Chapter 583 – Strategy Meeting and Golem

With Alfred and Prince Helfried having arrived at the guesthouse, we continued our discussions further.

We considered what moves the enemy might make based on how we would approach capturing Termwills ourselves.

What if the enemy’s hidden trump card overturned our current assumptions about their estimated available forces?

The biggest question was whether the Miasma Orbs sent to us were the main threat, or if it was something related to the key in Beriondora.

“If they could create monsters in Beriondora’s castle and have them attack the city in groups, I don’t think that would be their main objective,” I said.

Sheila tilted her head slightly at my words. “So you mean it would be a diversion to create confusion?”

“Right. If their goal is the revival of their leader, I don’t think an attack on Termwills would be their primary focus.”

Even if they launched an all-out assault on the surface, I believed it would be aimed at creating chaos and dispersing our forces. If they could deploy a massive army suddenly, they would have done so during the assault on the Spirit Hall’s Orb.

“They’ve been teleporting elite forces deep into the labyrinth until now,” Rosemary said, resting her chin on her hand thoughtfully. “The demon Theo first fought… was it Linette? Probably based on her research and technology.”

Claudia responded to this. “If they’re teleporting inside while bypassing the labyrinth’s principles, I could detect that… but we can’t assume it will be the same as before. It would be careless to think they have no means of deceiving my detection abilities.”

“That might be possible too. That’s why I thought of sending Golems into the labyrinth.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to me when I said this.

“We’ll create Golems that have communication methods for the communication devices. Since Golems originally have no will of their own, if we equip them with the bracelets Claudia used in the labyrinth village to help villagers avoid monster attacks…”

“They’ll be treated the same as the labyrinth monsters. As long as they don’t initiate attacks, they won’t be targeted by the various Guardians. Except for the Last Guardian, of course.”

“So we create Golems that can contact only us in case of emergency,” Claudia said, closing her eyes, while Ashley nodded in admiration.

Exactly. Even if there’s an intrusion, we can respond using Teleportation Magic.

“In that case… the placement locations would be around the Royal Castle, Moon Temple, Spirit Hall, and Moonlight Temple, I suppose.”

“Right. In this case, we won’t add unnecessary functions to the Golems. Specializing in minimal functions is sufficient.”

I nodded at Grace’s words and looked toward Alfred.

“That’s right. Theo-kun will be making the Golems themselves, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble just incorporating what’s necessary. I think we can make them quickly, including the wide-range loudspeaker Magic Tool proposed by Her Majesty Eldorene.”

Alfred answered as if to say “leave it to me.”

“With Seraphina-chan’s cooperation, we can quickly make Magic Stones suitable for such purposes too.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Seraphina answered energetically when Valentina smiled at her.

Our departure for Beriondora is imminent, but since we don’t need to make them too multifunctional, and I’ve studied various aspects of Golem creation, I should be able to make about seven of them without taking too much time, applying existing technology.

“So we can handle even an all-out war. Well then… the remaining problem would be those Miasma Orbs,” said King Melvin, crossing his arms.

…The Miasma Orbs.

Those are involved with the leader’s seal. If they’re aiming for the leader’s revival, they’re absolutely necessary for them too.

If they’re willing to hand them over to us, they probably don’t mind if they’re destroyed, or we should assume they have a Mechanism to locate them even if hidden, or to neutralize that too… we’ve discussed this before.

“We’ve considered several possibilities regarding how they might be used… but turning them around as bait to lure the enemy might be an option too.”

“Like us launching a diversion ourselves?” Irmhild asked, tilting her head.

“Right. Even if they think it doesn’t matter whether they’re in our hands or the demons’ hands, they’ll definitely come when they try to use them.”

If there’s a time when they try to use them, that would be the day of the seal’s release. If we’re going to do something about the Miasma Orbs, we need to determine the critical moment.

“There’s no doubt they sent the Miasma Orbs to us to use for something later if they couldn’t steal the Orb… If the enemy’s current state is their secondary plan, then even if the enemy recovers them, it would just return to the original situation, and things wouldn’t get worse than now. Though there’s also the possibility it’s a trap… I think our position is better,” King Melvin said.

Right. We don’t know if the Miasma Orbs are Trojan horses or time bombs, but having them at our base isn’t ideal. If destruction carries the risk of the leader’s revival, moving boldly enough to return them to the enemy might be one approach.

After that, it’s just a matter of investigating the situation in Beriondora, determining whether our established theories are correct or mistaken, and making adjustments according to the situation.

And so, the discussions at the Royal Castle concluded—we would spend our time making preparations to the last possible minute and considering countermeasures.

Even at the dinner table at Baron Silun’s house after the meeting, topics like what Kennel would do, what Donato would do, what Beryne would do, how the previous Baron Silun would act, and so on kept coming up. Well, I suppose this was a meaningful way to spend time in its own right.

Until the day of departure, the Demon-Slaying Knight Order trained for aerial combat at the shipyard. Weltes and Eckels haven’t had their Aerial Combat Gear for long, but since moving while floating is originally their specialty, they’ve been improving much faster than everyone else and are good at grasping the essentials, so they’re recognized by all as reliable members.

As for us, while participating in training at the shipyard, we also used the workshop facilities inside the Sirius to make Golems.

“So this is the new Golem. Hmm,” said Old Sigmund, who came to the deck, carefully examining the completed Scout Golem.

“Well, its appearance ended up rather plain.”

“No, no. Considering it’s for scouting, that’s an advantage.”

We incorporated the control medals of the Pumpkin Head—the gardener of the Star Sphere Garden—and the Snow Golem from the Glacial Forest to enhance its performance, but it’s fundamentally designed for scouting.

Its appearance is small and unobtrusive, basically resembling a stone or clump of earth.

We put considerable effort into various disguises, so if it folds its knees and stays still, it just looks like a natural stone or earth clump… plain, but not bad at all, I’d say.

The base is made of metal but with subdued luster, with a large head and small body. Upon closer inspection, there are parts corresponding to eyes, and if necessary, it can extend its limbs and move around nimbly. Seraphina’s recent favorite is riding on this to get around.

“It’s quite cute when it’s round like this after removing its armor,” Princess Stephania said, picking up the Scout Golem that had been scurrying around at her feet. Ah. Yeah. Princess Stephania seems oddly fond of the Scout Golem too.

Inside, it incorporates a bracelet made by Claudia, identical to what the labyrinth village residents equip, plus a Magic Tool with the same structure as the communication device. If it detects intruders in its section, it sends a report to us.

Similarly, if the Golem becomes non-functional, a warning message is automatically sent through the incorporated Contract Magic. This part applies technology used in communication devices.

As Princess Stephania mentioned, since it’s just wearing stone or earth armor created with Earth Magic, it can stick to and blend in with ceilings, walls, floors, etc., using Earth Magic, camouflaging and monitoring from various places and angles without standing out.

Its excellence in visual and auditory senses comes from feedback from the technology used to create Belius’s vessel.

That medal is quite versatile when it comes to Golems, allowing various descriptions of Control Formulas.

“Well, I ended up making a few extra.”

Initially planned for seven, we ended up with ten in total. Once the first one is made, it’s just mass production using the same Spell Formula.

“Alfred suggested we might be able to use them for investigating Beriondora too.”

Rosemary shrugged her shoulders while laughing behind her feather fan. Ah. Yeah. Alfred is currently adjusting the tenth one.

We intend to use the three extra Golems beyond the initial plan for investigating Beriondora, as Alfred proposed. For these three, we plan to remove the bracelets, enhance judgment capabilities a bit more, and make further modifications during travel.

“Are the experiments finished?”

“Yes. We’ve already conducted experiments at the Spirit Hall and Royal Castle. How about the loudspeaker installation?”

“Hmm. That’s been completed without issues too.”

While having such a conversation with Old Sigmund, Alfred and Marlene came up to the deck.

“Whew. Worked hard.”

Alfred stretched both arms high above his head, loosening up as if he’d finished a task. The round object Marlene held was the Scout Golem before donning armor.

When Marlene placed the Scout Golem on the deck, it scurried a bit, created earth armor, went to the edge of the deck, and then stopped moving completely.

Somehow, it basically tries to move without drawing attention. When I called it to come over, the earth clump slid across the deck toward me.

I picked it up and spoke to Alfred.

“Good work, Al.”

“Thanks. Would it be okay if I slept a bit in the cabin?”

“Of course. I’d rather you rest properly.”

“Understood. But if the adjustments failed, wake me up.”

Right. In that case, I’ll let him get proper sleep before waking him. I watched Alfred’s back as he headed into the Sirius.

Well then. I suppose we’ve done everything we can before departure. I heard that reinforcements from Baharzard and Silvatoria by ship would arrive within the next day or two.

There’s still time before the seal release day, but they need time to recover from travel fatigue, get accustomed to Termwills’s climate, and train for coordination…

Anyway, we’ll probably depart after meeting with them.