Jin decided to listen to Reiko's report while leisurely soaking in the hot spring.
"First, we greeted Tomax-san when he came to meet us and presented Simone to him. He was overjoyed to the point of almost shedding tears."
"...He must really be having a rough time."
Aware that part of that hardship was his own doing, Jin felt quite awkward and guilty.
"...And then?"
"The AGS is scheduled to begin on September 5th, so after settling into the guest quarters, Father's Doppel and my main body headed to the Go-lab."
"Well, that makes sense."
Jin nodded, figuring he would have done the exact same thing in their shoes.
"And when we arrived, Berlich Becker-san was still there."
"What in the world is he doing?"
Though it wasn't his business, Jin couldn't help but worry a bit about Berlich's workshop.
"He and Kachea-san seemed to be getting along quite nicely."
"Ah..."
I understand how he feels, but what about his workshop? Jin internally retorted for the second time.
"It appears he has been staying there ever since the second Adriana-style lecture."
Is that really okay? Jin thought, tossing in a third mental retort.
"While debating various opinions about golems, he hit it off with Groma-san, and developed an interest in Kachea-san. It seems he believes the workshop will be fine as long as Ludwig-san is there."
True enough, Ludwig seemed like a diligent man, so it would probably work out, Jin mused with a wry smile.
"Apparently, he is being treated like a visiting researcher at the Go-lab right now."
"At this rate, isn't he just going to leave the workshop to Ludwig and settle down permanently in Avalon...?"
"That is a distinct possibility."
"Seriously...? Well, time to get out."
Starting to feel dizzy from soaking too long, Jin decided to get out of the bath.
It was still September, and Hourai Island was hot.
After stepping out of the bath, Jin drank a glass of cold citran juice.
"Now then, I wonder if Elsa has come back?"
Having dressed himself, Jin headed over to the House.
"Ah, she's back."
Stepping through the entrance, the pleasant aroma of miso soup drifted over to him.
"I'm home....Ah, Elsa, you're back too?"
"Welcome home....Mm, about thirty minutes ago....Did you go to the bath?"
"Yeah. When I got back from Saki's place, you weren't back yet, so I went to take a quick dip."
"...I see."
Elsa looked slightly disappointed.
Indeed, if she had returned about thirty minutes ago, that was barely a ten-minute difference from when Jin got back. They had practically crossed paths.
"Sorry about that. After dinner, want to take a bath together?"
"......Mm."
Tasting the miso soup, Elsa nodded with blushing cheeks.
That night.
"Everyone, allow me to unveil my new golem!"
Stearena presented the peridot golem in front of the entire Jin Family.
"Ooh!"
"How lovely!"
"My, this is gorgeous."
The reactions were overwhelmingly positive.
"What is its name?" someone asked.
"I named her Lime."
"Lime, huh? That fits the color perfectly."
A lime was a fruit resembling a green ramon—the Planet Ars equivalent of a lemon. Jin had discovered it long ago in the Ramon Archipelago and named it after Earth's limes due to their resemblance. It also grew wild on the Lashier Continent.
"Lime, greet everyone, please."
"Yes, Lady Stearena....Everyone, my name is Lime. I look forward to your acquaintance."
Lime performed an elegant bow, and everyone present welcomed her with applause.
Jin and Elsa sat on the veranda, gazing up at the stars. Reading the room, Mini-Reiko waited discreetly in the adjacent room.
"Today, I got to see the research and achievements of Marcia, Stearena, and Saki. Everyone's having fun doing what they love."
That was precisely the kind of scene the previous Magi Craft Meister, Adriana Barbora Tsetse, had once dreamed of.
Jin spoke to Elsa in a quiet, calm voice.
"Saki was doing this kind of research today, you see..."
"Mm."
Jin summarized the contents of Saki's research for Elsa.
"...Indeed, when it comes to biological materials and magi-craft, there are still several unresolved mysteries."
Elsa, too, seemed interested in that mystery.
"...Are biological materials not considered alive?"
"Hmm, that's a tough one. For example, take human hair and nails. Once you cut them off, magi-craft works on them, but it doesn't while they're still attached, right? I wonder why that is."
Hoping to hear the perspective of Elsa, an expert in Healing and the world's foremost healer, Jin asked her opinion.
"Could it be due to the mana inherent to living organisms?"
"I don't think that's it."
"Huh? Why?"
Jin had theorized that living organisms possessed unique magic patterns, which prevented magic carrying someone else's magic pattern from taking effect while connected to the body. Elsa's response caught him by surprise.
"If that were true, you should be able to apply magi-craft to your own hair. But in reality, you can't."
"Ah, that's true..."
Hearing Elsa point it out, Jin realized it as well. Even if it was part of your own body, magi-craft did not work on hair, skin, or nails as long as they remained attached. That was simply a fact.
"As expected of you, Elsa. That was definitely a blind spot for me."
Jin readily admitted that his hypothesis had been wrong.
"Then why doesn't magi-craft work on living organisms?"
Brought right back to square one, Jin was at a loss.
"...This is just my hypothesis, but..."
Prefacing her thoughts, Elsa began to explain.
"I think magi-craft is an extremely delicate form of magic."
"Delicate?"
"Mm....In other words, it is so sensitive that it fails to function if there is even the slightest noise—delicate in that sense."
"I see..."
As someone who could literally be called the best in the world at magi-craft, Jin immediately understood what Elsa was trying to convey.
"Even so, while that might explain why magi-craft doesn't work on living organisms, it doesn't explain why it fails on parts of one's own body, does it?" Jin countered.
"Mm, I thought you would say that. But you have the wrong idea."
"The wrong idea?"
"Mm....The reason magi-craft doesn't work on living bodies isn't because the magic patterns are different."
"What?"
Elsa stated something that overturned conventional wisdom.
"What do you mean by that?"
Deeply intrigued, Jin waited to hear what his beloved wife, Elsa, was about to say.