Chapter 406

“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 Craftsmans.h.i.+p 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 st.u.r.dy 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-cla.s.s 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 n.o.ble is full-fledged, she can decide regarding her marriage herself . ’ This term ‘full-fledged’ is extraordinarily ambiguous, would it be acceptable to a.s.sume 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 finis.h.i.+ng 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 Craftsmans.h.i.+p, 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 s.h.i.+ps, 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 .