The month changed; it was now June.
Since the Doppel was complete, Jin immediately had it board the Adriana. For the time being, he decided to enjoy a few orbits around Ars.
"Oh, this is comfortable!"
Despite lying on a seat, Jin felt as if he were about to leap for joy. The sense of immersion was just that powerful.
Seeing Jin in such a state, Elsa made a request.
"Jin-nii, I want to try going to space too."
Essentially, she was asking him to make a Doppel for her as well.
"Yeah, you're right."
Jin accepted without hesitation and immediately began crafting. They worked in Elsa's workshop.
"Should we do it like this?"
"Mm, I understand."
The two of them made steady progress on the construction.
...However.
"..."
Constructing the body had gone well, but when the time came to attach the exterior skin, Jin found he couldn't take it anymore.
"I-I'll let you handle the rest, Elsa."
"Y-Yeah."
Elsa was also bright red.
Even though they were engaged, it was essentially like exposing her naked body. Jin, the observer, and Elsa, the one being observed, were both still quite innocent.
＊ ＊ ＊
Leaving Elsa's workshop with Reiko, Jin headed to the underground command room. Anne, Loll, and Refa were already stationed there.
"Laojun, since this is a good opportunity, I'm thinking of creating a new Space Force for Hourai Island's military."
Laojun voiced his agreement immediately.
"My Lord, that is an excellent idea. The members will be the Cosmos units, I presume?"
"Exactly. Cosmos 1 will be the leader, and the organizational structure can follow that of the Air Force."
"Understood."
And so, following the Air Force, Navy, and Army, the Space Force was born on Hourai Island.
"Master, I have a proposal."
Anne raised her hand to speak.
"Yes?"
"In that case, I recommend that we properly organize the Mermaids as well."
The Mermaids were mermaid-type golems specialized for underwater activities.
"You're right. If that's the case... how about the Marine Force?"
"I believe that would be appropriate."
Jin was thinking that this now made five military branches protecting Hourai Island when Elsa arrived.
"Jin-nii, I need you to do the final adjustments."
She had finished attaching the exterior and had even put clothes on the unit.
"Alright."
With that, Jin headed back to Elsa's workshop. Not only Reiko, but Anne, Loll, and Refa followed along as well.
"Oh, it's cute."
"...Thank you."
Lying in the workshop was a Doppel with a face identical to Elsa's. However, the hair color was not platinum blonde, but a pure silver-white.
"I see. This way, we can tell them apart."
Jin had only been thinking about making them indistinguishable, but he realized—somewhat late—that if it was just a proxy to put on a spaceship, there was no need for it to look exactly like the original.
That said, keeping the physique identical had the advantage of making it easier to synchronize movement habits.
Jin thought to himself that he should change his own Doppel's hair to brown or dark gray later.
Enhancing the Magilink was made possible by adding a trace amount of the mental catalyst he had received from No. 700672—a quantity so small it was hard to tell if it was even there—to the control core.
"The mental catalyst that cured my illness."
Indeed, Elsa's Mana Overload Syndrome had been caused by poor control of free ether; to treat it, she had undergone a Genesung by ingesting one-millionth of a gram of mental catalyst.
"I'm adding one ten-millionth of a gram to the control core."
Since he still had slightly less than a tenth of a gram left, there was no issue with using it.
＊ ＊ ＊
"..."
Elsa lay on the seat and put on the control headset.
"I'll start with a low synchronization rate."
"Mm."
Elsa's Doppel slowly sat up. As it tried to climb down from the workbench, it tumbled over spectacularly.
"Ah..."
It shouldn't have hurt, but the sound leaked out instinctively.
"Let's raise the synchronization rate a bit more."
Jin adjusted the headset Elsa was wearing.
"Try it now."
The Doppel, which had been sitting on the floor, stood up.
"Ah, this time is much better."
It didn't seem to have trouble walking, but its speech and movements were still somewhat stiff. So, Jin performed another adjustment.
"Yeah, this feels good."
Its movements became visibly fluid.
"Alright, let's try raising it a bit more. After that, let's go outside."
"Mm."
The current adjustment seemed to be going very well, as Elsa herself mentioned that there was almost no sense of disconnect.
Then they went out to the laboratory's front courtyard, and just like Jin had done, she started running.
"Oh, looking good."
It was fast enough to run 100 meters in under five seconds.
"Jin-nii, it's working great."
Elsa, who had made a U-turn and come back, leaped about four meters into the air, performed a full rotation, and landed without a hint of instability.
"How was that, Jin-nii?"
"Y-Yeah, it looks like it's in great shape... but if you're going to be moving around like that, maybe a skirt wasn't the best choice?"
"...!!"
The Elsa Doppel pressed its hands to its cheeks. Although it wasn't equipped with a blushing function, it was perfectly clear that Elsa was embarrassed.
"...Did you see?"
"Well, even if you ask me that..."
Jin was at a loss for words.
After two more fine-tuning sessions, Elsa's Doppel had also acquired full practical functionality.
"Now for the emergency hand-off..."
"Jin-nii, what do you mean?"
"Because the Magilink between the Doppel and the operator is so close in this model, there's a possibility it won't move properly if someone else tries to take control suddenly."
He explained that even if it were Laojun, the movements would likely become jerky.
"And we're the humans operating them. We'll get hungry, and we'll need to sleep."
"...Fair point."
There would be times when they would have to hand over control for short periods for sleep, meals, or bathroom breaks.
"As a countermeasure, we'll need to allow Laojun and Taisei to handle some of the control."
"True."
Thus, the Magilink for emergency use was linked to Laojun and Taisei as well. After meticulous adjustments, the two Doppels were now fully prepared.