Report
"Excuse us, I presume this is Lord Viktor's carriage?"
On the day of my departure for the Great Forest, a group of unfamiliar adventurers called out to me while I loaded up a wagon with supplies.
"Um, and you are?"
"Pardon the late introduction. We are the adventurer party, 'Dawn's Blade.' His Excellency the Count requested that we escort Lord Viktor to the Great Forest."
The female swordsman leading the group bowed gracefully. Judging from her demeanor, she might be from a lower noble family. Her equipment was impressive, especially the finely crafted sword at her hip—it looked like a masterwork. The rest of the adventurers also wore costly gear, suggesting they were a well-known party.
Damn you, dad. He’s made it look like he’s assigned me bodyguards, but he must have given them orders to make sure I actually head to the Great Forest.
"I see. Well then, you can all ride in the wagon behind this one."
"This…wagon?"
The female swordsman frowned, her eyes fixed on the front of the wagon.
Oh, she thinks it won’t move without horses.
"Don’t worry. This wagon can move without horses."
"How does it work?"
"The wagon itself is a golem. Go ahead, hop in."
At my urging, the adventurers hesitated before cautiously climbing aboard the wagon. I got into another wagon separate from theirs. With the push of a switch, the wagon rumbled and began to move forward. Behind us, the waiting golems started to follow.
"W-What are those?! Some kind of strange monsters are behind us!"
"That’s a huge one! Is that... a Great Spider?!"
The six-legged farming golem, Demeter, rushed after us. Its insect-like appearance caused panic among the adventurers.
Come to think of it, the townspeople were freaked out by them at first too.
I quickly turned and waved my hands to signal they were mistaken.
"Don't worry! They're only my golems!"
"These things?! But they're not even humanoid!"
"I've got plenty of non-humanoid ones!"
With that, I stepped down on the accelerator. From the heart of the count's domain, our current location, to the Great Forest was about two weeks’ trip by horse-drawn carriage. We couldn’t afford to dawdle.
"I'm speeding up! Ensure you don't bite your tongues!"
"Huh? W-Waaaah!!"
The wagon roared as the scenery started to blur. And so, our group consisting of me, the adventurers, and the golems raced down the highway toward the Great Forest.
For adventurer Alicia Harney, this job wasn’t exactly pleasant. She didn’t mind escorting someone to the Great Forest, but her actual task was to make sure the count’s third son, who had been exiled, didn’t run away. Even though the pay was above average, Alicia would have normally turned this kind of job down immediately. However, since the request had come through her family from the count, she had no choice but to accept it, even if reluctantly.
Sending someone to their doom wasn’t a job that sat well with her.
With that burden weighing on her, Alicia and her party arrived at the designated meeting point... but just a few hours later, her grim mood had been completely shattered, for better or worse.
"Lord Viktor, who exactly are you?"
At the camp set up by the roadside, she questioned the Lord as they ate dinner. For the past few hours, she and her companions had been in a constant state of surprise. The wagon sped along the highway at impossible speeds, and the bizarre golems followed in tow. After stopping for the night, they were amazed again when giant construction golems built proper cabins in no time at all. Sleeping in actual houses on the way to the wilderness had never even crossed their minds.
"Who am I? I thought you knew; I’m the third son of the Stein family."
"That’s not what I mean. How did you come by such extraordinary technology?"
"Well, I worked pretty hard on my research."
His casual response made her frown. This level of technology seemed impossible to achieve by simple research. In fact, it would have been easier to believe that he was a survivor of some ancient civilization rather than the son of the count. That’s how bizarre she felt those creations were.
But without addressing her doubts, Lord Viktor finished his meal and pulled out a large doll from the wagon, fiddling with it.
"Is that a golem?"
For a moment, Alicia nearly mistook it for a real human girl. Its pale, delicate face was breathtakingly beautiful, and its lifeless limbs nevertheless possessed a certain charm. However, on closer inspection, the ball-jointed limbs revealed its true nature as an artificial being.
"Yeah. This is Machina, my masterpiece—a maid golem I’ve been developing for years."
"If you wanted a maid, couldn’t you just hire one?"
How much money must have been spent on creating such an intricate doll? Alicia wondered. Surely, with that amount, he could’ve hired several human maids.
Her dubious expression didn’t go unnoticed by Viktor, who simply shrugged, as though he didn’t understand her point.
"Unfortunately, human maids just can’t live up to my ideals."
"Your ideals, you say?"
"That's right. A maid should be beautiful, elegant, skilled in all household tasks, and knowledgeable…"
Viktor rattled on about his requirements passionately.
Why is he so obsessed with maids?
As Alicia stood there, dumbfounded while the lord continued, her companions suddenly returned from their watch with pale faces.
"Emergency! We need to leave immediately!"
"This is bad! Really bad!"
"What happened? Explain!"
"Wyverns!! A whole flock is headed this way!"
The man shouted, gasping for breath, and Alicia’s face twisted in horror at the worst-case scenario.
