Professor Reina of the Vespia Royal Academy, who was slowly entering an age where things began to get dangerous, had recently started living on headache medicine.
“That goddamn golem-crazed bastard….”
Pressing down on her throbbing head, she prepared for her next lecture and let out a deep sigh.
Because the eventful days of the past month naturally came to mind.
‘I should have known he was trouble from the entrance ceremony.’
In all her years, it was the first time she had ever seen someone try to smash through the school gate while riding a golem.
Then, at the hearing, he brazenly produced documents including a royal identification certificate, sneakily broke the floor, grabbed the bluestone, and ran off.
And ever since, he had been making every single day noisy.
‘The first day was magic class, wasn’t it.’
The professor in charge was Iserina, a renowned witch with pale violet hair.
Students interested in academics or dreaming of new connections had headed toward her classroom with faces full of anticipation.
And then they had no choice but to be greatly shocked.
Because the door was lying on the floor.
The cause was that the hinges had disappeared.
The specially mana-processed metal hinges used to reinforce the door because it was a magic lecture room, no less!
The first spell of the grand magic lesson ended up being not a splendid and difficult illusion or flame, but magic to identify the culprit.
—The culprit was Aizen, who had been sitting calmly in the classroom.
‘And then there was alchemy class.’
The professor in charge was Professor Rodelini, a master of alchemy.
This professor was also famous, so students interested in alchemy, as well as fools with absurd dreams of turning stones into gold to contribute to their territories, entered the slightly dim classroom.
And once again, they had no choice but to be flustered.
Because two of the metal cauldrons for alchemy, prepared according to the number of students, had vanished.
The specially processed metal cauldrons meant to withstand all sorts of materials and explosions, no less!
Professor Rodelini thought he had lost them himself and fainted, saying his salary would be cut.
—The culprit was Aizen, who had overturned one cauldron in his dormitory, joined the two together, and was exploding something inside.
‘Next was dungeon class.’
This one truly had no choice but to be memorable.
Because it was a class taught by the famous knight Professor Reina—herself.
It was a class she had specially devised, since dungeons were also vaults filled with resources and treasures, and she had thought it would be important and in demand for commoners like herself and penniless nobles.
But during class, two students disappeared.
And when a strange metallic sound spread out, Reina’s face turned pale and she quickly searched the dungeon.
—The culprits were Aizen and Mina, holding pickaxes.
‘My head hurts.’
He might be a talent the royal family had their eye on, but wasn’t this going a little too far?
For now, since he was a student of the academy, they had handed down punishments for each incident—things nobles would loathe, like cleaning corridors or pulling weeds—but Aizen had been carrying them out silently.
Even that alone would make nobles recoil….
‘Maybe it’s because he’s from the countryside, but he does them just fine….’
Aizen showed not the slightest sign of dislike.
The thought that such things were too weak to serve as punishment after all made her sigh, and her head began to ache again.
If not for the documents that had accompanied the royal identification certificate, Reina would have long since been willing to personally fold Aizen in half with her own two hands.
Because of those documents, the professors could only let matters end with the door being repaired again, or Aizen compensating for the two cauldrons and buying new ones.
They couldn’t touch him beyond that.
‘Because everyone has their eyes on him.’
All the professors knew what Aizen had done before coming here.
Because there was no one in the academy who didn’t know about the commotion among the court mages at the time, or about the golem of the Arclight territory.
‘A rideable golem, huh.’
Honestly, Reina was interested too.
Looking at the materials reported to the royal palace and seeing the actual object with her own eyes, she couldn’t deny its usefulness.
Swift mobility, the ability to use it until it broke once it was made, and power that anyone could obtain as long as they could control it.
To her, who had pursued martial might all this time, that golem was both a threat and an allure.
‘It’s worth the Royal Knights paying attention to.’
Despite appearances, Reina was one of the most famous knights in Vespia, so she had ties to the Royal Knights.
That was why she knew how the knights were looking at that golem.
In truth, if one was a professor at the Vespia Royal Academy, it was only natural to know how that golem appeared to the higher-ups.
At any rate, if that golem became practical…
Many things that had been built up until now would change.
‘The one most greatly affected would be this.’
She thought so while glancing briefly at the sword at her waist.
It was inevitable that many thoughts would come to mind.
But if that was a natural change, then resisting it would be close to impossible.
‘And honestly, Aizen himself is worth paying attention to as well.’
He only went around causing trouble, but when one looked closer, that guy could do a lot of things.
His stamina was excellent.
He was good with his hands.
He handled magic well and was outstanding at applying it.
He had deep curiosity, patience, and grit.
With just a little refinement, he was material that could grow splendidly in any field.
A sprout of talent that made professors want to teach him even one more thing and keep him under them.
But all of that was being invested into golems.
‘All you need to do is take one normal step, you bastard…!’
How could she make this damn golem maniac quietly complete the curriculum as a normal student?
The moment she thought she had to fulfill her duty as a professor…
Professors Iserina and Rodelini rushed in.
“R-Reina! A huge amount of metal is coming in from outside the academy?! There’s too much to stop! Do you know what it is?!”
“Professor Reina?! Was there talk of selling a warehouse the academy doesn’t use? This is the first I’ve heard of it. The Christa Trading Company suddenly sent a huge sum of money. Ah, could I maybe take just ten percent of that money to fill up my research funds…?”
“Aaaaaaagh!!”
She shoved the headache medicine into her mouth as if she were practically chewing it.
Reina’s head hurt a lot.
****
“You actually managed to buy a workshop. How did you buy it?”
“If ordinary money doesn’t work, it means there wasn’t enough money.”
I nodded at Mina’s words.
Then I looked happily at the metals the workers were neatly carrying in.
“Wonderful. Armor plates and research materials are piling up.”
“Providing support was the condition. Rare metals will come as soon as I get them, but that’ll take some time.”
Mina smiled with her eyes half-open.
Then she looked at me with slightly sharp eyes.
“Produce results. If you don’t, punishment.”
“I’ll produce results, but what kind of punishment are you planning to give me?”
“I’ll let you have an eye-kiss with a kraken.”
For a moment, I was flustered because I didn’t understand.
Then I understood and was flustered again.
Mina raised the corners of her mouth and said,
“If you succeed, a kiss with me. Nice, right?”
“You just calmly said you’d throw me into the sea.”
But it was only natural.
Mina was not a philanthropist.
She was a proper merchant and my investor, so of course she had the right to warn me about what would happen if I failed.
That was why I needed to respect her rights, and her anxiety.
“Then I guess I should announce the plan for showing you results.”
“Already?”
This time, Mina seemed a little flustered.
Feeling as if I had landed a hit, I raised the corners of my mouth and showed her the Caterpillar Golem moved to one corner of the warehouse, and the strange structure beside it.
And next to that….
“So you stole—no, bought—the alchemy cauldron and the hinges for this.”
“They were perfect materials and components, and wasting time waiting was just too painful.”
So when compensating them, I paid nearly double the money, and in exchange, I decided to use the things I had taken.
Professor Rodelini, who always seemed short on money, had looked a little frightening when his eyes went wild and he said that if I would pay double in compensation, I could take more.
Thanks to that, I was able to save a great deal of time, and I became able to prepare various frames and prototypes to show like this.
Just as I was about to recall what had happened back then, Mina began looking over the objects I had made by using golem magic like 3D printing.
An arm structure made by studying the structure of bones and referencing the special hinges obtained here.
A gun mount whose reinforcement plan was built using the structure of the cauldron.
Beside it was an alchemy cauldron that had originally been two, but had become one after being stacked together and reinforced with things like hinges.
“What did you do with this?”
“I’ll show you.”
I put into the alchemy cauldron a peculiar water I had recently discovered in alchemy class.
Mina tilted her head slightly.
“That’s highly concentrated mana water used in alchemy.”
“No wonder its reactivity was good. I got some leftovers from class, but is there any way to get more?”
“You need equipment. The equipment is expensive, but if you have it, making the water itself isn’t difficult.”
So that was why I hadn’t been able to get this until now.
I detonated the mana water as it was.
Soon, the sound of an explosion rang out from inside the cauldron.
“It must be incredible in there.”
“But it’s withstanding it. Then it can be utilized. I plan to make this into something like this.”
I went back and showed her the rock structure standing beside the Caterpillar.
For now, it was only an imitation, but this was today’s main event.
“It’s an engine.”
Mina stared at it intently.
Then she looked at the cauldron, then back at the engine.
Soon, she smiled fiercely.
“Interesting.”
It wasn’t a threat.
It seemed Mina already had a picture in her head of how this would work.
“So this heart will move that bipedal—”
“Caterpillar!”
“Caterpillar Golem.”
Seeing how calm she was, this girl had deliberately called it bipedal just to tease me!
But an engineer grows weak before their financier, so I decided to endure it.
Meanwhile, Mina, who had been taking apart and examining various spots, said without hiding her smile,
“It’s already impressive enough now, but if this is added, things will get even bigger, won’t they?”
“Does it look dangerous?”
At my words, Mina shook her head.
And she was still smiling fiercely.
“All I smell is money.”
Judging by those eyes, she seemed to be calculating what she would do with it from now on.
Then Mina suddenly asked,
“How many days do you think it’ll take?”
“What?”
“The time until you reinforce that thing the way you want and run a test of this engine or whatever.”
What Mina pointed at was the Caterpillar Golem.
Even though I hadn’t said anything, she seemed to have noticed what I was going to do.
“You’re planning to replace that with metal. Make it like plates.”
I didn’t ask how she knew.
So I answered only what was necessary.
“About seven days if I don’t sleep.”
“Not sleeping is the default?”
“I can just sleep after I finish making it.”
Mina opened her eyes wide, then soon giggled.
“Should I stop you?”
“You’re delighted, aren’t you? You’re buying a person cheap and working him hard.”
Unable to deny it, Mina merely let out a faint laugh.
Then she suddenly asked,
“Can you do it?”
“Of course I can.”
Of course I could.
Because…
“It’s something I want to do. There’s no way I’d let it fail.”
My dream was right before my eyes.
That was the reason strength still overflowed through my entire body, even after staying up for several nights.