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12-47 The Exchange

“Are you Elsa Randol?”

Empress Gelhart Hilde Von Rubies Shouro inquired to confirm upon seeing Elsa’s face.

In the presence of Her Highness, Elsa took off her disguise and revealed her true appearance.

“Yes, I am, Elsa.”

The Empress gently smiled at the nervous Elsa.

“Were you caught by the Unifiers? That must have been hard on you.”

“Y-yes.”

It was a fact that Elsa was caught by them in the past. That was not a lie. Since it was a fact in that respect, Laojun reckoned that it should be fine supposing the Empress could see through it.

“Why did you want to return to your home country immediately?”

“… I didn’t like the marriage proposal my father recommended. Besides, I’m learning Magi Craftsmanship with Lord Maki … na, because I wanted to be useful for my kingdom.”

This response was premeditated as well.

“I see. So you entrust Jin with your creation to be displayed here. Those creations were quite lovely. If I’m not mistaken, you are a full-fledged Magi Engineer. … Is that right? Degauss, Gebalt?”

The two sturdy men responded in turn to the Empress’ inquiry.

“Yes, Your Majesty. As far as the creations of Elsa Randol are concerned, they may be considered creations of a first-class Magi Engineer even in our kingdom.”

“As Your Majesty mentioned, her creations are no doubt the most superior among the exhibits today.”

The Empress nodded in agreement with their responses. Immediately, Reinhardt asked her a question.

“Your Highness, in our kingdom, there is a law stating that ‘Once a daughter of a noble is full-fledged, she can decide regarding her marriage herself.’ This term ‘full-fledged’ is extraordinarily ambiguous, would it be acceptable to assume as in a full-fledged Magi Engineer?”

This question as well had been discussed and prepared for beforehand. The conversation progressed in the direction as predicted by Laojun. All that remained was ….

“That’s right. Age is irrelevant. As a Magi Engineer should technically be acceptable as well. I shall acknowledge it. Elsa Randol is considered full-fledged.”

That was the answer. While glancing at Jin, the Empress turned a blind eye and uttered the answer that Jin and the others had wished for.

The Empress might have noticed Jin’s intention, but she was not someone to show her true feelings.

“Thank you very much. I’m relieved to hear that.”

Jin bowed his head. Elsa and Reinhardt followed suit and bowed as well.

“… And you said your name was Mine? Are you really Elsa’s mother?”

The Empress started to question Mine next.

As predicted by Reinhardt and Laojun, the Empress would try to finish the conversation right there. They were thankful for the Empress’ acknowledgment since Elsa’s father might meddle in later on.

Although informal, it could be considered as a public audience since Degauss the Minister of Magical Technology and Gebalt were also there.

After finishing questioning Mine in general, the Empress drew her conclusion.

“I approve the return of Elsa Randol and Mine to their home kingdom. I shall have the clerk record it afterward.”

Jin, Elsa, Mine, and Reinhardt bowed in unison.

“For the time being, I’ll have Reinhardt take custody of both of you. Jin and everyone, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

After saying those words, the Empress left Jin’s booth.

“….”

“….”

“Phew.”

Jin and the others took a deep breath and relaxed their shoulders.

“… That went well.”

“Yeah. Laojun’s prediction was extraordinary. Almost everything went exactly as he predicted.”

“… Jin, Rein, thanks.”

“Jin, Reinhardt, thank you very much.”

Smiles returned to Elsa and Mine’s faces as the tension was finally released.

“Elsa, just in case, please put on that disguise again from earlier. I think it would be less troublesome that way.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Elsa put on the wig and safety goggles once more.

Soon after, a visitor came by.

“Jin, that mini-golem was amazing. As one would expect of you.”

After the Empress, Steirleana popped up.

“It’s something I can never create. I tip my hat to you. ”

While commenting, Steirleana noticed a music box on their display.

“Oh? What’s this?”

“Yes, this is a music box.”

Steirleana’s eyes widened as she saw Edgar who responded to her question.

“Ah, you’re an Automata! How wonderful ….”

As if she just found a hobby, Steirleana ecstatically stared at Edgar, an Automata in the form of a young boy.

“Yes, my name is Edgar, Miss Steirleana.”

“Edgar —, what a great name. … Are you Jin’s creation?”

“No, Elsa created me.”

Upon hearing that, Steirleana glanced at Elsa.

“You created this kid?!”

“… Yes.”

Steirleana stared at Elsa intently.

“… Have we met? … Elsa? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere ….”

Reinhardt came to the rescue.

“Miss Steirleana, she’s my cousin. Due to some circumstances, she’s currently in disguise.”

Upon hearing that Steirleana seemed to have an epiphany and remember Elsa.

“Oh, you’re the young lady Jin gave a dagger to, right?”

Steirleana didn’t inquire further than that.

A little after the discussion of Magi Craftsmanship, she returned to her booth. While walking away, she looked over her shoulder at Edgar for a few times.

“Well then, I shall go back as well.”

Reinhardt mentioned that Berthie had been left alone at the booth, and he returned as well.

* * *

Since Elsa and the others had calmed down, Jin decided to go and tour the other booths.

“Well, shall we tour the venue for a bit?”

“Yup.”

Elsa nodded at Jin’s invitation. Since it’s the long-awaited technology expo, there could be some interesting discoveries.

“Then Edgar, please continue to watch the booth.”

“Yes, understood.”

Jin took Elsa to look around the venue. Certainly, Reiko accompanied Edgar to watch the booth. Mine was in charge of booth-sitting as well.

First they visited the Magi Engineer section.

Naturally, the first place they visited was Reinhardt’s booth.

“Oh, Jin, thank you for stopping by.”

“Jin, Elsa, welcome!”

Like a couple of lovebirds, Reinhardt and Berthie welcomed Jin and Elsa in unison.

“In addition to ships, I’m also trying to create something like this one.”

The items on Reinhardt’s display were accessories.

That being the case, they weren’t merely accessories.

“This bangle contains fire attribute magic, the Fire Barrett.”

Reinhardt pointed at the Mythril Silver bangle while explaining.

“Ah, If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t ‘Fire Lance’ imbued in a Mythril Silver staff in Potlock?”

“That’s right. Everyone knows about imbuing magic into Magi Crystal, but imbuing magic into Mythril Silver is my original invention.”

In the case of Magi Crystal, it could act as an invocation medium or a source of mana supply, but in the case of Mythril Silver, it couldn’t act as a source of mana supply.

“However, it’s possible to converge and increase the mana output.”

“That’s certainly true.”

Mythril Silver could easily conduct Ether and Mana. Consequently, magic tools that were made with this material could be invoked efficiently without scattering the mana while activating.

“In doing so, compiling magic inside the magic tool will result in this.”

Jin and Elsa nodded while listening to Reinhardt’s explanation.

Come to think of it, they often had golem-related discussions with Reinhardt, but never a discussion about original magic tools.

“I’ve imbued Magi Crystals into swords many times, but rarely thought about the reason for the lack of invocation medium to do something about it.”

It was like a reverse mindset; or rather other utilization possibilities were overlooked. Either way, that magic tool was undoubtedly created by a flexible mind.

Jin was fascinated; Reinhardt was a prodigious Magi Engineer after all.

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