Published at 15th of August 2023 9:48 am

Chapter 617: Jin’s Troubles

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The part of Loizart where the estate Jin had received was located was an area with many similar estates where other middle-class noblemen lived.

The total area of this region was around 1,600 square meters, according to the city’s urban planning. Since it was made in a square-like shape, each side of this area was roughly 40 meters long.

To the right from Jin’s residence lived the family of Earl Woodruff Arvelain von Elm, while the family of Viscount Volker Goldman von Aurk lived to its left.

Across the street was the house of Viscount Jorgens Hekerath von Paddock.

The head members of these families all held important positions in various government ministries.

“…The Magi Craft Meister?”

“Yes, that’s what I heard.”

Viscount Hekerath, who lives in the residence just across the street from Jin’s, nodded deeply.

“I see. I imagined that he wasn’t an ordinary person after seeing how skillfully and quickly he was able to renovate that old, abandoned mansion.”

Viscount Jorgens Hekerath von Paddock was the Vice-Minister of the Shouro Empire’s Ministry of Industry.

“I will never forget the blimp that he presented at the Technology Expo.”

He muttered those words while shaking his head as if saying “no” in a very exaggerated manner.

And since both of Jin’s neighbors worked for the Shouro Empire’s Ministry of Magi Technology, they were also well aware of his name and achievements.

“Shall we go say hello once he’s done settling in?”

Both of these families seemed to have thought about doing that, but they were soon astounded when they say that Her Majesty the Empress herself had come for a visit.

“…Even Her Majesty herself seems to hold him in such high regards… I guess he’s a very important person after all.”

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Back in Jin’s new mansion, the new five-color Golem Maids who had been assigned exclusively to it were working hard to take care of every detail.

In addition, Laojun had also come up with several plans to strengthen the mansion’s security.

“Oh, hello kitty kitties!”

After waking up and washing her face in the morning, Hanna found two cats while exploring the mansion. Of course, they were Golem Cats, and they were there to guard the mansion and deal with pests such as rats.

The calico-like Golem Cat was called “Mike” while the brown tabby one was called “Tora”.

Mike meowed at Hanna and rubbed his face against her before walking away down the corridor at his own pace, all while Hanna picked up Tora and hugged him.

“Ehehe~”

Hanna then happily walked down the corridor herself while still holding Tora in her arms. As she was pondering whether to go up or down the stairs at the end of the hallway, a voice called her from behind.

“Good morning, Hanna.”

It was Elsa. After she was done with her meeting on Hourai Island, she returned to this mansion to have a short nap. Perhaps it had been a bit too short, since she looked a bit sleepy.

“Good morning, Big Sis Elsa!”

Hanna cheerfully greeted her.

“Good morning, Hanna.”

Jin also seemed to have gotten up from a short nap recently. And he seemed a bit sleepy as well.

“Oh, good morning, Big Brother!”

Hanna’s tone of voice sounded a bit more refined than usual. She would no longer say “morning!” to Jin, and instead was now saying “good morning” in a more educated manner. It seemed that Martha had been teaching her.

“Ah, Master Jin, Lady Elsa, Lady Hanna, breakfast is served.”

Belle arrived and found that all three of them were there, so she announced to them that breakfast was ready.

“Alright!”

After letting Tora go free, Hanna replied cheerfully. Jin and Elsa nodded.

“Wow, it’s delicious!”

This morning’s menu consisted of white rice, miso soup with fried tofu, pickled nappa-like cabbage, dried horse mackerel (or rather, a fish that was very similar to it), and dried plums.

Thanks to her education in Kaina Village, Hanna had mastered eating with both chopsticks and forks.

Jin was also very happy to be able to enjoy some umeboshi, or dried plums, even if the fruit used was only similar to the Japanese plum.

Elsa was the same. Barrow and Belle had also adapted very quickly to Japanese cuisine, and since neither of them had any sort of allergies to buckwheat, Jin could order this menu whenever he wanted without any hesitation.

Perido 102, one of the five-color Golem Maids, managed all household chores, so there was no excess or shortage of ingredients.

Basically, every ingredient was locally procured when possible, and ordered from Hourai Island when not. At least, for the most part.

“…I’ll have some more.”

Elsa had some more rice as well. Incidentally, her tea bowl was made using Alumina. Her rice bowl was made of wood and had a lacquer finish thanks to some lacquer that Saki had obtained earlier.

The entire room was filled with a Japanese vibe that was very strange to this world.

“Next I’d like to get some soy sauce and… bonito flakes.”

The soy sauce was still in preparation, so it would be just a matter of time, but the dried bonito needed to make the flakes had yet to be found, and Hourai Island was still unable to produce them. So the stock for their miso soup this time was made using dried sardines instead…

“This… tofu, was it? It’s so soft and delicious.”

They had managed to make tofu using beans that were similar to soybeans and the bittern taken from seawater. Now that the rice has been harvested and they had obtained some rice straw as a result, Hourai Island’s next challenge was the production of natto.

“This dried fish is delicious, Brother Jin.”

Elsa’s favorite was the dried horse mackerel-like fish. She was now deftly using chopsticks to pick out the tender meat, leaving the bones behind.

Barrow and Belle, on the other hand, were still very new to using chopsticks.

“What’s the plan for today?”

Jin asked Butler D during his after-dinner tea.

“Things at the mansion have finally settled down a bit, so Lady Elsa was planning to visit the neighborhood to make the courtesy call rounds.”

“Leave it to me, Brother Jin.”

She then said that she’d take Edgar along and go say hello to the three families that lived around Jin’s mansion. She would be taking an assortment of Pelshika and Citran, which were rare fruits in the Shouro Empire, to give them as a gift.

“Sure, I’m counting on you.”

“I believe you should be preparing the tatami mats that you have promised to Her Majesty the other day, Master.”

“Ah, right… I did say I’d do that.”

Back when the Empress visited to see how things were going in Jin’s new mansion, Jin told the Empress that he would give her some tatami mats as a present after seeing how much she liked the Japanese-style of the rooms.

“Well, in that case, I might as well throw in some rush mats too…”

Rush was cultivated in the wetlands of Hourai Island, and it was used to make various products. Jin figured that he could take this chance to make some rush mats and give them to the Empress along with the tatami mats.

“What about you, Hanna?”

“Hmm, I want to see the city.”

“But will you be okay on your own?”

“Master Jin, I can go with her.”

Belle volunteered to escort Hanna.

“I’ll be okay, Big Brother! I’m not gonna get lost.”

Hanna was always accompanied by her own Covert Units Iris and Azalea, so Jin wondered if she would be okay to go to the city without him.

Though his head was also torn between him knowing that he shouldn’t be overprotective of Hanna and the thought that, even though she was very dependable, she was still only nine years old.

(Even though I don’t think anything of it when she’s in Kaina Village…)

All that meant was that Kaina Village was a very peaceful place.

In the end, Hanna went out after giving a sidelong glance to Jin, who continued to worry.

As a result of that, Jin was finally able to put that behind himself.

“…Elsa and Hanna have become so dependable… I guess I’m the one who isn’t that dependable at all…”

Reiko tried to comfort Jin as the two of them transferred to Hourai Island via the Warp Gate.

“That’s just how much you love Hanna, Father.”

(…I guess so… I even think of the day when Hanna gets married… I think I now understand a little more about those TV dramas where I would see fathers crying at their daughter’s weddings…)

Jin and Reiko then arrived at Hourai Island while Jin continued to think about these things.

There were no more traces of the discussion they had had here until dawn, so the place was very quiet.

Jin quickly made the 10 tatami mats he had promised.

“Well, technically these tatami mats are twice as big as the ones we had back in my world, so I wonder if I should count each of these as a single tatami mat, or as two of them…”

Regardless of Jin’s concerns with the tatami mats’ size, he ended up sending the 10 tatami mats he made to his new mansion via transfer machine.

“Well, now that I’ve come all the way to Hourai Island, I feel like I should do something else while I’m here…”

Jin and the others had spent the previous night talking about the “Recoil Elimination Magic” from midnight all the way through dawn. For this reason, Jin’s head seemed more tired than usual.

“Father, would you like to rest for a while?”

Reiko, who was also worried about Jin’s wellbeing, suggested he took a nap.

“That’s right… I’ll go back to the mansion and sleep for a bit…”

At that time, Laojun contacted Jin.

“My Lord, we’ve found ’katsuobushi’.”

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