“Huh? Is that so, Jin?”
“Yeah. It’s not sweet enough like this. Besides, there’s got some impurities in it, so I think it would be best to filter it.”
Saki seemed disappointed at first, but after hearing Jin’s words, she regained her spirits.
“Good grief! So that’s what it was. Well then, Jin, I’m counting on you!”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ‘huh’ me! Aren’t you a Magi Craftsman? And a super-first-class one at that? That’s why I’m asking you! Make me a magic tool!”
Before Jin could answer anything, Reinhart gently tapped him on the shoulder.
“Sorry, that’s just the way she is. … Please try to get used to it.”
To Jin, it did not mean that he found her way of making such a request was particularly disagreeable. It was just that he did not know how to follow Saki’s carefree attitude.
That same Saki was smiling at both Jin and Reinhart with a cheery expression in her face.
“… Alright.”
Jin, who was somewhat annoyed about being dragged around, took a Magi Crystal from a rack as Saki had indicated, then took a small ingot of iron from the raw materials storage, and brought them to Saki.
Having said nothing up to that point, Jin began to create the magic tools.
“Forming. Forming. Heat treatment. Surface treatment.”
First, he created the iron components. Then he sculpted and shaped them in one stroke, and finished by refining the surfaces.
“Writing. Writing. Finish.”
The Magi Formula was instantly written in the Magi Crystal.
The operation was so fast that Reinhart was not even able to utter a single word of flattery.
“Oh, oohhhhh!”
Even though Reinhart was aware of Jin’s true nature, he was still taken aback. In Saki’s case…
“Wh… whaaat!?”
As one would expect, they were both so dumbfounded that they seemed as if they had become statues of themselves, with their mouths wide open.
“Well, this is the magic tool ‘Stove’. You can heat up whatever you put on top of it by applying fire magic to it. You can also adjust the heating power with this knob here.”
Disregarding Saki, who was still petrified, Jin had explained that to Reinhart.
“Erm, this is nice, huh? ‘Stove’ was it?”
“Yeah. Actually, this is a high-end version of another one I created before back in Klein Kingdom. Back then, I could only buy Magi Sand to use for it, but this one works with a Magi Crystal.”
“Can this also be used for cooking? It’s amazing it’s only this big!”
Actually, there was such a heating magic tool in the Shouro Empire. However, it was shaped like a bread oven, so to speak, and could not be transported at all.
“This is going to be the bane of the elites.”
Reinhart began to explain to Jin with a sorry smile on his face.
“There hasn’t been a single Magi Engineer who would create such a magic tool solely for the sake of the common folk.”
After having that conversation, Saki had finally rebooted.
“J… Jin, you’re amazing! … Quite frankly, I thought Reinhart had exaggerated when he spoke about you. I’m sorry for making light of you.”
Saki lowered her head.
“She has that kind of personality, but what you see is what you get.”
And Reinhart followed. Hearing that, Jin nodded.
It was a bit out of their way, but it was decided that they would try to boil maple syrup (or an undiluted version of it) at the stove that Jin had made.
Since using a flask was no good, they tried using a pot instead, but since there was no suitable pot at hand, Jin created one out of a copper ingot.
Boiling syrup takes a long time. In order for it not to get burned, Jin had ordered Reiko to stir it from time to time.
During that time, Jin tried to take another look at the contents of the other flask that had caught his attention before.
A black, sticky liquid. Touching it gives you something like a rash. Sap.
“Is it… lacquer?”
Actually, the sap of lacquer trees is not black. It is more brown-greyish, and not that slimy. It is applied as paint during the first refining and gives off a black luster. But Jin did not know the details to that extent.
However, what was in that flask was not exactly lacquer as a finished product, much like the maple syrup on the other flask he found earlier.
“What was that, Jin? ‘Locker’?”
“‘Lacquer’. It looks like a type of natural paint that I know of.”
Saki nodded as she heard that.
“I see, so it can be used for painting? Actually, a traveling salesman left a barrel of it here, but it looks that more can be collected south of here. I got into that mess because I tried to study its natural properties.”
She had probably touched it with her hand, then rubbed her face with that same hand.
“And next to it… oh?”
The liquid on the next flask looked sticky as well. But it was white. Jin was also familiar with this one.
“Could this be tea tree sap?”
Saki was the one to answer to that.
“Tea tree? We collect tea from a different tree. This is Perhya sap.”
In Kaina Village, tea trees apparently were called Perhya. But more important than its name were its properties.
Jin remembered that there was sulfur at the same rack where he had found the Magi Crystal, so he went to pick some up.
“Jin, what are you going to do with that sulfur?”
Grinning at a doubtful Saki, Jin measured the amount of Perhya sap with Engineering magic and added the corresponding amount of sulfur.
“Okay, Saki, come here for a second.”
Jin called Saki over while waving his hand.
“What are you going to do?”
“Well, I’m doing something useful, so please sink your hands in this.”
“Huh? Well, if you say so…”
Saki thrust her hands into the Perhya sap without any hesitation.
“Alright, please take them out now. …Linking.”
The linking reaction of Perhya sap and sulfur progressed… and the resulting product was rubber gloves.
“Separation.”
And so, the process of separation of the gloves that had been stuck to Saki’s hands was completed.
“Jin, what are these?”
“These are rubber gloves. You can use them when you handle lacquer or something you do not want to touch with your bare hands. But they may get stuck if you wear them for a long time”
Saki stood in awe, facing those snug rubber gloves that were now covering her hands completely. Looking closely at her palms, she closed and opened her fists as if she was testing the gloves’ elasticity.
“I see! They’re great! Thank you, Jin! You truly are an amazing Magi Engineer. No wonder Reinhart speaks so well of you.”
“Isn’t that right? That’s my friend for you!”
Reinhart was also puffed up with pride. Looking at his display, Saki couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ohoho, Reinhart! You really adore Jin, don’t you? Well, I can’t blame you. I might even fall in love, too.”
After saying that as a joke, Saki’s face showed a hint of loneliness once again.
But still, it lasted only an instant.
Wearing those rubber gloves, Saki immediately stretched out her arms towards the flask containing that black lacquer-ish liquid.
“This one doesn’t get dry at all. I’ve applied it to a wooden board, but it’s not dry yet, even after one whole day.”
Placing it flat on the table, Saki touched the black-stained surface of the wooden board with the tip of one of her fingers. That fingertip got painted black.
“… Just as I thought, it’s not dry yet.”
Saki wiped her fingertip clean with an old rag while having a disappointed look on her face.
She probably started getting that red swelling as she was constantly handling that substance bare handed.
“Hmm, just a moment.”
Jin had remembered a very small detail about lacquer.
Normally, when living an ordinary life, there would not be many chances to see lacquer used as paint outside of lacquer ware.
However, Jin had just managed to remember the word ‘glazing’.
During the Sengoku period, many samurai used to wear suits of armor that got their color from lacquer. And that was done by a process called ‘glazing’. Jin had learned about those two facts on TV.
“Perhaps if we heat it up, it will dry… no, it will probably solidify.”
After hearing Jin’s suggestion, Saki’s face began to sparkle with excitement. She then turned to Reinhart.
“Did you hear that, Reinhart? Come on, pleeeasee!”
“… You really haven’t changed at all, have you?”
“Ohoho! That’s right. Just as sure as you can’t pick Pelshikas from apple trees.”
After such interaction, Reinahart put on a bitter smile and approached the black-stained wooden board.
“Heat.”
He used Engineering magic to heat the board. Of course, he adjusted the temperature so that it would not catch fire.
Looking at it together with Jin, the surface looked glossy as if it wet at first, but after one minute had passed, the gloss had disappeared completely.
Furthermore, it got a perfect matte after another minute. As Reinhart noticed this, he stopped his spell.
Saki then tried once again to poke at the board while wearing the rubber gloves. This time, no paint had gotten stuck to her fingertips. It was dry, or rather, cured.
“Ohhh! You made it! Just as you said, Jin! I didn’t realize you had to heat it up!”
Saki seemed delighted.
“I can use this lacquer-like sap as a painting material! And then I can study its special characteristics! It’ll be so much fun!”
As she said that, she looked outside through a window, and made a prononuced frown.
Jin, who could not help but notice her frowning, decided to ask Saki directly.
“Saki, forgive me if I’m wrong, but your eyes… they don’t see very well, do they?”