Magi Craft Meister

The next day, Jin and Reinhart went to the workshop after having breakfast.

This time though, they were joined by Belche and Saki, the latter having spent the night at Reinhart's house.

"Well then, let's start with the skeleton."

The night before, Jin and Reinhart had discussed the technical specifications of the automata after dinner.

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"How about neuter gender?"

"Do you mean making it without either a male or female shape?"

"Yes, that's right. I mean, how much sense does it really make to add a definite gender to the automata in the first place?

When he said that, Jin hadn't realized that Reiko was standing behind him with a slightly lonely expression to her face.

"Although the basic frame is a male one, right?"

"That's right. Let's just try to make it slender overall, and with a little longer hair."

"Hmm."

"For example, it would normally serve as a butler, but it could also wear female clothes in order to also serve as a maid if need be."

"I see! That's interesting! So it can be used for multiple purposes!"

＊ ＊ ＊

"The skeleton should be made out of aluminum."

Just as she heard that, Saki spoke up as if surprised.

"Hey, Reinhart! You say aluminum, but a kilogram costs two million torr!"

As expected from an alchemist, Saki has a keen understanding of the market value of such high-grade materials. … And yet she has no sense of economy.

"Ah, don't worry about that. Jin has donated the materials."

"Donated…?"

"You'll get used to it sooner or later. It's useless to stick to preconceived ideas when it comes to Jin."

Reinhart laughed as he told her that, but Saki stood in silence for a minute, as if trying to digest what she has just heard.

"… Hehe, I see, Reinhart. You got me there. To believe that it is impossible to discover new things within the common knowledge of this world is the alchemist's creed. I'm so embarrassed…"

She then consented with an unusually relieved face.

Belche was not as surprised since even though her sense of economy was not as poor as Saki's, she didn't know as much about materials.

The suspended work resumes.

Its intended height is 160 cm. That's just as hight as Jin, and only a little higher than Saki.

It has a slender body, and its target weight is 50 kilograms.

"First comes the skeleton. I've seen Jin's work with golems, so I had a lot of things to consider."

After saying that, he prepared a lump of aluminum. As a matter of fact, Jin had brought it from Hourai Island in the middle of the night.

Then, Reinhart begins to shape it. Jin also made things together with Reinhart several times in the past, but this is his first time seeing him use Engineering Magic with such seriousness.

Reinhart is considerably skilled, and it was evident that studying Jin's way of doing things was not just for show.

The basic skeleton was completed in about fifteen minutes.

"What do you think, Jin? I want to hear your opinion."

Jin then shared his honest thoughts with Reinhart.

"Impressive, Reinhart! I'm only taking a quick look, but I can see you've put a lot of detail into it! If I have to say something about it, it's the fingers and wrists. You've used ball joints, but their movements seem heavy."

After expressing his thoughts to Reinhart, Jin applied a fine coating to the joints using a small lump of adamantite.

"Oh, I see! You're decreasing the amount of wear that the joints will get over time by making their movements lighter. I really need to study more."

After that, Saki could no longer watch silently and interrupted them.

"Guys, I'm sorry to break into your passionate work, but let me ask you something. … Is that based on the human skeleton?"

Jin was the one to answer that question.

"Yes, that's right. Automata are created by imitating humans. So what else would you use to imitate a skeleton?"

Groaning with a 'Hummm', Saki carefully looked at the skeleton that was lying on the workbench.

"Its ribcage and pelvis have been simplified, huh? … I'm sorry for barging in. Please continue."

Then it was Jin's turn. He arranged the Magic Muscles made out of Magic Fiber onto the frame.

As he was carefully installing the muscle, Jin suddenly wondered how his predecessor must have obtained such understanding of human anatomy.

Reinhart and Saki had their full attention set on Jin's ability. The only one who seemed as if she was not really getting what was going on was Belche.

"Done."

The muscle installation was completed in about five minutes. Taking Jin's ability into account, he took it fairly easy.

"Oh, Jin! That was amazing! Thanks for showing me your skill!"

Reinhart said that as he excitedly slapped Jin's shoulder.

"I've learned a lot from you, Jin."

Saki calmly expressed her gratitude.

After that, by using previously prepared Magic Nerves made with mithril silver, they prepared the automata's control core.

Though Reinhart said it might be no longer necessary, Jin decided to try to add a shield structure to it just to make sure, since he knew of the existence of monsters.

"Well then, it's finally time to install the tactile sensors!"

Reinhart said cheerfully, and Jin agreed.

"Ohoho, it'll be the first one to have this kind of features!"

Saki's face is also full of expectations. Only Belche has a constant『?』on her face.

A total of 40 tactile sensors were prepared in advance for this project. The first sixteen of them are arranged as follows: two for the palm of each hand, and two for each sole, for a total of eight. And five for the chest and stomach, three for the back, and lastly, two for the buttocks, for a total of ten.

Though these many sensors ensure that the overall functionality doesn't decline that much even if a few of them get damaged, the real purpose for this number of sensors is to make it possible to calculate the center of stimulation from the strength of the signal provided from each sensor.

Four more sensors on each arm and leg, for a total of sixteen more. And five more for the head. That completes the original layout.

"Hmm, there's one left, should we keep it as a spare?"

As Jin said that, Saki came up with an idea.

"Let's try to use all of them, just for the sake of experimenting. What about inside the mouth?"

"Hmm, I see. That way it might sense when it's biting something. That might be a good idea."

With that, all of the 40 tactile sensors have been installed.

They will send tactile information to a dedicated sub-control core, where the information will be organized and sent over to the main control core.

This should reduce the burden on the main control core and enable more delicate physical control.

"Reiko, check the magic flow using Trace and Inspection. Reinhart and I will stimulate each of the sensors."

"Understood."

Reiko's strongest field is precision work such as measurement.

Jin and Reinhart stimulated the tactile sensors at various locations simultaneously and sometimes separately, and followed the magic signals emitted from them were sent to the sub-control core to be processed.

Such repetitive work took two hours. For the time being, they obtained convincing results, so they decided to proceed with the next step.

"Everyone, it will be lunch time soon. Let's take a short break and have lunch."

Belche, who's had nothing to do so far, called them out while checking a sundial in the garden.

"Oh, is it that time already?"

"Time sure flies when you're completely focused on something, huh?"

"Ohoho, you're totally right!"

The three of them stopped working and spoke their minds in a similar way.

"I'm sorry, Belche. This must be really boring to you."

Reinhart washed his hands after saying that, and gently hugged Belche's shoulders.

"… Well, if it's you, Reinhart… I can't say anything when you speak like that!"

As Belche said that, she put on a rather sulky face, and placed her head over Reinhart's shoulder.

Both Jin and Saki smiled, seeing those two standing together without moving.

"… Look at those lovebirds."

"Oh, relationships are definitely a beautiful thing, huh?"

Saki and Jin looked at each of them, and after narrowing their eyes, they expressed their thoughts. Relationships are indeed a good thing.

Before long, Reinhart first notices and releases his hand holding Belche's shoulder. By that action, Belche turned to herself, and her face went red as she saw Jin and Saki staring at them with a smile.

"Ah, Reinhart-sama, let's have lunch."

"Uh, ah, right, Bel. … Jin, Saki, let's go have lunch."

While trying to hide his own embarrassment, Reinhart and called out Jin and Saki, and headed to the main wing of the house.