“……Are you planning to conquer the world or something?”
The next day.
When I introduced the newly rebuilt Makina to everyone, Alicia said that with a grimace.
Misha folded her arms and chimed in in agreement.
“Level five hundred — that’s practically a Demon Lord! That’s insane!”
“A Demon Lord Maid does strike me as quite an appealing concept. What do you think, Master?”
“I think it has merit, actually.”
“No no no, having a supreme ruler working as a maid is wrong.”
“Is it really?”
Makina tilted her head, puzzled.
I didn’t particularly think it was that strange either.
That’s just what maids are, I felt.
After all — a maid must be the strongest.
“But seriously, does she actually have five hundred? Can you show us?”
“Agreed.”
At that, Ganz and Misha looked at her with skeptical expressions.
Makina had always been overwhelmingly powerful, but more than ten times stronger than themselves was apparently hard to swallow intuitively.
I immediately glanced over at Makina, and she smiled pleasantly and said:
“Then shall I give a small demonstration. Lord Viktor, do we have any Red Dragon scales left?”
“Yeah, plenty.”
“May I have one?”
“Sure.”
I immediately fetched a Red Dragon scale from the workshop.
We still had a large unprocessed stock on hand.
I handed it to Makina, and she lifted it in front of her face with her left hand.
And then——
“Hah!!“
She did something unthinkable — she jabbed at the scale with the index finger of her right hand.
——Crack!!
Her fingertip cut through the air and struck the scale with force.
A sound like a blank gunshot rang out, and a hole opened in the scale.
Well then, as expected of Makina!
She punched a hole through a dragon scale with a single fingertip.
Her evolution was unmistakable.
But the faces of Ganz and the others went rigid at the sight.
“W-well……being stronger is never a bad thing.”
“We have the battle with the Goblin King coming up too, so, it’s — r-reassuring……”
“It is not only strength. My processing capability has also improved substantially. It is likely far beyond human level at this point.”
“……Makina is loyal to Lord Viktor, right? This is fine, right?”
Apparently intimidated by how utterly flawless Makina was, Misha said that with a pale face.
Makina drew herself up with great dignity.
“But of course. I am prepared to offer everything I have to Master, down to the last hair on my head. If Master wishes it, I would lay down this borrowed life without hesitation. I dearly wish I could bear his children, and I am truly aggrieved that this body cannot — though the capabilities of this body Master has given me are in every other regard truly magnificent, and —— “
Makina launched into this at a ferocious pace.
The flood of words directed at me showed no sign of stopping.
……Was it my imagination, or had her loyalty grown even stronger with the new body?
Her emotional expressions and gestures seemed to have become more dramatic somehow.
Heightened loyalty was nothing but a good thing, so I had absolutely no complaints — but still.
Seeing Makina like this, everyone’s expressions did ease with visible relief.
“Anyway — Makina’s capabilities have improved enormously. This should give us a decent footing against the Goblin King when he comes.”
“Yes, Master. However, what makes the Goblins a threat is not individual strength but numbers. To counter that, further technological development will be necessary.”
“You mean we need more Lancelot-types?”
“That as well, but expanding our arsenal further is important. We should build a proper facility for research and development.”
Makina’s proposal made sense to me.
Building a Makina-led research facility had been part of the plan all along.
With the Kobolds joining the domain, we had a little more manpower to spare — it might be time to get started.
Beyond weapons development, improved technology would enrich everyday life in peacetime too.
“Alright — let’s build a research institute! I’ll put Makina in charge, but we’ll need a few researchers on top of that.”
“Yes. If you could select around ten people.”
When Makina said that, Misha shot her hand up immediately.
She turned to us with an eager question.
“If I become a researcher, will I get to learn Lord Viktor’s techniques!?”
“Of course — that’s the idea.”
“Then absolutely — I mean, please let me!”
Misha bowed her head with tremendous energy.
Hm, was she always this passionate?
I was a little caught off guard, but I had no particular reason to refuse.
She seemed to be an educated type who’d been through formal schooling. If anything, I’d been planning to ask her to join.
“Alright — Misha, you’re in. Anyone else interested?”
“Me too!”
“Lopul as well. Anyone else?”
Going through it like that, the candidates reached the ten people Makina had asked for.
For now, ten researchers plus Makina would make eleven — that would do.
The village population was growing, but it was still difficult to redirect that many people to a research institute.
Getting the equipment set up alone was quite an undertaking.
“Go ahead and start construction this afternoon. I’ll leave the layout and equipment to Makina.”
“Understood. I’ll have the researchers present during construction as well. Seeing what is being built should help them understand faster.”
“Good — do that.”
At my word, Makina set off with Misha and the Kobolds in tow.
From here on, technological development could be left in their hands without concern.
Makina in particular, having gained a dramatically higher level of intelligence through this upgrade, would surely produce remarkable technology one after another.
At last, serious technological development in this village was truly getting underway!
“Ahahahaha! The day my ambitions are realized is getting close!”
Sensing a bright future ahead, I laughed with great satisfaction.