The day after Elsa's birthday party, Jin officially received his rewards and the accompanying certificate.
The list specified his title as an "Honorary Magi Craftman," for which he received a certificate, a badge, and a half-coat. Since he had already received the badge the day before, he took possession of the certificate and the garment today.
While noble magi typically wore robes and knights wore coats, a half-coat was the traditional attire for a magi craftman in the Kingdom of Egerea. It featured a small crest of the kingdom embroidered on the left chest and the back.
The certificate was a plate of mithril engraved with Jin's name and a formal statement of guarantee from the King of Egerea. As for the badge set with Elradrite he had received the previous day, it was designed to be pinned to the chest or collar of his everyday clothes.
Furthermore, though not explicitly a runner-up prize, he was granted a carriage and a horse for his personal use. When Jin explained that he would prefer to build the vehicle himself—as befitted a magi craftman—the Minister of Internal Affairs laughed and consented, signing the necessary documents to release the required materials to him.
"Well then, since I'm doing this, I might as well go all out."
After the award ceremony the previous day, Reinhard had warned him that things might get difficult from here on out. To prepare for any potentially unfriendly encounters, Jin intended to build a carriage with significant defensive capabilities.
"The frame will be light silver, and the sliding parts will have an adamantite coating. For the motive power, I'll use a Golem horse."
Even at this stage, it was clear that the result would be an outrageous vehicle.
"The wheels will also be light silver, and I'll use adamantite ball bearings."
However, he ran into a hurdle: the castle warehouse didn't stock light silver in such large quantities.
"Now, how to handle this?"
An idea struck him. He would install a Warp Gate inside the carriage.
He had already been planning to install a Warp Gate back to Hourai Island at some point, and he had brought the essential components along for just such an occasion. If he installed a small Warp Gate—just large enough for one person to pass through—in a corner of the cabin or the luggage space, he could return home whenever he pleased.
More importantly, it would allow him to ferry materials from Hourai Island.
With his plan set, he first constructed a temporary cabin. Since it would be discarded once the actual carriage was finished, he put it together haphazardly. The real challenge was installing the Warp Gate inside it.
Because the diminutive Reiko handled most of the physical labor, Jin’s job was limited to performing Fusion and Joint on the components. In about an hour, the temporary cabin and the Warp Gate were complete. Reiko immediately warped over to Hourai Island to begin the material transfer.
"Well then, Father, I shall be off."
With those words, Reiko vanished through the gate.
On this day, Reinhard and Elsa had been invited out by one of Reinhard's acquaintances, while Count Kuzuma and Beena were visiting a friend of the Count's. Though both Reinhard and the Count had tried to bring Jin along, he had stayed behind, claiming he wanted to focus on building his carriage.
While waiting for the materials to arrive, Jin began sketching out the finer details.
"Hmm, I suppose I should exercise some restraint, or things might get awkward."
Despite thinking such a commendable thought, it was already easy to predict that the final product would show no restraint whatsoever. However, there was no one present to point that out to him.
"Four-wheel independent suspension... no, that might be pushing it. I'll stick with trailing arms for now."
Since it allowed for a large stroke, he decided on trailing arms for both the front and back, with the axles serving as torsion bars. The axles would be fixed while the wheels rotated, allowing for nimble handling.
"What about the dampers? Making oil dampers might be a bit suspicious. I see... I'll just use a viscoelastic material for the suspension springs."
As he muttered his concepts to himself, Reiko returned.
"Father, I have returned."
"Oh, Reiko. Perfect timing. I've just finalized the design."
"Then I shall begin bringing in the materials immediately."
Reiko spoke into the manacam in her hand.
"Reiko here. Topaz 2, begin the material transfer."
"(Topaz 2, acknowledged.)"
Topaz 2 must have been waiting on the other side. A few seconds later, the transfer began.
"They are coming."
Ingots of light silver came flying out of the Warp Gate. Reiko caught them and stacked them beside Jin.
"Next."
As Reiko issued instructions via the manacam, Topaz 2 sent the materials through in sequence. In an instant, a mountain of supplies had piled up.
"Alright, stop for now," Jin said. "I'll ask for more if I run low."
"Understood."
Reiko gave the order, and the delivery came to a stand still.
It really would be convenient if I built communication functions directly into Reiko and the others, Jin thought as he turned toward the pile of materials.
"First, the cabin."
He began with the space that would serve as the living quarters. He envisioned something akin to a six-seater van. The internal dimensions were set at 1.8 meters wide, 4 meters long, and 1.9 meters high. Even the tall Reinhard likely wouldn't hit his head.
The frame was constructed entirely of light silver, with the walls and floor utilizing a honeycomb structure. He then applied wood paneling to the surfaces to give it the appearance of a standard wooden carriage.
Fortunately, he was still unobserved. Working in this secluded spot behind the Guest House was paying off.
"Phew. Now I can move the Warp Gate."
He transferred the gate from the temporary cabin and installed it in the new one. While Reiko could pass through it easily, Jin had to crouch slightly to fit. However, it functioned perfectly. He camouflaged the gate so skillfully that a casual glance—or even a thorough inspection—wouldn't reveal its true nature.
He used muscovite instead of glass for the windows and installed frames so they could be opened. He even added a skylight to the roof for ventilation and visibility.
Finally, it was time for the chassis.
"First, the wheels."
To ensure it could traverse rough roads, a larger diameter was better, but to keep the overall length manageable, he settled on sixty centimeters. He crafted them from light silver and gave them a black finish.
"A longer stroke would probably be for the best."
He pondered the length of the swing arms, and then he had an epiphany. There was no need to mimic the primitive carriages of this world, nor was there a need to recreate the mechanical suspension of modern Earth.
"Golem arms..."
That was the answer. The golem arms Jin created utilized skeletons and muscles. In his engineering, muscles functioned as both springs and dampers. Essentially, they would flex to absorb impacts and then snap back to their original position as soon as the pressure subsided.
"This is perfect."
Using a reinforced light silver skeleton and magical fiber muscles, he ended up with a four-wheel independent suspension. He added light silver covers to the exterior so that no one could tell such a complex structure lay within.
Jin didn't stop there. He added a reclining function to the seats, including the coachman's seat. He also equipped the vehicle with brakes—something he had forgotten when he and Reinhard had modified a carriage previously. It was a simple mechanism where palm-shaped parts with brake pads—an adaptation of golem hands—would grip the wheels to slow them down.
Next came headlights powered by Light magic and a ventilation system using Breeze magic. He even went so far as to install an air conditioning system using Heat and Cooling.
To finish, he built the horse to pull it—a Golem horse.
I guess I can't exactly install a Golem Engine in this, he thought to himself, though there was arguably very little difference between his current design and such an engine.
Since he had built Golem horses many times before, it was finished in short order. Just then, a voice reached his ears.
"...Good. I made it in time."
Looking over, he saw Elsa standing there, panting for breath.
"Jin-kun... your... carriage... I wanted to... see it... first."
She must have run all the way; she was huffing and puffing with sweat on her forehead, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the vehicle.
"Is this... Jin-kun's... carriage?"
"Elsa, did you run here?"
"Mhm."
Jin was a bit surprised to see her in such a state. "It is. Here, you should drink this."
From the light meal set Reiko had prepared for him, he took out some citran juice and offered it to her.
"Thank... you."
Elsa took the cup and gulped down the juice as if it were the most delicious thing in the world.
"Phew." She returned the empty cup to Jin and looked at the carriage again. "Jin-kun's carriage. I want to ride it. Can I?"
When asked like that, Jin couldn't refuse. He hadn't tested it yet, but there didn't seem to be any obvious issues.
"Sure. I'm about to do a trial run, so feel free to hop in."
With that, Jin hurried to finish the final adjustments.
So much for restraint.