What Could Be the Problem?

A few days later, cooperation with the transport company began, and metal materials started being delivered along the roads Nova had paved. So Ophelia and I took the Crown Guard materials we’d stacked at home to the factory, and there Ophelia started producing the improved metals she’d simulated.

And Ophelia bought another car.

“Woooo!!”

A 3.5-ton truck made for Hunter Guild use, aimed at certain users. In the back was a huge metal container-like thing I’d been thinking I should ride in someday. People also call it a box truck, and apparently the proper term is the cargo bed.

It was under the company’s name, and because it was so huge, Ophelia had driven it over from the truck-only paid parking lot on the outskirts of the city.

“Ophelia. I have one favor to ask.”

“What is it, Princess?”

“Not the one up front—”

“No.”

“Hwaaek!!”

“The cargo bed is for freight, not for people.”

“Waaah.”

Ophelia shut my plan down with lightning speed before I could even finish saying it. That had been on my bucket list, after all...!

But there were safety issues too, so in the end Minyum and Suri rode in the back cargo bed. I sat beside Ophelia up front with Doggo on my lap. It was hard to get in, so I could only board after Minyum lifted me up.

‘Why is Ophelia’s seat different from mine?’

It looked like there was another slightly smaller seat attached to it. Is this a baby seat?

“Hmm.”

“Please take your seat.”

“All right….”

The windows were tinted, so you could barely see inside from the outside. You might be able to make out the windshield a little, but since we were heading out to the outskirts of the city, it didn’t seem like we’d be photographed anywhere.

In the back cargo bed were Minyum and Suri, along with the Crown Guard products. Doggo was thrilled by the higher view and bounced around on my lap.

I did have some doubts about whether Ophelia could drive a truck, but then, she was good at everything anyway. It took about two hours to get there, and it was so comfortable I dozed off a little.

“There’s a lot more stuff now.”

“Those are the gas supplies needed to operate the facilities.”

“Ah.”

There was all sorts of stuff set up outside the factory building too, and inside there was far more than I’d expected. Apparently this was where most of the money from Ophelia’s stock profits had gone.

For starters, there were two giant cargo trucks outside the factory. They’d be used later to move materials as needed. They were much bigger than the one we rode in. Inside the factory, the hydraulic press I’d always seen on YouTube smashing jelly, bowls, and fruit had somehow appeared too.

There were also industrial automatic hammers and all sorts of other things used for metal shaping. Like I said before, Korea had a lot of smithies for Awakeners installed to match neighboring countries despite its geography not really suiting it, but now they were all on the way out, being replaced with Western-style setups.

There were so many listings for unused, dust-covered items that we’d been able to pick up a few relatively easily, including some that had been used in Nova’s forge.

Looking at it now, the building just looks like a factory, but the inside is a full-on forge.

“Grandpa!”

“Kwahaha! Welcome, Princess!!”

And the owner of that forge is Grandpa Galahad. He’s a super-powerful giant knight golem blacksmith grandpa, four meters tall and weighing several tons. Climbing onto his shoulder really showed just how tall Grandpa is—does he really walk around with this view every day?

I felt like I might accidentally step on Doggo on the floor. Of course, Doggo’s legs are short, but the little thing is absurdly nimble, so that probably wouldn’t happen.

“Ophelia, everything is ready. I read the materials you sent very carefully.”

“I’m glad they were helpful.”

The instructions for using the equipment here had been prepared by Ophelia in a clear, well-organized format and brought to Grandpa Galahad.

Thanks to that, Grandpa had become a master of this forge.

“This is the original sample. The ratio for the improved metal is here.”

“Hmm, let me have a look….”

Grandpa took a sheet of paper about A4 size between his index finger and thumb and studied it closely, then opened a container box set to one side of the factory, took out several metal ingots from inside, opened another container for a few more kinds of metal, stacked them up, brought over a giant scale for heavy items, and placed the metals on it while adjusting them here and there.

Once the weight ratios were set, he put the metals into the furnace, adjusted them to a specific temperature, then yanked them out bare-handed and poured them into molds to cool. When they were still a little red, he took them out again and hammered away.

“That’s insanely loud.”

“Princess, it may not be good for your hearing, so please use these.”

“Oh, thanks.”

After putting in the earplugs Ophelia gave me and watching again, an hour flew by before I knew it.

“This is fun.”

“Kwahaha! That’s the fun of watching it!”

“Yeah, ehehe.”

After shaping the lump of metal into a long, slender form and letting it cool completely, Grandpa Galahad flicked the metal with his fingertip—thunk!

—Wooooong....

“This is good stuff. Though there are still some points that could be improved.”

“I’ll trust Sir Galahad’s experience.”

“Good.”

This time, after examining the result and finding improvements, Grandpa made another one. Maybe because he’d already done it once, or because he simplified the process with his own knowledge, he produced a metal of the same size in just 30 minutes.

Then he fitted the metal bar we’d made earlier using Ophelia’s improved method into the fixture, and when Grandpa Galahad swung his own metal bar down to strike it—

—Thwack!!

“Hwaek.”

“There’s definitely a difference.”

“Kwahaha! You can’t ignore experience!”

Ophelia’s metal bar was split clean in half and sent bouncing into the factory wall. The reactions from Minyum, Suri, and Doggo watching from the side were great too.

—Clack!

—Beep-beep!!

—Kiiit!

Of course, they’re all going to be upgraded with the newly made metal. And Grandpa Galahad said it’d be good for him to rebuild his body using lighter metal too.

Most ordinary golem masters rely on sheer size, and since they don’t really have machinery or anything like that, they tend to use heavy metal.

That’s partly because a golem master’s mana is based on volume rather than weight, and if you tried to program a nimble, fast assassin-type golem, it would be 5 million times harder. Better to just put it up front and let it serve as a solid tank.

Grandpa Galahad used slightly heavy metal with that sort of idea too, but he’s not the kind of golem who just goes out front, gets beaten to a pulp, and that’s the end of it like ordinary golems.

This is a pretty extreme example, but apparently light metal and heavy metal can differ by as much as elevenfold for the same volume. Still, if we replaced everything, it could probably bring him down to about one-fifth of his current weight.

“Then you’d be able to ride in a car too!”

Of course, not an ordinary car—he’d probably fit in the cargo bed of a 3.5-ton truck.

Minyum and Suri will help you with the process. Until other work comes up later, you should be able to keep improving while using whatever metal you want.

“Understood! That’s reassuring!”

—Clack!

—Kiiit….

For now, Minyum’s metal replacement comes first. It still has a lot of ordinary metal mixed in, after all. After that comes Suri, who is also rare metal, but not an alloy—just one that was refined from ore and turned straight into an ingot of something usable.

As for Doggo? Might as well let it rest and make it a robot instead. Since it uses an ability that strengthens it through mana, it’s low priority. When making Ophelia, too, we used high-quality rare metal supplied by Nova.

“Minyum and Suri, do your best!! I’ll come see you tomorrow too!!”

After giving Minyum a thumbs-up and nodding at Suri, I headed home again. With Grandpa Galahad’s metal knowledge, suitable metal to strengthen Minyum and Suri should be ready in a few days.

“And Sir Galahad, please take this.”

“Hmm? This is….”

Before leaving, Ophelia handed Grandpa Galahad the Crown Guard mana propellant, metal string, and the transparent-cloak assistant fabric we hadn’t put away yet.

Grandpa stretched the string out and out, shook the mana propellant canister a few times, or held the transparent cloak up to his face and moved his line of sight around as he examined it.

“Hmm, I see.”

He was practically radiating expert vibes. So cool.

* * * * *

Right now, the Korean Dungeon Management Association is in the middle of preparing to re-evaluate the dungeon structure grade of Silence Laboratory, and who should be called as the front-line raiding team has become a hot topic.

Given the difficulty level that even Orders Guild’s main raiding team, a name-brand group, came back with nearly half dead, it’s a situation where an ordinary Hunter might go in carrying expensive measuring equipment and die on the spot.

The Dungeon Management Association does have a lot of money, but they skim a little here and there. After it gets spent in various places—mostly corruption—there’s not exactly much left.

“Malik Adeboyo. A male Hunter from South Sudan, currently ranked 9th in the world Hunter rankings. For a Hunter from the Third World, one advantage is that he’s cheaper than Hunters of a similar rank—”

“That sounds like way too much of an investment—”

“World Hunter Ranking No. 49, Hunter Nguyen Min-jung, came to Korea on a tourist trip, and there’s a record of favorable posts being uploaded to SNS afterward—”

“Bulgarian Hunter Petko Iliev recently obtained a new skill and rose to 83rd. Since it’s a relatively recent thing, there’s a strong chance this is the lowest point for him—”

“I heard Switzerland’s Sasha Miller is supposed to be so pretty—”

“Then how about Israel’s Anna Rosenthal instead—”

While the names of Hunters who cost anywhere from tens of billions to hundreds of billions just to call were being tossed around, a new opinion came from one side.

“How about looking in Korea? In the end, the grade measurement is just mana calculations up to the 5th floor, so I don’t think there’d be a problem like with Orders Guild, which went up to the 12th floor.”

“Hmm….”

“And if we can secure Nova’s cooperation a little more cheaply under the condition that we later take a slightly more favorable share of ownership, I think that might be possible.”

Another employee who’d been listening offered yet another opinion.

“Then wouldn’t it be better just to call that person….”

“Young man, say something that makes sense.”

“It would be difficult. We can’t even get in touch.”

“That’s true.”

After weighing many possibilities, the best option was ultimately to ask Nova for cooperation with the re-measurement. Even if a few secondary conditions came with it, it was the option that cost the least and benefited both sides.

* * * * *

At that moment, in Room 2302 of Building 307, H City Apartments.

‘Why isn’t it getting any taller no matter how much I stretch...? By now, shouldn’t I be in my growth spurt?’

One girl’s worries were in full swing.