"However, Your Majesty, while this area seems to have settled, I suspect there are still golems running amok within the rest of the Royal Castle. The unrest will not truly cease until they have been purged."
The speaker was Chancellor Galueri.
"Hmm, you are quite right. In that case, I shall leave the subsequent command to you and the Minister of Defense."
"By your command."
Chancellor Galueri bowed, then turned to Judle, the Minister of Defense, whose broken arm was bound in a painful-looking splint.
"Judle, injured or not, you are this nation's Minister of Defense. I assume you are up to the task?"
"Naturally," he replied, standing up.
Kelly, the captain of the Royal Ritter Corps, signaled to his subordinates. "You four, go with them as escorts."
He assigned four of the relatively lightly injured knights to serve as guards.
"Schwarzritter, you go as well," Reinhard added. "Return to me once you have seen them to their destination."
"Jawohl."
Reinhard had sent Schwarzritter along just to be safe.
"Now then, where did that arm go..."
While Reiko stood guard over him, Jin was scouring the floor for Lotte's missing components.
"Ah, there it is."
He recovered the missing right arm. It had been severed into two pieces: the forearm and the upper arm.
"The fingers might be a lost cause, though."
Giving up on the smaller bits, he searched for fragments of high-quality bronze golems and gathered them to use as substitutes.
"Alright, Lotte, lie down here."
"Yes, Father."
Since there was no proper workbench, Jin lined up several undamaged tables and had Lotte lie across them.
"Stand Still."
He temporarily deactivated her and began reattaching the right arm.
Lotte possessed a steel endoskeleton layered with magical muscles, all protected by a bronze exterior. Because her magical muscles were so severely damaged, he could only perform enough repairs to restore basic functionality.
"Whoa, so that’s how she’s built."
Prince Ernest peered over Jin’s shoulder, looking impressed.
"Are you interested in golem construction, Your Highness?" Jin asked.
"Yeah, I am! Once I'm a little older, I'm going to build a golem of my own!" the prince replied with innocent enthusiasm.
Jin used Craft Magic to smooth out the dents and scratches on her surface. Since the mana in her mana tank was running low, he topped that off as well.
With that, the emergency repairs were complete. She was still missing a few fingers, but there was nothing more he could do for the moment.
"Jin, is this Lotte’s finger?"
Beena arrived, having found a small bronze part that looked like one of the golem's digits.
"Y-You are..."
"?"
Upon seeing Beena, Prince Ernest was struck speechless and froze in place.
"Your Highness?"
When Jin called out to him, wondering what was wrong, the prince suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Beena's hand.
"You! What's your name?"
"I-It's Beena."
Confused and taken aback, Beena gave her name regardless. While still clutching her hand, the prince continued.
"Beena! That’s a wonderful name! Tell me, Beena—won't you become my wife?"
"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!"
He had suddenly blurted out something truly outrageous.
"I took a liking to you the moment I saw you! And you look just like Lotte!"
Perhaps it was the "bridge effect"—having developed a deep affection for Lotte after she protected him during the crisis, the prince had apparently fallen in love at first sight with Beena, her model.
That said, he was only thirteen, and it was anyone's guess how much he truly understood the weight of his proposal.
"You cannot, Your Highness!"
Someone cut in between them. It was none other than Count Kuzuma.
"I am the one who intends to propose to Beena!"
"Eh...?"
"Ah..."
Beena, standing right there, heard the Count's declaration, which he had shouted in the heat of the moment.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"
Turning a deep shade of crimson, she turned and bolted. She didn't leave the hall, however; she simply fled to the far side where Elsa was treating the wounded.
"..."
"......"
"............"
The prince, the Count, and Jin were left standing in a rather awkward silence.
"E-Er, anyway... Ah, this is Lotte's middle finger."
Jin spoke up with forced loudness, focusing on repairing Lotte using the part Beena had found.
＊ ＊ ＊
While the atmosphere in the hall remained bizarre, the cleanup operation was beginning throughout the rest of the Royal Palace.
"Right, preparations are complete."
These were the prize royal ritter golems belonging to Judle, the Minister of Defense. They had survived the pulse because they were normally kept in storage with their magi-devices removed and neutralized.
Kelichdore, the Minister of Magic, inspected the units before reactivating them.
Five royal ritter golems stood at attention.
"Listen well. You are to destroy any golems that do not obey our commands. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir."
The five royal ritter golems, clutching shields in their left hands and swords in their right, marched out of the Ministry of Defense's basement.
"That's the first step taken care of."
"Now for the next."
They proceeded to activate ten emergency utility golems. These were versatile units, given orders to gather and protect the injured within the castle. Finally, they activated ten reserve security golems to patrol the palace grounds.
Just then, the sound of wings flapping caught Judle's attention. He looked out the window to see a bird that looked like a pigeon flying against the backdrop of the twilight sky.
"A pigeon, eh? I envy it."
Muttering to himself, Minister Judle cleared his head and resumed his discussion with Minister Kelichdore.
As it turned out, the range of the Master-Slave Rewrite Magic attack had not encompassed the entire castle. It appeared to have been a localized pulse centered on the Great Hall. The golems on the second and third floors of the Royal Palace were completely unharmed.
Consequently, the Queen, the First Prince, and the Second Prince were all safe.
"We can estimate that the range of this 'Master-Slave Rewrite Magic' is roughly a twenty to thirty-meter radius, with the effect being most potent within ten meters."
Kelichdore deduced the effective range based on the behavior of the rogue golems and recorded the data to serve as a basis for future countermeasures.
＊ ＊ ＊
The remaining thirty or so rogue golems were no match for the royal ritter golems and were swiftly neutralized.
By the time night fell, the rampaging units had been wiped out, the wounded had received treatment, and order had been restored within the castle.
Guests from the garden party with serious injuries were sent to the infirmary, while those with minor wounds returned to their assigned quarters after being bandaged.
As for the destroyed golems, the castle officials decided that any usable magi-devices would be salvaged before the remains were broken down into raw materials for reuse. The surviving magi craftmen were asked to assist with this process.
＊ ＊ ＊
"It is only because of your efforts that we were able to keep the casualties to a minimum. You have my deepest gratitude."
In his private office, Harold Luain Autocraice, the King of Egerea, expressed his thanks to Jin and Reinhard.
"Jin, in particular, I cannot thank you enough. It was Lotte, the golem you built, who saved both me and my son."
The King looked at Jin with a solemn expression.
"Ordinarily, I would wish to grant you a title of nobility and appoint you as a royal magi craftman. However, I understand it has already been decided that you are traveling to the Shouro Empire. It is a pity, but I will not stand in your way."
It was true that Jin was "going" there. The King had simply filled in the blanks with his own interpretation. Jin breathed a quiet sigh of relief and felt a surge of gratitude toward Reinhard for providing the excuse.
"However," the King continued.
"I would very much like for you to teach us a method to defend against that Master-Slave Rewrite Magic. I do not ask for this for free, of course. Tell me what you desire. I shall grant it to the best of my ability."
Faced with the King's offer, Jin began to ponder what he should ask for in return.