Chapter 487: Gossip 27 - The s.h.i.+p’s Fate

“Well then, thank you very much for everything.”

“Yeah, be safe.”

Eckert Techres, the most powerful merchant in Coupu, the southernmost town in the Celuroa Kingdom, had just dismissed a Magi Craftsman.

“Phew… Back to square one, huh?”

Eckert’s dream was to travel to each of the countries by s.h.i.+p.

It couldn’t be just any s.h.i.+p. It had to be the greatest s.h.i.+p in the entire world.

His dream was to build such a s.h.i.+p, and use it to travel around the world. That was the reason why he, who had been deemed a genius as a merchant by the age of 30, had been saving up all of his fortune.

However, that dream had been taken all the way back to the drawing board.

A business compet.i.tor had approached the site chief recently hired by Eckert and involved him in their plan for sabotage. Though it should have been kept a secret, word of the sabotage and the s.h.i.+p had somehow gotten out, so Eckert started to think that it could become very hard for him to start rebuilding his s.h.i.+p.

However, thanks to Jin and his friends being there at the time, the sabotage attempt hadn’t been completely successful.

The plan also seemed to involve attacking Eckert’s workers and technicians, but no one was killed or even gravely injured as a result of the attempt. Moreover, the site chief was captured on the spot after it was revealed that he had been the one to sabotage the s.h.i.+p.

The name of the business compet.i.tor who had plotted against Eckert was brought to light shortly after.

For better or worse, thanks to the quick action of Jin and his friends, there had been no casualties, so the penalty imposed upon the site chief hadn’t been that severe.

The business compet.i.tor who had been behind the sabotage had all of its property and a.s.sets seized, and was subsequently banished from Coupu.

Another reason why the penalty imposed on the Magi Craftsman who had worked as a site chief had been reduced considerably was that it was also found that his family had been taken hostage in order to force him to cooperate in the sabotage.

However, since he had also been given money for the job, he was also banished from Coupu, although his property and a.s.sets weren’t seized.

Being banished meant having no other choice but to go to someplace where there was no living infrastructure. It was considerably harsh, since they couldn’t stay within 100 km of Coupu.

Roughly speaking, they’d have to go north of Mt. Rawai, which towered to the north of Coupu.

“Well, he should be able to make a living wherever he is now.”

Since he was a Magi Craftsman, he should be able to find a decent job anywhere. The business compet.i.tor, on the other hand… Eckert was not concerned with what would become of him.

＊ ＊ ＊

“…”

A dock for s.h.i.+pbuilding built into the premises of his manor.

It was empty at the moment, but until recently, there had been a halfway built s.h.i.+p there.

The money to cover his economic loss had been paid from the a.s.sets seized from the business compet.i.tor, but that wasn’t where the problem was.

The problem was that the s.h.i.+p that was already halfway built had been completely destroyed.

Ultimately, it had been Jin’s automata, Reiko, who had destroyed the s.h.i.+p, but Eckert couldn’t bring himself to blame either of them. The automata had acted prioritizing human life above all, and if anything, he was grateful for the lives that were saved.

“Not to mention that one of the lives in danger was my own. I cannot in good conscience blame them for what happened.”

After saying that to himself, Eckert left the dock.

“Master.”

“Hm? What is it?”

When Eckert entered his manor, a butler hurried towards him.

“We have two Magi Craftsmen who have come seeking employment.”

“What!? Let them into the parlor quickly!”

Eckert’s face was painted with joy. Now that the man who had been the site chief has been dismissed, he was in desperate need of a new Magi Craftsman.

The butler quickly had them enter the parlor, where Eckert was waiting.

“My name is Altaf.”

“I’m Giena.”

The former was a robust man in his early thirties, and the latter was a woman in her late twenties. They said they were husband and wife.

“I’m Eckert. What kind of things can you do?”

Altaf answered this question on behalf of the two of them.

“Right. In general, we can do pretty much anything. But my specialty is making big things, while my wife’s very good with making small things.”

“Hoho, that’s rea.s.suring.”

Eckert felt it could be too good to be true, but Altaf’s next words made his suspicions disappear.

“We have an a.s.sistant golem, so work is pretty quick.”

“What!”

There weren’t many Magi Craftsmen who had a.s.sistant golems. And those who did would be very skilled, without exception.

“We’ll be frank with you. We’ve come because we’ve heard that you’re building a huge s.h.i.+p.”

Rumors of the sabotage and business rivalry had spread across Coupu so much that they could no longer be denied. But on the flip side, if those rumors were to bring some good Magi Craftsmen to his door, then so be it.

“Can you show me that golem of yours?”

Eckert asked that so as to cement his decision. Geana then left her seat, and headed outside, where their golem had been waiting.

“We can’t have our golem follow us everywhere.”

Eckert agreed with Altaf’s word’s.

“Thanks for waiting.”

Before long, Geana was back with their golem.

“Oh…”

Eckert’s breath had been taken away. The golem was only about 160 cm tall, but had a matte silver gray color, and proportions that were exactly just like those of a human.

Usually, golems would have a physique and proportions that matched their purpose. Those oriented for combat would be generally large and tough-looking, while those designed for boat races would have arms stronger than usual.

But the golem before Eckert’s eyes was dressed like a person, and looked like a human that had their face covered by something.

“Well, looking at your golem I can see just how skilled you two are. I’d be very much obliged if I could count on your abilities from now on.”

Thus the contract was signed, and Altaf, Geana, and their golem became part of Eckert’s staff.

“Hmm, I’m a bit concerned about its strength…”

Altaf and Geana were looking at the blueprints for the s.h.i.+p.

“…Do you think so?”

“Yes. Especially on its bilge.”

Eckert was reminded of Jin’s words, who had also commented on the s.h.i.+p’s bilge. And so, he figured he should rethink that section of the s.h.i.+p, since there were two different Magi Craftsmen who had pointed out the same thing.

“Maybe I should explore other options. What do you suggest?”

“Well, I would put structural materials here and increase the number of part.i.tions. These part.i.tions would also help to improve the bilge’s strength…”

That reminded Eckert of the words of one of Jin’s friends, one named Reinhardt, who also said that the inside of the s.h.i.+p should be divided into sections.

“I see, then please go ahead.”

As a result of the blueprint’s review, the outer shape of the s.h.i.+p remained the same, but its expected weight increased slightly, from the initial 240 tons to nearly 300 tons.

“Hmm, looks like it’s going to be a little heavier than expected.”

“However, it can’t be done in any other way if we want to keep the boat safer.”

“Well, that’s right…”

“I wonder if we couldn’t do something to that effect with propulsion? What do you think we should use?”

“Well, we’d use a combination of wind and magic.”

This was an idea that had been proposed to Eckert by a previous Magi Craftsman, but Eckert began to explain it to Altaf and Geana.

＊ ＊ ＊

“I see! I would’ve never thought of that!”

Jin was impressed by that idea.

In fact, Altaf and Geana were Quinta who had been sent to Eckert by Jin himself.

Altaf was Regulus 50, and Geana was Deneb 30. And naturally, the golem they had with them was one of the Smith Golems, Smith 40.

Jin had decided to secretly help rebuild the s.h.i.+p that Eckert had been working on with all his heart and soul, considering the facts that he had no choice but to destroy it, he actually liked Eckert’s personality, and the s.h.i.+p’s potential impact in the future.

Apart from that, Jin praised that innovative method of propulsion.

“Wind magic has no recoil, which means that if you use it against a set sail, the s.h.i.+p will advance…”

As Jin once verified, normal magic had an added effect to counteract recoil.

To put it in an easy-to-understand a.n.a.logy, even if one were to use a huge fan to move a s.h.i.+p with sails, the s.h.i.+p wouldn’t move.

The reason is that the recoil of the wind is generated by the fan and the force that pushes the sail cancel each other out.

However, according to Jin’s verification, wind magic, water magic, and so on, had an added effect that canceled recoil so that the caster wouldn’t be affected by it.

Jin had already been able to complete a Magi Jet Engine that achieved the same results.

However, he couldn’t just slap a Magi Jet Engine onto every s.h.i.+p in the world. Paradoxically, there would be no other choice but to find a solution for the recoil problem that involved the use of normal magic.

The Magi Craftsman who had designed this s.h.i.+p had used that to his advantage and intended to drive the s.h.i.+p by blowing wind directly on its sails.

“I feel a bit bad, lending Mr. Techres a hand in such an underhanded manner…”

It was a method that neither Jin nor Reinhardt could even think of. They instead had speculated that Eckert was planning to install a propulsion engine shaped like a fish’s tail on the sloped section of the s.h.i.+p’s stern.

“My Lord, there are still many more pieces of advice we could offer in regards to navigation, prevention of disease in long-term trips, and spare propulsion devices.”

“Right. Let’s get those suggestions on the table little by little.”

“Understood.”

Thanks to Jin’s help from the shadows, Eckert’s new s.h.i.+p was finally completed four months later.