Erika Phoenix.
The young lady of House Phoenix, a comital family that defended the border with the Argent Empire.
And a customer.
“I watched the duel! Though it’s funny to call that a duel—the Cyclops was overwhelming! I wanted to buy one, so I went straight to the Saintess, and that was the right answer!”
“If my humble merchant company has been of help to House Phoenix, there could be no greater honor~.”
Mina was smiling as she spoke in her gentle, lilting way.
Noel, now used to the fact that Mina treated different people differently, calmly brewed tea and set it on the table.
“Please have some, Lady Erika. This is Lord Aizen’s workshop, so the tea is only barely here for appearances….”
“Thank you!”
Erika immediately tossed the hot tea into her mouth and—
“Hot?!”
“I did say it was tea. It wasn’t heated for long, so you shouldn’t have burned your tongue.”
Noel spoke with a wry smile, as if she was already used to dealing with her.
“This is your first time meeting Lord Aizen, isn’t it? I’ll introduce you in his stead. This is—”
“I already introduced myself when I came in, so I don’t think you need to, Noel. More importantly, a reception room in a workshop? Do you just live here now? It’s spacious and nice!”
I do not live here.
I have a perfectly proper dorm room, and I sleep there.
Though the last time I slept there was about six weeks ago.
‘…What did my dorm look like again…?’
While I was caught in the subtle feeling that I had forgotten something important even though there was nothing important there, I heard Mina speaking to Erika with a smile.
“The reception room was made separately because Lady Noel visits often, and also for business and consultations with people like Lady Erika who are deeply interested in the Cyclops~ It’s an environment where an accident could happen at any time, so we focused on making it sturdy, which makes it a little barren, but I’m glad you think well of it~.”
“Haha. Saintess, you really are a soft-spoken person. I have no complaints. Depending on the situation back in the territory, I sometimes barely get a cup of water in a tent!”
Erika laughed heartily.
Then, finally coming back to her senses, she looked this way.
“But we keep getting sidetracked. I’ll tell you what we want. Please make a weapon the Cyclops can use. Our house will provide support and investment!”
“Is that something you can decide so quickly?”
Mina could do it because she had her own merchant company, but the person before me was the daughter of a count, not the count himself.
It was good to have more places investing, but that did not mean I should bite right away.
In short, I was asking whether she was in a position to make that decision. Erika grinned.
“What’s this? Is it because you’ve spent so much time with Saintess Mina? Or with Noel? You’re quite cautious!”
“Please answer me.”
“Of course I have the authority. Because the reason I came to the academy in the first place was to secure weapons.”
Erika drank her tea again.
Then, with a serious expression, she opened her mouth once more.
“Do you know that relations with the Argent Empire are worsening by the day?”
“I do not.”
“I like your honesty. If you’d said you did, I might have thought you were the same sort as that strange, gigolo-looking bastard!”
Just like that?
While bewilderment surged up first, Erika let out a deep sigh.
“…I’m sorry. That was a little hasty of me. He was someone who only claimed to understand on the surface, so I spoke sharply without thinking. I suppose it’s because, thanks to him, we now have a fire at our feet.”
“I don’t believe I’ve done anything to trouble House Phoenix.”
To be honest, until today, I had never even been involved with them.
On the other hand, Noel and Mina, who seemed to know the situation, both wore grave expressions.
“Don’t tell me… already?”
“There was a possibility, but this is far too soon~.”
It seemed something had happened.
Maybe it was also because my interest was thin, but unlike those two, who had ways to hear news from the royal palace, I had none. If the news had reached this place already, then it must really be fast and certain.
Erika nodded.
“They say the royal palace’s scheduled discussion on revising support for House Abatus was moved up by several hours.”
“Through what route did you… No, that was rude of me. Since your side has been deeply involved from the beginning, urgent news would reach you first.”
“House Phoenix is a family that guards the border. If a weapon isn’t to our liking, then it’s only natural to seek another, isn’t it?”
A weapon, huh.
Noel spoke quietly.
“This is about what we discussed just a little while ago. Lord Aizen, you said you disliked politics, but that you were practically in the position of a challenger, didn’t you?”
“So that House Abatus was my competitor?”
Apparently, I had a competitor I did not even know about.
Noel nodded.
“The magic of House Abatus is magic that creates life. They were trying to use that magic to create weapons.”
“Because the kingdom wants a power that can decisively overwhelm the empire if war breaks out.”
Erika said, crossing her arms.
“To put it coldly, the empire has wanted to annex the kingdom for a long time, and we have resisted that. But the Argent Empire is a nation that conquered and absorbed its neighbors through military power. If we clash head-on, the kingdom will be crushed as it is.”
“For the young lady of a margrave’s house, you seem to be saying we’ll lose rather easily~.”
Mina said, eyes half-lidded, as if teasing her gently.
Erika chuckled and said,
“If we could win with fighting spirit alone, I’d do it as many times as it took. But I was taught that only by coolly recognizing the gap between enemy and ally can you win the battles you’re meant to win.”
Having said that, Erika looked at me again.
“Therefore, we need weapons. The Cyclops is splendid, but I felt that if it is to become an even stronger weapon, it cannot rely on itself alone. The royal palace will demand the same thing soon enough anyway, so it would be best to begin, wouldn’t it?”
And House Phoenix wanted to provide the support for that.
“Very well.”
“You’re refreshingly decisive!”
Erika laughed.
Then she drank the now-cooled tea and opened her mouth.
“Then since you’ll be starting work tomorrow, I happen to have obtained an oil said to be good for fatigue—”
“I’ve already finished the concept anyway.”
While Erika was left speechless,
I created with golem magic what I had been imagining for a while now.
As stone formed like a 3D printer, it took on a scaled-down shape.
“…A club?”
“To put it in a way that’s easy to understand, it’s a cannon.”
Well, in a world with magic, it would be an extremely unfamiliar weapon, so it was not unreasonable for her to see it as a club.
If things got urgent, it could be swung around, so calling it a club was not entirely wrong either.
The three women gathered around the completed model.
Mina examined it closely, Noel touched it here and there, and Erika looked all over it in confusion.
“I always wonder this, but how do you come up with things like this?”
“He probably saw it somewhere. We just don’t know where.”
Mina said so while staring intently at the model I had made.
Then she slowly pulled the trigger part.
“It looks like something is supposed to happen when you pull this. If done well, a size that a person could handle… might be impossible.”
“There are more small parts than it looks like, so it would be difficult.”
And to be honest, what I had made now only resembled the exterior. It was not as if I had perfectly recreated the internal structure.
In a sense, if I wanted to make the most famous size—in other words, a human-sized version—then the technology would need to be studied and developed a little further.
“But if it’s sized for a golem to use, it won’t require excessively fine processing, so it should be fine.”
Even if it was fine processing by human standards, by golem standards it was just a large pattern.
The golem’s height was about that of a two-story building.
It was much smaller than my original target, but even so, any object used by something of that size would make even its small components large enough that they could not be ignored.
In other words, there would be no major problem making it.
“No. Still. Isn’t this too fast…? It’s really this kind of speed…?”
Erika, now wearing a serious expression, looked from the weapon in question back to the Cyclops.
Then she looked at the calm Noel and Mina.
“You aren’t even surprised. Is this much… only natural?”
“He’s the sort of guy who would stay up for a week if it meant he could make a golem~.”
Mina said so as she approached me.
Since Erika was in front of her, she still wore her mask, but with the desire for money hidden beneath it leaking out, she opened her mouth.
“So, the principle~? You’ve thought of that too, haven’t you~?”
“I have something, but I was thinking of seeking some advice.”
If I spent time researching it, I could do it myself, but for now, I had some things to sort out.
If I could get advice that would help set the direction and prevent the first few missteps, that would be more than enough.
At my words, Noel smiled and said,
“Are you planning to visit the professors?”
“They’re experts with more specialized knowledge than me.”
I might be the specialist when it came to golems themselves, but for the incidental parts, it would be plenty worthwhile to seek advice.
At that, Erika opened her mouth with a grave expression.
“Wouldn’t that be difficult? No matter what, the professors are renowned experts in their fields, so they have strong pride. I don’t think they’ll easily give you their time no matter how much money you offer.”
“Is that how it looks?”
“The professors are authorities in their fields, and some of them are even called geniuses.”
Once someone was an academy professor, many of them were skilled enough to easily rank among the top five in their field.
In other words, she was saying they would not easily hand over knowledge that was practically their lifeline.
“And this is unmistakably a matter involving the royal palace, with a politically complicated situation as well, so they likely won’t want to get deeply involved.”
Erika spoke with a serious expression.
“I think it would be best not to expect help from the professors, Mr. Aizen.”
****
“So you want to use a mana signal to cause an explosion inside, then use that acceleration to fire an armor-piercing shell made of iron?”
“Loading? Aha. You want to fire shells in succession? The concept is that once one is fired, the next round automatically enters the barrel? Interesting. I’ll consider the structure.”
“In return, just a little of my personal research funds… and if you have any rare metals, perhaps a bit of those too….”
The academy’s highly renowned professor of alchemy, Professor Rodelini, listened to me with a face full of confidence and immediately began offering all sorts of advice.
If money did not work, it usually meant there was not enough money.
So said our esteemed patron.