“Here it is, please dig in!”
At the center of the round table was a big plate. And on it was,
“…candied sweet potato?”
That’s right, it’s sweet potatoes fried with oil with molasses on… In other words, it really resembled candied sweet potatoes.
“Mm? ‘daigaku’ potato?” (Note: that’s the pronunciation of it in Japanese)
Saki said, hearing something unfamiliar from Jin.
“Ah, it’s what they call in the area I am from.”
“Kufufu, that’s interesting. ‘daigaku’ potatoes? I would like hear in detail about why it’s called that but let’s eat for now.”
Saki started taking some of those potatoes to her plate. And while she was doing that, the attendant went around pouring tea.
“Jin, it’s called that over here. Belche was always good at making this from long ago. I had her made it quite a lot.”
“…Yep, it’s delicious. I can tell that Belche’s love to have Reinhart have something delicious is packed in it.”
“Ara, that’s embarrassing.”
Belche blushed. And Saki had already put the 3rd one into her mouth.
“This would be good with some maple syrup on top as well, I think.”
Jin muttered while eating.
People use honey or maple syrup on it as well as molasses. Jin’s suggestion was taken in by everyone present there.
“I see! Maple syrup! Now that I think about it, it might be quite delicious with it!”
“We still have some freshly made itopo so we could try it out.”
It seems the sweet candied potatoes are called itopo here.
By the way, Reiko wasn’t present there as she accompanied Ehr but the SP were there to protect Jin instead. And one among them, Kanna, was sending these info to Laojun.
It goes without saying that after that, itopo—sweet candied potatoes were discovered and sent to the Hourai island.
“Ohhh! This is also delicious!”
“The itopo’s sweetness and the maple syrup’s sweetness goes so well that I don’t know what to say.”
“Jin-sama, thank you for the splendid suggestion.”
Reinhart was happy, Saki was enjoying the taste and Belche expressed her gratitude.
And like this, the tea party ended peacefully.
After having finished their tea, when the 3 of them went to the distant workshop, they found Ehr slowly dancing with Reiko’s help.
“…Ooh?”
“Reiko?”
She stopped the dance when she heard Jin’s voice and turned around.
“Welcome back, father. Ehr-san is all good now.”
Reiko explained to Jin that since Ehr was able to do clay work without any problem now, she was helping Ehr to slowly get used to the movement.
And just as she had said, clay was on top of the table in different shapes—sphere, cube and even in the shape of a plate.
“But even then, this rapidly?”
Reinhart was surprised.
“Yes. It seems it was simple after learning the ropes.”
“I see. In other words, the sub-control core stocked up on information.”
Jin also observed those actions with interest. He was planning to give Reiko and the others the ‘sense of touch’ soon so he was even more passionate.
“Alright, Ehr, try holding this.”
Jin created a sphere using engineering magic and put it on top of the table. It seemed to be made of iron and therefore felt heavy.
“Yes, creator.”
Ehr replied and extended his arms to the sphere and… was splendidly able to pick it up.
“Ooh! That’s amazing, Ehr! …Now put it down like it was before.”
The metal sphere was returned to the table. And not a sound was made when she did that.
“Reinhart, try holding it.”
Jin said with a mischievous smile, looking at Reinhart.
“Mm? This?”
Reinhart also extended his arms towards it and… splendidly crushed it with his grip.
“Uwah!”
The sphere was made with a very thin layer of outing. Because he was fooled by the appearance, he put in too much strength and ended up destroying it.
“Hahaha, how is it? After touching and gripping it, Ehr felt it and was able to use the appropriate amount of strength.”
As Jin said happily, Saki was also overjoyed.
“Kufufufu, Jin, I am very curious to see how much this ‘sense of touch’ advances the automata technology!”
Afterwards, Jin and the others returned to the main building with Ehr. And there, Belche was waiting for them with her attendant.
The attendant was holding clothes.
“Reinhart-sama, you mustn’t let the automata be naked all the time.”
Belche pointed at the clothes the attendant was holding.
“Although it may seem quite presumptuous of me, this is the clothing I had prepared for my attendant. It’s new so I want to present it to Ehr as a gift for completion.”
“Ah, thank you… but, Bel, does Ehr seem like a girl to you?”
“Eh?”
Jin and Reinhart looked at each other. Saki laughed a bit and said,
“Miss Belche, Ehr’s gender is neutral. In other words, he isn’t either and he is both at the same time. To being with, automatas don’t have a sex and their gender is decided by their looks so I guess it is kinda obvious.”
“…I see. Oh my, I have jumped to the wrong conclusion. This is embarrassing.”
Jin followed up on that.
“No, Belche-san, Ehr can become a male butler or a female butler depending on the situation. And so, I don’t think your impression is wrong either.”
“Ara, thank you, Jin-sama.”
Afterwards, the decision made after a discussion was that he will be wearing a women’s blouse and a butler’s outfit.
Belche prepared the blouse and Reinhart’s butler, Claude, provided the new butler outfit.
As both of those didn’t fit (Belche’s blouse was too big in the chest portion and short in height and Claude’s outfit was just too big in general) Jin and Reinhart used engineering magic to adjust the size.
“Ohh, it suits him quite a bit.”
He had this atmosphere of a beautiful woman dressing like a man.
“Alright, Ehr, if you help around Reinhart’s house a few days, you will be able to learn the customs and practices of Shouro empire.”
Ehr nodded.
“Understood, creator. I will do my best for my master.”
Seeing Ehr like that, Saki said with a smile,
“Kufufu, I am so excited. Really, Jin, Reinhart, I can’t be thankful enough to you guys.”
“Don’t worry about it, Saki.”
“That’s right. We made it ‘cause we wanted to and it helped me learn a lotta things as well.”
The two answered Saki with a smile.
A few days after that, Ehr helped around at Reinhart’s house and soon learn all the work and customs.
It is only normal since his base is that of Hourai island’s golem maid.
And during that time, Saki stayed over at Reinhart’s place and passed a fulfilling time by creating something and having discussions with Jin and Reinhart everyday.
And then, on May 28th.
Discussion at Reinhart’s workshop after breakfast was a daily thing by then. And there,
“Reinhart, Jin. Ehr is now fully established—no, even more than that, I would say. I think I will be going home now.”
Just when Saki said that,
“Ahh, that’s right. I was thinking of staying over at Saki’s place for a while too.”
As Jin also said that, Reinhart panicked.
“Wa-wait a minute, you two! What’s this all of a sudden?! Did I do something wrong?”
“……”
“………”
After a while of silence, Jin broke the ice.
“No, Reinhart, have you forgotten? You will hold a ceremony with Belche, right?”
Saki followed up as well.
“That’s right, Reinhart. Kufufu, you shouldn’t make a lady wait too long, you know.”
“……”
“As such, ah—right, I will stay over at Saki’s place for like a week to 10 days.”
“Kufufu, Reinhart, no need to worry about me. I have come to understand Jin quite well over the past few days.”
“You two… you’re being considerate of me? Well, actually…”
Reinhart told them how he was planning to hold the marriage ceremony 3 days from now.
“But can you prepare in 3 days?”
Jin was concerned.
“Ah, that will be fine. I hadn’t told you guys before but I was moving forward with the plan of holding the ceremony on June 1st to begin with.”
“Oh, what now? Then there’s no need to worry, is there?”
Jin said with a relieved laugh.