June 20th . It was the day of the summer solstice .
The location was the city of Koju, in the Shouro Empire . It was a city close to the capital city of Roizart, and with a well-developed water transportation system thanks to its waterways which draw in from Lake Tosmo .
In recent years, it has developed substantially thanks to its good geographical advantage, and it was expected to soon become a satellite city to Roizart .
A multipurpose facility had been built in a recently opened port . It had large buildings and open spaces .
This year, the 10th Technology Expo would be held in this facilityâs largest buildings: the Central Building and its adjacent East Building .
ââŚI am pleased to welcome this many participants and visitors on this beautiful day to this 10th Technology Expo . â
Empress Gelhart Hilde Von Rubis Shouro opened the event with that statement in the Central Buildingâs main hall .
Next there would be a speech by the Minister of Magical Technology, Degauss Furt Von Manishlas, who would be acting as a consultant . Finally, Christoph Barde Von Tarnet, Secretary of the Ministry of Magical Technology, acting as the Expoâs executive committee member, would introduce the participants .
âAh, he was one of the witnesses at Reinahardtâs wedding . â
Jin, who was in the last row of participants, remembered seeing Christophâs face before .
A number of people left the hall when the time came for introducing the participants . Perhaps they needed to go to the restroom, or they had some preparations to take care of?
Jin quietly slipped out of the room as well . He wasnât fond of such lengthy ceremonies . Besides, he had a lot of preparations to make .
âShould I connect this now, Father?â
âAh, sure . Please make sure to connect it firmly . â
Reiko and Steward were helping Jin assemble a magic tool . It looked like some sort of a small compressor .
âWhat is that, Jin?â
Reinhardt had escaped from the room as well and had come along with Jin .
 âHaha, itâs a secret for now . Look forward to it, will you? Itâs going to be amazing . â
It was rare to hear Jin say something like that, especially since he usually hated standing out . Reinhardt stood there half-astonished, looking at Jinâs face .
ââŚYeah, Iâm looking forward to it . â
After their conversation, Reinhardt decided to go check on his own stand .
Aside from the special tools that Jin was putting together, everything had already been assembled the day before . After that it was just a matter of checking everything was alright and then open the doors of the Expo to the public .
Needless to say, Elsaâs, who had been regarded as Jinâs assistant, had her exhibit already prepared in advance as well .
The completion of the magic tool was left to Steward . And Lily, one of the âSPâ was left in charge of taking care of the carriage .
The preparations went by and lunchtime was drawing near .
The Expo would start exactly at noon . Jin went to the great dining hall along with Reiko in order to make sure he had eaten lunch properly before that .
Participants were allowed to have free lunch at that place between 10 AM and 3 PM .
Jin took a seat and called one of the waitresses . He couldnât see Reinhardt nor Saki nearby, so either they were still setting things up, or they had already eaten . As he thought thatâŚ
âHey, Jin! So hereâs where you were, huh?â
Saki showed up at that exact moment .
âHey Saki . Is everything done on your end?â
âYeah, I already did all I had to do for now . All thatâs left to do is wait for the results . â
Saki sat down at Jinâs table and placed her order as well . Then another voice was heard .
âAh, is that you, Jin?â
âOh, long time no see!â
âIt really has been a long time . Are you well? You really helped me back then . â
It was Stearina, the Magi Craftsman from Celuroa Kingdom . However, Saki didnât know how she was, so she was a bit confused . Â
âWho is this, Jin?â
âAh, this is Stearina Gamma . Sheâs a Magi Craftsman from Celuroa Kingdom . â
After Jin introduced her, Stearina giggled and corrected him .
The highest-ranked person in the crafting field in the Celuroa Kingdom was the Unifiersâ No . 2, Donald Carou Alpha . However, since he went missing after Unifiersâ destruction, Stearina ended up going up in rank .
âYouâve become Beta! Congratulations!â
âThank you . But you know, Iâm not that happy since itâs not like Iâve gained new abilities or anything like that, I was merely promoted . â
Stearina smiled bitterly . Having been promoted simply due to there being a vacancy was no reason for joy to her .