Volume 6 - Chapter 1 – Hourai Island and Kunlun Island

06-01 Hourai Island and Kunlun Island

Jin and Reiko continued their journey by carriage with Shouro Empire noble Reinhardt.

And currently, the line of carriages had arrived close enough to see the Fort City Blue Land.

Jin made his suggestion here.

“First of all, I’d like to go ahead to ensure that we’re prepared to house Reinhardt and the rest.”

Reinhardt and Elsa understood Jin’s invitation and eagerly accepted.

“In that case, let’s meet at the gates tomorrow morning. But it won’t likely be just the two of us.”

Reinhardt reminded that Jin should prepare for at least the butler Adberg, nanny Mine, and guard Herman coming along.

“Ah, that’s fine. Well then, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

“Jin-kun, see you tomorrow.”

Jin and Reiko parted with Reinhardt’s group with a lighthearted goodbye. They walked for an hour and reached the cave in the depths of the forest on the outskirts of Blue Land where the hidden Warp Gate was.

“Doesn’t look like it’s been damaged, and there’s no traces of entry either.”

To keep small animals from wandering in by accident and to keep people out, a concealment barrier and a barrier that couldn’t be deactivated except by Jin’s Magic Energy pattern had been applied.

Jin and Reiko were able to easily enter the cave, and they stepped into the Warp Gate.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

In a moment they arrived at Hourai Island. A familiar atmosphere surrounded Jin.

“Welcome back, Father, Elder Sister.”

“Welcome back, Master, Milady.”

First Soleil and Luna, then the five-colored golem maids greeted them.

The first thing Jin did was take a bath.

Traveling by carriage was somewhat exhausting, and more importantly, he hadn’t bathed in two days.

“Aah, so warm.”

“Father, are you tired?”

Reiko was soaking in the bath together with Jin.

“Not particularly tired, it’s just that it’s good to be home.”

“Master, shall I give the report?”

To save time, the five-colored golems were summoned to the bath to report.

Hourai Island’s development is doing well.

The roads and the harbor are under maintenance. The orchard and rubber trees are being cultivated, and fish are being raised in the fish preserve.

Stones are being quarried and stored, and mineral resources are mined, categorized and then stored.

Next are the reports of the Air Force, Navy, and Army.

Sky units are making progress with mapmaking.

Marine units have deployed boats to scout the surroundings of the island, and are staying vigilant.

In any case, since at present there were no compasses in this world, ships weren’t able to sail on the open seas.

Finally the Land units are assisting in Hourai and Kunlun Islands’ development while on guard.

“Hmm, now that I’m here, I want to make something with smarts for whenever I’m not around.”

Soleil and Luna were a little unreliable.

Jin got out of the bath and quickly started putting his ideas in action.

“Gather all the types of Magi Crystals.”

Earth, water, fire, wind, lightning, light, dark, and finally metal-attribute Magi Crystals were prepared.

Jin placed one Magi Crystal of each attribute in the middle of a Plate, and the placed the rest surrounding them.

He put together a Magi Device where the Magic Energy could reciprocally cycle after flowing through a Magi Crystal of each attribute.

“Alright, this’ll work as the brain. I’ll use an Ether Converter, and a Mana Driver for the energy source, and a Mana Tank as a reserve.”

It was a safeguard against halting due to most common problems you could think of.

“The chassis will be Adamantite and Mithril.”

He started constructing half of a globe. The dome’s radius was about 50 centimeters.

So that it wouldn’t become a computer uprising like in a lot of science fiction, plenty of Magi Formulas for security were inscribed.

It would recognize Jin’s Magic Energy pattern, and take orders from no one else but Jin. In addition, a device that would crash the program if anyone but Jin started it was added.

Basically, this brain would command all the golems.

The only exception was Reiko. Reiko and the brain would have the same rank, and each would keep an eye out that the other doesn’t go on a rampage.

Reiko had strength, and the brain had smarts.

Finally, Jin transferred it almost all of his knowledge, and all the knowledge of Soleil and Luna, Planetarium and Satella, five-colored golem maids, Sky, Marine, Land, et cetera, gave the brain control of the Hourai Island, and named it Laozi.

“Father, what does this word “Laozi” mean?”

“Oh, in the world where I come from, it was said that he was the leader of legendary magi living in Hourai and Kunlun mountains.”

There’s some incorrect portions in the explanation, but let’s call it a day with that since it’s not going to cause any problems.

“Activate Laozi.”

Jin activated the manager of Hourai Island, Laozi.

“My Lord, nice to meet you.”

“Alright, Laozi, are there any issues?”

“No, everything is perfect.”

“You do know what to do from now on, right?”

“Yes, without question.”

“If that’s the case, then great. See that a report is sent to me regularly.”

“I understand.”

In this way, the brain that takes care of Hourai Island and Kunlun Island in place of Jin was born.

“Now, even if I’m away from home I can rest easy. If something happens consult Laozi first. In addition, periodically report to me.”

“Understood.”

The golems replied in unison.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“Father, I have a request.”

Curiously, Reiko asked Jin for a favor.

“Mm, what is it?”

“Please make me absolutely unable to be beaten by a golem like that Albus from the other day. And also, I want it to be unconditionally impossible for me to attack Father.”

“Reiko…”

It looked like she was worried about not being able to directly fight against Albus for fear of having her Control Core rewritten with Craft Magic.

“Got it, come over here.”

So Jin invited Reiko into the workshop inside his study, and she lay on top of the worktable.

“Well then, I’ll turn you off for a while.”

“Yes.”

In fact, Jin had been thinking about countermeasures since that event too.

The first countermeasure was Magic Energy shielding.

Jin suspended Reiko, and added a shield made of highest quality Mithril to her Control Core to protect it from outside Magic Energy.

On the outside of the shield he inscribed a Magi Formula that converts external Magic Energy to Ether.

Second was protection using Magic Energy patterns.

Jin changed the Magi Formula to be rewritable only with his Magic Energy pattern, and replaced the Magi Circuit composition. It was quite difficult.

“Let’s add a backup Control Core too.”

Third, he modded in a backup Core that could take control if the main core had defects. He kept the main Control Core in its original place in the chest, and put the spare Core in the abdomen.

“I suppose I’ll add one final safety device.”

It was like a breaker of sorts. It was a Magi Device which had Jin’s Magic Energy pattern in it, and if an opponent tried to tamper with the behavior, it would instantly cut out all Magic Energy fed to it.

It was similar to the one installed in Laozi. But this one had the condition of “only if it wouldn’t be disadvantageous to Jin” attached.

“Now then, let’s do the long-awaited full-body maintenance.”

Jin performed checks on Reiko’s body, and repaired and strengthened the parts that were even a little bit damaged or worn.

He replaced the Ether Converter with a new one, and tuned the Mana Drive a second time. It would improve efficiency and increase output by 10%.

He took the opportunity to also add stealth capabilities like the [Hide] function. Combining presence removal, Magic Energy isolation and silencing, the resulting function was many levels above the one those robbers had used.

He named it the [Stealth] function. That was all for now.

“Alright, Reiko, activate.”

Jin asked Reiko who got up,

“How is it? How’re you feeling?”

“My body feels somewhat lighter than before. Thank you, Father.”

“Uh, is that so. That’s good.”

In reality, with the addition of the extra Control Core, Magi Device and Mithril shielding, the body weight ended up increasing by almost three kilograms. But, it was within error range, and the output was increased too.

Jin thought silently. Then he explained the new functions.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

After finishing Reiko’s remodeling,

“Now then, I wonder what’s gone on in Kunlun?”

After having the lunch Soleil made, Jin at last left towards Kunlun Island to prepare for hosting guests.

“Father, what about the settings of the Warp Gate?”

Luna asked. Currently, the gate didn’t take people from Blue Land to Kunlun Island. Instead, it took them into the study. That wasn’t desirable.

“Let’s see… How about installing another Warp Gate in Blue Land, and having that exit directly to Kunlun Island?”

“I see. I think that is a good idea.”

Given that Laozi supported the idea too, the necessary materials were transported to Kunlun Island. Naturally Reiko carried them.