In the early morning of March 23rd, Jin checked in with Laojun regarding the progress of the Space Isolation Barrier.
"Yes, My Lord. I believe I can say things are proceeding smoothly. First of all..."
Laojun’s report was more than satisfactory.
- By revising the magi-formula, the activation lag has been reduced by 25 percent.
- Similarly, the consumption of free ether has been reduced by 15 percent.
- Deploying a hemispherical barrier is now a simple matter.
While these were the only results after half a day, they still represented a significant leap forward.
"Make sure to look into miniaturization as well."
"Understood."
* * *
At 9:00 AM local time that same day, Jin, Elsa, Reiko, and Edgar arrived at Elsa’s childhood home in Ekishi, a town within the Shouro Empire, via Konron 3.
"Welcome, Elsa, Jin-san."
Marlene, Elsa’s foster mother, was there to welcome them.
"It has been quite some time."
"Mother, it's wonderful to see you looking so well."
After exchanging brief greetings, Jin and the others were shown into the drawing room. Marlene brewed a pot of green tea herself. After savoring a sip of the fragrant tea, Jin spoke.
"The primary reason for our visit today is that we have something important to report."
"Oh, what might it be?"
From the expressions on Jin and Elsa’s faces, Marlene could immediately sense that the news was joyful. She waited for Jin’s words with a faint sense of anticipation.
"Elsa is pregnant," Jin reported straightforwardly.
"Oh, truly? Congratulations, Jin-san, Elsa!"
With a beaming smile, Marlene rose from her chair, stepped over to Elsa, and pulled her into a tender embrace.
"How wonderful, Elsa."
"Yes, Mother."
Embraced by her foster mother, a single tear escaped Elsa’s eye.
"To think that little girl has grown up so much..."
Marlene was also overcome with emotion, her eyes brimming with tears. Watching the mother and daughter share their moment, Jin quietly stepped out of the room to give them space.
* * *
"I'm truly happy today."
Throughout lunch, Marlene couldn't stop smiling at Jin and Elsa.
"I’ll get to see a grandchild’s face even sooner than Fritz’s or Moritz’s."
"..."
Marlene was so delighted that she repeated similar sentiments over and over again. Jin and Elsa became so bashful that they could hardly focus on the taste of the food.
After lunch, the two went to see Elsa’s father, Georg Randol, to share the news.
"Oh... Glad... you... came."
Having recovered significantly and regained a richer range of facial expressions, he welcomed them warmly. Lara, the nursing automata Elsa had previously built, was attending to him.
"Lara, thank you for your hard work."
"No, this is my duty," she replied.
After greeting Lara, Elsa told her father that she was carrying a child.
"I see, I see... As long as... you... are happy... that is... enough."
Georg wept with joy. Upon hearing those words, tears shimmered in Elsa’s eyes as well. Jin felt a wave of relief that peace had finally returned to this family.
* * *
They decided to stay overnight at the Randol Mansion. Elsa was to sleep in the same room as her foster mother for the first time in ages; it seemed she intended to learn as much as possible about the mindset of becoming a mother. Edgar stood guard in front of the bedroom.
Jin was in the guest room with Reiko. Now that they were alone, Reiko happily began tending to his needs.
"Father, once again, congratulations."
"Ah, thank you, Reiko."
"Have you already started thinking of names?"
"Eh?...Isn't it a bit early for that?"
"Is it?...Father, which would you prefer first, a boy or a girl?"
"Hey, now."
Jin found himself overwhelmed by Reiko’s enthusiastic questioning.
"If it's a girl, maybe Yuki or Sakura... If it's a boy, maybe Yuu or Ryou."
"Aren't you going to take a name from the Five Constant Virtues?"
Knowing the origin of Jin’s name and her own, Reiko asked curiously.
"Yeah. Actually, the other characters are already being used."
Jin explained that his younger brother figure was Yoshiyuki, using the character for 'Righteousness.' A younger acquaintance was Tomomi, using 'Wisdom.' Since 'Rei'—the character for 'Propriety'—hadn't been used yet, he had been able to name her 'Reiko.' As for 'Shin,' which stood for 'Faith,' he had already used that for the gift he gave Elsa: the doll named Non.
"Is that how it was?" Reiko said, satisfied by the explanation. "But what do those other names mean?"
Jin pulled a memo pad from his luggage and wrote them down to show her.
"Yuki can be written as the character for snow. On its own, it’s beautiful but feels a bit cold, so another option with the same sound is Yuki using characters that mean 'possessing hope.' Sakura, of course, needs no explanation."
"That's lovely."
"Yuu is the character for 'excellence,' but it also carries the meaning of 'gentleness.' Ryou means 'good,' but if written differently, it can mean 'distant' or even 'dragon.'"
Reiko nodded thoughtfully. "The words and characters of your country are very profound, Father."
"Well, as I said, it’s still far too early to be settling on anything." Jin gave a wry smile and patted Reiko’s head.
"What other names are there?"
Since Reiko had been transcribed with knowledge of Japanese characters but only a basic understanding of their nuances, she remained curious.
"Let's see... 'Misuzu.' It's a girl's name. It comes from a 'pillow word'—a poetic epithet—called 'misuzukaru.' I believe it was traditionally associated with the region of Shinano. Doesn't it have a beautiful ring to it?"
It was a term used in ancient poetry. 'Misuzu' referred to a type of bamboo, and the epithet described a mountainous land where such bamboo grew thick. Jin noted that in his world, there was even a man-made lake called Lake Misuzu in that region.
"Are there any others?" Reiko asked, clearly enjoying these stories.
"Mio is also nice. It refers to a waterway or path on the water suitable for ships... I think. Nagisa means a beach or shore. Then there are flower names like Erica."
Jin continued to explain as he recalled various names, and Reiko listened with rapt attention.
* * *
"That is the fourth vibration."
On Hourai Island, Laojun had detected a space vibration and was working with Jack at the lunar facility, Uni, to determine its point of origin.
"It seems to be gradually getting closer."
Because the source was near Ars’s orbit, the planet itself was moving toward it as it continued its revolution.
"The 15th, 18th, 20th, and 23rd... there doesn't seem to be any clear regularity yet."
Since there had only been four occurrences, it was too early to draw a definitive conclusion.
"I wonder what kind of data No. 700672 has gathered. We should ask My Lord to consult him as soon as he has the time."
For the moment, only Jin had direct contact with No. 700672.
"We must accelerate the development of the Space Isolation Barrier."
With that goal in mind, Laojun returned to his calculations.