Having designated herself as the temporary Master using the magi-craft Master-Slave Magic, Greena prepared to activate the golem.
"Start!"
The standard keyword brought the golem to life.
"Yes, Master."
The golem rose with fluid, natural movements.
"Golem, I shall call you 'Tempo' for now."
"Understood."
Its speech was smooth as well. This was only natural, as Jin had been the one responsible for its vocal systems.
(Tempo... I wonder if she took that from 'temporary'?)
Jin thought to himself—rather rudely—that Greena’s naming sense might be just as poor as his own.
"Tempo, what are the results of your self-diagnostic check?"
"Yes, Lady Greena. There are no problems."
"Very well. Stand by."
"Standing by."
At this point, Greena looked back at Jin.
"Alright, let's test its martial arts skills."
The New King of the Kingdom of Elias, to whom this golem was to be gifted, was said to be a devotee of martial arts.
"Let's see... Laojun, send one of the Land squad members over."
『Certainly, My Lord. I shall dispatch Land 109.』
Jin explained to Freddie and Eris that the Land squad served as the Army of Hourai Island.
Before long, a report came in that Land 109 had arrived at the front of the laboratory.
"Alright, let's head outside."
The group left the laboratory workshop and headed out into the open.
The sky was slightly overcast; the lack of distinct shadows made it impossible to determine the position of Star Celane.
Under that dull sky, Land 109 stood in the plaza before the laboratory, its silver-brown body shimmering with a muted luster.
"Since real blades would be too dangerous, let's use mock swords."
Jin fashioned two mock swords from steel ingots and had Land 109 and Tempo equip them.
"Land 109, I want to verify Tempo's performance, so act accordingly."
"Understood."
Jin added the instruction that Land 109 should not use full output from the start.
"Reiko, observe their movements. Point out anything that needs improvement."
"Yes, Father."
Jin nodded to Greena, feeling reassured that Reiko would be performing the movement analysis with her Peeker.
"Then, let the mock battle begin!"
At Jin’s signal, Greena issued the command.
The two machines moved almost simultaneously.
—Or so it seemed.
However, to Reiko’s eyes as she analyzed the motions beside Jin, it was clear that Tempo was 0.02 seconds behind.
(Reaction speed: 1/35th of a Land unit.)
The two began to trade blows with their mock swords.
(Power: approximately 1/30th of a Land unit. However, it does possess an emergency boost.)
They exchanged ten blows, then twenty...
Land 109 momentarily pulled back to create distance.
(The sword skill level is appropriate for its physical capabilities. As expected of Laojun.)
Land 109 stepped forward again. Tempo shifted its body to the side to evade and launched a strike from Land's blind spot.
(It isn't just trading blows; it can utilize feints as well.)
But Land 109 seemed to have anticipated the move. He dodged with room to spare and established distance once more.
Next, Tempo closed the gap. Land 109 retreated.
Tempo pressed further forward. Land 109 retreated.
Tempo moved in again. Land 109 made as if to retreat but suddenly stepped forward instead. A human would have been caught off guard and panicked, but Tempo handled the situation calmly.
As the distance closed to the point where the mock swords were useless, they entered a grapple.
Both units thrust their mock swords into the ground and entered a test of strength known as Te-yotsu.
(Power remains at 1/30th of a Land unit.)
Tempo, which utilized the effects of Forming even in its exterior plating, demonstrated its true value in this kind of static power struggle.
(...It triggered the boost. Output has reached approximately 1/20th.)
Land 109 was maneuvering perfectly, drawing out Tempo's abilities in just the right way.
Next came hand-to-hand combat.
Tempo parried Land's Seiken-zuki and delivered an elbow strike.
Land twisted his body to evade and went for a leg sweep. Tempo was knocked down.
Land followed up with a stomp. Tempo rolled to dodge and delivered a right uppercut while getting back to its feet.
(Both are doing well. The flow from one technique to the next is magnificent.)
Land didn't dodge the uppercut, catching it instead with his left palm. Naturally, Tempo's movement was halted.
Then Land twisted his body and performed a shoulder throw. Tempo was sent flying high into the air.
(This is... Tempo allowed itself to be thrown on purpose.)
Tempo had kicked off the ground and jumped of its own accord to avoid resisting the throw. It performed a full rotation and landed gracefully.
Its right leg swung upward and backward toward the head of Land 109, who was still low from the throw.
(But Land will dodge something of that level easily.)
Sure enough, Land 109 hopped back a step to evade the back kick. Simultaneously, he grabbed the sword he had thrust into the ground, swung it high overhead, and slashed down at Tempo.
(...It's going to catch that?)
At the very last moment, Tempo caught the blade between its palms in a perfect Shirahadori.
"...Th-That's amazing."
Freddie was struck with awe at the flurry of offense and defense that had taken place in less than a minute.
Rubina and Greena also watched the battle with great interest.
Eris, however, was unable to keep up with the movements at all.
"...Alright, that's enough!"
Jin called an end to the mock battle.
"That's plenty. Tempo is a fine piece of work."
"Thank you very much."
"Land 109, good work. Any malfunctions?"
"No, Master. All systems are normal."
"Good."
Land 109 bowed to everyone present and returned to his station.
"Greena, let's check Tempo's internals."
"Y-Yes."
They temporarily stopped Tempo and removed the exterior plating to conduct a thorough check.
"This level of maintainability is a real advantage."
"It really is."
Because the structure was simple, there were fewer points of failure. Additionally, the inspection was straightforward.
"No abnormalities," Greena said with a sigh of relief.
"Right. At most, there are just some minor scratches on the exterior."
Those were quickly repaired by Rubina and Freddie.
Once the exterior was reassembled, the maintenance was complete.
"With this, we can present it anywhere without a second thought," Jin muttered with satisfaction.