When Jin announced that he was thinking of making non-woven fabric, Saki's eyes sparkled. As he explained further, she beamed.
"Sounds fun! Yeah, leave it to me!"
Seeing how enthusiastic she was, Jin decided to leave the project entirely in Saki's hands.
He did, however, leave behind a design sketch for the mask.
"By the way, Laojun."
Taking a breather, Jin decided to ask Laojun about something that had been lingering on his mind.
"Yes, My Lord. What is it?"
"A few things regarding the healing personnel from Avalon... First off, there was one that looked identical to the healing automata Lise, wasn't there?"
Generally speaking, Lise was supposed to be exclusive to Hourai Island, Jin noted.
"That was 'Lise,' yet not 'Lise.'"
"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"
Jin had a vague idea, but he wanted to hear the full explanation just in case.
"About three hundred and fifty years ago, a certain magi craftsman who admired Lise created that healing automata."
"Well now..."
Admiring something and building a replica—there was nothing strange about that. Jin had done the exact same thing himself.
"It was so well made that inquiries came in from various nations, leading to mass production. That unit is believed to be a successor model."
"And the name is 'Lise' too, huh."
"Yes."
"Three hundred and fifty years ago... which means Elsa knows about it too."
"Yes."
Jin nodded, everything falling neatly into place.
That explained why Elsa hadn't felt the slightest incongruity toward the Lise dispatched from Avalon during the medical treatment, and why she had naturally called her "Lise" while having her assist.
Jin recalled his own childhood, when he had fashioned figures of characters and mecha from anime and tokusatsu shows he loved—though his craftsmanship back then had been far too clumsy to truly call them figures.
He reasoned that the magi craftsman had almost certainly been someone associated with Hourai Island, but Jin kept that thought to himself.
"One more thing. It felt like there were very few healing personnel sent from Avalon. Is that normal?"
"Yes, My Lord. Currently, there is a worldwide shortage of doktors."
Doktors were certified individuals capable of educating the next generation, so if there were few of them, a shortage of arzts was inevitable, Jin realized.
"Is that because of the Magic Federation?"
"Yes. To put it simply, their stance seemed to be that scientific knowledge was unnecessary and that Healing magic alone was sufficient."
"So none of the countries bothered training them..."
"That is correct....To add one detail, nowadays a healing practitioner is referred to as an 'arzt,' while a healing master is called a 'doktor.'"
"I see....That sounds like the naming style of the Shouro Empire, but is it used in other countries too?"
"Yes."
Come to think of it, medical terminology back in Japan had often used German loanwords as well, Jin remembered.
"Then instead of Reichsarzt, Elsa would be a Reichsdoktor now, wouldn't she?"
"That is correct."
Jin also recalled that she held the title of Honorary Healer.
(She did mention she didn't really like being called that, though.)
Just then, Elsa herself walked in.
"Jin-nii, welcome back."
"Yeah, I'm back."
"...Talking about doktors?"
Jin nodded.
"Yeah. Apparently, there's a worldwide shortage of arzts and doktors right now."
"Mm, seems so....So, what are you planning to do?"
"Well, since we've gotten involved this far, I'd like to do something about it."
"...Mass-produce Lise?"
"That's one option....Come to think of it, that healing automata sent from Avalon during the cave-in the other day—is it true that it was a copy of Hourai Island's Lise?"
While it wasn't strictly a copy, Jin used the term as an easy shorthand.
"Mm, yes....Ah, come to think of it, it's only natural the current Jin-nii wouldn't know....Sorry, I should have explained."
"No, don't worry about it. I just checked with Laojun."
"...We might really need Lise, or perhaps slightly down-specced automata."
Using golems might make patients uneasy, leaving them no choice but to use automata, which inevitably drove up production costs.
"Would healing magi-devices not work?"
"Without the medical knowledge to use them, it's tough... You felt that firsthand at the site, right, Elsa?"
"...Mm."
Elsa recalled the flustered female arzt.
"If that person were properly educated, she probably could have..."
"That's why we definitely need automata."
Jin had considered having the Quinta handle it for a while, but he felt it would look far too unnatural if doktors suddenly appeared across multiple countries almost simultaneously.
"In that case, it'd be best to openly create assistant automata after all."
"Mm, I agree."
Manufacturing them wasn't an issue. The real challenge lay in how to distribute them to the various nations.
Doing so free of charge was possible, but he wanted to avoid a situation where repeated handouts caused every country to become entirely dependent on him.
At the same time, however, Jin wanted to prevent tragedies where lives were lost simply because there weren't enough healers on hand.
"Maybe we should use Maquina's name and lease them out."
"Yeah, that might be the safest way."
After five or ten years, once new doktors had been fostered, they could either retrieve the units or transfer ownership for a fee.
"All right, let's nail down the specifications."
With that, Jin and Elsa set out to construct assistant automata to serve as temporary healing personnel.
Their assistants for the project were Reiko and the Smiths.
The following day, the 21st.
"Using Lise as the base should be fine, right?"
"Mm. But it's better to think about what to do after we collect them."
"I see....Good point."
Hourai Island only needed two assistant automata at most.
"It'd be better if they were versatile enough to handle tasks outside of medicine, then."
"Exactly."
They already had plenty of lady's maid automata, and they had no intention of assigning these units heavy manual labor.
"How about a female version of the Smiths?"
"I see what you mean."
Assistant automata were often built as female-types to present a gentle, reassuring impression to patients.
In reality, women also tended to possess a higher aptitude for Healing magic, whereas men generally leaned toward magi-craft.
"Then let's give them creative capabilities, centered around handicrafts."
Jin thought it would be convenient if they could also double as assistants for Saki.
"As for the rest... We should probably tweak the appearance so they don't look identical to Lise....I'll leave the aesthetics to you, Elsa."
"Mm."
With that, the general specifications were settled.
"All right, let's assemble a prototype."
They used standard Hourai Island materials. The frame was based on the 5-Color Maids, with an increased array of tactile sensors embedded in the hands to facilitate delicate, precise manual work.
To make full use of those sensors, they customized the control system accordingly.
Elsa, for her part, decided on the overall design and handled the finish.
Working at a relaxed, steady pace, they completed the first prototype roughly two hours later.