Jin and his companions left Banyu and headed west along the highway. They stopped for a slightly early lunch in the town of Crowas before arriving in Hatata later that day to stay for the night.
They were covering about forty kilometers a day, but since they were already within his homeland, Reinhard was in no hurry. If anything, he seemed reluctant for the journey to end.
Despite how much he had wanted to return to his country as quickly as possible when they were stuck in Asunt, humans could be quite fickle creatures.
Hatata sat at a junction where several highways intersected, making it a bustling hub of activity for a provincial town. The spring sun was still high in the sky, so Reinhard gave Jin a tour of the town, with Reiko following silently behind them.
"Unlike Banyu, there are a lot more single-story buildings here," Jin noted.
In Banyu, they had seen a scattering of two-story houses, but here in Hatata, single-story homes were the standard. The roofs had very short eaves, making them look oddly small to Jin’s eyes. The windows were also notably small.
"Yeah. There’s plenty of land and the population is low, so there’s no real need to bother with a second floor," Reinhard explained.
"I suppose that makes sense."
Even though the town saw a high volume of travelers due to the crossroads, the town itself was large enough that the crowds dispersed, leaving the streets looking rather quiet.
"It doesn't rain much around here. Banyu was close to the Divide River, so water was plentiful, but in this area, you have to dig an incredibly deep well before you hit water."
Hearing that, Jin understood why the roofs were so small. In a place like Japan where rain was frequent, roofs were large and eaves were deep to redirect the water.
"Ah, so that's why it feels so dusty."
The windows were small to prevent the dust from blowing inside.
"Pretty much. And one more thing... don't expect too much from the local cuisine," Reinhard added with a disappointed sigh.
They finished their tour and returned to the inn around four in the afternoon.
"Welcome back!"
The inn was a rare two-story building. True to the town's character, the grounds were expansive and featured a large garden.
"Welcome back. I'll bring your susugi right away!"
Atashi, the girl working as the entrance attendant, greeted them with a cheerful voice.
Susugi was a local custom where travelers were provided with water and towels to wipe the dust off their faces, hands, and feet upon returning from the outside.
A well had been dug next to the inn's spacious entrance hall, equipped with a pulley and a bucket for drawing water.
"Heave... ho..."
Watching Atashi draw water, Jin was reminded of his time in Kaina Village. It was the sight of Hanna working so hard to draw water that had originally inspired him to build a pump.
Hanna had been eight years old then. The girl drawing water now looked to be around twelve or thirteen. Jin watched her work idly.
"Ah, oh no!"
Her hand must have slipped while she was pulling the rope. The pulley began to spin at a terrifying speed, followed shortly by a loud splash from deep within the well.
When drawing water with a bucket and pulley, if your hand slips even once, the bucket's weight pulls it into a freefall that is almost impossible to stop by hand. Sure enough, when Atashi reflexively tried to grip the rope, her palms were left red and scraped.
"I-I'm sorry! I'll draw more right away!"
Despite her injury, she reached for the rope again. Jin watched as she struggled to pull the bucket back up. It took a significant amount of time, confirming just how deep the well was, exactly as Reinhard had said.
"Sorry for the wait. Here is your susugi."
She offered them a bucket of water and clean towels. Jin and Reinhard accepted them without a word and wiped the dust from their faces, necks, hands, and feet.
"Thank you. That feels much better," Reinhard said, handing the girl a tip.
"Th-thank you very much!"
Seeing the joy on her face as she accepted the coin, Jin realized he didn't have any local currency on him. Instead, he reached out.
"Let me see your hands for a moment."
He took her hands in his.
"Cure."
Using healing magic, the red, oozing scrapes on her palms vanished instantly.
"Ah... thank you! Thank you so much!"
The girl bowed deeply, her face beaming with gratitude, before picking up the water bucket and heading off.
Their room was a large suite with separate sleeping quarters for each guest. Jin, Reinhard, Mattheus, and Reinhard's steward, Claude, were all sharing the same unit.
With a specific plan in mind, Jin sought out Reinhard.
"What is it, Jin?"
"I want to talk to you about something."
Jin described the pump he had previously built. It was already a common sight in the Klein Kingdom, but Reinhard hadn't seen one before.
"Such a device exists?! I’m incredibly interested. Let me help!"
He was more than enthusiastic.
Jin and Reinhard went together to speak with the inn owner.
"Your well is quite deep. Wouldn't you be interested in a tool that makes drawing water much easier?"
Between Jin's pitch and the fact that Reinhard’s name was famous in the Shouro Empire as the creator of the Schwarzritter, the owner agreed to commission the pump on the spot.
"Jin, do we have enough time for this?"
"Yeah. The days are long enough."
After that exchange, Jin ordered his golem, Steward, to fetch materials.
"Yes, Master."
Steward replied briefly and walked off. Reinhard leaned in and whispered to Jin.
"That golem... his performance is far beyond what his appearance suggests, isn't it?"
It was a sharp observation from Reinhard, who had spent enough time with Jin to recognize the quality of his craftsmanship.
"Well, yeah. I should have known you'd notice."
Steward returned quickly. He had found some bronze ornaments that could serve as raw material. There were three bizarre, avant-garde pieces, weighing about 120 kilograms in total. It was more than enough.
"Aren't these works by Tenkunhan?" Reinhard asked, tilting his head.
"Who’s that?"
"You probably wouldn't know him, Jin. He was a craftsman who was popular for a while, but people lost interest. Nobody really knows what happened to him."
"...I'll put them to good use."
After pressing his hands together in a brief prayer of apology to the artist, Jin used Fusion and Homogenize to quickly transform the ornaments into uniform ingots.
"Impressive as always," Reinhard remarked.
"Now, the real work starts."
Jin set out to construct a deep-well pump. The well here was approximately ten meters deep.
A standard suction pump relies on atmospheric pressure. Theoretically, such a pump can only lift water about ten meters; in practice, that limit is usually seven to eight meters. Therefore, a deep well required a different approach.
Jin chose an underwater suction pump for this project due to its ease of construction and maintenance.
"Reinhard, I need you to make the pipes. I’ll adjust the final fit, so just aim for an inner diameter of eight centimeters. I need ten meters of it."
"You got it."
Jin utilized the same basic mechanics as his previous pump but increased the precision of the piston and cylinder. He also designed a much longer handle for greater leverage and a series of long rods.
"Reiko, Steward, help me with the installation."
"As you wish, Father."
"Yes."
Because the pipes were so long, they were quite heavy. Steward, who weighed over 200 kilograms, was perfectly suited for the manual labor.
"I’ll explain the mechanics to you properly in a bit," Jin told Reinhard as he began the installation.
The primary difference between this and a standard pump was the location of the unit. For a deep well, the pump body is submerged at the bottom. This is known as an underwater cylinder system.
By doing this, the mechanism 'lifts' the water from below rather than 'sucking' it from above. As long as you have enough physical force, you can lift water from any depth. However, this system only works in a dug well, not a narrow driven well.
"Okay, right there. Hold it steady... Fusion."
The pipes were fused together. He attached the pump piston to the long rod and connected the assembly to the handle.
"Father, I will hold this side for you."
With Reiko’s superhuman strength assisting, the work progressed rapidly. Despite it being his first time installing a deep-well system, they finished in about fifteen minutes.
"Alright, the piston and cylinder are sliding perfectly."
Jin tested the handle and nodded with satisfaction. He looked around at the crowd that had gathered. Word had spread that a foreign magi engineer was working on something unusual, drawing in off-duty employees and curious guests.
Among the crowd, Jin spotted the girl from the entrance.
"Ah, there you are. Come here for a second."
Jin beckoned to her. She stepped forward, looking a bit nervous.
"Y-Yes? Did you need me...?"
Jin gave her a reassuring smile.
"That's right. Listen, try moving this handle up and down like this."
Because lifting water from such a depth requires significant force, the handle on this pump was much longer than the ones in Kaina Village to provide better leverage.
"Like this...?"
Atashi slowly moved the handle up and down. After twenty or thirty strokes, the handle grew heavier. Just as she felt the resistance, water began gushing out of the spout.
"Ah!"
The girl gasped in surprise, followed by a chorus of "Ooh!" and "Wow!" from the onlookers.
"There we go, it's a success. You'll be able to get water much more easily now."
Jin smiled and reached out to pat Atashi on the head.