About ten days had passed since we received the plot of land from the Phoenix County.
Using earth magic, which I hadn’t been using much lately, I made temporary clay walls, and inside them, I first planned out various facilities with soil, stone, and clay. Once Mina’s merchant company procured the materials, we would remake those facilities out of metal. In that way, the mass-production facility was coming together smoothly.
“They say proper mass production begins with standardized specifications.”
“I don’t really get it, but it does look useful.”
Mina said that as she drank tea with Noel.
And Noel smiled faintly as she said,
“The craftsmen of my house told me as much, but when you push forward, Lord Aizen, they truly can’t stand against you.”
“It was pretty entertaining, in its own way.”
Mina said with a rather satisfied smile.
Looking at the two of them, I narrowed my eyes slightly and asked,
“You deliberately shoved it onto me, didn’t you, my dear investor?”
“Efficiency.”
When she put it like that, I had nothing to say.
The craftsmen brought in from Mina’s merchant company all believed they were the best in their own fields, so they were extremely forceful about pushing their own opinions.
If they had truly been the best in their fields, they would have been living under favorable treatment in some prestigious house like Noel’s family instead of working for a merchant company, but they were still talented enough to have been taken in by one.
From their perspective, I was a young brat, and on top of that, to their eyes, I seemed to have been hired by Mina as well, so they must have tried to come on strong and seize control.
“I got tired from wasting strength on pointless things.”
In any case, they were now obediently following my instructions and building the facilities.
Starting with the most urgent matter, standardizing lengths, then finalizing specifications and creating records in various forms.
And adjusting tools so they could be processed more easily, and so on.
There was so much to do that I hadn’t been able to sleep. What enjoyable days.
“Ah, now I feel like I can finally get some proper work done.”
I closed and opened my eyes, then looked at the scene before me.
What stood before me were two Cyclops leg frames.
They had been produced in the standardized facility, then swapped in for the existing Cyclops legs to confirm that they worked, and then removed again.
The first one had somehow turned out slightly below specification during production, so I took it all apart again to check it, and improved the second one as well.
And now, the third leg was being made entirely by Mina’s craftsmen as of dawn today.
-“Damn it, when the hell is this going to end?!”
-“Aigoo. I just want to get some sleep now…!”
-“Is it true that man hasn’t slept even once…? And he’s been taking care of meals by steaming potatoes somewhere…?”
Even while suffering, the moment results appeared before their eyes, everyone threw themselves into it with quite a bit of passion, which was a relief.
As for sleep, they knew they could sleep after everything was made, so that made things easier for me too.
And just then, production of the third leg finished.
“Foreman, sir, we’ve made the whole thing ourselves for now!”
“Let’s inspect it!”
For some reason, that was what those people called me.
I went down immediately, inspected the leg parts, and checked them in the facility’s temporary movement setup to confirm there were no problems.
“We’ll swap the parts in later and test it, so go get some sleep first!”
“We finally get to rest for a bit!”
“Aigoo, I thought I was going to die!”
The craftsmen let out roars of joy and went off to rest their bodies for a while, and I immediately checked the facilities.
Just because it came out successfully didn’t mean it was over.
I had to see if anything had gone out of alignment, and I also had to confirm and record whether items of passable quality would continue to be produced during manufacturing.
On top of that, the arms, torso, head, and things like the engine and backpack also had to be mass-produced….
“Well, they say the beginning is half the battle, so I suppose I just have to go another ten days without sleeping.”
The current goal was to make sure one Cyclops could be manufactured without me intervening, so the hurdle was low.
Mina stared at me and grinned.
“You sleepless monster bastard.”
“Shut up. I told you, I can sleep after I finish making everything.”
There was so much to do, and it was fun, so why were they asking why I wasn’t sleeping? Honestly.
While bantering with Mina like that, I took a short break and immediately started drawing blueprints.
A scratching sound filled the air, and Noel and Mina quietly watched me.
Even Mina, who usually threw all sorts of jabs at me, stayed quiet at times like this.
Occasionally, when a plate of refreshments that Noel seemed to have prepared was placed beside me, I reached out and put something into my mouth, but my hands and eyes did not stop.
“This should be about enough.”
I roughly designed a facility that would help craftsmen other than me make the Cyclops’s arms, then looked around inside.
I was debating for quite some time whether it would be better to have the arms made below and then lifted up, rather than attaching them directly from above, or to have an auxiliary device that would lay the Cyclops itself down and raise it upright at the very end. Just as I thought I should ask Mina and Noel for their opinions—
-“Pardon me! Is this where the esteemed Baron Arclight is?”
“Baron?”
“Maybe the rumor that I’m supposed to receive a title after delivering the Cyclops to the royal family got distorted.”
I hadn’t delivered it to the royal family yet, and therefore, naturally, I didn’t have a title yet either.
The royal palace, which should have been handling or hurrying that matter along, was apparently only now choosing candidate sites while agonizing over which mana metal mine they should hand over, the one I had won in my duel with Gilford. What title?
‘…Thinking about it that way, that prince really did cause a whole lot of damage.’
When I imagined everyone in the royal palace working overtime without sleep because of what the prince had done, trying to clean up the mess, it was somehow amusing.
I was having fun, but they must have been dying.
“It looks like Lord Aizen thought of something entertaining.”
“Let’s leave him be. He might stir up something fun.”
“Personally, this is when I feel the most uneasy.”
It was Professor Reina, who had appeared at some point.
With a hand pressed to her forehead, Professor Reina immediately looked around, then let out a relieved sigh.
“I’m glad you didn’t take any armor or swords from the Phoenix County….”
“What would I do with those even if I took them?”
“With you, melting them down would be the least of it. If an ingot of this region’s rare metal, that is, a special mana metal called Heatmetal, were stolen, even I wouldn’t be able to laugh it off.”
“Please tell me more about that.”
Professor Reina glared at me.
“…I’ll say this in advance, but that ore is a resource the count’s family regards as important. Know that if you mine it or take it without permission, you won’t be able to complain even if you’re summarily executed.”
So that was why Mina hadn’t been able to get it for me beforehand.
I’d heard that mana metal had many different types if you examined them one by one, but the stuff I usually got and used was high-strength, so maybe Mina hadn’t thought of it either.
Meanwhile, Reina seemed to have a headache.
“Try being in my position, hearing that knights went looking for you and immediately thinking that you had caused trouble.”
“Even so, I wouldn’t just take things from the count’s family without permission.”
“…I don’t know whether this bastard has finally learned common sense, or whether he thinks the Academy is fine as long as he pays compensation.”
In any case, judging by the situation, it seemed Professor Reina had thought I caused trouble and hurried in through the back door.
And because we had been talking inside for quite some time, we ended up forgetting about the guests outside.
Then the door was kicked open, and three knights entered.
“Pardon us! Is Baron Arclight not here?”
“There is no Baron Arclight, but I am Arclight.”
When I corrected the facts, the knight’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.
And Professor Reina, having realized that I hadn’t caused any trouble, stepped forward.
“Sir Galed. It’s been a while. But why are you looking for Aizen?”
“It has been a while, Sir Reina. To be blunt, I came to give a warning.”
He was close to Professor Reina… rather, it seemed that knight’s personality was just like that.
Professor Reina had a rather displeased look on her face.
“You seem to have thrown your manners away since I last saw you.”
“You are no longer with the knight order. You were never part of the Phoenix Knights in the first place, either. Mutual respect is one thing, but I have no reason to treat you courteously.”
“Even so, you were never in a position to speak to me carelessly. Do you want me to beat you half to death?”
Reina growled lowly, and Galed glared at her as well.
Was that man also a famous knight?
“…I had heard that knights were fearless, but….”
“They’re underestimated because there are surprisingly many of them, but it’s true that knights themselves possess terrifying combat power.”
If what Mina said was true, then I could understand why he was coming on so strong.
It was probably the result of a kind of pride and confidence in his own ability.
Seeing as he seemed confident he could fight even Professor Reina, who was said to be a famous powerhouse, the particular guts knights had really didn’t seem ordinary.
‘Huh, then does Professor Reina usually suppress her personality a lot?’
Seeing how she immediately hurled insults at the person in front of her….
“So what warning is it? I’ll say this in advance, but Aizen is a student of the Academy. If you try any bullshit in front of me, know that you’ll never be able to mount a horse again.”
“Is warning him to know his place bullshit?”
The two of them locked horns in a silent battle of nerves.
Then Sir Galed glared at me.
“I’ll tell you this in advance. The Phoenix Knights do not need help from the likes of you.”
“Isn’t that for the count to decide?”
To be blunt, if the count told me to leave, I was in a position where I would have no choice but to leave.
I was working and researching here because the count had given permission.
And Galed glared even more fiercely as he said,
“The count can make mistakes as well. If he walks the wrong path, stopping him is also a knight’s duty.”
“So you’re ignoring the count’s will.”
“On the contrary, I’m stepping forward because I respect him.”
Something had definitely happened here.
Noel and Mina’s expressions grew serious as well, and Reina wore a look that told him not to say anything more than that.
“That’s enough, Sir Galed. That place has nothing to do with Aizen. If you take out your anger on the wrong person, you’ll get badly hurt.”
“I’ll say it anyway. If I at least say this much, our fourteen comrades won’t be saddened.”
“Fourteen?”
Just as I wondered what he meant—
“The number of men who died in this land because someone claimed to be researching weapons.”
Sir Galed spoke with a cold face.
“The number of men who died because of the research conducted by that damned Avatus family. Men who went out with their bare bodies to stop chimeras and died.”
“The Avatus County….”
It was a name I was hearing yet again.
Just what had that count’s family done for knights to come all the way to me, someone unrelated, and vent their anger?
I felt bewildered, but just as I was thinking it must have been no small matter,
Sir Galed grabbed me by the collar.
“Listen well. If you treat human lives as if they are consumables, I will, without fail, see to it that you die young.”
“I’m not from the Avatus family.”
“But you are a weapon maker. You love blood and death so very much, don’t you?”
Sir Galed said coldly.
“We can protect this land and the kingdom well enough without the help of things like that, and without your help.”
His grip grew stronger.
Sir Galed spoke quietly.
“We don’t need a one-eyed piece of trash monster made by someone like you. Remember that.”
Sir Galed glared at me.
And I looked at him calmly and asked,
“Are you done talking?”
“Why? Is there something you want to say?”
“Yeah.”
I grabbed Galed’s gauntlet with my hand.
A creaking sound rang out as the strength drained from Galed’s grip, and his hand slowly moved away from me.
Galed stared in shock at the crumpling gauntlet, and I pulled him in as he was.
Then I immediately stepped in and threw him over using the principle of leverage.
“Guh!”
“Sir Galed?!”
“You bastard, what are you—!”
I calmly straightened myself and dusted myself off, gesturing for Mina and Noel to step back.
Then, looking down at Galed, I cracked my knuckles a few times.
“Don’t call my golem that.”
I said what I wanted to say.