Breakfast was served around 7:30 the next morning. For royalty and nobility, this was likely considered quite early.
Hanna had been awake since 5:30, rolling around restlessly on her bed. Since Jin was also an early riser, he spent the morning keeping her company once he woke up. "Keeping her company" mostly amounted to tying her hair into pigtails.
Elsa woke up shortly after 6:00, opening the curtains to let in the morning light. Since everyone was finally up, the three of them went to the washroom together to freshen up.
As they stepped into the hallway, they found an automata standing guard.
"GOOD MORNING."
The automata offered a greeting, though Jin noted that its vocal functions had degraded slightly.
The washroom was located at the end of the corridor, and they had no trouble finding it. While washing his face, Jin happened to glance out the window and noticed an automata drawing water from a well with a pulley.
"Its movements are looking a bit stiff, too..."
He felt a twinge of sympathy, wondering if the Klein Kingdom was suffering from a severe labor shortage. Just then, a lively voice called out from behind them.
"Oh, Jin and the others are awake! Good morning!"
It was Princess Lieschen. She was dressed in a glossy, thin nightgown—likely silk. The weave was dense enough that it wasn't transparent.
Though accompanied by an elderly maid, the princess washed her own face and rinsed her mouth. After drying herself with a towel provided by the maid, she began brushing her hair.
Jin noticed a mirror in the washroom, but it was slightly warped and had lost its luster over the years.
"『Forming』. 『Surface Treatment』."
He cast his magic, and the mirror instantly became pristine. The princess was absolutely delighted.
"Ho! A magi craftman is truly a marvelous thing! Our kingdom must focus on training more of them."
She was already pondering matters of national administration. Meanwhile, Jin turned back to his apprentice.
"Elsa, Forming might seem simple, but it’s actually quite profound. The simpler the shape, the more important the mental image becomes. A mirror, for instance, must be perfectly flat."
"Mm. I understand," Elsa replied, taking in the lecture.
Hanna began trotting back toward their guest room, but the princess called out to stop her.
"Wait, Hanna, was it? Come to my room. I shall give you something wonderful."
"Eh? Princess, you're going to give me something?"
"Indeed. Now, come along."
The princess spoke to Hanna, then informed Jin and Elsa that she would be "borrowing their little sister" before leading her away by the hand. Hanna followed along in high spirits, delighted to be led by the princess. She likely didn't realize just how extraordinary it was to spend time with royalty in such a casual manner.
When they returned to the room, Jin mentioned this to Elsa.
"Whenever I'm with Jin-nii, my common sense is destroyed," she remarked. It didn't sound like a compliment no matter how one heard it, and Jin, possessing at least a little self-awareness, could only manage a wry smile.
"Father, these are the materials that have arrived."
Seeing that their conversation had hit a lull, Reiko presented the supplies Jin had requested the previous night. They were packed in ordinary-looking leather bags. Even if someone asked where they came from, it would look perfectly natural to claim she had been carrying them under her coat all along.
Jin checked the contents. Everything he needed was there.
"Onii-cha—n!"
Just then, Hanna returned. When Jin saw her walk through the door, he was stunned into silence.
"Ehehe, how do I look?"
Hanna was wearing a glittering dress, presumably provided by the princess.
"It is one of my old ones, but what do you think? It suits her, does it not?" the princess asked, entering behind her.
Hanna's chestnut hair, now freed from the pigtails Jin had tied, was adorned with a silver hair ornament shaped like a flower. The dress was a light pink—apparently the princess's favorite color—and was decorated with delicate lace and frills. A large ribbon at the chest served as a cute accent. She even wore pure white, elbow-length gloves, making her look like a tiny noblewoman.
"It suits you perfectly. You look very cute, Hanna."
At Jin's praise, Hanna beamed with a wide, joyful smile.
"That dress belongs to Hanna now, so she should keep it," the princess said during breakfast. "It is far too small for me to wear, in any case."
"Yeah! Princess, thank you so much!"
Hanna was overjoyed, and seeing her reaction made the princess's expression soften. As the youngest child of the royal family, she seemed unable to help doting on the even younger Hanna. Since she rarely had the chance to interact so closely with commoners, this was likely a precious experience for her as well.
"Well then, it's time I put my heart into these repairs."
Once they finished their meal, Jin informed the princess that he was ready to begin.
"Your Highness, please summon all the automata working here. And I’ll need the materials I requested yesterday."
He also requested a room to use as a workshop. The princess nodded and led him to a modest room of about ten tatami mats, where the local materials he had requested were piled in a corner.
"Will this room suffice?"
A large, sturdy table had been provided, so Jin agreed it would be perfect.
"Elsa, stay by my side and help. Hanna, what will you do?"
"Hanna... I shall look after her myself," the princess offered.
Jin gratefully accepted. Since he was going to be using high-quality materials brought from Hourai Island, it was actually better if the princess wasn't watching too closely.
"I leave it in your hands, then."
The princess seemed to trust Jin completely, as she left him without any guards or observers.
There were eleven automata in total working at the detached palace, including Tia.
"Alright, let's start with Tia."
"Yes, please."
Jin laid Tia on the table and put her into Stand Still. This time, he removed all of her clothing.
"...Ah..."
Elsa let out a small gasp and blushed. Just like Anne, Tia had been crafted with realistic female features. Jin avoided commenting on that aspect and proceeded to disassemble her. He stripped away the magical skin and took apart the external plating.
"As I thought, she's in rough shape."
"Mm. Everything looks so worn out."
Since Elsa had witnessed the creation of Lotte back in Blue Land, she wasn't unsettled by the sight.
"Yeah. Her skeleton is warped and rusted."
The frame was made of steel, much like Anne's, but it was covered in red rust, and the parts corresponding to her shins were slightly bent.
"I'd like to use light silver, but since I can't explain where that came from, I'll go with stainless steel."
Jin had Reiko take out chromium and nickel from the Hourai Island supply bag. He had specifically ordered these for this very purpose.
"Elsa, watch closely. This is chromium, and this is nickel. When you mix these into steel, you get an alloy called stainless steel."
While explaining, Jin slowly fused the metals with Tia's steel frame using Alloying magic. He corrected the warps and misalignments with Forming and applied a coating of adamantite to the sliding joints.
"That's the skeleton done. Next are the muscles."
The princess had provided sandworm hide, a specialty of the Shouro Empire. Due to the distance, it was quite expensive here, so the quantity was small. However, Jin had already anticipated this and had prepared a large amount of Hourai Island's magical fiber. Combining the two would produce excellent results.
"By twisting these thin fibers together, they become more supple and much stronger."
Jin replaced the magical muscles while explaining the process. Elsa watched his hands with rapt attention, trying to commit every movement to memory.
"There we go. More than half of them were failing."
"I think it's amazing that Jin-nii can finish that in fifteen minutes," Elsa said.
"Ahaha..."
Next were the magi-devices, including the control core. This was the part he hadn't been able to finish the previous day due to the lack of magi-crystals. He replaced the degraded magi-crystals and, although he didn't expect any more trouble from Unifilar, he took the liberty of installing countermeasures against Master-Slave Rewrite Magic.
He resealed the magi-devices into a mithril casing and packed the surrounding space with Gula Schwamm sponge for shock absorption. Since this was a bulky material that was available locally, he was glad the princess had been able to procure it.
He also replaced the vocal magi-devices with brand-new ones. He planned to take the old control core back to Hourai Island for further analysis; there was always the chance of discovering something new.
"This should keep her running for twenty or thirty years without needing another overhaul."
He had made numerous improvements to ensure she wouldn't degrade during her daily chores.
As he reassembled the exterior, he performed Surface Treatment on the plating to remove every trace of rust. Finally, it was time for the magical skin. He replaced it with the Hourai Island version. While he kept the color the same, he agonized over what to do with the "details."
Knowing the princess used to nurse from her, he decided to leave the nipples on the breasts. Inside the breasts was a tank meant for storing milk; considering she might be used as a wet nurse for someone else in the future, he refurbished that system as well.
He was impressed to find a Cleanup magi-formula engraved inside the tank to prevent spoilage.
"But Cleanup isn't quite enough on its own."
While effective, it wasn't perfect. Spoilage couldn't be prevented entirely by the Cleanup spell, which only separated impurities. Thus, Jin added his original Sterilization magi-formula as well.
"As for the rest..."
The issue was the lower abdomen. After much internal debate, he decided to leave the original magical skin there, simply applying Reinforce to it rather than replacing it.
"Jin-nii, your face is red," Elsa pointed out.
Ignoring her, Jin finished the entire process in thirty minutes.
He dressed her and performed the Wake up command. Tia sat up, bowed deeply, and thanked him.
"Jin-sama, thank you very much. With this, I can return to my duties once more."
Jin nodded. "Tia, you're back to normal now. Actually, you should be even more capable than before. I'm counting on you to look after the princess."
Tia answered with a smile. "Yes, of course. Her Highness is my entire reason for being."
The remaining ten automata were more recent models. The seven that worked indoors were made in the Kingdom of Egerea, while the three working outside were from the Kingdom of Celuroa. Their magical skin hadn't degraded much, so a simple Reinforce was enough to ensure they lasted.
However, almost all of them had worn-down joints. Jin repaired these and applied an adamantite coating. Their skeletons were made of iron, so he added nickel and chromium to convert them into stainless steel. By the time he was finished, he had used up almost all the nickel and chromium he had brought.
"I see they don't have ether converters..."
Being modern models, they used mana tanks instead. When he wondered how they recharged their mana, he discovered a supply device located further past the washroom. When an automata's mana ran low, it would go there and replenish itself automatically.
"I have plenty of magical fiber left over, so I might as well strengthen them."
Jin reinforced their existing magical muscles. They should now be capable of about 1.5 times their original output. He replaced the magi-crystals for those with failing voices, using up almost his entire stock. He had only one crystal left, which he tucked into his pocket.
"Alright, that's everything."
He had called them in one by one, repeating the process until the final automata left the room.
"...Phew."
Elsa let out a weary sigh. She had been standing by Jin for two hours of non-stop work, so it was only natural she was tired.
"And finally..."
"There's more?" Elsa asked, sounding a bit exasperated.
"No, I just wanted to see what that mana supply device looks like."
Jin stepped into the hallway. The automata they passed bowed silently as he went by.
"Past the washroom... Ah, there it is."
It was a massive machine. Jin used Craft Magic to perform an Analyze on it.
"Hmm. The principle is similar to an ether converter, but I guess they can only manufacture them at this scale."
He didn't overhaul the whole thing, but he did make a few tweaks to several inefficient parts.
"There. That should boost its efficiency."
With that, Jin wore the satisfied expression of a job well done.