The next day, about an hour after breakfast, Jin was summoned to the room of the Marquis Florenziano. He was accompanied by Reinhardt, Elsa, and Reiko.

It's been a while.

The Marquis said as soon as Jin and the others sat down on the sofa. To Jin, of course.

I had been too preoccupied to notice him when I reported the golem fiasco after the competition, but when I looked at him again, his dark blond hair was pulled up in an updo and his blue eyes were slightly upturned, making him look intelligent.

If he wore glasses and a suit, he would look like a teacher or a secretary, but in reality he is a marquis wearing white leather pants, a white blouse, a blue vest, and a light purple jacket.

He did not look like a man in his mid-forties, Jin thought.

The marquis continued,

"I didn't expect that Jin, who was active in the golem boat competition, would be recruited by the Shoro Empire. What were our people looking at?

Every country needs a good freelance magecraftsman. The Marquis half-jokingly expressed his regret.

He ordered the waiter to brew a pot of kuhe,

"Well, take your time. Today we want to talk about the bandit Jin and the others captured and about the golem.

First of all, the marquis explained about the captured bandits. It is said that the bandits were originally from the eastern province of Isdo, but have recently drifted here.

The leader of the bandits is a mage of some caliber, and he has been using magical and induction to turn most of his men into puppets.

The frightening thing about this subliminal magic is that the person himself believes that he is acting of his own will.

"Anyway, he's the kind of guy who makes his minions disposable."

The Marquis spat out.

"I'm not sure, but I heard that the leader was a low-ranking noble from the Kingdom of Cerroa. When he escaped, he killed all his pursuers with a golem.

We'll know more about that in the next few days," he said,

"But more importantly, I examined the golem's control core first, and found something extraordinary.

"Something terrible?"

"Yes. The golem was a prototype 11.

Erza was the only one who nodded her head, not understanding the meaning. Jin and Reinhard understood exactly what it meant.

"What do you mean?"

Jin answered Erza's question.

"It means that there are at least ten more golems like that, and probably more are being made."

Reinhardt then took over,

"<> means that they are making those golems for a purpose. And we have an idea what that purpose is."

"Yes. It's definitely for combat. The purpose is war, I suppose."

The marquis summed it up by saying.

"You mean someone, somewhere, is preparing a golem for battle?"

And Elsa.

"Yes. According to our information, it was the same type of golem that helped Valentino escape from custody in Potrock.

"So Valentino is connected to them somehow?"

Reinhardt said, and the Marquis Florenziano said,

"Yes. But the search of the remaining houses turned up nothing but evidence of corruption, and the three ladies and the two concubines seemed to know nothing about it.

He briefly described the results of his investigations in Potrock.

"So he was wearing the mask of a disturbed man. ......

Jin replied,

"No, it seems that he is a simpleton, though.

The marquis finished.

"In any case..."

The Marquis of Florenziano rejoined.

"This is a matter for our country, so Mr. Reinhardt, Miss Elsa, and Mr. Jin need not get involved any further.

This was a small act of pride on the part of the Marquis Florenziano and the leaders of the Kingdom of Elias, but as it turned out, it was a mistake.

If they had asked for the cooperation of Jin and Reinhardt at this time, the chaos that awaited them might have been avoided.

However, it would have been a terrible thing to say to them as they were not gods.

After all, at this point, the main body of the golem that Jin had defeated had not yet arrived at the capital, and we did not know how it had been defeated.

As of yesterday, only the control core and the bandit had been sent to the capital. The golem was heavy, so it was put on the back burner at the site.

If anyone had seen the defeated golem, they would have wanted to know how it was defeated.

After that, they asked him about his impressions of the town, especially Potrock, and what was good and bad about it, and Jin mentioned one thing he had noticed.

Yes, Potrock is a port town, and the water is bad because of its proximity to the sea.

He said that not being able to wash his body sticky from the sea breeze would be a disadvantage for sightseeing. The Marquis heard this and said,

"Oh, yes, that's true. Only a few luxury hotels allow you to take a bath.

Then he looked at Jin with a mischievous smile,

"But since you mentioned it, I wonder if you have any ideas?"

Jin smiles at that.

"You are quite perceptive, aren't you? Yes, I have an idea.

"Well, I guess?　I'd love to hear what you have in mind.

Yes, of course. It's a distillation.

Distillation?

"What is it?"

Marquis and Reinhardt both asked Jin. Reinhardt leaned forward.

Jin replied, "It is a magical tool to purify water.

"But Jin, the water in that well, no matter how fine a cloth you filter it with, the salty taste is still there," Reinhard replied.　Even though the water looks clear to the naked eye.

Hearing this, Jin said that the salt dissolved in the water could not be filtered out with a cloth.

"Hmm?　What do you mean by that?"

Reinhardt was the one who took the first bite. To which Jin replied,

"Hey, do you know what happens if you take sea water and leave it on a plate?

Reinhardt immediately replied, "Well, do you know what happens if you take a plate of sea water and leave it alone? Reinhard immediately replied, "Well, there will be salt left on the plate.

Reinhardt immediately replied, "Well, where did the water go then?

to which Jin replied,

"What?　What?　Well, it dried up, so it must have disappeared, right?

Reinhard thought about it and answered.

"You are half right and half wrong. To dry up does not mean to disappear. They became invisible particles, like air, scattered in the air."

"............?"

Reinhardt didn't seem to understand what was going on,

"Look, with water, when you cool it, it's ice. When you melt it, it's water. If you melt it, it's water. This is called liquid. If you heat it to a boil, it becomes steam. This is called gas.

In reality, steam is not strictly speaking a gas, but for the sake of simplicity, I explained it this way.

"I see. ......"

Jin then continued his explanation.

"All things have this state of solid, liquid, and gas. It's just that the way they are cooled or heated differs depending on the object.

Jin breaks off. Reinhardt crosses his arms and grunts, chewing over what he has just heard.

The Marquis and Elsa don't understand half of what he's saying, but they do understand that he's talking about something revolutionary.

"So, salt doesn't become a gas until the temperature is much higher than that of water," Jin said.

When Jin said this, Reinhardt immediately replied,

"I see!　That's why there is salt left after the water has turned into gas!

Jin nodded his head,

"That's right. Then what happens when we collect the gaseous water?"

Reinhard thought for a moment,

"Wouldn't it become pure water?"

He gave the correct answer.

"Correct. Using that principle, we can make fresh water from seawater."

"I see what you mean. We boil seawater to make salt, but we can also make water by doing the same thing!

As expected of Reinhardt, he had an idea of what kind of magic tool he should make.

There is a way to separate impurities with engineering magic, but it requires a different order of magnitude of magical power.

With the method suggested by Jin, it would be possible to create a magical tool that would be widely used by the general public.

The Marquis Florenziano, who was watching the situation, said

"Jin-kun, Reinhardt-sama. As the lord of the province of Xaus, I beg you to create a magical tool that will enable us to do this.

He bowed to the Marquis.

It is hard to say no when the marquis bows down to you. Jin and Reinhardt decided to end the meeting there and immediately started to make a magical tool.

Jin, my idea is to put a pot underneath and fill it with seawater. Then put a lid on the pot and make a small hole in the lid so that the gaseous water will come out.

Reinhard shows his sharp point. Jin nodded in agreement,

"We can put a tube through the hole and lead it to another pot. The gaseous water is cooled down in the tube and becomes liquid water again.

"I see. Jin, is that what your master taught you?

Jin asked,

"Well, yes. I lived on an isolated island, so I needed such tools.

He tried to cover it up.