.
(…Even though he helped me…And I didn’t even get to thank him properly…I wonder if I gave him a ring we could have a relationship…)
“Hm? Did you say something?”
“N-no, nothing.”
“Oh, as I thought, he turned out to be an excellent Magi Craftsman.”
Meanwhile Earl Kuzuma’s and Reinhardt’s conversation continued.
“I can’t say I didn’t hope that he settled permanently in this country, but regretfully he’s already had a dispute with one of the Earls.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Earl Kuzuma summarized the matter with Earl Guarana.
The topic seemed to be a little uncomfortable for Beana who was related to it.
Elsa also listened, and had thoughts like
(Does Jin-kun act kind for every girl?)
But she didn’t say any of it aloud.
“I see. Earl Guarana, huh.”
Reinhardt nodded with comprehension.
During a previous occasion in Blue Land, he had met Earl Guarana in a welcome party thrown by the feudal lord Duke Blue.
“I hate that guy.”
Elsa voiced her disgust plainly. It was because right after his greetings, he had moved towards Elsa and asked her “Won’t you become my concubine?”
Thinking about the slimy look he then had in his eyes made a chill run down Elsa’s spine.
“Well, because she now spends her time in the workshop here in my mansion, Earl Guarana can’t meddle with her. In addition, maybe he’ll soon have his eyes on some other woman.”
In that case, it’d be unfortunate for the other party.
“But you see, he’s in charge of almost all the mining grounds around here. His influence in Blue Land is nothing to be sneezed at.”
“Ah, there are good quality Magi Crystal mines around, right?”
Western Blue Land’s mountains’ mines were Earl Guarana’s territory. Kuzuma’s territory was the eastern farmlands.
The rest of the plains surrounding Blue Land were under Duke Blue’s direct control.
“At least since I don’t have any official business this time, I can be at ease without meeting him.”
That would turn out to be incorrect, but Reinhardt didn’t know it yet.
“You said you can return home at your leisure, but how many days can you stay here for?”,
Earl Kazuma asked while eating the flesh of a Pelshka,
“Oh, who knows. One of the carriages broke so we can’t continue without resupplying, and I want to try making some small improvements to the carriages anyway.”,
Reinhardt replied.
“You’re the same as ever. In that case, I’ll supply the materials. And if you need a workshop…”
“Ex-Excuse me, if you would like then please feel free to use my place!”,
Beana braced herself and said.
It felt like she wanted to hear a little more about Jin, and to see the way a foreign Magi Craftsman works.
“Ah, when that time comes I may rely on you.”
Reinhardt gave a light reply. Then, he started discussing tomorrow’s plans.
“So, I was planning to go out for a bit tomorrow.”
“Oh, is there a specific place you’re going to?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, along with Elsa, I was invited to Jin’s home.”
“Eeeeeeeh!?”
Beana wildly raised her voice when she heard that, and asked,
“Uh, um, is Jin coming!?”,
Once more leaning towards Reinhardt while inquiring. As one would expect, even Reinhardt was taken a bit back by this, and he replied,
“Ah, yes. We traveled together all the way from Elias Kingdom’s capital Bolgia to here.”
“I’ve traveled with Jin in the same carriage since Port Rock.”
Elsa interrupted from the side.
“Oh… Is that so…”
For a brief while complex feelings of regret, or maybe sadness painted Beana’s face, but they soon vanished.
“Please! Would be so kind as to take me along with you!?”
Beana got up, bent 90 degrees at the waist to bow, and asked.
Reinhard thought about it. It didn’t seem like this girl Beana was lying about being acquainted with Jin.
In that case, there would be no issues about bringing her to the meeting spot with Jin. Afterwards it would be up to Jin whether or not to invite her.
Having come to that conclusion, he said,
“Right, tomorrow, we’ve arranged a rendezvous with Jin. Taking you along shouldn’t be a problem. After that, you can ask Jin firsthand.”
Beana’s face lit up with enthusiasm,
“Thank you very much!”,
She said, and again made a 90-degree bow.
With an indescribable look on her face, Elsa was looking at the scene with Beana. Reinhardt did not notice.