Adriana used the small amount of stainless steel she had left to fashion five spoons.
They were for the Village Chief’s family—one for each of the four members, plus an extra for guests.
They were used immediately at dinner that evening.
“Wow, it’s so easy to use! Thank you, Ado!”
“It really is. And it’s so shiny and beautiful.”
Kururu and Maruru seemed to have taken a real liking to their new spoons and forks. Seeing their smiles made Adriana feel glad she had made them.
(...I’ll keep doing my best from now on, just to see smiles like these...)
This simple resolution would eventually become a powerful driving force for Adriana in the years to come.
＊ ＊ ＊
After dinner, Adriana bowed to the head of the household, Meuto, his wife Baise, and their daughters Maruru and Kururu.
“Thank you for taking care of me for so long. I intend to depart tomorrow.”
Kururu and Maruru reacted explosively to the news.
“Why?! Ado, don’t go! I don’t want you to leave!”
“Ado, did something happen? Did we do something wrong? Oh, was it because the two of us went to pick clary berries today without you? That was because—”
“No, it’s not that.”
Adriana smiled, gently cutting off Maruru’s desperate explanation.
“I have things I need to do—things I must do. To achieve them, I have to keep heading North.”
“To the North...?”
“Yes, to the North. I’m certain that what I’m looking for is there.”
The expression on Adriana’s face as she spoke was more mature than anything Kururu or Maruru had ever seen from her.
“What is it you’re looking for...?” Kururu managed to ask.
“Knowledge.”
“For what purpose...?” This time, the question came from Maruru.
“To fulfill the dream my father spent his life pursuing.”
Adriana took a steadying breath and continued.
“That’s why I can’t stop here. I have to keep walking, aiming for the farthest heights. That is my purpose.”
“...”
“...I see. I understand now.”
“Big sister?!”
Maruru spoke with a gentle smile, one she had inherited from her mother, Baise.
“You have a dream you can’t give up on, Ado. But... it would make me happy if you didn’t forget about us.”
“Of course I won’t! The days I spent in this house, playing with the two of you—I’ll never forget them. I couldn’t if I tried!”
“...Then it’s okay.”
“Big sister!”
Maruru stopped Kururu, who was about to protest her sister’s easy acceptance.
“Kururu, we should support our friend’s dream, shouldn’t we?”
“Big sister...”
Maruru stroked the head of her younger sister, who looked as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment.
“Maruru... Kururu...”
Seeing the bond between the two, Adriana’s own eyes welled with tears.
“...Okay, big sister. I understand....Ado, do your best...”
Though her voice was tiny and fragile, Kururu finally gave Adriana her blessing.
That night, Adriana slept between Kururu and Maruru.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Ado, please come visit us again!”
“Take care of yourself, Ado!”
“Ado, we’ll be friends forever!”
“Ado, I’ll never forget you!”
“I enjoyed our time, young lady. It was quite a ride.”
The Village Chief’s family and Master Phaitos the blacksmith had all come down to the shore to see Adriana off. Other villagers she had only passed on the street and even total strangers had gathered as well.
“Thanks for the forks!”
“Be careful out there!”
“Thank you so much! May you all be well too!”
Adriana waved from the deck of her boat as it slowly turned its prow toward the open sea.
“She was quite a girl, wasn't she?”
“I wonder who she really was.”
Kururu declared loudly to the murmuring villagers, “Ado is our friend!”
Standing a short distance away, Maruru watched as the silhouette of the ship grew smaller on the horizon.
“I hope your dream comes true, Ado...”
The sea was a clear, transparent blue that day, and the waves were perfectly calm.
＊ ＊ ＊
“...And that’s that,” Jin said, looking up from the first volume of the diary and glancing around at the others. “The Predecessor set her sights on the North.”
“...Likely toward the continent inhabited by the demon race,” Saki and Elsa speculated.
“Most likely,” Jin agreed.
“She must have been so lonely, Adriana-san,” Hanna murmured, her eyes tinged with sadness.
“Indeed, Hanna-chan. Mother carried that sadness and yet still chose to devote herself to the advancement of Craft Magic...” Reiko added, moved by Hanna’s sentiment.
“Jin-nii, how did Adriana-san prevent water from leaking through the screw shaft?” Elsa asked. “I remember Marcia was really struggling with that problem.”
“Oh, that.” Jin pointed to a page near the back of the diary. “There’s a diagram here....I see. Basically, the room where the golems turning the screw are located—the engine room—is designed to allow water in.”
“What?”
“The water leakage is contained strictly within the engine room. Then, that water is expelled using water-attribute magic. It seems the golems themselves were built to function even when submerged.”
It was a revolutionary approach for that era.
“Even if Magus Shuuki knew about screws, he probably didn’t know how to handle waterproofing. The Predecessor solved it in her own way by combining technology with magic.”
“...That makes sense. As expected of the Predecessor.”
“Well, shall we move on to the second volume?”
After refreshing their throats with Persica juice brought by Perido 2, the group continued. Jin pulled the diary marked with the number ‘2’ from the shelf, undid the clasp, and slowly opened it.
“‘Three days after heading North, I arrived at the junction between the continents.’”
Jin looked up. “It seems the Predecessor reached what we now call the Pazdext Great Isthmus.”
He turned back to the page.
“‘The concentration of free ether (ether) is about double here. The golems seem to be overflowing with energy. However, I cannot afford to be reckless. I will proceed with caution.’”