“Reiko, well done”
Jin praised Reiko, stroking her head. Reiko looked even more happy than usual.
“… Ah, it’s father’s hand.”
“Edgar and Ehr did well too.”
Like Jin, Saki and Elsa praised their own automata as well.
“Ehr, good work.”
“Edgar, that was amazing!”
Jin looked at Jesse and Kurt. Jesse rubbed his elbows and knees. He had scrapped his palm, so Jin went to use healer magic on but abruptly stopped.
If the wound healed without cleaning, sand and soil would remain in his body. Jin used ‘condense’: a spell that collects the moisture in the air.
It doesn’t gather much water, but it would be enough to wash the wound. Jin calmed Jesse, who looked about to cry from the pain of the water flushing the raw injury.
“Just bear it a little longer. ‘Cure’.”
With the magic applied to the washed wound, Jesse’s wound closed. Despite being in tears moments ago, Jessie grinned and laughed.
“Thanks, big bro!”
Jin patted Jessie’s head, saying “it was nothing”, before turning to Kurt.
The unconscious Kurt was in Elsa’s care.
Despite being a beginner, Elsa’s acquired modern knowledge allowed her to examined Kurt’s condition through a Shouro Imperial-style “diagnosis”. From this, she could tell Jin that there was no abnormality other than the fracture and the trauma caused by it.
It didn’t look like he had hit his head either. The fracture was internal, with no bones protruding.
Jin had used “analyze” to examine him earlier, but it seemed to line up with Elsa’s diagnosis.
“’Healing’”
Elsa casted Shouro healing magic. It was an intermediate spell that could cure bone fractures even, along with standard wounds. Then:
“’Full Heal’”
Just in case, Elsa used her best magic to protect against damage to Kurt’s internal organs and brain, while also preventing infection from the wound.
“Uhh…”
Thanks to this, Kurt soon came to his senses.
“Huh?”
Eyes open, Kurt looked all around, noticing that everyone was looking down at him.
“I … What happened?”
“Kurt, you fool! We were worried about you!”
Seeing Hannah and Patty cry, he realized,
“Ah, right… I fell off a cliff trying to gather some wiley.”
“Kurt, didn’t I tell you? Don’t go to dangerous places.”
“Yeah, sorry big bro.”
Jin rubbed Kurt’s head, patting it hard.
“It looks like you’re sorry. Don’t make the same mistake again, alright?”
“Yup.”
Looking at Kurt’s face, Jin felt like Kurt was fully repented for what happened and decided to end the scolding there.
When Kurt got home, his father Dave would probably scold him. Jessie would likely face a similar lecture from his father Howard.
“Alright everyone, we’re going home.”
“Kay!”
Despite being the one to say this, Jin ended up with Saki heading home behind all the others.
＊ ＊ ＊
“… and that’s what happened. I was supposed to be looking after him, I’m very sorry!”
Jin went to Dave’s house first and explained what happened.
“Jin, there’s nothing to apologize for. You and Reiko, not to mention Elsa and everyone else, saved my son, right?”
With that, Dave forgave Jin and turned with a scowl towards Kurt.
“Hey, you dumb kid. I don’t remember raising you to not recognize danger.”
“I’m sorry, Dad”
With a single strike Dave’s scolding ended.
Jin went to Howard’s house with Jesse. Like before, Jin was thanked instead of blamed.
Before they realized, it was evening.
“Huh, I’m kind of tired out”
Again, Jin thought about how challenging it was to lead the children.
Both Dave and Howard believed that, despite being little, it was still the kids’ fault for going to the woods, but Jin felt he was responsible in the end.
If only I have more physical strength, I could have gone into the forest with the children.
Despite knowing “what ifs” were pointless, Jin couldn’t help but think like this in his regret.
Seeing Jin moping, Elsa pulled on his sleeve and called out to him from behind.
“Brother, don’t blame yourself so much. I wish I had watched the children more carefully too. I’m just as much to blame for not doing that as you. ”
Jin heard Elsa’s words and relaxed his face a little bit.
“Yeah, thank you, Elsa. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to cure Kurt right away. Thanks again. ”
It was true that Reiko had not yet mastered all of Elsa’s healing magic. She was getting there though.
“Nah, that’s fine. I just did what I could do. ”
Elsa shook her head, gesturing that it was nothing.
Watching the exchange between them, Saki spoke up.
“Fufu, Elsa, you’ve really grown. I’m embarrassed cause I can’t really do anything myself.”
Elsa responded,
“That’s not true. Everyone does what they can, so I did what I could. That’s it”
and took hold of Saki’s hand.
“Well…… I’m no match for you”
A little smile showed on Saki’s face.
＊ ＊ ＊
“…and that’s what happened”
After dinner, Jin went alone with Reiko to Horai Island to consult with Rou.
“I would like to make a map of dangerous places around Kaina Village and see about reinforcing those that are likely to collapse.”
“I agree, and it would be best to send Land to these areas. ‘
“Yeah, I’ll look after it.”
“Understood”
After this, Rou made his surveillance system ‘Koshin’ send Land or at least Gong or Gen to guard villagers when they got close to dangerous areas.
Thus, through implementing these countermeasures as best they could, Jin gradually return to his usual self.
(Phew……)
Internally, Reiko was relieved too.
(Father really is his most alive when making something.)
“My Lord, I have something to report.”
After a series of meetings, Rou spoke up.
“We’ve been hurrying to stockpile it for a while now. Shouro Imperial Rice that is. As I predicted previously, for each of the 3 types of rice, we have about 1 ton in our warehouses. Additionally, we’ve begun planting seedlings as of today. ”
“What! That’s great news!”
Jin was depressed, but after hearing the positive news about the rice, his spirits lifted. It was the perfect moment for news like this.
“I planted a tea leaf tree as well that should be ready for harvest soon.”
“Oh, I’ll look forward to trying some.”
“Plus, we’ve succeeded in making stick agar from a red algae type seaweed.”
“Oh! That’s the first I’ve heard of this.”
Various seaweeds can be harvested in Tatsumi Bay. So far, they have harvested konbu, wakame, nori, red algae, and a burnable seaweed used to make salt.
“There’s enough Nori and Konbu for us to mass produce it even.”
While Jin had been traveling, a considerable number of marine products had been stockpiled on Horai Island.
“The seaweed from Tatsumi Bay is also high in aether, which could be preserved for a long time in an aether stocker.”
“Great, that’s great. Oh, let’s try making onigiri sometime. The salt and Nori alone sound delicious.”
Knowing that he could soon enjoy such nostalgic food, Jin’s imagination wondered.
Reiko and Rou were relieved to see Jin like this.
They had both been worried about him.