The lady's maid golem was finished in a pale copper... a "pink gold" color. Jin named her Rose.
"Wow, she's beautiful."
Rouge, now fully refreshed after her nap, let out a sigh of admiration. Neige was equally entranced.
"What a lovely color."
Rose. The name was Rubina's idea; it meant "rosy pink," the midpoint between Rouge's red and Neige's snow white.
"She turned out with a wonderful finish, didn't she?" Amanda remarked.
"Just as expected of Jin-shama," Marikka added.
It was now 4:30 PM, and the sun was beginning its descent in the west.
"Let's call it a day for now," Jin suggested. "I've worked up a bit of a sweat."
"Oh! We want to try out the bath in our new house!" Rouge exclaimed.
"I agree," Neige said.
Since they were eager to test the freshly installed bath in their own home, Jin handed them three sets of bath supplies—pails, towels, soap, and shampoo. He made sure to include a set for Elder No. 700672 as well.
"I hadn't even thought to prepare these until now," Jin muttered, only just realizing the oversight.
"Rubi-chan, won't you come with us?" Rouge asked.
Rubina glanced at Jin and Amanda for permission.
"Go ahead," Jin said with a nod. "Have a good time."
"Make sure you don't stay in too long or cause any trouble," Amanda added.
"I won't!"
With that, Rubina followed Neige and Rouge toward the home of Elder No. 700672.
Jin accompanied them to deliver the newly completed Rose. Since he hadn't performed her wake up yet—wanting to set No. 700672 as her primary master first—he had Reiko carry the golem.
"Oh, Jin-dono, Rubina-chan, welcome. Neige, Rouge, welcome home."
No. 700672 came out to greet them, and Jin promptly presented Rose to him.
"I thought it would be best for you to have someone to look after the meals and chores, especially since you'll likely be receiving guests from now on."
"Oh, this is truly a generous gift."
"She can handle the cleaning, the bath maintenance, and everything else."
Jin then woke up Rose and configured her command authority, designating No. 700672 as the primary master, followed by Neige and Rouge.
"At your service, Husband, Ojou-sama."
He had programmed her to address No. 700672 as "Husband" and the two girls as "Ojou-sama."
"Well then, Rubina, I'll head back first. Take your time and enjoy yourself."
"Okay!"
Leaving Rubina at the Elder's residence, Jin and Reiko returned to their own House.
"Welcome back, Jin-sama," Marikka greeted him.
"Was Rubina being a good girl?" Amanda asked.
"I'm home. And yes, she's fine. Rubina is a girl who can really excel when she puts her mind to it."
After giving his reply, Jin suggested they also wash up. He and Reiko relaxed in the family bath, while Marikka and Amanda took their time in the large guest bath.
As Jin stepped out of the bath, a thought struck him.
"Right, an electric fan or a blower would be a good addition."
He was already cataloging the next set of missing necessities.
＊ ＊ ＊
In the thirty minutes remaining before dinner, Jin used the wind-attribute magic Breeze to construct three blowers. They weren't exactly fans, but focused air-movers.
He designated one for the family bath, one for the large guest bath, and the third as a gift for Elder No. 700672.
"I'll be right back."
With that brief notice, Jin and Reiko used Teleportation to jump to the Elder's house. They returned a minute later with Rubina in tow.
"Ah, that was a solid day's work."
With a satisfied smile, Jin sat down at the dining table.
Tonight's menu consisted of rice, shijimi clam miso soup made with red miso, pigu cutlets, a vegetable salad, and sweet tamagoyaki. Since Neige and Rouge weren't there, Rubina looked a little lonely at the table.
"This tea is wonderful."
Jin's favorite was freshly roasted hojicha because of its rich aroma, and Rubina seemed to have taken a liking to it as well.
"It really is delicious... Freshly roasted leaves truly make a difference," Amanda agreed. She was also a fan of the tea.
"I try to do it myself," Marikka admitted, "but I often under-roast them, or go too far and burn them."
She noted that her success rate was only about fifty percent when she did it manually.
"It never goes as smoothly as magi-craft does."
"It's all about practice... or, well, if you let an automata handle it, the quality will be perfectly consistent every time," Jin suggested.
"Th-that's true, I suppose, but you still want to be able to do it with your own hands, don't you?"
Marikka laughed, explaining that she was the type who preferred to handle all the housework herself whenever possible. Jin offered her some technical advice.
"In that case, focus on three things: keep the heat constant, use the same roasting vessel every time, and time the process exactly. If you do that, your failures should disappear."
In cooking or medicine, people often relied on intuition or "eyeballing" measurements. While master chefs could measure salt perfectly just by the feel of their fingers, Jin believed most people were better off using a measuring spoon.
"Oh, that makes a lot of sense! I'll try that next time."
Marikka readily agreed. Since the suggestion came from Jin, she didn't consider refusing it anyway. Rubina and Amanda listened to Jin’s advice with solemn, thoughtful expressions, as if taking his words to heart.
The post-dinner tea time passed in a peaceful lull.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Now then, regarding tomorrow... is a spaceship really the best choice?" Jin suddenly asked.
He was beginning to realize that when his ideas started jumping all over the place, he often lost sight of the most practical solution. He shared this concern with Marikka and Rubina.
"...Is that how it works?" Rubina asked, tilting her head. As someone with a flexible, imaginative mind, the concept of over-engineering was foreign to her.
"I think I understand what you mean," Marikka said. As a veteran technician, she empathized with the pitfall.
"The main purpose is travel here on Hale, right? I don't think there's any real need to go into space. Besides, I think Neige and Rouge would enjoy visual flight more—specifically, being able to see the ground passing beneath them."
"I see your point, Jin-sama."
Rubina, now thinking clearly, realized that the specs they had decided on for the spaceship were absurdly excessive.
"We got caught up in the excitement and forgot about the people actually using it, didn't we?"
"Exactly."
"Jin-sama, you do tend to lose your coolness when it comes to crafting," Marikka teased.
"...Guilty as charged."
Jin looked a bit sheepish at the remark.
"My thoughts just jumped straight to a spaceship because of the Flying Disc craft design."
Jin decided to reset the plan.
"Something like a Konron 3 or a Hurricane type might be better."
"I agree," Marikka said. "That sounds like a much better fit."
"Alright, let's go with a small-class version of the Hurricane."
Jin was never one to hesitate once he realized a plan wasn't working.
"We'll start building it tomorrow."
"Understood, Jin-sama," Rubina replied.
With the concept finally settled, the group prepared for the work ahead.