Seven years ago, in March 3457, the Golem Party was held in Asunt, the capital of the Kingdom of Egerea, to celebrate the birthday of the Third Prince, Ernest.
At that time, the anti-social organization known as Unifilar launched a terrorist attack to demonstrate their power. They seized control of nearly every golem present—both those being unveiled and those already stationed at the castle—in a plot to overthrow the state.
Several individuals sustained injuries so severe they were left permanently disabled. Among them was a nobleman from Blue Land, Count Dave Meida Guarana. He suffered a fractured nose, compound fractures in both his arms and legs, compound fractures in his ribs, internal organ damage, and severe full-body bruising.
At the time, an inexperienced Elsa Randol had performed emergency first aid on him. While her treatment was appropriate and succeeded in preventing secondary infections, it was insufficient to achieve a full healing. This was partly due to her lack of experience, but even more so because she had been forced to conserve her mana; there were over a hundred injured people requiring emergency care that day.
Count Guarana was later treated by a renowned healer, but the man’s skills were poor. Because he had simply applied Healing, the bones in the count's arms and legs fused while still bent and twisted. His nose suffered the same fate.
As a result, Count Guarana became unable to manage his daily life alone. He required assistance just to walk, and eventually reached a point where he could not even eat or change clothes by himself. Furthermore, because the damage to his internal organs—specifically his liver—was so severe, he began to exhibit symptoms of jaundice.
"Ngh... curse it all... this is all the fault of those golems!"
His aimless fury was directed at the very existence of golems.
"I do not care how much gold it costs. Build me the strongest golem in the world."
Since his funds were abundant, he spared no expense in summoning famous magi craftsmen to create powerful golems for him. However, no matter how much time passed, no golem was ever completed with strength that satisfied the count.
It was then that a certain man came to visit him.
"I heard that you were seeking a strong golem."
"Hmph. And you are?"
With his nose still crooked, Count Guarana granted the audience while wearing a mask that concealed everything but his mouth.
"I am... a wanderer....Tratamiento."
"O-Oh!?"
Through the magic the man cast with a mysterious incantation, Count Guarana’s crooked nose was healed instantly.
"T-This is...!...Hmph, you have my thanks."
His pronunciation had been somewhat indistinct due to the deformity, but that too was improved. The count was overjoyed.
"...Can you not heal these arms and legs as well?" he asked, clutching a sliver of hope.
"That is beyond even me... However, Tratamiento."
"H-Hmm?"
"Your internal organs seemed to be in poor condition, so I was able to provide healing for those."
"Oh! Is that so!?"
Feeling the unpleasant stagnation in his body vanish, Count Guarana bowed his head to the man.
"No, I am grateful. This alone is plenty."
Having had his face and organs treated, the count's trust in the man became absolute.
The man introduced himself as Marco.
His skill was displayed not only in healing magic but was also exerted to its fullest in the field of magi-craft.
"Ooh, incredible!"
The very first golem Marco built was in a league of its own compared to any that had come before. It boasted more than three times the power of the golems the count had previously commissioned.
"Yes, this is exactly what I sought!"
Count Guarana was quite satisfied, but Marco spoke up.
"No, it is still not enough. Let us build an even more powerful golem."
"Oh, by all means, go right ahead."
The count and Marco were in complete agreement, and even more golems were created.
A few months later.
"Oh, truly the strongest golem!"
"I believe we have produced something quite satisfactory."
The new golem effortlessly blew away twenty older-model golems Marco himself had built.
"With this, one need not fear any opponent."
"I believe so as well."
The satisfied Count Guarana asked, "What is its name?"
"Let's see... Shall we call it Arrogance?"
"Hmm? What does that mean?"
"In the language of my homeland... it doesn't mean much of anything."
Marco laughed and remained vague.
"Hmph, very well. To celebrate the completion of Arrogance, we shall have a toast tonight."
However, that night, Marco vanished without a trace. Count Guarana was suspicious, but since he had obtained what he wanted, he didn't feel the loss was worth much concern.
"Now that Arrogance is complete, I have no more use for him... though, it is a shame to lose such talent."
Muttering this, he took a deep gulp of wine. A wicked smile played across his face.
"...Hmph. Well, he was a reasonably amusing fellow."
After leaving the Count Guarana estate, Marco—or rather, Marcosius—grinned.
"With this Pride... no, with Arrogance that I built this time, it should be able to put up a good fight against that automata."
Marcosius also harbored a desire for revenge against Reiko, who had unilaterally trampled his Golias units. He no longer held a grudge against Jin, who had saved his kin, but he intended to continue his endless challenge as an engineer. That was why he wandered as he did.
"Now then, where shall I go next..."
No one knew of Marco's whereabouts after that day.
"Now then, shall we test it out?"
Two days later, Count Guarana woke up Arrogance. The location was a wasteland on the outskirts of Blue Land.
"Ho ho, this is quite a treat."
"Indeed, quite so."
A group of fellow nobles had come to watch the demonstration.
"Then, here we go."
Count Guarana brought a control device to his mouth to operate Arrogance.
"Arrogance, run."
This device was meant to transmit the operator's voice to the golem. It could be considered a type of manacam, though its effective communication range was very short.
"Oh!"
Arrogance began to run exactly as ordered. It was not a fully autonomous type, but a semi-autonomous type, so it would not move without receiving a command. That said, it was capable of a certain degree of self-judgment, so it could manage well enough with just the command to run.
Arrogance did not simply dash off into the distance; it demonstrated its ability by running in circles and neatly avoiding obstacles.
"Ooh, marvelous."
"Is it not going at least 100 kilometers per hour?"
Despite its massive 250-centimeter frame, its agility was breathtaking.
"Good, stop....Destroy that rock over there."
Arrogance stopped and threw a heavy punch at a rock about five meters high. With a thunderous roar, the rock shattered into tiny pieces.
The nobles were then shown how the machine easily turned five combat golems prepared for the test into scrap metal. They were struck with admiration and trembled at its sheer might.
From atop his wheelchair, Count Guarana let out a resounding, haughty laugh.