“I wonder if Alicia and the others are alright……”
Two full weeks since I’d seen Alicia and Misha off.
The expected time of the Crawler mass emergence was nearly upon us.
I kept up with the daily administrative work, but my mind refused to settle.
I knew Alicia and Misha were capable, and I’d lent them five hundred Lancelot-types.
But the problem was the enemy — surging in at numbers in the billions. That was just too much.
“Worrying won’t change anything, my lord. Those two have been through worse.”
“I know, but……”
“If you keep looking like that, you’ll have the whole town scared.”
Kobolds seemed to be a timid species by nature.
Word of the Crawler mass emergence had spread, and the town’s Kobolds were frightened.
Ganz was right — at times like this, their lord needed to hold steady.
But that didn’t make the worry go away.
“……If you can’t settle down, how about a drink?”
“Absolutely not! It’s the middle of the afternoon!”
“Is it? Every noble I’ve ever known threw parties from noon onward.”
“That’s a small slice of the very wealthy. Until this town has a proper foundation, I have to keep working.”
Thanks to the golems’ labor, Isvall was reasonably prosperous.
But it was still closer to a village than a city in real terms.
There were too many things that only I, as the lord, could decide. I couldn’t afford to step away.
Besides, I wasn’t about to goof off while everyone around me was working hard.
Ganz looked thoughtful at that.
“So when things do settle down — you’ll actually let yourself relax?”
“Absolutely. I’ll slack off without mercy.”
“Huh……I figured you were just the serious type through and through. You never stop working.”
“That’s because putting in the effort now means getting to relax later!”
I was well aware that I was lazy by nature — but I was the kind of person who got things done before taking a break.
Otherwise I couldn’t enjoy the loafing with a clear conscience.
I also had a habit of saving the things I liked most for last.
“I see. So when you say relax……is that women, by any chance?”
“Pfft——!? Where did that come from!?”
“Figured I’d ask while it’s just us men.”
Ganz gave a good-natured grin as he said it.
Now that he mentioned it, having neither Alicia nor Makina nearby was unusual.
Ever since we came to the Great Forest, one or the other had always been watching over me.
“So? What’s the answer?”
“Well……I mean, it does involve women, I suppose. What I really want is to have a whole crowd of beautiful maids waiting on me and spend all day being pampered!!”
I said it with a completely straight face, and Ganz froze for a moment.
Oh no — had I gone too far?
I quickly considered playing it off as a joke.
But before I could, Ganz burst out laughing.
“Hahaha — what kind of answer is that! Now that’s a proper man’s dream if I ever heard one!”
“Maids are the dream of all mankind!”
“Though at that rate, Makina might be your biggest obstacle.”
“Hm?”
I blinked at him, and Ganz looked puzzled — then exasperated.
“Come on — Makina’s way too devoted to you. She’d never stand for another attendant.”
“……That’s probably true.”
“And look, she’s stunning, but she’s a golem, right? That’s got to cause its own problems. I mean the chest is impressive but hard as a rock——”
“Whose chest, exactly, is hard as a rock?”
The office door opened without warning.
Makina stepped inside, and Ganz went pale.
Makina’s hearing was extraordinary.
……She’d probably caught most of that conversation.
“Ahaha……That was — Alicia’s chest, always hard from all that armor?”
“Ganz, I have an experiment I’d like your assistance with later. Please come to the research institute.”
“Y-you’re not going to do human experiments, are you!?”
“Who knows.”
Makina smiled in a teasing way.
But the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She was genuinely angry. I could tell.
Whatever else, Makina was self-conscious about her body being made of metal.
Having the form of a human woman, she apparently harbored some longing for a softer body.
“But never mind that. Master — I’ve reached a stopping point in the research and came to give my report.”
“Oh, excellent! Then our preparations for the Crawlers are complete!”
“Yes. Production is being rushed as we speak — the moment it’s finished I’ll have it sent directly to Lady Alicia and the others.”
That would make the Elves’ victory all but certain.
With the weight of worry lifted, I let out a long breath.
But then Makina’s expression shifted — something uneasy in it.
“……What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking — this seems like it might be resolved rather too easily. Which made me wonder if we’re actually alright.”
“Isn’t that overthinking it?”
“The Goblin King appears to have been deliberately engineering this Crawler mass emergence. If so, it may not be so straightforward.”
Hmm — I’d considered that possibility myself.
But the Elves would have factored that in too.
Apparently they had some method of predicting the Crawlers’ route with precision, and had been using it to build strong walls directly in their path.
“But at this point, we have to trust the Elves——”
“My lord, it’s an emergency!!”
A Kobold came sprinting into the room.
Before any of us could react to the interruption, he shouted:
“The Crawlers — the Crawlers are heading this way!!”
“……What!?”
The peace was shattered.
I was out of my chair before I knew it.