Editor: Tseirp
“Welco, Duke Rondo.”
“I’m terribly sorry for the sudden visit, Princess. Today, we’ve moved in next door, so I’m here to offer our housewarming greetings.”
“Housewarming greetings?”
Ryo said with a smile, but Princess Shio Fen didn’t quite understand.
Perhaps in Bosuntar, there was no custom of giving congratulatory gifts to neighbors when moving in.
Nevertheless, with the help of the White Fla Army, the housewarming gift— baked sweets from a popular pastry shop in Hanlin, the imperial capital— was delivered.
Forty boxes, each containing fifty cookies.
A total of two thousand.
“Please distribute them, at your discretion, to all who work in the residence.”
“Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”
Princess Shio Fen said with a smile, bowing her head.
By distributing them under the Princess’s na, her reputation among the workers would improve.
Of course, the Princess was the second-highest authority in the residence, after the Prince.
But at the sa ti, she was a foreigner.
To be honest, the workers were watching closely:
“Is this person worthy of serving?” “How will they treat us?”…
So, give them this—was Ryo’s intention.
If it were simply the Princess giving out cookies… it might make her seem frivolous.
Flattering the servants too much could invite criticism regarding her dignity and authority.
But if the cookies were gifts from the Duke of Rondo and distributed under the Princess’s discretion, the impression would be different.
Yes—leading people is a tricky and troubleso business…
Act too proud, and you’re shunned.
Act too humble, and you’re looked down upon.
The balance is truly delicate.
“Please, co inside.”
“Oh no, today is just a quick greeting for the move.”
“Please don’t say that. If I let you leave now, I’ll be scolded by Ryun-sama.”
The Princess insisted more strongly than usual.
Ryo tilted his head slightly, but in the end…
“Well then, just for tea.”
Ryo, Abel, Princess Shio Fen, Captain Bizis, and the maid Mifa.
The five shared tea and light conversation. Then Princess Shio Fen brought up a topic:
“Ryo-sama, Abel-sensei—I have sothing I’d like to confirm.”
“Hm?”
“ too?”
Princess Shio Fen smiled as she spoke.
Ryo and Abel tilted their heads.
“It’s about Abel-sensei’s true identity…or rather, his status.”
“Ah.”
Ryo gave a wry smile and nodded at the Princess’s words.
Indeed, the three here knew that Abel was not ‘Albert’ but ‘Abel’.
With how well-known the ‘Ballad of the Kingdom of Knightley’ had beco, even Ryo understood that it was only a matter of ti before soone figured out who Abel really was.
And of course, Abel himself knew it too.
“I’m an adventurer and a swordsman. And I’m Mifa’s swordmaster. At least for now, that’s all I am—nothing more, nothing less. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, understood.”
That was the entirety of the exchange between Abel and Princess Shio Fen.
But with that, it was confird—Abel was indeed Abel the First.
However, for now, he would act as an adventurer.
Also, he was Duke Rondo’s guard ‘Albert’, and wanted to be treated as such.
One day, he might reveal his identity as Abel I, but that day was not today.
“However… I would like to inform Prince Ryun alone…”
“Ah, well…”
Ryo glanced at Abel, who gave a small nod.
“He says that’s fine.”
“Thank you very much.”
And lastly…
“Ryo-sama, the mansion next door must be quite large for just the two of you. Shall I arrange for attendants or maids? I can send so from my household.”
“Oh, I completely forgot! No need, Princess. We’ll manage sohow.”
“Sohow?”
“Well then, we’ll be going. Abel, let’s return. Princess, Captain, Mifa—thank you for the hospitality. We’ll visit again properly another day.”
With that, Ryo and Abel hurried back to their mansion.
Upon returning, Ryo said one thing and shut himself in his room:
“I’m about to concentrate on a project. Please do not disturb except for snacks and als. Also, please refrain from using the big bath today. That is all.”
His expression was so full of determination that Abel could only nod.
Not that it was a problem for Abel—
He had planned to practice flying around the new garden with the flight ring anyway…
Abel called for Ryo only once, at dinnerti, as instructed.
Dinner had actually been delivered in a layered box—like a bento—from the neighboring residence of the Prince and Princess.
Ryo ca out of his room to eat, but he was clearly distracted.
Still, he ate properly… then shut himself in again.
Abel was never told what he was working on.
He found out the next morning.
The next morning, Abel woke at six.
As a rule, Abel always rose at six. His body rembered the ti.
When he first beca king, he rose even earlier but realized his early rising forced everyone else to wake up even earlier too… so he settled on six.
Apparently, even a king can’t just wake up whenever he wants.
He stepped out to swing his sword.
Just as he planned to do in their new base of operations—when sothing caught his eye.
It wasn’t an enemy.
Sothing was opening windows and doors.
In Darwei, houses didn’t have glass windows.
They were either open or shut.
This mansion had forty rooms.
Naturally, the number of windows was vast…
Sothing was opening them all.
What was it?
“A golem…?”
Abel muttered.
It was a humanoid figure, about 1.5 ters tall, light blue, and bipedal.
“So that’s what he was working on yesterday in his room? Impressive…”
Abel was genuinely impressed.
“No need for attendants or maids”, Ryo had said—and this was what he ant.
Abel was a king.
He knew that the Royal Alchemy Workshop of the Kingdom of Knightley had been researching combat golems.
Led by the genius alchemist Viscount Kenneth Hayward, even he struggled with the project.
Creating simple moving puppets was doable.
Like the quadrupedal golems used by the Union.
But bipedal movent was so difficult that the research had been suspended.
Especially when those golems had to function in battle—it added layers of complexity.
“Huh? This golem walks on two legs…”
Abel noticed the golem at work was, indeed, bipedal.
The Royal Alchemy Workshop had frozen biped research due to ti and labor constraints.
Yet here was a functioning, stable bipedal golem.
“Did the Royal Workshop secretly commission Ryo, who dabbles in alchemy as a hobby…?”
A highly unlikely possibility, he thought.
The Royal Workshop handled sensitive information and technologies, and access was heavily restricted.
Any collaboration with external researchers requires high-level approval.
Moreover, since Abel’s ascension to the throne, the Royal Alchemy Workshop had been placed directly under the king’s jurisdiction again.
It used to be managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but after Abel beca king, he reinstated the ‘Royal’ aspect by placing it under direct royal control.
As such, most related paperwork ca through Abel himself—but he had no recollection of any docunts regarding the resumption of bipedal golem research or any external commissions related to it.
Of course, if the person in question was Ryo, it wouldn’t be entirely impossible.
After all, Ryo was the Kingdom’s premier duke.
He had access to confidential information—referred to in the kingdom as ‘viewing privileges’—and his access was unrestricted.
That was sothing Abel had set by royal authority.
He was virtually the only noble with unrestricted access to the Royal Alchemy Workshop…
“Well, whatever.”
With that one phrase, Abel dismissed the things he didn’t understand.
He could just ask Ryo when he woke up.
That was the most efficient and reliable way to solve the problem.
A skill he had surely developed through his ti as king.
“Still, to think he managed to create a golem in just one night…”
The mont Abel said that, he caught a glimpse of sothing blue.
Not the golem in front of him—sothing else.
He moved a little and looked off into the distance.
“A second golem…”
That’s right—there wasn’t just one.
“No way…”
Abel ran through the mansion.
As a result, he discovered that ten golems were working.
It was as if the mansion had been taken over by golems…
At that mont, Ryo finally woke up.
“Good morning, Abel. You’re up early.”
He said sleepily.
“Did you spend yesterday making those golems?”
“Oh, you saw them? Yeah, it was tough. But I figured it’d be even harder for the two of us to go around opening all the windows, so I gave it my all.”
Ryo puffed out his chest slightly, showing off his hard work.
“Yeah, I think it’s amazing. As expected of you.”
“Aha, it’s not that big a deal.”
Ryo said, blushing a little at Abel’s honest praise.
“But to build them overnight… aren’t you better than Kenneth?”
“Oh, no, not at all. These golems just reuse the specs for the paddy-field maintenance golems.”
“Paddy-field maintenance— you’re talking about the rice fields in the Rondo Forest, right?”
“Yes, but the way you say it makes it sound so odd.”
Ryo replied with a wry smile.
“I reused the bodies as-is and rewrote the job functions. They can now open and close windows and doors, clean inside and outside the mansion…oh, and they also turn the corridor lights on and off.”
There were lights under the eaves and along the connecting corridors, but each had to be switched on manually.
“Each one had a little magic stone embedded in it.”
“That’s pretty amazing too. Turning them on one by one would be a hassle…well, in a normal mansion with lots of staff, it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“Exactly. But with just the two of us, it’s a real chore. So are way up high, and… Do we bring a chair or ladder every ti?”
“Probably.”
Abel nodded in response to Ryo’s question.
“They should’ve just made a centralized system where you press one button and all the lights turn on…”
Ryo said, shaking his head slightly. Abel gave a silent, wry smile.
“Oh, and these housekeeper golems can also carry luggage if you ask them to.”
“Seriously…? That’s aweso. Really convenient.”
Abel praised the golems enthusiastically.
But Ryo was frowning.
He seed dissatisfied.
“But they can’t talk, they can’t think for themselves. And they can’t fight either, so they can’t guard the mansion.”
“Ah…I see. That does sound like a problem.”
“But it’s fine. This isn’t their final form! Once the base is made, I can keep updating them. We live in the age of DLC—downloadable content!”
“Yeah, I have no idea what that ans.”
Abel shook his head slightly.
“And I haven’t linked them in a golem network, either. The golems of the Theocracy in the Western countries, Holy Knights, I believe they’re called. They could communicate and choose optimal combat strategies. The ones from QC Duchy didn’t do that, and even when I disassembled them, I didn’t find anything similar… I guess that’s why the Theocracy’s golems are considered the best in the West—not just because of power, but because of that part.”
“Sounds like a lot of impressive stuff.”
Abel was already out of his depth, so his responses were vague and automatic.
“I got to examine a damaged Holy Knight golem with Neil-san, and from what I learned… oh, but if I use water-attribute magic, the theory’s not that complicated. I just need to transmit the data via atmospheric moisture… information exchange basically works through variations in wave strength, right? Thinking about it that way, it might be fairly easy to implent.”
At the end, Ryo looked directly at Abel.
Was he seeking agreent?
“Y-Yeah. Do your best. I’m cheering you on.”
“…Abel, don’t just say sothing random.”
“That’s the vibe I got, so I went with it…”
Ryo shook his head with a sigh. Abel had tried to give an answer despite not being sure, and of course, it hadn’t landed.
“Still, it took six months to make the paddy-field golems, but these took only a day. Reusing existing data really is the key to shortening production ti.”
“I don’t really get it, but you an starting with sothing pre-existing and improving it properly? Yeah, that’s common in a lot of fields.”
“Humans are amazing.”
“Yeah, I won’t argue with that.”
Ryo nodded grandly, and Abel nodded in agreent without protest.
“Alright then, Abel. Now that we’ve got the housekeeper golems ready, let’s go explore the nearby restaurants today.”
“Oh, sounds good.”
The area around this mansion had many unoccupied mansions, except for the prince’s residence.
But it wasn’t tucked away on the outskirts of the capital—instead, it was a strangely empty pocket in an otherwise bustling part of the imperial city.
Just a short walk away led to lively streets full of shops.
“Co to think of it, these golems can’t cook, huh?”
“Right. I noticed that back in Rondo Forest too… for so reason, golems are terrible at cooking.”
“Really?”
Ryo tilted his head, and Abel followed suit, surprised.
“Cooking is just processing ingredients in a set way… asured amounts, fixed steps. It sounds simple.”
“Exactly. But the food still turns out bad. Sure, golems can’t taste-test, but if you follow exact asurents, that shouldn’t matter. But it doesn’t work.”
“That’s strange.”
“It is, right? I think it’s because every ingredient is a little different, and human cooks subconsciously make adjustnts. These guys can’t do that.”
“Huh… makes sense.”
“It’s like the failure of expert systems in early AI. But I can’t say for sure.”
Ryo shrugged.
Then he added sothing important:
“Finding a good cook is a very important matter.”
“No doubt about that.”
TLN: Please read my translations at tseirptranslations, I did not give permission to any site to host my translations.
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