Magi Craft Meister 590
18 Further Progress Arc
18-10 Sickness and Countermeasures
“Mr. Jin, I am Baron Yarmani, I live near the castle. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Sir Jin Nidou, I am Nareef. I’m currently doing business here in Blueland.”
After the reception, a large number of guests had come to introduce themselves to Jin.
“Miss Elsa, those drinking cups and glasses look very beautiful. It’s truly wonderful to see both brother and sister being so familiar with Magi Craft…”
“Lady Elsa, I am the wife of Stroen, who runs a store in the neighboring town of Crosgow.”
Of course, Elsa had also been surrounded by female guests.
“Are you married, Mr. Jin?”
“We have a daughter who will be turning 15 this year…”
“Do you have a partner already, Miss Elsa?”
Soon enough, their interactions with those who had come to greet them had transitioned to more stereotypical topics.
At that moment…
“Jin, thank you for joining us today.”
“Thank you so much, Elsa.”
The bride and groom, who were doing their rounds of greetings, had just arrived where Jin and Elsa were.
“As usual… I mean, I could expect no less from you. Your technique is amazing.”
Earl Kuzuma said that while pouring white wine from the wine bucket held by the butler into Jin’s glass.
“Elsa, when did you become a Magi Craftswoman? Those glasses you made look simply gorgeous.”
And Beana said that while offering Elsa a sweet cocktail glass from the tray that her maid was holding.
Noticing that the newlyweds wanted to speak with Jin and Elsa, the flock of people that had gathered around them quickly dispersed.
“Thank you, Lewis.”
“Haha, I know you’re not used to this kind of thing. And I know the feeling, having to deal with a lot of people at once like that can get really tiresome. A piece of advice, if you don’t mind: at times like these it’s best to say things like ‘next time’, ‘if I get the chance’, or ‘one of these days’ to put them off easily. Saying nothing but ‘thank you’ would be a bit of a mistake.”
“I see… Thanks.”
It seemed that social etiquette was slightly different from country to country.
“…I have to study hard about this.”
As for Elsa, her biological mother (who at the time was merely posing as her nursing mother), Mine, had kept her away from social circles as much as possible, and as a result, she wasn’t familiar with such lip service, so she was relieved that the Earl Kuzuma and Beana had come to help them out.
“But really, Elsa. The last time I saw you, you couldn’t do anything with Magi Craft, right?”
“Yeah. After leaving my family and being taken under Brother Jin’s wing, he taught me everything I know.”
“That was at most half a year ago, wasn’t it? …I’m a bit overwhelmed by your progress, to tell you the truth.”
“Well, I feel the same about you, Beana. You look so fantastic. You may be talking with an easy-going tone now, but your demeanor in public is already that of a true lady. No one who didn’t know about your past would be able to tell that you’ve been born a commoner. I can’t do something like that. I think your progress is really remarkable too.”
“T-Thank you…”
Hearing those words from Elsa, who was an actual daughter of a true nobleman, caused Beana to blush and become a little nervous.
“I know how much effort Beana has put into this. Lord Lewis, please make sure to make Beana happy.”
“Yes, I will. You can count on that.”
“Lewis…”
After hearing Elsa’s words, the Earl wrapped his arm around Beana’s shoulders. Beana’s cheeks turned completely red.
(Beana looks so happy. Marriage, huh…)
Seeing Beana smiling so blissfully, Elsa found herself feeling a slight pain running through her chest.
(…?)
And yet, Elsa still didn’t know what this pain meant.
She was suddenly distracted by another voice as soon as she started feeling it.
“We have received a congratulatory letter and a gift from the wife of the Lord of Kartz Village of the Shouro Empire, Lord Reinhardt Randall, Lady Berthie.”
“…Something other than Brother Rei’s carriage?”
“I wonder if there’s been some kind of misunderstanding that caused the carriage to have not arrived yet…”
That was their theory, but both Jin and Elsa were more interested in what this other gift was.
Berthie hadn’t mentioned any plans to send them any other gifts. Jin also remembered that Reinhardt hadn’t said anything about that either the last time they talked over the Mana Comm.
Two maids came in, bringing with them some kind of package.
“From Reinhardt’s wife? What could it be? I’m looking forward to it.”
Earl Kuzuma was also very interested. Then he opened the package.
“Oh?”
Inside the package were four crystal bottles of about 500cc, each filled with an amber liquid.
“There’s a note… ‘Here’s some maple syrup, a specialty of this region. I hope you like it’…”
I knew it, thought Jin. He was quite familiar with that thick amber liquid.
Even so, the fact that they had been able to prepare such a large amount of maple syrup at this time of the year deeply impressed Jin.
Normally, sugar maple sap, which is the raw material for maple syrup, would be collected from winter to spring. Autumn is the season that yields the least amount of sap.
“Ohoho, it seems to be a ‘very sweet syrup made with our local sap’, huh?”
The Earl continued to read through the note.
“Oh, I’ve had the chance to try their early versions of this syrup, and it was really sweet and delicious. Wow, to be sent two liters of that…”
“Yeah, it’s really sweet and tasty.”
Jin and Elsa shared their experience with this particular kind of maple syrup.
“Oh, this is great, Beana. Let’s prepare something with this later.”
“Yes… dear.”
Beana’s reply was joined by another intense reddening of her cheeks. Her purity and naiveté were truly endearing.
Seeing the two of them like that, the guests once again gave another round of applause.
＊ ＊ ＊
“…Phew”
Jin left the hall to sober himself up.
“Father, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine… It’s just that now it’s easier for me to get drunk…”
As a side effect of his treatment to completely activate his cells, Jin had lost the resistance to alcohol he used to have when he first arrived in this world. That being said, sobering up was also fairly quick for him, but becoming weaker to the influence of alcohol was still a disadvantage
Before, no matter how much he drank, he would never get more than a little tipsy.
Jin had thought that he had gained some kind of resistance to alcohol upon being summoned to this world, but the truth was that this resistance was due to the cells of his reconstructed body being inactive so far. This caused his body’s natural reactions to not occur as expected.
“Are you okay, Brother Jin?”
Elsa sounded quite worried as well.
“Yes, I’m fine. But I gotta do something about this…”
He tried to think about a solution, but his intoxicated head wasn’t able to come up with any ideas.
“…Let me try something. ‘Entgiften’.”
“…Oh?”
Elsa cast a detoxification spell on Jin, and the effect was immediate.
“…I sobered up in the blink of an eye… Well, after all, the drunken state is a sort of intoxication…”
Jin’s sobered mind now allowed for normal logic.
He remembered the healer Sally Mileshan using the “Detox” spell in the past to obtain the same effect on patients.
Certainly, alcohol in the blood is the same as any other foreign substance. Therefore, Elsa’s “Entgiften” was also effective.
“…So maybe I could try making an accessory that can cast a detoxification spell, huh…”
If such a device were to exist, it would be possible for the wearer to choose whether or not to get drunk at will, regardless of how much they drank.
“…That’s so you, Brother Jin.”
As Jin was immersed in this new idea of his, he ended up being laughed at by Elsa.
“…Ah, you’re right. Today’s the wedding of Earl Kuzuma and Beana. I can think about this later.”
As he scratched the back of his head apologetically, Jin tapped on Elsa’s shoulder.
“Should we head back?”
“Yeah.”
Jin, Elsa, Reiko, and Edgar returned to the main hall.
This time Jin decided to stay quietly by the wall so that he wouldn’t stand out too much.
Earl Kuzuma and Beana continued to walk around the main hall together, greeting one guest after another.
“…It looks quite rough, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. But Beana looks so happy…”
As Elsa said that, she took half a step closer to Jin, standing at a distance where their shoulders would barely touch each other, and then leaned against the wall.
Reiko stood by Jin’s other side, snuggling up to him, and Jin placed a hand on Reiko’s shoulder.
Elsa glanced sideways at this, and after making up her mind, she took Jin’s arm before picking up a cocktail glass from the tray of one of the maids that was passing by.
