The next day, about an hour after breakfast, Jin was summoned to Marchioness Firenziano’s room. Reinhard, Elsa, and Reiko accompanied him.
“It’s been a while,” the Marchioness said the moment they were seated on the sofas. She was speaking, of course, to Jin.
When they had reported to her during the golem incident after the race, she had been too distracted to take much notice of him. Looking at her properly now, Jin saw that her dark blonde hair was styled in an elegant updo, and her slightly upturned blue eyes shone with intelligence.
If she wore glasses and a suit, she would have looked the part of a teacher or a professional secretary, but in reality, she was a marchioness dressed in white leather trousers, a white blouse, a blue vest, and a light purple jacket.
She certainly doesn’t look like she’s in her mid-forties, Jin thought.
The Marchioness continued, “I never imagined that Jin-kun, who was so active in the Golem Boat Race, would be scouted by the Shouro Empire. Honestly, I wonder what my people were looking at.”
An excellent freelance magi craftman was a prize for any country. The Marchioness expressed her regret in a half-joking manner.
She ordered a servant to brew some Kuhe, then said, “Well, please make yourselves at home. Today, I want to hear about the bandits you captured and that golem.”
First, the Marchioness explained what was known about the captured bandits. They were originally from Isd Province in the east but seemed to have drifted into this region recently.
The leader was a mage of some skill, and he had used the magic spells Hypno and Subliminal to turn almost all of his subordinates into mindless puppets.
The terrifying thing about Subliminal magic was that the victims were under the illusion that they were acting of their own free will.
“In any case, he’s the kind of man who treats his subordinates as disposable,” the Marchioness spat. “It isn't entirely clear yet, but the leader appears to have been a lower noble from the Celuroa Kingdom. They say that when he fled, he used a golem to slaughter his pursuers.”
She mentioned that further details would likely come to light during the interrogation.
“More importantly, regarding that golem... when we investigated the control core, we discovered something extraordinary.”
“Something extraordinary?”
“Yes. That golem was a Prototype Model 11.”
Only Elsa tilted her head, not understanding the significance. Jin and Reinhard, however, understood exactly what the designation implied.
“What does that mean?” Elsa asked.
Jin was the one who answered her. “It means there are at least ten more golems like that, and probably many more currently being manufactured.”
Reinhard then took over. “The fact that it’s a ‘prototype’ means someone is building those golems with a specific purpose in mind. And we can take a guess at what that purpose is.”
“Yes. They are undoubtedly for combat. The goal is likely war,” the Marchioness concluded.
“So someone, somewhere, is preparing combat golems?” Elsa asked.
“That’s right. According to our information, the golem that allowed Valentino to escape custody in Port Rock was the same model.”
“So Valentino is connected to them somehow,” Reinhard remarked.
Marchioness Firenziano nodded. “Yes. However, a search of the villa he left behind revealed nothing but evidence of corruption. His three wives and two concubines seemed to know nothing.”
She briefly summarized the results of the investigation in Port Rock.
“So that man was just wearing the mask of a dandy all along...” Jin remarked.
“No, apparently the dandyism was his true nature,” the Marchioness replied.
“At any rate,” Marchioness Firenziano said, steering the conversation back. “Since this is our country’s problem, Lord Reinhard, Lady Elsa, and Jin-kun, there is no need for you to involve yourselves any further.”
This statement stemmed from the pride of Marchioness Firenziano and the leadership of the Kingdom of Elias, but in hindsight, it was a mistake.
If they had requested the cooperation of Jin and Reinhard at this stage, the chaos that followed might have been avoided.
However, since they were only human, it would be harsh to blame them. After all, at this point, the actual body of the golem Jin had defeated had not yet arrived in the capital, so they did not know the details of how it had been taken down.
As of yesterday, only the control core and the bandits had been sent to the capital. Since the golem was heavy, the decision had been made on-site to transport it later.
If someone with a discerning eye had seen the defeated golem, they would have wanted to know how it had been destroyed at any cost.
After that, the Marchioness asked them for their impressions of the various towns, particularly Port Rock, and what they liked or disliked. Jin voiced a concern he had noticed.
“Well, since Port Rock is a port town near the sea, the water quality is poor.”
He mentioned that being unable to wash off the salt from the sea breeze was a drawback for tourism. Hearing this, the Marchioness agreed.
“Ah, that is certainly true. Only a few high-end inns offer proper baths.”
She looked at Jin with a mischievous smile. “But for you to bring that up, Jin-kun, does that mean you have a solution?”
Jin gave a wry smile. “You’re quite sharp. Yes, I do have something in mind.”
“Oh, really? I would certainly like to hear it.”
“Of course. The answer is distillation.”
“Distillation?”
“What is that?”
Both the Marchioness and Reinhard asked Jin at the same time. Reinhard even leaned forward in interest.
Jin explained that it was a way to create a magic tool for water Cleanup.
“But Jin, no matter how fine a cloth you use to filter the well water there, you can’t get the saltiness out. Even when the water looks perfectly clear.”
Hearing this, Jin explained that salt dissolved in water cannot be filtered out with cloth.
“Hmm? What do you mean by that?” Reinhard asked, clearly hooked.
In response, Jin asked him a question. “Tell me, if you take some seawater in a dish and leave it alone, what happens?”
Reinhard answered immediately, “Well, the salt stays behind in the dish.”
“Then where did the water go?”
“Eh? Uh... hmm, it dried up, so it must have vanished?” Reinhard answered thoughtfully.
“That’s half-right and half-wrong. Drying doesn’t mean it vanishes. It turns into invisible particles, like air, and scatters into the atmosphere.”
“...?”
Seeing that Reinhard didn't quite follow, Jin continued.
“Listen. For water, if you cool it, it becomes ice. We call this a solid. If you melt it, it becomes water. We call this a liquid. If you heat it until it boils, it becomes steam. We call this a gas.”
Strictly speaking, visible steam isn't actually a gas, but Jin explained it this way for the sake of simplicity.
“I-I see...”
“And,” Jin continued, “these states—solid, liquid, and gas—exist for every substance. It’s just that the temperatures for cooling and heating differ depending on the material.”
Jin paused there. Reinhard crossed his arms and groaned as he digested what he had just heard.
The Marchioness and Elsa didn't seem to understand even half of it, but they realized that Jin was saying something revolutionary.
“And salt requires a much higher temperature than water to turn into a gas,” Jin said.
Reinhard immediately caught on. “I see! That’s why the salt remains after the water turns into a gas and leaves!”
Jin nodded. “Exactly. Now, what happens if you collect that water gas?”
Reinhard thought for a moment before giving the correct answer. “It becomes pure water, doesn't it?”
“Correct. Using that principle, you can create fresh water from seawater.”
“I see, I’ve got it! We boil seawater to make salt, but we can do something similar to collect the water at the same time!”
As expected of Reinhard, he already had a concept of what kind of magic tool he would need to make.
While there were ways to separate impurities using Craft Magic, the amount of magical power required was on a completely different scale. With the method Jin suggested, they could create magic tools that would be accessible to the general public.
Watching them, Marchioness Firenziano bowed her head.
“Jin-kun, Lord Reinhard. As the Lord of Zaus Province, I ask you: please create a magic tool that can perform this distillation.”
It was hard to refuse when a marchioness bowed to them. Jin and Reinhard decided to end the meeting there and start working on the magic tool immediately.
“Jin, in my mind, we place a pot at the bottom and put seawater in it. Then, we cover the pot with a lid, and if we make a small hole in that lid, the water gas will come out, right?”
Reinhard showed his sharp intuition. Jin nodded.
“That’s right. Then you attach a pipe to that hole and lead it to another pot. The water gas will be cooled inside that pipe and turn back into liquid water.”
“I see. Jin, was that also something your master taught you?”
When asked, Jin glossed over the truth. “W-Well, yeah. I lived on a solitary island, so tools like that became necessary.”