On the third day in the Kingdom of Gandharva.
Every member of the golem faction was gathered in clusters beneath the Cyclopses, faces brimming with anticipation.
—“They’ve changed here and there, haven’t they? Is that for the sandstorms?”
—“The other things are the legs and the backpack… right? Those got bigger?”
Those were the words of the Knight Department members of the golem faction, who hadn’t particularly participated in development since they weren’t in the Alchemy Department.
Since they had been split roughly in half and were trying to adapt to the golems under Professor Reina, they weren’t simply looking at them; they were watching with interest to see what roles each change served.
Looking at the black protectors covering the joints, Professor Reina quietly asked,
“Those won’t cause any functional problems, will they?”
“Sand getting in would be more fatal.”
A little would be bearable, but there was no way the amount kicked up by a sandstorm would be little.
In a way, the joints were both the most important parts of a golem and its weakness, so we had to prevent them from being ruined by things like sand.
Of course, what we’d done now was more along the lines of seeing how far we had to go with the treatment for it to be all right, but honestly, this level should be enough.
Aside from that, the unit had all sorts of magic tools plastered onto it for a simple experiment to gather mobility data on sandy terrain with its leg section.
More important than that was the one right next to it.
“A technology demonstrator for hovering experiments.”
It was something made by removing and replacing the equipment from the existing Knight technology demonstrator.
We had equipped it again with Cyclops gear, then changed only the leg section to legs designed for hover movement.
It was also sealed, making it the most important unit this time.
Beside it was Professor Reina’s Cyclops, which had been fitted with equipment made by taking apart and processing the technology demonstrator’s gear into a kind of additional expansion pack, but that was just a bonus. The technology demonstrator was more important.
While the members of the golem faction, including the Magic Department and the Knight Department, were wandering around and staring at everything in fascination,
I stepped forward, my heart swelling slightly, and shouted.
“We will now begin the first mobility test!”
“Everyone to your positions! Gather data! Keep communications open with the ones riding for the test!”
Immediately, people scattered and gathered in different places, and while Professor Iserina prepared to use magic at any moment just in case,
the first Cyclops, which had only been sealed, began to move.
With just one movement and a single step, its foot began sinking deep into the sand, and the Cyclops moved in a sort of crawling gait as it walked.
—“Hey, think you can run?”
—“Doesn’t look possible, but should we give it a try anyway?”
The Alchemy Department student who had been communicating with the interior from beside me looked this way.
I nodded as I was and said,
“Run.”
—“What the hell, let’s give it a shot!”
Immediately, the Cyclops ran and soon fell over.
With a thud, sand scattered everywhere in enormous amounts, and as the Magic Department students calmly blocked it with magic, the communication came through.
—“We failed!”
—“Figured we would! Hey, stay in that position! We’re coming to take off the magic tools!”
From the start, we had made it move while expecting it to fall over.
The Alchemy Department students ran over, gleeful at the failure, and one of them even used the recoil from the fall to dash forward on all fours.
“It really feels like there are more Lord Aizens now.”
“It does.”
“It’s not like I run on all fours, you know?”
“If it were you, Aizen, you’d make a stone slab and slide over on it, like last time, wouldn’t you?”
I answered Noel, Mina, and Erika, who were standing side by side beside me, and walked on.
I knew a Cyclops wouldn’t explode or anything just because it fell over, so I could have someone else do it, but the technology demonstrator was different.
That unit was something where we had no idea what might happen.
So, naturally…
“I’m boarding.”
I used magic to climb up to the cockpit, went inside, and activated the unit as it was.
Noise began to rise from the legs and various other places, and I saw the Cyclops ahead finally get back up after some trouble and obediently withdraw.
Then I immediately moved the legs, and the moment I thought an immense vibration was beginning to resound through the unit,
it nearly tipped forward for a very brief instant before stabilizing its posture and starting to advance.
“As expected, the answer is hovering.”
That didn’t mean hovering was always better than walking no matter what, but at least at our current level, it was surely the correct answer.
The unit floated smoothly above the ground and moved.
When I moved it forward, backward, left, and right as it was, unlike with the Cyclops earlier, the mood among the students also began to rise.
—“Seriously, that huge thing is floating and moving?”
—“So it’s true that if it goes further, it’ll be able to fly freely through the sky?”
Honestly, even watching it from the side would have been exciting.
Boarding-type golems were by no means small.
Because of issues with materials and technology, they were much smaller than what I had originally imagined, but even so, they weren’t merely big enough that a person had to look up a little. They were more comfortably viewed from a building.
If it was small enough to fit fully into a person’s view at a glance, that meant you were at a reasonably safe distance.
And that giant body of steel was moving across the ground as if sliding?
“It would be strange not to find this amazing.”
Of course, it couldn’t fly forever.
Since we had only just created the technology, its maintenance time was naturally short.
As if overloaded, small explosions occurred in the legs, and the unit dropped to the ground as it was.
Its energy was completely depleted.
But what was certain was this.
“It flew.”
The hovering itself had succeeded.
It was a precious step forward achieved by many people together.
“Good.”
There was still much to do, but.
Smiling at the fact that we had taken the most important step, I got down from the unit and shouted.
“We’re going straight into improvement work from now on!”
—“Bring the tools! Take it apart and check it right now!”
—“Tear it open and see where it exploded!”
The starving alchemy mob immediately rushed in with fire in their eyes.
It was a deeply satisfying sight.
****
Strictly speaking, it was a failure, but the Alchemy Department students, who knew very well that succeeding on the first attempt would actually be scarier and more dangerous, did not shrink back in the slightest.
—“Sita, Miyu! If you’re done analyzing how the Cyclops’s legs sink, go make the equipment! Ask the people from the Krista Merchant Company for materials!”
—“Looks like this part couldn’t handle the overload. Show this to the professor!”
They were Alchemy Department students, moving energetically as they immediately prepared for the next experiment.
And perhaps because, even though it had just failed, it had failed after somewhat achieving its original objective, the students from other departments who had only been watching also began to move for various reasons.
—“According to the manual written by Aizen, we don’t know what problems might occur with a Cyclops in an emergency! You just saw that a controlled environment and an uncontrolled battlefield are completely different, didn’t you? Go help and hammer some mechanical knowledge into your heads! Me? I’m busy, aren’t I! Go learn!”
—“Reina is trying to run away, so I’ll catch her.”
Apparently remembering what had been written in the manual, Reina gave orders to the Knight Department students, and Professor Iserina caught her as she tried to slip away.
Professor Rodelini was also saying something while looking at the damage marks on the floating device, and I let out a small sigh.
“I want to go over there too.”
“We have a lot to talk about before you go.”
Originally, I should have been there instead of Professor Rodelini.
I should have been looking at the floating device, which had fulfilled its function but ultimately overheated and broke, figuring out where the problem was, improving it, and secretly staying up all night again today.
But Mina was being somewhat firm, so I quietly sat beside her.
“You seemed a little tired after coming back from the meeting yesterday. Did something happen?”
“It’s not something we want a lot of ears hearing.”
If she was bringing it up now, when things were a little noisy, it must be urgent information.
Mina continued speaking.
“First, Prince Rial didn’t come simply because he wanted to buy weapons. Second, it seems the Order also wants to obtain power of its own.”
“…I can understand the first, but the second is unexpected.”
Erika answered gravely, which was rare, and Mina nodded.
Noel also spoke with a serious expression.
“…If the Order gains powerful force, it will be suppressed. There’s no way they’d do something that rash…”
The reason the Saras Order’s position was recognized was, conversely, because they did not possess armed force, which allowed their missionary activities in each country to proceed smoothly.
The moment they gained power, they would be suppressed in an instant.
‘And yet they were that blatant in front of Mina….’
While I was thinking that something must be going on, Mina quietly said,
“For now, the Order’s information says that monsters are moving in large numbers. The reason Prince Rial made the Academy’s pilgrimage schedule happen seems to be because he wanted to borrow the Academy’s strength.”
“The Academy isn’t some armed organization… But it is fair to treat it like one.”
I forgot sometimes, but even Professor Reina was a human weapon, and there were famous mages like the headmaster and Professor Iserina.
In the first place, Vespia’s nobles were all practically mages, so if they brought the Academy over, they would secure as many mages as there were Academy personnel.
Of course, we had not the slightest obligation to fight for a foreign country, so it would be almost impossible for Prince Rial to use us directly as fighting strength.
But Avatus and I were close to exceptions.
In the current situation, where there was something like a competition between the Cyclops and the Chimera, the best situation for performance evaluation was none other than a battlefield.
If I refused to fight, the other side would immediately gain an advantage, so it was an extremely awkward position to simply refuse outright.
“And about the Order. The First Saintess said this.”
“What did she say?”
“That she wanted to hire Aizen.”
…So she wanted to borrow the Academy’s strength, and especially my strength?
The only connection I had with the Order was Mina, so honestly, it didn’t feel real.
And when Noel heard the word hire, her expression darkened a little.
“…Is that true?”
“It is.”
The atmosphere had grown somewhat ominous.
Mina quietly spoke to Noel, who looked displeased.
“For now, judging by the circumstances, there’s a faction within the Order that wants armed force, and the First Saintess feels like she’s halfway aligned with them.”
“How do you distinguish that?”
“Because there were people who wanted to beg.”
Seeing Mina’s displeased face, it seemed there had been people who said things like, as Saintesses, hand over the Cyclops!
Compared to that, the word hire could be considered moderate, if one wanted to call it that.
Of course, moderate or not, it could only mean that the First Saintess also wanted armed force.
“What on earth are they thinking?”
As Erika spoke quietly, Mina waited for a moment, then opened her mouth again.
“Judging from the nuances in what they said, there seems to be some cause behind the large-scale movement of the monsters.”
“A cause? Don’t tell me…”
Noel spoke as if something had occurred to her.
Mina shook her head.
“It seemed to be a natural cause. It’s not the Empire’s doing.”
So they had investigated even that much, at least.
Mina soon looked at me and quietly said,
“So when we go out into town tomorrow, I think we need to investigate what it is.”
No one here asked why.
Because everyone already knew that to defeat an enemy, one had to know them.
“I have so much research to do, and now investigation too…”
“You’re telling only us first because if you tell the Academy people, the information might reach Avatus’s side, aren’t you?”
“Unnecessary confusion. The professors need to know, but the students don’t need to know right now.”
So she would tell them.
But for now, it seemed Mina had called us so only we would know first.
“I know you’re busy with research, but the situation is what it is, so get ready.”
“Yeah.”
In any case, our objective was to beat Avatus.
I had to know how to set aside my own desires a little.
Then Noel quietly clapped her hands and said,
“Then that means we should start with the investigation too.”
“Fortunately, I received permission to use the Kingdom of Gandharva’s library. If we walk through the city, we’ll be there soon.”
“The kingdom’s library? Normally, entry would be forbidden…”
“All hail the title of Saintess. Say it.”
Mina tried to prompt everyone to respond, but no one shouted all hail.
Still, the decisiveness with which she prepared immediately once she deemed it necessary was worthy of shouting all hail.
“As you know, tomorrow is a holiday. We’ll have plenty of time to spend together.”
“Together…”
Noel reacted to the word together.
Erika also seemed to be thinking about something.
And then Mina began to smile.
“In that sense, Aizen.”
With a bright smile,
she slowly opened her mouth and said,
“Tomorrow, come out into town with me.”
“Tomorrow, please go into town with me, Lord Aizen.”
“Tomorrow, let’s go into town together and investigate, Aizen!”
Their voices overlapped exactly.
The three women looked at one another.