On a late afternoon of the 11th of April, Jin and the others had reached Fonde just before sunset.
After coming this far, Jin felt like the climate had somewhat changed.
Although the dryness was still there, if one were to explain, it would be that the difference was that if one had a dryness warning, the other would have an extreme dryness warning.
“As I thought, the eaves of the roofs and the roofs, as well, are small-they must have very little rainfall around here.”
Such a murmur escaped Jin’s mouth.
“Jin, did you say something?”
“No, not really.”
Jin, Reinhart and Matheus headed towards a Fonde inn together.
“In two more days after this night, we will be at Roizato. It has been long…”
Reinhart said heartily during dinner, holding a glass of wine.
“When did you leave the country again, Reinhart?”
Matheus asked while in thought.
“Umm, I left in the beginning of spring last year, so it has been over a year.”
“What do you plan on doing after you get back? Continue being a diplomat?”
Saying that, Matheus started explaining to Jin.
“By our tradition, once diplomats return, they can choose to do a different job for 3 years.”
“I see.”
Jin agreed with that. As there might be various inconveniences due to being outside the country for long.
“Will you marry when you get back, Reinhart?”
“Yea, I guess that would happen naturally. I haven’t met Belche for more than a year too, after all.”
Hereupon, Matheus interrupted with a grin,
“Belche has become quite pretty. I haven’t seen her for half a year myself so she probably got even prettier.”
From the looks of it, Matheus gets drunk easily. He has also started addressing himself as ‘ore’ (casual masculine version of I).
“Yea, I look forward to meeting her.”
Reinhart washed it away with a normal reply. Reinhart could drink way more than Matheus.
That night, thinking he would let Reinhart take it easy, Jin returned to his room early.
And then, he secretly went out at night to the carriage with Reiko and leaped to Hourai island using the warp gate.
＊ ＊ ＊
[Welcome back, my lord. Welcome back, Reiko-san.]
Laojun’s welcoming voice reverberated.
Jin didn’t plan on going to the Kaina village again tonight. Firstly, because of the time difference, it is already 11 pm there.
“I plan on visiting Kaina village again tomorrow. I will be taking the balls Roland-san ordered, so get them ready.”
[Understood. Handball, baseball and dodgeball 100 each, yes?]
“That’s right. We have the materials, right?”
“Yes, gutter-percha like… the tea plant’s raw rubber, correct? We have more than enough.]
“Alright, then, also set up the vessels needed to collect tea plant sap starting now ‘cause I also want to teach Elsa how to make it. I don’t need many, just 3 will do.”
[Understood.]
After giving the general instructions, Jin decided to listen to the report.
[It was Earl Walter’s work-not letting any salt get to Kaina village.]
Jin was enraged.
“Again with him… So, is there any evidence?”
[No, nothing other than circumstantial evidence. He is quite clever with his methods-he makes the subordinates of his underlings hire someone from the city to do the work which makes it hard to get anything on him.]
“Hmmm. However, the moment we get a hold of evidence, we will throw it in front of the the country-we can’t keep being hit by him.”
As Jin muttered that, Laojun proposed without a moment’s delay,
[Please leave that to me. I shall take care of it.]
This part of Laojun was kind of rare. He is also probably angry about the Earl meddling with Kaina village.
“Got it, I will leave it to you. I will reach the capital of Shouro empire soon, so I might not be able to come back in 2-3 days, I leave this place to you.”
[Yes, have a good time, my lord.]
And so, Jin returned to Fonde once again.
＊ ＊ ＊
On the following day, as usual, they departed at 8 am.
During the morning, Jin again secluded himself in his carriage and leaped to Kaina village.
“Ah, Jin-san, this really helps a lot!”
Roland was in high spirits, receiving the gum balls Jin, Reiko and Butler A came in with.
It was past 10 am here and so Roland had thought Jin was making the balls during this time.
Roland would be staying at Kaina village for another day. The reason behind it was, of course, business negotiations.
His aim was the pen used in the study meetings. The pen was made from metal and so was light and didn’t worn down.
It’s not like he saw the study meeting, he just saw the mayor, Gibbeck, using it and was intrigued.
And so he hadn’t seen the whiteboard or the felt pen. Even by itself, the metal pen was revolutionary.
The reason behind that was that this world still used quill pens.
“This metal pen is amazing! Please sell it to us, the Raglan company!”
“Yes, that is fine. But this is a combined unit. Wouldn’t one with changeable nibs be better?”
Thinking of it simply, that type was more suited for the general public, Roland thought.
“That’s true. Then I would like a 100 of those exchangeable nib pens and 50 of the combined ones.”
“E-executive director! Isn’t that a bit too much?”
Bothe, who was listening beside them, panicked. No matter how he thought of it, it was being too hasty to suddenly order that many.
“Nn? It isn’t much, is it? We have sales as well the budget. We can pay up more than enough, you know?”
What Bothe actually meant was that Jin probably wouldn’t be able to make it in time if he ordered that much.
What Roland thought was that he meant that they wouldn’t have the money to pay. They were weirdly not in sync.
“It’s fine, I will make it in time.”
Saying that, Jin looked at Elsa.
“Elsa here can also make them, after all.”
Elsa came beside Jin enthusiastically.
“Mm. I will help.”
And like that, Jin went to the workshop with Elsa.
Even Elsa was used to making the pens with aluminium 64. But this time they were making with phosphor bronze as aluminium couldn’t be collected at Kaina village.
“First, I will show you how to create phosphor bronze.”
9% percent tin, phosphorus 0.15% and the remaining with copper. It had high elastic limits with a strong spin.
“‘Ironing’.”
Phosphorus is in iron as impurity. And so, he had them saved when he refined irons.
And in no time, 10 kgs of phosphor bronze was made. Now began the making of the pen nibs.
He decided on having Elsa make the 50 combined units.
“‘Forming’.”
At Elsa’s hand, the phosphor bronze changed shape and turned into pens.
“That’s good, they are well made. Keep it up like that.”
“Mm.”
Confirming that Elsa had mastered the technique, Jin also began making pen nibs.
The nibs were small so one would think that the amount of phosphor bronze needed would also be less but,
“!?”
Elsa, who was seeing the process with a sidelong glance was amazed. Elsa probably didn’t know but just like with plastic models, Jin made 10 pen nibs with a stem known as stolon.
“Amazing… this is Jin-nii…”
She had thought she had improved a bit but after catching a glimpse of Jin’s skills, she felt that the path ahead of her was still quite long.
But, not being depressed and trying hard there-Elsa had such attributes.
“If it is only 2, maybe I can…”
Elsa concentrated her will, mana and envisioned it.
“‘Forming’…”
And she had succeeded magnificently.
“I did it!”
Hearing Elsa’s happy voice, which was rare, Jin turned to look. And saw how she had made the pen.
“Ohh?! That’s amazing!”
Elsa blushed.
“Keep working hard like that.”
“Mm.”
At the end, they made 50 pen holders with hardwood.
In the end, the ordered amount was completed within an hour.