Chapter 389: A reunion and Elsa’s debut

“Ahh! This level of detail is amazing!”

Everyone who received a medal expressed their surprise at their precise craftsmanship.

The medals were 2 centimeters in diameter, about the same size of a 1 Yen coin.

Their margins had subtle patterns engraved into them. This level of detail was something unlikely to be able to achieve with human hands.

Those who didn’t know much about Magi Craft were impressed by the mini golems’ manufacturing power.

Those who had some knowledge of Magi Craft were marveled by the skill that it would take to make golems of such a small size.

And those who had a good grasp about Magi Craft were awestruck at their practical uses.

After Reiko got back up on stage with the Mini-Smiths, Jin made another announcement.

“That concludes my demonstration for today, but tomorrow I’ll show you something at the Main Plaza that will defy your conventional knowledge. Thank you very much for your time.”

Jin bowed down at the audience and stepped down from the stage.

The audience had various impressions of Jin’s presentation.

“Just who is that young man?”

“I don’t know. They did say he was some Honorary Magi Craftsman from Egelia Kingdom. You don’t think he has something to do with that uproar at the Golem Party?”

“But did you see those tiny golems? Being able to produce those would mean having the world’s leading processing technology!”

“Certainly. Look at the level of detail of these medals! Just imagine how much these would be worth if they were made of gold instead of brass!”

Everyone was surprised and in an uproar after seeing that kind of technology for the first time.

“Hoho, you never cease to impress, Jin. It was really worth it to have invited you to our country. And I’m really looking forward to what you may have in store for us tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’ve only been watching since Her Highness was so immersed in his presentation, but it was indeed impressive!”

The people who had only heard a bit about Jin were simply astounded.

“Who would’ve thought he had those mini golems up his sleeve? That Jin… They may not look like much at first, but the possibilities are endless! I’m sure other people understand this much, too.”

“Regardless of whatever Jin could have brought with him today, I knew it would be beyond our expectations.”

And those who knew Jin well could not suppress their surprise.

Someone ran up to Jin as soon as he came down from the stage.

“Jin!”

It was a blond young boy with blue eyes, a bit shorter than Jin. Behind him were a female bronze-colored golem and a woman dressed up as a maid. And standing right next to him was a lady whose Jin recognized instantly.

“Your Highness! And…”

The young boy was Ernest, the third prince of Egelia Kingdom. The golem was Lotte, naturally, and the other woman was Layla Sorius from the Royal Secret Maid corps who had been appointed to the prince.

“Long time no see, Jin.”

Finally, the lady who Jin had easily recognized was Lieschen, the Princess of the Klein Kingdom.

“Long time no see. How have you been?”

Jin felt that the princess wouldn’t ask that herself, so he asked first.

“…I’m doing fine. Just a bit tired, but I’m pulling through.”

“Ah, Jin, it’s just that Lies has been put under a forced march in order to bring her back to the Shouro Empire.”

‘I see’, Jin thought. The Egelia Kingdom may be far away from where they were now, but coming here all the way from the Klein Kingdom, which was even farther away, must have been quite tiresome. Both for her and her attendants.

“Glad to see you’re well, Jin…”

Even Jessica Norton, Captain of Princess Lieschen’s Imperial Guard, was not looking as energetic as usual.

Seeing that, Jin thought about sending some provisions to them later, but then realized that sending provisions to such an important person from another country would be quite troublesome.

“I was to have a formal meeting with Lies, but I wanted to come see this expo as well. Then Lies told me that she wanted to see me too, so we thought about coming here together.”

The Celuroa Kingdom stands between Egelia and Klein. So they arranged to meet in Tellurus, a city close to the Celuroa metropolis of Essaia, and headed towards the Shouro Empire in order to attend the Technology Expo together.

Perhaps they were being a bit selfish in taking such liberties and coming here, both of them being so close to inherit their respective countries’ thrones.

“But you’re okay, right, Your Highness?”

“Yeah, we came here on that carriage that you made for us Jin, so it was still a pretty fun trip.”

“Ah…”

A horse-drawn carriage furnished with a Golem Suspension does have a different feeling of comfort when riding it. Without it, the level of burden one would feel while in a forced march would be in a completely different league.

“She was very adamant in that we used that carriage to come here.”

“O… Of course! It’s only natural that a man and a woman that are to meet and spend an entire day in a carriage together would try to make it as comfy as possible…!”

Lieschen hid her blushing face behind her hands as she said that. She remembered when she shared a ride on that carriage together with Jin and thought about saying something to that effect… but then thought it would be better not to.

A princess is entitled to have princess-like thoughts. She may be just naturally shy, too.

“But am I glad to see you again! Your skills are as good as ever. But why have you taken up our name of Honorary Magi Craftsman after being commissioned to the Shouro Empire?”

“Ahh…”

Jin was at a loss for words. The truth was that he was still independent. Back in Egelia Kingdom, Jin saw that he was going to be commissioned to the Shouro Empire, so he thought about not making any pointless solicitations.

But what would happen if they realize that he was still unaffiliated?

“Your Highness, Jin is still our honored guest. After taking a good look at our country, if it pleases him, he shall be commissioned in our government’s service.”

Reinhardt’s words came from the side like a lifeline.

“Ah, Reinhardt. So that’s what it was.”

“Who is this, Lord Ernest?”

Princess Lieschen asked Prince Ernest while pinching gently on his sleeve.

“Ah, that’s right, I’m sorry. This is Reinhardt, a Magi Craftsman from the Shouro Empire.”

“My name is Reinhardt Randall, Your Highness. Pleased to meet you.”

Reinhardt bowed down graciously at the princess.

“Is that so? I’m Lieschen Fusis Klein, third princess of the Klein Kingdom. Glad to make your acquaintance.”

Prince Ernest and Princess Lieschen, being important people of such high standing, could not stand in the same spot for too long, so they decided to move on to see other exhibits.

“If possible, I’d like some of those mini golems of yours…”

With those words, they headed towards another booth.

Jin returned to his booth as well, and looked at the stage from there. Reinhardt was with him, too.

“I didn’t know you were making those little golems, Jin.”

“Haha, next time I’ll teach you how to make them yourself.”

“Ah, that’ll be great!”

Some people arrived at Jin’s booth while they were having that conversation.

They were the Minister of Magical Technology, Degauss Furt Von Manishlas, and the top Magi Engineer of the Shouro Empire -in other words, the Magi Engineer Maestro- Gebalt Ackerman, along with the Empress of Shouro herself, Gelhart Hilde Von Rubis Shouro.

“That was truly splendid, Jin. And you said you have even more to show to us tomorrow? I’m looking forward to it.”

Since this was an event venue, the empress’ choice of words made her seem like she was someone in between her usual public and private selves. She picked her words thoroughly.

“Thank you very much. I hope to see you there tomorrow.”

“Hmm, hmm, it’s really exciting. I wonder what you have in store for us. By the way, what’s that hanging from your face?”

Jin was now wearing protective glasses made out of muscovite. Reinhardt, who was standing right next to him, had the same kind of glasses as well.

“Right, these are called ‘protective glasses’, we use them to protect our eyes from dust entering our eyes and to prevent injuries to our eyes while working.”

Jin took out three samples. The empress picked up one of them.

“They feel rather light. So they go here…? Oh, I see, they don’t obscure your vision or anything like that. What do you think, Gebalt?”

The Magi Engineer Maestro, Gebalt Ackerman, picked up another one of the protective glasses samples and shared his impressions after putting them on.

“Let’s see here, they seem quite easy to use. They may not be so necessary when working via magic, but I can see how they can help when working manually.”

“Ah, but you can use them to keep dust from entering your eyes as well.”

The Minister of Magic Technology, Degauss, shared his opinion after he too tried the protective glasses on.

“I see. They may be useful for soldiers as well. Jin, could I have your permission to produce these ‘protective glasses’?

He hadn’t thought of them being used like that, but Jin had no intention to refuse.

“Yes, of course. They will be useful in many scenarios where it’s necessary to protect one’s eyes.”

“Thank you very much for approving so quickly. …And what is that?”

Degauss expressed his gratitude on behalf of the three of them. At the same time, he seemed to have noticed Edgar, who was standing right next to them.

“Ah, yes, This is my… This is an automata made by my apprentice. His name is Edgar.”

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Edgar.”

Edgar elegantly bowed to them. He had done it in such a way that it looked a bit like how they do it in the Shouro Empire, so the empress and the others were rather surprised by it.

“Huh? That bow… could it be that your apprentice is from our country?”

“… That is correct.”

“Your Majesty, we don’t have much time, so please take a look at our work first.”