On October 28th, Jin and the others met up in Toka Village.
By "Jin and the others," it meant Jin, Lordtoss, and Rubina.
Lordtoss had not brought along his younger sister, Vita, or his fiancée, Ludmila, this time.
Elsa also acted separately from Jin as planned, preferring not to draw too much attention.
The "Flight Area" was the very site where the air race had taken place the other day.
Afterward, Jin had embedded a generator for that safety barrier one hundred meters underground.
It was configured so that no one other than Jin could activate it, and it was set to self-destruct if anyone ever tried to dig it up.
It was Jin's way of ensuring the technology could never be adapted for military use.
"It has been a while... though perhaps not quite that long."
"Yeah. Good to see you're doing well."
"Jin-sama, let's hurry up and compare them!"
With their greetings kept brief, Lordtoss, Jin, and Rubina wasted no time showing each other their modified Delta X02 crafts.
Rubina was the first to unveil the Delta X02-3.
True to her personal style, it was painted in shades of red.
"Look, look! This is the Blow Floater I was aiming for!"
"Oho."
Jin let out an admiring murmur despite himself.
The craft Rubina had modified turned out far better than he had anticipated.
"Oh, the concept behind this is crystal clear....'Tight turning and agility,' right?"
"Yup! Exactly! As expected of Jin-sama!"
"Well, with workmanship this thorough, anyone could tell."
Lordtoss nodded in agreement with Jin.
"Indeed. A compact, lightweight build like that must handle very nimbly."
Jin added further commentary.
"You've clearly done your homework, Rubina....Finding ways to minimize the moment of inertia couldn't have been easy."
"Yeah. Figuring out how to do that without wrecking the stability was definitely the hardest part."
"I bet."
Rubina's Delta X02-3 was designed for sharp, agile banking to the left and right.
Since that naturally compromised overall stability, she had sacrificed a degree of vertical maneuverability to compensate.
In essence, she had enhanced responsiveness around the Z-axis (the vertical axis) while prioritizing stability around the X and Y axes (the horizontal pitch and roll axes).
Next was Lordtoss's Delta X02-2.
It was finished in a calm, understated silver-gray throughout.
"I see, so Lordtoss's concept is..."
Just as Jin began to speak, Rubina cut in.
"Ooh, pick me! Let me guess!"
"Lordtoss-sama's craft focuses on 'safety'!...Right?"
"Yes, that's pretty much spot-on."
Lordtoss offered a smiling nod.
"I knew it! The cockpit is set slightly lower, and there are vertical ailerons on both wingtips. Plus, four extra Blow Engines have been added!"
"You've got a sharp eye, Rubina."
Jin praised her keen observation.
"With a setup like this, it must be remarkably easy to handle, right?"
Lordtoss nodded at Jin's question.
"Precisely. Alongside eliminating any risk of crashing as much as possible, I pursued safety and ease of operation. You could call it a 'beginner model.'"
"Makes sense. In return, the top speed is dialed back a bit, and the response from the control stick is probably quite mild."
"Exactly so."
And finally came Jin's Delta X02-1.
The upper surface was coated in white, while the underside was blue.
"So this is how Jin-sama tuned his..."
"Hmm, I see... Would your concept be 'nimbleness'?...No, 'casual convenience'?"
"It shares some things with my Delta X02-3, but there are a lot of differences, too, aren't there?"
"Yeah. If Rubina's craft is a 'sports model' and Lordtoss's is 'for beginners,' then I'd call mine a 'city cruiser.'"
"How are they different?"
"I'll explain."
Jin pondered for a moment on the best way to frame it before speaking.
"The beginner model is pretty self-explanatory: it's easy to ride, stable, and minimizes danger. In horse terms, it's an obedient, gentle mount."
"Mm-hmm, makes sense."
"A city cruiser is meant for short-to-medium distances—something you can hop onto without any fuss. In horse terms, that would be... what, exactly?"
Having rarely ever ridden a horse, Jin struggled to find the right metaphor.
"Wouldn't 'an obedient yet lively horse' work?"
Lordtoss tossed him a lifeline.
"Ah, something like that....And a sports model is nimble and exceptionally maneuverable, but it demands a skilled hand. In other words, a feisty filly."
"How mean!"
Rubina protested immediately.
"Hey, I wasn't calling you feisty, Rubina."
"I know that, but still..."
Jin guessed that Rubina had probably been called a tomboy or feisty when she was little—not that she was particularly big now, either.
"...How about an 'unruly steed,' then?"
"That's just a wild horse!"
Realizing the discussion was turning entirely into a debate about horses, Jin decided to steer things back on track.
"Look, it's not actually about horses. Even if Rubina's craft isn't strictly meant for racing... well, let's just say it's built for someone who wants to fly around looking cool."
"Well, I can live with that."
"At any rate, all three crafts ended up with their own distinct flavors."
The specs and tuning data from each craft would be logged as design templates.
"Think about it when we start selling them. When a customer explains how they want to fly, having these templates will be a huge help in tailoring the adjustments to their needs."
"Ah, that makes total sense."
"And on that note, I suppose the development of the Delta X02 has reached a good milestone."
Before taking turns test-flying the different crafts, they paused for a tea break.
During the break, Jin casually brought up recent rumors regarding the mysterious engineers who had surfaced in the Kingdom of Egerea and the Kingdom of Elias, which caught Lordtoss's interest.
"Sanmarco Podium and Marukonen, you say... Hmm..."
"Do those names ring a bell?"
Jin asked over his tea, watching Lordtoss sink into thought.
"Yes....Those names sound very much like the kind bestowed upon a son or a disciple, but..."
"Hm? Sanmarco and Marukonen are?"
"Yes."
According to Lordtoss, both names bore a striking resemblance to the naming conventions used when a parent or master named Marco named their child or pupil.
"Marco... Marco... Could it be Marcosius?"
"Marcosius?...I believe I've heard that name from my great-grandmother. If I remember right... he was from the Frenzy clan, wasn't he?"