I love mecha.
Beaten down by life, crushed at work, finding solace in assembling plastic models and playing nearly dead mecha games, spending happy days arguing on internet communities—mecha was what made those days possible.
I loved the desperate struggles of steel giants that represented the human heart and will.
I'd heard it was a genre gradually dying out over time, but news of occasional new works always sent my heart into a frenzy.
I don't really know how that life ended.
Perhaps the house was unusually dark that day, and someone was there.
While getting hit hard on the head, the last thing I saw was small plastic figures falling alongside my collapsing self.
I don't remember much else.
The only thing I remember is the wish I made while growing cold, staring at the white plastic in front of me.
"Next life, in an SF world with robots."
And now.
When I recognized my two small legs and arms, and my lowered field of vision.
What entered my eyes was:
—Walls without dust but completely cracked.
—A basket filled with dirt-covered potatoes.
—A couple in old yet flashy clothes, and for some reason, a snooty-looking boy.
—And me, looking up at them.
"Eisen. If you've finished digging potatoes, go clean up."
"Our House Arklight took in an orphan like you, so work."
I had become Eisen of House Arklight.
****
"House Arklight is a house that has listened to the voice of the earth for generations."
"Our specialty is wielding the power of the earth. In other words, earth-attribute magic."
"Never forget that this is our power and privilege."
These were the words of Edmund Arklight, the current head of House Arklight and my uncle.
Magic.
This was why the world seemed surprisingly abundant in resources compared to modern times.
Of course, families capable of using magic were usually quite remarkable.
That's right. Despite their worn-out mansion and flashy clothes, this house was quite an impressive one in its own way.
Once a year or so, they would use large-scale production magic at the center of the territory, and goodness me, piles of nutrient-rich earth!
It was good soil for growing crops, but especially suited for potatoes, so potato farming was the main industry of this territory and house.
And I was technically a member of this house.
I don't know the details, but apparently my father, who had passed away around the time I was born, was from this house.
However, because both my parents had died, I felt more like a rolling stone, a spare part, and eventually my position in the house became that of a potato-digging hireling.
In a way, it was only natural; the house had few servants and no means to hire laborers.
Potatoes might be a wonderful crop that fills your stomach, but a potato is just a potato.
In this world where resources were fairly abundant thanks to magic, the superiority of potatoes was lower than one might think.
At least the potato quality was good, so we could dig diligently and pay taxes with them, but apparently they didn't quite make money.
So my uncle also had to work to earn money.
And for that, even the lord's family had to earn money.
But my uncle had a stupidly strong pride in being a noble.
That was why they wore fine clothes despite being unable to repair the mansion.
Naturally, my aunt was the same, and their son, my cousin Marc Arklight, was Uncle Mk. II.
They knew they had to dig potatoes to eat and live more comfortably, but they didn't want to, focusing instead on collecting taxes and buying clothes.
Thus, the labor fell to me.
"They say you really can't tell what life has in store."
About two years had passed since I regained awareness of myself in this place.
I could manage on my own to some extent, but I was still too young to be considered grown.
Even at that age, there hadn't been a single day I hadn't dug potatoes.
But it was hard to complain because, in this world, someone in my position should be grateful just to be taken in.
If my cousin Marc were to die in an accident, I would be the next head of House Arklight, so from my aunt's or Marc's perspective, I was, to put it coldly, a future enemy.
From the head's perspective, it would be understandable to discard me to prevent succession disputes, but my uncle took me in out of familial sentiment.
Using me as a hunting dog guarding the territory until death, or making me a soldier or mercenary to send to the front lines until I died.
There were plenty of things one could do to a fellow human being.
In that sense, making me dig potatoes forever could be considered a merciful fate.
'Stop daydreaming and hurry up and dig.'
I organized my thoughts and put my hands to the dirt.
And focused my mind, imagining.
This was a world with magic.
And I was, for now, a member of House Arklight.
Naturally, I could use magic.
In this world, most magic didn't require special hand signs or spells.
Powerful magic, large-scale magic might require them, but could a spell for digging potatoes possibly fall into that category?
What was needed was an image.
After that, mana would reinforce it to some extent.
'Rise up.'
I vividly pictured the image of earth spreading softly and rising up.
And mana reinforced that image, acting upon the world as law.
Soon, the earth rose up gently.
Spreading to the sides, yellow potatoes revealed themselves from within the soil.
Well-grown potatoes from the quality soil the Arklight head had worked hard to create caught my eye.
From here, I didn't necessarily need to use magic.
Just grab and pull, and that was it.
And I just had to repeat this.
For quite a while, it was repetition of simple labor, digging and pulling.
'Did I dig about thirty with this?'
I checked the potato stems I'd dug up to gauge my progress, taking a brief rest for my back.
The potato field was so vast there was still much to dig, but my pace was good and I had energy.
Thanks to magic, I could accumulate visible results without great physical exhaustion.
At this pace, I felt I could fill a basket to the brim in no time.
'The harvest is pretty decent.'
It was simple labor, but seeing the results with my eyes made it somewhat enjoyable.
They say there are tortures involving repeating meaningless tasks; compared to that, couldn't digging potatoes be considered somewhat rewarding?
Besides, it was good training.
'Magic grows the more you use it.'
I had heard my uncle say this to Marc at some point.
Like muscles, magic required use to grow one's mana and skill.
In that sense, the potato field was the optimal training ground.
Using earth-digging magic increased my mana bit by bit, and when my mana ran out, digging with my body increased my stamina.
At first, I collapsed from mana exhaustion after three potatoes, but now I could do over thirty—that was why.
Of course, I couldn't match my cousin who received professional education from my uncle, but this was better than nothing.
It was quite a comfort that it wasn't completely useless.
"Oof."
My focus wavered slightly.
I had immersed myself too deeply in thought while restarting work, and my back ached again.
Thinking I'd bent over too long, I took a break under a tree.
The wind cooled my sweat, and once my body calmed, I quietly moved my mana.
What was needed was an image, followed by mana's correction.
Soon, the earth clumped together into a dearly missed form.
"This is better than nothing."
Plastic models that had once decorated my display shelf.
An earthen doll reproducing their form.
Perhaps because the image was strong, the mana complemented it well, and even the joints moved.
The downside was that being made of earth, it crumbled when moved.
If I could get some clay from somewhere, it would probably be fine, but I hadn't managed to yet.
To be precise, I hadn't had the time, but I was glad I could at least do this much.
I was truly grateful that I could make even such things that let me feel nostalgia for what I loved in the past.
"...Ah. I want to see mecha, anything at all..."
I love mecha.
Mono-eye, goggle-eye, dual-eye—I love them all.
Doesn't your heart race just at the thought of a steel giant standing upon the earth?
This is a world with magic, too.
Yet there are no steel giants.
But there was an unwelcome guest.
"Monster!!!"
A scream rang out.
I quickly stood up.
The thing I considered the worst in this world had appeared.
'Monster!'
Beings more terrifying than wild beasts in this world.
Their forms and appearances varied, but they were very easy to identify.
They usually possessed mana and emitted it as they moved.
And they tended to appear suddenly.
That was because their cause of appearance still hadn't been clearly determined.
I quickly looked toward where the sound came from.
I had to run, but I needed to identify what kind it was.
Only then could I decide who to ask for help.
And before long, the monster in question came into view.
Massive legs wrapped in ominous black aura.
Tusks the size of a human torso.
Muscles that roared "I am anything but ordinary" to any observer.
A wild boar monster had appeared.
-Bwooooo!!
Just its roar spread mana outward.
It was enough to make people fall over; this was no ordinary specimen.
It was at that moment, thinking there would be casualties at this rate, that—
"It's the lord!"
"It's Lord Edmund!"
There must have been a human with incredibly fast legs even in this chaos.
Perhaps my uncle had happened to be near the scene.
But for now, it was a relief.
Nobles possessed the power of magic.
And there was an unwritten rule that nobles had to fight monsters—not mandatory, but existent.
Noblesse oblige or showing off, I didn't know, but an unwritten rule that those with power must fight monsters.
My uncle, being a man overflowing with pride as a noble, faithfully observed such unwritten rules.
I saw him approaching the monster, laughing exaggeratedly and shouting.
"A big shot appearing for the first time in about ten years! But a mere monster is still a monster! For the crime of trespassing upon Arklight territory! You shall pay with your death!"
It was grandiose, and I wanted to retort that this was just a territory full of potatoes.
But my uncle was serious, so he used magic.
The ground began to shake.
And my uncle grinned and shouted.
"Come forth, great sentinel of the earth, Golem!"
"Golem?!"
Why had I only just remembered?
Had potatoes ruined my brain?
I had only now remembered that of course, when it came to earth-attribute magic, there was a most famous existence.
Golem.
A giant of rock born from the earth.
That's right.
'It's a robot!!'
I would see a guardian deity standing tall upon the earth on two massive legs!
My eyes widened and my focus sharpened almost simultaneously with the moment the golem was completed.
For the first time in this world, hope raised its head—the hope that I could encounter the romance I'd always dreamed of.
'Robot, golem, robot, golem!!'
A bit crude was fine.
If I could just see that possibility, anything was fine.
Wishing in my heart that I'd dig potatoes for life if only I could have that possibility, with a thunderous boom, the figure of the rock giant entered my eyes.
First, what I saw were eight massive, heavy legs.
A spider-like body that seemed haphazardly clumped together in a sphere.
And the face of a hunting dog.
"Uh."
The death of my romance was instantaneous.
My eyes trembled uncontrollably, and cold sweat broke out.
What appeared, bearing the dream of bipedal locomotion, was an abomination difficult to express in human language.
That's right, that wasn't a golem.
That was an abomination.
Its movements were slow, its joints improperly constructed, and the dog's head didn't even have a neck attached, forcing the torso itself to bend—a grotesque object.
"I... won't accept... something like that!!"
Eisen Arklight.
A pitiful soul who had regained awareness two years ago.
Screamed with a face like a vengeful ghost.
****
"...Eisen, Eisen!"
"Why did this kid suddenly faint?!"
I saw that the sky had turned crimson before I knew it.
Around me were the laborers my uncle occasionally mobilized.
The dead boar's body had already been butchered, bones and meat scattered about.
Perhaps because of that, the stench was terrible.
I also saw bones that had been cleaned of flesh and gathered in one place.
I stared blankly at the large bones that seemed to be leg bones.
I still couldn't understand how such a grotesque eight-legged abomination could have been born.
The image of a giant standing tall upon the earth lingered in my eyes.
But if eight-legged abominations were common sense in this world.
Who would try to make something like *that*?
Was there truly no one in this world who would try to make what I was thinking of?
At that moment, sparks flew in my head.
"...Heh, hehe, haha...!"
There was.
Exactly one person.
The only existence I knew.
And the one I could trust the most.
"Pahahaha!!"
Laughter burst out.
Why had I only realized this now?
Perhaps I had unconsciously erased a simple fact because I thought I'd be able to see it easily.
Or maybe smelling the boar's stench had truly driven me mad.
The despair was already forgotten.
More thoughts came.
Certainly, golems were different from what I'd imagined.
But that was a golem created solely from this place's common sense and knowledge.
I approached the bone pile.
I picked up bones that had formed the boar's legs.
Starting from the skeleton, like bones supporting a massive creature.
Using the structure of interlocking bones, I could probably make hands and legs that moved like a person's.
There's also a method of making a metal skeleton and covering it with armor plating, a method where both skeleton and armor bear the load simultaneously.
At the same time, I'd need a heart to move the massive body.
How about a method where mana flows like blood?
Reinforcing joints with magic?
Couldn't a control program also be replaced using magic?
If that's impossible, how about direct-connect control?
Thoughts surged forth.
My heart felt refreshed.
Yes, this was how it could work.
"I don't need to rely on others; I just need to make it myself."
They could call me an idiot.
I didn't mind being stoned as a madman.
I didn't care if my soul was held as collateral.
I could not give up on the romance of the steel giant.