Chapter 92
After getting a bit of treatment from Ophelia for my wrist injury, I decided to just sit quietly and rest.
“Wow.... You’re really good at shooting!”
“Ahaha, really? I think I’m pretty average.”
I greeted the archer unnie I’d met last time at the ranged hunter training grounds, and now I was watching her train.
She shoots arrows brilliantly even from incredibly far away, and every single one hits the target, so it’s amazing. Bows don’t have recoil, so maybe I could shoot well too?
“Se-yeon unnie, can I try drawing the bow once too?”
“Hm? You want to? Give it a try?”
“Yep.”
Se-yeon unnie is a B-rank archer, so her strength stat can’t be absurdly high, right? Her arms look so thin, but she pulls the bow back like a rubber band, making it look effortless.
But the moment I actually took the bow, I felt something was wrong.
“I-is this really supposed to be this heavy..?”
“Hm? Haha, this is already pretty lightweight.”
“Eep....”
I thought there’d be some kind of pulley on the ends of the bow, and that it’d be the kind of mechanical setup that could be drawn really easily. But it was incredibly heavy, and even when I pulled at the string, it wouldn’t budge at all.
I gave up after hitting a wall right away.
“What were your strength stats, Eve?”
“Ah, me? For some reason, my body hasn’t changed at all....”
There had been a change. But it wasn’t an increase in strength or anything like that; if anything, my strength had actually dropped a lot.
“Really..? That’s so interesting. So you can’t fight?”
“My golem friends do it for me instead. They should be training over at the close-combat training grounds, I think?”
“Golems train? Why?”
“Um....”
Right, how am I supposed to explain this? Summoners usually tame monsters and fight alongside them, so on this side it’s not combat training but training to make them obey.
Since golems have to be built from scratch, it’s not training so much as painstakingly refining something like code, but these days technology has advanced enough that they even make them learn things, and coding refinement is still the main training for golemists.
“My golems are a little special.... I just made them, and they move on their own really well.”
“Wow, that’s so amazing. Then do you have a golem that shoots arrows too?”
“Hmm, I think I could make one if I wanted to..?”
Since Ophelia brought back an alloy string for the bow, I think I’ll probably end up making an archer golem later. For now, Ophelia says it isn’t time yet, so I haven’t made one. But making one itself should still be possible now.
ㅡThwoong!!
With a heavy sound, the arrow launched from the bowstring smashed four or five targets in an instant as it surged forward. They say she’s top-tier even among B-ranks, but at this level, isn’t she practically A-rank?
“Eve, do you want your big sister to show you something cool?”
“Something cool? What is it?”
“Watch closely.”
Se-yeon unnie drew the bowstring all the way back, aimed at the sky, and shot an arrow upward.
“Ooooh.”
“Pfft, I haven’t even started yet?”
“Ah.”
After that, she nocked one more arrow onto the bowstring and started aiming forward this time. Before long, an arrow came dropping down from the sky with an enormous whooshing sound, and she hit it with the second arrow she’d shot, shattering it.
“W-Whoa!!!”
“How is it? Cool, right?”
“It’s amazing!! That’s awesome!!”
Can she even calculate the trajectory of the arrow she just shot upward? If a B-rank can do this, just how strong are A-rank or S-rank archers? Come to think of it, Maxi said she’s an archer-type awakened ability user for now, so can Maxi do this too?
“Aww, you’re cute.”
I got the top of my head thoroughly rubbed by Se-yeon unnie’s surprise head-rubbing attack.
ㅡZzzt..!
“Eek..?!“
“E-Eve? What’s wrong?”
“Uuuh... what was that just now..?”
“Did you get static electricity? I didn’t feel anything.”
“I guess..? Was that static?”
Maybe because it’s winter and the air is dry, I got shocked with electricity in the middle of being patted. My scalp tingled, but anyway.
“Princess?”
“Ah, Ophelia. Is it time to go now?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. See you later, unnie!”
“Yep~ Be careful on your way, Eve!”
“Yeees.”
* * * * *
Unfortunately, because of my strength issue, the briefcase aim-core device was difficult to carry around for long periods, so it went in for modification. Ophelia made it from lightweight material, but it’s still a little awkward to carry in one hand, and besides, anything gets annoying and uncomfortable if you lug it around for too long.
“Woooow..!”
“I kept the functions intact so it can protect the princess in an emergency, but I changed only the basic shape.”
But would there ever really be an emergency where I’d be in danger? If things got truly dangerous, I feel like I’d call Minyum or Suri instead of using it myself. These days, the summoning skill is stronger too, so they come rushing out really fast.
“Guys, what do you think?! Does it suit me?!”
ㅡClack!
ㅡKiiit
ㅡBeep beep..!!
“Heehee. Right?”
Since it’s made by Ophelia, it got a unanimous pass. Putting on a school bag all of a sudden also makes it feel like I’m really going to school. Come to think of it, if I’m going to school, shouldn’t I also have to buy a ton of stationery and stuff?
“Ophelia, wouldn’t I need writing tools or something like that? Pencils or mechanical pencils?”
“Nowadays, most consumable writing tools have been replaced by electronic devices. It would likely be more convenient for you to use Daengdaengi.”
“Ah, I see.”
Apparently, most students at Seoul Aegis also use tablets, touch pens, and the like. Our Daengdaengi even has a super-advanced translation function, and if necessary it automatically finds whatever information you want, so it’s basically an endgame-tier electronic school supply.
When I was competing in a problem challenge with the kids I met at the playground last time, it even made up the questions and told me the answers. Thinking about that, maybe one Daengdaengi is enough?
But somehow, it feels a little lacking in that old-school stationery-store vibe. When I was a student, there were kids who bragged about pretty notebooks or super-expensive mechanical pencils, and things like going to the stationery store had their own charm.
Hmm, suddenly I’m starting to look forward to school.
Honestly, I didn’t study much when I was a student, but I still graduated high school, so I’ll probably be first in class too, right?? And as a hunter, I’m an A-rank. Excluding the S-ranks who are in a class of their own, I’m practically at the top, so that’s top-tier too.
And I’m polite too, so I’m definitely honor-student material. No one can stop me.
This might be a little boastful, but I’ve even taken photos with Chaerin unnie, Maxi, and Utaha unnie. I’ve got over a million SNS followers too, so what on earth could you beat me with?
I’d instantly become the envy of every elementary school kid, and the kind of person even sixth-graders couldn’t casually mess with.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes! I love it! Thank you, Ophelia!”
“I’m glad.”
“But what is this?”
The bag has a dark navy tint overall, and there’s some kind of... out-of-place? yellow button attached to it. I asked Ophelia what it was, and she said it was an anti-theft buzzer.
“If pressed, the form will instantly change, a loud noise will sound, and a signal will go out to me, Minyum, and the other golems.”
“Wooooow.... I see.”
It’s the kind of button that’s best left unpressed, but still, there’s nothing wrong with being careful about safety.
* * * * *
The bag wasn’t something I needed to take to school right away, so I set it down and was lying on my bed looking up what elementary schools teach these days when Ophelia came into my room saying she had something to tell me.
“Princess, do you have a moment?”
“Ah, Ophelia. Is something wrong?”
“Now that we’ve secured a distribution route for the metals needed for alloy production, golem manufacturing has become possible. In addition, with supply lines for various mechanical parts now arranged, we’re in a situation where we need to secure a laboratory on a larger site.”
“Eek, so does that mean we’ll need a ton of money..?”
“There is no problem financially. There are several laboratory candidates that meet our standards, and I am currently considering them.”
“Hee, I see.”
“So, I have one favor to ask of you, Princess.”
“A favor?? What is it??”
Ophelia took out a tablet and handed it to me, and inside there was a whole bunch of black text on a white background. It looked like a contract, and there was even Ophelia’s seal stamped on it and everything.
“What is this?”
“It is a cooperation contract with a company in Nova’s defense industry. After spending enough time on it, we’ve managed to draw up favorable terms, but it seems Nova wants a demonstration of the princess’s abilities.”
“Hmm.... So they want to see what I can do once?”
“That is correct.”
Nova does have a company that makes hunter equipment, but when it was established, things got a little complicated, so the results are somewhat lacking.
Hunter equipment is broadly divided into two branches. One is equipment made by combining rare metals from dungeons with modern technology through factories and cutting-edge facilities.
Weapons and equipment with a mechanical feel, like Crown Guard, Iron Spear, and Quantum Harbor, make up the mainstream.
And the other kind is equipment made by people who have awakened the “blacksmith” class, by directly hammering out things like teeth from a tough monster corpse, or magical cores obtained from dungeons, instead of metal.
Because of the material characteristics and the influence of a hunter’s awakened ability, it’s impossible to mass-produce weapons with the exact same performance. Generally speaking, they perform better than the former, and they’re insanely expensive, and they’re a bit cooler too.
In Japan and China, the latter is more common, while in Britain and the United States, the former is more common. Korea followed neighboring countries and went with the latter option, but due to geographical circumstances it never really developed properly.
Because material supply means, first and foremost, monsters have to appear often, or there have to be high-value dungeons so loot drops come out periodically.
Korea is stuck playing on a small patch of land split in half, so the total number of dungeons and the number of open-type/entry-type gates is low.
And above all, the population is small, so there aren’t many high-rank blacksmiths either. I guess you could say they went down a path that didn’t suit them, anyway.
“Nova’s technology is fairly impressive, so if we can get technical cooperation, it could be a great help. That’s why we went ahead with the contract while accepting a bit of a loss. But the biggest part of that loss is the princess’s technology demonstration.”
“Is it really that big of a loss? Isn’t it just me going there and showing them how I make a golem?”
“Exposing our full capabilities is not a very good option. Of course, if they can become a long-term collaboration partner, that would be a different matter.”
“Hmm....”
So they’re really planning to start making super-strong golems in earnest. If that’s the case, then there’s nothing to be done.
“Okay! Let’s go!”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, but then are we going to have our own company now?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Oh.... What’s the name?”
“It is written at the top of the contract screen.”
Ophelia said, pointing at the tablet she had handed me.
“Eve Project....”
That’s my name.