It was the morning of October 13th when urgent news reached Magiroots Village.
‘Her Majesty Gerhardt Hilde von Rubiss Shouro is making an imperial progress!’
"Haaaah?"
The village chief’s eyes rolled back in shock, while Felix, the tax collector, turned pale as a sheet.
This was entirely the result of the messenger pigeon he had sent two days prior. He had sent a letter stating, ‘A visit from the Magi Craft Meister, Lord Jin Nidou,’ but he never dreamed it would lead to a situation like this. He hadn't realized that the Empress placed such extreme importance on a Magi Craft Meister.
"...Surely, she won't find out..."
The truth was that the tax collector, Felix Becker, had conspired with the village chief to embezzle a portion of the tax revenue. The amount was small—the kind of sum that nearly any tax collector might skim—but fraud was fraud. If it were discovered, they wouldn't escape punishment.
Felix clutched his head in despair. He had intended to earn points by being the first to report information on a state-certified Magi Craft Meister, only for his plan to backfire spectacularly. However, he was merely a victim of his own paranoia; the Empress was coming solely because she wanted to see Jin.
Aside from Felix’s panic, Jin himself was feeling a bit exasperated.
"...Her Majesty is way too light on her feet."
Jin muttered the words to himself, wondering if it was really appropriate for the Empress of a nation to head out to such a remote area on a whim. Elsa overheard and offered a follow-up.
"Her Majesty has always been like that. She loves regional tours."
Elsa explained further to Jin. "Since she took the throne, there has been at least one imperial progress to the provinces every year. Sometimes as many as six."
"I see."
Jin recalled that the Emperor of Japan performed similar tours back on Earth.
"Even so, for her to come all the way here..."
"Mm. Because Jin-nii is here."
"I guess so..."
Jin didn't dislike her—in fact, he respected her character—but the vast gulf in their social standing made for a stifling level of formality that he found tiresome.
A little after noon, the imperial carriage arrived at Magiroots Village accompanied by a platoon of twenty-five royal ritters.
A herald on horseback had arrived an hour earlier to announce them, so all the villagers who were free—effectively the entire population—had come out to welcome the Empress.
"Her Majesty the Empress of the Shouro Empire has arrived!"
As the announcement echoed, the door of the imperial carriage swung open, and the Empress stepped out.
"Your reception is appreciated. Everyone, raise your heads."
When Jin raised his head from his deep bow, he saw the Empress smiling brightly.
"Magi Craft Meister, Lord Jin Nidou."
The Empress walked right up to Jin. "It has been some time. I am glad to see you looking well."
"It has been a while, Your Majesty," Jin replied, using the most formal language he could manage. However, the Empress seemed dissatisfied with his stiff tone.
"Oh, I hate that... Listen, everyone: this is not the Imperial Palace. While I don't expect you to act exactly as you usually do, please strive to behave as normally as possible."
She issued this unconventional instruction with a wave of her hand.
"Your Majesty..."
The man who spoke in a weary voice was Degauss Fruit von Manischras, the Magic Technology Minister, a man distinguished by a prominent aquiline nose. It seemed he had come along to serve as both an advisor and a guard.
"Degauss, I have no intention of disregarding decorum entirely, but placing too much weight on formality only leads to a decrease in efficiency, wouldn’t you agree?"
"Haa... I understand what you are saying, but..."
Degauss understood she was talking about rigid ceremonies and procedures. However, those things were meant to project the dignity and weight of a ruler; they couldn't be called entirely meaningless. The Magic Technology Minister sighed inwardly.
As for Jin, he welcomed anything that meant he didn't have to worry about social graces, so he was pleased by the Empress's words.
"...And so, Jin-kun, it's been a long time."
Once the initial excitement had settled, Jin sat with the Empress inside a tent set up on the outskirts of the village. Present were the Empress, her secretary, Degauss, and a female knight serving as a guard. Jin and Elsa were there as well, with Reiko and Edgar standing by.
"I'm glad to see you looking well too, Elsa."
"Thank you very much."
"I worried that Elsa might be disheartened by the loss of her family home and her father’s illness, but it seems those fears were unfounded. I wonder if that is because Jin-kun is by her side?"
"Yes."
Seeing Elsa respond instantly to the lighthearted remark, the Empress seemed a bit surprised, but she soon broke into a knowing smile.
"Fufu, I see."
The Empress looked back and forth between Jin and Elsa, looking quite satisfied with herself for some reason.
"First, let me thank you for the Fuhrer you gave us. All those in important positions listen to his lessons every day."
The Fuhrer was the teacher-model automata that Jin had gifted to the Shouro Empire. Although the curriculum was at an elementary school level, the goal was to spread basic scientific knowledge—primarily science and arithmetic.
As if he had been waiting for the right moment, Degauss spoke up.
"On that note, I have a question. May I ask it?"
"Go ahead."
"You have my thanks....Now then, many things dissolve in water, do they not? Salt, sugar, and so on. But sand does not dissolve. What is the difference between things that dissolve and things that don't?"
A sharp question flew out, blowing away Jin’s idle thoughts. Jin took a moment to consider how to explain the concept without relying on the specific terminology of atoms and molecules.
"Hmm, that's quite a difficult problem. You know about solids, liquids, and gases, right?"
"Indeed."
"Well, solids are actually made up of tiny particles gathered together."
"Ho."
That particular detail wasn't covered in the Fuhrer's curriculum, as it didn't delve quite that deep into elementary-level science.
"To use an analogy, if you add water to sand or clay, you can make them clump together, right?" Jin explained, suggesting they assume the grains of sand were the smallest unit of a substance.
The Empress and the Magic Technology Minister listened in silence. Jin continued his explanation, searching for an analogy they could easily grasp.
"The difference between a solid that dissolves easily and one that doesn't is, simply put, a difference in how strongly those tiny particles cling to one another."
Everyone nodded as Jin compared it to how sand and clay differ in how easily they fall apart when clumped together.
"As for why they stick together like that, even I can't explain everything. That would require specialized, extremely advanced knowledge."
Jin stated clearly that there were things even he didn't know. Even if he knew terms like intermolecular forces, he had no confidence in his ability to explain the physics behind them.
"Investigating those sorts of questions is the very essence of science. It’s vital to keep asking 'why.' That is how science moves forward."
"I see. Thank you," Degauss said. Having a high desire for learning was a good sign; Jin found himself looking forward to the empire's future.
"Thank you, Jin-kun. But even you have things you don't know."
"Of course I do. When you look at this world, there are more things we don't know than things we do."
The Empress smiled at Jin's words. "Fufu, you are humble."
As the conversation reached a natural pause, the secretary placed drinks in front of everyone. It was green tea. It seemed the Empress remembered Jin's preference. After a brief rest, the topic shifted to administrative matters.
"I heard a rumor from the village chief earlier—is it true that copper can be found here?"
"Yes. There is a bedrock layer at a depth of about twelve meters, and further down, at about eighteen meters, there's a deposit."
"That is excellent news. Mining would be too great a task for this village alone, so I shall instruct the appropriate departments to oversee the extraction."
The secretary immediately began taking notes.
"Regarding that, I must apologize... We dug some out ahead of time and used it to manufacture pumps."
"Yes, I heard about that as well. Don't worry about it; it’s not as if you put it in your own pocket. You used it for the sake of the village. If anything, I should be thanking you for doing the work for free."
"I'm honored. Truth be told, I just really wanted to take a bath."
When Jin said that, the Empress burst out laughing.
"Ufufu, Jin-kun, you are quite interesting. To find an underground ore deposit, dig it out, and even build pumps just because you wanted to take a bath? You won't find another person like that if you searched the whole world."
Jin grew bashful. He took the opportunity to mention his concerns: while the installation of pumps was progressing, the overall quality was beginning to dip, and there was a distinct lack of trained personnel to maintain them.
"That's a valid point. Right now, we are replacing well-buckets with deep well pumps at a rapid pace, and our resources are stretched thin... But thank you for the advice. I'll see what can be done."
The Empress promised to give Jin's suggestion her full consideration.