Using Golems

Primula brought the master carpenter from Astrantia.

She had brought him to commission the construction of my mansion. Everyone had come here in the SUV Akira was driving, but there was one more beastwoman with them.

She was the beastwoman Primula had hired, and apparently she knew Nyamena.

"She's my new bodyguard."

"Miss, of all people, why did you have to choose a woman like this...?"

"Her skills seem reliable, at least."

"I'm Kenichi Hamada, the margrave of this territory."

The beastwoman named Nyaresa walked up to me and slipped an arm around my neck.

"Nyaresa, don't be rude to Margrave-sama."

"It's all right, Primula."

Since it looked interesting, I stopped Primula. Normally, doing something like this to a noble could cost her her head, so she was quite a bold woman.

"Huh? So you're a noble? You don't seem like one at all."

"Well, I'm a beginner noble who only recently became one."

"I hear Margrave-sama likes beastfolk?"

"It's not that I particularly like them, but..."

When I stroked her chin, she began purring loudly.

Then she started rubbing her body against me. I rubbed her belly as I did with our beastfolk, and—she gazed at me dreamily before rolling over at my feet.

"Nyaaa..."

She let out an adorable cry, exposed her belly, and glanced up at my face.

"Haha, well... you're awfully cute. Do you want me to rub your belly?"

I gently stroked the soft fur on her belly.

"Purrrr..."

"Good girl, good girl."

She continued to let me pet her while purring contentedly, but—

"Nyaa... Huh?!"

She suddenly seemed to come to her senses and sprang to her feet.

"D-don't think you can do whatever you want with me just because of that!"

"Nyaresa—you were really showing him your belly."

"Yeah, nya."

The two beastfolk in our group, who were looking at her behavior in exasperation, chimed in. Just like dogs and cats in my old world, allowing someone to touch their defenseless belly was apparently a sign of submission.

"Shut up! Don't lump me in with you!"

While Nyaresa desperately tried to explain herself, Myaaree and Nyamena rubbed against me, trying to cover her scent with their own.

"Get lost, Nyaresa! Go home!"

"Yeah, nya! But now I know something."

"Know what, Blackie?"

"That any beastwoman falls for Kenichi in an instant, nya."

"Urk!"

Myaaree and Nyamena were whispering to each other with me between them, but I could hear every word.

"It's not like I intend to do that."

The beastwoman named Nyaresa hid behind Primula, flattening her ears and wagging her tail furiously.

She seemed extremely wary of me.

Even though she was the one who had hugged me first.

"Boss is ours! Just look at our fur, which he pets every day!"

"It's shiny, nya!"

They showed Nyaresa their proud fur, gleaming in the sunlight.

"Grrr..."

Among beastfolk, the luster of one's fur was apparently a major factor in establishing dominance.

I couldn't deny that petting their fur was enjoyable, but I had important work to do.

Leaving the beastfolk aside, I returned to discussing business with the master carpenter.

"Are you going to use this magic crane to load and transport the cargo?"

"That's right. And the iron summoned beast is controlled by a mage who wields Unique Magic. It can do dozens of times the work of human labor."

"Something like that iron summoned beast that brought us here?"

The master carpenter stared intently at the Pr○do and F○ighter.

"That's right."

"I was told that Lord-sama was a mage, but I never imagined you were such a great mage..."

"You must have heard of the great mage who defeated a dragon in the Empire."

"Yes..."

"That was Akira."

"W-what?!"

The master carpenter jumped in shock when he heard me and backed away.

"What Kenichi says is true. I helped him defect from the Empire at Sovana."

"Good heavens, I never realized that gentleman was such an incredible person..."

"Haha, he's just an ordinary old man on the inside, though."

"Woohoo!"

While Akira swung the crane around for fun, I discussed things with the master carpenter.

For now, we decided to cut down trees and clear a space where we could assemble about ten of the kit log houses.

"Primula, the jacket you ordered is finished too? It suits you very well."

"Thank you very much."

I was a little concerned by how formal Primula was being, but as the lord, she was probably deliberately acting that way in front of everyone.

"I also brought Anemone's robe."

She handed me a blue robe.

"Oh, thank you. Then let's get to work right away. Hey, Anemone!"

I called to Anemone, who was playing nearby, and asked her to help us.

"What are we doing?"

"I want you to make a golem."

"Got it."

"Here, your robe is ready too."

"Yay!"

When she put on the robe, the gold-thread embroidery on the vivid blue fabric glittered brilliantly.

Lilith looked displeased when she saw it.

"What about me? Do I not have one?"

"It was made with the Cave Spider thread I sold in the royal capital. I don't think there's any left."

"But I am your principal wife!"

The blue fabric had been ordered before she came here, though...

I searched Shangri-La and found velvet cloth for sale. I had never seen cloth like it in this world.

Could I use it to make her feel better?

"Click."

I bought a somewhat dark red velvet cloth that cost about 3,000 yen.

"Oh! This is splendid cloth! But I want blue too."

At Lilith's request, I bought some blue cloth as well. Shangri-La had many color variations in the same series.

"This one! I want this color!"

Lilith seemed pleased with it too.

"Go to the tailor in Astrantia with Primula and have whatever clothes you like made."

"Will you not come with me, Kenichi?"

"I have work to do. I need to make this place livable as soon as possible."

"That is true. I suppose I shall be patient until then."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! I am your principal wife!"

I asked Amaranthus, who was nearby, as well, but—

"I am the Holy Knight-sama's slave. I have no need for luxurious clothes or dresses."

"..."

I almost told her that she should stop being a slave already, but I held my tongue. I could practically see her refusing and rolling around on the ground while purring.

I went to the place where we would assemble the log houses for work. Everyone trailed behind me.

The location was beside the fields where the maids were working. The platform for the tree house I had built was nearby.

"Kenichi, is that a tree house?"

Akira stopped playing with the crane and followed us too.

"Yeah. If we put one of the assembled houses there, it will instantly become a tree house."

"Whoa! It's a secret base! Can I come play there too?"

"Sure, but once we have more houses, we'll have to dismantle it, so you might want to come sooner rather than later."

"Okay!"

I had no idea how many people would gather here, but there was no harm in waiting until the place became cramped before dismantling the tree house.

"Kenichi, are you going to cut down these trees with the summoned beast's greatsword?"

Lilith went to a large tree and began patting its trunk.

"If I cut it down, the roots will remain, and then I'll have to use the summoned beast again. So there's something else I want to try."

"Then what will you do?"

"I'll use Anemone's golem to knock the tree down."

"A golem?"

According to Amaranthus, who had come along with us, there were cases where golems were used that way.

"But it cannot be called a particularly efficient method."

I had no idea what method Amaranthus was referring to, but it had to be different from what I had in mind.

Normally, activating a golem required permission from the kingdom, but a margrave was also granted that authority.

That was because golems were often necessary for developing frontier territories—but...

That was also why margraves were said to possess stronger authority than other nobles.

"What are you planning to do, Boss?" "Nya?"

"You'll see. Just watch us work our magic."

The beastfolk tilted their heads at Akira's words.

While everyone looked on suspiciously, we began working.

I took the core of a giant golem from my Item Box and placed it on the ground.

If we couldn't obtain the golem's material directly from the ground, we would have to dig it up with heavy machinery.

"Anemone, you don't need to make it humanoid. Try making it into a rod about as tall as the tree."

"Got it—mmph!"

When she concentrated her mind, blue light gathered and seeped into the ground.

What on earth would happen?

At any rate, I had to try everything.

The ground gradually cracked and became uneven, and soil began gathering around the core.

The mound of soil grew larger and larger, extending straight upward.

Because it was being compacted by magic, its movements completely ignored the laws of physics.

"Anemone, use that golem to push as high up on the tree as you can."

"..."

She had entered a sort of trance through her concentration and did not reply, but it seemed that my instructions had reached her.

Arms extended sideways from the cylindrical golem, and it began pushing against the upper part of the great tree.

The tree gradually tilted, and its roots began bursting out of the ground.

Once it had tilted far enough, the tree toppled over, shaking the ground.

"Ohhh!"

"This is incredible... So this is a golem."

The master carpenter muttered as the soil that had made up the golem collapsed into a mound.

Since that had worked so well, perhaps we could use golem magic to till the soil too.

"Phew."

"Anemone, you did a great job!"

I hugged her and patted her.

"Hehe..."

Primula came over to where I was holding Anemone.

"Kenichi, it looked as though that tree fell remarkably easily..."

To explain, I took a stake from my Item Box and lightly drove it into the ground.

"If you kick the base of a stake driven into the ground, it won't budge. But if you push the top—"

The soil rose along with the buried portion, and the stake toppled over.

"I see. The principle of leverage."

Amaranthus took a folding fan from her Item Box and opened it.

"This method saves us the trouble of digging out the roots. Later, I can use my summoned beast to chop through them."

The master carpenter was utterly astonished by the power of Anemone's golem.

"This is incredible... Kenichi-sama, a tree this large would normally take dozens of people several days to deal with. And yet a single child..."

"I'm not a child!"

"That's our great mage."

"I beg your pardon. Please forgive me."

He could never have imagined that the child beside me used magic, much less that she was a great mage.

The master carpenter bowed his head.

But setting that aside—

If we could use the golem, we should be able to process about ten trees a day while handling other work as well.

If we cut down too many, the carpenters would be unable to keep up.

In the past, I had done everything myself, but—

Now that this was my territory, I had to create as much work as possible, employ people, and keep the economy moving.

I had Anemone knock down the next tree while I began turning the great trees into logs with the greatsword attached to Ko○tsu-san.

When I brought out the heavy machinery, I saw Kanan running toward us in a tracksuit and straw hat.

She had an unusually serious, determined expression on her face, as though she had made up her mind about something.

"Huh? Kanan-sama?"

The master carpenter was surprised. Apparently, he knew Kanan.

He had probably not built the viscount's residence himself, but they seemed to have had business dealings.

There were all sorts of jobs, such as repair work and additions.

"Kenichi!"

Kanan came over to me as I was about to climb into Ko○tsu-san.

"What is it, Kanan? I'm about to start working, so it's dangerous. Stay back."

"I heard from the maids! I'm the only woman here whom you haven't slept with, Kenichi!"

So that was what this was about after all... Having so many women around was difficult.

"Well, yes, but..."

"Whoa, Kenichi! You're quite the man! You even stole a viscount's wife! You divine homewrecker!"

Akira gave me a ridiculous nickname and burst into hearty laughter.

"I didn't steal anyone's wife. The Eupatorium Viscount took a new principal wife, so I took Kanan in. It was what she wanted too."

"What kind of amazing woman would drive out such a beautiful principal wife?"

"She's like this—"

I used both arms to imitate the figure of the new principal wife.

"Oh, so that's your type."

"Something like that."

The two middle-aged men nodded at each other while Kanan clung to me in tears.

"Kenichi! Please! Do you really dislike me that much?"

"I wouldn't take in someone I disliked."

"Then there is no problem!"

She clung to me, and when I tried to pull her away, she refused to let go.

"Oh, all right, all right. Didn't you say you didn't want that sort of thing?"

"Yes... I did say that, but... as a woman, it is rather frustrating..."

She was fidgeting shyly, which was cute, but she was a former wife and getting on in years...

Primula and Anemone's gazes were painful, but there was nothing I could do.

Lilith apparently believed that the duty of royalty and nobility was to have one principal wife and numerous secondary wives, keep mistresses around, and take maids by force, so she said nothing.

Amaranthus merely glanced over and did not seem interested.

Besides, even if I slept with Kanan, that was something for nighttime.

For now, I had to deal with the work in front of me.

I had Anemone knock down trees with her golem, then turned them into logs with the greatsword attached to my heavy machinery.

Amaranthus handled the rough trimming of the branches, while the carpenters took care of the finer work.

The severed roots could be split up for kindling.

Before long, we had ten logs ready.

"Haha... I really can't believe this."

The master carpenter was dumbfounded by the speed of our work.

Amaranthus was trimming the branches this time, but it would be better to leave that to hired workers as well and create more jobs.

Likewise, we could create jobs by leaving the work of filling the holes left by the fallen trees to other people.

Of course, my heavy machinery could finish it in no time, but that would not benefit the people.

We needed to put money into public works, let the people spend it, and create a ripple effect that would benefit everyone else as well.

In my old world, I had been an old man who barely even voted, and now I had to govern a territory...

Still, I had Julius, the herald who was an expert in this world's politics, and Amaranthus, who had effectively been the head of a nation.

I could leave the troublesome matters to them.

The Marlowe Trading Company and Primula could handle the territory's finances too.

"I'll cut down about ten more tomorrow. If you need a lot more, I can do that too."

"No, no. We couldn't process them fast enough."

"Then we'll decide while watching how things go."

I discussed our future plans with him.

As luck would have it, there was a river here. They planned to install a waterwheel and use it to power a circular-saw machine.

Of course, if I bought machine tools from Shangri-La, they would obviously be more advanced—but...

I couldn't let the residents of this world use such advanced technology.

Once I finished talking with the master carpenter, Akira came over.

"Kenichi, I forgot something!"

"What is it?"

"I was looking after the viscount's wife's luggage."

I had Akira take Kanan's luggage out of his Item Box.

It had been loaded onto two large wooden boards, so I stored the whole thing in my Item Box.

There was nowhere else to put it at the moment.

"Then I'll return to Astrantia, arrange for a sawmill to be built, and secure workers to assemble the houses requested by Lord-sama."

It was incredibly convenient that Primula was the daughter of a major merchant.

For the Marlowe Trading Company, being able to invest in the development of a new territory from the ground up was a chance to make a fortune.

On top of that, there were countless ways to profit by using Akira's and my cheat abilities.

"I see. Please take care of it."

The master carpenter returned to Astrantia in the truck fitted with a Yu○ick that Akira was driving, but—

Before he left, I had Akira produce some oil. We needed it to make biodiesel fuel.

There was no reason not to use something we could obtain in large quantities for free. In exchange, I lent him SUVs and other vehicles for free.

I bought four open-top oil drums from Shangri-La and had him fill them with mayonnaise.

"Mayo Power! And separate!"

When Akira used Mayo Power, the drums were instantly filled with yellow mayonnaise.

It was an unbelievable sight worthy of a cheat power. He could separate the mayonnaise further into oil and sediment, filling the drums with brown vegetable oil.

Seeing this made it obvious that mayonnaise consisted mostly of oil.

Unlike my Shangri-La, his power required no payment and produced an almost limitless supply—he was literally a walking oil field.

His ability was every bit as powerful as mine.

The Pr○do I had lent Akira was stored in his Item Box and used as transportation when he needed to go somewhere.

His Item Box did not have much capacity, so he could not put large pieces of lumber inside it.

Whenever we needed to transport large quantities of bulky cargo, we inevitably needed a truck.

It was work I had done entirely myself before, but now that I was a lord, I had to learn to make use of other people.

Every member of my family had told me that.

In my old world, I had worked alone as an illustrator, so changing the way I lived at my age was quite difficult.

I felt myself growing timid inside, but I had to work hard for my family and for the people who might come to live in my territory.

I also asked Akira to deliver the letter Julius had written to the Marlowe Trading Company as an errand.

Through the Marlowe Trading Company, letters from the Hamada Margraviate would be delivered to the nobles of the Kadan Kingdom.

Primula also had work left to do, so she returned to Astrantia.

I was leaving the negotiations with the carpenters to her as well.

Three people rode in the truck's cab, while Nyaresa, the beastwoman serving as their bodyguard, rode in the cargo bed.

"See you later, Kenichi."

"Yeah. I'm counting on you."

After seeing Akira and Primula off, it was already evening. Since the day's work was done, it was time for dinner.

Everyone had requested curry, and I wanted curry too, so that was what we made.

There were a lot of us, so everyone helped prepare the ingredients, and the soup was ready in no time after simmering in the pressure cooker.

Adding curry roux to it produced delicious curry in an instant. Japanese technology really was impressive.

Curry was popular with men and women of all ages in my old world and could practically be called the national dish, but would it be too much to say that it might become a national dish in this world too?

The curry was ready, but I personally wanted katsu curry, so I fried some cutlets.

The meat was, of course, Lesser Dragon meat.

It had been highly praised when we ate it before, so it was only natural to expect the same combination to work well with this curry.

Once the katsu curry was ready, we set it out on the table and began eating together.

"Boss, fried food with curry?"

Myaaree immediately combined a cutlet with curry and brought it to her mouth.

"Yummy! This is really yummy!"

She sounded a little like someone from Nagoya, though...

"Delicious!"

"Whoa! This is incredible! It's too delicious!"

Anemone and Lilith were shoveling curry into their mouths with great enthusiasm.

"This is... exquisite. It is a flavor one could never taste at the castle."

"So this is the curry I've heard rumors about! Just how many kinds of spices are combined to create it...?"

Amaranthus savored it calmly, while Julius was astonished by the curry's flavor.

"Sanbak-san reproduced the same thing, so I think you'll eventually be able to eat it at the castle too..."

Besides, Sanbak had used freshly prepared spices, so his curry's aroma had been even more vivid.

"Let us hope that Sanbak passed the secret on to his subordinates."

"But that ability to understand the ingredients after taking just one bite isn't something he can really teach other people."

"Indeed."

Amaranthus cut into Lilith and my conversation.

"The tasteless lot at the castle can graze on the grass around here."

Amaranthus was grumbling while drinking milk, but even Nyamena, who loved liquor, did not drink alcohol with curry.

There was no alcohol that went well with it.

"Th-this is delicious! Munch, munch."

Kanan was the one eating curry in a tracksuit.

She seemed to have taken a liking to the tracksuit.

"Kanan, are you sure you want to wear that?"

"It is wonderfully easy to move in, and I no longer have to put on airs."

She seemed to have grown tired of noble life and high society, but it might only be temporary, so I decided to let Kanan do as she pleased.

Once our delicious curry dinner was over, I decided to fulfill my promise to Kanan—

I took her with me and walked through the darkness toward the tree house.