"Oh, Third Generation Magi Craft Meister Jin-dono! I am truly glad you could make it."
Prince Ernest XVII of the Kingdom of Egerea welcomed Jin with open arms as he arrived at the Royal Palace to fulfill the promise made the previous day.
"I am scheduled to begin the journey back to my home country within the next day or two, so to be honest, I was starting to give up hope."
"Not at all. I gave you my word," Jin replied with a smile. He decided to borrow the castle's workshop to perform maintenance on Lotte.
"...He said 'Third Generation Magi Craft Meister'."
"A Magi Craft Meister... their technique must be incredible, right?"
"I'd love to get a look at his work."
Magi engineers, civil officials, and military officers who happened to be free from their duties flocked to the workshop to steal a glimpse.
Naturally, Rubina was the one closest to the action. Shu and Lordtoss also stood by the workbench.
Lotte had already removed her maid uniform and arrived at the workshop, ready for the maintenance to begin immediately.
"Now then, Lotte, please lie down there so I can start the maintenance."
"Yes, Jin-sama."
Following Jin's instructions, Lotte lay down upon the workbench.
"Standstill."
Jin first deactivated her functions.
"Now, I will begin the disassembly."
After declaring his intent, Jin began removing Lotte's exterior plating. The onlookers' eyes widened at his sheer dexterity.
"Ah, she's in excellent condition."
Jin muttered to himself. Lotte's internal state was better than he had expected; he felt relieved and was genuinely happy to see that she had been cherished by her successive masters.
"That said, the moving parts... the joints, in particular, have developed a bit of play."
"What? Jin-sama, even with this?"
Watching from the side, Rubina let out a surprised cry. From what she could see, the clearance on the sliding joint components was already less than a single micron.
"Yeah. It’s about three times its original value."
"Three times...? Then what was it at the start...?"
Rubina looked at him with an expression of pure exasperation.
Jin took a small piece of adamantite from Reiko and quickly applied a coating to the sliding parts. Under the influence of his magic, the thickness of the coating brought the clearance back to Jin's ideal value.
"There, that’s perfect."
Having the fit between components be as precise as a single drawn line—that was Jin's motto.
"Next is the skeletal distortion... no issues there. No corrosion, either."
Since he didn't see any deterioration in the magical muscles, he applied Strengthen to give them a slight boost in durability.
"The magi-circuit is... a bit worn. Forming... there, that's done."
He used Forming to thicken the sections that had grown thin under stress, evening out the diameter across the lines.
"The ether converter and mana driver are... both fine."
He checked the magi-devices related to speech, vision, and hearing, replacing any components that showed signs of wear. The shield case protecting against Master-Slave Rewrite Magic had also not deteriorated.
"There, all finished."
"...Jin-sama, is it... is it really over?"
"It's over."
Jin began reattaching the exterior plating, checking each piece as he went.
This time, because he wanted to demonstrate the process to Rubina and Shu, he had performed the maintenance at about one-third of his usual speed. Even so, it had taken only fifteen minutes.
To the gallery of onlookers, however, it was an agonizingly incredible speed.
"...Did you see that?"
"...I can't believe it, but... I saw it."
"So this is the true power of a Magi Craft Meister..."
"I suppose that title isn't just for show..."
Whispers were exchanged in the shadows. Most were too quiet for Jin to hear, but Reiko caught every word. She felt a profound sense of pride swell within her.
"It's done."
"Th-that was fast."
In a total of about twenty minutes, Lotte's maintenance was complete.
Ernest XVII, who had watched the entire process, stood with his mouth agape. Since he had a basic foundation in magi-craft himself, he understood that the swift, precise work Jin had displayed was nothing short of extraordinary.
(So this is a Magi Craft Meister...)
Once again, he marveled at the sheer absurdity of Jin’s skill.
"I’m rebooting Lotte....Start."
"Yes, Creator-sama."
Lotte woke up and sat up. She quickly donned the maid uniform that had been placed nearby and then turned to Jin.
"Thank you very much, Jin-sama," she said, bowing deeply to him.
"It was nothing. I'm just glad to see you've been so well-treated."
Jin replied in a gentle tone.
"Yes. For someone of my humble status, it is a great blessing," Lotte replied modestly. Seeing her like that, Jin decided to ask a question.
"Lotte, whatever happened to your tray and mop?"
"Yes... many years ago, during a great disturbance, they were used and subsequently broken. I am very sorry."
"No, there's no need to apologize. I see, they broke... Alright!"
Jin found a light silver ingot in the workshop. He added six percent aluminum and four percent vanadium—which he had secretly retrieved—turning the material into 64 light silver.
He processed the alloy, crafting a brand-new tray and a mop. The mop's head was made from high-quality magi-fiber scraps intended for magical muscles. Furthermore, he meticulously applied Toughening to maximize their durability.
"This should do it. These won't break as easily as the last ones."
Jin handed the completed tray and mop to Lotte.
"Thank you very much. I will treasure them."
"Ah—yes....I'm sure you know this, but don't hesitate to use them if the need arises, okay?"
"Yes, I understand."
Jin then turned back to Ernest XVII.
"Your Highness, the maintenance of Lotte has been completed without issue."
"O-Oh....I-I am truly grateful, Jin-dono."
"Your Highness, I believe I can now be of even greater service to you," Lotte added, bowing to her master.
"Umu, I'm counting on you."
Seeing Ernest XVII pat Lotte on the shoulder with such genuine happiness, Jin felt a warmth in his chest. He decided to use this opportunity to ask about something else that had been on his mind.
"Your Highness, may I ask you one thing?"
"Hm? What is it? Ask me anything I'm able to answer. Oh, and please, stop with the formal speech. Our ages seem close, and more than anything, having a Magi Craft Meister address me so formally makes me feel incredibly restless."
"I-I see, thank you... thanks....Well, what I wanted to ask about was an automata named Tia."
Tia. She was the automata that had belonged to Princess Lieschen of the Klein Kingdom, who had become the consort of Ernest I four hundred years ago. Because she had been created based on the template left by Adriana, her performance was in a completely different league compared to other models. Jin had personally restored Tia back when she was malfunctioning after exceeding her service life.
"Hou, you know of Tia? As expected of the Third Generation."
"Yes, because Reiko is here."
Reiko thinks of Tia like a younger cousin, Jin added.
"I see....Tia is still well. She is currently back in our home country, looking after my younger sister."
"Your sister... the Princess?"
"Umu. She turns three this year, and she is extremely fond of Tia."
"I see."
Jin was relieved to hear that Tia was doing well. He then promised that he would perform maintenance on Tia as well, should the opportunity arise in the future.