“Huh? Is that so, Jin?”

“Yeah. It’s not sweet enough like this. Besides, there’s got some impurities in it, so I think it would be best to filter it.”

Saki seemed disappointed at first, but after hearing Jin’s words, she regained her spirits.

“Good grief! So that’s what it was. Well then, Jin, I’m counting on you!”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me! Aren’t you a Magi Craftsman? And a super-first-cla.s.s one at that? That’s why I’m asking you! Make me a magic tool!”

Before Jin could answer anything, Reinhart gently tapped him on the shoulder.

“Sorry, that’s just the way she is. … Please try to get used to it.”

To Jin, it did not mean that he found her way of making such a request was particularly disagreeable. It was just that he did not know how to follow Saki’s carefree att.i.tude.

That same Saki was smiling at both Jin and Reinhart with a cheery expression in her face.

“… Alright.”

Jin, who was somewhat annoyed about being dragged around, took a Magi Crystal from a rack as Saki had indicated, then took a small ingot of iron from the raw materials storage, and brought them to Saki.

Having said nothing up to that point, Jin began to create the magic tools.

“Forming. Forming. Heat treatment. Surface treatment.”

First, he created the iron components. Then he sculpted and shaped them in one stroke, and finished by refining the surfaces.

“Writing. Writing. Finish.”

The Magi Formula was instantly written in the Magi Crystal.

The operation was so fast that Reinhart was not even able to utter a single word of flattery.

“Oh, oohhhhh!”

Even though Reinhart was aware of Jin’s true nature, he was still taken aback. In Saki’s case…

“Wh… whaaat!?”

As one would expect, they were both so dumbfounded that they seemed as if they had become statues of themselves, with their mouths wide open.

“Well, this is the magic tool ‘Stove’. You can heat up whatever you put on top of it by applying fire magic to it. You can also adjust the heating power with this k.n.o.b here.”

Disregarding Saki, who was still petrified, Jin had explained that to Reinhart.

“Erm, this is nice, huh? ‘Stove’ was it?”

“Yeah. Actually, this is a high-end version of another one I created before back in Klein Kingdom. Back then, I could only buy Magi Sand to use for it, but this one works with a Magi Crystal.”

“Can this also be used for cooking? It’s amazing it’s only this big!”

Actually, there was such a heating magic tool in the Shouro Empire. However, it was shaped like a bread oven, so to speak, and could not be transported at all.

br>“This is going to be the bane of the elites.”

Reinhart began to explain to Jin with a sorry smile on his face.

“There hasn’t been a single Magi Engineer who would create such a magic tool solely for the sake of the common folk.”

After having that conversation, Saki had finally rebooted.

“J… Jin, you’re amazing! … Quite frankly, I thought Reinhart had exaggerated when he spoke about you. I’m sorry for making light of you.”

Saki lowered her head.

“She has that kind of personality, but what you see is what you get.”

And Reinhart followed. Hearing that, Jin nodded.

It was a bit out of their way, but it was decided that they would try to boil maple syrup (or an undiluted version of it) at the stove that Jin had made.

Since using a flask was no good, they tried using a pot instead, but since there was no suitable pot at hand, Jin created one out of a copper ingot.

Boiling syrup takes a long time. In order for it not to get burned, Jin had ordered Reiko to stir it from time to time.

During that time, Jin tried to take another look at the contents of the other flask that had caught his attention before.

A black, sticky liquid. Touching it gives you something like a rash. Sap.

“Is it… lacquer?”

Actually, the sap of lacquer trees is not black. It is more brown-greyish, and not that slimy. It is applied as paint during the first refining and gives off a black l.u.s.ter. But Jin did not know the details to that extent.

However, what was in that flask was not exactly lacquer as a finished product, much like the maple syrup on the other flask he found earlier.

“What was that, Jin? ‘Locker’?”

“‘Lacquer’. It looks like a type of natural paint that I know of.”

Saki nodded as she heard that.

“I see, so it can be used for painting? Actually, a traveling salesman left a barrel of it here, but it looks that more can be collected south of here. I got into that mess because I tried to study its natural properties.”

She had probably touched it with her hand, then rubbed her face with that same hand.

br>“And next to it… oh?”

The liquid on the next flask looked sticky as well. But it was white. Jin was also familiar with this one.

“Could this be tea tree sap?”

Saki was the one to answer to that.

“Tea tree? We collect tea from a different tree. This is Perhya sap.”

In Kaina Village, tea trees apparently were called Perhya. But more important than its name were its properties.