The Story Of The Second Son Of The Baron Family [EN]: Chapter 81

The books were piled so high they nearly touched the ceiling, the stacks surrounding the desk so completely that the person sitting in the chair was almost hidden from view. I was there, in a place that should have been filled with the musty smell of old paper, but thanks to the preservation magic, there wasn’t any smell at all.

“…Another dead end.”

Golems.

Artifacts of a unique kind, crafted from clay, stone, and various minerals, imbued with magic centered around a core, and programmed with commands suited to their purpose. To put it simply, strengthening a golem and placing a person inside would create a Titan. It was the field of study I was most interested in and devoted to right now.

Fortunately, golems were a very mainstream subject, so finding information was easy. From basic to advanced courses, a thorough search of the Magic Tower’s library could even uncover the secret techniques of individual mages that weren’t widely known. Of course, if you asked if all of it was useful, I would unfortunately have to say no.

Knock, knock.

“Take a break.”

“Ah, thanks.”

After that day, I changed my living arrangements. I didn’t completely abandon my room in the Magic Tower, but instead of spending all day in the lab and bedroom, I was trying to spend as much time as possible at the mansion.

The reason was simple: I was newly married. If the groom spent all his time at work instead of going home, before the ink on the marriage certificate was even dry, what would people think?

From discord between me and her, to rumors that the families were on bad terms, it would be fortunate if that was all. People’s imaginations are endless, and scandalous rumors that were hard to put into words were bound to circulate. And she would bear the brunt of the damage. After all, this was an era where men held more power.

And putting aside the opinions of others, what would she think of me? We would be spending decades, or even a century, as the closest of partners, and I didn’t want to start off with ridiculous misunderstandings.

“Please tell me if you need anything.”

Besides, it was more comfortable to live here. Of course, most things other than meals could be taken care of with magic, and I could always go to the Magic Tower’s cafeteria for meals, so I never felt uncomfortable living in the Magic Tower, but the difference between having people to take care of me and not was palpable.

“I’ll be out for a bit. I’ll be back before dinner.”

The only inconvenient thing was that, because of the location, it wasn’t suitable for experiments. The problem of a small space could be solved by expanding it, but space expansion magic only expanded the space itself, not the materials inside.

That meant that doubling the size of the room wouldn’t double the size of the bed or desk. In other words, I had to get the materials needed for the experiment from outside, but it was much faster and easier to just go outside.

“Let’s see. Shall we begin?”

And so I arrived at a mountain near the capital. With enough materials and enough space, it was the perfect stage to prove that collecting data so far hadn’t been a waste of time.

“Arise!”

Making a golem isn’t that difficult. All you need is something to serve as the core of the golem. There is only one condition for this: it must possess magic power. In theory, even a tree branch could function as a core if it had enough magic power to maintain the golem’s form and move it.

Secondly, you need the materials that will become the golem’s body. The golem’s name changes depending on the material. If it’s dirt, it’s a mud golem; if it’s stone, it’s a stone golem; if it’s steel, it’s an iron golem, and so on. Naturally, the harder the raw material, the stronger the golem, but the heavier it is, the shorter the movement time with the same amount of magic power.

If you have these two materials, the rest is simple. Place the core with the material and pour magic power into it according to the pre-arranged formula, and you’re done. As long as the core isn’t broken and the magic power isn’t exhausted, you have a loyal soldier who never tires and never dies.

Thump-

A mud golem, roughly 5m in size, rose from the earth.

Crack-

Even though it was made from dirt found everywhere, it had the strength to break ordinary trees like toothpicks and the defense to only be scratched by ordinary weapons. If it were put into war, it would reign as a terror to soldiers.

“But it’s too lacking to do that.”

Where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. The tremendous destructive power from its size and weight was something to be admired, but the speed, which was inversely proportional to it, made it nothing more than a large scarecrow to knights who could wield magic. Unless it was used for a specific purpose, it would be difficult to use in actual combat.

And if I were to use it against monsters, this level of power and size would be nothing to the higher-level monsters. In short, it was an inefficient weapon. Nevertheless, research continues because there are many places where its potential and principles can be used.

‘If I dig a little deeper…’

Golems didn’t necessarily have to be in the form of giants. Depending on the mage’s taste and needs, they could be the size of ordinary humans or take the form of beasts. However, the biggest advantage of golems was that they didn’t die or tire unless the core was broken, so they ended up being huge.

‘A dragon would be possible too.’

There was no need to simply make the *shape* of a dragon. I had the bones to be the framework, the flesh to be in charge of destruction, the scales to be in charge of defense, and even the heart to be the core. It would be possible to bring legends to the present world.

‘But that would be a waste.’

Even if I made a dragon golem like that, it would only be a minor version of the one I had faced. The destructive power would certainly be worth watching, but compared to the cost, it would be just a nice decoration.

And if the other dragons were to find out about it, what would they think? After hearing a warning, or rather a *warning*, from her, I had no choice but to be reluctant to try it rashly. The same goes for reducing the size.

Rustle-

Putting aside the impossible, unnecessary thoughts, I began to change the appearance of the mud golem. The overall square shape was made almost human-like. I tried to match the range of motion as much as possible.

“I can roughly see the way forward.”

There were three ways to operate a Titan.

The first was to cast space expansion magic inside the Titan and synchronize the pilot with the Titan. This was the method I saw in the cartoon ‘Super G-X’ that I enjoyed watching when I was young in my previous life.

The second was the simplest way: to put your arms in the arms and your legs in the legs, like wearing a mascot costume. This would also require synchronization, but it would be the fastest way to adapt.

The third was the method of operating buttons to execute pre-determined actions, like in various cartoons.

In reality, I would have to test it in actual combat after production to see which method was the most efficient, but it was important that I had at least three directions to go in.

#

“…That’s the plan I’ve laid out. Any comments?”

“As expected of the Great Disciple! But how do you make this?”

“That’s what you and I have to think about from now on.”

“…Just the two of us?”

“Of course.”

I might be able to get a little help from my teacher, but until the project was on track, the only researchers were me and Armin. There were many other reasons, but the biggest reason was security.

A secret weapon is most effective when it is secret and only in the hands of our allies. Moreover, the stage for the Titan’s appearance would be the land of monsters. If the enemy were to steal or replicate the Titan and deploy it on the border or invade, my goal would be in vain.

“So, what’s the first thing we need to do?”

“Well, wouldn’t it be to make a prototype?”

“Of course that’s right, but what do we need to do first to make a prototype?”

The answer was to develop a formula to synchronize the pilot and the Titan.

“It won’t be that difficult. There’s a lot of data to apply and quite a few similar formulas. The important thing is accuracy and reaction speed. Got it?”

“Yes!”

We started experimenting with human-sized golems. As expected, synchronizing the movements of humans and golems was not a difficult problem. And we soon ran into the expected obstacle.

“It can’t keep up any more than this.”

“It seems to be a problem with the internal structure rather than the formula.”

In the process of improving the formula, the golem’s movements stopped following the human’s movements at some point, even though it wasn’t a complicated movement. Forcibly increasing the speed only caused the dirt to break and fall off, which was clearly not the right way to go.

“Changing the material might not be a problem, but… it wouldn’t be good in the long run. I didn’t think we could just keep going without any problems. Let’s try things one by one, starting with what comes to mind. In that sense, Armin.”

“Yes?”

“Get me some skulls.”

“Yes?!”

“What are you so surprised about? Who said to bring real skulls? There must be a model in the Magic Tower. Bring it in my name.”

If you want to follow human movements, the internal structure must be the same as a human. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same, but at least the joints have to be the same.

“It’s definitely better than before, isn’t it? It needs a little more improvement, but the movement is quite natural.”

For more natural movement, it was necessary to connect the synchronization points to all the joints and limit the range of motion. Humans feel pain, but golems don’t.

“It feels like we’re making a real human. A giant human.”

“It’s not that different in reality. Stop admiring it; you’ll have plenty of time to admire the finished product. We still have a long way to go.”

“Yes!”

#

After that, Armin and I became slaves to writing formulas, devoting ourselves to creating the formulas needed to operate the Titan to the point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration. It wasn’t uncommon to go to work at the lab before sunrise and return home when the moon was overhead. But the results were worth the time invested, so we didn’t get tired easily.

Then one day, when I returned to my room inside the Magic Tower to pick up some necessary materials, I was surprised to see her there, looking so natural as if she had been there for a long time.

“Hey, I told you to stay put. Did you not take me seriously?”

“…Do you know how many months have passed since then? How can a human being stay in one place for that long?”

Was it because it was our second meeting? It was much better than the first. At least I could say what I wanted to say. But she didn’t seem to care about what I said at all. She slowly walked up to me, stood in front of me, and tapped my left chest with her finger.

“Well, that’s okay. Let’s work together on something.”

“Work… you mean?”

“Yes. Work.”

< The Second Son of a Baron – 81 > End