After finishing making all the pen, Jin decided to teach Elsa how to make rubber balls.
Land A went to bring the sap-collecting container they had set up yesterday.
“See, this is raw rubber.”
“Raw rubber…”
Elsa was curiously looking at the sticky, white substance stored inside the container.
“At this rate, it will become all muddy in the heat and harden in the cold. There’s a way to make it firm to a certain degree.”
“………”
Elsa was listening earnestly.
“That’s by mixing sulphur into it. I will explain why later. And so, we will mix about 15%-20% sulphur, based on the overall weight.”
“Mm.”
Jin shifted the raw rubber to a smaller container and added a lump of sulphur into it.
“I will show you how first.”
Saying that, Jin checked the weight of the sulphur and raw rubber using analyze.
“There’s about 250 gram of raw rubber in here so we will take 38 grams of sulphur.”
He prepared the required amount of sulphur by using separation on the bigger lump of sulphur.
“We will mix this. Homogenize and heating.”
After separating the unified sulphur, if you apply heat, a reaction called ‘bridging’ occurs and raw rubber turns into just rubber and doesn’t melt even when heat is applied.
“At the end, Forming. Now, we must insert air inside it. To do that, we must make one part really thin once.”
In very thin gum’s membrane, there are countless holes big enough such that air can pass through. If you take in more air from there and increase the membrane thickness again, the air gets trapped inside.
“Then, we will make the membrane more delicate with surface treatment. And the ball is complete.”
After processing it such that the air doesn’t leak, the dodgeball was complete.
Elsa had also seen the kids play with the ball so now that she had seen how it was made, she understood.
“Now, try making one.”
Jin handed her 80 grams of raw rubber to start off small as it was her first time.
The first step was to prepare the required 12 grams of sulphur.
“Just think of doing it like before, imagine piling up 1 gram over 1 gram.”
“Mm.”
Elsa earnestly remembered the 1 gram technique and accumulated 12 times inside her head. The moment that image in her head had become certain,
“Separation.”
And brought out the required amount of sulphur. Jin, who was watching,
“Hmm, good job. There’s barely any error, that’s amazing.”
Complimented Elsa. Elsa was happy and continued the process by using magic next.
“Homogenize. Heating.”
“That’s right. Don’t forget to observe the gum while heating.”
“Mm.”
And after 1 minute of careful heating, the gum was wonderfully done. After coming this far, making the ball’s shape is a piece of cake. She processed the surface smoothly and one baseball was completed.
“You succeeded in your first try, you’ve gotten really good.”
“Thanks to Jin-nii.”
“It will be fine if the kids want more ball now, huh?”
“Yep, leave it to me.”
Seeing Elsa nod enthusiastically, Jin stood up. It was almost noon.
Just as they got out of the workshop, Hanna had also come to call them. Jin and Elsa washed their hands and went Martha’s house.
“Ah, Jin-sama.”
There were more chairs in the dining and Barou and Belle also came.
“U-umm, Martha-sama said it was okay if we had lunch together so…”
Barou was still somewhat nervous. Jin answered with a smile,
“Ah, I think that’s fine. When you get used to it, try making some in the castle, alright?”
As Jin said that, Belle energetically replied,
“Yes! I am learning how to cook from Martha-sama and Mine-sama!”
“I also learnt how to make some Serroa kingdom food.”
Mine said smiling. There, Barou nervously asked,
“U-umm, Jin-sama, can I ask you a few questions?”
Jin nodded to show his consent while eating a bread.
“Y-yes, u-umm, that is, this place… it’s Kurain kingdom, isn’t it?”
“Mm? Yes, it is.”
Swallowing the bread, Jin answered.
“S-so, then, umm, how did you bring us here, which is… hundreds of kilometers away from… Tosko… shia…?
He probably instinctively understood it was a difficult question to ask as his voice got more and more low.
“Ah, I see. Well, you would have your doubts. I will just say that I have ways, for now. I will decide later on if I will tell you about the details or not.”
As Jin said that, this time, Belle opened her mouth,
“Yes! You mean after determining if we can be trusted or not, right? We will work hard!… Come on, Barou, you too!”
“U-umm… We will work… hard…”
To Barou’s dull words, Belle retorted by saying stuff like ‘come on, say it again! With more energy!’.
After lunch, Butler B and C came. Laojun seems to have dealt with it. Barou and Belle went to the castle along with those two.
At this rate, there may be five different colors of golem maids. Jin could picture Barou’s surprised expression.
“Belle is more adaptable, huh…”
Although Jin was thinking as such, he didn’t even realize that it was more of letting go of common sense rather than adapting.
“Ah, Jin-san, how is the pen coming along?”
There, Roland and Bothe came.
“Ah, they are done.”
Saying that, he brought the pens in a box from the workshop.
“Thank you very much, as expected from Jin-san.”
Said Roland happily accepting them while Bothe just stared in wonder from behind.
“I had Elsa help me out too, after all.”
Jin introduced Elsa once again. They didn’t really get introduced before, after all.
“I am Elsa, Jin-nii’s protégé.”
Elsa also introduced herself. Although Roland was hooked a bit when he heard ‘protégé’, he ignored it like a merchant and,
“Elsa-san, yes? Nice to meet you.”
“Same here.”
As Elsa’s introduction was also over,
“Although the output would decrease a bit, Elsa can also make pen and balls, so it will be fine even if I am absent.”
As he said that, Roland got happy. Seems like he was being pestered quite a lot by customers who wanted balls.
“As for the pen’s cost, how about 200 toll for one pen nib and 500 toll for an unified unit?”
It was very Jin-like to have not talked about the pricings before but Roland came bringing up a very fair price.
Moreover, if he made it too cheap, it would affect the traditional items, monopolize the market and lead to the disadvantage for people selling those items, etc, and so there was a chance to disrupt healthy economic development.
Well, only Roland knows if he had thought that far or not.
“Yes, that is fine.”
On the other hand, Jin easily accepted. Here, Mine, who was standing beside them, thought that they should make Barou and Belle support him when they are able to.
Keeping the ball’s price as before, Jin accepted the payment.
Jin entrusted it all to Mine.
“Leave it to me. Jin-sama, if we’re doing this, can I work at the castle as well?”
Mine continued, saying she couldn’t work full time but would like to do part time.
“Yea, Barou and Belle aren’t used to it either so I think that will be good.”
That was more than what he could ask for so Jin quickly agreed.
“If you could educate those two a bit, that would be even better. Is one gold coin per month alright as your salary?”
That was 10,000 toll which is equal to 100,000 yen. Considering how the food expenses in this village doesn’t even reach a 1000 toll per month, it is more than enough.
Mine said it was too much as she wasn’t even working full-time but Jin didn’t listen.
“I am leaving the house to you all the time and will probably be doing it more so it’s fine.”
Saying that, he noticed that it was past 1 pm.
“Now then, I must go again.”
Jin said and went to the workshop underground, rather than the shelter.
Roland and Bothe were already gone so nobody would think of it as strange.
“Then, I will be going.”
“Have a good trip, onii-chan!”
“Take care, Jin-nii.”
“Take care, Jin.”
“Have a nice trip.”
And like that, after being seen off by everyone, Jin went to meet up with Reinhart.