Sovereign lay stretched out across the workbench in the workshop.
"Whoa, seeing it up close really drives home how massive it is," Reinhard remarked in awe.
At three meters tall, its sheer presence made it unmistakably clear that it had once stood as a proud national symbol.
"Now, let's take a look at the build..."
Jin immediately set about inspecting its internal structure.
"An endoskeleton... Oh, it's an Adriana-style frame. As for where it was made... Avalon, most likely."
Before the rise of the Magic Federation, Avalon had evidently possessed the technique to produce Adriana-style golems as well.
"Still, look at these materials..." Elsa murmured, peering at the construct.
"Kufu, this is dreadful. Even accounting for age and wear over the years, they used absolutely terrible materials," Saki added with a wry smile, offering her own appraisal.
"Seriously... The frame is low-carbon steel—no, mild steel, and the joints don't have any protective coating at all. The armor plating is just gold-plated bronze. What a waste of good metal," Reinhard said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Jin, who was in the middle of extracting the control core, chimed in as well.
"The quality of the core is just as abysmal... I'm starting to doubt whether this was really made in Avalon after all."
It was entirely possible someone had cleverly faked an Avalon make, only to pass off the shoddy work of a third-rate technician.
Though all of that was lost to history now.
"The magical muscles have degraded into a mess, too. They didn't even apply any basic treatments to preserve them."
"...It would probably be faster to just rebuild the whole thing from scratch."
"Agreed," Jin said, nodding at Elsa's suggestion.
"All right, let's keep the dimensions the same and replace everything else with brand-new parts!"
Their direction was set.
"Let's forge the skeleton from 64 light silver. Naturally, we'll coat the joints in adamantite. We'll use standard Hourai Island magical muscles, run four separate magi-circuit systems..."
Jin rattled off the materials and specifications one after another.
As long as those details were hammered out, the actual labor could be left to the Smiths.
What Jin really wanted to focus on was analyzing the control core.
"First, let's duplicate the data onto a higher-grade magi-crystal..."
With the preparations complete, Jin handed the original control core over to Laojun for analysis.
"Leave it to me, My Lord."
The entire process took less than a second.
"Analysis complete. What information would you like me to present?"
"Let's see. Give me the details on who made it, and explain what happened to leave it in such a battered state."
"Understood."
Laojun began its report...
"To begin with, the creator was 'Keega Ivan Yoda'—a magi craftsman who studied in Avalon."
It appeared records of the creator's name were preserved within the control core.
"His skill was quite competent... No, by the standards of that era, he was exceptionally talented."
Laojun noted that it had verified this by consulting Arthur, the management magi-brain of Avalon.
"After concluding his studies in Avalon, Keega seems to have set out on his own."
Born in the Kingdom of Franz, he established his workshop in the town of Sanfoze, just south of the royal capital.
Up to this point, the details were directly recorded inside the control core.
"From there, I have reconstructed the circumstances surrounding Sovereign's creation, combining fragmentary data with logical deductions."
"Impressive as always. Let's hear it."
"Yes, My Lord."
Over three hundred years had passed since the era of inter-nation warfare had come to an end. In short, it was an age of peace.
Yet, with that very peace came the first creeping signs of decadence.
Open conflict had ceased, but rivalry had not.
At first, the disputes were trivial.
The training standards of soldiers, the swordsmanship of ritters, the sheer number of magi-devices and golems stored in national reserves...
Gradually, the competition escalated.
Eventually, it turned into an arms race over the performance of each country's golems.
A social climate was taking shape where a nation's prestige and pecking order were determined by the quality of its golems.
It was during this period that the Kingdom of Franz resolved to commission a golem that would embody the royal authority of the King.
Keega Ivan Yoda, a brilliant up-and-coming magi craftsman, was chosen for the prestigious task.
The previous year, he had constructed ten golems for the magi-ritter corps, earning widespread acclaim both at home and abroad.
In particular, his creations had triumphed over the Celuroa Kingdom in an international golem mock battle, and that proven track record made him the natural choice.
However...
A member of the Celuroa Kingdom's royal family—most likely the second prince, according to Laojun's notes—caught wind of the project and moved to sabotage it.
In all likelihood, Keega's family or loved ones were taken hostage, and with his own life under threat, he was coerced into building the golem with deliberately degraded materials.
That construct was Sovereign.
Even with substandard materials, Keega's craftsmanship was so masterful that no one could detect the underlying flaws from its exterior alone.
Despite the poor quality of the components, he expertly tuned the golem so that it would deliver its promised specifications—if only for a very brief time.
Shortly after delivering the finished golem, Keega Ivan Yoda vanished without a trace.
About a week before his disappearance came to light, a mock battle against a Celuroa Kingdom golem was held.
Celuroa's entry was Lyon XI. The original Lyon had been a four-meter-tall golem built roughly 150 years earlier during the reign of King Richard, but the eleventh model, Lyon XI, shared the same three-meter frame as Sovereign.
Both Sovereign and Lyon XI entered the mock battle armed with staffs.
In the opening minutes, Sovereign fought on even—if not superior—footing. But before long, the shortcomings of its materials began to show.
In under five minutes, its movements grew sluggish, and by the ten-minute mark, it was being battered relentlessly.
Appalled by the humiliating display, the reigning King of the Kingdom of Franz ordered Sovereign to be scrapped on the spot, without so much as requesting repairs.
Neither the cabinet ministers nor the public raised any objection to the decision.
Only one person—the crown prince at the time—questioned the strange outcome of the mock battle.
"Discarding a golem built with the people's tax money is unconscionable," he argued, managing to stop its destruction and having it placed in an underground storehouse instead.
He locked the vault with a key that only royalty could use, preserving the golem in the quiet hope that the truth behind its disgrace would one day come to light...
"More than half of this account relies on deduction," Laojun concluded.
"I have no further information regarding what became of Keega Ivan Yoda after his disappearance."
Even the local Quinta units stationed in the region had found no traces of him.
"And what happened to that prince from the Celuroa Kingdom?"
"He was almost certainly not a legitimate heir. At the very least, his lineage has not carried over into the current Celuroa royal family."
"I see..."
Perhaps it was simply the arrogance of a dominant power at play, but it was just as likely part of a deeper political conspiracy.
Keega Ivan Yoda and the Kingdom of Franz had merely been pawns caught in the middle of a senseless plot.
"Well, nothing can be done about the past now..."
What was done was done.
"For now, we just need to focus on what we can do here."
Setting the past aside, Jin turned his full attention back to Sovereign.