Chapter 629

Chapter 629

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Magi Craft Meister 629

18 King Klein’s Treatment Arc

19-16 Temporary Homecoming

The next morning, both Jin and Elsa overslept a little. The time was past 7:30 AM.

“It’s morning already, Big Brother!”

Hanna arrived to wake the sleeping Jin up.

“Hmm… Ah, it’s this time already…”

Jin looked at the wall clock.

Since Laojun was in charge of measuring the positions of the sun and moon, Hourai Island’s clocks were very precise.

“Come to think of it… Last night I went to bed without asking Reiko to wake me up…”

That was one of the reasons why Reiko hadn’t come to wake Jin up. The other reason was that there was no particular urgency, so she actually took extra care not to wake him up.

“Ah, I slept so well.”

Since he had managed to sleep soundly for more than 6 hours, he was relieved of his fatigue.

“I’ll go wake Big Sis up too!”

After waking Jin up, Hanna headed to Elsa’s room.

Jin slowly put on his clothes and headed to the washroom.

While Jin was washing his face, a sleepy-looking Elsa came into the washroom as well.

“Good morning, Elsa.”

“…Good morning, Brother Jin.”

A nice smell wafted from the kitchen as they finished washing their faces. Soleil and Luna, knowing that the three had woken up, had already begun to prepare breakfast.

The Golems Soleil and Luna, who were created as Reiko’s assistants, were currently working in Jin’s new “mansion” instead of the laboratory.

They were in charge of maintenance and cleaning. In addition, Plane and Satella, who were their subordinates, were mainly responsible for the maintenance of the kitchen garden and the mansion’s yard.

And whenever they had free time, they helped the five-color Golem Maids as well as worked with Laojun to write new books.

“Oh, we’re having grated radish this morning.”

The menu consisted of porridge, seaweed miso soup, pickled plums, grated radish, pickled greens, and dried horse mackerel.

The radish was found by one of the Quinta the other day. Jin thought that he would be even happier had they found a turnip instead.

The pickles were made with fermented brine and rice bran. After their last batch of rice was harvested, the Peridot Leader was able to recreate the recipe based on Jin’s memories, producing a precious pesticide-free rice bran.

She was also able to make soy sauce, albeit with a slightly shorter-than-usual brewing period.

“Delicious.”

Hanna could handle sour foods like pickled plums. She didn’t particularly like them nor dislike them. She was able to enjoy eating both delicious and not-so-tasty foods. Of course, she preferred eating delicious food.

Jin was the same. He wasn’t exactly a picky eater.

Elsa didn’t really like the meat of the “cockalisk” – a large chicken-like bird – but she ate everything else without any particular preference. However, her better upbringing caused her to frown at things that didn’t taste good.

Even so, Jin remembered the experience of the escape they shared together with Mine, and was glad that Elsa had never forgotten the feeling of gratitude for a heartwarming meal.

“I’d like to have seconds.”

In any case, both Elsa and Hanna seemed to enjoy Jin’s favorite Japanese food and Japanese recipes, so Jin was really enjoying their time eating together.

“Me too.”

On this day as well, breakfast time was filled with a peaceful atmosphere.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Okay, let’s go to the Klein Kingdom after having lunch here.”

Since they had to adjust for the time difference, Jin thought that wouldn’t pose any problems.

“I will go to Kaina Village for a while and see how things are over there. Hanna, would you like to come with me?”

“Yes!”

“What about you, Elsa?”

“I’ll go with you. I’d like to talk with Teacher Sally for a bit.”

Thus the three of them used the Warp Gate to teleport themselves, not to Nidou Castle, but to the basement of Jin’s workshop.

“Granny!”

Hanna runs to Martha. She must have felt lonely because Hanna had been away from her house for so long.

“Oh, welcome home, Hanna. And Jin and Elsa.”

“Thank you, Martha.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you up to today?”

“We’re going to the royal capital again in the afternoon, but I had some time to spare so I thought about stopping by.”

Martha replied with a big nod.

“I see. I’ve heard that the royal capital is in trouble.”

“Have you now? I thought I’d ask around about that.”

“Then you might find some answers if you go to Eric’s place. Mr. Roland came back the day before yesterday.”

“Understood.”

So Jin went to Eric’s shop, and Elsa went to Milleshan Clinic. Hanna stayed at Martha’s place, so the three of them would act separately for the time being.

“Ah, Jin!”

Barbara was helping out at Eric’s shop.

“When did you come back?”

Then Eric himself showed up.

“Ah, just now. I’m going to the royal capital again after lunchtime.”

“To Alban?”

“Yeah. So, I wanted to ask about how much you know regarding how Alban is doing.”

Hearing that, Barbara silently prepared a chair and went off to start making tea. She was already a fine new wife.

Jin sat down and listened to Eric as he started to share what he knew.

“…The fear of famine is starting to grow In Alban… no, in most of the kingdom, the fear of famine is starting to grow. Due to the fact that their wheat and barley harvests have been so poor to begin with, together with the growth of mold on their stored food, the estimation is that the kingdom’s food stockpiles will not last until the harvest in early summer next year…”

“I see, just as I thought…”

“I think Kaina Village and the neighboring Toka Village will be fine. Especially Kaina Village here. However, there are rumors that the kingdom will start requisitioning any surplus grains from villages such as these.

“That would be useless…”

Even Jin understands. Doing so would not only increase distrust of the government, but also reduce the general willingness to work. This in turn would lead to a decline in national power.

“In response to that, it seems that the rich people have started buying up food around the royal capital.”

“Looking at this calmly, when do you think it will become a full-fledged famine?”

Jin wanted to hear the outlook from a merchant like Eric.

“…Let’s see… If you’re okay with my estimations… Well, this year’s harvest is 70% of the average year. And on top of that, 20% of that is already covered by mold. In other words, the kingdom has around 50% – maybe 60% if we’re optimistic – of its usual yearly stockpiles. At this rate, the food in storage will run out before spring comes.”

“…I understand.”

The outlook was rather bleak. Assuming that each person eats 150 kilograms of grains per year, there was a shortage of 66 kilograms.

The population of the Klein Kingdom was around 100,000, and a simple calculation showed that there was a shortage of 6,600 tons of grains. Not even Hourai Island would be able to produce that much food in such a short period of time.

Jin was thinking of trying to make another estimation once he reached Alban, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t change that much.

Jin wondered what would he be able to at this moment.

＊ ＊ ＊

“…What? The king is sick?”

Elsa went to Milleshan Clinic, and was talking to Sally.

“So you were officially dispatched from the Shouro Empire? Hmm.”

Sally’s face turned to a sullen expression as she started pondering.

“Lack of experience aside, you’re one of the best healers in the world. I can guarantee you that. The only advice I can give you right now is to believe in yourself. Don’t give in to the noise surrounding you.”

Sally then added that as long as she only thought about saving the patient and gave it her all, favorable results would surely follow.

“Thank you, teacher.”

Elsa bowed her head respectfully.

“Hmm, still, this village is so peaceful. A few days ago, we had a mother who just gave birth to baby after baby… Both the babies and the mother are safe. Everyone is very healthy. The mother’s postpartum recovery was also without troubles, and her breast milk production was normal. There were no problems at all.”

Elsa’s tension was relieved after she heard that

“It’s a blessing to be able to honestly rejoice at the birth of a new life. I’m glad I came to this village.”

Sally smiled too.

Elsa looked up at the clear sky from the window, thinking that as long as Jin was there, this village would remain peaceful.

＊ ＊ ＊

“So, granny, then Shide and I…”

Hanna shared her experiences during her travels with Martha while enjoying her favorite dried Wiley.

(…To think that she’d meet the empress of another country… My granddaughter has really grown up, hasn’t she…?)

Martha was both amazed and impressed.

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