After breakfast, the members of the Jin Family took turns presenting their gifts to the couple.
Jin had told them not to fuss over such things, but no one had been willing to listen.
"We're doing this because we want to. Jin, Elsa, congratulations again! All of us in the Family wish you every happiness!!" Reinhard spoke as the representative for the group. "To start things off, here is a gift from Berche and me."
As he spoke, Reinhard held out a small package.
"Thank you," Jin said, accepting it. "This is... a dagger, isn't it?"
Jin already had a good idea of what it was, and Elsa did too. It was the type of dagger typically worn by noblewomen.
"For a noblewoman, such a blade is a piece of armor to protect her final dignity. You are only to draw it when you find yourself in a situation where you absolutely, positively cannot bend your own will."
Those were the words Reinhard had given to Elsa back when they were staying in the Kingdom of Egerea. It had been her birthday, and Jin had crafted the dagger she wanted, presenting it to her through Reinhard.
"It likely doesn't compare to your work, Jin, but I put everything I had into it. I would be honored if you accepted it."
Jin opened the package and drew the dagger.
"It’s beautiful..." Elsa whispered.
The silver sheath was adorned with subtle gold accents, and the pommel of the hilt was embedded with an aquamarine—Elsa’s favorite stone.
"Elsa, try drawing it." Jin handed the dagger to her.
"Mhm." Elsa took it and gently pulled the blade from its sheath.
"...Wonderful."
"It’s magnificent."
The mithril blade held a clear, cloudless luster.
"Thank you, Rai-nii. I'll treasure it," Elsa said, thanking him again as she returned the blade to its sheath.
"Next is from Beena and me." Count Kuzuma held out a pure white dress and a matching set of men's formal wear. "Beena poured her heart into making these. We hope you like them."
"Oh, dear, you didn't have to put it that way...!" Beena turned bright red, looking flustered. Jin watched her with a smile, thinking that some things never changed, even after she had become a Countess.
"Thank you. I'll wear this when we're in the Kingdom of Egerea....Actually, maybe it's better if we show you now?" Jin took Elsa’s hand and led her out of the room.
The two returned about ten minutes later.
"Oh...!"
"They suit you perfectly!"
The dress was designed to accentuate Elsa’s slim silhouette while keeping the frills to a minimum, giving her a more mature and sophisticated look. Jin's outfit was an Egerea-style suit, which, to him, felt quite similar to a frock coat from modern Earth.
"Thank you, Beena, Louis."
Elsa aside, Jin was generally indifferent to fashion, so he was honestly grateful for such a thoughtful gift.
"Jin-kun, this is our gift."
"Toa and I found it together."
The gift from Toa and Stearena was, to Jin's surprise, chili peppers.
"I found them by chance when we were traveling through Mitsuho the other day," Stearena explained.
With these, the variety of his cooking would expand significantly. Neither Jin nor the Quinta units had managed to find chili peppers yet.
"Thank you!" Jin accepted them happily and handed them over to Topaz Leader.
Later, Topaz and her team would begin a frantic struggle to preserve the peppers while simultaneously establishing a way to cultivate them, but that was a story for another time.
"Jin, this is from me!" Saki held out her gift, which was also a food ingredient.
"Is this... wasabi!?"
Hourai Island already had plants that resembled wasabi—or at least could be used as a substitute—but they were more like a pungent, aged daikon. They were closer to a "hot radish" than true wasabi. However, the plant Saki had placed on a plate looked like real wasabi even to Jin’s eyes.
"It grows near clear streams, and it’s plenty hot when you grate it—it has that sharp sting that goes right to your nose. The flowers look like they belong to the Brassicaceae family... I think? Anyway, I’m sure it’s fine to call it wasabi."
Saki chose to keep quiet about the fact that she had actually eaten a large amount of it and spent quite a while rolling around in tears because the heat wouldn't stop.
"Oh, thank you, Saki!"
"Heh, I’m just glad you’re pleased. I’ve already secured seedlings and seeds, so I’ll hand those over to Topaz later."
Wasabi preferred cold regions, but the highlands of Hourai Island were cool enough, and since Topaz was in charge of agriculture, she would surely be able to create the perfect environment for it.
"I'm looking forward to it." Jin’s obsession with Japanese food showed no signs of fading.
"This is from my father and me. I hope you like it." Marcia spoke with uncharacteristic modesty as she presented a plate holding small, dark-brown square slabs.
"?" Elsa tilted her head in confusion. However, Jin recognized that texture instantly.
"...Chocolate?"
He put a fragment into his mouth. While the flavor was slightly different from the taste in his memories, it was undoubtedly chocolate.
"This is incredible! It’s definitely chocolate."
"I remembered you saying that Kuhe tastes similar to cocoa, so I tried experimenting with it."
She said it simply, but Jin knew she must have been incredibly busy working on this in between her duties at the shipyard and the Golem Boat Races.
"This was as far as we could take it on our own. I’ve included the notes on the manufacturing process, so you can have the folks on Hourai Island refine it."
"Thank you, Marcia....You know, you could make a fortune just by selling this chocolate or the recipe."
Needless to say, Perido and her team would eventually establish a refined method for making chocolate, but it would be a bit longer before it became the signature confection of Port Rock.
"Well then, my turn," Vivienne said, raising her hand. "Here, take this."
She handed over a small booklet.
"It’s a summary of religious perspectives from five hundred years ago. There’s a bit of my own speculation mixed in, though."
Jin thanked her as he took the booklet. "Thank you. This will be a great help!"
While Laojun's processing power was immense, his thought patterns were modeled after Jin’s, which meant there were limits to how well they could reconstruct the past. In that regard, Vivienne’s perspective as a "storyteller" allowed her to form hypotheses from angles that even Laojun might miss.
"And this is from me." Goose held out another booklet. "I've synthesized and summarized the legends from Fusou and Mitsuho, as well as the stories I've gathered since arriving on this continent."
He explained that it was an outline tracing the flow of history from the era of the Progenitors to the present. For Jin, such historical and cultural anthropological data was invaluable.
"Thank you, Goose."
Everyone knew that Jin wouldn't be satisfied with something half-hearted, so these gifts were the result of a great deal of careful thought and effort.
"Um, this... this is from me." The final gift came from Lishia. She presented a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
"Oh, how lovely." Elsa’s face broke into a wide smile.
"It’s really nothing compared to what everyone else gave you..."
"No, I’m very happy. Thank you, Lishia-san." It was a traditional gift, but a classic for a reason.
Since Mine and Milowina were the mother and official guardian respectively, they chose to offer words of blessing instead of physical gifts.
"Elsa, I know I was never a good mother to you. And yet, I am so happy to be granted the joy of seeing my daughter off like this....Jin-sama, please take good care of Elsa."
"Mother..."
"Mi—no, Mother-in-law, I look forward to our life together."
Jin and Elsa both bowed their heads to Mine.
"I am told that I am the last survivor of the Leonard Kingdom," Milowina spoke. "I was unable to weave life forward, but you two are different. May your lives be woven together and passed down through the generations to come."
The room was filled with the warm applause of the Jin Family. Jin and Elsa simply bowed their heads in silent gratitude.