After returning to the castle, I immediately headed to the workshop located on the grounds.
Calling it a workshop was a bit of a stretch; it was a makeshift structure that barely qualified as a building. Thick black smoke billowed from its chimney, and the rhythmic hammer-strikes on metal echoed from within.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, the noise became even more deafening. A dozen or so craftsmen were hammering away at metal, and the room was filled with a sweltering, stifling heat.
They were really at it. As I made my way toward the back, two young men greeted me.
"Oh, Little Roddy. You're back, are you?"
"Good work, Dian-niisan."
The man in rough clothes with his sleeves rolled up, clutching a hammer, gave me a sharp, confident smile while wiping away his sweat. This was Dian di Saloom, the Fourth Prince of this kingdom—in other words, my older brother. He was an elite blacksmith, and we had once collaborated on crafting magic swords.
"Ah, welcome back, Lloyd."
"I've returned, Albert-niisan."
The other man, a handsome blonde, was the Second Prince, Albert. Not only was he a brilliant mage, but he was also good-looking, kind-hearted, and incredibly sharp. His lack of any real flaws made him highly popular with the public, and rumors often pegged him as the front-runner for the throne.
He absolutely dotes on me. When I first mentioned that I wanted to build a golem, he had this workshop erected in no time. He had also reached out to Dian and recruited the craftsmen for the project. Currently, with the help of these two, we were in the middle of constructing the golem's exoskeleton.
"So, how did it go?"
"Excellently. Here, take a look!"
With that, I spilled the materials I had collected onto the table with a clatter. Seeing the mountain of rare components, the two of them widened their eyes in shock.
"Impressive. You did well to gather so many rare materials. The quality is superb."
"And the quantity is perfect! We can make a serious amount of synthetic metal with this! Good job, Little Roddy!"
"Thank you very much."
These materials would be melted down with metal and processed into the golem's exoskeleton. However, I still needed a massive amount more, so I would have to keep Gitan working hard.
"Still, where on earth did he get all this? These are all from monsters that aren't native to this area, and even if they were, I can't imagine Lloyd defeating them. Well, I've heard he's been showing his face at the Adventurers' Guild lately, so he must be sourcing them there. Dealing in goods of this caliber requires a high degree of trust. Heh heh, look at Lloyd, expanding his influence more every day. His brother is truly proud."
"When he suddenly called me here and said he was going to build a golem, I thought it was just a kid’s whim. But he’s thought this out way better than I expected. What a planner. Heh, I’m just happy to be crafting things with him again."
The two of them were muttering something to themselves. It didn't seem like they were suspicious of where I got the materials, so I decided it was best not to worry about it.
"By the way, Lloyd, we just finished the temporary assembly. Do you want to see?"
"Really?! I’d love to!"
"It's my masterpiece. It looks incredible, right? Try not to fall over in shock."
"I'll try!"
It was finally taking shape. Heart racing with excitement, I followed the two of them to the back of the workshop. When they pulled back the dust sheet, a giant glowing in crimson was revealed.
"Oooooh!"
It had a refined, streamlined form, a sleek face, and a dignified, glowing mono-eye. A horn sprouted from its forehead, and a long tail extended from the base of its spine. Two pillars were attached to its back, giving it an appearance exactly like a legendary Dragonewt.
It was magnificent. I couldn't help but run up to it and look it over from every angle.
"Do you like it? I actually handled the design myself," Albert-niisan said.
"You did, Albert-niisan?!"
"Yeah. I never imagined the day would come when my fine arts classes would actually prove useful. I tried to make it resemble the dragon from our national emblem, and I’m glad to see you're pleased with it."
I personally didn't have much interest in the design, so I had told them to focus on functionality and left the rest to them. It turned out much better than I had imagined. Albert-niisan really was amazing.
"Albert-nii is busy as hell, but he kept finding time to come down here and help out, you know?"
"Yes! Thank you so much, Albert-niisan!"
"Hahaha, when you look at me with such sparkling eyes, it makes all the effort I put in between my official duties worth it."
Albert-niisan gave a refreshing laugh. At this rate, we were going to end up with an incredible golem.
"Well, as you can see, things are going smoothly on this end."
"Yeah... on this end," Dian muttered.
The moment he said that, a massive BOOM! echoed through the room.
In a corner of the workshop, the thick iron door of a small room was blown clean off its hinges. Stumbling out through the billowing black smoke was a man wearing round glasses. His hair was a disheveled mess, and he had a slouching, lanky frame with an unkempt beard.
As the man hacked and coughed while waving away the smoke, Albert called out to him.
"Are you all right, Zerof?"
"Cough! Cough! Blegh! ...Ah, I am fine, Albert. Hack!"
Answering between fits of coughing was Zerof di Saloom, the Third Prince of this kingdom. He was a master of various academic fields and was particularly renowned as an alchemist. Usually, he lived like a shut-in in his own research tower, but Albert had brought him along, insisting he was essential for building the golem.
I had put Zerof in charge of creating the nucleus, the heart of the golem... however...
"It was a failure. The strength is still nowhere near enough."
At Zerof’s words—which we had heard many times before—we all looked at each other and sighed. Unfortunately, the creation of the nucleus was not going well at all. It was a constant cycle of building and exploding, building and exploding.
"Give it a rest, Zero-nii! You keep blowing things up! Think about us who have to rebuild the lab every time!"
"Fool. Do you not realize this is happening because you won't provide me with an alloy of sufficient strength? If you have time to complain, use it to forge something better."
"Wh-Wh-What?! I'm using a massive amount of alloy on my end, too! I'm sharing my stock with you, so you've got no right to complain—you should be thanking me!"
"The nucleus is the heart of the golem, the component that requires the most strength. I am troubled by your mindset of 'sharing.' You should be making it your absolute priority!"
"We don't have enough to go around as it is! I can't stand having my work blown to bits over and over again! You moron!"
"Now, now, you two, calm down," Albert-niisan said, stepping between them.
Dian and Zerof really didn't get along. But in the end, the root cause was a lack of materials.
"Zerof-niisan, which alloy are you using for the nucleus right now?"
"Katakont alloy. It is the highest standard of workable metal we have, but it lacks the strength to withstand the fusion reactor required to power a golem of this scale. It fails before it even reaches ten thousand rotations. I have explained my requirements to Dian, but..."
"And I'm telling you, there isn't an alloy in existence that can withstand that kind of output! Stop asking for the impossible!"
...I see. Essentially, we just needed to create an alloy even harder than what we had.
An alloy was a combination of multiple substances. Until now, I had just been fetching whatever materials they asked for, but I could harvest hundreds of different materials from Gitan's body. By combining those, I might be able to birth a harder alloy.
When I was making magic swords, I had researched several spells that could be used for synthesis. This was the perfect opportunity to put them to use. My heart started racing again. I decided to go try it out immediately.
"Hm? Where are you going, Lloyd?"
"Oh, there's no point in me hanging around here, so I'm going to go procure some more materials."
With that, I left the workshop. Man, I was getting excited.
"Look at him, you two. Even now, Lloyd is heading back to work to do what he can. We should follow his example, shouldn't we?"
"...Yeah, you're right, Albert-nii. Sorry, Zero-nii. I was just frustrated and lost my cool. I'm ashamed of myself."
"No, I was also far too irritable. Letting one's emotions take control is a disgrace to my standing as a scholar. I must reflect on my conduct. I look forward to your continued cooperation, Dian."
"Oh! You got it, Zero-nii!"
"Good, good. I'm so glad you two have made up. Shake hands, shake hands."
I felt like the three of them were muttering something as they looked my way, but the workshop was so noisy I couldn't hear a word. Well, as long as they finished my golem, it was all fine with me.