After their review meeting was over, Jin and his colleagues decided to take a break and discuss some newly discovered items.
“Although Quinta’s preliminary survey did not reveal the existence of the basement, we did learn that a special barrier had been set up. I knew it the moment I walked into that basement. That was… an Attenuation Barrier.”
“Attenuation Barrier?”
“Yeah. Regular barriers simply block an entrance. Though they do have reflecting properties depending on their angle.”
Elsa nodded to Jin’s explanation.
“I see. Basically, their purpose is to separate the inside from the outside.”
“That’s why, if you use an investigation spell, you’ll get a different reaction from the surroundings, and as a result, you’ll know that there’s something there.”
“I see, you’ll feel that there’s something enclosed by some kind of empty space there.”
Saki had come up with an interesting analogy.
“That’s right. That’s a nice way to see it. …And that barrier doesn’t reflect or absorb the investigation spell. Think of it as something like electromagnetic waves that travel through space. They would seem to attenuate naturally.”
“If we go by Saki’s analogy, the reflected area would be a white enclosure, and the absorbed area would be a black enclosure. So this attenuation would be… A transparent enclosure?”
This time, Stearleana compared it to colors. It was a pretty accurate metaphor.
“That’s right. It’s something like that. That’s why I didn’t quite understand. It seems that Sonar has similar characteristics, so not even Quinta could tell there was something there.”
“…You seem to have a good grasp on things, brother Jin.”
Elsa looked at Jin with reverence.
“Yeah, one of the purposes of going to the old Lenard Kingdom was to analyze barriers. I was especially careful about it.”
Jin explained that he wanted to unravel the mystery of the phantom barrier that stretched over the old Lenard Kingdom.
“I was curious to know who did it, and how did they manage to deceive a golem’s eyes.”
Depending on their design, golem eyes could be made to outperform human eyes. They could see at a farther distance, and they could even see infrared and ultraviolet rays if their maker felt like it.
That phantom barrier could not be seen even by the Air Force Golems, who were equipped with such eyes. Jin wanted to know the secret behind that.
“Well, I’ll continue to leave that investigation to the Quinta.”
And thus Jin concluded his speech.
＊ ＊ ＊
It was almost time for lunch, so they headed to the dining room.
“Huh? Is Hanna still outside?”
Just as Jin muttered that, Reiko and Hanna came back. Reiko seemed to have been right on time.
“Big brother, Sis Reiko said to come back now since it’s almost time for lunch.”
“Yeah, you’re right on time. Let’s have lunch. Hanna, I know you’ve had some Pelshikas a bit ago, so are you okay with having lunch now?”
“Yeah, I’m okay!”
Hanna was quite energetic. Her front teeth had all come out, so she had been having less discomfort when eating.
“Today’s lunch is udon noodles.”
Soleil brought in freshly boiled udon noodles. Of course, they had already been chilled with cold water.
“Udon noodles?”
“That’s right, here they are.”
“Waah, they look nice!”
Chopsticks and forks were laid on the table for everyone. Of course, Jin preferred using chopsticks.
The soup is a special soup made by Peridot and others using fish sauce and a kelp substitute.
“Mmm, delicious!”
Jin started eating first. The cold udon noodles went pleasantly down his throat.
“Mmm, this is good!”
“…Delicious.”
“Yum~!
“So tasty!”
The others were using their forks, but the noodles seemed to have been well received.
Hanna’s portion was smaller than the rest, so she finished her noodles before anyone else.
“It was a great meal. But Jin, those… Chopsticks, were they? You seem to be quite skilled with them.”
“Ah, well, I’ve been using them for a long time.”
Stearleana praised Jin’s dexterity as she saw him hold the noodles with those two sticks.
“I think I’ll give them a try.”
“…Me too.”
“Me too~!”
As the other three girls said that, Stearleana also decided to join in, and a course on how to use chopsticks was held.
“First, we need to determine the length of the chopsticks each of you is going to use. Open your fingers so that your thumb and index finger form a 90 degree angle… That’s right. So, the chopsticks that will be the easiest for you all to use are about 1.5 times that length.”
“…Got it.”
Elsa would be using chopsticks 22.5 centimeters long, Saki and Stearleana 24 centimeters, and Hanna 18 centimeters.
“Next is the weight. Should you use heavy chopsticks or light chopsticks? Or perhaps standard weight, since it’s your first time?”
Jin made that decision while remembering the words of his teacher at the orphanage, who taught him how to use chopsticks.
He would use Kerrie wood, which was similar to Earth’s Cherry tree, to make chopsticks for everyone. It was a hard and sticky wood. Jin’s chopsticks were also made of this same wood.
Incidentally, after using his chopsticks, he cleaned them using the “cleanup” and “sterilization” spells.
They practiced for about an hour. It was Hannah who made the most progress. Surprisingly, Saki was the slowest of the bunch.
“Uhuhu, what a shame. I’m really clumsy with these after all…”
Jin tried to comfort the depressed Saki by reminding her that there was no such thing, and that anyone could learn how to use them with enough practice.
After their practice, it was time for tea. However, since it was hot outside, they decided to have juice instead of tea.
“Well, what should we do after this?”
Steraleana was the one who answered that question.
“Right. Hey, Jin… Do you want to go to the Celuroa Kingdom?”
“The Celuroa Kingdom, huh…?”
“Yeah. My main house is in Goa. It’s a provincial city where many Magi Craftsmen of the kingdom live.”
Jin was a little awestruck by the fact that he had rarely visited the Kingdom of Celuroa, partly because of the turmoil with the Unifiers.
“Hmm, I’d like to go too, Jin.”
It seemed that the idea had caught Saki’s interest.
“It should be okay, since they’re not very strict with visitors as in Essiah.”
There was a carriage with a Warp Gate in it stored in Stearleana’s house, so that Stearleana could use it to go back and forth between her house and Hourai Island.
It seemed that her plans for moving out had been frozen.
“So there won’t be any issues with us going there by transfer?”
“That’s right. You can go there freely.”
“Shall we go then?”
Jin also seemed to be enthusiastic about it.
“Yeah, let’s go! I’ll be there to welcome you!”
Thus it was decided that everyone who had joined Jin on his trip to the Lenard Kingdom would be going to the Celuroa Kingdom as well. They wouldn’t be using the Tortoise this time around, though. And Ehr and Edgar could join them as well.
They could spend the night in Hourai Island, or at Stearleana’s house. After choosing which option they would go for, Jin and the others took only the minimum luggage necessary, and transferred over.
Everyone had gotten used to transferring by “Shinkai” by now, so the process was smooth.
“Welcome to the Celuroa Kingdom.”
Stearleana jokingly welcomed them with that line.
The place where the party arrived, that is, the place where the carriage that had the Warp Gate was, was a large storehouse.
Several materials were piled up around it.
“My workshop is right next door.”
They headed there first. It was a large family consisting of Jin, Hanna, Reiko, Elsa, Edgar, Saki, Ehr, and Stearleana.
“Welcome home, young lady.”
It was a butler-style Automata that was in Dali’s secondary residence.
The secondary residence had already been vacated because it had been damaged by the Unifiers’ attack.
“Thank you, Zafio. We have a lot of guests today, so you can have Selene help you out.”
“Understood.”
Zafio made a reverence before leaving, and Selene, a blue topaz golem, took his place by bringing in some drinks. They seemed like some kind of cold juice.
“Waaah, so pretty!”
Hanna expressed her surprise after seeing Selene for the first time.
“Uhuhu, thank you, Hanna.”
Stea Arena took a sip of the juice Selene gave her and laughed happily.