Magi Craft Meister

"Barrier."

Reacting to the falling ship, Jin quickly deployed a barrier. Although invisible to the eye, the Covert Units who protect Jin and Elsa also set up a barrier and nestled up to Jin and others.

Then, Jin took out the weight-reducing Magic Tool that was still in his pocket, and just when he was about to activate it…

The ship, which was supposed to have fallen by that moment, flew off toward the other side with a roaring sound.

Some wood chips fell on the barrier, but it was as if nothing happened.

"W-What just…"

The words simply escaped the mouth of the dumbfounded, yet still pale Eckert.

Which wasn't surprising, since the 40-meters long ship had been utterly shattered into small pieces.

"Are you okay, Father?"

Of course, the one behind the ship's destruction had been none other than Reiko. In order to protect Jin and the others, she delivered a powerful kick at the collapsing ship, using almost all of her strength.

As a result, the structural materials such as the ship's core structural beam, which was 50 cm square, were blown apart from their joints as the force of Reiko's kick was carried over to one side of the ship, causing all of the planks on that side to be shattered and sent flying all over the place.

"Yes, I'm okay. But I think you put too much power into your kick…"

What remained no longer looked like a ship. It was just a pile of rubble. Though the ship was still under construction, Reiko's kick had been so strong that it had left it in that state.

"We've also found the culprit."

"What!?"

"Someone had tampered with the platform that was holding the ship."

At the same time as Reiko's report, Neon dragged a fainted man along.

This time, Eckert's face turned red with anger.

"You! You're the manager, aren't you!?"

Eckert immediately had an attendant report him to the town guards.

＊ ＊ ＊

After contacting the town guards, the magistrate in charge of the entire town of Coupu himself arrived, bringing soldiers along with him. That was how influential Eckert was.

During that time, Jin and the others couldn't leave, so they instead offered their testimony in response to Eckert's request.

"Hm, so you're friends with Vivian, huh? Wait… Aren't you Stearleana Beta!?"

Stearleana was quite the celebrity in the Celuroa Kingdom. And the news that she had gone into exile or opposed her kingdom's nobility had not yet reached the southernmost parts of the kingdom.

Though it could end up leading to some trouble later, at the moment Stearleana simply explained that she had already left her homeland.

"I don't know where to or for how long I'll be out, but I'm still Stearleana, the Magi Craftswoman."

Stearleana then explained everything they had seen on behalf of the rest of the party, and after hearing her entire explanation, the magistrate started to nod in understanding.

"So you used your golems and automata to rescue the people injured in the accident, huh."

The testimony given by the renowned Stearleana Beta was convincing enough for him. Jin and the others were relieved since they hadn't been asked for their names.

After regaining consciousness, the fainted man was subject to a brief cross-examination on the spot, where he eventually confessed having been sent by one of Eckert's competitors.

All that was left from there was simply the administration of justice.

"I'm sorry for having detained you here for so long. Please, stay here tonight."

By the time the magistrate and his soldiers left with the apprehended culprit, dusk was already drawing near.

So, taking up on Eckert's kind offer, Jin and the others decided to stay for the night.

After a bath, dinner was served.

Without delay, they were served miso soup again, but this time it had been made using a soup stock. The chef seemed to have remembered how Jin had prepared it earlier, and though it was loaded with leafy vegetables such as cabbage, this time it was delicious enough.

The rest of the meal included venison steak, grilled dried fish, salad, and fruit.

It wasn't a very extravagant dinner, but it had been prepared with high-quality ingredients.

"…Truly, miso soup goes great with rice…"

Jin couldn't remain silent.

"If you're looking for something that goes great with miso, you should really look into the grains they harvest in the southern region of the Shouro Empire."

Eckert rejoiced at Jin's advice.

"My, my! I can't thank you enough for all the great things you've been teaching me so far!"

After the fact that his presence in the dock had caused the destruction of the ship that was being built there, Jin felt a little relieved by Eckert's words. Although Jin himself hadn't caused it, Reiko destroyed the falling ship to save Jin and the others from getting crushed under it.

Eckert laughed heartily and cheered on Jin, almost as if he had read his mind.

"Mr. Jin, please think nothing of it. I don't think there was anything else to be done in that situation. Of course, it's a shame that the ship was destroyed, but all I have to do is build it again. I'm just thankful that everyone was rescued and no one died."

"…Thank you very much. You saying that makes me feel at ease. Though I must apologize if anything I've said has come across as rude. Please forgive me."

"Oh no, I really appreciate your frank opinions, and not just about miso. In fact, I'm glad that now I've learned how to properly prepare miso soup."

Jin had grown to like Eckert's personality. So he decided that he'd help him out a bit.

"…If that's okay with you, could you show me the blueprints for the ship?"

Reinhardt also reacted to Jin's words. He was living up to his reputation as an engineering enthusiast.

"Oh, are you that motivated, Jin? Let me help as well!"

Jin smiled and nodded.

After dinner, Jin and Reinhardt were invited to a separate room to see the blueprints.

The dimensions of the ship were 40 meters long and 10 meters wide. The hull was 6 meters tall, and the total height of the ship including the cabin was 12 meters.

"Oh, impressive."

Reinhardt was impressed at the ship's size. There were no ships that big in this world… Other than in Hourai Island, that is.

Jin, on the other hand, thought about asking a question that had occurred to him when he saw the actual ship earlier that morning.

"What about its power? How does it move?"

The ship's driving method wasn't detailed in the blueprints.

"…That's top secret."

And that was Eckert's reply.

"Our Magi Craftsmen have devised a way to move it that is nothing short of ground-breaking. That's all I can tell you."

Since Eckert couldn't speak at liberty about it, Jin and Reinhardt decided not to press the matter any further.

Though they guessed that some kind of propulsors would be installed at certain levels in the ship's stern.

Which is why they thought about giving Eckert some advice about the ship's hull and its internal structure.

They weren't familiar with the structure keel building method, so they wouldn't talk about it, but even then, there was something that they were curious about.

That was the fact that, despite being so big, the ship's bottom was flat.

Thanks to that, the ship was not only easier to build, but it was also easy to make divisions inside it. However, with a 40-meter long ship, this could produce a problem with its strength.

It should do well enough in waters with no waves, but there's always waves at the sea. This means that the hull will be constantly shaken up and down as it sails the sea.

For the sake of argument, let's say that the bow is lifted by a big wave. The next moment, the bow would fall due to gravity, crashing into the surface of the water. When that happens, if the bottom is flat, its surface would suffer a big impact as it crashes onto the water.

Therefore, in order to lessen the impact on the hull, it is common practice to build it in a V-shape instead.

This was part of the fundamentals of naval architecture that Jin gained in the process of making a model ship. Of course, there would be no need to be concerned with that impact if it's strong enough.

However, the fact that the ship he had seen was entirely made out of wood was enough cause for concern for Jin.

"I see…"

Eckert seemed to understand Jin's explanation to some extent. He made a face as if he was thinking about something.

"I see what you mean, Mr. Jin. So I should either make it stronger, or change its shape altogether."

"That's right."

"Ah, a piece of advice from me. If you want to make such a big ship, it would be nice to have more partitions inside so that each can be sealed hermetically."

In the event of flooding, the possibility of the ship sinking would be reduced if the incoming water were to be stopped by sealing the affected cabins shut. That was Reinhardt's advice.

Eckert seemed to be very interested in ships. He quickly understood Jin and Reinhardt's suggestions.

"I see. I've learned a lot from this conversation. I thank you two from the bottom of my heart."

"I'd love to see the ship once it's completed."

"Haha, see it? You'll be one of its first passengers!"

After their conversation was over, Jin and Reinhardt were escorted to their appointed room.

"…So, what is your guess, Jin?"

Once in their room, Jin and Reinhardt started to talk about the ship's propulsion device, trying to guess what it was.

"At first I thought he would be using oars or paddles from each side of the ship, but that doesn't seem to be the case."

This method was used for 10-meter long ships, such as patrol boats. One could think of them as some kind of galley.

"Yeah. There were no holes in the side plates. What I found curious was that ramp."

"Yeah, since there don't seem to be any propellers installed onto the ship, I think that something will be attached to that ramp. When it comes to that, there aren't many methods that come to mind."

"What if, for example, something like Lorelei's lower half were to be attached there?"

Reinhardt spoke of his idea as if it were something extravagant. However, after giving it a good thought, Jin thought something like that actually wouldn't be that crazy.

"I see. Something like imitates a fishtail?"

"Yeah. I don't think it would be too bad of an idea."

Jin and Reinhardt agreed that Eckert must have come up with something like that as a method for moving the ship, since it was something that had been created through Engineering Magic rather than through a scientific technique.