"Well then, thank you for everything."
"Yes, stay well."
In Koup, a town at the southern tip of the Celuroa Kingdom, the wealthy merchant Eckart Techles had just finished dismissing his lead magi craftman.
"Phew... I suppose it's back to square one."
Eckart's dream was to travel the world by ship.
And not just any ship—it was to be an ocean-going ship that would boast of being the largest in the world.
Building such a vessel, boarding it, and sailing across the globe was his life's ambition. He had been called a genius of commerce by the age of thirty, and every coin he had saved until now was for that singular purpose.
However, that dream had been wiped clean.
A business rival had subverted the site foreman Eckart had hired, plotting an act of sabotage. Despite his attempts to keep the project a secret, the information had leaked, and his competitor likely couldn't bear the thought of Eckart conducting trade with such a massive vessel.
But that plot had only been half-successful. This was thanks to the intervention of Jin and his companions, who had happened to be visiting at the time.
Normally, such an incident would have claimed the lives of the laborers and engineers, but not a single person had been killed or injured. On the contrary, the site foreman had been caught red-handed while tampering with the ship and apprehended on the spot.
From there, the names of his business rivals were exposed one after another, like a chain.
Fortunately or unfortunately, because there were no casualties thanks to the rescue efforts of Jin and the others, the punishment for the culprits was relatively light.
The business rival who masterminded the plot had his assets confiscated and was given a severe banishment, driven out of Koup entirely.
As for the magi craftman who had served as the site foreman, it was discovered that he had been coerced into the sabotage because his family had been taken hostage, so his sentence was significantly reduced.
Nevertheless, because he had accepted a small bribe of money and goods, he was still sentenced to banishment. The fact that his personal assets were not confiscated was his only saving grace.
Banishment meant being forced to move to a land where one had no foundation for living. He was forbidden from staying within a hundred kilometers of Koup, a harsh decree indeed.
In practical terms, he had to travel further north than Mount Lawei, which towered over the region.
"Well, a man with his skills can make a living anywhere."
A magi craftman could find decent work no matter where they went. As for the rival merchant... Eckart no longer had any interest in him.
＊ ＊ ＊
"..."
Eckart stood in the shipbuilding dock he had constructed within his estate.
It was empty now, but until very recently, a massive, half-finished ship had sat there.
He had been compensated with the confiscated assets of his rival, but money wasn't the issue. The problem was that the ship, which had been within six months of completion, had been completely destroyed.
In the end, it was Reiko who had demolished it beyond repair, but Eckart did not hold it against her. She had prioritized saving human lives, and above all, Jin and his group had ensured that everyone survived.
"Moreover, my own life was in danger. It would be asking for divine punishment to blame them after they saved me."
Muttering this to himself, Eckart turned his back on the dock.
"Master."
"Hmm? What is it?"
When Eckart returned to the main house, his Butler hurried over to meet him.
"Two people calling themselves magi craftmen are here, sir. They are asking to be hired."
"What! Show them to the small parlor immediately!"
Joy flooded Eckart's face. Now that he had dismissed his foreman, he was desperately in need of talented magi craftmen.
The Butler immediately guided the pair into the small parlor where Eckart waited.
"My name is Altaf."
"And I am Gena."
One was a sturdy man in his late twenties, and the other was a woman in her twenties. They introduced themselves as a married couple.
"I am Eckart. What kind of work are you two capable of?"
Altaf spoke for them both.
"Well, we can handle just about anything, but I specialize in large-scale construction, while my wife is better at delicate, intricate work."
"Hoho, that is encouraging indeed."
Eckart felt that these two were somewhat unearthly, perhaps even detached from the mundane world, but those thoughts vanished with Altaf's next words.
"We have an assistant golem, so our work is quite efficient."
"What!"
Very few magi craftmen used a golem as an assistant. Without exception, those who did were masters of their craft.
"I will be honest. We heard that Master Eckart was building a massive ship, and that is why we sought you out."
The rumors of the accident and the rival's plot had already spread through Koup to the point where it was impossible to deny. But if talented magi craftmen were coming to him because of it, then it was a turn of luck he would gladly welcome.
"Then, could you show me this golem?"
Eckart said he would make his final decision after seeing it. In response, Gena stood up and went to fetch the golem they had left waiting outside.
"We couldn't very well bring a golem inside the parlor without warning, after all," Altaf added. Eckart nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for waiting."
Before long, Gena returned, leading the golem.
"Oh..."
Eckart caught his breath. The golem was only about 160 centimeters tall, but it was finished in a matte silver-gray and possessed human-like proportions.
Normally, a golem's build was dictated by its function. Combat models were burly, while those for boat racing had reinforced arms. However, the golem standing before Eckart was so well-made that if it were dressed in clothes and its face covered, it could easily be mistaken for a human.
"Seeing this is enough to prove your skill. I must be the one to ask—please, by all means, join my project."
Thus, a contract was signed, and Altaf, Gena, and their single golem became the newest members of Eckart's staff.
"Hmm, I'm a bit concerned about the structural strength here..."
At that moment, Altaf and Gena were reviewing the ship's blueprints.
"...Do you really think so?"
"Yes. Especially the hull bottom."
Eckart recalled what his guest, Jin, had said about the hull bottom a few days prior. Since two magi craftmen from a different background were now pointing out the same flaw, he decided it was best to implement their suggestions.
"Shall we revise it, then? Do you have any specific ideas?"
"Yes. We should add structural members here and increase the number of partitions. These partitions will significantly improve the overall strength..."
Eckart also remembered another magi craftman named Reinhard mentioning that the interior of the ship should be finely partitioned.
"I see. I will leave that in your hands."
As a result of the revised design, while the external silhouette remained unchanged, the projected weight increased from the initial 240 tons to 300 tons.
"It's going to be quite heavy."
"But you cannot trade safety for anything else, Master."
"That is true, but..."
"Perhaps we can compensate for it with the propulsion system. What do you intend to use?"
"Yes, we will use a combination of wind and magic."
Eckart explained that this was an idea his previous magi craftman had devised, and he began to detail the plan to the pair.
＊ ＊ ＊
"I see! I never would have thought of that!"
The one who uttered those words was Jin.
In truth, Altaf and Gena were Quinta units sent by Jin. Altaf was Regulus 50, and Gena was Deneb 30. Naturally, the golem they had brought with them was Smith 40.
Jin had decided to provide secret support because he felt responsible for the ship's destruction—even if it had been necessary—and because he liked Eckart's character.
That aside, Jin was genuinely impressed by the novelty of the propulsion method.
"Wind magic has no recoil. That means if you blow it against a set sail, the ship will move forward..."
As Jin had verified before, standard magic in this world was accompanied by an effect that canceled out reaction forces.
To use a simple analogy: if you sit on a sailboat and try to blow into the sails with a hand fan, the boat won't move. This is because the backward push on the person holding the fan and the forward push on the sail from the wind cancel each other out.
However, Jin's research showed that wind and water magic were designed to apply no reaction force to the caster. Usually, that meant the "wind" didn't push back on the caster.
By removing that specific "recoil-canceling" part of the spell's structure, Jin had created the Magi Jet Engine.
But such modifications were beyond most people. Paradoxically, the engineer of this ship had used standard magic—which has no recoil—to blow wind against the sails. Because the "fan" (the spell) didn't push the ship backward, but the wind it created pushed the sails forward, the ship would move.
"What a waste. To have that kind of ingenuity and yet lend a hand to sabotage."
It was a method that neither Jin nor Reinhard had considered. The two of them had speculated that a tail-fin-like propulsion device might be attached to the stern instead.
"My Lord, there are still many areas where he needs advice," Laojun communicated via the link. "Navigation, scurvy prevention for long voyages, and backup propulsion systems, to name a few."
"You're right. Let's have them suggest those things naturally, little by little."
"Understood."
With Jin's silent support, Eckart successfully completed his dream ship four months later.