One hundred longswords and twenty multipurpose golems capable of withstanding combat.
"By swords, do you mean longswords? And what are the specifications for the golems?"
These were natural questions. Jin could not give a definitive answer without knowing specifically what he was expected to produce.
Chancellor Powell was the one who responded.
"Yes, we require longswords. We have samples available for your reference later."
The issue was the golems.
"What about their primary use and size?"
"Security will be their main purpose. You repelled the attackers today, Jin-dono, but we have far too few soldiers to deal with such ambushes. To begin with, our country..."
A brief explanation followed.
In the Klein Kingdom, only the Ritter Corps and the Royal Guard were professional soldiers, totaling approximately seven hundred. The entire army numbered less than four thousand. Given that the population of the Klein Kingdom was roughly one hundred thousand, this was their limit.
Jin assumed there was no lie in the figures he was given. However, the existence of secret agents was being kept hidden from him.
Laojun was aware of all fifty secret agents. It was a successful intelligence grab by the Quinta units.
"Given our national strength, our country has no surplus to invade other nations," the chancellor concluded.
If it was purely for defense, Jin had little resistance to the idea.
"As for size, something slightly larger than a person—say, around two meters. Besides security, it would be a great help if they could function as engineers."
Jin knew that the city walls of Tetrada were still in a state of collapse. The kingdom likely wanted to deploy the units to such locations for repairs.
He could also understand the need for swords. Jin had personally confiscated every weapon and piece of armor that had been present at the earlier scene.
"Lastly, regarding the reward: forty million Torus for the one hundred swords and twenty golems combined. If the quality is exceptional, we will add an extra ten million Torus. This is the absolute limit of what our country can offer."
Since the Klein Kingdom would provide all material costs, this was purely a labor fee. In that light, the price was roughly in line with the market rate.
Of course, the only "market rate" Jin actually knew was the price Count Kuzuma had paid for Lotte back in the Kingdom of Egerea.
"I should add that since we are making such a request of an Honorary Magi Craftman of the Kingdom of Egerea, we intend to follow proper etiquette, though it will be after the fact."
The chancellor explained that they planned to offer a formal explanation and apology to the Kingdom of Egerea, accompanied by diplomatic gifts.
"I accept."
Having his own reasons for agreeing, Jin took the contract on those terms.
"Oh, that is wonderful news!"
The King broke into a wide smile.
Princess Lieschen and Jessica, the Captain of the Royal Female Ritter Corps, could not hide their joy at the successful conclusion of the negotiations. Glenn, the Royal Ritter Commander, remained stoic, but he was relieved in his heart.
The details of the request were drafted onto two sheets of parchment, and both the chancellor and Jin signed them. Jin entrusted his copy to Reiko for safekeeping. It was safer in her hands than anywhere else.
Notably, Jin chose not to mention a deadline. He was confident he could finish much faster than they expected, and he had no intention of remaining away from Kaina Village any longer than necessary.
The chancellor was equally silent on the matter of the deadline, though his motivations were the polar opposite of Jin's.
He estimated the request would take at least a month to fulfill.
Secretly, the chancellor intended to use that month to deepen ties with the Kingdom of Egerea and, if possible, recruit Jin to their own side.
Furthermore, he had already factored in using Princess Lieschen as an envoy for that purpose while simultaneously arranging her marriage to the Third Prince of Egerea, Ernest. One might well call his schemes underhanded, but it was all for the sake of the kingdom.
However, he did not know that the magi craftman—no, the Magi Craft Meister—named Jin was the type of person who would unconsciously shatter such schemes without a second thought.
"Um, are the materials ready?"
Having been told to settle the remaining details with the chancellor, Jin headed to the workshop on the first floor of the castle. It had been designated for his exclusive use until the work was finished, and he had even been given the key.
This was normally where equipment for the soldiers and ritters was maintained. However, since the kingdom could not provide gear for everyone from this one shop, most soldiers procured their own. Consequently, the shop was currently empty of personnel despite having the space.
The kingdom's shortage of human resources was apparent even here.
"Yes, I have ensured the materials I mentioned are available. You are free to use the current stock. The warehouse is in the basement; simply show this permit to the official in charge."
Believing the work would take a month, the chancellor handed Jin the permit with an air of calculated generosity.
Accepting it, Jin asked if there were any restrictions. The chancellor replied that there were none. He went so far as to say Jin could use whatever he liked, provided the contract was fulfilled.
As for his lodgings, the chancellor noted that by the grace of Her Highness Princess Lieschen, Jin was welcome to stay at the Detached Palace.
"I understand your sister and her companion are already staying there. Her Highness is delighted to have her boredom relieved. This permit will grant you entry and exit."
Jin accepted the permit for the Detached Palace. His business concluded, the chancellor turned to leave. "Well then, I leave it in your hands."
Jin called out to his back. "Ah, what should I do once everything is finished?"
The chancellor seemed to think the question was about where to put the finished products.
"There is an armory adjacent to the shop; please hand the swords over to the manager there. As for the golems... well, there is a normally vacant soldier's station at the end of the hallway. It would be a help if you could move them there."
Since Jin had forgotten to ask about that, he nodded. However, what he really wanted to know was:
"And after I'm done with all that?"
The chancellor thought Jin was getting ahead of himself, but he reconsidered, figuring there wouldn't be many more opportunities for Jin to speak with him directly.
"Her Highness Lieschen usually has quite a lot of time on her hands, so informing her would be the quickest way to conclude things."
Jin caught a hint in the chancellor's tone that he looked down on the Princess slightly. He said nothing, however.
"I understand."
Jin gave a simple acknowledgement, and this time, the chancellor truly departed.
"All right, Reiko. Let's start by gathering the materials."
Accompanied by Reiko, Jin headed for the basement warehouse. When he presented the permit, the official—who had clearly already been briefed—warmly invited Jin inside and told him to take whatever he needed.
"Okay, let's start with the metals. Four tons of steel. One kilo of adamantite. Five kilos of mithril... Oh, look, there's some niccolite in the corner. It's full of impurities, but it'll work."
Niccolite was the color of ore that looked as though it should yield copper, yet copper could not be separated from it. Instead, one was left only with arsenic and an unidentified metal.
It was an ore that was also mined on Hourai Island and had remained a mystery for a long time. It was no wonder the Klein Kingdom found it useless.
"They deserve credit just for not throwing it away," Jin muttered, adding it to his list of materials.
"Next, the magi-crystals."
Rummaging through another shelf, he secured sixty milky-white all-attribute crystals, twenty green wind-attribute crystals, and forty colorless light-attribute crystals.
"And then there's the muscle."
Searching a different shelf, a peculiar material caught his eye. He had a hunch just by looking at it, but he used Analyze to be sure. It was dragonic eel leather.
The dragonic eel was a massive, herbivorous eel with a head resembling a dragon. Large specimens could reach three meters in length. In the Klein Kingdom, they were caught in Lake Manuse to the east of Alban and Lake Cedrolia to the south.
The meat was fatty but edible, and quite delicious depending on the preparation. More importantly, the leather was naturally imbued with a small amount of mana and reacted to it, making it a common material for armor and magic tools.
There was some in stock on Hourai Island, so Jin was familiar with it.
Its quality as a material for magical muscle was somewhat better than sandworm leather, but far below ground spider silk.
Lastly, he gathered materials for the sword sheaths, guards, and hilts. The sheaths would be hard-tanned leather, the guards brass, and the hilts hardwood.
"All right, that should do it."
The materials were too bulky to move all at once, but with Reiko's strength, they finished the task in just a few trips. The warehouse official watched them, frozen in shock.
The time was approximately 4:00 PM.
"Now then, let's begin."
With Reiko as his assistant, Jin started by separating the nickel from the niccolite. Since the ore was far too bulky to move, he performed this task right there in the warehouse after getting permission from the official.
"Smelting."
From the roughly twenty tons of niccolite in the warehouse, he separated about 350 kilograms of nickel. He left the dangerous arsenic behind in the slag.
Steel mixed with 5.5 percent nickel is known as 5-half nickel steel; it offers improved low-temperature properties, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance.
Jin had Reiko carry out 233 kilograms of the nickel.
"Alloying."
The steel ingots and the nickel fused instantly, becoming a homogeneous mass. With this, he had 4.233 tons of 5-half nickel steel ready for use.
Jin began using this to form the skeletons of the golems.
He used the design base of the Hourai Island SP units as his template. Since he had been using a similar design for the Butler types recently, he was able to finish the first skeleton in no time.
"Hmm, that used 122 kilograms. Perfect."
Checking his measurements, Jin proceeded to build the remaining nineteen skeletons with the same momentum. Since the workshop had been declared off-limits, no one was there to witness his work. Perhaps it was a shame that there was no one to react to the spectacle.
If anyone had seen it, they might have doubted their own eyes. Jin's production speed was nothing short of abnormal. Naturally, the work included applying an adamantite coating to the joints.
The phenomenon of adamantite being subjected to Forming was a sight rarely seen by human eyes, and it was a pity no one was there to watch.
Still, the preparation of the materials had taken time, and by the time he finished the twenty skeletons, it was 5:00 PM.
"Let's do the rest tomorrow."
Jin locked up the workshop and returned to the Detached Palace. The automata at the entrance, whom Jin had repaired, guided him inside.
At the palace, Hanna, Elsa, and Princess Lieschen were playing together. There was one more person with them: Gloria.
"Ah, welcome back!"
"Welcome back, Jin-nii. You must be tired."
"Oh, Jin, you have returned! This 'sugoroku' is quite fascinating!"
"Jin-dono, welcome home."
It was indeed sugoroku. Elsa had apparently remembered the rules from the time they had played to pass the time in the Kingdom of Egerea.
Elsa had used her newly learned Craft Magic to create the pieces and dice. The Princess used the red piece, Hanna yellow, Elsa green, and Gloria blue.
"It can be played with any number of people, and I like that the course and the squares can be changed every time. Most of all, the rules are simple."
The Princess seemed to have grown quite competitive over the game.
"Now that Jin is back... Oh, it is already past five o'clock."
"It will be time for dinner soon," the Princess said, standing up.
Dinner consisted of wheat porridge seasoned with herbs, sautéed meat and vegetables, fish baked in a pastry similar to pie crust, a soup of beans, vegetables, and bone marrow, venison steak, and a salad garnished with a variety of colorful vegetables.
"Is it truly acceptable for me to join you?" Gloria asked humbly as she ate.
"Think nothing of it. It is not a grand menu, so do not let it trouble you," the Princess replied with a laugh.
Certainly, it might have been considered modest by royal standards, but to a commoner, it was a magnificent feast.
The after-dinner drink was warm ramonade—juice squeezed from ramon fruit and mixed with a sweetener.
"Wow, this is delicious!"
Hanna was delighted by the new flavor. Elsa had tasted it before and wasn't surprised, but her eyes crinkled as if it were a favorite of hers.
"Hmm, is this sweetened with honey?" Jin asked after taking a sip.
The Princess confirmed it was and looked toward Tia. Understanding the look, Tia stepped forward to explain.
"Yes. This drink is made from ramon juice diluted with honey. You have a keen palate, Jin-sama."
Jin couldn't exactly tell her it was because it tasted just like honey-lemon.
"Honey is a specialty of the Leonard Kingdom to the east and rarely appears on the market. Have you had it before?"
"He is an Honorary Magi Craftman of Egerea, after all. Such things are likely common for him," the Princess said. She took a sip of her ramonade and then turned to Gloria, prompting her to report on the fate of the bandits.