On September 5th, the conference to establish the AGS—the Ars Golem Standards—commenced in Avalon.
Because the general outline had already been laid out previously, this session was dedicated to making revisions and ironing out the finer details.
The first revision to the outline concerned the grading system.
Originally, the provision stated that "Grades range from 1 to 5, with Grade 1 being the highest and Grade 5 the lowest," but the proposal called for reversing that numbering scheme.
This revision was accepted without any particular objections.
Thus, the primary focus of this session was expected to be "the balance between price and quality."
"Our immediate goal ought to be lowering the price of general-purpose golems to a point where an ordinary commoner can reasonably afford to purchase one."
"I have no particular objection to that principle, but I suspect defining the quality of such a 'general-purpose golem' will prove difficult."
"I agree. Rushing to decide something like that solely among ourselves here would be perilous."
"Oh, well said. Precisely. If we end up bogged down in mere academic theory, we'll have put the cart before the horse. After all, we gathered here for the good of the world, not to indulge our own egos."
The proceedings of the conference were being broadcast live to Hourai Island via Jin's Doppel.
The conference room was projected onto the large magi-screen in the dining hall, allowing them to follow the debate with crystal clarity.
"Oh, they're making some good points. Is that the representative from the Shouro Empire?"
"Mm-hmm, I hear you, I hear you. Past or present, the passion of craftspeople remains the same."
Occasional muttered remarks like these drifted through the room.
However, since the sessions in Avalon ran for roughly eight hours across the morning and afternoon, the group on Hourai Island didn't sit through the entire broadcast from start to finish. Instead, they simply dropped in to listen whenever they took a break.
Furthermore, minutes were being recorded in Avalon, so a full transcript could always be requested if necessary.
The deliberations for the day concluded with this debate over the "minimum standard of golem quality."
"Still, the minimum quality for a golem, huh... I've never even thought about that," Jin murmured during dinner.
"Kufu, well, that's Jin for you," Saki chimed in with a teasing grin.
"I have to admit, I'm a bit curious to see what 'minimum quality' would look like if Jin made it," Marcia added.
"Out of all the golems Jin has built so far, which one has the lowest performance?" Reinhard asked with evident curiosity.
"Let's see..." Jin pondered for a moment before answering. "Gon and Gen, whom I made back in Kaina Village... or maybe the initial model of Hope. In both cases, I didn't have adequate materials at the time."
Of course, the current Hope possessed a tier of performance that ordinary golems couldn't hope to match. The same was true for Gon and Gen.
"Aside from those, in that sense, maybe the golems I built for general use? Like Arrow or Lotte."
Even so, both boasted capabilities that placed them in a league entirely separate from standard golems.
In the finals of the Golem Boat Race held in Port Rock Town in the Kingdom of Elias, Arrow had clinched victory after a dead heat in the final stretch against Lorelei, the mermaid-type golem crafted by the team of Reinhard and Elsa.
And during the Golem Incident that had broken out at the Royal Palace in the Kingdom of Egerea, Lotte had successfully defended the royal family with her slender limbs to the bitter end.
"Yep, that's a debate Jin could never take part in!" Saki said, looking oddly delighted.
"Kufu. So it turns out there really was a discussion beyond even the great Jin."
"Well, of course there is. That's why I have companions, and why we're a Jin Family." Jin replied with a wry smile.
"Truly. I wonder if there's anything this group can't accomplish?" Beena remarked.
"Well, we are comparatively clueless when it comes to business," Louis offered with a straight face.
Jin's circle consisted of figures from the Sciences and politics. High-level commerce and economics were not their forte.
"Whether we even need that is another question, though," Jin noted. Indeed, the group on Hourai Island had virtually no need to engage in commerce.
"Speaking of business reminds me of Eckart-san," Reinhard mused nostalgically.
"Eckart-san, huh. That takes me back," Jin agreed with a nod.
"Yes. You met Jin-kun, and when he made the request... back then, he had come looking for a cat, hadn't he?" Vivienne added fondly.
"He showed us his ship, and then it got sabotaged."
"And we deployed the Quinta, as I recall."
"Mm. And then the Bernstein, the vessel built under the Shouro Empire's new project. On its maiden voyage, it passed by the Bridget, which Eckart had constructed."
"So it did."
That event had heralded the dawn of large ships—wooden vessels in the forty- to fifty-meter class.
Nowadays, fifty-meter-class vessels were standard worldwide. For wooden ships, building anything larger was structurally prohibitive.
For a time, the adoption of metallic structural frames had begun, but that progress was abruptly halted by the Magic Federation Rebellion.
"It seems large ships still have a long way to go," Marcia's father, Rodrigo, remarked quietly. Unlike his daughter, his passion had shifted away from small, high-speed craft toward larger vessels.
"I would love to lend them technical aid, even if only a little."
In the current era, it seemed likely that if capable, dedicated engineers were given just a slight push, they could achieve remarkable progress on their own.
Having gained homunculus bodies that freed them from the constraints of a natural lifespan, any trace of impatience had completely vanished from Jin and his friends.
"It would be wonderful if we could conduct our research here on Hourai Island and slowly give those findings back to the world, little by little."
Jin's sentiment captured the shared feelings of everyone present.
"That's right. I still want to develop plenty of useful tools as well," Beena agreed without hesitation.
"Adriana-sama would surely be delighted as well," the gentle Milowina added, smiling at the group.
"Father, will Tsetse Island remain as it is for the time being?"
Mini Reiko, sitting primly on the table, spoke up.
After all, resting on Tsetse Island were Magus Shuuki Tsetse and the First Generation Magi Craft Meister, Adriana Barbora Tsetse.
"I imagine so. For now, it's concealed from the world by an illusion barrier, so it should be safe."
Besides, the Watcher stationed in satellite orbit was constantly monitoring it, Jin added.
"In that case, what do you plan to do about the House Tierra cemetery?"
"Huh?"
House Tierra was the prestigious lineage that had produced Adriana Tierra—wife and research partner to Shuuki Tsetse, as well as a pioneer of magi-craft, including golem technology.
Their family resting ground was located in the north-central region of the Lauren Continent.
Specifically, in a town called Naminte, in a country once known as New El.
In the past, Jin and his companions had journeyed to that land and met House Tierra's steward automata, Baseth IX.
And from Baseth IX, who had dutifully preserved House Tierra's legacy all those centuries, Jin had formally inherited the facility.
Since then, Baseth IX had taken the name Palma and served Jin faithfully.
"Did I not do anything four hundred years ago?"
"No, you regularly dispatched Smith units to oversee its maintenance and upkeep."
"Then why bring it up now?"
It was only natural for Jin to wonder.
Just then, Laojun's voice sounded:
"My Lord, please allow me to explain that matter."