"Guh!"
"It doesn't taste bad, but it's pretty bland."
"And it has a peculiar smell. I'm not really a fan."
The ones complaining weren't the elves—it was Chris, Menace, and Lina, who were sampling the gruel left behind in the pot.
These three had managed to score themselves some leftovers by cleverly overhearing my offhand muttered comment of "Maybe it has beauty benefits too?" in a quiet voice while tasting the gruel, and since the elves weren't eating much of it, they'd seized the opportunity.
Incidentally, the gruel was actually fairly well-received by the elves. It seemed that for elves, who spent much of their lives in the forest, the bitterness of medicinal herbs wasn't much of an issue.
Jean and the others were pointedly ignoring the three of them. Even with the headache the elves were already giving them, they clearly had no bandwidth to deal with three more people.
"Thanks for your hard work~"
"Oh! Looks like you've got the good stuff!"
Garat and Jin also joined up and peered into the pot, but it was already empty.
The two men glared resentfully at the three women as they slurped down the gruel, but the three returned their empty bowls to me without showing the slightest concern.
"Tenma, this is bitter! Does this really have beauty benefits?"
"Chris, I said 'maybe,' not 'definitely.' It's decent for digestion, and the fiber from the mushrooms might help keep things moving, so I'm saying there's a chance it could be good for your skin too—so don't get your hopes up too much."
Well, in the case of these three, skin troubles from constipation seemed unlikely, so it probably didn't matter much anyway...
Hearing my explanation, the three looked a little disappointed. The men stared at them as though they were seeing something bizarre. In any world, there were men who couldn't understand women's efforts—though I couldn't exactly say I was confident in my own understanding either either.
Thinking all this, I handed the bowls and pot I'd collected from the three women and the elves over to Slarin.
Slarin absorbed the bowls and pot into its body and carefully cleaned off every scrap of food and grime from their surfaces. Slimes are, in a sense, professionals at
"dissolving"
things, so with a bit of training, the surface stains…
would be a breeze.
Well, you'd still need to rinse them with water afterward, but even so, it was a massive reduction in effort.
Once the cleanup was done, Jin and the others came demanding food for themselves too. I had no choice but to pull out some "food I'd long forgotten when I'd even bought it" from my bag and hand it over, and they immediately started eating. Shiromaru had apparently tried to come inside with them, but the elves were scared of him, so he ended up waiting outside.
Unable to do anything about that, I went outside and put Shiromaru into the Dimension Bag to let him eat. Of course, Solomon came along too.
Both of them seemed pretty famished, as they devoured everything I put out one after another. However, they spat out anything that was a vegetable, so I resolved to make them eat vegetables for a while.
For my part, I made do with a sandwich-like thing—searing a little leftover meat and stuffing it into bread along with some vegetables.
"Heeey, Tenma~"
Since Jean called out to me, I headed over with Shiromaru and the others still inside the Dimension Bag, and found Jin and the rest had gathered too. For now, the operation was declared finished, and we'd apparently be paid our rewards at a later date.
However, since my contributions had been quite significant, the gap between me and the others had reportedly grown too wide. So it was decided that we'd balance things out by including Slarin and the others' shares as well. Apparently, if we didn't, the finance people would make snide remarks about the Royal Guard's budget and such.
As for me, there was nothing I particularly needed to worry about, so I simply said "Leave it to me" and headed home. Otherwise, they'd probably try to push some slave-related matter on me again.
"That was a pretty decent job. Not many strong ones among them either."
Jin seemed satisfied with the job this time around and was apparently thinking about what to spend his reward on.
"By the way, Tenma. How long are you planning to stay in the Royal Capital?"
"We've been talking about heading back to Seigen before long... Want to come with us?"
"If you take care of the meals, we'll handle everything else."
Come to think of it, my stay had dragged on longer than the original plan. Well, Grandpa was here, so I wouldn't mind shifting my base to the Royal Capital, but the dungeon was still half-finished, so I wanted to push forward with clearing that too... On top of that, I also needed to go secure food for Jūbei and the rest.
When I told them that, they said they planned to stay in the Royal Capital for about ten more days, so to let them know once I'd figured out my schedule.
I'd have to go to Seigen eventually anyway, so if we were headed to the same place, traveling together would be easier.
For now, I'd sort out my future plans sooner rather than later, and promised to get in touch no matter how my schedule turned out before parting ways with the Dawn Sword. Since Branca said she'd be stopping by Amour's place, we decided to head there together.
"Seigen, huh... That's a famous Dungeon City, right? Is it any fun?"
"I've never been to the Dungeon in Seigen, so I can't really compare it to others, but it's pretty entertaining. The loot's not bad either, you know."
"Is that so... Well, now that the tournament's over, I do need to head back to the village at some point. My wife's waiting for me, after all."
We were chatting like that on our way to where Amour was being held under house arrest, but the person we found there was...
"Oh! Welcome back, big bro!"
"Tenma, welcome back."
For some reason, Luna was there having a meal with Amour. I was wondering what she was doing in a place like this when—
"Oh! Looks like you're all done!"
Lyle appeared from behind us. I could only assume that, by their standards, he'd come along because it seemed like it would be interesting.
The two of them had met a few times at our place, so they'd apparently gotten fairly friendly with each other. When I asked why they were both here, Luna answered that she'd been worried, and Lyle answered that it had looked interesting. Luna aside, Lyle was purely exercising his nosy-busybody instincts.
"Alright, Tenma's here too, so let's get moving!"
With that, Lyle threw open the door with a flourish. At his words, Luna and Amour shoved the rest of their food into their mouths, puffing out their cheeks as they got ready.
"Is it really okay to take Amour with us?"
"No problem. She'll have to pay the fine, of course, but it's hard to say the Knight Order was entirely blameless in this either. So her sentence was reduced... or rather, I made sure of it. On top of that, the fine's already been paid off, so she's a free woman now. And just so you know, this wasn't my own decision—it was the Royal Family's. They weren't about to keep the runner-up of the tournament locked up over something this trivial. From the Crown's perspective, that sort of thing reflects poorly on them."
So the five of us headed outside together. Branca had apparently expected Amour to still be confined until at least tomorrow or the day after, so she was somewhat surprised that Amour could leave right away, but she said it would make it easier to plan things out from here.
Amour was overjoyed to be released, and for some reason tried to follow me, but Branca told her they needed to talk about what had just happened and what came next, and Amour was promptly dragged back to the inn without much of a fight.
"Anyway, Tenma, head to the castle from here. My mother's calling for you. It's probably about the Golem."
The commissioned Golem was already finished, so the timing was perfect for a handoff.
"Understood."
I nodded at Lyle's words and climbed into the carriage that had been prepared for us.
For a while after that, the three of us chatted as the carriage swayed along. During the trip, Luna kept insisting on seeing the Golem ahead of time, and Lyle piled on to support her, which made things difficult—but the moment I said we had to show it to Maria first, they both quieted down so quickly it was almost comical.
"I'm sorry about calling you over so suddenly."
Once we arrived at the royal castle, the two of them led me directly to the reception room where Maria was waiting. The King and the others still seemed to have work left to do, so the only people present were Maria, Isabella, me, and the two who had guided me here. Tida had been gradually taking on more work recently, and apparently she hadn't finished her share yet. Incidentally, the work she'd been assigned involved protecting and breeding animals native to the area around the Royal Capital—she was apparently hard at work drafting ordinances and converting roughly half of the land where hunting had previously been permitted into a protected zone.
"I hate to rush you, but if you have anything completed, could you show us?"
I nodded at Maria's request and took out several Golems. As it happened, there wasn't a single royal guard in the room, which in itself showed just how much I was trusted.
Following Maria's request, I pulled a ring, a bracelet, and a necklace from my bag, infused them with Magic Power, and placed them on the floor. The ornaments lying on the ground were swallowed up one after another, and three Golems materialized.
The Golems came in three types: "Defense," "Attack," and "Speed." The Defense and Attack types were improved versions of the Golems I'd been using before, so both shared a similar shape, but the Speed type was newly built, making it the only one with a dramatically different form.
"These two don't look all that different from the ones we saw before."
"I suppose the differences come down to whether they're equipped with a shield or wielding swords in both hands?"
Maria and Isabella examined the two side by side and offered their impressions. However, Lyle, as Minister of Military Affairs, was focused on much finer details.
"The Defense type is truly a 'walking wall.' It's built thicker overall than the Attack type, with shield mounts on both arms and both shoulders—those shields could double as blunt weapons too. But given all that weight, I wouldn't expect any quick movements. The Attack type has its shoulders, elbows, fingers, knees, and toes all sharpened to points. And the sides of its arms have been lightly honed, so even without weapons, swinging its arms alone would deal considerable damage. If the Defense type is a heavy warrior with a shield, then the Attack type is more of a swordsman who can handle close combat too. Now, the Speed type is the real question..."
Sure enough, given that Lyle handled all military matters, he had grasped the general features of both the Defense and Attack types at a glance. However, when it came to the Speed type—a design he'd never seen before—he seemed unsure how to evaluate it.
The Speed type had an extremely slender build that was close to a human silhouette. Yet while it stood 170 cm tall, its arm span exceeded two meters when fully extended. Its face was completely blank. It looked like an awkward mannequin come to life, and all four people who saw it visibly grimaced. Even I, its creator, would probably be so startled if I encountered it standing in a hallway in the middle of the night that I'd flee on the spot.
But that was part of the design, too.
"It may not look like much, but this is the one with the most troublesome capabilities. Its biggest feature is that it can move like a human but also travel on all fours like a beast. That lets it move more nimbly and swiftly than a bipedal design. As for the blank face—I was hoping it would make enemies more cautious at a glance."
The image behind this Speed type was, in a word, an "ape." You might wonder why I didn't just make an ape-shaped model, but without sufficient size, it would be difficult to carry a protectee and escape in an emergency—the design assumes picking them up or cradling them. On the other hand, making it large while keeping the ape shape would add too much weight and hamper its movement. So I extended the arms, slimmed down the body to reduce weight, and lengthened the legs for speed even on two feet. The result was a Golem that turned out a little unsettling to look at. Granted, this was partly due to my lack of artistic sense, but there was no need to mention that.
"I see. So the Speed type can serve not only to confuse the enemy but also as a ride for the protectee in a pinch. The material... is that Mithril?"
I nodded at Lyle's words.
For a lightweight yet durable material, Mithril was the first thing that came to mind, so I modeled its arm after the one I'd made for Namiitarou and wrapped Mithril around the magic iron to construct the Speed type. Because the Speed type was so slender, I had concerns about its durability, but using Mithril promised dramatically improved strength and speed compared to building with magic iron alone.
Watching Lyle nod repeatedly with admiration as I explained, I felt a strange sense of wonder. He was always making wisecracks and acting the fool, but in moments like these, I was reminded once again that this man was the genuine article—a true Minister of Military Affairs.
"Tenma, can we test its performance?"
Lyle touched the Speed type with a look of wonder in his eyes, like a child who'd just received a new toy, as he asked his question. Beside him, the actual child was equally fascinated. It seemed that the Speed type, which had looked so eerie just moments ago, had now transformed into an object of curiosity once they'd gotten used to seeing it.
"I could, but... we really can't do it in here."
When I said that, both of them pulled disappointed faces and started grumbling, but they quieted down at Maria's cough. Besides, this Golem had originally been created as a trump card for when the royals came under attack, so it wasn't something that should be flaunted in front of just anyone. That meant it shouldn't be used not only in this room, but even in the training facilities at the royal castle.
The two fell silent for a while, but then Luna's face suddenly lit up with a beaming smile, as if an idea had just struck her.
"Grandmother! The Audience Hall would be fine, right? It's spacious and built sturdily!"
"Luna! That's a great idea! Mother, that being the case, we'll step out for just a bit."
Luna's suggestion was immediately seconded by Lyle, and before Maria had even given her permission, he was already on his feet and walking out.
Maria let out a sigh, probably thinking that even if she stopped the two of them now, they'd just end up doing it somewhere else when she wasn't around, and gave her leave with a resigned exhale.
Hearing her permission, the two stood proudly before the Golem, but that was when a problem arose.
"By the way, Tenma, how do we even move this thing?"
At those words, Maria let out a deep sigh, and Isabella wore a faint, exasperated smile.
"For the time being, it's set to follow anyone's commands, so let's go ahead and register Lyle and Luna for now."
In truth, if I simply told the Golem to "return to normal," it would revert back to its ornamental form. But if they were going to carry it out of here, it would be better to register both of them as masters right away so that no one else could use it. In the end, I planned to register the other royals besides the owner as second and third masters as well. By the way, master registration was restricted so that no one other than me, the creator, could perform it. Without that safeguard, things could get very complicated if the Golem were ever stolen.
The registration process was simple: after I channeled my Magic Power into it, the person to be registered as master pressed their blood onto the core, then activated it with their own Magic Power, and that was it. By repeating this procedure, any number of people could be registered as masters. However, priority among masters was determined by the order of registration—if the first registered master and the second registered master issued commands simultaneously, the first master's command took priority and the second master's command was discarded.
Once I finished explaining the registration process, I returned the Golem to its ornamental form and channeled my Magic Power into it. All that remained was for one of the two to press their blood onto the core and activate it, completing the registration. So I held out a knife for that purpose, but Luna hesitated when she saw it.
Seeing that, Lyle took the knife from her, pressed the blade against his own finger to draw blood, applied it to the core, and activated it—completing his master registration in one go.
True to form, Lyle didn't flinch at the thought of cutting his own finger, but the knife had sliced deeper than he'd expected, and I ended up having to treat the wound.
"Well then, we're heading out!"
"Off we go~!"
The way they dashed out of the room together, in high spirits, made it unmistakably clear that the two of them shared the same blood.
"So, Tenma staying here means I can take it that you have business with me?"
After seeing the two off, Maria straightened her posture and addressed me. As expected of Maria — she had seen through the fact that there was a reason I hadn't accompanied the two of them.
"In that case, would it be better if I weren't here?"
Isabella tried to stand up from her chair to be considerate toward me, but I held her back and asked her to stay. After all, being alone with Maria in a closed room would sound bad. If things went wrong, some people might even suspect we were in a romantic relationship. Particularly those connected to the Reformist Faction.
"Well, there are bound to be people who'd make trouble out of anything, so it's better if Isabella stays too. It's not like we're discussing anything you'd be embarrassed to hear, is it? Things like Tenma's marriage, for example."
She had a perfect grasp of both my reasons and the content I was about to discuss. It really saved me from having to beat around the bush.
"Yes, that's exactly right. I heard from Aina that my marriage partner needs Maria's approval, and that my mother is somehow involved in it... Is that true?"
To my question, Maria didn't change her expression one bit.
"Yes, that's right."
she answered.
The publication of "Adventurer of Another World Reincarnation" has been decided. The publisher will be Mag Garden Novels, with an expected release in April.
In the future, I plan to share more detailed information through activity reports and such.
I hope you'll continue to support "Adventurer of Another World Reincarnation."