10-14 Awakening, Reunion
“I understand. Please watch.”
Jin said and peeled off the chest’s Magical Skin along the seam. The metal exterior peeked from underneath.
“Jin-nii, it seemed like there was no seam there.”
Elsa who was watching the work said admiringly.
“Well, that’s because it’d be a killjoy if you could see one, so it was cleverly hidden.”
This is besides the point, but Reiko’s body didn’t have any kind of seams. Hers was seamless.
In the case of Ann and Tia the exterior had seams and by opening them you could see inside.
Tubes had been attached to her breasts and Jin could tell they were for breastfeeding milk which the Automata took in orally. It was a structure Ann didn’t have.
Later Jin would hear that Ann was breastfed using especially the milk of lesser noblewomen who had had babies.
Jin continued checking the insides.
“Oh… It’s rather damaged, isn’t it.”
Multiple Mithril-made magical nerves were also cut. They were the same things Jin had once described to Prince Ernest as ‘conducting wires that transmit Magic Energy to all of the body parts’.
Jin had named them magical nerves. His naming for technologies was suitably fine.
“Your Highness, might you have any Mithril? Just a little is enough.”
Jin asked Princess Lieschen who was watching from a small distance away. She immediately replied.
“Mithril? Let’s see, if this is enough then please use it.”
The princess said and took off the necklace hanging from her neck. Its chain was made out of Mithril.
“Is it really alright?”
Jin asked while accepting the necklace, and the princess replied right away saying she doesn’t mind. Jin furthermore raised his evaluation of the princess.
“I will use it then. …[Forming]. [Fusion].”
He replenished the Mithril of the cut magical nerves and connected them. Lotte, whom he had gifted to Prince Ernest had six magical nerves while Tia had twelve.
The limbs, the head, and the torso all had two. It was probably to raise reliability.
Jin remembered how Ann had no more than six magical nerves. Thinking of it, this Tia must’ve been either customized or was an early model. It seemed that the later mass-produced versions were simplified.
At that exact moment the Magi Crystal arrived. The princess went to the doorway to personally get it, then handed it over to Jin.
“Jin, will this do?”
It was a milky white Magi Crystal. Its quality and size were both adequate.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
Jin took it and set onto inscribing the Magi Formula to make it an Ether Converter. Since it was still impossible for Elsa, he kept the explanation to the basics.
“This is a Magi Device to convert the Ether in the air into Mana.”
Saying only that, Jin focused solely on writing the Magi Formula. The Magi Formula was so tiny and fine that not to mention Elsa, even the princess who had a magical eye of farsight couldn’t read it.
But doing the work he had done countless of times before, Jin was done in the blink of an eye.
“Now to replace the old one with this.”
The old Ether Converter was a darkened white. It looked like a Magi Crystal whose quality had fallen down quite a lot.
“For now, let’s reconnect the cut Magical Muscles and apply [Reinforce] on the Magical Skin.”
He made sure to make it at least able to move. Any more than that was impossible without materials even for Jin.
Some thirty minutes later the repair and maintenance was complete. The clothes were put back on, then finally came the activation of the Ether Converter.
Once started, it could convert the Mana it made into energy using its Mana Driver and operate with that. You could call this system a kind of a perpetual motion machine.
“Your Highness, are you able to use any kind of magic?”
The Magic Energy pattern used on the start-up decided the direction and nature of the Magic Energy the Automata emitted afterwards. This is why the golems and Automata Jin made had the same Magic Energy characteristics as he did.
“Hm? We can use [Cure] and [Water Ball] in addition to [Water Bullet].”
“That’s enough. Please come over here.”
Jin said and the princess came over to Tia’s side.
“Please place your hand on her chest… Like that, then pour in Magic Energy.”
Jin said, but the princess looked surprised and hurriedly said,
“W-what!? Just Magic Energy? W-we’ve never done that before?”
Jin guided her gently,
“It’s alright. Just use [Cure] and it’ll work out. The moment you feel you’re about to cast it, ….let’s see, how should I say this… Something like, try undoing the convergence?”
“Hmm… It’s vague but We can tell what you’re trying to say. Should We give it a try?”
“Yes, please do.”
“Here we go. …!!”
Jin who was watching the flow of Magic Energy using the [Trace] spell saw the Magic Energy concentrate on the princess’s hands, then saw her cancel it just before it materialized as healing magic.
Half of it vanished into the air, but the remaining half was just enough to start Tia’s Ether Converter.
The Ether Converter made Mana, passed it to the Mana Driver, which sent energy to all parts of Tia’s body through the magical nerves.
She then opened her eyes. Next she sat up slowly. Her blue eyes noticed Princess Lieschen.
“Prin…cess…”
Her lips moved just a little, but she was still able to speak out a word.
“It’s been… a while. You’ve grown…bigger.”
She said and smiled sweetly.
“Ti…Tia…!”
The princess hugged Tia.
“Tia, I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you so…!”
“Come now, princess, you’re acting as spoiled as always, aren’t you.”
While talking Tia tenderly hugged the princess back. Although it was just her arms, she could move. There just wasn’t enough material for the legs.
“I never, thought, I’d get to, see you again, princess…”
“Me neither….!”
Jin’s group nearby exchanged glances and left the scene. They looked at Hannah and she was lying down sleeping on the soft and fluffy carpet.
“Just now, she said ‘I’ and not ‘We’.”
Elsa whispered to Jin with a low voice.
“Mh-hm, she undoubtedly said ‘I’ when Tia began to move. She must’ve returned to her past.”
Jin replied with a low voice too.
Jessica then came over to them and,
“Jin-dono, let me thank you too. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the princess this happy. I cannot thank you enough.”
She said, lowering her head. Jin felt ashamed.
“No, I only repaired an Automata that didn’t work. If Her Highness was made happy then it was all thanks to Tia.”
“Hehe, Jin-dono, aren’t you humble. But it doesn’t seem like the princess thinks that way.”
Jessica said and pointed behind Jin.
Jin turned and met the wet eyes of Princess Lieschen with blushed cheeks.
“Jin, thank you! You’ve done what no Magi Craftsman in this country could do!”
She said and took both of Jin’s hands. Her voice woke up the napping Hannah.
“Mm…Ah, Tia-san’s moving!”
The princess too smiled when she heard that.
“That’s right, you’ve got a good elder brother, he’s amazing, isn’t he.”
“Yeah!”
At the side, even Elsa was smiling happily.
“Your Highness, although I repaired Tia some things were only temporary measures, so please don’t have her overdo it.”
Jin gave a warning, just in case.
“Mh-hm, got it! Jin, what kind of a reward would you like?”
“Eh, nothing in…”
Jin began to speak, but then Elsa pulled on his sleeve. Understanding that she was thinking of something, he tried leaving the talking to Elsa.
“Your Highness, in that case, I was thinking we’d like entrance permits to Alban.”
What Jin’s group had been issued in the morning were only temporary permits.
“Mh-hm, that’s a simple thing. And?”
“And tonight’s lodgings.”
“Hmm, hmm, you may stay here. We have a lot of things We want to talk to you about!”
She had been thinking that the princess would introduce them to an inn, but instead it turned out they’d stay there.
“We’ll have the rooms prepared at once.”
The princess faced the doorway and gave orders to the young maid there.
She then turned to Jin’s group and said,
“She’ll guide you to the guest room, please follow her.”
And so Jin’s group was this time led to the guest room. The princess returned to Tia’s side and began talking about something again. She must’ve been very happy, it seemed like their separation had been quite hard.
Jessica stayed on watch in the corridor. Why the captain of the Imperial Guard knights, you may ask. The maid told them that she had originally been the princess’s bodyguard and had had a successful career from there.
“It’s because Jessica-sama actually treasures the princess a lot. She’s protected the princess ever since she was little.”
The maid seemed to love talking as she had in addition kept on fluently chattering about the gossip inside the royal palace without even asking.
The guest room was only for Jin’s group.
“Hey, Elsa.”
Jin threw a slightly critical look towards Elsa but,
“Jin-nii, just what were you thinking. You did what no Magi Craftsman in this country could just like that. There’s no way they’d send us off just like that.”
She had a point.
“So tonight, keep her company properly.”
You could read another meaning to what Elsa said, but Jin could understand what she meant.
Since staying in the royal palace –or more appropriately the imperial villa– was a rare experience for Hannah she was fine with it, but Jin disliked stiff places like these.
“Elsa’s probably used to it though…”
He muttered and,
“That’s not the case.”
Elsa replied.
“Because until I was precisely the age of that princess, I never went out to the high society.”
Until then she had just done what she liked and played, she said.
“That’s why I’m not fond of formal situations either.”
While thinking of how she didn’t say she dislikes them, Jin played with the braided hair of Hannah who was sitting next to him. She silently, no, smilingly let him.
Reiko stood quietly like she was protecting Jin, and soon it had become dark outside.