The mark of the Purple Jade Order--as soon as I heard the name, I left the living room and headed toward the store.

　As a matter of course, Erica followed, and Noir followed, surprised by my quick reaction time.

　In the direction indicated by Garnett, who was guarding the store, with his thumb, I saw a young knight in traveling attire standing in the corner of the store, out of the way of the other customers.

''It's been a while, Mark. No, well, it hasn't been that long since the incident in King's Landing.''
"...... Mark Easton of the Purple Jade Order. I have arrived as a seconded member to the White Wolf Order.

　I couldn't help but feel a touch of loneliness at the stranger's tone as usual, but I decided to dismiss it as unavoidable and proceed with the conversation as a business matter.

　Mark only moved his eyes and took a glance at the situation in the store, and then continued his remarks in a nonchalantly business-like manner.

'As I'm sure you've already been contacted, I've been sent to assist in the analysis of the material. I ask that you not assign any work beyond that category.
'I know. I'm sure Sir Justin expected that and sent you to do it, too. In the meantime, let me show you where to work.

　For now, I'll be the first to get the important business done.

　As I was about to leave the shop with that in mind, Garnett tried to follow me as a matter of course, so I told him with just a hand gesture to continue looking after the shop.

　It's not that there's anything wrong with Garnett being with us, but considering that we're going to be turning in a break for the rest of the guys, it's indeed better not to have two people leave the store at once.

　Our destination is a construction site in the immediate vicinity, and most importantly, there are a number of reliable and competent people on site, so there would be little need for an escort.

　So, leaving the slightly dissatisfied Garnett to take charge of the store, I decided to take Mark and head to the construction site of the Knights' headquarters.

''I'm sorry ...... Garnett, but I don't want you to think I'm having an escort to keep an eye out for Mark (myself). ......

　It would be best if I could teach them a real relationship, but that would be a long way off.

　We walked down a carefully maintained slope in the mountains for a while and arrived at a carved out construction site.

'Commander-dono. What is that thing doing?

　Mark's gaze was drawn to the sight of one of the craftsmen putting his hand on the wood on the pedestal and slowly stroking it back and forth from one end to the other.

　If you didn't know what was going on, it might indeed seem like an unintelligible sight.

'They're using magic to dry the wood,' he said. Normally they take a long time to dry the raw wood, but if they really need to rush it, they'll take care of it for an extra charge.

　The stock that had been stashed away in a vendor's warehouse in Green Hollow Town had been quietly reduced during the construction and recent renovation of Fort Hollow Bottom.

　Even with the remainder, much of it is reserved for new lodges and shops and renovations, which could cause delays in getting wood for our orders.

'I see. ...... In principle, you are evaporating it by applying heat to it?'
'There's that sort of thing, but that guy was closer to the freezing system, I think. It's a good idea to take out the water and let it coagulate like frost or something. It's also said that the consumption of magic is so unbearable that it's basically saved for later use.

　Of course, these magics are specialized to be useful in the forestry and construction industries.

　It is difficult to use them on other targets, specifically animals, to harm them, and conversely, it seems to be extremely difficult to use attack magic for this purpose.

　Nevertheless, it seems that Mark was tickled by the intellectual curiosity of the artisan's productive magic, even though he intended to maintain a disinterested attitude towards me.

　That annoyed me a bit, so I decided to give him some information that might interest him.

''You know that pouch that the artisan wears around his waist. If you put a magic crystal in it, you can draw magic power from it without touching it. It's a product that we make and sell.
'What, without holding the magic crystal?　Is that true?
It's called a magic supplier, and we even supply some of them to the Golden Fang.

　This is only possible because of Noir's 【Magic Tool Making】 skill.
　I'd like to invite someone with the same skills at the earliest opportunity so as not to put too much of a burden on her alone.

''The most important thing is that the magic crystals are expensive, so it's not something we can sell too often. The guy he's using is a guy that we gave the entire magic crystal to him.

　Seeing the frankly surprised look on Mark's face made me feel a little better, so I decided to cut the subject off at an appropriate point and head for the building I wanted.

　Our destination is a part of the proposed construction site, a building that looks like a warehouse that was finished ahead of the other facilities.

This is the research building. This is the research building, so the materials can be analyzed and researched here. When the whole thing is completed, it will be connected with a roof and walled corridor, but it's not quite there yet.

　You open the thick door and enter the dimly lit research building.

　The interior of the building looks like a library and a warehouse, with empty shelves lined up to hold various materials.

　It's deserted at the moment because no materials have been delivered, but it should be ready to be used as a reference room soon.

　Another door leads you to a brightly lit area with natural light.

　It's a conference room that is one or two times smaller than the archive, but it has no conspicuous interior decoration other than a large table, allowing you to see every inch of the room.

　And at the table in the conference room, three boys and girls were sitting at the table, exchanging ideas with a book of memoirs.

'Good work, all three of you. How's your progress?
'Oh, Master Luke. It's not a problem for me to read through, but it's going to take me a while to decipher.

　There is a hint of a gasp from Mark.

　In the conference room were Sakura, Nagi, and Melissa.
　The two adventurers who requested the translation of the diary and one adventurer who voluntarily attended the meeting.

It's just a diary, after all. It's a diary, after all, and it's a problem that it doesn't explain things that he understands.
And this is apparently the second book: ...... and the knight in chief, if you will.

　Nagi also immediately noticed Mark's presence and identity.

　I've explained the series of circumstances beforehand, so he must have immediately guessed when he was a knight he didn't recognize.

'As I told you before, these three should work on the translation. You don't mind Mark, do you?
Yes, of course!

　Mark's response was a picture-perfect joyfulness.

　I left the conference room to go back to the store, leaving the self-introductions and other exchanges to them.

　Then Melissa came out of the conference room a little later than I did.

'That's unusual. Are you separated from Nagi?
I was told to go to work.

　Melissa puts a hand behind her head and laughs deceptively.

　While Nagi is certainly right, it's rather convenient for me.

''...... Yeah, I have one question for you. Is there anyone you guys know who can use the 【Magic Tool Making】 skill?