Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 631

18　King Klein’s Treatment Arc

19-18　The Meaning of Keeping Them Safe

“A Magi Engineer…?”

Oliver continued his explanation after hearing Laozi parroting his own words.

“Yes. There isn’t a single Magi Engineer in this town of Ismal.”

“I understand that, but… are you planning to hire a Magi Engineer?”

Oliver hesitated a bit after hearing Laozi’s question.

“N-no… Well, yes… It’s not me who wants to hire them, but an acquaintance of mine.”

“I see… By the way, on what conditions would you be hiring them? I need to ask you this, or I might not be able to introduce you.”

“…That’s very reasonable. Umm… The salary is negotiable, but I don’t think it will fall below 20,000 tolls. I believe the job will consist of repairing various magic tools…

“Hmm, I see, so where will they be working?”

The question had visibly upset Oliver.

“…It’s hard for me to say at this moment. I suppose that saying that it would be in the desert isn’t technically incorrect.”

Hearing those words, Laozi pondered. Even though he used only a portion of Laojun’s processing power, his processing speed was many times that of a human.

(Perhaps these mysterious employers are the “foreigners”, or maybe some of his own relatives. Should I draw out a little more information here and just accept the rest?)

Laozi then shrugged his shoulders after making such a decision in the blink of an eye.

“I don’t think there are many Magi Engineers who would be willing to take a job request with just that amount of information…”

“I-I suppose. Well… I guess I can trust you with this, Mr. Laozi. …But before that, I’m going to ask you please not to discuss what we’re going to talk about with anyone.”

“Of course.”

“…The person who needs the help of a Magi Engineer is the same person who sold me the dried bonito… the ‘katsuobushi’.”

“Oh.”

Deep inside, Laozi secretly cried out in delight that his prediction was correct.

“I see, I see. I somehow had a feeling that would be the case. …With that in mind, I believe I do have someone in mind.”

His answer was rather sloppy. No matter what he had in mind, he would have to get the Quinta ready.

“Really!?”

Still, Oliver was overjoyed to hear that.

“T-that would be a real lifesaver. Umm, when do you think we could meet?”

Laozi acted as if he was deep in thought.

“…Well, I believe 5 days from now, perhaps? …I think that’s around the time when my Master will be coming to this town.”

Upon hearing this, Oliver was clearly ecstatic.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine! Thank you so, so much!”

Oliver was bowing his head gratefully over and over again. Laozi politely asked him to stop.

Once his excitement had finally subsided, Oliver asked another question.

“What kind of person is your Master, Mr. Laozi? I would like to know, if you don’t mind.”

These words made Laozi think for a moment. After all, he was unsure whether he should disclose Jin’s identity.

However, it was still Laozi making the decision, so even though he pondered about it, he reached a conclusion in less than a second.

“My Master’s name is Nidou, and he is traveling in search of rare materials.”

Instead of revealing Jin’s name, he revealed his last name.

“So his name is Nidou. So, is he coming to this region looking for Sand Worm leather?”

“That’s correct.”

Oliver pondered for a moment after hearing Laozi’s answer.

“If that’s the case, I’ll be happy to prepare some for you.”

This posed no particular problem, so Laozi agreed to his offer.

“Then, in about five days, I will bring you a Magi Engineer.”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

In this way, Laozi gained a stepping stone towards learning more about the “foreigners”.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

On that same day, in Kaina Village…

“Jin, do you have a minute?”

While Jin was relaxing on the second floor of his workshop, Mine arrived, saying that she wanted to give him some advice.

“Of course. What is it?”

And since Jin nodded, Minne immediately got to the point.

“Jin, you’ve been taking Hanna to all sorts of cities and towns, right?”

“Yes.”

“Have you considered the risk of someone trying to kidnap her?”

“Yeah. Not only Hanna, but Elsa as well. But I’ve given both of them their own Covert Units, who keep them safe while remaining hidden from everyone’s eyes.”

Mine shook her head.

“That’s not what I mean. Not in the sense of danger, but in the sense of making it known to everyone.”

“Making it known?”

“That’s right. You have received honorary titles in three countries. In other words, you ought to act as a noble. So it would be best if you had at least one visible escort.”

In other words, it was important to show that he was well guarded.

“What I mean by this is that you need to show any insolent person that could try to assault you that if they mess with you, they’ll get hurt.”

“I see…”

Jin had Reiko, Elsa had Edgar, and Hanna was mostly walking with Jin. And even during those rare occasions when she was not with him Jin believed that her having the Covert Units by her side was enough.

“Not only when she’s walking around town dressed for a party, but also when she’s in casual clothes.”

Apparently, kidnappings in the capital of the Shouro Empire, Loizart, were a rare occurrence, so it was relatively safe, but the same could not be said about the provincial cities of the Celuroa and Franz Kingdoms.

“I don’t know what Alban, the capital of the Klein Kingdom, is like, but I think it’s best to be on the safe side.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

After having been given advice by Mine, Jin started pondering.

“Hmm, then… Laozi is out, so I should make a new… wait… what kind of guard should I make?”

“It probably doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look human.”

“Ah, I see.”

Jin was the Magi Craft Meister.

At least, in the three countries that have officially recognized him as such, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have an escort Golem with him.

“Okay, then this is a good chance for Steward.”

Steward was an all-purpose Golem originally created by Jin to be the driver of his Golem carriage.

Though his outward appearance seemed a bit unrefined, his basic performance level was above the Butler’s, and he was a very capable Golem who was able to do everything from physical labor to precision work.

Jin immediately contacted Laojun and instructed him to bring Steward – who was on standby on Hourai Island – up to speed.

The idea was to have Laojun use Transinfo to imprint the necessary knowledge onto Steward in order to save the hassle of having to explain it to him instead.

“The problem is that now we’re going to be one more person than how much we were after we left the Shouro Empire…”

It would indeed be strange if Steward suddenly appeared as part of the group after Jin and the others left the Shouro Empire on the blimp.

“…I hope the Shouro Empire didn’t ask about how many of us will be going…”

Hearing Jin’s concerns, Laojun contacted him.

“You don’t have to worry about that, My Lord. There has been no discussion about the number nor the details of members that would be traveling.”

“Is that so?”

Laojun was able to monitor each conversation made via the Mana Phones Jin had donated to each country.

“In that case, there shouldn’t be any problem taking him with us… Right?”

Taking Steward with them meant that they would be exceeding the blimp’s weight limit. Still, that issue could be easily solved by reducing the excess weight with Gravity Magic.

And so, Jin began his preparations for his visit to Alban, the capital of the Klein Kingdom.

“We should depart soon, shouldn’t we?”

Jin started things up at 1:30 PM

The time difference between Kaina Village and Alban was about 20 minutes, so there would be no big miscalculations.

Arriving in the afternoon would be good enough.

“Big Brother!”

Hanna had arrived.

“Brother Jin.”

And Elsa seemed to be ready as well.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Elsa, make sure to be thorough in the fulfillment of your duties.”

“Stay safe, Jin.”

After being sent off by Mine and Martha, Jin and the others flew towards Hourai Island.