After somehow calming Beana down, Earl Kuzuma summoned the head maid.
“You called, master?”
A lady attendant in her mid-30s with a composed air about her appeared. She was dressed in a dark blue dress with a white bib apron, and wore a maid headdress.
She had brunette hair, and eyes of the same color. Her body was slightly chubby, she was a maid that gave off a calm atmosphere.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, as this golem’s currently under production, I want you to share your knowledge with it, Malloum.”
“Come again?”
Either way, or rather because it didn’t seem like she could understand, Jin stepped forward.
“Malloum-san, please keep on thinking about the work you usually do.”
Jin explained, and as expected she seemed to not really understand but replied anyway,
“O- Okay.”
However, Jin wasn’t concerned,
“[Trans-info] level 3.”
“Eek!?”
Malloum was surprised when Magic Energy suddenly pierced her head. Jin explained that there would be no pain, after-effects, or any kind of real harm.
Even so, Malloum turned a bit pale.
“Master/Slave, rank one, blank; rank two, Earl Kuzuma; rank three, Beana; Rank four, Malloum.”
He planned to have the third prince be rank one.
After establishing the chain of command, all of the work had been completed. Incidentally, Jin’s rank was an exception as her Father.
“Huh, a method like that! I truly won’t get tired of being with Jin!”
It seemed like Reinhardt ‘saw’ the method Jin used, as expected of him.
“Well, now then, since the client is already here, [Activate].”
“Yes, Father.”
“Eeek!”
Malloum let out a small shriek when she saw the golem suddenly come to life.
“How is it, the condition of the body?”
Jin enquired, and after moving her body around a little the golem answered that there are no problems.
“This is your master, greet him.”
“Nice to meet you, My Master. I am in your care.”
The golem said and bowed to Earl Kuzuma. The movement was graceful and natural.
“Hmm, there’s certainly a resemblance to Malloum.”
Since the knowledge was transcribed from Malloum, the movements also resembled Malloum’s.
Jin asked the Earl to name her, and the Earl thought for a bit and said,
“Hmm, your name will be ‘Lotte’.”
“Understood, thank you very much. I am Lotte.”
Lotte said and bowed very deeply.
“Beana-sama, nice to meet you. Malloum-sama, nice to meet you.””
Lotte also greeted Beana and Malloum. Judging from how her eyes were darting around, this was Malloum’s first time seeing a golem this similar to a human.
“Hm, now then, Malloum, train Lotte for a while, or rather, see that there aren’t any problems.”
“Y-ye-yes, master.”
And thus Malloum left the workshop and took Lotte with her.
“Now, Jin, you’ve made a splendid golem indeed. What should I do about the reward?”
“I told you I’d leave it to you.”
After being told so, the Earl grinned broadly and said,
“How about one million Torr and the status of Egelia Kingdom’s Royal Magi Craftsman?”
“Wha!”
Throwing a sidewards glance at the astonished Reinhardt and Elsa,
“I decline.”,
Jin resolutely shot down the offer. The Earl just shrugged his shoulders as if he had seen that coming and sighed,
“Good grief, so it’s no good after all. …Reinhardt, I envy you.”
He then said,
“Three million Torr. How does that sound?”
That was be about thirty million yen.
“That’s fine.”
This time Jin took the offer.
He entrusted the reward of 300 golden coins to Reiko. She pinched the bag containing 6 kilograms of golden coins with her fingertips, lifted it up with agility, and put it in the front pocket of her apron.
While the displayed power was a given, the apron didn’t tear when such a heavy thing was put in, nor did it even get pulled taut. It was indeed made of rare materials.
When the talk of a reward was over, it was already evening.
After bathing, Jin and the others gathered in the dining room.
There the serving maids came carrying the meals, and among them was Lotte wearing a maid outfit.
“Oh, Lotte, those clothes suit you. You already seem like a diligent worker.”
The Earl commended, as he looked at her serving the meals with the movements of an experienced maid.
“Thank you, My Master.”
“Master, Lotte is most excellent. With just a little guidance, she works like a maid with ten years of experience.”
“You flatter me.”
With a humanlike response like that, if you didn’t know beforehand, it could be possible to not notice she was a golem. Even more so since she was wearing clothes.
“Hmm, you could say this is already an Automaton.”
Reinhardt muttered. Jin tried asking Reinhardt what’s the difference between a golem and an Automata.
“It’s just our own definition, but we call something that ‘puts the emphasis on being like a human’ is an Automata, while something that ‘puts the emphasis on functionality’ is a Golem.”
“I see. For me, to put it plainly, Automata have hair on their heads and have skin. Golems’ hair is the same material as their bodies, and they basically have no skin, or something like that.”
That could be said to be one definition, Reinhardt nodded in response.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Jin-kun.”
During the teatime after the Dinner Elsa addressed Jin.
“Hm? What is it?”
“Damper.”
When he heard that one short word, Jin thought, ‘ah’. He kept saying he’ll add some dampers on the carriages, but every time something more important kept him busy and it was postponed.
“That’s right, this time I’ll make them. Thanks, Elsa.”
“Mm.”
Elsa looked a little happy about Jin’s thanks.
“Then tomorrow, I’ll do it while the broken carriage is being replaced!”
“Hmm, in that case, I’ll arrange for the materials as promised.”
Since Reinhardt also agreed on it, Earl Kuzuma prepared the materials for the damper too.
Next morning, right after breakfast, the two went to begin the carriage remodeling and building.
“Since it’s a carriage, the axle runs between the left and right wheels, right?”
“Hm? Obviously.”
“However, what would happen if you attached the wheels to a fixed axle instead?”
“Hm? …I see, you’re talking about having the wheels rotate independently. If it’s done that way… What would it do?”
“It would decrease the resistance when making turns.”
While having a conversation like that, the two put together their plans for the carriages.
As expected, Elsa wasn’t accompanying them, and was instead spending the day leisurely in Earl Kuzuma’s mansion.
The nanny Mine stuck to Elsa for the whole day. She seemed rather delighted.
“And so, to suppress the vibrations, wouldn’t a structure like this be fine?”
“No, that’s way too complicated. It’s better to do it this way…”
“Wow, the leather of a Grand Mud Frog makes for a great result!”
“Uh-huh, it should be enough for a damper.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Without even having a proper lunch, the two dealt with the carriages until evening when the new model of carriage was completed in.