“Teacher! Please let us go to find them, too!”
“Don’t be naïve! Teacher Boris and Teacher Fridos have already gone to the third floor to find the three trainees! You guys wait here!”
“But we cannot just keep waiting here!” Fendyr responded adamantly while the other trainees remained solemn.
It was natural for Fendyr to act like that because Lucia Shelman was her partner. She was bound to be extremely anxious, especially since she and Lucia had worked together for a long time and were very close.
However, both Treve, the illusionist and partner of Sio Howl, and Illyna, Davey’s partner, looked much more composed than before.
“Um… Illyna…” The twin sisters, Shayir and Fendyr, cautiously asked Illyna as they looked around with a worried face. “Are you okay?”
“Hm? Oh… Yeah. I was a little shocked at first…but I don’t really think that there would be any problems.” As she spoke, Illyna glanced at the Megatron, which was ruthlessly ripping apart battle ants over on the side.
The golem, which was listening to Davey’s orders to keep everyone safe, was nothing but a berserker. It stayed back, piercing through the evil beasts with its drill and shredding them into pieces with its electric chainsaw.
Illyna had seen that stupid golem act like that before.
‘How could I forget?’
She could never forget that scene, because the golem was acting exactly like the time when she, a so-called swordsmanship genius who had reached the most advanced level of Expert at the mere age of seventeen, had brutally lost even when she had her regular sword. The problem was that the Megatron’s movement and aspects of its destructive force had improved. It wouldn’t be all too effective on the Teachers who were at the Master level, but the golem would feel like a catastrophe to the trainees.
Currently, Boris and Fridos, the Teachers who were watching over the trainees, had left to find the three people who had fallen below. As such, the only person who would be able to do something in case of a sudden emergency was Sylia, an advanced elementalist. Everyone was anxious and worn out from the endless battle ants showing up. Normally, they would’ve left right away, but they couldn’t even do that since the structure of the ruins had changed for some reason.
“I wish the floor would just shake and then the three people would come back safely.” The twins mumbled woefully.
Some of the trainees agreed with them.
“Yeah. Let’s not worry too much about them. The Teachers have gone to find them.”
“Sio is there as well. His personality isn’t all that good, but his skills definitely are.”
“Davey will be there as well…”
“The problem is that the golem is here. Davey is a golem controller, as well as an alchemist.”
“Oh…”
The mood, which was beginning to lighten, suddenly became glum again.
‘They probably know as well.’
The Teachers, who were powerful Masters, were not able to find them although it had been a while since they had gone down. The trainees were thinking that the three people might’ve already been killed as dangerous beings roamed the third floor of the basement and under.
“There shouldn’t be a big problem,” Illyna mumbled bitterly as she glanced at the trainees.
“Pardon?”
“What do you mean?”
Illyna thought about how she should explain it to the puzzled trainees. Was she to say that Davey, who’s pretending to be a genius alchemist, was actually a Swordmaster? When she first had that realization, she herself had been flustered and had caused a fuss. She wondered if anything would change even if she told them that fact about Davey and how she had initially responded. Illyna kicked the ground with her toes as she contemplated.
Whoosh… That was when…
“Why is the floor… Heg, get out of there!” Illyna, who was staring blankly at the ground, shouted at Heg with wide eyes.
“Woah!!” Widening his eyes, Heg backed away with a scream. His face turned pale as he watched the ground he was just standing on turn red with steam.
“Wh… What is this?!”
“Children, get back!” Sylia immediately prepared Merden with a tense expression, since no one knew what would emerge from the melting ground. She expected to greet something that had the ability to melt this stone, a material that wasn’t even easily cut by [Aura Blade].
Sizzle… Then, as the floor turned red and began to melt into a big hole, some of the trainees gulped nervously.
“D—Don’t worry, children. I will keep you safe.”
‘What’s going to emerge?’
Unlike what they had expected, no monster came out from the hole. The only thing that could be heard was some light-hearted conversation between humans.
“Rinne assessed that efficiency is not good.”
“What makes the efficiency poor?”
“Analyzing data. Calculated that Sir Davey can go up faster than this. Called child exploitation. A disappointment to Rinne.”
“You said that you were old. I think you’re older than me.”
“Rinne, extreme overheating of the emotional circuit. Assessed as extreme anger.”
“You?!”
“Chosen missile drop-kick. Appreciated by Rinne!”
The conversation was so carefree that they didn’t seem like people who had just taken part in a bloody battle.
At the same time, a young man shot out from the big hole in the ground like he was hit by something. Then, a naked girl fiercely shot up in a kicking stance. Everyone stared at the both of them, feeling dumbfounded.
47. 5000 to 8
The exploration of the ancient ruin ended without any casualties. The only casualties were people who had been exploring the third floor before the trainees, so some were relieved by the fact that the trainees, who were the future of the knight order, had survived.
After the incident, an analysis had to be done. Of course, Sio Howl, Lucia Shelman, and Davey, the three people who were involved, had been called upon by the knight order’s headquarters.
Normally, Davey wouldn’t have a problem with meeting those people in the headquarters… But he had to decline their summoning.
‘I will come back after exterminating the little rat that has hidden in my territory.’
Davey wasn’t insane; although he was having some fun as a part of Alpha Reinforcements, a knight order part of the Last Wisp, his real job was as the seigneur of a territory. Furthermore, he was aiming to be a Roaming Knight who would support the knight order from behind, even though he was still a trainee.
Roaming Knights fulfilled their duties and contributed by delivering various supplies and resources, provided they could maintain their connection with the outside world. This meant that they had a different role from Anchor Knights who pledged to stay in the Zone of Evil. Of course, one would only be able to become a Roaming Knight if they were capable of providing continuous support.
Since the headquarters were in charge of thousands of people, they just allowed Davey to go; perhaps they weren’t able to find an excuse for him to stay.
Originally, Davey was planning to finish his business at the Heins Territory and return in time for Illyna’s test. He had also received a message that something big was going to happen soon at the royal palace. This was the first and only time he was going to be a good son by staying quiet, and this was going to end soon as well.
If what Milpieu, the vampire he had met at the basement of the ancient ruins, had said was true, an ignorant mosquito was now after him. Davey didn’t think she was lying, since vampires did come after and attack him when he had been at the Yellowstone Tribe’s village.
Davey’s bad relationship with the vampires had continued on from the Duchy of Felicity, but it was true that Davey didn’t have enough information to exterminate them. It was difficult to get a hold of their activities even with Jack—Aina—Helishana gathering information. A trace had to be left behind or picked up for it to become useful information; since they left nothing of that sort, vampires were just like untraceable aliens.
Perhaps it was the climate or Davey recognizing his natural enemy at the territory, but Davey felt no relief despite not experiencing an immediate attack. Still keeping a smile on his face, he mumbled from irritation, “I would kill him with a fly swatter if that mosquito would just get out.”
About a week had passed since Davey had returned to the territory. The five golems, excluding Rinne, were lined up in front of him and were making him feel extremely happy and satisfied. Although the overall formation was made by altering the things he had created in the Hall out of boredom and what he could access right now, he had created something very interesting. This was thanks to the overwhelmingly powerful output of power and delicate magic craftsmanship.
There was the Megatron, the close-range berserker and all-rounder golem that was the most senior member; Sniper, the powerful, target-specialized golem responsible for extremely long-range attacks that were kilometers away; and Juggernaut, the mid-range golem that would bombard the enemy with small, sharp metal bullets like a minigun to keep them away. There was also Puma, the golem that could change into the form of a huge cheetah; it was able to attack while moving, but it wasn’t as powerful as the others since it specialized more in mobility and gathering information. Lastly, there was Tanker, the armored golem car that had the same electric potential as Megatron, but had 80% of its combat power put into its defense power, and Rinne, the Elder Brain that would control all the golems.[1]
Rinne was filled with mysterious secrets and was the one that Davey had yet to figure out. He couldn’t analyze her since her memories were all mixed up, and she was made from ancient technology that he couldn’t figure out even if he opened her up. It was a little disappointing, but it wasn’t a complete loss as it gave him an idea of making a source of power as intricate and detailed as muscle tissue.
‘If I keep using ancient technology and improving it like this, maybe one day, I’ll charge at the enemy while wielding a light ray sword.’
Davey couldn’t hold in his smile, feeling proud and ambitious.
Furthermore, it seemed like Rinne had a self-recovery function, and she could recover with time. She just had to be provided with the necessary supplies.
“Davey…”
“…”
“Davey!!”
“Die while fighting, all you warri… Hm?”
“What are you talking about?!” Illyna shouted angrily, since she felt that Davey had ignored her for quite a while. When Davey turned around, she shouted while pointing at the golems. “Those things… Are they all the same as that unbelievable golem with the electric saw?”
“They are a little low-performance, since they are first versions, but yeah.”
The other golems had to be examined and had lots of room for improvement.
“Sigh… You made that horrifying drill with unique parts or something, too… Soon enough, they’re going to fly around.”
“I am thinking of doing that.”
‘You think I can’t do that?’
Since Davey answered that he would’ve tried right away if he had the materials, Illyna looked dumbfounded. Although the probability of success was low…
“Juniors looking competent. Rinne appreciates this!”
Illyna looked at Rinne in mild disbelief, because the emotionless Rinne was unable to hide her delight at all.
1. A life cycle in the Forgotten Realms in Dungeons & Dragons. It is composed of many brains and uses those as its source of intelligence. It also has the ability of telepathic communication and can sense creatures from far away. ☜
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