September had arrived.
While hot days still persisted on Hourai Island, the daylight hours were steadily growing shorter around this time of year.
Jin caught wind that a conference to establish the AGS (Ars Golem Standards) was scheduled to take place in Avalon starting on September 5th.
"Is Tomax-san going to be all right?"
The second lecture series on the Adriana-style had only just wrapped up at the end of August.
Jin was worried that he might collapse from overwork.
"My Lord, Manon seems to be managing his schedule quite strictly, so I believe he will be fine."
Apparently, he was getting at least four hours of sleep at minimum, and usually around six.
"Hmm, I'd really like to add another hour to that, though."
Having experienced the toll of sleep deprivation firsthand, Jin was well aware of how dangerous working exhausted could be, which prompted his concern.
"In that case, how about crafting an identical unit to Manon and presenting it to him?"
"Ah, that's it!"
Figuring that having two secretaries would lighten the workload even further, Jin immediately set to work crafting one.
"Jin-nii, I heard from Laojun. Are you making another secretary automaton for Tomax-san?"
Elsa showed her face in the workshop.
Since he had just finished assembling the body, he decided to ask her to handle the exterior styling.
"Mm, leave it to me."
Elsa promptly got to work.
Just like Manon, she gave the automaton green hair to make it immediately clear that she was not human, while also signifying that she belonged to a different lineage than Anne, Loll, and the others.
While Manon bore a slight resemblance in appearance to Illumina Ratkin, this one was entirely Elsa's original design, featuring long hair tied back into a ponytail.
Elsa explained that since this was Manon's younger sister model, she made her physical appearance look slightly younger.
"Yeah, that looks great. Just what I'd expect from you."
Jin praised her craftsmanship. They decided to name her Simone.
"Now then, as for the AGS establishment conference..."
"My Lord, please leave that to me," Laojun declared, anticipating Jin's thoughts. "You must have many things to attend to, My Lord, so I shall have your Doppel participate in your stead."
"Oh, thanks. I'll leave it to you."
That meant Jin would officially be seen in Avalon, so he would have to keep a low profile.
It would cause unnecessary complications if someone spotted him elsewhere.
"Well, it'll probably only last three or four days, so I'll just focus on matters here on Hourai Island or on Planet Hehl."
And so, Jin's Doppel, operated by Laojun, boarded the Hurricane with Hope as its pilot, accompanied by the newly completed secretary automaton Simone and Reiko as an escort, and set off for Avalon.
Mini-Reiko stayed behind by Jin's side.
Mini-Reiko was a miniature Doppel created by Jin four hundred years ago. Because Reiko's main body controlled it remotely, operating it slightly reduced her processing capacity, but it posed no practical issues whatsoever.
"My turn has finally come," Mini-Reiko chirped happily from Jin's shoulder.
"Marcia has been researching ships all this time, right? I've been curious to see how that's going."
"Understood. Tatsumi Bay, then?"
"That's right."
With Mini-Reiko perched on his shoulder, Jin headed to Tatsumi Bay via the Warp Gate.
Stepping out of the dedicated Warp Gate building situated on the heights overlooking Tatsumi Bay, Jin and Mini-Reiko made their way down the gentle slope toward the water.
"Now, I wonder where Marcia is."
"Father, let us ask Aqua through Laojun."
"Oh, good idea."
Following Mini-Reiko's suggestion, Jin checked in with Laojun via his bracelet.
"Yes, My Lord. Marcia-san is located at the northernmost point of Tatsumi Bay."
"Got it. Thank you."
Jin began walking toward the northern shore as Laojun had directed, with Mini-Reiko remaining on his shoulder.
After walking for about ten minutes, he reached the northern end.
There—
"Ooh..."
There was Marcia, conducting trial and error not in an experimental water tank, but in the actual sea using a full-scale hull.
"Hey, Marcia!"
"Ah, Jin!...Balka, hold on, stop for a second!"
Noticing Jin, Marcia temporarily halted the experiment.
"Sorry to interrupt."
"No, I was just thinking it was about time to take a break anyway."
A tarp had been pitched along the shore to provide shade, and Jin and Marcia sat down beneath it.
"Were you testing hull designs?"
When Jin asked, Marcia nodded.
"Yeah, that's right....Four hundred years ago, I used to test things by floating scale models in a tank, but doing it full-scale really makes it so much easier to understand."
"Naturally."
When conducting experiments on drag and buoyancy in fluids like water or air, scale was an essential factor.
Therefore, the fact that Marcia was testing with full-scale models made a lot of sense.
Of course, this was only feasible because it was a small high-speed boat; one couldn't simply do this with a massive vessel exceeding a hundred meters...
Just then, Marcia's new partner, Balka, walked over carrying the experimental hull.
"Ah, thanks, Balka. Just set it down over there."
"Yes, Marcia-sama."
Marcia turned back to Jin.
"I'm really grateful to you, Jin! Since Balka can use magi-craft, she can easily reshape the 64 light silver hull for me."
"I see."
"And with the Mermaids' help, we can create currents with Water Stream to observe hull resistance and the waves it generates."
"That's a great idea."
Jin was genuinely impressed.
Being somewhat impatient at times, Jin tended to design hulls based mostly on intuition, rather than settling on a shape through repeated experimentation like Marcia was doing.
"If we raced with the same propulsion system, I'd definitely lose at this rate."
Jin scratched his head.
If an opponent brought a hull refined through repeated full-scale testing specifically to minimize water resistance as much as possible, even Jin would inevitably face defeat.
However, Marcia came out with a surprising reply:
"Well, I suppose that would be the case, but..."
"Surprisingly enough, the hull shapes you design are actually quite remarkable. Sure, they might not be a perfect hundred, but they easily score around a ninety. You really live up to the title of Magi Craft Meister!"
"Eh, really?"
Much to Marcia's astonishment, the hull shapes Jin decided on through hunch, feeling, or pure intuition were remarkably close to the mark.
"Out of all the designs I've tested so far, the very best one is about a ninety-five, I'd say."
"Not a hundred?"
"Yeah. I feel like with just one more push, I might be able to get it there."
"I see."
As he listened to Marcia, Jin reflected on his own meager knowledge regarding ship resistance.