Chapter 12
“At last!”
“It’s over!”
“Woohoo!”
Everyone in the territory, young and old alike, cheered as they looked at the Snow Wyrm’s shell and chunks of meat piled up like a mountain.
Ten days had passed since the day I had held hands with Heter all day as punishment.
At last, we had finished processing the second Snow Wyrm we had defeated.
“Whew, that was really hard.”
“Yeah. I thought we’d gotten fairly used to dismantling them, but this one was enormous.”
“I’m going to rest at home for a while.”
“I’m going to drink all night~!”
While the territory’s people discussed their plans for afterward, I let out a sigh of relief as I looked at the processed byproducts.
‘At least that’s a relief.’
If the processing had been delayed for even a few more days, the first creature’s meat might have spoiled despite the North’s cold, dry climate.
“Now all that remains is to sell it.”
“That’s right.”
“But… how do you intend to sell this much?”
Standing beside me, he spoke in a worried tone.
“I haven’t stayed in Fortune territory for very long, but I doubt many large-scale merchants come here.”
“That’s a fair point.”
Heter’s concern was perfectly reasonable.
How unfortunate would it be if the byproducts we had worked so hard to obtain ended up rotting away?
He had watched the territory’s people struggle firsthand, so he must have known how hard it was.
“For that much, wouldn’t we need three horses… no, four?”
“Heh.”
I smiled as if to reassure him and beckoned for him to follow me.
“It seems you have some way of dealing with it.”
He followed obediently, and we arrived at a large shed behind the mansion.
“…Ah, don’t tell me one of the inventions you made is stored here because it would be useful in this situation?”
It was a fairly plausible guess, but he was only half right.
“It’s not as though I never thought about making such an invention.”
There were things I could make as soon as I built an engine, such as a truck or a forklift.
However.
‘If I already have something like this, why would I need to invent one?’
Creeeak.
“What is this?!”
The rusty hinges let out a shrill squeal, and Heter’s eyes lit up when he saw what was inside the shed.
“Isn’t this Iron Heart, the fourth model of the golems made by Gain Frode?!”
As the name suggested, the thing inside the shed was an iron doll shaped much like a human.
"Is that… so?“
I was startled that Heter had suddenly even named its creator.
‘This golem was made by some guy named Gain?’
I had expected him to be surprised, but I hadn’t expected him to gush over it while bringing up the creator’s name.
“To see a model that belongs in a museum in person….”
“I heard it was a golem my grandfather purchased when grape farming was flourishing and wine was being produced on a large scale.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, its waist seems to be connected to a cart.”
As Heter had said, the golem’s waist was connected to a carriage, making it resemble the silhouette of a centaur.
“What do you think? If we use this fellow, wouldn’t it be able to transport even that much byproduct?”
“Iron Heart has excellent output for something made so long ago. And, judging by its name, it must be quite sturdy as well.”
‘Whoa.’
Heter had become just as talkative as when he had given me his impressions after seeing me with makeup on.
“You seem quite interested in golems.”
“Yes, I’ve liked them since I was young. May I examine it up close?”
“By all means.”
After receiving permission, Heter inspected the golem in a state of heightened excitement unusual for him.
“There should be a manufacturing date somewhere around here….”
‘He looks like he’s having fun.’
I suddenly thought of a junior from the army who had been obsessed with cars.
‘Whenever he went out on leave and saw a foreign car on the road, he would rattle off what model it was without anyone even asking.’
Since the original novel was a romance fantasy, golems had never been described in much detail, but perhaps golems served a role similar to cars here.
‘Oh, in that case, would golem racing be worth trying?’
Hmm… Once I had money and people showed interest, it might be worth considering at least once.
“Let’s see… Good heavens. It was made more than eighty years ago. Incredible. But….”
Before I knew it, Heter had climbed onto the golem’s shoulder and turned his head toward me.
“How has a golem like this survived? Given the territory’s current circumstances, I would have assumed it was sold off first.”
As if I hadn’t thought of that myself.
“It’s not that I didn’t sell it. I couldn’t sell it.”
“Pardon?”
After my mages and craftsmen were taken away and I suddenly needed money, the first thing I had done was try to dispose of this golem.
“But when I went to sell it, they said that although it had rarity value, it was far too old.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Even if I sold it, the money wouldn’t have covered the cost of the magic stones needed to operate it, so I had brought it back to the mansion and left it in the shed.
There was plenty of space in the mansion anyway, and I had kept it in case something unexpected happened.
‘But I never expected something like this to actually happen.’
Good job, past me. I’m proud of you.
“Would you… let me make some repairs to the golem?”
“You, Sir Heter?”
I was startled when I heard him.
After all, liking cars didn’t mean someone could repair one themselves.
Besides, golems were magical tools in the broad sense, meaning they were things mages made and maintained.
Heter wanted to work on one of those?
‘That’s impossible.’
What if he touched it and something went wrong?
“You look as though you don’t trust me.”
When I tried to reject his proposal, he gave a bitter smile.
“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t true.”
“But please don’t worry. I’ve worked on golems a few times in the past. Besides, it has been a long time since this one was operated, so shouldn’t it be inspected?”
“You’ve worked on golems before?”
Heter nodded.
‘It doesn’t seem like he’s lying….’
Where had this man come from, and what had he done to be able to work on golems despite not being a mage?
Come to think of it, I had gotten so used to it that I’d forgotten, but even the name I called him by, Heter, was an alias.
“Hmm….”
He was a knight of the territory, after all, and I felt I should ask about his past someday.
“Would it… not be all right?”
Heter approached me, wearing a wistful expression.
Apparently, he thought I was hesitating over whether to entrust the golem to him.
‘Well… there’s no reason for him to lie about something like this.’
Besides, wouldn’t Heter take responsibility if something went wrong?
“Well, all right. Then I’ll leave it to you.”
In the end, I decided to entrust the golem to him.
“Thank you!”
“The tools for maintaining the golem should be in this shed, so feel free to use them. But you only have until tomorrow.”
We needed to sell it as quickly as possible, before the meat spoiled.
“One day will be enough.”
“Good.”
I left Heter in the shed and returned to the mansion.
‘By the way, what sort of family did he really come from?’
After washing up and lying in bed, I tried to imagine what Heter’s past had been like.
‘He must come from a wealthy family—he was unbelievably strong for his age, and had the money to work on golems despite not being a mage.’
Huh? Why was I assuming he even came from a family?
Because I couldn’t help thinking that way.
His table manners were refined, and every one of his actions followed noble etiquette.
‘But he came from such a family and is wandering around as a knight under an assumed name?’
What on earth happened to him?
“I just… don’t know….”
As I thought about it, my eyelids eventually grew heavy, and I fell asleep. The next day.
“It’s finished.”
“Wow….”
The golem Heter had worked on had been cleaned so thoroughly that it would have been fair to call it brand-new.
“It seems to have been used for a long time, but it wasn’t handled roughly. I don’t think there will be any problems with its operation.”
‘Was it originally that color?!’
To be honest, I was less impressed by its operation than by Heter’s cleaning skills, which had transformed that discolored, dust-covered golem into this.
“Good heavens, this is remarkable, Sir Heter. It’s enough to remind me of the first time I saw this golem.”
Sir Gold, who had decided to travel with us this time, was also impressed when he saw the golem.
“That treatment brings out the characteristic matte surface of an iron golem… You seem quite interested in golems.”
“Are you interested in them too, Sir Gold?”
“Ha ha ha, I doubt there’s a man alive who isn’t interested in golems.”
‘Is it really that universal?’
Although I had been a man in my previous life, I wondered whether something like that was really worth getting so excited about.
“All right! Enough chatting—let’s get moving!”
When the two men began talking about golems, Ruby, carrying a luggage bag, squeezed between them and climbed into the carriage.
“You look excited.”
“Of course. We’re going somewhere near the village, but this is my first time going outside the village.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, that made sense.
When I had gone to another territory in the past, I had had servants other than her with me.
“So I’m really excited! Mugwort! They say it’s the largest city in the North, too, right? You’ve been there before, my lady, so you must know it well, don’t you?”
“Ha ha….”
I knew it very well.
Mugwort was also the North’s only commercial city.
It was also where I would be forcibly married if I failed to repay my debts.
***
The largest mansion in Mugwort.
In a huge room filled with all kinds of expensive objects—golden clocks, silver candlesticks, and stuffed magical beasts—a portly middle-aged man muttered,
“You said Fortune’s golem was coming here?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Hmm….”
The man was the lord of the commercial city of Mugwort and the head of House Fridel.
Belphegor Fridel rested his chin on one hand and pondered.
“She wouldn’t be coming to see me. She must be coming to sell the Snow Wyrm’s byproducts, right?”
“That seems likely.”
Belphegor and the kneeling man had reached the same conclusion.
They had already heard several days ago that a Snow Wyrm had appeared in Fortune territory and that it had been defeated.
“Tch. This is a problem.”
Belphegor clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow.
It wasn’t a problem because Alice was selling the byproducts.
Even if she managed to sell them, the amount would be less than a tenth of the debt she owed.
The problem was that she had obtained some initial capital.
Since Belphegor intended to take Alice as his concubine, he knew how exceptional she was, not only in appearance but also in her inner qualities.
“Alice will certainly be able to make that small amount grow considerably.”
“What should I do?”
A man with a long vertical scar beside one eye raised his head and looked at Belphegor as he asked.
“I don’t like it.”
“Understood.”
As Belphegor’s trusted retainer and a knight of House Fridel, he could understand his master’s intentions without needing them explained in detail.
“I’ll go.”
“Yes. But don’t cause her any direct harm.”
Belphegor’s eyes narrowed, and he smiled unpleasantly.
“Once winter ends, you’ll be serving her as well.”
“I know.”
When the knight rose and left the room, he encountered a young man in the hallway.
“Young master.”
“Were you on your way back from seeing my father?”
“Yes.”
There was no trace anywhere of the young man who had once been called House Fridel’s wastrel; he had grown into a fine nobleman.
“The guards said a golem is coming from Fortune territory.”
“…Yes.”
“Don’t lay a hand on her.”
The young man glared at the knight as he warned him.
“I only follow the head of the household’s orders.”
Leaving only those words behind, the knight walked past the young man.
“Phew….”
In the empty hallway, the young man let out a long sigh and took out a locket.
Click.
When he pressed the button on the locket, its cover opened, revealing a small photograph.
It was a photograph of himself and Alice standing side by side as children.
『Father! I want to be engaged to Alice!』
‘Alice.’
He disliked his father’s actions.
Alice Fortune.
She was his first love, a love that had lasted ten years, and the person he had loved unrequitedly all that time.