On the 9th day, Jin and the others slowly departed.
The reason for the delay was because the people of Hatata had come as a large crowd to bid farewell to them.
Everyone who had laid eyes on the pump Jin made yesterday could tell how helpful it is.
As the mayor, the business association chief and the inn association chief came in turns, the departure time which was supposed to be at 8 am turned to 10 am.
Among all that, what made Jin the most happy were the words from the gatekeeping girl.
“Thank you, onii-san.”
With just that one expression of gratitude, Jin had started to like this city. He really likes children. Not in a weird way.
The party was advancing down the highway at about 8 kilometers per hour.
They had their lunch on the way.
Today’s objective was to reach Anbelk. The journey is of about 30 kilometers so it takes around 4 hours to reach. They would probably reach there by half past two in the afternoon.
They had also considered going a bit further to Rindau the very day but Reinhart said that they were already in their own land, and that there was no need to hurry.
“Good grief, who was it again that said that they wanted to depart early from Astan?”
Matheus was exasperated.
“Don’t say that. When I think about how this journey will come to an end very soon, I just feel a bit unsatisfied.”
“Well, there’s only Rindau, Fonde, Riare and Roizart. We will be returning in 4 days. Do your best being sad in parting.”
But it was Matheus who took the last laugh.
Jin was gazing at the scenario outside the window.
Hatata’s city was quite dry but the same could be said about these areas. Apart from the succulent plants which grow on dry lands, there were just boulders and sand everywhere.
When he said that to Reinhart,
“Ah, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this is the most dry land on the highway route. The road we will be following after staying at Rindau today is so dry that it is even called ‘Trockenbeerenauslese’.”
“‘Trockenbeerenauslese’…That’s quite a name.”
“Yeah. But that too will probably be resolved due to the pump.”
And so Jin asks Reinhart,
“Won’t you build a canal for irrigation in Shouro empire?”
“Canal, eh…”
“Yeah, how about it?”
“But a proper source of river here…”
Reinhart did nod but he also pointed out the problem.
“I am not very knowledgeable in geography but if it’s you, Reinhart…”
It was a half lie. In Hourai island, the Sky golems had made quite a detailed elevation map and Jin was well aware that there were no source of river around here.
“It is a bit unlikely. There’s a canal near the capital.”
The capital, Roizart had two big lakes near it, Tosmo lake and Shuju lake and there was a canal.
One of the reason why Elsa participated in the golem boat race held in Potrock was because the Randall family’s territory included the Tosmo lake’s shore so she was quite familiar with boats from a young age.
(I wonder if I can transfer water here using a warp-gate…)
Jin was also thinking of that possibility. At the time being, the warp-gate is not able to send out materials continuously so a huge reformation is needed for that.
(But, it sure is something worth thinking about.)
Such thoughts were going through Jin’s mind, as the carriage jolted through the highway.
And that was when Jin spotted a different kind of plant.
It was a bit similar to bamboos but the leaves were different. It wasn’t as thin as bamboos and was in the form of a palm. But the part at its midrib was cylindrically shaped and was green.
What made it look most like a bamboo were the joints.
“Reinhart, what is that plant?”
Jin asked, but,
“Who knows, it’s a plant which grows quite a lot here.”
Even though he is Reinhart, it isn’t like he knows everything.
“Oii, Matheus, that plant over there, can’t we pick one up?”
Reinhart called out to Matheus from Jin’s carriage. Matheus soon came with the plant, which he had cut up with his sword.
“Will this do?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Reinhart thanked him and took the plant over the window.
“Here, Jin, you want to take a look?”
And Jin fixedly stared at it.
As he had expected, the insides were hollow. However, the parts which looked like joints were not actually joints, but instead were simply swollen up portions from where branches extended.
Jin couldn’t help but think that they would have been able to build a flask or a savings box if it were a proper joint. But,
“Can’t this be used as a pipe?”
When he expressed his thoughts like that, Reinhart quickly denied.
“Ah, that is of no good. That shrinks when it’s dry and swells up when wet. The measurements do not get stable.”
“I see…”
It was a far more useless plant than he had thought.
“It can’t even be used as a water pistol… Maybe a string phone, but that’s all.”
In Jin’s head, an idea popped up, while he was muttering to himself like that.
(A string phone!…A string phone, eh…)
A string phone is made by connecting two cylinders with a string and attaching two papers on the other side of the cans and connecting the string to the exact middle of the paper. It is a toy to talk over a small distance.
The voice vibrates the paper, which in turn vibrates the string, making the other sides paper vibrate, ultimately recreating the sound.
(If we were to do this with mana…)
“Jin?”
Reinhart perceived that Jin had probably thought about something and had stayed silent ever since. And with that, Jin kept on putting his thoughts together.
(If I were to use mithril’s thin lines instead of a string, I think I can transfer the vibrations of ether. The ether’s vibrations don’t decay…)
It decays normally due to the resistance. Ether is thought to be of a material even smaller than a particle so there’s nothing to block it.
And as such, they do not decay. (They actually do decay but at a very, very small rate.)
Also, another point which would be different from a string phone is that it doesn’t need to be pulled tightly.
(Turning a voice into ether vibrations… Hmm, that can be done easily.)
At this moment, Jin had reached the conclusion of his thoughts, he had thought up of a string phone which uses ether. (Although, it isn’t technically a ‘phone’)
(But, if it’s a phone, I would like to be able to talk to different people, rather than a fixed target…)
With mana cam, they changed something which is equivalent to frequency and used that to talk to a specific person. That was the basis of the wireless phone for Jin.
(How are phones normally built…)
There was a black dial-type telephone at the orphanage Jin was at.
(Umm, if I am not wrong, it uses the dialed number to pick the person. The picking is done by the machine but long ago, it was probably an operator…)
Jin was desperately trying to remember the story about old phones from the director teacher.
(Right, first you call the switchboard operator, and after you tell them about the person you want to talk to, they connect them to you!)
If he just grasps the rough procedure, the details are not a problem. When this happens, Jin’s thoughts run at an immensely high speed.
(Ah, if I switch the mana phones I distributed through Nostalgia to switchboard system, there would be a lesser need for more phones… No, that would be too conspicuous.)
Thinking that if the operator was to be Laojun, he could wiretap the calls all he wanted but realizing that at the end he was again thinking about wiretapping, he couldn’t help but laugh a little. Reiko, who was sitting beside him, wore a puzzled expression.
(…My thoughts went off track. The operator can be a human and if I were to do that… Yeah, it seems plausible.)
Before the carriage had reached Anbelk, Jin had put together his thoughts about the phone… no, the ‘long-range-talking-machine’.
Anbelk was a city about as big as Hatata.
It was apparent that the place was peaceful from the absence of fences and walls.
After leaving their carriage to the carriage station, they were about to step into the city when,
“Reinhart-sama, and Jin-dono, correct?”
A few men appeared. Reiko, as expected, came in front of Jin. SP, although not visible to their eyes, went round towards their back and were ready to attack anytime.
Matheus put his hand on his sword and was ready to draw anytime, as were his subordinates.
“I am sorry, did I surprise you? I am the chief of the magi engineer guild of this city, Rymer Gebaltof. The others with me are also guild members.”
Said the middle-aged man, who was standing in the middle.
“See, guild master, this is why I told you. That it would be rude to stand in their way with a huge group.”
Said a young man standing beside Rymer, who was about the same age as Jin.
“Y-yes, but, you see, I wanted to see what kind of a person the magi engineer who made such a wonderful tool is!”
Rymer Gebaltof said that to the man and turned to face Jin and the others again.
“I have received the news from Kotsu Rodoit in Hatata by a dove. And so I wanted to meet you as soon as possible. Please forgive my impertinence.”