Magi Craft Meister - Chapter 385

Chapter 385

Visiting Classes

Since the glasses were completed, they leave the workshop and head towards mayor Gibbeck’s house .

The reason for that is that today is the “group study” day . It’s too bad that Elsa is not around, being that she is one of the teachers .

“Jin, what is this ‘group study’?”

Jin has a simple answer to Saki’s question .

“Ah, you see, there are no schools in this village . Because of that, children come here for their basic studies . Reading, writing, mathematics, and stuff like that . ”

“Ooh, that’s very interesting! So Elsa and Mine are the teachers?

“Yes, that’s right . ”

After that, seemingly deeply interested in the group study session, Saki says that she wants to go check it out . Since there’s no harm doing that, and Saki is so eager to see the class, they decide to visit the group study class .

“Patty, what’s 23 plus 8?”

“Umm… 31!”

“Correct . And 57 plus 6? Umm… Mario?”

“Uhh… 63!”

“Yes, that’s right . ”

Today is math day . All the kids are adding two-digit numbers and 1-digit numbers without any problem .

“Very well . Then we will be starting to do some subtractions . Open your textbooks at page 21 . ”

The textbooks are written by a high-speed copying golem . Thin wood shavings are used as paper . This paper substitute is called “Kyougi” .

They are reinforced with engineering magic so that they can be used as proper paper .

Jin wanted to create actual paper for the books, but pulp alone does not do well when mixed with water . For this reason, Jin is still looking for some tree similar to the ‘sunset hibiscus’ so that he can make Japanese-styled paper .

The reason for that is that he doesn’t really know the proper way to make paper . The only time he’s ever made paper, it was from recycling milk cartons, and even then he had to mix it with a bit of laundry starch .

“I want something that is water-soluble, but that after drying it becomes water-resistant…”

It was hard to find such a thing here . If he were to find that kind of material, it would create a huge source of industry for Kaina Village .

“…Jin? Hey, Jin!”

Saki’s voice brings Jin back to reality .

“Ah, wha… what?”

“Don’t ‘what?’ me! The class is already over, and everyone went home for lunch . Shouldn’t we head back as well?”

Then, after finishing tidying up the materials, Elsa and Mine show up .

“Shall we go back, Jin-nii?”

“Let’s head back, big brother!”

And so, together with Hanna, Saki, Elsa, Mine, and Reiko, Jin heads back to Martha’s house .

“Welcome back, everyone . The food is already on the table . ”

Sara, the golem, stands by after having finished her preparations .

It’s a standard Kaina Village lunch . A specialty bread and smoked beef, with a siding of vegetable salad .

Jin had started to eat fruit and vegetables just to get a better vitamin intake, but nowadays he’s eating them because he enjoys them .

“Mmm, this bread really is delicious . It’s not really purely white, but maybe it looks white now because there’s almost no crust in it?”

“Ah, that’s because it has flour on it . ”

“I did the sieving today!”

“Ah, so you did that, Hanna?”

They continue to enjoy their lunch while chatting cheerfully .

After finishing their lunch, Saki asks Hanna to show her how she sieves the flour .

“Umm, you put the flour in here and then you shake it . ”

Hanna makes her demonstration using whole wheat flour .

“Oh! I see! Thanks, Hanna!”

Saki seems to have hit on a good idea . After gently brushing Hanna’s head and thanking her, Saki turns to Jin and Elsa .

“Jin, Elsa, I want your opinion on something . ”

The three of them go back to Jin’s workshop .

“After looking at that sieve, I had an idea . ”

Saki begins her explanation .

“I understand that sieves are used to separate big things from small things . ”

Saki looks straight at Jin as she speaks . Agreeing with her reasoning, Jin nods .

“So I thought that it could be used for things other than flour . Like tea, for example . ”

“Ah, I see . ”

Tea leaves are always inevitably mixed with small pieces of leaf dust . When leaves are stored, sometimes by friction or shaking, the leaves break apart into leaf dust, which is almost impossible to remove completely from the rest of the whole leaves .

When this dust is mixed along with the tea leaves, they give a certain degree of unwanted bitterness to the resulting tea .

“If you sieve the tea leaves to remove the dust before making the tea, it should make it tastier . ”

Jin is impressed . Saki has a broad field of vision for finding many practical uses for things .

“And there’s more . It can be used to sieve soil and remove its impurities, you can make well-drained soil . ”

That’s something that horticulturists do nowadays on Earth .

“The key component of the sieve is its net . If one were to stretch a net like this and attach it to the window, wouldn’t it serve as a screen to keep bugs out?”

In other words, a bug screen .

“Those are great ideas, Saki . Well done!”

“Oho! I’m glad to receive such praise from you, Jin . Well, I still need to think about how to make this net . ”

Here, when people speak of nets, all they can think about are things like fishing nets . Making nets out of wire is not a common technique here . Since there is no nylon, the concept of a bug screen does not exist .

“Well, yes . But the first step is to come up with the idea . After that’s done, it’s up to us engineers to think about how to bring those ideas into reality . ”

“I’m sure Jin-nii can produce the nets, but then again, they’re not that popular, aren’t they?”

Elsa shares her sharp opinion .

“Right . Unlike pen nibs and balls, it’s useless if we don’t mass-produce these nets . ”

“That’s right . ”

This makes Jin think that he’d wish there were merchants in Kaina Village .

And that wish would come true through Laojun in the near future .

Now, returning to the main topic .

This time, Jin has a question for Saki . What he wants to know is if there is any sticky chemical agent that could be used to produce paper .

“Hmm, I think that there’s a fruit from a certain plant that can produce that kind of stickiness . ”

“Do you mean ‘ogura’?”

Mine comes in with tea for everyone, and says the name of the fruit Saki mentioned .

“Ah, that’s it . Ogura . Are those in bloom now?”

“No, they bloom during midsummer . ”

“Mine, please tell me what you know about this ogura plant . ”

Mine seems to know quite a bit about the topic, so Jin asks her many questions . It seems to be similar to Earth’s okra .

Since Jin knows that okra and sunset hibiscus are both from the same mallow species, he decides to ask Laojun to get some through Reiko .

“Reiko, come here . ”

“Yes, Father . ”

“Listen, I need to get some ogura…”

Saki smiles as she looks at Jin give out his indications in such a calm voice .

“Jin seems to be so affectionate towards Reiko… It’s a little different to how Ehr and I get along . How should I put it… Ehr wants to take care of me . ”

Without a moment’s delay, Elsa takes the opportunity to say something .

“Yes . Jin-nii is really close to Reiko . He even hugs her sometimes . ”

“Oho, that makes me feel a little jealous . ”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Elsa’s face is full of suspicion, and at the same time, Saki’s face shows that she’s unable to understand her reaction .

Their reactions are similar, but the feelings within are completely different .

“If there was a cute girl just like Reiko, even if she were a doll or an automata, would it be her human emotions that he would like to hug? Don’t you think that even I could want to hug such cute little kid, like Reiko?”

“… Is that so?”

“Didn’t you make a mascot doll for Reinhart, Elsa? Aren’t dolls cute?”

Elsa can’t find the words to return to Saki’s question .

“Well, sure, I do hug Non from time to time . Is that the same thing as Jin-nii wanting to hug Reiko?”

“Well, grown men getting too close to girl-looking dolls does worry me a little . ”

This conversation seems to be getting more and more weird .

“You girls…”

Being the subject of the topic at hand, Jin looks at the two of them looking extremely unpleased, as if he had chewed on a bitter bug .