The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 16.

[…That thing, a core?]
The massive golem murmured.
[A small core.]
[Core. Of a golem.]
The other golems around began to stir.
I seized the moment and answered.
“Yes, it’s a core. I’ve come to return it.”
[Core, returns. To us?]
Ever since the great first discovery, the Golem Core became essential to any mage—it boosted mana just by possessing it, and could be refined into all manner of magical tools.
Charlotte naturally had a Golem Core of her own.
I’d rummaged through the subspace for a long time, and most of them had already been processed to craft magical tools; this was the only one that remained intact.
Thank goodness even this much was left.
“Look.”
I seized the moment while the golems had paused their assault and poured mana into the core. A warm glow bloomed across the fist-sized yellow sphere, and a thin veil of light settled over it.
As I slowly lowered it to the ground, the pebbles that had been rolling about in the swampland gathered around it, clattering together to form a small shape.
A moment passed.
[Chirp.]
The small golem opened its eyes.
[Baby, golem?]
[Small, golem.]
[It’s alive.]
“I restored the core.”
[Chirp, chirp!]
The awakened small golem waved its limbs and bounced about merrily. Given that it was only about two handspans in size, it looked like mere crumbs beside the massive golem.
[Baby, golem.]
[Chirp!]
All the golems bent their waists in unison and gazed down at the small one.
Once I confirmed that their hostility was subsiding, I let out a breath of relief.
“So, are you willing to make a deal with me now?”
[Human, baby, saved.]
[Mage, first time.]
[Heard, stories.]
[Deal, what?]
Thank goodness.
Now we could actually communicate.
I was terrified before.
I really thought I was going to become dried squid.
With a rumble and a tremor, the massive golem dismantled itself. I, too, quietly descended from the air and planted my feet on solid ground.
“Isn’t this habitat uncomfortable for you? The sunlight hardly reaches here, and it’s so damp—there’s probably moss all over your bodies.”
[Damp, moss. Can’t be helped.]
[This place. Humans. Don’t come.]
[No attacks.]
[We protect, our kind.]
Stone golems originally inhabited sun-drenched plains as demon beasts.
But centuries ago, when humans began hunting golems indiscriminately, they retreated deeper and deeper into remote, hard-to-reach places.
In the damp and humid swampland, golems couldn’t rest comfortably either, so they were left in a state of semi-wakefulness—startled awake by the slightest disturbance, just as they had been earlier.
[But human, moss, remove, help?]
“Oh, you mean what I did earlier? Yes. I thought if I scratched an uncomfortable spot, maybe we could talk more easily.”
[Didn’t know. We, apologize.]
“It’s fine. These things happen.”
I waved my hand dismissively.
“Anyway, so the real problem is humans hunting for cores?”
[Yes.]
“Wait here.”
I lined them up in a row and spread my arms wide.
Dozens of blue lights enveloped the golems’ bodies—more precisely, the areas where their cores resided.
Moments later, the light seeped into each golem’s body all at once.
“Listen, I’ve placed Protective Magic on your cores. Anyone foolish enough to attack them will trigger Reflection Magic—and every ounce of damage will come right back at them.”
[The core. It has hardened.]
[I feel it. A barrier.]
[Human, why?]
“Why? Because it’s my promise that I won’t hurt you.”
[Promise, strange. Human.]
The golems tilted their heads in unison.
Gone was any trace of the monster that had just hurled laser-bright glares at me, burning to strike me dead.
Looking at them this way, they really were gentle creatures.
[Kyuu!]
The smallest golem came thundering over and pressed itself against my leg.
I extended my hand.
“If you come with me, I’ll scrape off every bit of that filthy moss, and give you a dry, clean place to live. Will you come?”

***

Thud, thud, thud.
A deep rumble.
Without warning, objects across the study trembled and rattled.
Kaieus, who had been examining documents, narrowed his brows and lifted his gaze toward the window.
“…It can’t be.”
Had that woman’s avalanche already begun?
“My lord!”
In the next instant, Basil rushed through the door in urgent haste. Kaieus rose from his seat and pulled on his cloak.
“Where?”
“The Northern Mountain Range, sir.”
Kaieus’s face twisted visibly.
He’d scarcely ordered the fortifications built before disaster struck? Unless that woman was a prophet, how could an avalanche begin the moment she mentioned it?
No matter how he looked at it, the timing was far too convenient to be coincidence.
“What’s the scale of damage? Have the territory’s residents been evacuated? What are the dispatched mages doing?”
“That’s…”
Basil, who should have reported casualty counts and damage assessments before Kaieus even asked, hesitated.
Kaieus turned his questioning gaze upon him.
“Well?”
Basil’s lips worked silently for a long moment before he abandoned the attempt. He seemed unable to find the right words.
“I think it best if you see for yourself, my lord.”
That was all he would say. He turned and led Kaieus out of the Duke’s Castle at a quickened pace.
Throughout the ride toward the Northern Mountain Range, the trembling never ceased. If anything, the distant tremors seemed to grow steadily closer.
When they reached the midway point, Kaieus felt a sudden unease.
Thud, thud, thud.
The rhythmic vibration reverberating through the earth was oddly regular and sustained for an avalanche. Yet it didn’t quite match the tremors of an earthquake either.
Before long, their horses arrived at the territory’s outer edge. And there, Kaieus witnessed a sight beyond comprehension.
“…What in the world is that?”
At the far edge of the Snowy Mountain, where the forest began, enormous boulders were drawing near.
They were not tumbling down. They were walking toward him on two legs.
Kaieus, momentarily stunned, murmured aloud.
“…Golems?”
Why had these Demon Beasts come this far?
“Damn it.”
The golems of distant antiquity were said to be among the gentler Demon Beasts, but that was then. Now, any human who encountered a golem horde did not survive. They left no bodies behind.
The instant Kaieus leaped from his horse and reached reflexively for his sword, Basil caught his arm gently.
“Look there, my lord.”
Kaieus’s eyes shifted to where Basil pointed, and he froze.
The golem horde had reached the forest’s edge, and atop the head of the largest among them, a small human figure was perched, waving its arms.
“Hel~lo~ Your High~ness~”
…….
……?
“Could it possibly be…”
“Yes, my lord. It is Charlotte.”
“…How is this…”
“I’m afraid I have nothing to say on the matter, either.”
Basil bowed his head.
Kaieus didn’t turn to look at him. Or rather, he couldn’t. His gaze, rarely unfocused, was fixed squarely on Charlotte’s radiant face.
“I’m back!”
…What in the world has that witch done now?

***

“Say it again.”
“That’s already the third time you’ve asked me to.”
“Again.”
“…Allow me to present to you: golems who will serve as sturdy fortifications.”
Ta-da.
I threw my arms out as wide as they would go.
A chill silence fell over the hall.
If you didn’t want me to say it, why keep asking? This is mortifying.
Kaieus looked back and forth between the golems crouched in a neat line behind me and my face, then pressed his fingers to his forehead.
“Is this, by any chance, a challenge directed at me?”
“A challenge? Not at all. I’ve simply fulfilled the task you assigned me with utmost sincerity.”
I answered with perfect composure.
“You said all I had to do was build a wall within ten days. Fortifications made of golems are far more durable than those built from ordinary stone, wouldn’t you agree?”
Chirp!
The baby golem clung to my leg, nuzzling affectionately.
It’s too adorable.
Golems are the best.
“So you brought a herd of golems to my territory?”
“Yes. Why don’t you say hello? This one’s name is Golsoon. I named him on the way here.”
Kaieus shut his eyes tightly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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