The pleasant days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the afternoon of June 10th, Reinhard, Berche, and Saki prepared to return to their respective homes in the Shouro Empire for the time being.
"I’ll leave the Warp Gate in Saki’s shed for now," Jin said. Saki nodded without a second thought.
"Yeah, that would be for the best."
"It’s close to my place, too, and hardly anyone visits her out there," Reinhard added with a nod.
"Heh, I’m not sure if I should be happy about my lack of visitors," Saki said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
"W-well, in this specific case, I think it’s a point in our favor..." Jin offered, trying to be supportive.
"Anyway, I'm just glad that as long as I have these glasses, I can visit Hourai Island whenever I want."
He had replaced the lenses of her glasses with magi-quartz.
Magi-quartz was the same material used for Reiko’s eyes and possessed a weak light-attribute. Its primary characteristic was that its refractive index could be altered with mana.
"I can see both near and far so clearly now. Honestly, I never dreamed a day like this would come."
In essence, they were a pair of magi-tech bifocals.
Since Saki was nearsighted, she only needed to increase the power when looking at a distance and decrease it when focusing on something close at hand. Though Saki’s mana capacity was low, she was more than capable of managing that small adjustment. She had grown accustomed to them almost immediately, and now she felt she couldn't spend a single moment without them.
＊ ＊ ＊
"What!?"
Upon returning home, Reinhard was stunned to learn that this year’s Technology Expo would be held in Koju, a town on the opposite shore of Banne. He had been certain the capital, Loizart, would be the host.
"I see, you were out of the country, so you hadn't heard," Reinhard’s father, Wolfgang, said with a look of mild surprise. "I assumed you would have been briefed in Loizart....Well, no matter. You’ll be participating, of course?"
"Yes. And Jin and Saki will be entering as well."
Wolfgang smiled and nodded.
"Understood. I’ll handle the applications for them myself. I’m looking forward to seeing what Jin-dono brings to the table."
"Oh, also, Jin will be bringing one assistant with him. Please include them in the application as well."
"An assistant?"
"An assistant."
Wolfgang refrained from prying any further, and Reinhard didn't volunteer any details about who that assistant might be.
"...And so, I’ve secured the entry slots for you, Elsa, and Saki."
Jin received the news later in Reinhard’s private room.
"I see, that’s a big help."
"So, Jin, what do you plan to exhibit?" Reinhard asked, sipping the tea Berche had brewed for them.
"You’ll have to wait for the reveal," Jin replied with a mischievous grin. "Reinhard, you're entering that boat, right?"
"Yeah, I’m planning to enter that paddleboat. All that’s left is to build the dedicated golems for it."
It seemed Reinhard had decided from the start to exhibit the paddleboat he had built on Hourai Island. To that end, he had made sure to construct it using materials that were commonly available in the Empire. Since the vessel was too large for conventional transport, Jin had promised to help move it secretly later.
"Ten days to go. I'll get to work on the golems, though only enough to keep Bell from getting angry at me for overworking."
Reinhard planned to build those in his own workshop.
"Right. Well, if anything comes up, feel free to rely on Hourai Island anytime."
After finishing his tea, Jin stood up.
"Jin, are you leaving already?"
"Yeah. I want to get started on my own exhibit, and I’d feel bad for intruding on newlyweds for too long."
"I-I see. Well then, when will you be back?" Reinhard asked, his face turning a slight shade of red.
"I'm planning for the 18th, tentatively."
Jin promised to return in eight days.
"Got it. I'll be looking forward to it, then."
With that, Jin and Reinhard parted ways for the time being.
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin inspected the Warp Gate installed inside the carriage at Saki’s house.
"Oh, Jin, heading back already?"
Saki had just stepped outside and spotted him.
"Yeah. I'm planning to come back on the 18th. Oh right, I heard from Reinhard that the applications for both of us have already been submitted."
"That’s good news. In that case, I’d better get my thesis finished."
Saki intended to submit the thesis regarding the nature of magic that she had been developing on Hourai Island. While a thesis was a modest entry compared to a physical invention, the lack of new magical theories was considered a significant problem, and few people ever submitted them.
"I'm writing it under the title 'On the Function of Craft Magic and Mana.' I might drop by to ask you some questions if I hit a wall."
"Sure, come by whenever you like. You're part of the family now, Saki."
"Heh, that’s good to hear. Well then, Jin, until next time."
"Yeah, see you."
Jin first warped to the intermediate base, Shinkai.
The Warp Gate at Shinkai was a highly specialized model. While standard Warp Gates operated on a one-to-one basis for sending and receiving, the unit at Shinkai was multi-compatible.
The secret lay in its Link cores.
While a Link core usually connects two Warp Gates in a fixed pair, the Warp Gate at Shinkai possessed several of them. By switching to the Link core corresponding to a specific destination, it could receive and send transfers across multiple different gates.
"This system is highly reliable, so I suppose it’s fine as it is."
Jin had once considered making it possible to switch between destinations by simply shifting frequencies, but he had experienced firsthand how disastrous things could be if the calibration was even slightly off. For him, prioritizing reliability was the only logical choice.
That aside, once Jin arrived back on Hourai Island, he called for Anne.
"Yes, Master."
Jin asked Anne several technical questions. Then, with Reiko and Anne acting as his assistants, he began the construction of a complex magic tool.
"Right, place the pump there..."
"Make sure the seal is completely airtight."
"This part right here is the heart of the machine."
Once the primary mechanism was mostly complete, he prepared a massive quantity of Ground Spider silk. He used his original Craft Magic, Dissolute, to unify the fibers into a single mass, then used Forming to roll it into thin sheets and shape it into a large bag.
Nearby, Elsa was lost in thought. Jin had encouraged her to come up with her own exhibit for the Expo.
"Hmm, if I put this here, like this..."
She was clearly in the middle of a process of trial and error. Viewing it as a vital part of her training, Jin decided to let her struggle on her own until she chose to ask for help.
＊ ＊ ＊
"All right, they're finished!"
Meanwhile, back in his own workshop, Reinhard had completed his golems.
"Dear, did you make two of them?" Berche asked, having brought tea and snacks for his break. She looked curiously at the completed units.
"Yeah, these two are 'Twins.'"
"Twins, you say?"
"Yes. They’ll each take charge of one of the paddlewheels—left and right. I struggled to synchronize their movements at first, but the 'mana linkage' I learned on Hourai Island made it work perfectly."
Reinhard had clearly been making his own share of progress as an engineer.
"And what will you name them?"
"Names, huh... Why don't you name them, Bell?" Reinhard said with a smile.
After thinking for a moment, Berche spoke.
"How about Mac and Mick?"
Reinhard approved without a moment's hesitation.
"Yeah, those are perfect! All right, Mac and Mick it is!"