Chapter 96

Returning to the castle, I immediately headed to the workshop on the castle grounds.

The workshop, though barely a building, was a simple structure.

Black smoke billowed from its chimney, and the sound of metal being hammered echoed.

Opening the door and stepping inside, the noise grew even louder.

Inside, several craftsmen were hammering metal, and a stifling heat spread throughout.

They’re at it. Heading to the back, two young men greeted me.

"Hey, Rody, you’re back, huh?"

"Yes, I’m back. Dian."

The one holding a hammer, with his sleeves rolled up, wiped his sweat and gave me a sharp smile.

Dian Di Sarum.

The fourth prince of this country, and thus my brother.

An excellent blacksmith, we once worked together to create a magic sword.

"Hey, welcome back, Lloyd."

"I’ve just returned, Albert."

The other, a handsome blonde, was the second prince, Albert.

An excellent magician, with a good face, good personality, and sharp mind, he is highly popular among the people and is rumored to be the most likely candidate for the throne.

He dotes on me a lot and, when I told him I wanted to make a golem, he quickly built this workshop for me.

He also talked to Dian and gathered the craftsmen.

Now, with their help, we are in the process of making the golem’s exoskeleton.

"So, how did it go?"

"Very well. ...Here!"

Saying that, I laid out the materials I had brought on the table.

Seeing the large amount of rare materials, the two men’s eyes widened.

"Hmm, you’ve gathered quite a lot of rare materials. The quality is excellent."

"The quantity is also impressive! With this, we can make a considerable amount of alloy. Good job, Rody!"

"Thank you."

These materials will be melted with metal and processed to form the golem’s exoskeleton.

However, we still need a lot more materials, so I need to work hard to gather them.

"Still, where did you get all these materials? There are no monsters around here, and even if there were, I doubt Lloyd could defeat them. But it seems you’ve been frequenting the adventurer’s guild recently, so you must be getting them from there. To get such items, you need a certain level of trust. Huh, Lloyd, you’re really growing. I’m proud of you."

"When you suddenly called me to make a golem, I thought it was just a child’s whim, but you’ve thought it through more than I expected. Your planning skills are impressive. Heh, I’m glad we can work together again like old times."

The two were muttering something.

They didn’t seem to be suspicious about the source of the materials, so I didn’t worry about it.

"By the way, Lloyd, we’ve just finished the preliminary assembly of the golem. Would you like to see it?"

"Really!? I’d love to see it!"

"It’s a great piece of work. It’s awesome, don’t faint, okay?"

"Yes!"

Finally, it’s taking shape.

Excited, I followed the two to the back of the workshop.

Under the dust sheet, a giant glowing red appeared.

"Wow!"

A sleek, streamlined form, a cool face with a fierce monocular.

A horn on the forehead and a long tail extending from the coccyx.

Two pillars attached to the back, making it look like a legendary dragon person.

Yeah, it’s fantastic.

I couldn’t help but run over and look up at it.

"Do you like it? Actually, I designed this golem."

"Albert, you did!?"

"Yeah, I never thought my art classes would come in handy. I tried to make it resemble the dragon, the country’s emblem, and I’m glad you like it."

I didn’t really care about the golem’s design, so I just told them to focus on functionality and left it to them, but it turned out better than I expected. Albert is really amazing.

"Albert has been coming here to help whenever he has free time."

"Yes! Thank you, Albert!"

"Hehe, it’s worth it to see your bright, sparkling eyes during my official duties."

Albert smiled brightly.

At this rate, we’ll have a great golem.

"Well, as you can see, things are going smoothly on this side."

"Yeah, on this side."

As Dian spoke, a loud explosion echoed.

A small room in the corner of the workshop, its thick iron door blown away.

Through the rising black smoke, a man with round glasses emerged.

His hair was messy and long, his back bent, and he had a scruffy beard.

Coughing and waving away the smoke, Albert called out to him.

"Are you okay? Zerof."

"Cough! Cough! Whee! ...Ah, I’m fine, Albert. Cough!"

Answering with repeated coughs was Zerof Di Sarum, the third prince of this country.

He is knowledgeable in various fields and is well-known as an alchemist.

He usually stays in his research building, but Albert brought him here because he is essential for the golem’s construction.

Zerof is responsible for creating the core, the heart of the golem... but.

"It’s a failure. The strength is still not enough."

With Zerof’s words, we exchanged glances and sighed.

Unfortunately, the creation of the core is not going well at all.

It’s a cycle of making and exploding, making and exploding.

"Zerof, you need to stop this. Every time you blow up, we have to rebuild, and it’s a pain in the neck!"

"Idiot, can’t you see that it’s because you’re not providing a proper alloy? If you had the time to complain, you should make a better one."

"W-What!? I’m using a lot of alloys! I’m sharing them, so you should be grateful, not complaining!"

"The core is the heart of the golem, the part that requires the most strength. I can’t work with a mindset of sharing. It should be a top priority."

"I don’t have enough either! If you keep destroying them, I can’t keep up! Idiot!"

"Alright, both of you, calm down."

Albert stepped in between them.

It seems Dian and Zerof don’t get along.

No, it’s probably due to the lack of materials.

"Zerof, what alloy are you using for the core now?"

"Katakonto alloy. It’s the best available for processing, but it’s not strong enough to power this golem. It stops before reaching 10,000 revolutions. I’ve told Dian my requirements..."

"Because there’s no alloy that can withstand such output! Stop making unreasonable demands!"

...I see, the key is to create a harder alloy.

An alloy is a combination of multiple substances.

So far, I’ve been gathering the materials as requested, but Gitan’s body can provide hundreds of different materials.

Combining them might produce a harder alloy.

I’ve already researched some magic spells that could be useful for synthesis when we made the magic sword.

This might be a good opportunity to use them. Yes, I’m getting excited.

I’ll try it out right away.

"Huh, where are you going, Lloyd?"

"Yes, since there’s nothing I can do here, I’ll go gather more materials."

In any case, I left the workshop.

Well, I’m getting excited.

"Look, both of you, while you’re bickering, Lloyd is already back to work, doing what he can. We should take a lesson from him, don’t you think?"

"...Yeah, you’re right, Albert. Sorry, Zerof, I was just frustrated. I lost my cool. I’m embarrassed."

"No, I was also frustrated. Losing my temper is not something a scholar should do. I need to reflect on that. I’ll continue to count on your cooperation, Dian."

"Sure thing! Leave it to me, Zerof!"

"Yup, I’m glad you two are making up. Shake hands, shake hands."

The three of them are muttering something while looking at me, but the workshop is too noisy to hear.

Well, as long as they help me make the golem, I don’t mind.