On April 2nd, with spring in full bloom, Jin, Reinhard, and their party departed from Yada Village and spent the night in Kohls Town.
The following day, they bypassed the main highway and continued westward, arriving in Ikasanat, a regional city situated on the border of the Celuroa Kingdom.
Because travelers were constantly moving between the Kingdom of Egerea and the Celuroa Kingdom, customs and immigration were quite strict. This heightened security was specifically due to the proximity of Celuroa; the border with the Kingdom of Elias was never managed with such severity.
"We might be held up here for about three days," Reinhard noted.
"Well, it might be a good chance to give our bodies a rest," Jin replied.
Traveling by carriage was an exhausting affair. Without a rest day every few days, the journey eventually took a toll on the body.
Taking advantage of the delay, Jin decided to repair Anne, the Automata he had recovered from the Keuwan Ruins. On their first night in Ikasanat, Jin ordered Anne to Stand Still, had Reiko carry her, and used the warp gate to return to Hourai Island.
He wondered if he should just tell Reinhard the truth if the man ever asked where exactly these repairs were being carried out.
"Welcome back, My Lord. Oh? Who is this young lady?"
Laozi greeted them at the laboratory. He let out a curious sound upon seeing the Automata Reiko was carrying.
"Ah, this is an Automata I found at the Keuwan Ruins. Her name is Anne. She’s quite damaged, so I intend to repair her. Prepare the workspace."
"Understood."
And so, the restoration of Anne began.
The first step was repairing her control core. This involved transferring every scrap of data Anne possessed into a newly prepared all-attribute magi-crystal.
"Trans Info."
Using the spell, Jin performed a perfect copy. It was a close call—the moment the process finished, the original control core split into four pieces.
"Whew, just in time. With the state it was in, there's a chance some of the data might be corrupted," Jin analyzed.
"Laozi, since there's room to spare, transfer the minimum necessary information regarding Hourai Island into her. Simultaneously, back up everything Anne knows."
"Understood."
Through this, Laozi obtained valuable records from the era of the Great Magic War. At the same time, Anne was granted the baseline knowledge required to serve under Jin.
"My Lord, approximately twenty percent of the information is incomplete," Laozi reported after scanning the data. This was as Jin had expected.
"I see. Try to restore as much as possible. I don't mind if it takes time."
"Understood."
Leaving the data processing to Laozi, Jin proceeded with the physical restoration.
"Next is the replication process. I'll upgrade her materials while I'm at it."
He replaced her steel skeleton with light silver and her tattered muscle tissue with magical fiber, the same kind used for Reiko. For her skin, he prepared the wing membrane of a Sham Dragon.
While working, Jin noticed an unfamiliar material on a shelf.
"Laozi, what's this?"
"Yes, that is material harvested from a Sea Dragon."
"Ah, the one you mentioned before. I see... this will work."
Resuming his task, Jin moved to finish the repairs. He crafted her eyes from sapphire and crystal. He installed an ether converter, a mana driver, and a shield. He also fitted her with a manacam and gave her hair made of blue-dyed Ground Spider silk.
Once the installation of the muscle tissue was complete, all that remained was the Skinning. However, Jin hesitated.
"Making her exactly as she was is a bit..."
Jin was conflicted. The truth was, Anne possessed certain anatomical features that Reiko did not.
I wonder if she was used for 'that sort of thing' as well, he thought.
During the war, a female-type Automata in an army lacking women would have had certain roles. One could easily guess the potential uses.
"No, I'm definitely leaving that out."
Jin could not look at his Automata through such a lens. To him, they were daughters to be cherished, not objects of desire.
Finally, he addressed her attire. He dressed her in the same uniform as the Five-Colored Golem Maids: black, but without the white brim.
"Alright, it's finished. Wake up."
"Yes, Master," Anne said as she sat up.
"How is your body feeling?"
Anne stood up, marching in place and moving her arms to verify her range of motion.
"It feels very good. Thank you very much."
"Good. Wait there for a moment. Next—Reiko, come here."
"Yes, Father."
Jin called Reiko over.
"Reiko, you had a hard time against that Gigas, didn't you? I want to perform a full-body check and then reinforce you so something like that doesn't happen again. What do you think?"
"Yes, that is more than I could hope for. Please, do so."
The response was immediate. Jin nodded.
"Alright, I understand."
Jin ordered Reiko to Stand Still and performed a meticulous inspection. When he finished, he frowned.
"This is..."
A significant number of components were damaged. There was a slight distortion in the skeleton of her right leg, and the magical muscles in both arms showed signs of tearing. While her thoracic cavity was fine, the ether converter and mana driver had slightly deteriorated. As expected, the 200% output had put an unreasonable strain on her systems.
"This is going to require a comprehensive overhaul. And I'll need to have a word with her later," Jin muttered as he set to work.
First, he reviewed her entire design, incorporating improvements he had realized while studying Anne's structure.
He crafted her skeleton from adamantite, utilizing a hollow, sponge-like core structure to achieve both lightness and extreme strength. For her muscles, he used a composite fiber made of conventional magical fiber and Sea Dragon skin processed into strands.
As long as mana circulated through it, Sea Dragon skin hardly deteriorated, and its explosive power was triple that of standard magical fiber. However, since it was difficult to control, the composite material was the better choice. For her skin, he used Sea Dragon wing membrane, which was twice as durable as the Sham Dragon equivalent.
Thanks to these materials, Reiko's total weight actually decreased by 15 percent. Dragon-species materials were truly formidable.
"Yes, this is exactly what I hoped for. Now I can increase the output."
Jin added a second set of ether converters and mana drivers. Effectively, Reiko's base output was now doubled.
"Even with this, it feels a bit precarious against something like the Gigas."
Then, Jin set to work on the final improvement he had been contemplating since that battle: an output boost. Without Elradrite, he had to innovate. He came up with a concept similar to a capacitor.
While Jin wasn't an electrical expert, he understood that a capacitor could store power temporarily. He intended to equip Reiko with a super-high-performance version of a mana tank. This would also be vital for their journey south, where free ether was reportedly scarce.
Theoretically, she could now produce a momentary burst of 1000% output. He couldn't imagine a situation where she would actually need it, but it was there.
"I'll use the weight I saved to accommodate these additions."
He finished the adjustments so that Reiko's weight was exactly 30 kilograms, reclaiming the weight she had gained during her previous modifications.
"Alright, Reiko. Wake up."
Jin explained the details of the upgrades to her.
"I understand. From now on, I will keep my usual output suppressed to three percent."
"Good. And how do you feel?"
"Yes, I feel incredibly light. Thank you very much, Father."
"Good. Then I have something to say to you. Sit down there."
"Yes?"
Jin had Reiko sit in the formal seiza style. Then, he delivered the lecture he had been preparing.
"Reiko, I'm happy that you fight for my sake. But you need to stop trying to solve everything with brute force. Do you understand?"
"Eh? I thought the reason you upgraded me so often was so that I could wield that power?"
"What...?" Jin held his head in his hands. The reinforcements he had performed for Reiko's own good had inadvertently turned her into a believer in overwhelming force. "That's not it. I only reinforced you because I didn't want you to get an injury—not even a small one. From now on, use your head more when you fight."
"Yes, I understand."
Since Reiko nodded obediently, Jin felt relieved.
Just as Jin, Reiko, and Anne were about to leave, Laozi spoke up.
"My Lord, I have a proposal."
"Hm? That's rare. What is it?"
"Now that My Lord's subordinates are increasing in number, there is a possibility that through some accident, they may fall into the hands of others."
Laozi's point was valid. Jin already had an inkling of what was coming, but he prompted Laozi to continue.
"Therefore, I propose adding a function to Erase information, just in case."
"I see."
The first thing that had flashed through Jin's mind was a self-destruct device, but this was much milder. He had no intention of installing explosives in the golems who were like his own children. Even the safety measure on Laozi was a destruction device that only Jin could activate, not a self-destruct mechanism.
Currently, without rare materials, no one could replicate the performance of Jin's golems. Even imitating Lotte was beyond most. However, the secrets of Hourai Island had to be protected at all costs.
"Alright, Laozi. Proceed with that plan."
"Understood."
Following this, Laozi began implementing security measures on all the subordinate golems.
Finally, Jin returned to Ikasanat. Having spent a considerable amount of time on Hourai Island, he felt as though he had only just closed his eyes when morning arrived.
"Good morning."
Jin rubbed his sleepy eyes as he headed to the dining room for breakfast.
"Good morning, Jin. Did you not sleep well? Your eyes are red," Reinhard noted.
Jin nodded, giving the excuse that he had lost track of time while thinking.
"Good morning, Jin-kun."
"Good morning, Elsa."
The three of them began their meal.
"What's the schedule for today?" Jin asked.
"I'll go handle the paperwork," Reinhard replied. "I can do that alone, so you and Elsa can spend the day as you like."
At that moment, the dining room door opened, and a man dressed in military attire walked in. The man looked around restlessly until his eyes landed on their table, and he strode over.
"Elsa, it's been a long time!"
Before she could even respond, he pulled Elsa into a tight embrace.
"Big brother!?" Elsa cried out in surprise.
"Yeah, that's right. Has it been two years? You've become quite the beauty, Elsa. I'm glad to see you're doing well."