Chapter 315 – Golem of the Port

–The next morning dawned. First, I escorted Auria, Justia, and Dominique to the Adventurer Guild, then immediately headed to the Royal Castle with everyone.

“Oh, you’ve arrived, Theodore.”

“Good morning, Your Majesty Melvin.”

I continued by greeting Princess Stephania and Princess Adriana as well.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Yes, good morning.”

“Good morning, Ambassador.”

“Hmm. Well then, shall we proceed?”

When we appeared at the Royal Castle, King Melvin with his escort was waiting for us. Today we were scheduled to board the airship and head to the airspace above the western district’s harbor.

The plan was to go inspect the potential site for building a shipyard and airport.

“Good morning, Dame Mildred.”

“Ambassador.”

Since the Knight Order Commander Mildred was also present, I took the opportunity during greetings to briefly mention updates about Lazaro’s greatsword.

“Please wait a little longer regarding the matter of the Blazing Fortress. It seems the greatsword’s repair will take a bit more time.”

According to Alfred, it was apparently made from quite a unique metal.

Rather than just reconnecting the broken part, they were currently reforging the entire blade. The blacksmith Viola said that since Alfred could access the Royal Castle’s archives, they could easily obtain valuable manufacturing techniques as information, which was helpful… but there didn’t seem to be any issues with the repair itself.

Alfred also mentioned he was preparing a full set of aerial combat equipment for when he meets Lazaro. I suppose when we go to the Blazing Fortress next time, we’ll be giving Lazaro the aerial combat equipment.

“Thank you. There’s no particular hurry on my part, so please don’t worry about it. Please convey that to the blacksmith as well.”

“Understood.”

After finishing communications with Mildred, we boarded the airship and departed for the western district. Those accompanying us were just our Party members – King Melvin, Princess Stephania, and Princess Adriana, along with their knight escorts, and then Alfred, Elliot, Old Sigmund, Valentina, and Charlotte, who would likely be deeply involved with the airport.

“My, my. An airship. And to think this isn’t even its final form yet – quite astonishing.”

King Melvin, standing on the deck, voiced his impressions of riding an airship for the first time. His expression seemed somewhat amused.

“Since it has many blind spots, if we can resolve those issues, it might make a good transport ship. If we choose its purpose carefully, we won’t need to use special materials, and manufacturing could be done cheaply.”

“Having different final forms depending on the application. Hmm. That makes sense.”

Old Sigmund grasped the helm and touched the crystal ball beside him, causing the ship to begin ascending.

After crossing over the castle walls at a leisurely pace, it turned toward the western district and began moving forward.

“Training facilities for the newly established unit… might not be a bad idea either. Since it’s an anti-demon unit, it would be better not to reveal too much about their training methods.”

So said King Melvin. Probably part of information control.

“Having them as attached facilities might be good too. That is, if we have enough land.”

“No need to worry about that. All the land around Termwills falls under the royal family’s jurisdiction, so if necessary, we can simply expand the facilities from the outer edges further outward.”

“I see…”

This kind of flexibility feels characteristic of the royal family. Well, for me, having flexibility is certainly welcome.

While we were talking, the airship arrived near the western district’s harbor, so we immediately examined the terrain from above.

“You can really see it well from up here. The breakwater forms a circle extending from the outer wall. So that means the barrier covers an area slightly outside of that, I suppose?”

Rosemary looked down at the harbor from the deck and spoke.

We created a scaled model of the entire Termwills area, albeit a simple one, to get a rough idea of how far the barrier extended.

“What will happen with the barrier?”

Grace tilted her head.

“Ah. I think it will be similar to the hot spring district. When we completed the outer wall, the hot spring area became covered by Termwills’ barrier too… So if we cover something to separate it from the outside world, it should function.”

If we build facilities at the outer edge and create an outer wall… that area should also be recognized as “inside” through the spell formula and incorporated into the barrier.

“This area here – seems usable.”

I pointed to part of the model and a corner of the actual landscape. Everyone compared the model with the actual terrain. Near the barrier’s outer edge, there was a rocky hill-like terrain that protruded slightly toward the sea, though not enough to be called a cape.

At first glance, it didn’t look like flat land, and the pointed terrain gave the impression of being difficult to use. To utilize this kind of terrain, you’d normally build a lighthouse at the tip, I suppose. However, in Termwills’ case, Theoreme Castle is visible from quite far out at sea, functioning as a lighthouse substitute, so there was no need for one.

“Hmm. What are you planning to do?”

King Melvin seemed to be enjoying himself, making various predictions about what I was thinking.

“I’m considering carving out this small cape and modifying it into a shipyard and harbor. If we carve out the surrounding terrain to create flat land, we can reuse the entire area as building materials without particularly securing construction materials, which would save us the trouble of preparation and such.”

I remade the model focusing only on the rocky hill area, preserving only the sea-facing part from around the slope connecting to the rocky hill as a breakwater, while carving out most of the terrain to remake it into flat land.

The plan is to modify the inside of the breakwater into a shipyard and airport, hollowing out the interior using the former rocky hill terrain and fashioning it into a fortress-like building.

Then, using the leftover soil and sand, we’ll build a high wall covering the facility and connect that wall to Termwills’ outer wall. The top of the wall could serve as a connecting passageway.

The final form would be… a new fortress-like facility facing the sea.

“Well, this is…”

“Only you could do this, Teacher…”

When I finished explaining, everyone wore expressions of astonishment. King Melvin eventually nodded with admiration and said:

“Interesting. Since the hot spring district was created in the eastern district, having new facilities on the opposite diagonal would create symmetry, which would be just right.”

I see. I hadn’t really considered that aspect.

“If I can get permission, I’d like to start construction immediately.”

“That’s even more interesting…. It would be quite a sight to see Howard and the others’ faces when it’s completed.”

King Melvin seemed to ponder for a moment, then raised his head. A mischievous grin appeared on his face, as if he’d thought of a prank.

“Hmm. I shall grant permission in my name.”

“Thank you very much. Then, I’ll be going for a bit. Since it will be large-scale magic construction, if confusion seems likely to arise due to the work–“

“In that case, I’ll dispatch knights to explain that there are no problems.”

“Thank you.”

In that case, I don’t need to hold back. Everyone can literally have a grandstand view.

“Alright, I’ll be going for a bit.”

“Do you need magic potions or vitality recovery magic?”

Ashley asked.

“That’s right. I’ll take breaks along the way, so I’ll ask for them then.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll be making large golems, right? Please be careful not to get injured.”

So said Claudia.

“Yeah. It’s large-scale, so I’ll be careful.”

Taking Seraphina, Caduceus, and Balor with me, I flew from the airship’s deck. When I glanced back, I saw Marlene waving cheerfully toward us. When I waved back, everyone else also smiled and waved in return.

Alright. Let’s do this.

First, I headed to the airspace above the target location. I had Caduceus take crow form and, together with Balor, check that there were no people in the vicinity. I’ll have Caduceus and Balor continue watching the surroundings from above. I’ll be moving a large number of golems, and it would be dangerous if anyone approached during construction.

“Alright… Then, shall we begin?”

“Mm-hmm!”

As if taking Seraphina’s response as a signal, I deployed a magic circle. Using earth magic, I created two, then three Huge Golems, and while using the model as reference, began roughly carving out the terrain.

Since the Huge Golems would be in the way for now, after creating them, I moved them to locations where they wouldn’t obstruct. If I have them wait in a seated position slightly away from the main road… well, that should somewhat reduce their intimidating presence, and no one would likely approach. I released control of the moved Huge Golems, returning them to the same state as ordinary rocks. This was unprecedented large-scale magic construction. I strengthened my power through magical power circulation, psyching myself up to maintain control.

While imagining the sea-facing tip becoming a breakwater and the Termwills side becoming flat land, I proceeded with leveling. The wide sea between the cape and Termwills – that area is scheduled to become the airport.

Preserving the rocky hill to be modified into a building, I continuously carved out the terrain, sending the material to the golem storage area and releasing control, repeating this process.

Once I’d carved out something roughly close to the final form, I used earth magic to reinforce the structure of the sea-facing breakwater side. Following that, I leveled the part that would become flat land. I’ll have golems pave this with stone later. As for the rocky hill remaining on the flat land – I can process it into a building at the end.

Hmm… I feel like my magical power has increased considerably compared to when I first came to Termwills. Even though I’m creating quite a number of Huge Golems, I still feel like I have room to spare.

Part of it is due to continuing labyrinth exploration… but it might also be because I’ve defeated several high-ranking demons both inside and outside the labyrinth.

Unlike during combat, I can refine as much magical power as I want to my heart’s content.

I don’t want to overexert myself with the construction, and if I take several breaks, I should be able to proceed with room to spare. Well… I think I might be able to complete everything by the end of today.