After that, Jin and Erza spent half a day in Kaina village and half a day in Horai Island. Then one day...

"One of them is called "Plumé," right?

Jin brought a basket full of fruits to Kaina village.

"Yes, that's right. They used to grow further south in the Kingdom of Klein, but I think we can grow them in the village of Kaina too.

"Is it good?"

Green berries with a slightly yellowish tinge. Round, about 3 cm in diameter.

"Well, I think they are too sour as they are. They are pickled in salt or sugar.

Plum is a plum. Quinta found them and bought them in large quantities on Horai Island. Of course, they make pickled plums.

Jin brought some of them to the village of Kaina because he thought that if dried plums were acceptable to the villagers, they might as well grow them in the village.

After washing them with water to remove dirt, they are washed with shochu to remove bacteria, but Jin substituted engineering magic <>.

Then they are placed in jars, sprinkled with salt equivalent to 18 percent of the weight of the plums, and weighed down with a weighted stone. The weight should be twice the weight of the plums.

After a few days, when the vinegar rises, the weight is reduced.

When midsummer comes, the plums are taken out, dried for three days and three nights, and put back into the vinegar again to make umeboshi (pickled plums).

This is the process of making pickled plums that I used to do many times at the orphanage. If the salt content is too low, the ume tend to mold easily, but with this amount of salt, they can be kept for years.

If the washed and sterilized plums are covered with the same weight of sugar and stored in jars, the sugar will dissolve as the plum extract leaches out due to the osmotic pressure.

Then, to prevent mold from growing, the sugar is sprinkled over the plums by shaking the jar from time to time, and when all the sugar is dissolved by the plum extract, the plum extract juice is ready.

When all the sugar is dissolved in the ume extract, the juice is ready to drink.

Jin made these two kinds of juices not only in Horai Island but also in Kaina Village.

In fact, he ordered Sara to make them. At the same time, he also taught Meane how to make them.

Jin-sama, this is an interesting way of making candied fruits. I have made candied plums with other fruits before, but never with salted plums.

Dried plums seemed to be new to Meane.

In the southern part of the Kingdom of Klein, they make jam from these plums. The sour fruit is delicious as a jam.

In addition to this, since the distillation of wine to produce a distilled liquor similar to shochu began to be produced on Horai Island, plum wine, or plum wine, was also made from plums.

This distilled spirit has not yet been introduced to the village of Kaina. This is because high spirit is not common in this world.

I'll leave you with this.

Since it would be boring if it took a long time, Jin took out another fruit that Reiko had brought with her.

, in other words, cherries.

The cherries that grow around the village of Kaina are mountain cherries, so to speak, and produce only small fruit, but the ones Jin (and Reiko) brought were large cherries that the fifth column (Quinta) had found in the Leonard Kingdom.

"Hannah, try these."

"Yes."

Hannah put a cherry in her mouth,

"Delicious!"

she exclaimed happily.

We have a lot of cherries, so let's share some with Martha. Oh, they taste even better when they are chilled in the snow room.

"Yes!"

Seeing Hannah smiling at him, Jin naturally smiled too.

At tea time that day, Jin, Hannah, Martha, Meane, and Elsa enjoyed the cherries.

Jin, they are delicious. I heard this one is also query.　Yes, they are similar, but the grains are bigger.

Martha seemed to like them too.

Yes, it's the same query, but of a different variety. I would like to make these in the village of Kaina.

"Yes, that's right. I'll talk to the village head later.

"Yes, please.

Since the village head, Giebeck, is more qualified than Jin to deal with agricultural products in the village, Martha's suggestion would be very helpful, Jin thought.

I have dozens of seedlings and some mature trees that I will have Martha bring to the village later.

Jin is not only preparing for the technology exposition, but also thinking about the village of Kaina.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Well, it's difficult.

Erza, on the other hand, was stuck in making magic tools on Horai Island.

I wonder what Jin would do. ......

I want to ask her, but I suppress the desire to do so.

"No, I can't keep relying on Brother Jin for everything," he told himself.

Elsa tells herself and returns to her contemplation.

"Hmmm... ......"

Erza's mutterings echoed through the quiet workshop.

"What's wrong?"

"Hi!"

Erza suddenly heard Jin's voice from behind her, and she let out a strange sound.

"......Ah, Jin, my brother......"

Holding her pounding heart, Erza turned around and noticed that it was Jin who was there.

I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be so surprised. No, you seemed to be in some kind of trouble.

"Well, let's see..."

Erza wondered whether she should talk to Jin or not. Then she made up her mind that it would not do to be too self-centered.

"Well, you know. I was thinking of a special jewelry box.

"A special jewelry box?"

Jin asks back in a parroted tone. It's not an item that Jin seems to have any connection with.

"Yeah. I was thinking of something not so much anti-theft, but something that makes a sound if it is opened without permission. ......

Jin heard this and made a gesture as if he was remembering something,

"...... a music box?"

He then mumbled softly, "A music box,?

"A music box,......, your hand was there. Thank you, Brother Jin."

It seems that Erza had also learned about music boxes. Erza regretted that she had been too concerned about preventing theft.

"I'll try to do the rest by myself. If I can't do it, I will ask you.

Hearing this, Jin smiled kindly.

"Okay, okay. Do your best, okay?　But don't overdo it. ...... Edgar, you watch over that area."

"Yes, Gin-sama."

Edgar, who had only been watching Erza by his side, thanked Jin for his advice and bowed deeply.

There was only one week left until the technology exposition.

At this time, Jin had completed the plan for Erza and Meane's return to Japan with the advice of the old man and Anne, and informed Erza, Reinhardt and the others and obtained their approval.

* * * *

"......Erza is doing a great job. I'm going to make another one too.

Jin mutters to himself and begins to formulate a plan.

"A mini golem, after all.

Saki said the other day.

"It's literally a moving doll. ......

It is a field that has been little studied because of its impracticality.

"But it's great for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering."

Being small is useful in terms of invisibility. Also, it could be used to make people do small things.

"First, let's see how small we can make the magi device ......."

Jin carefully selected the magi crystals.

In the middle of this process, a thought occurred to him.

"I see, I don't have to make them myself.

If Jin could make a golem up to 40 centimeters in size with precision, Reiko could make one up to 20 centimeters.

"In other words, if you make a small <>, you can make it ......."

Following this idea, Jin, with Reiko as his assistant, first created 10 craftsmen (smiths) with a height of 40 centimeters.

"All right, let's call them <>. You, make 10 golems of 10 centimeters and show me how you did it.

"Yes, master."

Since they are small, it is inevitable that their voices are high-pitched. Jin tried to keep his voice as low as possible, but it was still higher pitched than a child's voice.

Little craftsman (Smith) spent about three hours to make ten 10-centimeter golems.

"Okay, I guess I'll name this one ......<>."

"Pleasure to meet you, Master."

His voice sounded even louder, but he knew he had no choice in the matter.