“So the Goblin Lord arrives in about a week?”
“Yes. He said the night of the next new moon. If we submit to the Goblin King and become his slaves, we have until then to gather everything the village owns.”
In the village chief’s house, deeper inside the settlement.
We were hearing the full details of the situation.
According to the chief, the Great Serpent that had protected the village started going wrong about three months ago.
After that, the village warriors challenged it two months ago, trying to restore its sanity — and failed.
The Goblin Lord had exploited the power vacuum that created, delivering his ultimatum to the village exactly one month ago.
“A week’s grace. What kind of numbers are we looking at from the enemy?”
“Let me see……the Goblin Lord and a handful of upper-tier officers. Then roughly three hundred Goblin Elites as regular troops.”
“More than I expected……that’s a full army.”
“And Elite-class being counted as common soldiers……that’s something.”
Alicia and the others went grim at numbers that far exceeded expectations.
I grimaced a little too.
Normally, a goblin horde meant twenty or thirty at most.
Three hundred — even for goblins — was knight-order territory.
And with a Lord and upper-tier officers on top of that, a village like this wouldn’t last a moment.
The fact that this was just one of the Goblin King’s subordinates and his forces alone said a lot.
We’d need considerable strength of our own to stand against this……
“Can we delay the deadline?”
“That would be impossible. Goblins don’t have a concept of waiting.”
“Fair enough. Then we have no choice but to build as much strength as we can in one week.”
“Build strength……?”
My phrasing seemed to catch the chief off-guard.
Right — normally you’d recruit fighters or train people.
But in my case, build was exactly the right word.
“I’ve heard this village has magic stones and ores stored away. We’ll absolutely need them for this battle — where are they kept?”
“In the storehouse near the mountain. Allow me to show you.”
He rose from the floor and began walking slowly.
We followed along, and before long a large building came into view at the edge of the village.
Built from stone, it stood out as strikingly more solid than anything else in the village.
“……They’ve really been stocking up.”
“You can tell just from outside?”
“The magic stones are leaking a little mana.”
Hm, impressive — Misha could pick that up just from getting close.
I was still marveling when the chief came to a stop in front of a large door.
The door was metal, with a light patina of rust.
“……What is stored inside is our village’s greatest treasure. You may use it for the battle, but please — handle it with care.”
“Of course. Not a bit of it will go to waste.”
“Then……”
The chief slowly pushed the door.
It swung open with a heavy groan, and the storehouse contents came into view.
Oh…… this is more than I expected……!!
The chief’s warning had been well-placed.
“Unbelievable — look at all these magic stones!”
“And over here — mithril!”
“No way! This is amethyst! That’s valuable!”
With resources like this, I could produce a substantial number of golems and weapons.
The magic stones especially — there had to be several hundred of them.
Most likely harvested from monsters over the years and set aside.
“Let’s get these back to base right away and start building golems. Chief, could you lend me a few of your villagers — people with dexterous hands?”
“Certainly. I’ll find you some suitable candidates.”
“Please let me go too! I want to help!”
Lopul raised his hand with conviction.
The chief nodded in approval.
“Very well. Don’t cause them any trouble.”
“Yes!”
“Then start by helping us carry the resources out of the storehouse.”
And so we borrowed the Kobold village’s resources and manpower and headed back to base, to build our fighting strength.
――〇●〇――
“This is……the golem workshop?”
“That’s right.”
That night.
Having rushed back to the village, I was giving Lopul and the others a tour of the workshop.
Starting from today, they’d be working here for the next several days building golems.
I’d keep things within reason, of course, but this was an emergency — the labor was going to be grueling.
They seemed to understand that, because every face was serious.
“What I need from you is to produce golem parts, nonstop.”
“Golems — you mean the ones moving around your village?”
“Right. Although what you’ll be making are a type that isn’t in the village yet.”
With that, I picked up a rolled paper from the corner of the workshop.
I spread it open and held it up for the assembled Kobolds to see.
On it was a blueprint of a golem shaped like a suit of armor.
“Ohhh……it looks strong……!”
“This is the Lancelot-type, a golem built for close-range combat. I need a hundred of these produced within one week.”
“A h-hundred!?”
The Kobolds immediately let out something close to a shriek.
They shook their heads frantically and said in a fluster:
“There’s no way we can build this many of something this complex!”
“Impossible, impossible! Even ten would be difficult, let alone a hundred!”
There were ten of them in total.
Add the Hermes-types already in the workshop and that was fifteen.
So fifteen workers couldn’t produce a hundred units in a week — how was that possible?
It would certainly be hard work, but it wasn’t an unreasonable quantity.
“No — you can do it. Walk me through how you’re picturing the process.”
“Well, we’d all work on processing the wood together, then assemble……”
“Hmm? Everyone processes first and then you all assemble?”
At that, the Kobolds looked at me like I was stating the obvious.
Ah — with that approach, yes, it would take forever.
“I see. When we’re producing something in large quantities here, we use assembly line work.”
“Assembly line?”
“You divide the work into stages and each person handles their stage.”
I had everyone look at the tables laid out in front of them, then pressed the switch on the underside of one.
Immediately the belt laid across the tabletop began moving.
“Each person places their finished component on this and passes it along to the next person. Keep that going in a cycle and a hundred units in a week should be achievable.”
“Ohhhh……! What an efficient method……!”
“I had no idea this kind of approach existed! It’s……incredible……!”
The Kobolds were thoroughly impressed.
I’d thought of them as a culturally advanced race, but apparently not quite up to human standards in this regard.
Though honestly, I’d never seen an assembly line running in any workshop other than my own either.
It was so simple and convenient — surely everyone must be doing this.
“I’ll be assisting around the clock as well, so let’s give it everything we’ve got.”
Makina said it with a warm smile.
She was already going around to each person, distributing coffee cups and pouring.
And so our battle began in earnest.