Chapter 28 – Defeat
08-28 Defeat
Content warning: depictions of violence.
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That day, Reinhardt went to visit Stearina’s house in the morning.
It was to discuss things regarding the control of golems. For that reason he brought his own work, Schwarz Ritter, with him.
As he had also been cautioned by Jin, he had five guards deployed in the surroundings of the house. Originally the guards had been soldiers dispatched from Shouro Empire.
“Welcome, Reinhardt-kun.”
Since last night Stearina had got to calling Reinhardt with ‘-kun’.
“Hey, good morning Stearina.”
Even Reinhardt addressed her without an honorific.
They proceeded inside, and he was led to a spacious living room. There stood two golems and two Automata Stearina had made.
“Right now, this is my masterpiece.”
“Hmm, it’s wonderful.”
One of them was the same type as the crystal golem ‘Ceres’ that had been previously destroyed during the golem party, and the other was a steel male-type golem.
The Automata were in the form of a girl in her late teens and an adult woman.
“The golems are ‘Eris’ and ‘Caster’. The Automata are ‘Sylene’ and ‘Mylene’
After quick introductions the two got into their discussion. They both had true artisan’s spirits.
“About that crystal golem, from what I can tell, it moves using the [Forming] magic, right? Isn’t the Magic Energy efficiency extremely bad?”
Reinhardt asked, and Stearina answered.
“That’s right. However, simultaneously with [Forming] the mobile parts have [Softening] applied to them to weaken them.”
“Hmm, I see. I suppose it’s then about 30 percent more efficient than using only [Forming]?”
“That’s exactly right. In practice it’s around 25 percent. Long periods of operation are impossible, you see. Although, a crystal golem’s purpose isn’t in its practical use.”
Reinhardt also could agree with that.
“That’s right. Seeing Ceres for the first time was startling. You took it to a direction someone like me would never think about.”
“Oh my, thank you. …So, how about Caster?”
Of course, this was about the male-type golem.
“Hmm, it’s the same male-type but, maybe because it was made by a female Magi Craftsman, it’s got a certain style.”
It indeed was a man with delicate features, or something like that. Maybe it could be likened to a male character drawn by a shoujo manga artist.
After Reinhardt told her that, Stearina let out a little laugh and said,
“I’m not much into rough men, you see.”
Reinhardt ignored that.
“As for the structure of the golem’s main parts, what did you use?”
“I used Soft Magi Resin.”
Soft Magi Resin was a typical material for a golem’s main parts. It was resin taken from a tree that contained Magic Energy, a ‘Magi Pine’.
In short, you could think of it as pine resin that contained Magic Energy. If Magic Energy was important you could mix in powdered Mithril, if weight was you could mix in lead. It was popular to change the additive depending on its use.
For battle-type golems, jewels tinged with Magic Energy of Magi Stone quality at the very least were used. The golems that Jin once beat that became the bases for Gon and Gen had been golems like this.
Golems like Jin’s with a skeleton and muscles were rare.
“How about the additive? My Schwarz Ritter uses finely powdered Mithril and Adamantite.”
Reinhardt disclosed a small secret regarding his own Schwarz Ritter.
“Oh, finely powdered Adamantite you say? What kind of an effectiveness does that have?”
“One is weight. Adamantite is heavier than lead, you see. The other is…Want to guess?”
Reinhardt said with a mischievous smile.
“Hmm, let’s see…I don’t know. Adamantite dampens Magic Energy, while Mithril lets it diffuse. They seem to counter each other.”
Stearina said, and Reinhardt gave her a hint.
“Almost but not quite there. I never said that I mixed them.”
After that hint Stearina apparently got it. She was indeed a top-class Magi Craftsman.
“I’ve got it! Some parts have Mithril in them and some parts have Adamantite, right?”
“That’s correct. The arms and legs have Mithril. The torso has Adamantite. The fingers and the feet from ankles to toes have Adamantite in them. Different things for different purposes, no?”
Stearina gazed at Reinhardt with a look of admiration on her face.
“You’re amazing indeed. Well, in that case I’ll…”
Stearina was about to say something when there was a loud noise.
“What’s that?”
“It came from the entry hall?”
Reinhardt and Stearina stood up nearly simultaneously and went to the hallway.
“!!”
There stood four golems, all over two meters tall and colored a dull silver. They recognized the design of the armor and the helmets.
“It can’t be, the Unifilers!?”
“Why are they here!? What happened to the defense golems on the streets of Dali?”
“What happened to my guards?”
“We’ll-take-any number-of-weak-golems-like-those-on. Moreover-human-guards-are-nothing.”
One of the golems talked. The metallic voice was difficult to understand.
“I can’t believe it, you mean you simply openly strolled through the town!?”
“No, they must’ve used the waterway behind the house.”
Reinhardt was reminded of the layout of the house’s location. The waterway at the back of the building connected to river Azul. Most likely they had used a regular boat to slip into Dali.
“Schwarz Ritter!”
Reinhardt called for Schwarz Ritter whom he had brought with him.
“Caster!”
Stearina called for Caster.
“Resistance-is-useless.”
With that, one of them faced Schwarz Ritter and the other faced Caster. The remaining two then moved towards Reinhardt and Stearina.
“Shit! [Barrier]!”
Reinhardt activated the Ring of Protection he had received from Jin. The golem that came for Reinhardt was stopped about 30 centimeters before him.
Schwarz Ritter and Caster clashed with the enemy golems.
Schwarz Ritter swung his fist and knocked the enemy golem down.
“Oh-it’s-stronger-than-earlier-huh.”
The golem that appeared to be the spokesman voiced their opinion. Hearing that, Reinhardt understood that information about him had leaked to Unifilers.
“Schwarz Ritter! Use your full force! Tear them down!”
“Ja.”
Schwarz Ritter used his full power. His fist had enough strength to blow off the opposing golem’s head. Schwarz Ritter then moved to fight a second golem.
He fought with the autonomic-type golem. The home’s walls were pierced with holes and pillars were broken. But there was no leeway to care about things like that.
“Eeeeek!”
Stearina’s scream was heard. Reinhardt turned to look behind him, and saw that Caster had been destroyed and Stearina had been caught by the enemy golem.
“Stearina!”
Reinhardt bit his lip. He should’ve pulled her next to him and included her in the barrier, he thought.
“First-one-caught.”
The spokesmanlike golem spoke.
“Reinhardt-dono-won’t-you-surrender?”
“……”
Reinhardt didn’t reply, and the golem once more began to speak.
“Hmm-how-about-destroying-your-hope-that-Schwarz-Ritter-won’t-lose.”
By now, Schwarz Ritter had defeated a second golem.
Only the golem that was holding Stearina and the golem in front of Reinhardt remained.
“If-that’s-how-you-want-it-then-let-us-show-our-real-power.”
The golem in front of him said and headed towards Schwarz Ritter.
This was the best chance Reinhardt could ask for, as if Stearina was taken hostage he couldn’t have resisted, but maybe because the leaderlike enemy golem was a bit simple, it apparently wanted to fight with Schwarz Ritter.
Since last time, Reinhardt had also improved Schwarz Ritter’s power. Even though it wasn’t a match for Jin’s Reiko, he thought it wouldn’t lose to the Unifilers’ golems.
“Schwarz Ritter, go!”
“Ja.”
With a short reply, Schwarz Ritter grappled with the enemy golem. For a moment the two fought for supremacy in strength and their movements stopped.
“I-see-so-this-is-Schwarz-Ritter’s-strength.”
The two kept struggling but currently neither seemed to be on top.
“That-is-enough. Full-power-on.”
The enemy golem said, and suddenly its strength increased. Schwarz Ritter was outpushed. While still being grappled he was thrown against a wall, went straight through it, hit a pillar and then stopped.
But the enemy golem didn’t stop. It completely tore off Schwarz Ritter’s right arm with its suddenly raised strength. And in the next moment the left one.
“Wh-what!?”
The look on Reinhardt’s face said that he couldn’t believe his eyes. But this was reality, and the enemy golem kicked Schwarz Ritter down, then plucked both of its legs off.
Its strength was monumental. It was as if it was…
“As powerful as Reiko-chan?”
The dumbfounded Reinhardt spoke unintentionally.
“Reiko? Is-that-the-name-of-the-strongest-golem?”
After having his limbs torn off, Schwarz Ritter was left there and the enemy golem once more came close to Reinhardt.
“Uh…”
Realizing he had accidentally revealed information, Reinhardt shut his mouth.
“Oh-well. You-can-tell-us-all-about-it-later.”
The enemy golem said and, and the one who had Stearina as hostage approached Reinhardt.
“Won’t-you-cancel-that-barrier?”
“Reinhardt-sama! You can’t!”
Stearina firmly said, but the next moment her was wrangled and she let out a scream.
Reinhardt couldn’t just calmly watch that happen to her.
He cancelled the barrier. Then maybe because the enemy golem knew that it was the effect of the ring, it twisted and raised Reinhardt’s arm, then pulled out the Ring of Protection from his finger.
At the same time, chokers were attached to the pair’s necks. They were identical to the one that had been attached to Elsa. Magi Tools that prevented chanting and harmed the body.
“Before-long-people-will-gather-here.”
Because of the loud noises surely curious onlookers and guard soldiers would come. The golem said that and then took the two out through the hole that had been opened in the wall.
Right there floating on top of the waterway was a large black boat.
“Get-on.”
And that’s how Reinhardt and Stearina got kidnapped in broad daylight.
There were plenty of eyewitnesses, but everyone was at their wits’ end and could only watch as the black boat entered the river Azul and continued downstream.
Sage and Cosmos who were the SP dedicated for Reinhardt arrived half a day after that.
The two found the destroyed Schwarz Ritter and five bodies covered with a cloth.