A lecture had apparently just concluded at the workshop they visited.
A group of boys and girls around middle school age came pouring out of the building, trotting past Jin and the others.
"Oh, they start their education at quite a young age."
"Being enthusiastic is a good thing."
Jin and Reinhard both shared their impressions.
"Is that the teacher?"
At Saki's voice, they turned toward the workshop to see a young man standing by the entrance, seeing off the departing students.
Reiko was the first to approach him.
"Excuse me. Are you affiliated with this workshop?"
"Yes. I am the deputy workshop head, Ludwig."
"I see. Um, we are travelers—would it be possible for us to take a tour of the workshop?"
As she spoke, Reiko gestured toward Jin and the others behind her.
Ludwig looked at Jin's group and readily agreed.
"Ah, is that so? Yes, by all means. The lecture for the students just concluded, so the workshop is open right now."
"Thank you very much."
With that, Jin and his companions began their tour of the workshop.
Ludwig, the deputy workshop head, was a tall, somewhat slender man in his mid-twenties. In that respect, he resembled Reinhard, but since his ancestors had hailed from the Kingdom of Franz, there was no blood relation between them.
He explained that his family had been studying magi-craft for generations ever since coming to the Empire roughly a hundred years ago.
"What sort of person is the workshop head here?"
Reinhard seemed more interested in that than in touring the workshop itself.
"Master Berlich is deeply devoted to nurturing the next generation. He holds lectures twice a week to teach the local boys and girls."
"I see. And then the exceptional ones become his disciples?"
"That is correct. At present, there are five live-in inner disciples, including myself. There are also twelve commuting outer disciples."
"Oho."
Meanwhile, Jin and the others were inspecting the inside of the workshop.
Saki was primarily examining the materials being used, while Jin looked over half-finished magi-devices and scrap magi-devices.
Elsa and Berche had no particular focus, browsing everything evenly.
(The level is on the lower side, but the construction follows the fundamentals faithfully.)
Examining magi-devices that were likely made as teaching aids, Jin could sense that this workshop maintained a sound educational policy.
"Would it be possible to meet Master Berlich?"
Reinhard asked, figuring there was no harm in trying, but Ludwig replied apologetically:
"I am terribly sorry. The master is currently away in Avalon."
He explained that Berlich was attending a basic course on Adriana-style golems in Avalon.
"I see..."
It was a bit disappointing, but they had learned most of what they wanted to know and seen what there was to see. Just as Jin thought they should call it a day—
"Teacher!"
Shouting loudly, a boy burst into the room.
"Oh, Emil. What's the matter?"
"It's terrible!"
The boy called Emil was completely out of breath. It seemed something had happened, causing him to run over in a frantic rush.
"Calm down and explain."
Ludwig responded with mature composure.
"Y-Yes! Um, the golem we use in the fields broke down!"
"I see. And how did it break?"
"It suddenly stopped listening to orders and started rampaging!"
"What did you say?!"
(What did he say?!)
Because the boy named Emil spoke so loudly, Jin and the others could hear the entire conversation.
And hearing that the golem used in the fields had suddenly stopped listening to orders and started rampaging, Jin, Reinhard, and Elsa could hardly believe their ears.
That was because, with few exceptions, golems and automata equipped with the Adriana-style control system were not supposed to go on a rampage even if they broke down.
Multiple safety circuits were built into them, and the magi-circuits were engraved so that in the event of an error, the magi-flow would turn inward rather than outward.
That was how deeply Adriana Barbora Tsetse had wished for golems to be useful to humanity, taking painstaking care to ensure they would never harm people.
Incidentally, the exception to this was being manipulated from the outside.
"That is a serious matter! What is the damage?"
"For now, it's only tearing up the orchard!"
There were no human casualties, Emil reported.
"Understood."
Ludwig then turned to look at Jin and the others.
"I apologize, but under these circumstances, I must ask you to conclude your tour here."
"Yes, of course....If there is anything we can do to help, please do not hesitate to ask," Reinhard replied.
"Thank you very much. However, we should be fine."
With that, Ludwig activated the golem standing beside the workshop entrance.
"Black Knight, Wake up."
"Jawohl, Sir Ludwig."
The golem activated. To Jin and the others, it looked quite robust.
Reinhard alone had a private thought:
(Its name is in the style of the Kingdom of Franz, yet its way of speaking is in the style of the Empire...)
Much like a ritter clad in black-dyed armor, the Black Knight moved with a slightly awkward gait, following after Emil alongside Ludwig.
Watching them depart, Jin and his companions exchanged glances and consulted one another. What should we do?
Naturally, their tour for the day was over. The question of what to do meant deciding whether to intervene in this unexpected incident.
The conclusion they reached was simple:
"Let's go see it first and then decide."
And so, the group hurried after Ludwig and the others.
Since they were moving at a human running pace, keeping up was effortless.
While the physical abilities of homunculi like Elsa were on par with their original bodies, they had a secret advantage: physical reinforcement magic was easy for them to cast.
Furthermore, Jin's body never grew tired. A Duplicate was essentially a golem composed of magiatoms, sharing the exact same structure as an original human.
As a result, while Jin and the others did not move exceptionally fast, they were able to follow Ludwig's group without falling behind.
After ten minutes of running, they arrived at an orchard on the southern edge of Kalts Village, where a single agricultural golem was rampaging across the scene.
"Oho, there it is."
"No matter how you look at it, that's not Adriana-style."
"It's not ball-joint style either."
"It's a Forming drive."
Jin and Reinhard immediately discerned that the rampaging golem was a relatively old-fashioned model.
And Ludwig's Black Knight leaped forward to bring it to a halt.