Chapter 479: Rescue Operation

At the scene of the incident, Jin issued his instructions to Reiko and the others.

“Reiko and Noir, you two clear away the fallen scaffolding. Edgar and Ehr, you two take the injured out. Neon and Selene, you two go help Elsa. Elsa, you take care of the injured.”

“Ok, understood.”

“Reinhardt and Stearleana, us three are going to use the Engineering Magic spell ‘Joint’ to temporarily fix the scaffolding to prevent it from collapsing any further.”

“Roger!”

“Okay.”

“I’d also like to ask Saki to watch over the scaffolding, and Vivian to watch over the ship. Please let me know if you find any spots that seem to be about to collapse.”

“Leave it to me, Jin.”

“Sure, I can do that.”

Jin stood at the farthest point. Reinhardt stood at the closest point. And Stearleana stood between the two, where it was easier to make sure that nothing would go unnoticed. The three of them started to use “Joint” at the same time in order to fix the scaffolding in place.

As the name implied, “Joint” was a spell that was originally used to join two separate pieces of non-uniform materials such as wood, so it could be used in this way as well.

“But to think you would suggest using a spell like this for this purpose. I have to take my hat off to you, Jin.”

The impressed Reinhardt murmured those words while holding the scaffolding in place.

“That’s true. I wouldn’t have expected any less from the Magi Craft Meister!”

Reinhardt quickly reproached Stearleana for carelessly saying that out loud.

“Stearelana, that’s a secret…”

“Ah.”

Fortunately, Eckert didn’t seem to have heard her.

Meanwhile, Reiko and Noir were able to effortlessly clear away the fallen scaffolding without even having to exert their full strength.

“Lady Elsa! Please prepare for healing!”

“Okay. ‘Cleanup’ ‘Sterilization’ ‘Heilung’.”

Edgar and Ehr carried the injured from under the cleared scaffolding. Elsa cleaned and disinfected their wounds, and then cast her healing magic.

Then, the workers who have had their wounds tended for were taken to a safe place by Neon and Selene to lie down and rest.

With this, they were able to rescue and patch up 8 out of the 10 workers that had been buried under the fallen scaffolding.

“The other two must be buried further below.”

It was a place where the structural materials of the ship and the timber for scaffolding had piled up extremely high.

“Reiko, please.”

“Noir, do it.”

The timber used for the scaffolding weighed at most 20 kg apiece, but the structural material of the ship easily exceeded 100 kg. Some items even weighed nearly 200 kg.

Lifting items of such weight would be beyond the abilities of most golems.

However, the Schwarz Ritter Noir, reinforced with materials from Hourai Island, had more than enough power for the job.

Besides, Reiko, AKA “the walking absurdity” was there as well. She lifted the materials weighing 100kg each and put them out of the way as if they were toy bricks.

“W-What in the world are you guys…?”

Eckert couldn’t believe what his eyes were looking at.

The piled up structural materials of the ship and the scaffolding girders were cleared up in an instant.

“Miss Elsa! He isn’t breathing!”

The worker that Edgar was carrying was no longer breathing.

“…’Diagnose’… He’ll be alright. His heart is still beating. It was still too close for him. …‘Völlig Genesung’.”

Elsa used her strongest spell. After that, she leaned forward, completely exhausted. She had completely used up her mana reserves.

“Elsa!”

Having somewhat finished reinforcing the scaffolding, Jin rushed towards her.

“Reiko, contact Laojun for me. Have him transfer over some Pelshika juice and healing salves. He should send them outside this deck so that no one notices.”

“Understood.”

Reiko immediately went out of the dock and contacted Laojun using her built-in Mana Comm. After receiving the items requested by Jin, she quickly returned.

“Miss Elsa, please drink this.”

“Thank you… Reiko.”

It was Hourai Island’s special Pelshika juice, which could restore the mana in one’s body upon drinking it. Reiko also handed her a healing salve at the same time.

As for the last remaining one, Noir cleared away the rubble of structural material, and Ehr carried him to safety. His wounds were tended to by using a healing salve.

“…Is this all of them?”

All of the workers that had been injured during the accident had been treated, and lay at the edge of the dock, in a non-hazardous area. Some of them started to regain consciousness. However, their physical strength hadn’t completely returned to their bodies, so they couldn’t stand up yet.

After tending to the most severely injured workers, they went to take a look at the other injured people. Since their injuries weren’t too threatening, a healing salve for each would suffice.

“Reiko and Neon, you should go back to the site and take a good look. If there’s any section that seems to be about to collapse, please let me know.”

“Understood. …Let’s go, Neon.”

“Yes, Lady Reiko!”

Recently, Neon had started to call Reiko “Lady Reiko”. She cheerfully followed Reiko on their way back to the site of the accident.

“That place over there seems dangerous. But it’s not so serious that it warrants bothering Father. I’ll fix it myself. ‘Joint’.”

Reiko reinforced a small section of the scaffolding that seemed to be about to come crumbling down. After seeing that, Neon became absolutely thrilled.

“Whoa, you can use Engineering Magic too, Lady Reiko?”

“Well, only a little bit.”

“Amazing! I’m impressed! You’re truly something else!”

When Neon had another upgrade the other day, her control core had been replaced for a new one as well, and from that moment on, she started to behave in a more emotional manner.

Apparently, back in the day, emotional programs were created to go along low-quality control cores. The recent upgrade had caused Neon to become easily excitable, akin to Berthie’s high-spirited nature.

“I think she’s much cuter now, so that’s okay.”

Berthie was very pleased with the change.

On the other hand, Reiko had been set to prioritize a calm state of mind to better suit her duties as an assistant, so there was a certain contrast to Reiko and Neon’s interactions, which Berthie thought was adorable.

Now, returning to the story…

Reiko and Neon continued to explore the accident site.

They decided to go take a look around the ship that was under construction.

The total length of the ship was about 40 meters, which is about the size of a pleasure cruise in modern Japan. It was exceptionally large for the ships normally found in this world.

“I wonder how it is powered.”

With that in mind, Reiko and Neon went around the ship’s bow and headed to the other side.

There was a bit of debris left on this side as well, and even some scattered and stuck all over the ship’s hull.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

After finishing tending to those who had sustained minor injuries, peace and calm finally returned to the dock.

“Mr. Jin, I can’t thank you enough!”

Eckert bowed wholeheartedly in gratitude to Jin and the others.

“If you all hadn’t been here today, several workers could have lost their lives. You’ve really saved us all.”

The injured were recovering, and there had been no casualties.

After their rescue operation had concluded, Jin looked up to the ship that was under construction.

“…It’s big, isn’t it? It was supposed to be built in secret, but well, now that you’re all here, I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”

Eckert broke the silence as he started talking about the ship that was being built in his dock.

“We are building this in order to allow the town of Coupu to do business with the Egelia and Elias Kingdoms, and the Shouro Empire as well. Once this is complete, we’ll have a ship that can carry our luggage and allow us to sleep inside it. With it, we’ll certainly earn huge profits.”

Eckert’s passion as a merchant was once again burning like fire.

“Currently, there are no checkpoints at sea, and there are no laws that regulate maritime transportation. Besides…”

After a short pause, Eckert continued as if staring into a dream.

“…I want to see the vastness of the ocean with my own two eyes…”

The moment Reinhardt was about to say something in response to that, the dock shook.

Or, to be more precise, the thing that shook was the halfway-built ship.

The pedestal that was holding it in place started to warp and bend, causing the ship to lean towards the floor. Towards Jin and the others.

Someone screamed.

The halfway-built hull, which seemed to weigh about 200 tons, loomed overhead as it began to fall menacingly over Jin and the others in a slow-motion fashion.

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