The following day, Jin was busy from the early morning.
"Jin-sama, Prince Ernest is calling for you."
As soon as he finished breakfast, a summons arrived from the prince, and Jin headed to the Inner Palace. There, he found the Third Prince, Ernest, accompanied by Lotte.
"Ah, Jin! I want you to repair Lotte properly, right away!"
Prince Ernest's words carried a hint of royal selfishness, but Jin smiled and agreed, knowing it was born from the prince's genuine care for the Lotte he had created.
"If possible, I'd be happy if you could make her more durable than she was before."
Hearing this, Jin asked in return, "More durable? You don't want her stronger?"
The prince replied, "Well, being strong is definitely good, but more than that, I just don't want her to break again."
Jin liked that answer. "I understand. I'll give it everything I've got."
The prince was overjoyed. "Really! Then you can use any of the materials in the warehouse! I'll issue a permit in my name!"
He ducked into the back for a moment and returned with a document in hand. "If you show this, the administrator will let you through." He handed the permit to Jin.
"Now then, I wonder what kind of materials they have," Jin mused.
With the permit in hand, Jin first borrowed a workshop within the Royal Castle. It seemed to be the place normally used for the maintenance of ritter golems.
He had Lotte wait there and, with a sense of excitement, headed toward the castle's material storehouse while pulling a cart. It was located in a corner of the Inner Palace, guarded by two soldiers, with an administrative official stationed just inside the entrance.
When Jin showed the permit from the prince, he was let through immediately. An official followed him to keep watch, presumably to ensure he didn't pocket anything, but Jin had no such intentions. After all, the materials here were several grades inferior to those on Hourai Island.
That said, there was still a fair amount of precious material.
Jin decided to take a generous amount of light silver and a decent amount of bronze. He also took a bit of adamantite, four magi-crystals, and some sandworm leather.
Ignoring the official who was muttering about how this wouldn't be allowed without the prince's permission, Jin pushed the cart back to the borrowed workshop.
Waiting there was not only Lotte, but the prince as well.
"Your Highness!?"
"Ahaha, I wanted to watch you fix Lotte, Jin, so I skipped my studies for today."
Prince Ernest seemed to be quite fond of golems. Or perhaps it was Lotte specifically that he adored.
"It's okay if I watch from here, right?"
"Yes, please do."
Jin didn't dislike this prince, who seemed to have a pure love for golems.
He deactivated Lotte's magical power and began the work. "First, I will Reinforce the skeleton."
"Ah, that's light silver, isn't it? And that over there is adamantite."
Just as he had said about wanting to make golems himself in the future, the prince possessed a fair amount of knowledge.
"Yes. First, I will replace the steel skeleton with light silver."
As he spoke, Jin began Forming a skeleton for Lotte with the same dimensions. He performed the task slowly for the prince's benefit, though it was work he would normally finish in an instant.
"Heeh... so that's what Lotte's skeleton looks like."
"I've made it similar to that of a human."
Jin continued the work, offering explanations from time to time. Next, he coated the joints with adamantite.
"Ah, I see. By using adamantite on the moving parts, you're making sure they don't wear down."
His comprehension was quite good.
The next task was the muscle tissue. He turned the sandworm leather into fibers and twisted them together to create magical muscles.
"Amazing, I've never seen these techniques before..."
The prince stared intently at Jin's work. To be honest, a golem in its muscled state should have looked grotesque, but the prince didn't seem to mind.
Finally, it was time for the most important part: installing the magi-device. One might think it would be simple since he was just transplanting the existing one, but Jin paused.
"Your Highness, this structure is what protects Lotte from Master-Slave Rewrite Magic."
He held the magi-device before the prince's eyes so he could see it clearly.
"Hmm, so this is Lotte's heart... Is this housing made of mithril? There's a magi-formula engraved on it."
"Yes. It's a magi-formula that blocks magic coming from the outside."
"There's a magi-formula for that!?"
It was a magi-formula of the same nature as a magic barrier, though the difference lay in whether the point of origin was in open space or on a physical casing.
Jin resumed his work, mentioning that he planned to inform the minister of magic later about this method of protection. He placed the device in the appropriate position in the chest and covered the surrounding area with magical muscles.
"This concludes the first stage."
Jin waited for the prince's reaction. As expected, a question followed.
"Hey, if you cover the magi-device in mithril, it might block outside magic, but won't it also make it impossible to draw mana from the inside?"
It was a sharp question. Jin answered simply.
"Normally, that would be correct. However, do you see these lines coming out of the housing?"
Jin pointed to about six lines protruding from the box.
"Yeah."
"These are the conductors that transmit mana to each part of the body. They are connected to the arms, the legs, the head, and the torso."
"Ah, I see. Then, is there any chance magic could be transmitted back through those lines?"
The prince's comprehension was outstanding. Jin grew pleased and began a deeper explanation.
"That won't happen. These lines are made of mithril, which allows mana to pass through but not magic. The reason for this is..."
He explained that while mana was a wave of energy, magic possessed a certain substance or structure, making it difficult for it to pass through conductors of such thinness.
The prince only seemed to understand about half of that, but he at least grasped that it was simply how things worked.
"You're amazing, Jin. You seem to know more than my teachers."
Prince Ernest looked at Jin with eyes full of respect. Jin smiled and resumed his work.
"Now then, let's enter the final stage of Lotte's restoration."
With that, he removed the exterior from the old Lotte and transferred it to the new one, supplementing any missing parts with the bronze he had brought.
The prince looked happy as he watched Lotte rapidly regain her original appearance. By the time all the exterior parts had been transplanted, only the steel skeleton remained. Every other component had been reused.
"Well, time for the final Finish."
Jin reverted Lotte's old steel skeleton back into an ingot.
"Whoa, that's incredible."
The prince was impressed to see the skeleton turn into a block before his eyes. Even so, Jin was working at about one-tenth of his usual speed; normally, the Forming would have been over in the blink of an eye.
"Separating the zinc. Smelting."
He separated the zinc that had been used for rustproofing. The prince muttered, "What's zinc?" but Jin pretended not to hear and moved forward, as explaining metallurgy would take too much time.
"Forming."
Jin began transforming the separated steel into a disc. Yes—a tray. It was a bit of playfulness on Jin's part, thinking a maid needed a tray. However, Jin never stopped at just one thing.
"Heat Treat. Hardening. Surface Treatment."
"Wow, it's a tray!"
It was a Jin special—a tool that could be used for serving, but also for striking or even throwing as a weapon.
Furthermore, Jin used the remaining steel to make several knives. There was still some metal left over, so after some thought, he made a mop. A steel mop. It was quite formidable as a striking weapon. For the head, he used the leftover sandworm leather to make the fringe.
Finally, he called for Lyla of the Royal Secret Maids, who was waiting outside the workshop. He knew she had been following him at a distance as part of her duties.
"U-u-um, d-did you have some business with me?"
Lyla was quite nervous being called into the prince's presence.
"Huh? Aren't you Airi's younger sister from the magi-ritter corps?" the prince asked.
"Y-y-y-yes! I-I am Airi's sister, your highnesh!"
She bit her tongue spectacularly. It looked painful.
"I thought so! You look just like Airi!"
"I am not as... as excellent as my sister..." Lyla mumbled, looking down. Apparently, her sister held quite a high position in the magi-ritter corps.
Jin had business with her, so he cut in. "Your Highness, I'd like to finish my business here first."
The prince obediently stopped talking. "Ah, sorry! Lyla, Jin says he has a request for you."
"Y-yes, what is it?"
"I'd like a full set of maid clothes in the same size as you. Including underwear."
"Fue!?"
As Lyla looked down, blushing furiously, Jin realized she was misunderstanding.
"Listen, I don't want your clothes. I want a new set of maid clothes that are the same size as you."
The prince also chimed in. "Look, Lyla, he's going to put them on the golem. Right, Jin?"
"A-ah, so that's what it was. I thought for sure that I..."
Jin wondered exactly what she had assumed, but he kept the thought to himself.
Lyla said she would be right back and left the workshop, returning in about five minutes. "U-um, will this do?"
"Yes, thank you."
Jin thanked her and took the clothes. Then, he reactivated Lotte.
"Lotte, Wake up."
"Yes."
"Eek!" Lyla gave a small shriek. It seemed that seeing a golem suddenly sit up was startling if one wasn't used to it.
"Lotte, how is it? How does your body feel?"
"Yes, Father, I feel very well. Thank you."
Then she turned toward Prince Ernest, knelt, and greeted him. "Your Highness, I apologize for causing you concern."
The prince was delighted. "Lotte, you're okay now! I'm so glad!" He hugged her, then let out a surprised voice. "Lotte, why are you warm?"
"Your Highness, Lotte has a magi-circuit built in to generate body temperature," Jin explained.
This was a feature built into almost all of the Automata and golems Jin created. Since metal golems were cold to the touch, the purpose was to make them more approachable.
"Heeh, you really are amazing, Jin!"
The prince's respect grew even deeper. Jin gave an instruction to Lotte. "Lotte, put on those clothes over there."
Once Lotte had dressed, she became a complete maid golem. With knives equipped on her thighs beneath her skirt, a tray tucked under her arm, and a mop in her hand, the combat maid of Jin's imagination was complete.