The operation to coat Selene with Magical Skin was completed without any issues.
By playing around with her power source a little, and thanks to the specifications of the Ether Converter, she was now capable of semi-permanent motion.
As a measure against Enslavement Magic, a thin Mithril silver armor was placed over the entire fuselage.
“She should be safe to take along with us now.”
Finally, a “Barrier” generation function was added to her. It was a feature to make up for the fact that Selene was the weakest in terms of defense of their accompanying attendants.
“Thank you, Jin, Reinhardt.”
Then, Elsa and Stearleana moved on to preparing new clothes for Selene.
“I’ll make her underwear.”
“Ah, thanks, Elsa. I’ll leave that to you, then.”
While the two Magi Craftswomen were taking care of Selene’s clothes, Jin and Reinhardt prepared her hair and shoes.
The shoes were made of magical beast leather, which was light and very sturdy.
For her hair, they made an artificial wig made with threads of Ground Spider silk. It was the same copper color as Stearleana’s own hair.
When they were about finished with their work, Elsa and Stearleana arrived with the clothes.
“Ah, that’s lovely!”
Selene, who was a blue topaz golem, was now hardly recognizable. She looked like a sister to Stearleana, thanks to her rich copper-colored hair.
“Then let’s put on your underwear.”
“…”
The underwear Elsa had prepared was a modern Earth-styled bra and somewhat short knickers. Jin and Reinhardt looked away.
“And you can’t go wrong with these clothes.”
It was a combination of a black dress with a white apron. The classic maid look.
Reiko, Ehr, Neon, and now Selene, were all dressed with black dresses and aprons.
Edgar was wearing a black blazer and pants. And Noir had his classic escort, Schwartz Ritter look.
“Well, they still seem to stand out a little…”
Jin said that, though he realized it might have been a bit too late for that now.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Dinner’s ready.”
Berthie called out to the others a little after 6 PM.
“I had Saki’s help today, so I’m sure it’s going to be delicious, right?”
Saki’s hands were full of wounds.
“Sis Saki, give me your hands. …‘Behandern’.”
It was a surgical treatment spell. Elsa’s role as a healer had been established.
“Thanks, Elsa.”
“It’s important for us girls to take good care of our hands. Mother taught me that.”
“This ‘Mother’ you just mentioned is Miss Marlene, right? Though you do call Miss Mine ‘Mother’ too…”
“Yes. …Your lineage comes from the marquis’ family, Sis Saki. You should take better care of your appearance.”
“Ugh, you’re making my ears hurt.”
Saki started to scratch her head in frustration.
“Come on now, your dinner is going to get cold. Here you go, honey.”
While giving Saki and Elsa a backward glance, Berthie started to pour wine on Reinhardt’s cup.
The menu was steak, soup, bread, and salad. And also, they had tempura made from fish caught in the Naudalia River.
“I’ve been practicing.”
It was quite difficult to fry the tempura batter. Berthie said she had received special training from the Peridots.
Instead of a dip sauce, they had seaweed salt from Hourai Island. Jin was more of a salt type of person, since he preferred his tempura to retain its crunchiness.
“Yeah, you’ve gotten really good at it, Berthie.”
“You think? I’m so glad!”
“…Thanks for the meal.”
“Huh? Finished already?”
“Yeah, it was delicious.”
They had such a moment during their dinner. The world of Jin and his friends was truly a peaceful one.
＊ ＊ ＊
The next morning, the 25th of July, the party left Hourai Island at 7:20 AM just as planned.
Stearleana had prepared some bread to take with her as a souvenir, and had Selene carry it for her. Of course, it was a fluffy bread made with yeast. And she had used other ingredients as well.
Furthermore, everyone was wearing a ring, which was also a Magic Tool that was able to unleash a weight-reducing spell, similar to Jin’s bracelet. Laojun had managed to produce them in a rush.
The Falcon 1, which they had already dispatched the day before, landed safely on the sandy shore. Then, Jin and the others used its Warp Gate to reach the west coast of Coupu.
The local time was 3 AM. Since it was summer, it wasn’t cold, but it was so dark that it was impossible to do anything outside.
The party considered activating the Falcon 1’s invisibility barrier and simply taking a nap inside. But then, thinking that would make it pointless to have arrived at such a weird time, they decided to walk leisurely towards Coupu.
Reiko and the other automata and golems were fine walking in the dark, so Jin and the others decided to walk hand in hand each with their own attendant. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught in the sand and tripping over.
While resting at times, after walking for about two hours, dawn came, and they were able to see the town of Coupu together with the sunrise. The weather was a little cloudy.
“The west side is a shallow sandy beach, so it is not suitable for fishing. There are many rocky shores on the east side, so there should be fishermen’s boats there.”
While listening to Stearleana’s explanation, Jin remembered about Marcia, the shipbuilder he met in Potlock, back in the Elias Kingdom.
He nostalgically remembered how she would go fishing early in the morning in order to earn money to cover both her living and boat expenses.
“We’ve finally arrived. Well done, everyone.”
When Stearleana’s voice brought Jin back to the present, he realized that he wasn’t standing on sand, but on solid ground.
“My acquaintance’s house is a little farther ahead.”
With Stearleana leading the way, the party entered the town of Coupu.
There were many stone houses that looked a little like the ones in Potlock. Jin wondered if this was some kind of countermeasure against the sea breeze.
“These building stones… They’re not oya tuff stone, but sandstone? But sandstone crumbles easily…?”
Sandstone is a building stone created by piling up sand, and it is easy to process because it has coarse particles and is soft, but it also weathers down easily. However, it’s very good at preserving indoor temperature.
On Earth, the city of Florence, in Italy, is famous for having most of its old townscape made out of sandston, which still stands to this day.
Jin thought that they would come crumbling down easily, but as he laid his hand over a wall, he found it to be surprisingly firm.
“Ah, a ‘Toughen’ spell has been applied to these.”
Jin was quickly convinced by Stearleana’s explanation.
“Here we are. I wonder if she’s already up.”
The time was 5:30 AM at the time.
It was a house in an alley just off the main street. It was just as big as a typical house for the common folk of Coupu. It had two floors, and seemed to have about 5 rooms, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen.
For a knocker, a wooden board is hung at the entrance, which would be hit with a small mallet to notify the visitor.
The board made a dry sound when Stearleana hit it with the mallet. The door was opened shortly after.
“Long time no see, Vi.”
“Ah, Stearly! What a pleasant surprise! It truly has been a long time! What are you up to today?”
She was a woman that looked a bit like Stearleana but also seemed slightly older than her. She had bright platinum blonde hair that looked a bit like grey hair, and dark brown eyes. She was a little shorter than Jin.
“I’ve come to show some friends around. Sorry to show up so early, though…”
“Don’t worry about it! I’m glad you brought friends, Stearly. Welcome to Coupu, everyone! Come on in!”
The woman Stearleana had called Vi invited Jin and the others into her house.
There was a nice smell in the air. It seemed that she was in the middle of preparing breakfast.
“Everyone, this is Vivian. She’s a childhood friend of mine.”
When Stearleana tried to start to introduce her friend, Vivian quickly interrupted her.
“Wait a moment. Let me finish getting things ready. Umm… What to do? I can manage with this much soup, but I don’t have enough bread…”
“Ah, I’ve brought some bread as a present.”
“Really? That’s great! Well then, please take a seat, I’ll be with you all shortly.”
In Vivian’s kitchen, there was a table so big that everyone could take a seat and there would still be room for more people.
Stearleana took the bread that she had given to Selene for holding and cut it into pieces for everyone.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Vivian laid a large pot of soup on the table.
“Oh?”
Jin was a little surprised to see the soup.
That red color, that unique scent…
No matter how he looked at it, it was tomato soup.
