Magi Craft Meister 606
18 Further Progress Arc
18-26 The New House
“Uhh… My head hurts.”
Since that noble rot wine Jin and Elsa enjoyed the night before tasted so good, Jin ended up waking up to a mild hangover.
“Are you okay, Father?”
“…Ah, Reiko… Sorry to ask you this, but please use your detoxification spell on me…”
“Understood… ‘Entgiften’.”
The detoxification spell Reiko used was the Shouro-Empire-styled chant she had learned from Elsa.
It was capable of breaking down acetaldehyde and adenosine, which are what cause headaches.
“…I’m feeling much better now, but my head still hurts…”
“Then… ‘Heal’. Any better?”
Reiko followed up with a spell to help alleviate the inflammation of Jin’s dilated blood vessels.
“…Ah, it feels very refreshing. Thank you, Reiko.”
“No problem.”
Through this experience, Jin realized that it would be better to make a detoxifying Magic Tool as soon as possible.
＊ ＊ ＊
The maintenance and analysis of the giant Golems was completed a little past noon on that same day.
At Jin’s suggestion, the steel of their frame was plated with nickel, and the steel plating of their outer shell was plated with mithril, replacing the old, rusted look with a one that shone silvery white.
“Jin Nidou, Elsa Nidou, Gebart Ackermann, Marcus Grinwald… All of you, well done.”
As the work had come to a close, the Empress herself came to inspect it, and was so satisfied with their display of workmanship that she commended them all appropriately.
The only thing that still remained to resolve was the giant Golem’s control device.
Jin had already sent his reports regarding this to the chancellor, who in turn passed them on to the Empress.
The basement where the giant Golems was searched thoroughly for anything that could resemble a control device, but nothing was found. As a result, they believed that it was possible that it was hidden in another part of the castle.
“…But I have no idea where such a thing would be…”
However, the Empress was completely unaware of the existence of any such control device.
Jin then made a suggestion.
“Then I would recommend returning them to the basement.”
This was a consequence of Jin’s uneasiness, which he had discussed with Elsa the night before.
“I believe that as long as we cannot find their control device, it’s crucial that we keep them safe in the exact same place where they have been for so long.”
“No, I’m against that.”
The one who had cut Jin off was Marcus.
“I would like to do further analysis on these artifacts in order to make use of this technology in the future. Also, I believe that making their majestic appearance public is a good opportunity to show the power of our country to the world.”
“Hmm, what should we do?”
As an individual, the Empress wanted to take Jin’s opinion into account, but as a public figure, she understood Marcus’ point of view fairly well. Therefore, she decided to consult with the Minister of Magi Technology.
“What do you think, Degauss?”
“Well, I think it would be good to announce to the public that we have completed our work with these giant Golems, if only for a brief period of time. After that, we can return them to the basement.”
His input can be considered to have been a compromise proposal. After thinking about it briefly, the Empress decided to follow the minister’s advice.
“Understood. Let’s display them in the courtyard for 10 days and announce them to the public. I will allow you to analyze them further during that period of time, Marcus. But after that, they will be returned to the basement.”
A decision had been made. Jin decided not to press the matter any further.
With this, there was nothing else for Jin and the others to do for the time being, so the team was disbanded. Then, each member was rewarded accordingly.
“Sir Jin Nidou will be given an estate in Loizart.”
Jin’s reward was, surprisingly, a house. Having discovered a Magi Formula that can amplify the effects of magic apparently had been quite the achievement.
It was also located in the capital Loizart, so Jin could use it to establish a base in the Shouro Empire. This was more profitable to him than money or titles.
As expected, the actual center of the city was out of the question, and although the place given to Jin felt like it was just outside the city limits, Jin also thought he could use the peace and quiet.
It was a two-story stone building. It was quite large, and Jin appreciated that it had a large garden.
The total area of the estate was about 1,500 square meters, of which approximately 1,200 were nothing but garden. The building itself was second-hand, but it was well maintained and ready to move in.
It seemed that it had previously belonged to a baron that had fallen into ruin, so there were still a few pieces of furniture left.
The house had about 20 rooms. Maintaining it would normally be very difficult, but this was not a problem for Jin.
“Feel free to modify it to your liking.”
Jin was surprised to receive such official endorsement.
As Empress, Gelhart Hilde Von Rubies Shouro was certainly very curious about what kind of remodeling the Magi Craft Meister would do to this estate. She would most likely come for a visit at some point.
“It’s nice that it has a basement as well. We can set up a Warp Gate there.”
“And since it has such a large garden, there’s space for a Golem carriage.”
Elsa knew very well what it meant for a noble to have a mansion in Loizart. It was unprecedented for anyone with the rank of Knight to be granted such a reward. That’s how much Jin was trusted and recognized.
With that in mind, Elsa advised Jin to make it so that his new estate would live up to that trust.
“Hmm, I see.”
“Of course, there’s no need to go as far as your castle in Hourai Island. That would be viewed poorly as well. But it would be better if this becomes a house that can meet Her Majesty’s expectations.”
Elsa knew that the Empress would eventually come check how things were going in this house from time to time.
“I’m finally free, so I’d like to bring Hanna at some point… Alright, I’ll get the remodeling done today.”
It looked as if a switch inside Jin had been flipped in an instant. After an early lunch, he quickly set out to begin working.
He started by setting a Warp Gate in the basement.
Reiko was sent out via transfer machine as a landmark to allow for a provisional installation of this Warp Gate.
Then, he used this temporary Warp Gate to summon 10 Smith Golems. With that, his preparations were complete.
Since Elsa knew her way around Loizart, Jin asked her to go shopping for general household goods with Edgar.
Though Jin would probably be able to just make everything he needed in that regard, he had the potential gossip around the neighborhood to consider, as it would be unnatural to establish a house and not to buy any household goods.
It would also be better for the Shouro Empire’s economy to spend some money. After all, he had yet to touch the 1,000,000 torr he had received as reward earlier.
Jin asked Elsa to get curtains, tableware, basic cooking utensils, and carpets.
“Sure, leave it to me.”
Since it would be difficult for Edgar to carry all of that on his own, Jin had two of the Smith Golems go with them. Jin had no intention to hide that he was the Magi Craft Meister, so the fact that the Golems would stand out a little was no problem at all.
“Okay, I’ll get to work on my end as well.
After Elsa left, Jin and the remaining 8 Smiths began remodeling the house.
The maintenance work on this house had been only the bare minimum, so it needed to be cleaned from top to bottom.
The 8 Smiths were dispatched to clean the entire house. After they took care of all of the dust, rubbish, and small vermin that had settled in, Jin was finally at the starting line.
The first thing to do was to expand the basement.
Jin set up a food warehouse and a material warehouse, as well as a secret room to hide the Warp Gate. The original basement would be used as a workshop.
Some of the building stones of the house were damaged, which was taken care of by using both “Hardening” and “Toughen” on them.
The toilet room was remodeled to match the level of Kaina Village. In other words, Jin changed the old one for a Western-style marble toilet seat equipped with a waste disposal mechanism consisting of “Deodorant”, “Decomposition”, “Clean Up”, “Sterilization”. No warm water washing function, though.
A similar mechanism would be prepared for sewage treatment.
What Jin noticed up to this point was the water supply and sewerage systems in Loizart.
The common toilet was an underground permeation type equipped with “Clean Up”, but the sewage was temporarily stored in a sedimentation tank, while the clear while the supernatant liquid was treated with “Clean Up” poured into Lake Tosmo. Simple yet effective.
Jin was a little worried about what he was going to do with the sediment that would be piling up as a result.
But returning to the story…
Loizart’s water supply came in the form of water wells installed in each house. Underground water seemed to be fairly abundant due to the city’s proximity to Lake Tosmo.
As a test, Jin dug a deep well. The water there seemed to be under a considerable amount of pressure, and would rise to the surface on its own when dug out.
“This saves me the trouble of having to pump it up.”
Jin temporarily stored this water in a tank built in the attic on the second floor of the house. He then installed pipes inside the house so that the water supply could be used on the second floor as well.
Of course, this water would also be treated with “Clean Up” and “Sterilization”.
He also installed a water heater that was made with a Magic Tool that had the “Heat” spell so that he could wash his hands with warm water in winter.
It seemed that the original bathhouse could only be used for bathing in hot water, so naturally Jin built a new one. The sewage would also be treated and then discharged into the sewage system.
The Smiths were doing a fantastic job. As for Reiko, her role was to get the necessary materials from Laojun and have them transferred over from Hourai Island.
After Elsa finished her shopping around the city, she returned to the house and started setting up the carpets and curtains she had purchased.
“It’s amazing how much a few curtains and carpets can change how a house looks.”
The once bleak interior and corridors were suddenly brightened up. Elsa had a great eye for decoration.
“Next we need to take care of each of the rooms and the kitchen. Please give me a hand with that as well.”
“Yes.”
They started with the kitchen.
The sink and cooking table were made of stone, so they were replaced by new ones made of 18-12 stainless steel.
“Having a Warp Gate around is so convenient…”
Being able to use materials from Hourai Island, which would normally be very difficult to obtain, to their hearts’ content was indeed very convenient. Of course, Jin was also trying to buy the materials that were available nearby as well, but since he was in a bit of a hurry, he ended up bringing more than half of the materials he needed straight from Hourai Island instead.
“The futons have to be made of Magi Silk. That’s non-negotiable.”
They brought the Magi Silk futons Elsa was so particular about to each of the rooms. One for Jin’s bedroom, one for Elsa’s bedroom, and ten more for each of the guest rooms. With this many, Saki, Reinhardt, and the others would be able to spend the night here as well.
“The parlor needs to look nice without being too over the top…”
Since this wasn’t Jin’s area of expertise, he left that to Elsa as well. She laid down the most expensive carpet out of the ones she had purchased, and modified the original dignified-looking table set with Engineering Magic to make it even more splendid.
After that was done, they noticed that it was starting to get dark outside, so they decided that their next step was to think about what to do with the lights.
“I think we’d be better off not using Ether Luminaires…”
“…Right.”
Having devices that combined existing technology was fine, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to put a lot of lost technology on display, so they settled for the Magi Lamps that Elsa had bought.
“I’ll go buy some more tomorrow if these are not enough”
They ended up not being enough for the guest rooms, so they decided to leave that for the next day and finish their work for the day by setting up their own bedrooms.
“…I’d like to have tatami mats here.”
Elsa said that she wanted to sleep in a room with a futon laid over tatami mats, just like she had in her own house. Jin agreed as well.
So the two of them brought some tatami mats over into their bedrooms.
Both of them added a floor that was about 40 centimeters higher than the rooms’ original floor before covering it with tatami mats. This made them resemble the typical tatami rooms found in izakayas all over Japan.
Even though they were bedrooms, each of the rooms could fit 8 tatami mats laid on the floor, but their new raised floors were only wide enough to fit 6 mats instead, so that’s what they did. For reference, each tatami mat was about 2 meters long by about 1 meter wide.
Jin had plans to make a sunken kotatsu for when it gets colder.
The rooms had no built-in closet, which added to their now Japanese style, but they still seemed to be quite comfortable.
After collecting all of the small tools they had used, they decided to call it a day and have dinner.
“Father, Miss Elsa, food’s ready.”
“Ah, thank you, Reiko. You did a great job today.”
Reiko had been giving the Smiths instructions on things that Jin hadn’t noticed, and had also taken care of other minor adjustments as well as having been in charge of getting materials from Laojun. She had delivered exceptionally well as a behind-the-scenes assistant.
“I was just doing my job, Father.”
However, contrary to her words, Reiko couldn’t hide her smile after being praised by Jin.
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