A great commotion broke out in the royal palace of Vespia.
As rumors spread that an absurd golem had appeared, countless people, beginning with those in the royal palace, began devoting all their attention to verifying whether the rumors were true.
The rumor began with a report from a customs official.
—“House Abatus’s escaped experimental weapon has been subjugated by House Arclight!”
The test subject that had appeared in the Arclight domain.
The royal knights who had been dispatched in haste to deal with it.
And what they saw when they arrived was a chimera that had gone limp and was melting away, and a rock golem whose arms had been smashed to pieces, though its pilot and main body were unharmed.
The customs official who had been present at the time and the royal knights who arrived belatedly could not help but be greatly bewildered by the situation.
—“Even so, that chimera was certainly a biological weapon under research to oppose the Argent Empire, so how…?”
The chimera in question was, in truth, no ordinary specimen.
It was a legitimate experimental weapon being prepared by the Vespia royal palace to oppose the Argent Empire.
Not everyone knew, but because it was something officially being prepared by the palace, everyone involved knew it was a creature under special management.
When such a thing escaped due to lax supervision, how much had been prepared in order to dispose of it quickly before it caused any damage?
It was the moment all of that became useless, but no one found it a waste.
While they considered it fortunate that the matter had been resolved before the damage grew, the knights who had hurriedly recorded the golem’s movements with magic immediately tried to hear the circumstances from the person who had brought the golem, but…
—“Sorry, but repairs come first!”
Saying he had to repair the golem, the person in question climbed into it and began moving along the road.
The knights quickly recorded the golem’s movement at that moment, and thus the image of the golem was safely delivered to the royal palace.
And the transmitted image of the golem lacked nothing in its ability to stimulate the court mages.
—“An ordinary golem cannot move that quickly!!”
—“Because golems are made of enormous boulders, their bodies must be moved and supported by magic alone, so they are extremely slow!”
—“On top of that, they are so heavy that it is true they must be given multiple legs just to support their bodies!”
Golems were by no means weak, but due to their nature, they had chronic problems.
The most chronic problem was that they needed legs to move, but because they were heavy, they required several legs just to barely support their bodies.
—“And yet that golem has only two legs, but it is fast and even has a means of long-range attack!”
A simple yet enormous advantage.
A structure whose conception was impossible to understand.
Soon, the old mage who stood at the very pinnacle among the court mages opened his eyes wide and shouted.
—“Capture that fellow at once and send him to the Academy or anywhere else! Make him cough up everything inside his head at onc…!”
At the moment he said this, the chief court mage, the oldest and most authoritative among them, succumbed to his usual high blood pressure and fainted.
Of course, it did not end there.
In any case, the fact that the court mages had heaped praise upon the sight of the golem remained and spread widely.
Naturally, court mage was not a position one could obtain through something like a card game.
Even in the Kingdom of Vespia, which favored magic, it was a considerable station, and someone in the position of chief among them was an existence with great authority even in noble society.
The fact that such a person had praised it so highly was bound to spread through noble society in various ways.
For example, House Nexia.
The young lady of this prestigious family, masters of lightning magic and relatives of the royal family, was reading the report sent up to the palace while leaning on her staff.
“They said he was definitely riding inside it, yes? Is that something a person can board directly? If so…”
The young lady with long golden hair looked briefly at her own legs.
As if she had made some sort of decision, and because she had become just a little interested, an inscrutable smile formed at the corners of her lips.
And House Phoenix.
The young lady of this house of flame knights, who were active on the battlefield as the northern margraves, became excited upon hearing the news that had supposedly leaked, knowingly or unknowingly, from the soldiers of the royal guard.
“It took down a giant monster?! A golem did? And it had cannons! Isn’t that a revolutionary weapon of war?!”
What already came to mind was a scene of enormous, agile golems sweeping through enemy lines.
Knights rushed in to stop the red-haired woman as she declared she would go and confirm it at once.
And House Crysta.
The Saintess from this family, said to have bought both a baronial title and the position of Saintess of the Church with an enormous sum of money, heard the news brought in by travelers and guests from all over, nodded, and said,
“Open the warehouse.”
“Pardon?”
“Open it.”
The gazes of these influential figures turned toward the Arclight domain.
To find out who had created the golem in question.
Or to recruit them.
However, no one was able to make contact with him.
—“I need to examine the golem more…!”
—“You have to go to the royal palace! Right now!”
—“If you come quietly, we’ll compensate you, so please, for now!”
It was only some time later that the story spread of how the customs official and the knights, acting on the royal palace’s orders, had almost dragged Aizen, who was resisting with absurd strength, out of the domain.
****
Mark felt relieved.
When Aizen had suddenly brought in a gigantic golem and taken down the chimera, Mark had honestly thought first that everything was over.
‘Of all things, that guy took down the chimera, and in front of the customs official and the royal knights, no less…’
Even thinking back on it now, it had been a moment that made his heart drop.
When he heard, just as he had finished preparing and was about to head out, that everything was already over; when he saw that gigantic golem moving; when the customs official and the royal knights chased after him in bewilderment—he had thought it was all over.
After all, it was an incident that left plenty of room for Aizen to appear more outstanding than him, the proud heir of the Arclight domain.
However, afterward, Aizen had practically been dragged away by the knights and disappeared, and the golem had likewise vanished without a trace.
After that, Edmund returned, and Mark finished his work as the acting lord without any further issues. Now, at this point, he was comfortably seated in a carriage.
“Hehehe, ehehehehe…!”
To be honest, he was in a very good mood.
Aizen had been dragged away by the royal knights without a sound or rumor, and the barn he had been using had burned down before anyone knew it.
Since Mark had not seen him since then, it would be safe to assume nothing good had happened to him.
Meanwhile, Mark was now scheduled to enroll in the Vespia Royal Academy.
It was an educational institution that nobles of the Kingdom of Vespia who had reached adulthood, or who were about to undergo their coming-of-age ceremony, were ordinarily required to attend for four years. Its professed values were the unity and development of ability among Vespian nobles, but in reality, it was a miniature political arena for young nobles.
In particular, the connections formed there usually continued even after graduation, so for nobles, it was necessary to work even harder for the sake of their own standing.
In fact, in front of Mark, he could see carriages clinging to the side of a carriage bearing the crest of House Nexia, hoping perhaps to exchange even a single word.
As Mark was having his own carriage draw closer just in case, the academy guide riding with him smiled and opened his mouth.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Lord Arclight. As expected of someone rumored to be devoted to study.”
“If I’m going to establish my position in the academy, ability is important.”
If he wanted to obtain connections, he naturally had to show that he had value.
Whether it was his family, money, martial skill, or anything else.
Mark knew that as well, and until now he had diligently trained, including in magic.
It was for the sake of raising his family’s noble grade, which existed separately from their title.
In this noble hierarchy with ten grades, House Arclight had recently risen from the eighth grade to the seventh, and since the state of the domain was not bad either, if Mark did well, they could even aim for the sixth grade.
“Titles are heavily influenced by bloodline, but grades are separate. I have heard that Lord Mark’s magic is quite impressive, so if you form the right connections, it should be possible.”
The guide said with a smile.
Mark also nodded.
Forming good connections was not an easy task, but he could at least entertain the possibility.
It would not happen, of course, but wasn’t he allowed to imagine something absurd like becoming close to the royal family?
Just as Mark grinned to himself, thinking it was an enjoyable fantasy just to imagine, a magnificent school gate began to come into view.
“That is…”
“It is the famous landmark of the Vespia Royal Academy, the Gate of Mainis.”
The guide explained with a smile.
“Even if it is not actually so, outwardly, extraterritoriality applies to the academy. It means one should focus on learning without taking outside circumstances into consideration. It is said that the first headmaster, Lord Mainis, built that gate and wall as a symbol of that.”
It was a gate famous enough that even Mark had heard of it.
When foreign enemies had once invaded, they had supposedly been unable to do anything to the academy alone.
Recently, it was said that even when a dragon-type monster suddenly appeared and attacked, unleashing its breath, the gate had held firm without issue.
“It is probably the most powerful protective barrier not only in the Kingdom of Vespia, but on the entire continent.”
The guide spoke proudly of the Gate of Mainis.
And as Mark watched the gate gradually grow larger, his heart began to race as well.
‘Once I pass through there…!’
He would be a noble in both name and reality.
He no longer needed to concern himself with lowborn trash like Aizen.
The academy was a place that such trash—trash who had secretly made a strange golem and displayed the military might Mark should have shown—could never enter.
Yes, the hopeful and turbulent future of Mark Arclight was drawing near!
—Ruuuuuuuuumble!!
At that moment, a terrifying noise rang out.
Mark’s eyes widened at the somehow familiar sound.
‘What is this?’
Mark repeated to himself again and again that it was not so.
But as if proving that to be a delusion, the terrifying noise continued to resound.
—Neeeeeeigh?!!
“Uh, uh, why are the horses suddenly?!”
As if responding to the roar, the horses began to grow uneasy.
Some horses even tried to break free from their carriages, and the coachmen’s struggles began with screams mixed in.
At the same time, the ground was shaking.
As the roar grew louder, the vibrations in the ground intensified, and the inside of the carriage began to shake. A pandemonium began, with those of weaker constitution nearly toppling over inside their carriages.
“What the hell is it?! What’s coming?! Is it some huge monster?!”
“This damned monster, I’ll take it down with my magic at once…!”
Certainly, if it were a large monster, then this noise and the fear of the horses would make sense.
Recently, the frequency of large monster appearances had also increased, so even though this was near the academy, it was not an unacceptable explanation.
To begin with, there had even been a recent incident in which a dragon-type monster had attacked, so a monster assault was by no means impossible.
More than anything, by common sense, it had to be at least that much for a commotion like this to make any sense.
And so, as everyone pointed to a large monster as the cause of this situation, some nobles, thinking this was the perfect place for their debut, began stepping out in high spirits to cast magic.
Soon, screams began spreading from the surroundings, and at the same time, several urgent voices rang out.
“Stop!! I said stop!!”
“What kind of lunatic—run!!”
“A mo-monster?! Or not?! It’s something weird!”
No way.
It could not be.
It was a mistake.
That had to be a monster.
Mark broke out in a cold sweat.
He even tried closing his eyes, but it was far too difficult to ignore that noise as it grew ever louder. In the end, he steeled himself and cautiously looked outside the carriage.
“Ahahahahaha!!”
And he saw it.
He saw the golem that had killed the chimera, somehow restored at some unknown time and place, charging forward.
And he saw that insane bastard riding inside it.
“They said it’s the strongest barrier on the continent, right? Then how strong is it against impact?!”
An incomprehensible voice rang out.
As if he had discovered something fascinating, the bastard’s eyes sparkled as he began to charge.
“Full speed ahead!!”
Along with that madness-filled voice, he slammed with all his might into the school gate of the academy that the kingdom so proudly boasted of.