The story rolls back — a few hours before our encounter with the Elves.
I was watching from inside the vehicle as the forest was cleared before my eyes at a startling pace.
“……This doesn’t look like building a road at all.”
A hundred Talos-types, felling trees one after another.
Behind them, a massive wheeled vehicle crept slowly forward.
Gaia — a leveling golem developed specifically for this project.
Its iron wheels flattened the uneven ground left behind by the felling in almost no time at all.
“Makina, how much further to Elven territory?”
“According to Mumul, the village to Elven territory is about ten days on foot. Given how far we’ve already come, we should be approaching the Bleached Bone Swamp at their border before long.”
“We’re that close already? Faster than I expected.”
“Construction and travel continued while you were sleeping, Master.”
This was in a sense the greatest advantage golems had.
No fatigue meant uninterrupted work around the clock.
Thanks to that, the absurd approach of building a road as we traveled wasn’t taking significantly longer than a normal journey.
Though with construction and movement continuing through the night, I was admittedly running a little short on sleep.
“That said — Elves. I’ve heard they’re known for being beautiful. Is that true?”
“I wouldn’t know. Though I imagine I am lovelier than any of them, having been crafted to perfection by Master’s own hands.”
“……Makina, why do you feel competitive about this?”
“I must be a perfect attendant in all things. I cannot afford to lose in something as vital as beauty to some demi-human of unknown pedigree.”
Quiet in tone, but carrying real conviction.
……Had she read my plan to potentially hire a beautiful Elven woman as a maid?
I’d been thinking that among the sturdy demi-humans of the Great Forest, the Elves — famous for their good looks — might have maid candidates who met my standards……
While I was inwardly flustered, Makina pressed further:
“That said, being attended by many maids is also Master’s dream. I will arrange additional maids in time by my own hand, so please wait a little longer. As for physical intimacy, I am also working toward making that possible at some future——”
“Right, I get it, I get it! Anyway — are we really settled on ‘Isvall’ as our town’s name?”
It seemed to be heading somewhere strange, so I changed the subject.
Makina tilted her head.
“Is something wrong with it?”
“It’s just — isn’t it a bit grand? We’re still a small village of under five hundred people.”
“You were the one who chose the name, Master.”
Well, I’d had a bit of wine in me at the time, and got swept up in the moment.
When Misha had proposed the name and told me it came from a mythological machine kingdom, it had sparked something — a sense of grand possibility.
So I’d settled on it impulsively, but now the gap between the name and reality was frankly enormous.
At the very least it needed to be a town of ten thousand — no, five thousand — before the name could hold its head up.
“……Lord Viktor!! There’s fog ahead!”
I was fretting over nothing when Alicia, who had ridden on ahead, came back.
Fog meant we were approaching the infamous Bleached Bone Swamp.
This was where things got difficult.
We couldn’t afford to lose our heading in the fog — the road had to stay straight.
That was half the reason we’d gone to the trouble of building a road all the way out here.
“……The compass has also stopped working. This was anticipated.”
“Alright, we survey as we go! Keep the road straight no matter what!”
And so we pressed into the Bleached Bone Swamp——.
――〇●〇――
“Nice to meet you. My name is Viktor — the lord of Isvall, the city just ahead.”
The Elves that Makina had found.
Somehow I managed to introduce myself to them with my dignity reasonably intact.
The fact that I nearly stumbled on “Isvall” is between me and nobody.
“Isvall? Never heard of it. Which of the Six Kings do you serve?”
“None of them. We’re an independent faction.”
“To add some detail — we have gathered the Kobold clan that previously traded with you and brought them under our banner.”
When Makina said that, the Elves’ manner changed noticeably.
Hearing a familiar name seemed to unsettle them.
“Kobolds under your banner? But the region they lived in was under the control of a Tyrant Snake subspecies.”
“A giant serpent, approximately thirty meters in total length?”
“That’s correct.”
“We exterminated it.”
At Makina’s words, the Elves’ confusion visibly deepened.
But as they looked around at the Talos-types and Lancelot-types standing nearby, they gradually nodded as though it was sinking in.
It seemed they’d accepted that we had enough strength to have actually killed the Great Serpent.
“……What do you want?”
“Trade.”
“With this much military force in tow?”
“We were told this swamp was a dangerous area.”
“And you built a road through it without asking?”
“I understand this swamp falls outside Elven territory. We’re free to build roads here.”
At that, the Elves made expressions that were difficult to read.
This swamp fell right around the boundary between Elven territory and the area outside it.
They had no grounds to object to us laying a road here.
For that matter, the Elven territory itself was just a unilateral claim on their part.
“……We can’t take suspicious characters like you into our nation.”
“Exactly — this is probably an invasion!”
More wary than I’d anticipated, even accounting for it.
No choice — time to hand over the gifts we’d prepared——
“……Look out!”
Makina suddenly threw herself over me.
A moment later, the roof of the vehicle was blown away.
Wh-what was that……!?
As I reeled, the Elves cried out.
“Of all the timing……!!”
“A monster from the swamp!!”
The savage magical beast of the swamp that Mumul had mentioned.
It had apparently decided we looked like prey——.