To the men who had seen the ticks magnified Jin explained thoroughly.
“Well, these are called ticks. They are small, like dust and do not really cause harm directly but if one inhales their corpses or feces, they might fall ill.”
Saryuto, who had been told the same thing just a while before was nodding over and over, showing his consent. Jin talked about the ticks further.
“As far as I know, these ticks multiply more in warm and humid places.”
“What! So making the room warm and humid to ease the throat backfired?!”
“Yes, since it’s an issue of ticks.”
“How could this happen…”
Saryuto hung his head in shock. Jin followed up, putting his hand on Saryuto’s shoulder.
“No, I think it was good for your grandchild’s body. And so, I think it will turn out quite well if we just remove all the ticks from the room.”
Hearing that, Saryuto raised his head and grasped Jin’s shoulders.
“Jin-dono! I really appreciate it! Let’s get on with it right away!”
There, Jin provided one more advice,
“About the futon and pillows, I think you will be able to get rid of all the ticks if you were to use the cleaning machine.”
“Ohh! So it can also be used like that!”
Saying that, Saryuto went off running down the corridor.
Jin, Reinhart, Matheus and the Magi engineer guild master Rymer Gebaltof were left standing in the room.
“Jin-dono, this - cleaning machine - did you say? Could you sell this to our guild as well?”
Rymer asked Jin.
Jin had predicted this and nodded.
“Please use it well.”
“Of course!”
And after another discussion, the microscope was sold at 500,000 toll.
Apart from that,
“If you were to use this cleaning machine like this… to suck in the dust from the room”
Jin said.
“Ohh! One could get rid of the dust in a room!”
Rymer Gebaltof reacted, as expected of the guild master.
“In that case, you need to change the filter.”
Jin advised.
“Hmm, I will let Saryuto do all practical experiments using the prototype.”
＊ ＊ ＊
6 PM in the evening, it was time for dinner.
In the dining hall, the city mayor Saryuto’s kindness was lined up.
Roast of a whole Kokarisk. Mountain deer’s steak. Grilled barracuda. Stew with vegetable and meat boiled together. Colorful vegetable salad. Earbell’s juice. And pure white bread.
There was more food than one could eat.
“Jin-dono, just as you said, after a major clean up of the room and the futons, Yousse’s condition was way better after she woke up. I can’t tell you how grateful I am!”
Saying that, he came pouring wine for Jin.
“But to think the Egelia kingdom had such a magi craftsman… On top of that, they are also so advanced in medical knowledge…”
Rymer muttered in admiration. That was completely his misunderstanding but it could make things complicated if Jin were to say that so he pretended that he didn’t hear.
“Jin, you did some great work today, as well.”
After having dinner, they were relaxing in Reinhart’s room.
“Jin-dono’s knowledge fills me with awe. So much that I want to quit the army and become your disciple but that can’t be done.”
It seems Matheus was a bit drunk as well, which is rare.
“So, what happened to making the automata in the end?”
Reinhart asked. Jin also completely forgot about that.
“Hmm, now that she’s all better, wouldn’t it be better for her to play with human friends rather than automatas?”
Jin laughed.
That night, they were all a bit drunk so they decided to hit the sack early.
Because of his physical constitution, only Jin was sober. But a lot had happened and he was also a bit tired so he went back to his room.
As he closed the door, Reiko started talking,
“Father…”
Her voice seemed somewhat down.
“Mm, what happened, Reiko?”
“Just a while before, you said that it would be better for her to play with human friends, didn’t you…”
Jin immediately understood what Reiko was concerned about. When it comes to topics like this, Reiko becomes insecure.
“Ahh, for that child, I meant.”
“…What about father?”
She said in a further lower voice. Jin came closer, hugged Reiko and said,
“Reiko, you are my daughter, I told you that before, right? You can be proud. You are the only girl in this world who has two Magi craft meister as her parents.”
“Father, I am not a girl, I am an automata.”
“Hmm, but, I don’t think of you as just an automata. And so you are my daughter and I think of you as a person.”
“…Thank you very much.”
The gloom in Reiko’s voice was gone. Jin was also relieved.
“Alright then, I will go to sleep now.”
“Yes, I will be awake all throughout the night, so please rest assured.”
＊ ＊ ＊
“It declined…”
“It did, didn’t it, executive director…”
Raglan company’s perimeter business in charge, Roland, was greatly perplexed on seeing the Kaina village in front of him.
They had no salt.
It all began with the highway road closure. It was because of the landslide in front of Doppa village.
That was on the 5th.
They had gone back to Sharuru city for the time being but as they were merchants, they didn’t waste their time there and went to the neighboring Gohoho city.
They sold out their products there and also bought some.
And then, after confirming the situation, when they had returned to Sharuru city, they saw that the road was cleared.
Trust is most important for a merchant. On top of that, Kaina village was the village which had made it possible for the Raglan company to progress significantly.
“We messed up. We must hurry.”
Roland hurried his wagon to Kaina village. Going very fast, they had passed through Sharuru city and reached Doppa on the 7th.
And yesterday, at Toka village, for some reason, salt had been sold quite a lot. At 3 times the price too.
An unknown soldier came and because he bought a large amount of salt right away, they had a shortage of salt.
Who knows where they heard this from but unfamiliar merchants had also come and sold about a 100 kgs of salt, that too at 3 times the price.
Those merchants probably made a huge profit.
And as for Roland, he also must carry salt to Kaina village. And for that, he could secure the bare minimum, a 20 kg jar of salt.
“With this, we will have to make them endure a bit and come back again after a month.”
Roland was also considering bringing just salt, with a horse rather than a wagon in half a month, as it was his responsibility as a merchant.
But the jar he had disappeared.
Last night, they surely had the jar of salt while resting at the rest place between Kaina village and Toka village.
Salt is a daily necessity. The salt he had secured to deliver to Kaina village had disappeared all of a sudden.
No, to put it bluntly, Roland was considering the possibility of a robbery.
The price wasn’t the factor. They were carrying far more valuable products in the wagon and Roland’s wallet was also filled with all the profits he had made.
“It declined…”
Actually, this time, Roland’s son, Erik, was not accompanying him. He was busy in charge of technology at Alban.
Roland brought along the newcomer Bothe this time.
Roland was also not going to be doing the perimeters all the time. His promotion to inner works was also confirmed. That’s why he had brought the newcomer to show him the ropes.
“For this to happen on possibly the last trade with Kaina village for me, with which we had built a good relation…”
In the first place, since this highway is close to the Inado mine, there are many soldiers stationed nearby so the public order is comparatively better. Roland didn’t know about the breakout the other day.
Roland was depressed, as he didn’t even think the salt would get stolen.
“Either way, we need to go to Kaina village and inform them about the situation directly…”
“Right, executive director.”
Roland’s wagon, which was going at an incredible pace just yesterday, was now sluggishly climbing up the ridge.