Jin and Elsa both sucked in a breath at the sight of Akitsu’s condition. It was even worse than they had feared.
Jin instinctively started to rush toward her, but Elsa caught his arm.
"Jin-nii, be careful."
"Oh—right. Sorry, you’re right, Elsa....Reiko, could you take a look at her?"
He decided to defer to Reiko for the initial diagnosis.
"Excuse me," Reiko said softly.
She began to examine Akitsu’s motionless body. As she did, the ancient automaton spoke.
"...You... are also an automata. You look... a little like... the magus..."
"I look like him?"
"...Yes. The magus... also had... black eyes and black hair..."
Her voice was so thin and brittle that it made Jin wince.
"Reiko, what’s the verdict?"
"...I believe it would be best to perform the repairs at the laboratory, if possible."
Although they had brought materials with them, Akitsu’s entire frame was so severely damaged that it would be far more efficient to work in the laboratory, where every resource was at their fingertips.
"However..."
Reiko hesitated, her concern clearly lying with the potential risks should Akitsu prove hostile once restored.
"Hmm..."
An idea struck Jin.
"Akitsu, I have to shut you down temporarily to fix you. Could you give me the keywords for your standby and activation? I’ll also need the password."
A password was a security measure required for anyone other than the creator to initiate a shutdown, usually reserved for cases where it would be dangerous for just anyone to deactivate the machine like a common magic tool.
"...Yes... The command to stop is 'Behold'... To activate is 'Wake up'... The password is... 'Kougaichou 64'."
The fact that she shared this information so readily was a strong sign that Akitsu was not programmed for hostility.
It also confirmed her as an exceptionally old model.
"Alright, I’m going to shut you down for a moment. 'Kougaichou 64'. 'Behold'."
With that command, Akitsu’s internal systems ceased their activity.
"Father, what are your plans now?" Reiko asked, sensing Jin had something in mind.
"We’re taking her back to Hourai Island. We’ll repair her there, and while we’re at it, we’ll copy her control core. Once we’ve analyzed it, we’ll know for sure if she’s a potential threat, right?"
Both Reiko and Elsa nodded in agreement.
"Just as I expected of you, Father."
"...All that preparation went to waste, but I suppose this is for the best." Elsa sighed, feeling a bit deflated after all their careful gearing up, even if she understood the necessity of returning to the island.
"It was for safety's sake, Elsa. Let’s hurry back."
Reiko applied Gravity Magic to Akitsu’s fragile frame to stabilize it before carefully lifting her up.
The group moved quickly to the landed Pegasus 1, using the Warp Gate inside to return to Hourai Island. John Dini remained behind to guard the dome, just in case.
Back at the laboratory on Hourai Island, Jin immediately set to work.
"Jin-nii, how do you even begin to fix an automata this deteriorated?" Elsa asked. In the bright light of the lab, the decay was starkly visible.
"Just watch."
"Mhm."
Reiko, acting as Jin’s assistant, remained silent. She was lost in thought.
Since being created by the previous Magi Craft Meister, Adriana Barbora Tsetse, she had spent nearly a thousand years fulfilling her mission to find a successor.
(Has this automata... also spent all this time in solitude...?)
She realized that the automata named Akitsu, now lying before her, had lived through a similar ordeal.
Jin speculated that the reason Akitsu was less damaged than Reiko despite her lower specs was likely because she had remained almost entirely stationary within that dome, dedicated solely to her role as an educator.
He began the disassembly process.
"This is interesting..."
There were significant structural commonalities with Adriana-type automata. However, many parts of the design were archaic, confirming that Akitsu hailed from an even older era.
"And here’s the control core."
It was an all-attribute magi-crystal, though it too showed signs of degradation. Jin prepared a new crystal and performed a Trans Info to move her data. He also made a copy and sent it to Laojun for analysis.
"I’m counting on you, Laojun. Before we verify the data, check if there’s any hostile programming."
『As you wish, My Lord. I shall begin immediately.』
When a control core was renewed in this fashion, Jin’s magic pattern would become the new baseline. Because of this, the machines—like Anne and Elena—often recognized Jin as their Creator. However, since Akitsu was older than even the Predecessor’s era, Jin wasn't sure how she would react.
While Laojun worked on the analysis, Jin focused on the physical body.
"The skeleton is just basic carbon steel. No special trace elements, and the heat treatment is a bit soft."
"The magical muscles are... yeah, these are shot. We’ll have to replace the whole lot."
Some of the fibers snapped under the slightest tension, so Jin decided a total replacement was the only option.
"...At this point, it’s basically building a new machine. I should probably avoid using high-grade materials for her."
"I agree, Father," Reiko supported. She still believed that if there was any chance of Akitsu turning hostile, it was better to keep her performance within manageable limits.
"I think you’re being a bit too cautious, but... Elsa, can you handle the skeleton? We have some 5.5 nickel steel in stock; let’s use that."
The 5.5 nickel steel was an alloy consisting of steel with 5.5 percent nickel added.
Jin had originally used it for the general-purpose golems he had built for the Klein Kingdom. The kingdom had then used those golems to secretly mine ore in a site they intended to gift to Jin, only for them to be smashed by a Gigant Peeder. Jin had since recovered and stored the salvaged materials.
"Mhm. Got it."
In this particular field, Elsa was now a first-rate magi craftman. Though not quite at Jin's level, she finished the new skeleton in about fifteen minutes.
"Jin-nii, I updated the joint design to the current model. Is that okay?"
"Ah, right, I forgot to mention that. Thanks, it looks great."
Meanwhile, Jin prepared low-grade magical muscle and magical skin. It was actually more work than using the standard Hourai Island parts, as those were far too high-performance.
"Alright, let's start assembly....Reiko, prepare the magi-nerves for the wiring. Elsa, pass me the shield case."
"Yes, Father."
"Mhm."
With Reiko and Elsa assisting him, Jin worked at his own steady pace. He also made sure to include defenses against Master-Slave Rewrite Magic.
"Okay, the body is set. Now for the head. Looking at the original eyes... these aren't magi-obsidian..."
An analysis revealed them to be tourmaline. It seemed the choice had been based purely on color, with the actual visual processing handled by magi-quartz within the eyeballs.
"No wonder her eyesight wasn't even close to Reiko's."
Reiko smiled at Jin's quiet observation.
"Father, instead of black tourmaline, we have some ordinary obsidian. Perhaps we should use that instead?"
While black tourmaline was opaque, obsidian was a natural glass, making it far more suitable for eyes.
"Good idea. Let's go with that."
Next was the facial reconstruction. Jin and Elsa worked together to refine the features.
"Is this right?"
"Yeah, that looks good....Still, she has a very Japanese face. The features are quite shallow."
Before applying the final magical skin, Jin checked in with Laojun.
"Laojun, how’s the analysis?"
『Yes, My Lord. I have just finished. The automata known as Akitsu is indeed purely educational. She has no function other than to pass on specific, limited knowledge.』
"I see. So she's like the Fuhrer model we gave the Shouro Empire."
With any threat of hostility cleared, Jin felt much better about installing the control core.
Finally, he integrated the new ether converter and mana driver. These, too, were built with lower efficiency than Jin's personal equipment, though he had calibrated them to handle the modern ether density of the world.
"I never thought I'd have to work so hard to make something less powerful."
Struggling to downgrade performance rather than improve it was a novel experience for Jin.
"That's her body fixed. Now just to apply the magical skin..."
The artificial skin was fairer than that of the people of Mitsuho.
"She really does look Japanese."
"Mhm. She looks a little like you, Jin-nii."
Jin's skin color was somewhat similar to Elsa's and Reinhard's, likely a result of his own body being reconstructed with cells that were highly compatible with this world's ether. He wondered if high ether concentrations in cells led to this specific pigmentation, but he wasn't a biologist, so he didn't dwell on it.
With Elsa’s help, he finished the external detailing. Judging by the few fragments of hair that had remained, he made the new hair black.
Suddenly, Jin realized something.
"Laojun, was there any data in Akitsu's core regarding her original appearance?"
『Yes, My Lord. One moment... I have found it. I am transferring the data to Reiko now.』
"Perfect....Reiko, I'll leave the final aesthetic touches to you. Elsa, get some clothes ready for her."
"Yes, Father."
"Mhm."
In this way, the repair of Akitsu, the ancient automata tasked with preserving the knowledge of a bygone era, was finally completed.