To rewind a little bit—back to the moment after Paerova and Jin had parted ways.
Paerova, accompanied by Jed Alamold and Hope, made his way toward the meeting room.
"Good grief. We have only just arrived, and already we are kept busy."
"It only shows how wary they are of you, Your Excellency."
The two men and the golem soon reached their destination.
"Regional Administrator Paerova Sondvik, reporting as ordered."
"I am glad you could come."
The one who spoke was the current sovereign of the Principality, Mikhailinov Hangazone Mercana. He was Paerova’s younger cousin.
Surrounding him were ten councilors. This was the group commonly known as the Council of Ten.
"Ho. Is that the new golem?"
The man who spoke was the de facto leader of the Council of Ten, a bald and somewhat obese man named Pegin Vorontov.
"No. While it is certainly a new model, it is merely a prototype. Due to a shortage of materials, we could only bring it to this level of completion."
"Hmph. There is no need for such modesty."
"Pegin, let us begin the meeting."
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
Even if he lacked real power, the sovereign’s words could not be ignored.
From there, they moved on to the scheduled agenda. Information was exchanged regarding tax revenues from various towns, agricultural yields, population fluctuations, and the condition of the highways.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Everything seems to be proceeding more or less smoothly. In that case, let us move to the final item on the agenda. Tell us of this 'new technology,' Paerova Sondvik."
"Yes, Sire."
Paerova distributed the documents he had prepared.
"Oh?"
"This is a small vessel equipped with a mechanism called an 'Air Jet.' It is capable of traveling against the flow of the Noshina River. We have already confirmed successful travel between Sogyon Village and Rireazu Village."
"Ho..."
The councilors all seemed intrigued.
"When traveling upstream, it is slower than a carriage, but it can navigate downstream at twice the speed. I believe it is perfectly suited for transporting taxes from the villages upriver."
"Indeed."
"By loading lightweight, high-value goods for the upstream journey, redundancy in our logistics can be reduced."
"That is quite true."
"Furthermore, we have an automobile equipped with a Golem Engine. Due to budget and material constraints, the body was adapted from an existing carriage..."
"Umu, well done. Paerova, I assume you have brought the technician who developed these?"
"Yes. They were developed by a team of three, but the central figure is a magi named Jin."
"Ho... He must possess considerable skill."
"Yes. I believe he is the best on the continent."
Pegin Vorontov was the one to react to those words.
"...To claim someone is the best on the continent for merely making two or three new magi-devices... It makes my sides ache from laughing."
"...What did you say?"
In truth, these two did not get along. If anything, they were openly antagonistic.
"Ah, my apologies. I suppose it cannot be helped that your perspective has narrowed, staying in a provincial city like Rofon."
"Narrowed!?"
"Indeed. The world is vast; there are many excellent technicians out there."
"Even here in the royal capital?"
"Naturally....Someone like Groma Tray, for instance!"
"Groma Tray?"
"Your Majesty, Groma has constructed a unique golem of his own!"
"Hmph. Our Jin could do something like that easily."
Pegin glanced at Hope, who was standing behind them, and scoffed.
"Heh. You mean a technician who can only build such a frail-looking golem?"
"Now, Pegin..."
The sovereign tried to restrain him, but Pegin Vorontov turned a deaf ear. The other members of the Council of Ten merely watched the exchange with smirks on their faces.
"Very well. If you are that confident, let us have them perform a sham fight."
Without even seeing what kind of golem Groma Tray had built, Paerova had thrown down the gauntlet.
"That is exactly what I desire."
Whether out of supreme confidence or something else, Pegin Vorontov gave a magnanimous nod.
＊ ＊ ＊
"...And that is how it turned into a sham fight."
"...I see."
Jin, who had seen the scene from the second-floor window, had rushed down the stairs to the site of the mock battle. There, Jed Alamold had found him and explained the circumstances.
The soldiers, starved for entertainment, were delighted by the spectacle. As an opening act, three pairs had already performed their own mock battles, and now Hope was facing off against Groma's golem.
The clashing metal Jin had heard earlier had merely been the sounds of the soldiers' own fights.
Jin thought that if he had stepped in then, he might have been able to stop this, but there was no sense in crying over spilled milk now. He watched the match, reasoning that since they were using wooden poles, the golems wouldn't be destroyed.
"...So that is the golem Groma Tray made."
"That's right. Those two over there are..."
Jed pointed out the short, obese, bald Pegin Vorontov and the slender man standing next to him, Groma Tray.
"...This is a mess. Hope isn't built for combat."
Since there was no stopping it now, Jin could only watch how things played out, trusting that it was indeed just a "sham fight."
Jin's Hope was about 160 centimeters tall and slender. In contrast, Groma's golem stood two meters tall and was built ruggedly. It was like an adult facing a child.
The two golems were holding wooden poles, trading blows.
"Hmph. It's doing quite well, isn't it?"
Pegin Vorontov spoke mockingly, but Groma Tray, standing beside him, was watching the battle with a stern gaze.
(…That golem. It was barely defending at first, but now it seems to be gaining some leeway. Is it... learning?)
Indeed, Jin had not taught Hope any combat techniques. Therefore, going into this sham fight, it was focusing entirely on defense by utilizing its speed.
Groma's golem was made of steel—both its skeleton and its armor. While it possessed an Adriana-style endoskeleton, its sheer weight was a drawback, making its movements relatively slow.
However, the weight and power behind each blow were considerable. If Hope took a direct hit, the difference in weight alone would likely send it flying. Thus, Hope was parrying the opponent's attacks. Because its speed was nearly double that of the other machine, it was capable of such a feat.
However, Hope was still fully occupied just parrying and was not yet at the point where it could transition to a counterattack. This was because its movements contained too much redundancy.
The only reason Hope was able to parry everything was solely due to its speed. Even if its actions were large and inefficient, it compensated for everything with its velocity—that was the "initial" Hope.
However, the fact that Jin had created it was no mere boast.
Even if its performance was unsatisfactory by Jin’s standards, its learning capacity was several times higher than that of an average golem. For Hope, the opponent golem's attacks were the perfect teacher.
Its feet began to slide across the ground, no longer lifting unnecessarily during movement. When evading, it moved into the opponent's blind spot.
Since evading in a straight line made it easy for the opponent to follow, it began to shift its body in circular arcs.
With just those changes, Hope's movements became visibly more refined.
Because the soldiers performed such combat training constantly, they were the first to sense Hope's rapid improvement.
"Hey, isn't that little golem's movement getting better by the second?"
"I was thinking the same thing. It's definitely getting better. Look, the way it uses its feet and how it evades is totally different now."
"Yeah."
Just as the soldiers observed, once Hope had finished learning how to move, it began to study the opponent's attack patterns, biding its time and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.