Chapter 617: Ex Machina (4)

“Relocating to the Upper Workshop District…? ”

As Lennok and Mouser blinked at the unexpected notification, Narcissa, perched opposite the workbench, crossed her arms and leaned back.

“As the population capacity has become critical, this isn’t something that can be changed through negotiation or compromise. It’s already been decided.”

“……”

To be forced to relocate a workshop due to the load on the District Barriers—is Machina that strict about managing population capacity between districts?

Lennok had thought that too many people gathering at his workshop might cause various ripple effects, but he never imagined that the workshop’s relocation would be pushed for this reason.

‘There’s a reason they have to strictly adhere to the designated load within the city’s districts…’

That meant, in other words, the District Barriers must not collapse due to excessive load.

What could possibly be hidden deep within the District Barriers that crisscross the city’s sky and land, to warrant such strictness?

“The problem is where to send the workshops that are being relocated,” Narcissa said again, while Lennok was deep in thought.

“There’s the Mid-tier Workshop District, where artisans are building their reputations, and the Upper Workshop District, where proven artisans gather. There’s even the Exclusive Workshop District that serves the noble elite.”

Narcissa’s cold eyes scrutinized Lennok closely.

“Considering your performance in the Selection Ceremony, it’s been decided to assign you to the Upper Workshop District, but it’s not yet finalized. Ex Machina requires a stricter evaluation of the candidate locations for workshop relocation related to this agenda.”

Only then did Mouser realize why Narcissa was explaining all this. He spoke with a slightly subdued gaze.

“And you’re the one in charge of deciding that, Narcissa.”

There was a reason she had come all the way to Lennok’s workshop, pointing out all sorts of issues and conducting an evaluation.

The fact of the workshop’s relocation itself was already decided.

And the authority to decide where to relocate the workshop belonged to the old woman before them—Narcissa.

“Frankly, your workshop management skills are quite dismal. In terms of the know-how and management required for an artisan to run a workshop, you’re completely below standard. If I had my way, I’d send you to the Mid-tier Workshop District to learn the basics from scratch, but…”

Narcissa looked at Lennok with a sharp gaze and continued.

“However, seeing that your furnace hasn’t gone out even after the Selection Ceremony, I’m giving you this opportunity now.”

“……”

Did she already know that the furnace in his workshop had never gone out once while Lennok had been working as an artisan?

For someone who just showed up with her hands behind her back and took a quick look around, her observational skills were incredibly sharp.

That was a realm of experience that only a seasoned artisan, who had run a workshop for much longer than Lennok, could possess.

Perhaps the old woman before him, despite her outwardly irritable demeanor, was quite a skilled Meister herself.

As if sensing Lennok’s thoughts, Mouser, standing beside him, reluctantly introduced Narcissa.

“This is Narcissa Solmer. She’s a committee member of Ex Machina, the manager who oversees the Upper Workshop District, and herself a Meister who excels in crafting.”

“A Meister……”

“She was also a fellow apprentice under the same master as me, back in the day.”

A fellow apprentice, he said.

Lennok wasn’t particularly surprised by Mouser’s words.

It had been clear from the moment Narcissa abruptly splashed a bottle of liquor on Mouser’s face that the two knew each other.

But Narcissa only scoffed at Mouser’s words, not showing much agreement.

“Who was it who went off to open their own workshop and then completely tanked their business?”

“Hmm……”

“If you’re just wasting your days drinking in this Lower Workshop District, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m here for him, not you.”

Mouser, having been selected as a representative of the Machine City delegation and visiting Blaiver Magic Tower, surely had his own accomplishments to boast of.

But he didn’t seem inclined to offer any excuses in front of Narcissa now.

He merely scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed, and turned to Lennok.

“What will you do?” Lennok asked back, turning to Mouser instead.

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Well… that’s true. The issue of workshop district capacity is something Ex Machina takes extremely seriously.”

Mouser clicked his tongue and shrugged.

“However, where your workshop moves might change a bit, depending on Narcissa’s judgment.”

“……”

“She doesn’t seem to view you too unfavorably, so why don’t you try talking to her?”

Lennok let out a small, disbelieving laugh at Mouser’s words.

“So that’s not viewing me unfavorably, then.”

“Narcissa has a very meticulous and clean personality, but she’s generous when it comes to an artisan’s passion and talent. It’s through that aspect that she’s gained respect and taken on the role of manager for the Upper Workshop District.”

Mouser turned his back to Narcissa and whispered quietly.

“If you’re lucky and manage to impress Narcissa, you might even be able to enter the Upper Workshop District directly, skipping other procedures.”

“Then will Master Mouser be coming along too?”

“Me? There’s no way Narcissa would move me along just because she’s impressed with you, is there?”

Mouser grinned and shook his head.

“More than anything, I like this neighborhood.”

“……”

“Well, I did promise to help you out while you’re in this city, so…”

Having received Mouser’s assurance that he would assist him to some extent even after the workshop moved, Lennok faced Narcissa.

“You said you’d give me an opportunity. What will be your criteria for judgment?”

“I heard you gave advice to other artisans during the Meister Selection Ceremony.”

“Pardon?”

“Artisans who scored better than they should have in the Selection Ceremony talked a lot about you. They said you have a knack for finding equipment problems and identifying their causes.”

“……”

Without waiting for Lennok’s reply, Narcissa abruptly pulled out a circular pendant.

A red gem was set in the center, and around it, hundreds of cogs rotated intricately, forming the pendant’s shape.

“This pendant. It’s so broken that even the artisans in the Upper Workshop District couldn’t repair it. It should have been sent to the Exclusive Workshop District for Meister-class artisans a long time ago.”

Narcissa placed the pendant on the workbench, crossed her arms, and nodded.

“I won’t ask you to repair it right here and now. Just find out its original function and the cause of its damage.”

Narcissa’s eyes glinted sharply.

“Right now. In front of me.”

“……”

It seemed Narcissa had a general idea of how Lennok had been handling his artisan work when she came to visit.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought such an item for a test—one that required identifying the origin and maintaining specific objects, rather than crafting.

Did she want to thoroughly confirm his abilities as an artisan, based on his strengths?

Separate from her displeasure with his workshop’s internal management, her offer to give him an opportunity seemed genuine.

So Lennok, without further argument, obediently picked up the pendant.

“……”

He sat at the workbench, surrounded by the soldiers guarding Narcissa, and peered intently at the pendant.

“Among the guests who visited the workshop today, there was someone who rode a motorbike.”

Lennok’s mouth opened as he touched and examined each of the intricate cog parts, including the red gem.

“Some of the old and new parts in the motorbike engine were mixed, preventing it from functioning properly.”

“What?”

“This pendant is the same.”

Lennok gently placed the pendant back on the workbench and said, “Some of the cog parts that make up the artifact are damaged. Because of that, the mana flow is tangled, preventing the pendant from drawing out its original function.”

“There’s no damage to the parts. You must be mistaken.” Narcissa, who finally understood the meaning of Lennok’s words, frowned.

“It has passed through the hands of over a dozen artisans, and the condition of the parts has been verified as unproblematic. Or are you saying your eyes are more accurate than theirs?”

“Physical deformation and loss aren’t the only forms of damage.”

Lennok said, rotating the pendant.

“What I’m talking about is closer to wear and tear due to the passage of time.”

“……Wear and tear?”

“Depending on how much time has passed for the parts that make up the artifact, the mana flow rotating through them can also be altered.”

Lennok said, picking up a screwdriver from beside the workbench.

“This pendant is designed to guide mana in a specific direction, ultimately stimulating the red gem at its center. If the mana flow reaching the gem gets tangled, it naturally won’t work.”

Even the soldiers surrounding them seemed to be listening intently to Lennok’s words.

In the now quiet workshop, only Lennok’s voice softly echoed.

“From the start, this pendant wasn’t severely broken. It just stopped working because the mana flow, which should have been consistently maintained, got tangled due to a change in the parts’ positions.”

“……”

“I believe the original owner tried to repair the artifact themselves, and the parts’ positions got swapped, leading to an uncontrollable tangle as it passed through many hands.”

“……It is true that the artifact’s owner initially attempted to repair it personally.” Narcissa, with a stern expression, reluctantly agreed with Lennok’s conjecture and asked, “But if the manufacturing origins of each cog were different, why didn’t other artisans notice that fact?”

“It’s not that they didn’t notice.”

“What?”

“The parts aren’t hidden in such a way that it’s difficult to tell their manufacturing origins. It’s just that they didn’t consider that fact to be a problem.”

Identical specifications. Identical size. Identical material and metal, identical processing methods. The only difference was that their manufacturing dates varied by as much as ten to fifteen years.

That the mana flow passing between parts subtly changed due to this time difference was a fact Lennok had only very recently discovered.

He had realized it while researching Kaiser’s pocket watch, trying to understand why it used parts from various different companies.

Extremely subtle mana movements are affected by the time of the object through which they flow.

If the parts of this pendant had been created at the same time, the mana flowing through the pendant would have flowed normally.

But the subtle distortion occurred because several types of parts in the pendant were made much longer ago than others.

What did it mean that this distortion was enough to prevent the artifact from functioning normally?

“The creator of this pendant intentionally mixed parts made at different times from the very beginning.”

“……”

“The subtle distortion that arises from that… they considered that very alteration of mana to be the core principle for activating the artifact.”

As Lennok said this, he slowly used a screwdriver to remove and disassemble the cog parts. Then, right there, he began reassembling the pendant, swapping the positions of the parts.

Its external appearance remained unchanged; only the orientation of the older cogs had shifted.

“The principle of remembering, recalling, reproducing, and constructing the concept of time from the perspective of microscopic particles. Perhaps the original form of this pendant was……”

But the moment Lennok channeled mana into the pendant he had just reassembled…

As the mana flowed into the rapidly reverse-rotating cogs, the red gem began to glow brilliantly.

Pop!

Simultaneously with the gem emitting light, hundreds of parts surrounding it began to rotate and reassemble themselves on the spot.

Clatter-clatter-clatter!!!

A strange sight, as if they possessed their own will, reacting to the gem’s mana and reconstructing their own form.

On the workbench where Lennok had lifted his hands, the pendant’s parts instantly grew in size, flipped their shapes, and bent.

Finally, they transformed into the slender shape of a hammer that could be held in one hand.

“……”

No one spoke, silently observing the scene in the center of the workshop.

Lennok slowly picked up the hammer, lightly stroked it, and nodded.

“A relic-grade crafting tool. And one with a self-adjusting function, no less.”

The moment he lightly tapped an old rifle placed next to it with the hammer,

Clatter!

Parts composing the hammer reassembled themselves once more on the spot, shrinking in size and becoming sharper.

An artifact of relic grade that scans the size and material of the object it taps, then instantly transforms into the most suitable crafting tool for its maintenance.

Lennok placed the pendant down, now transformed into a screwdriver perfectly suited for rifle maintenance, and said,

“This is my first time seeing such a precise and convenient crafting artifact. I imagine it’s a treasure that one would only get to see if they were a Meister, if that…”

They say a good artisan doesn’t blame their tools, but for those working on the front lines of the profession, that saying is meaningless.

For sensitive individuals whose abilities can fluctuate with minor variables or conditions, the sense of stability and increase in power that adjusted equipment provides is an area that cannot be explained by theory.

Having handled this pendant, Lennok could now be sure.

The creator of this artifact was undoubtedly a genius who had reproduced the abilities of an Old World relic using only the technology of this current world.

“Would you say this meets the standard?”