“Welcome, Jin-dono.”
Earl Kuzuma was in the entrance hall to greet Jin in person. Well, it’s possible that could’ve just been because Jin came with Reinhardt and Elsa.
“I wanted to have a proper talk with you.”
The Earl shook Jin’s hand while saying so.
“You don’t need to worry about Earl Guarana. The private army corps that committed the crime of assailing a commoner injustly have been discharged. The head of the corps has been imprisoned.”
The reason Jin had left Blue Land was the trouble with Earl Guarana’s private army corps. It seemed like Earl Kuzuma took measures regarding that.
Since they were a group that had caused various problems before, apparently it wasn’t difficult to find them at fault for the crime.
The Earl then faced towards Reinhardt,
“Reinhardt, did you have fun at Jin-dono’s base? I would’ve liked to go too if I hadn’t had official business to do.”
Earl Guruma said with an expression of complete envy. He then faced Beana,
“Beana, your younger brother and sister have been worried. Hurry up and get going.”
“Ah, uh, is that so! In that case, please excuse me. Jin, see you later!”
She said, and ran towards the courtyard.
“Well, step inside.”
Earl Kuzuma guided Jin and the others at first, but midway the guide changed to Sevanz, as the Earl went with Reinhardt and Elsa to a separate room.
“Please feel at home here.”
Jin and Reiko were given a room in the second floor. It was a very luxurious room. Since Earl Kuzuma knew that Reiko wasn’t a human, he didn’t prepare two rooms.
“You can see the courtyard from the window. The garden’s pretty beautiful.”
Jin said while looking out at the garden. Reiko was putting the luggage in order.
He relaxed like that when a lady attendant came to summon him. The Earl wanted to have a talk.
Because there was no reason to refuse, Jin and Reiko were led by the attendant to the parlour.
The parlour was in the center of the same second floor, and had a wide balcony.
Earl and the others were on the balcony sitting around a round table, sipping tea leisurely in the early spring’s sunshine.
“I’ve brought Jin-sama.”,
The attendant who showed Jin here said and left.
“Hey Jin, the sunlight’s warm over here.”
Reinhardt said and beckoned. Jin sat at the round table right between Reinhardt and Elsa. Or rather, was made to sit.
Reiko stood silently behind and to the side of Jin.
“Lewis… Oh, Lewis is Earl Kuzuma’s first name, Jin.”
Reinhardt said, and explained the name structure of nobles in Egelia Kingdom.
“It goes in the order of Peerage (title) - first name - pen name - family name. The Earl’s formal name is then Earl Lewis Wurtz Kuzuma.”
And finally, he went to the main subject.
“So, Lewis, won’t you tell that story you just told me to Jin too?”
Told to do so, Lewis, the Earl, said while looking at Jin,
“Our Egelia Kingdom’s king’s son, Prince Ernest is coming. He’s only the third Prince, but he loves Golems and Automata.”
He looked towards Reiko for a moment,
“In ten days a birthday party for Ernest-sama will be held, and we’ve decided to make it a ‘golem party’.”
“Golem party?”
Jin reflexively asked.
According to Earl Kuzuma’s explanation, because of the chronic labor shortage caused by the scarce population, in many nations it has become popular to employ golems, and Egelia Kingdom was no exception.
In addition, the third Prince Ernest loved golems, and apparently one third of his guards were golem soldiers.
Because of such a background, this year for the Prince’s birthday a golem party will be held, with excellent golems and Magi Craftsmen invited to attend from inside and outside the country, he said.
This was why many countries were exploring effective uses for golems.
“Reinhardt and his Schwarz Ritter also received a written invitation.”
Schwarz Ritter seemed to be quite famous. Reinhardt looked bitter and said,
“I’m happy that my Schwarz Ritter has been approved of, but unfortunately, he’s currently out of order.”
“What, he is? If you need materials, I’ll prepare as much as I can, so repair him.”
After hearing that Reinhardt looked towards Jin,
“That’s how it is. Doesn’t the party seem interesting?”,
He tried to pique Jin’s interest. Since Jin had been interested from the start since hearing the story,
“Uh huh, seems interesting. I’d like to see it.”,
He gave a simple reply. The Earl then responded with,
“I see, if you say so then it’s easy for me to ask.”
“Eh?”
In fact, Earl Kuzuma said, it was arranged for each of the the kingdom’s viscounts and higher-ranking nobles to have a golem with them.
“And so, I would be obliged if Jin-dono could manufacture a golem for me. I’ll get you any materials I can.”
Finally, Earl added that unfortunately it’s still impossible for Beana to produce a golem.
When he put it like that, Jin didn’t have the option to refuse.
It should be interesting to see if it’s possible to make a high-grade golem, not with the best materials of Hourai Island, but with normal materials.
“As thanks for your help, I’ll accept the task.”
He answered.
“Ah, is that so. Much obliged. What should I prepare for the reward?”
“What indeed. Please decide after seeing the completed golem.”
“Hmm, full of confidence, I see. I’m looking forward to it.”
Reinhardt was looking at the exchange between Earl and Jin with an interested, yet slightly worried looko on his face.
“Speaking of golems,”
Earl Kuzuma changed the topic slightly.
“Just yesterday afternoon, some information from Elias Kingdom came, and it seems like those golems are somehow involved with Celuroa Kingdom.”
He was talking about the golems the attacker in the mountain pass employed.
“What!?”
Celuroa Kingdom was a country Reinhardt’s group had to pass through next to return home to Shouro Empire.
“I mean, well, a part of the materials, the Magi Crystals were supposedly the ones used in Celuroa Kingdom, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the golems were constructed there.”
The Earl added so as to wipe out Reinhardt’s worries.
“And then, about the golem that attacked you.”
This was about the golem that beat Schwarz Ritter
“The Elradrite it used is a product of Leonard Kingdom. But since 80% of Elradrite comes from that country it may just be natural.”
“Hmm, I think Celuroa Kingdom and Leonard Kingdom are in one way or another connected to this business.”
Reinhardt pondered not in his usual high spirits, but in a serious fashion.
“Because Celuroa Kingdom has always thought proudly that they should be the ones to succeed Dinar Kingdom.”
Reinhardt furthermore explained that some 150 years ago Celuroa Kingdom was just one of in a group of tiny nations called ‘Frenel Dukedom’ between Shouro Empire and Egelia Kingdom, which burned with the desire to expand and eventually annexed the other nations.
“But in any case, on top of having no evidence, private individuals like us can’t be expected to do much.”
Reinhardt said, and returned to his usual countenance.
After that was only chitchat.
“Really, Miss Elsa participated too?”
The topic was the golem boat competition in Port Rock. Earl Kuzuma had heard that all of the participating ship handlers were women in swimming suits.
“Hahaha, I envy the folks who could see close by Miss Elsa wearing a swimsuit.”
Elsa blushed a little because something like that was said.
When the Earl heard that Jin also took part in building the golem Marcia to be the ship handler, he asked,
“Hmm, in that case this time I’ll have you build a female type golem. The model should be… Well, how about Beana?”,
He asked things like that…
Not knowing whether or not the Earl was seirous, Jin chimed in with a noncommittal answer.
Neither woman in question, Jin thought and took a glance, had much of a chest so he doubted there was no real interest.
“Jin-kun, are you thinking about something rude right now?”
Maybe due of a woman’s intuition, Elsa glared at Jin.
Rather than because of intuition, maybe the fleeting glance at Elsa’s chest was noticed.
“Now then, lunchtime should be around now.”
The pleasant chat continued until lunchtime, and when the sun indicated it was noon they moved to the dining room.
After lunch, Jin designed his golem, while Reinhardt started Schwarz Ritter’s repairs.
The place was obviously Beana’s workshop.
“Ah, Jin, Reinhardt-sama, welcome. I heard about the golems from the Earl.”
“Jin onii-chan!”
“Jin nii-chan”
Beana and her siblings came to greet them. Nana’s and Raldo’s complexions had both improved quite a bit, and they had also put on some weight.
“Wow, aren’t you two energetic.”
“Yeah!”
“Now, you two, it’s work from now on, go outside so you’re not on the way.”
“Then we’ll go do the cleaning!”
Nana and Randol were pleased to meet with Jin again, but since Jin had to handle the request after this, when Beana told the two to go they obediently left to clean the courtyard.
Jin looked around the workshop and said,
“Huh, so this is Beana’s workshop. It’s larger than the previous one, and the tools and materials are better. What are you making now?”
“Eh? Um, you know, a Magi Tool that produces wind.
After this spring, with the summer the temperatures would increase and this area would become hot.
To cool themselves, nobles hired servants to fan them, but if there was a Magi Tool that produced wind, even commoners could get them is what she thought.
“Hmm, that may be good? So? What’s your design?”
When asked, Beana triumphantly said,
“It can be done. It’s fine to just use the elementary wind magic [Breeze].”
[Breeze] only produced some wind, and was the simplest of the elementary wind magics. Since the Magic Energy consumption was small too, Beana chose it.
“Uh-huh, I think that’s fine.”
“Eheh, since I worked hard even after Jin disappeared.”
She said, while nobody noticed Elsa looking at the slightly proud Beana from the shadows.