Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 551

16　The Demons’ Mastermind Arc

16-30　Gossip 30 – The Fruits of the Expedition

Back in Hourai Island…

Laojun had categorized and summarized everything that had been obtained as a result from this last expedition. Jin was there with him as well.

“First of all, this… “

“Buckwheat.”

Jin promptly interrupted Laojun with a cheerful expression on his face.

“…Yes, buckwheat. I was thinking about beginning to sow it right away.”

Buckwheat prefers cold areas.

Although Hourai Island itself was in a subtropical latitude, the hillside of its 3,000 meter-tall Hourai Mountain fully met the requirements.

“We will be sowing buckwheat at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters.”

With that, they would be able to harvest buckwheat all year round.

“We will prepare three fields. The plan will be to rotate cultivation on two of them while the third field rests.”

This was to prevent damage to the crops from repeated cultivation, and to avoid causing the soil to become barren.

“You can expect some results in two months from now.”

“Ah, right.”

Jin had been thinking about cultivating it in Kaina Village next year. But before that, they needed to produce more seeds.

Since the Shinra clan was able to give Jin only a handful of seeds, the only thing they could do for now was to plant them in order to multiply them. They would have to wait until that was done before beginning to plant them for food.

“Let’s talk about the scales and hide of those Grand Dragons next.”

“Sure.”

“Both are extremely resistant to magic.”

They were tough enough to not be even scratched by intermediate-level offensive magic. Even gravity magic was ineffective against them.

“The scales of the head and the chest’s hide are particularly excellent among those on the rest of their bodies.”

“And have you found out why this is so?”

“I’m currently analyzing the principle behind it. But I do have a general idea.”

“That’s impressive. And?”

“They act as a natural combination of a Magic Barrier and Ether Jammer.”

“What do you mean? …I guess I can imagine it, but please continue.”

“Yes. They act like a catalyst, continuously converting the surrounding Mana into Ether. As long as using this to defend themselves, they can also keep using their properties to convert their opponents’ Mana into Ether.”

Magic uses Mana as its main energy source. Converting that Mana into Ether effectively removes the “fuel” out of the equation.

And because they can also change the surrounding Ether into Mana, which the Grand Dragons themselves could use, it was exactly like hitting two birds with one stone.

“That’s amazing.”

If they managed to fully understand the principle behind them, they could serve as a great defense against magic. It would effectively work as a “Magic canceler” of sorts.

“At the very least, making armor with these scales and hide should provide a considerable amount of magical resistance.”

“I see. Please continue to look into this.”

“Coming up third is that metal…”

A sample of that unidentified metal was taken from a piece of that strange door and sent over via Warp Gate as well.

“Oh yeah. I’ve never seen anything like this metal, even on Earth.”

There were many substances in this world that Jin didn’t know about, probably because of the existence of Ether as a nucleon.

Jin’s predecessor, Magi Craft Meister Adriana Balbora Ceci actually knew about some of these substances, but there were still some which still remained unknown.

“Maybe this metal was abundant on the planet Hale, where the ancestors of both demons and humans originally came from.”

Its mechanical properties were close to those of iron. However, it had an abnormally high melting point of approximately 5,000 degrees Celsius. No wonder they used it to build their spacecraft.

“Though I can’t really think of anything I can use it for.”

“Next, the Phantom Barrier?”

“Yeah.”

The Phantom Barrier was a device that created 3D stereoscopic images using “Magic Lines”.

It had the particular trait of not only being able to deceive one’s sight, but also their hearing by imitating the sound reflection of the image they display.

“I’m still conducting research on it, but I believe it will be possible to reproduce it in the near future.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“Coming up fifth is this fur…”

“Sure.”

He had been given a lot of fur of Snow Tigers and Rock Ice Rabbits.

They were close to being purely white colored. Jin thought that fur coats made with them would be a big hit with women.

He also pictured an image of Elsa wearing one such fur coat in his mind, and thinking it would look nice on her.

There had been no time to analyze the artifacts mentioned by Shion before their expedition, that is, this world’s equivalents for a photographic camera and a clock, this time around.

He’d have to wait for an eventual next visit before he could take a look at those.

“The last thing we have is Transfer Magic.”

“Yes. While its use seems to be limited to places you can physically see and places with markers, it’s still quite effective.”

The transfer machine also required specific coordinates for its destination.

The important thing was that if there was a solid object at its exact destination, the transfer would fail.

Experiments have shown that the transfer would bounce back to its starting point.

Jin had only tried transferring stones during these experiments, so he didn’t know what would happen with living things in that scenario.

And he was still trying to figure out why it worked so well for gasses while at the same time failing for liquids and solids.

“I believe that preparing a Magi Crystal specifically for transfer magic and creating a dedicated spot for return would be the way to succeed at this. As of now, we can’t do much more than that.”

“It would still be very useful for a quick emergency escape. Let’s try to implement this.”

“Understood.”

“Ah, by the way, going back to the Grand Dragon materials… Do you think they can be used to nullify Gravity Bombs?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like using them to make a sheet to cover it with or a receptacle to contain it.”

The idea was to weaken its effects and therefore reduce the damage they could cause.

“I think it should be possible. Let’s look into that too.”

As an extra, they brought up the analysis result of the drug that bends the will and makes one do as they’re told to.

Sadly enough, there was absolutely no good news in this regard.

“My apologies.”

Not even Laojun was able to analyze the unknown chemical substances used in this drug. That’s because Jin, who was the source for Laojun’s knowledge, was not that familiar with chemistry and pharmaceutics himself.

Unfortunately, there was no more information they could draw from it at this time. They could only think of it as a “mysterious drug”.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

After their review was over, Jin decided to take a rest.

The next thing on his list was the report on Nega-Doll 001’s activities.

“I’ll have lunch before that.”

Jin then went out from the underground Control Room.

He then stretched out under the fresh and sunny blue sky of Hourai Island.

“Brother Jin.”

“Hey, Jin.”

Jin turned around after hearing his name being called, and found…

“Whoa.”

Elsa and Saki were there, both wearing yukatas.

“I like this outfit. It feels refreshing.”

Saki said that as she looked at her own yukata, which had a cool-looking bamboo pattern over its dark blue background color. Her sash was yellow.

“…What do you think?”

Elsa’s yukata had instead a bellflower pattern over its dark blue background. Her sash was orange.

“…I wanted to see if I could make them.”

Elsa said that she had made them all by herself, using the one she got from Jin.

“They look great on both of you.”

“…Oh, I’m glad.”

“Ehehe, you think so?”

Jin’s compliment had been quite simple, yet it was enough to get the two girls smiling cheerfully.

“…We’re having chilled udon noodles today.”

“Huh?”

Jin had given up on such Japanese-style noodles because he hadn’t found soy sauce yet, but Elsa’s words caused him to open his eyes wide.

“…It looks like the Peridot Leader was able to pick out something we could use from the miso we had and made some adjustments to it…”

It could be said that miso and soy sauce are like siblings. After becoming a working adult, Jin visited Takayama on an employee trip.

While in Takayama, he experienced its delicacies such as hoba miso, which are magnolia leaves grilled with miso and negi (a type of leek). And the morning market…

At the morning market, he had come across the many varieties of home-made miso they had for sale there. Some of that miso had a taste similar to that of soy sauce.

And Jin liked the miso that tastes like soy sauce very much.

“Oh, I can’t wait then.”

He headed to the hall together with the two girls dressed in yukatas.

There, the Peridot Leader was waiting for them, wearing a kimono and an apron reminiscent of a typical Japanese maid.

“It’s still a prototype, but I managed to make a bit of something that resembles soy sauce, and I’ve added it to the base for our soup. The stock is made from dried sardines.”

“Oh, I’m really looking forward to this.”

Thin, pure white noodles were served on a colander made of bamboo. They were served chilled, with pieces of ice placed on top.

“Well, don’t mind if I do.”

The three of them sat in a room covered with tatami mats, and started to eat.

Elsa and Saki had been practicing how to use chopsticks, though they still struggled with the thin cold noodles.

“Oh yea, this is good.”

It was a bit different from the taste that Jin remembered, but it was still delicious enough to put a smile on his face.

The wind chimes hanging from the eaves were ringing, and the late summer in Hourai Island was indeed a peaceful one.