A secret chamber—the Vault—hidden away within the inner palace where royalty resided.
Stored inside was a single golem.
"It's in excellent condition, and above all, the craftsmanship is superb."
"W-Well then, let's first report to Jil-sama... I mean, His Grace, before doing anything else."
"That would probably be best."
Agreeing with Nanaria Miyu Imai, fiancée of Duke Gilberto de Darato, Jin decided to head back up from the Vault to the Duke's bedchamber for the moment.
"What did you say?! The golem Blau Ritter?!...It wasn't just a legend after all...?!"
The Duke's delight was immense.
"If only I could walk, I'd go down to see it with my own eyes right this second..."
"Ah, about that, Your Grace... the Blau Ritter can move, you know?"
Jin brought it up as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
"I-I would dearly love to see that!"
The Duke lit up with the excitement of a young boy.
"Understood."
Jin understood the feeling well, and since he was just as eager to see the Blau Ritter in action, he promptly returned to the underground chamber.
"Jin-sama, what did His Grace say?!"
Nanaria asked eagerly the moment he stepped back inside.
"He asked me to get it moving," Jin replied.
"Jin-sama, please do!"
With Nanaria's thrilled, expectant gaze at his back, Jin began the preparations to wake up the Blau Ritter.
That said, all he really needed to do was check whether a wake-up password had been set.
And just as he expected, the settings were configured so that Jin could easily bypass them.
In other words, since Jin was the creator of Quinta, who in turn was the creator of this golem, he could wake it up as its Arch Master without any trouble at all.
Specifically speaking, Jin and Quinta shared the exact same magic pattern, which meant there would be no issue waking up the Blau Ritter, whose systems were tuned to that very pattern.
(After all, this was crafted before the magi-certifier had even been invented.)
The magi-certifier was a magi-device Jin had developed specifically to counter the magi-emulator created by Golbart Markitus, so it made complete sense that a golem from 150 years ago lacked one.
"Start."
At Jin's single command, the Blau Ritter's ether converter spun to life, followed immediately by its mana driver.
<YES, ARCH MASTER.>
Detecting Jin's magic pattern, the Blau Ritter recognized him as its Arch Master.
"Good, it booted up properly. Run a diagnostic on your physical condition."
<UNDERSTOOD.>
The Blau Ritter went through a sequence of basic calibration movements.
<NO PARTICULAR ABNORMALITIES DETECTED.>
It delivered its report.
"Hmm, hold on a second."
Noticing a slight stiffness in its speech, Jin decided to inspect its vocal mechanism.
"Analyze... Hmm, I see..."
The component functioning as its vocal cords appeared to be slightly degrading.
Because it was on an entirely separate circuit from its motor functions, Jin reasoned that the initial diagnostic hadn't caught it.
"Crystallization."
Jin repaired the degrading magi-crystal by recrystallizing it.
While he was at it, he restored the magi-crystals that served as its eyes and ears as well.
<Thank you very much.>
This time, its voice came out smooth and clear.
"Alright. I'm going to introduce you to your current master, so come with me."
<Yes, understood.>
With that, Jin and the Blau Ritter climbed the stairs from the underground Vault and emerged into the Duke's bedchamber.
"Ooh! So this is the Blau Ritter!"
<Yes. You are my current master, correct? I look forward to serving you.>
The Blau Ritter seemed to recognize the Duke as its present master.
The Duke's very first words were:
"Blau Ritter, can you carry me as you walk?"
<Yes, that will pose no problem.>
Once the Blau Ritter replied, the Duke gave his next instruction.
"Splendid. In that case, take me down to the Vault."
<As you command.>
With effortless grace, the Blau Ritter lifted the Duke up, cradling him comfortably against its right arm.
"Oh, this is wonderful."
The Blau Ritter strode toward the staircase.
The weight of a single person was a negligible rounding error to the Blau Ritter; it descended the stairs with absolute stability, clearing the doorway without letting the Duke's head bump against anything.
"Jil-sama, you came down?!"
"Ah, Nana, I simply had to see it for myself....Ohh, so this is the Vault..."
The Duke looked around the secret chamber with boundless curiosity, seeing it for the very first time.
Even so, to Jin's practiced eye, there was little else of note beyond the rack where the Blau Ritter had been mounted.
(That rack is a model I don't recognize... Which means it's likely a design I won't come up with until I'm much older.)
Meanwhile, the Duke took an interest in the rack as well.
"Jin-dono, what might this be?"
"That's called a 'rack.' It's a piece of equipment used to secure, store, and perform maintenance on golems."
"Ah, is that so!"
"Yes, Jil-sama... Your Grace. The Blau Ritter was secured and preserved right here."
Since Nanaria provided the explanation, there was no need for Jin to interject.
Instead, Jin turned his attention toward one of the walls.
"Is there something further in...?"
He initially wondered if it was some kind of hidden compartment, but the wall itself appeared to be a revolving partition, reminiscent of a trick door in a ninja mansion.
Jin called over to the Duke and Nanaria.
"This wall is actually a hidden door."
"What?"
"You can tell just by looking? As expected of Jin-sama!"
With their praise at his back, Jin pushed firmly against a section of the wall.
With a faint creak, the wall revolved on its axis.
"Ah."
"Incredible!"
An involuntary gasp of surprise escaped the Duke's lips, while Nanaria let out a cry of delight.
Because the revolving partition functioned like a revolving door and could only accommodate one person at a time, they passed through in single file: Jin, Reiko, and then Nanaria.
Last came the Blau Ritter carrying the Duke. Though the gap was narrow, it managed to squeeze through with barely an inch to spare.
"Ah, this place is..."
The Duke's voice trembled with deep emotion.
Hanging upon the walls of that hidden room were portraits of the realm's successive generations of dukes.