Chapter 246 – Dance with the Golem

The work of loading cargo onto the large sailing ship docked at the harbor was progressing. The dragon palanquin we had ridden from Termwills was scheduled to be loaded onto the ship and cross the sea as is.

The crew members were busily making preparations for the voyage, loading food, water, and other supplies.

“Come to think of it, this is my first time on such a proper sea voyage.”

“Mine as well. I’m looking forward to it.”

Claudia and Tephra smiled as they watched the crew working. Seraphina seemed to be—standing atop the mast, enjoying the view.

The wyverns led by Lindwurm would also be boarding the ship, but having them stay on board until departure would probably be too cramped.

Therefore, we removed the wyverns’ gear on deck and let them relax for a while at Marquis Fobrester’s castle.

“Lindwurm, please return to the castle courtyard with the others.”

With those words, Lindwurm led the other wyverns back to the Marquis’s castle. After this, we planned to conduct training at the knight order’s outpost near the harbor.

Though it started with a verbal promise, Marquis Fobrester said he would pay me an instructor’s fee.

“Well then, Ambassador-dono. I look forward to working with you today,” said Marquis Fobrester.

“Understood. Then let’s begin.”

Together with everyone, I boarded the carriage and headed toward the knights’ outpost at the harbor.

Though the knight order of the Marquisate of Fobrester was located facing the sea… the battles they anticipated weren’t limited to land. Naturally, they also had combat on ships and at sea in mind.

Regarding the training, when I asked King Melvin about it, he told me I could do as I pleased.

Or rather, given the current situation where I had friction with Crown Prince Zadias, there were aspects of improving the Marquisate of Fobrester’s technical capabilities that I wanted to advance.

Aerial combat techniques could be used regardless of whether on land or sea, making them perfectly suited for the Marquisate’s knight order. Well, being told I could freely do various things made it easier for me too.

The knight order’s outpost was a building surrounded by walls. Within the grounds was a quite spacious training field, where the main members of the knight order and guards were lined up. I could see magicians among them too. Since they anticipated fighting on ships, many wore easily manageable cutlasses at their waists.

When we descended from the carriage, their gazes gathered on us. The fact that their attention was particularly focused on me… might mean the Marquis had given them some explanation about today’s training content. It was convenient to skip the explanation process.

Marquis Fobrester had also attended the spring dinner party in Termwills. He probably brought escorts from his domain then, and those escorts likely attended the knight order-hosted dinner party too. If so, they probably already knew about the aerial combat gear.

Following Marquis Fobrester, I stood before them as they formed ranks. The knights and soldiers placed their hands over their chests and returned the salute.

The Marquis looked over the assembled officers and soldiers, then opened his mouth. His voice echoed across the square.

“Everyone, well done. The reason I’ve gathered you here today is none other than this. You’ve all likely heard about the flight technique using magic tools. Today, we have the magician from Termwills who devised this flight technique, Otherworld Ambassador Theodore-dono, gracing us with his presence to provide personal instruction.”

At Marquis Fobrester’s words, simultaneous applause arose from the officers and soldiers. The Marquis nodded at their reaction and continued speaking, introducing each guest one by one. Princess Stephania, Princess Marlene, Baroness Silun, and Grace who holds a knight title. Just those introduced here as guests represented quite an impressive lineup. As knights, they must be quite motivated too.

“—I expect today’s training to be fruitful for everyone. Well then, Ambassador-dono. May I ask you to proceed?”

“Yes. Then—”

I nodded and stepped forward. Now then, where to begin?

“What about the aerial combat gear?”

“After the dinner party in Termwills, I had magicians and magic engineers research it, and while it’s still a prototype, we’ve managed to create something.”

Hmm. In that case, perhaps it would be good to start by showing them the movements. Something like a demonstration.

The reason being, when I was introduced, some had shown slight expressions of confusion.

They probably had professional military pride proportional to their high level of training, and while I might be treated as the founder, the truth was they probably thought my age was too young to be an instructor.

So first, I needed to destroy that preconception and make them acknowledge me as qualified to be an instructor. That would make it easier for them to accept what I said, and the training would proceed more smoothly.

“Well then, I think I’ll start by showing an example of movement in aerial combat. If you have aerial combat gear, you probably already know the principle, but forming shields as footholds in the air, combining levitation and air blast to kill or add momentum… using that to move freely in the air—well, when explained, it’s surprisingly simple.”

I casually formed shields on the soles of my feet. As if climbing stairs, I casually took two, then three steps into the air and stood in midair. I snapped my fingers and generated aqua golems, positioning them in the air.

“Now then—I’ll begin.”

As soon as I spoke, I kicked off a shield and charged toward the farthest golem. I used levitation to increase the initial speed at the moment of kicking off, then accelerated with air blast. Through circulation, I heightened my magical power and made Ouroboros gleam with a pale blue light. Just like that, as I passed by, I sliced through the golem’s torso. Leaving a trail of blue light in the air, the golem was cleanly bisected from the torso.

I instantly regenerated the golem. Without a moment’s delay, I made it counterattack. Through levitation control, I killed inertia, kicked off a shield to fly upward while tracing an arc. I avoided the weapon of that sword-shaped golem, took its back, and brought Ouroboros straight down from above. Earlier was horizontal. This time, bisected vertically.

As if that were the signal, the remaining golems all moved at once. Reading the movements of the automatically controlled golems closing in from all directions, I dodged, received, redirected. Or made them attack each other. Spinning round and round, swapping heaven and earth as I danced. Using the dragon staff’s movements to disrupt stances and swap positions, I mowed them down with Ouroboros when they clustered together.

As I finished swinging Ouroboros, the golems at a distance fired water bullets at me.

I flew left and right at high speed to evade the bullets, then used form shift to slip through the barrage of deviation shooting. When two golems aligned in a straight line, I deployed a shield in front and charged at maximum speed. Thrusting Ouroboros forward, deploying shields around my body while adding a spinning drill-like rotation, I pierced through both golems’ torsos at once.

That left one golem remaining. I flew upward once, then immediately descended at a sharp angle. Pressing down from above, I surrounded it with shields on all sides to seal its movements, then accelerated just like that. As I slammed it into the ground, I swung Ouroboros through, gouging out the ground along with the golem, splitting it in two.

I kicked off the ground to disengage. Shifted form in midair and landed. The training field ground being gouged out would be inconvenient. I’ll properly fill in the soil later.

“…Well, that’s about it.”

I only used the three basic types of magic essential to aerial combat. The rest was martial arts.

When I turned my face toward the assembled officers and soldiers, almost all of them had their mouths hanging open. Marquis Fobrester’s eyes were wide open too.

“As expected… of Theodore-sama.”

“It’s been a while since I last saw it—but it’s still amazing. And you were controlling the golems at the same time, right?”

Ophelia and Princess Stephania, who had seen my movements before, remained calm. When they applauded along with Marlene, one by two people remembered and joined in the applause—which spread throughout the entire group, becoming cheers.

“Thank you. While magic tools alone can’t achieve such improvisational movements—I believe that with sufficient mastery of magic tools, something close should be possible.”

As I said this, the knights’ expressions—or rather, the look in their eyes—changed. They were certainly biting well. With this, the training should proceed with enthusiasm. Later, as a practical example, having Sheila and others demonstrate against golems might be even more effective.

“Well then, let’s proceed with the training. That said, since time is limited, what I can convey is also limited. I think we’ll do this clearly in a practical combat format, so please organize the units.”

When I said this, the knight order’s senior members exchanged glances.

“Everyone, just like I did earlier, you’ll be facing aqua golems. I’ll make the aqua golems perform movements characteristic of group tactics used by those with aerial combat gear, so please think of countermeasures and incorporate any tactics you find effective into your regular training.”

The aqua golems were already prepared.

I had created a golem unit with clearly defined roles from their appearances—some with water stretched long to mimic spears, others with bow-shaped weapons. Seeing this, the knights and soldiers’ faces twitched slightly.

“…I hope their spirits don’t break.”

“It’s fine. Theodore is good at adjusting difficulty levels with those.”

As Rosemary murmured while hiding her mouth with a feather fan, Sheila closed her eyes and answered like that.

“That’s right. He takes it step by step.”

“Theodore-sama also gives advice.”

“That’s true. With the aerial combat gear, we too found ourselves able to use it like our own limbs before we knew it.”

At Sheila and Irmhild’s words, Ashley nodded, and Grace smiled as she chimed in agreement.

Well… against aqua golems, there’s little worry about injuries. Plus, even if the content is somewhat hard, if it leaves an impression, they won’t easily forget it. If the goal is content that becomes ingrained in a short time, I have no choice but to use this method… but as Sheila said, I’ll adjust the difficulty to some extent.

I can stay until dusk today. Today’s training curriculum is to find breakthroughs through trial and error against the tactics I use, until they can handle them. In other words, I’ll keep the difficulty at a level that can be managed in half a day.