“Whoa, what a catch!”
“We went a little deeper into the forest today.”
A massive boar the size of a cow.
They’d hauled it back on a golem’s back, and Alicia stroked it with a proud look on her face.
Two weeks had passed since we began pioneering the Sariel Great Forest.
Life in a place that had started with absolutely nothing was slowly, gradually finding its footing.
For now, the division of labor looked like this: I handled village construction and developing new golems, Makina took care of everyone’s household chores and doubled as my escort and assistant, and Alicia’s group handled exploration and hunting in the surrounding area.
Ideally I’d add Makina to Alicia’s expedition team too — it would speed things up considerably — but Makina herself had proposed that guarding me should be her top priority, and so that’s how the roles ended up split.
Having me tag along on hunts would probably solve it, but Alicia’s group shot that down flat.
Even with Makina there, they couldn’t bring an amateur like me into dangerous hunts. That was their position.
They’d been top-tier adventurers, and their professionalism on that front was genuinely solid.
“Pretty impressive, right? It’s been a while since we’ve bagged prey this big.”
“I worked super hard too, just so you know!”
“No really, I’m so grateful for all of you. If it were just me and Makina, we’d be swamped with the village work alone.”
“……Come to think of it, what were you doing in the village, Lord Viktor? You’re absolutely covered in mud.”
Alicia gave me a puzzled look at the state of my clothes.
Oh right — I hadn’t mentioned it to the three of them yet.
“I was looking for clay.”
“Clay?”
“Yep. I need it for a furnace.”
Being able to work metal in a furnace would dramatically expand what we could do.
On top of that, making pottery, using it in construction, using it as golem material — clay has all kinds of uses.
So I’d gone around digging in spots all over the village with the Talos-type until I managed to find a clay layer.
“I see. By the way, is the workshop finished?”
“About eighty percent. Want to come have a look?”
“Absolutely!”
“Then I’ll take this Great Boar to the food storage.”
So we handed the Great Boar off to Makina and headed to the newly built workshop.
Walking along the packed-earth path, a large building came into view at the edge of the field.
Built from interlocking logs, it had a simple, rustic look — but it was impressively substantial.
“Whoa, it’s huge!”
“Well, combat-type golems get pretty big. The workshop has to match.”
“Looks amazing! What’s it like inside?”
“Come on in.”
I opened the large wooden door and inside, a row of workbenches came into view.
Lined up beside them were Hermes-type craft golems.
Originally developed for running general errands, I’d modified their hands for precision work — a new direction for that line.
With instructions from me or Makina, they can handle most tasks. Extremely useful.
Further in the back were large shelves for storing materials, with various things organized and set aside.
Most of what was stored there right now was timber, so it looked a bit like a lumberyard — but still.
“This is incredible! Does that mean these guys will handle everything, even without Lord Viktor doing anything?”
“I’m still doing all the design work myself. They can only build golems I’ve specified.”
“So a human still has to be involved for that part.”
“I’m aiming to eventually automate that side of things too.”
Well, of course — the goal was a life of doing nothing and lazing around with a maid, after all.
Though getting there still seemed like it was some ways off.
Even if I ever got free of designing golems, a pioneering domain lord had plenty of other work.
“How many can you make in a day if you have the materials?”
“Depends on the type, but for Talos I could probably do three a day.”
“Huh, that’s pretty impressive!”
“Oh right — do you have the magic stone from that Great Boar?”
“Of course.”
With that, Alicia produced a glowing red magic stone.
About one size smaller than a fist, roughly.
For a beast that massive, it was a reasonably good-quality stone.
Not enough for an autonomous-type, but it should work fine as a golem core.
“Let’s use this and try building a new golem right away. A Talos-type, I think.”
As soon as I gave the word, the Hermes-types got moving.
First they brought timber from the back, then began processing it with saws and other tools, quick and efficient.
It looked for all the world like a team of seasoned craftsmen working in concert.
With golems, since their logic circuits are identical, coordinating with each other comes more naturally than it does with humans.
Standing there watching, the timber was carved into golem components before our eyes, fitted together one by one.
“Man, wild! The day we have a golem army isn’t far off.”
“This means the day I lead a golem force might be coming too.”
“You’d suit a general’s title, leader.”
“Getting there requires materials, among other things. With what we have on hand, the additional numbers we can manage are — five Talos, three Failnote, three Demeter, two Hermes, roughly.”
Fundamentally, producing golems requires magic stones.
That’s the real bottleneck, honestly.
That said, living in a demon frontier means hunting gives us a supply — so there’s that.
Before too long, maybe we should run a large-scale sweep specifically to stock up on magic stones.
Get rid of the monsters and the area around the village gets safer too.
“What if we just made a monster ranch?”
“Idiot, there’s no taming monsters that vicious!”
“Oh. Yeah, fair enough.”
Alicia shot him down and Ganz immediately dropped the idea.
Right then, the workshop door swung open and Makina came in.
“Everyone, it’s nearly time for dinner.”
“Oh, what’s on the menu today?”
“Since we have Great Boar meat, let’s do grilled meat. I’ve already cut it into pieces that will be easy to cook. There are also some vegetables prepared.”
“Yes!!“
Everyone doing physical work all day — of course they all love meat.
And so we ended up having ourselves a barbecue.