Chapter 136
“Bow your heads.”
ㅡWhirrr...
“Lift your heads!”
ㅡWhirrr...
“Mwahaha.”
“Princess? What are you doing?”
“Ah, eek, uh, ugh...”
I was so fascinated by how the toilet lid automatically lifted and lowered when I crossed the bathroom threshold that I got caught staring at it by Ophelia.
“I was just... about to pee...”
“I see.”
I almost made a new embarrassing memory, but I managed to get through it somehow. Anyway, the toilet here is automatic too—what an amazing house. After seeing the bathroom, I really felt like rich people live like this.
For now, Bradamante would head back too, and today I should hurry and get to sleep. She'd said there'd be a lot to do on the weekend.
“Princess, today I will assist you with your bath.”
“Eh? I can handle it by myself now, though...?”
I'd been doing fine on my own, so I wondered why she was suddenly offering to help, but the bathroom layout had changed completely, and without Ophelia's help I wouldn't know where anything was.
“O-Ophelia's coming into the tub too..?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Oh my gosh.”
* * * * *
“Ugh...”
I slept kind of well last night, and kind of badly too. I woke up a little early and my body feels slightly heavy, but since this is my second move, it isn't nearly as rough as the first night after the first move.
ㅡBeeeeep....
“Doggo, wake up. If you sleep in, I won't feed you.”
ㅡBeep-beep!!
“Whoa. You're waking up super fast.”
Lying sprawled out on the bed, the doggo heard me mention food, sprang up with a boing, and flipped itself 180 degrees. It eats dog food every day, so is it really that tasty? Amazing.
“Come on, let's hurry. Show me where the bathroom is.”
ㅡBeep....
I had the floor plan of the house Ophelia gave me programmed into the doggo, so with Doggo Navigation I wouldn't get lost and could get around just fine. Once I lived here a few days and got used to it, I could probably get around on my own too.
ㅡBrush-brush, bubble-bubble
ㅡDing
Ptoo.
After brushing my teeth for exactly three minutes, right on Doggo's super-precise timer, I headed to the first floor. Something smelled delicious from the stairs—maybe sweet toast baking or something.
“Ophelia?”
“Princess, are you awake?”
“Yep. What's for breakfast this morning?”
“I prepared French toast and bacon for a simple breakfast.”
“Ooooh.”
“And here is today's schedule.”
“Eeeh..!”
Eating breakfast while looking over today's schedule? Doesn't that feel totally like some big conglomerate chairman? And this house is ridiculously huge, so I feel like I've become something amazing.
“Hmm-hmm, I see.”
Honestly, I still don't understand the schedule even after looking at it. Beside me, Doggo is scarfing down top-grade feed. I should eat too.
Nom nom nom.
* * * * *
“Whoa, our factory got so much bigger.”
“Kwahaha! Now this is starting to feel like work.”
“Wow, this is seriously awesome.”
We rode a box truck up to the mountain smithy factory.
Grandpa Galahad's smithy had grown to nearly three times its original size. What used to be one factory building had become three, and all sorts of new facilities had been added inside. Everything had been test-run and installed perfectly, but right now it was all sitting idle.
“Huh? Why?”
“Well... because we're short-handed!”
“Oh! Should I help a little?!”
“Hmm... Then I just need you to make golems!”
“Wahh.”
Honestly, I expected that. There were too many dangerous machines here, so if I wandered around, a huge accident was guaranteed.
“Whoa...!! Automatic hammers! Hydraulic presses!”
There was even a rolling mill, which takes metal between two spinning wheels and stretches it into long, thin sheets. There was also a machine that rolls those paper-thin sheets up like toilet paper.
“House fairies! How've you been?!”
ㅡMoo!
ㅡMoooo!!
“Heheh. I'll make you some juniors!!”
This time, I'm making a full twenty house fairies. And besides the house fairies, I also have to make about five assistant blacksmiths, so that means twenty-five new ones in a day.
If that means twenty-five soldier golems, five maids... and another twenty-five here...
Oh my god. At this rate, we might really hit 100 soon.
“O-Ophelia. Let's not count the house fairies, okay..?”
“I can't do that.”
“Wahh.”
Yeah, if I was going to get scolded, better to get it over with. If we were going to reach 100 anyway, maybe it was better to just do it quickly. While the house fairies busied themselves hauling out materials for the blacksmith golems and house-fairy golems, Bradamante arrived too.
“Oh, Bradamante! What brings you here?”
“Hehe.... I came to see the princess!”
“Hehe. Suri's been doing well too, right?”
ㅡKiiit....
ㅡBeep-beep!!
“Yeah, yeah! Your face looks totally great!”
Maybe because she was back with her original owner, Suri looked much better than before. Even when I stroked her beak, she stayed still, so it wasn't that she disliked me—it was just that she had been depressed because Bradamante was gone.
Doggo was also climbing onto Suri's back, greeting her too.
“Hmph, what a cute little thing.”
While Suri and Bradamante were greeting each other, the house fairies were hard at work hauling materials. It wasn't actually that much material... well, the house fairies are tiny, so they can't carry a lot at once. Still, with twenty sets, the number was pretty large.
If all of this got made, I'd be doing my power-up dance again....
“Sigh... Answer the princess's call! Assistant blacksmiths and house fairies ㅡ !!!!!”
ㅡWooooong!
The now-familiar blue glow of magic. The tiny house fairy golems popped into existence first in rapid little flashes, and then the blacksmith golems were born one after another.
“Whoa! That's a lot!”
“Kwahaha! Good to have you here, you little rascals!”
ㅡClack!!
ㅡMoooo!!!
Grandpa Galahad looked happy to have new underlings and went around smacking each one's back with his huge palm. Even though they were metal golems, they still wobbled, which showed just how strong the old man was.
The blacksmith assistant golems had physiques similar to ordinary soldier golems, so they should be able to handle slightly more complex work. The house fairy golems would be assigned simpler tasks, but with thirty of them in total, the work should speed up tremendously.
“Sir Galahad, this way.”
“Hm? Oh, okay.... Got it.”
“Can you meet the required quota by the deadline?”
“There’s nothing I can’t do! Of course I can!”
“That's a relief.”
It felt like a conversation between some ultra-elite secretary and the biggest boss on site. Meanwhile, the tiny house fairy golems were in the middle of training the junior house fairies.
ㅡMoo! Bloop bloop bloop!!
ㅡMoooo.... Moo!!
ㅡMoo..?”
“Heheh. So cute.”
Grandpa Galahad immediately took the new blacksmith-assistant soldiers with him and taught them on the spot—this one does that, you do this, you do that—while the house fairy golems also marched into the smithy in perfect order and got to work.
Watching thirty house fairy golems lined up neatly and carrying materials out was both incredibly cool and, because they were so tiny, cute too.
ㅡMoo!!
“Ooh! Nice job!!”
There was one with a star-shaped pattern on its chest; I guess that one was the head house fairy. What the golems had brought was...
“Huh, these materials are..?!”
ㅡClatter, clatter....
A variety of complicated materials were layered together, and a total of five sets of materials were laid out in front of me. There was quite a lot of it, and more than anything, that thing looked familiar from somewhere.
“This is an engine, right?”
“That's right. These materials are for the cavalry that will serve under Bradamante.”
“Whoa!”
So that was why cavalry needed so many materials. And behind it was even a magic-combustion liquid propellant that almost perfectly imitated Crown Guard's product. I thought today was just supposed to be making a few house fairies and blacksmith golems....
“Because I thought Bradamante would need soldiers of her own too, I prepared a little early.”
“So that's why Bradamante came here..!”
“That's second priority! First priority is definitely meeting the princess, right?”
“Hehe, Bradamante is the best.”
Now Bradamante had subordinates too. Honestly, cavalry does take a lot of materials, but they're strong and useful too, right? If we had about five more, our combat power would go up a lot more.
“So these guys will go into gates and operate there too?”
“Yes, in peacetime. They'll also be used when defending open gates that appear in the city.”
“I see..!”
So that was why we came all the way by truck. It would probably take quite a while to move these guys around.
“A-alright! I'll give it a try!”
It takes about three times as much material as the soldier golems below. They're mostly used to make gryphons that are similar to Suri but a little different, and at this level they're really something incredible. If they don't all put out A+ combat strength, it'd be a problem.
“Let's do the soldiers first.”
“Th-then I'll do it?!”
“Yes, take your time.”
“Princess, you can do it..!”
I stretched my hand straight forward and shouted toward the five sets of materials.
“Royal cavalry of loyal service! Answer the princess's call ㅡ !!!”
ㅡWhoooooosh
Paaaat ㅡ !!!!
“Oooo..!!”
The soldiers that appeared, unlike the ones under her command, were holding spears. They definitely looked a little different from the sword-wielding ones.
ㅡClack!
“Good to have you, cavalry! Are you ready to fight hard for the princess?!”
ㅡClack clack!!!
“Princess is amazing~!”
“Heheh....”
Maybe because Bradamante was standing right there? They were totally disciplined, holding their spears at a perfect 45-degree angle.
“Then now for the gryphons..!”
ㅡKiiit....
“Hehe. Suri, I'll make subordinates for you too!”
Next were five gryphons, which needed larger pieces of metal, mana stones, plus an engine and liquid fuel.
As expected, the expensive part of cavalry was this side. The magic needed to make them took about 1.5 times as much as the cavalry themselves, and they were huge too.
“Ooooh..!”
ㅡKrrrk....
But the gryphons felt smaller than Suri? So Suri was the really massive one. Well, it makes sense—she's the cavalry captain's mount, so she has to be the strongest of the mounts.
The largest Suri slowly circled around the cavalry, as if keeping the troops in line and saying, 'Let's see whether these guys can handle themselves.' Every time Suri drew near, the gryphons flinched.
“Suri! Why are you scaring the new guys like that!”
ㅡKiiit..?”
“You need to get along, got it?!”
ㅡKiiit....
It seemed to accept that, but Suri's eyes were still sharp. So that's how she keeps the kids in line. Even with her owner right there, she's still the same prickly, sensitive boss, huh.
“Bradamante has a unit now too!”
“Yes! It's all thanks to the princess!”
There still weren't many of them, but according to Ophelia, the cavalry's numbers were much smaller than the soldier golems. Apparently that's because they were an expensive troop type.
“Bradamante, let's return to your unit with your soldiers. How's the construction of the new barracks going?”
“Ah, yes! Everyone's working hard, so I think it'll be finished soon.”
“I see.”
“Oh, so Bradamante gets to sleep in a new building too?”
“Yes! That's thanks to the princess too!”
“Hehe, I didn't really do much...”
Yeah, to be honest, the living conditions had been way too harsh. If I'd been told to stay in a container building like that when I was a soldier, I'd have deserted right away.
After giving the blacksmith golems a proper handover, Grandpa Galahad came outside, saw that the five cavalry had been made, and nodded.
“Ooh! As expected of the princess, this is turning out great.”
“Hehe, Grandpa Galahad, don't you need any subordinates? I mean, other than blacksmith assistants?”
“Hmm, maybe I'll need them later! But for now, I'd like to put a little more effort into this work.”
“I seeee.”
Actually, Grandpa Galahad is an armored infantry commander, not a blacksmith. Of course, right now he's the only one who knows metallurgy, so it can't be helped, but later, once we have enough blacksmiths that Grandpa can rest, we'll have to let him return to his main job of fighting.
Come to think of it... isn't Grandpa already pretty old? Am I making him work too much?
But looking at Grandpa's body, he's definitely no weakling. I think I'd be weaker than a 500-year-old Grandpa Galahad. If Grandpa Galahad farted, he might blow me away.