On August 13th, Jin D carried out maintenance on the 110 returning Smith units.
None of them were malfunctioning in any way, but they had accumulated some mud and dirt, so he used Cleanup to restore them to pristine condition.
Of course, he could have simply had the Smith golems clean each other, but this was a matter of personal principle. Even if it was through Jin D rather than his actual body, Jin derived a modest sense of satisfaction from handling it himself.
"Next up are the bridges, huh..."
Since newly excavated water channels now ran through the land, crossing over to the opposite bank had become quite inconvenient.
The channel measured roughly three meters across. An adult might be able to jump over it, but doing so carried unnecessary risk.
Therefore, Jin D figured it would be best to build bridges every several dozen meters.
The issue lay in finding the materials for them.
"Maybe I should just haul timber in from a bit farther away..."
If they were building simple log bridges, laying three to ten logs of around five meters side by side would probably suffice, Jin D reasoned.
"Maybe I should purchase them on the Pandor Continent."
That way, it would also provide revenue for the Melkana Autonomous Region.
With that in mind, he immediately decided to dispatch Eagle 1.
Once the craft reached the Pandor Continent, he could simply travel over via the Warp Gate installed on board.
Jin intended to go there in person.
"Besides, I'd like to see how Taji Village is doing."
That was his underlying reason.
He had not visited Taji Village since coming with Kachea back in May to assist with its reconstruction.
"It's a good opportunity, so I might as well check on their progress," Jin thought.
Thanks to the combined use of a transporter, Eagle 1 arrived in the skies above Taji Village just before noon on the 13th.
Jin boarded the vessel alongside Reiko via the Warp Gate.
Then, with Hope at the helm, Eagle 1 touched down in a vacant plot on the outskirts of the village.
Having seen such an enormous flying object descend from the sky, a large crowd of villagers rushed over to see what was happening.
Among them stood the village chief, Sergei, prompting Jin to call out loudly to announce himself.
"Village Chiiief! It's me!"
"Ohh, Jin-kun!"
Recognizing Jin, Village Chief Sergei waved back.
"It's been a while!"
"Yes, it's certainly been some time."
Hearing that exchange, the other villagers watching from a distance realized who it was and came swarming over in excitement.
"Oh! If it isn't Jin!"
"Ah, Jin-san!"
"Still, that's quite an incredible thing you've arrived in."
The village chief looked up at Eagle 1 in sheer wonder.
"Yes. I was hoping to purchase some timber, actually."
"Oh? Timber, you say?"
"To tell the truth, across the sea in the Norha Principality..."
Jin explained that he required a large quantity of lumber to construct bridges over the water channels.
"I see. In that case, we actually have a sizable stockpile of sawn lumber available."
"That's a huge help."
Figuring that milled timber would make for far sturdier, proper bridges than raw logs, Jin decided to amend his plans.
"It's not just our village, either; the neighboring villages should have stockpiles as well."
They had originally planned to expand and renovate homes as part of the reconstruction effort. However, because Jin had previously repaired the houses using magi-craft, and because support from Avalon had followed shortly after, the lumber they had prepared had ended up as surplus, Sergei explained.
"If that's the case, I would gladly buy it off your hands."
As a result, they were able to purchase timber not only from Taji Village, but also from Fan Village and Nobera Village, securing a very respectable supply.
"Jin-san, you're staying the night, aren't you?"
The village chief's daughter, Helga, offered warmly.
"Yeah....Before that, though, I should probably go meet with the Northern Administrator."
Even if it was after the fact, Jin realized it would be best to notify the Northern Administrator of the Melkana Autonomous Region.
"Ah, he's not around right now, you know?"
"Huh?"
"After you visited last time, Jin-san, Avalon sent in a lot of aid. During that process, that administrator received a formal reprimand."
"Ah... If I recall, his name was Gone, right?"
"Right. Gone Maui von Keema....Anyway, the people who came from Avalon scolded Gone over all sorts of things, and in the end, they just hauled him away. A successor hasn't arrived yet."
Jin remembered the man. He was a rather arrogant official who altered his demeanor depending on who he was dealing with.
If that had been his only flaw, it might have been tolerable, but according to Helga, he had apparently been embezzling funds and was dismissed from his post.
"While he's away, each village chief is acting as a local proxy, so there's nothing to worry about."
"I see how it is."
Since he had conducted the lumber purchases directly with the respective village chiefs, there would be no problem at all.
"So that means you can just relax for the rest of the day, you know?"
"True, I think I'll take you up on that."
"It's settled, then! You'll have to tell me all kinds of stories."
Helga seemed eager to hear all about the foreign lands Jin had visited.
Jin was also curious about how the village had changed since his last stay, so they agreed to catch up over dinner.
"...So Inessa-san safely gave birth to a baby boy, then."
"Yes. Thanks to Enju 2. Both mother and child are perfectly healthy. His name is Romano. He looks so much like his mother, Inessa-san."
Inessa was the sister-in-law of Kachea—who was currently thriving at Avalon—and she had been in her final month of pregnancy when Jin visited back in May.
Because of that, Jin had left behind the assistant automata Enju 2 in the village.
Like all the automata and golems Jin created, Enju 2 had a built-in manacam and routinely reported back to Laojun, so Jin had indeed heard news of the birth.
However, it was also true that the detail had slipped his mind amid his hectic daily schedule.
Hearing it directly in person made the reality truly sink in.
"That's wonderful to hear....Is Enju 2 proving helpful?"
Helga nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes, very much so....Right now, healers take turns coming from Avalon to Fan Village, but having her right here whenever someone suddenly gets hurt is such a relief."
"In that case, maybe I'll leave her stationed here a bit longer."
Jin had considered retrieving Enju 2 on this trip if she was no longer needed, but since she was actively benefiting the village, he decided to leave her where she was for the time being.
"Ah, but I think I'll still run a quick maintenance check on her before I go."
He wanted to see how her systems were holding up. Since Laojun had made no mention of any trouble, her internal self-diagnostics were likely completely fine, but Jin preferred to verify it with his own eyes.
After that, Jin spent the rest of the evening sharing tales of the Four Principalities and the Conference Countries with Helga.
Partway through, Helga's childhood friend Isaac joined them, turning the gathering into a lively little drinking party alongside Village Chief Sergei. As an aside, while Jin was operating through his Duplicate, both Sergei and Isaac would find themselves suffering from terrible hangovers the following morning.