Magi Craft Meister

Hearing that Jin was the witness, Trist Clarot’s face twisted for the first time.

“Hmm, I see. Even so, if he is not here, it cannot be helped. And testimony alone isn’t quite…”

Still, he didn’t drop his insolent attitude, weaving his words to keep taunting Paul Raid.

“If you intend to keep playing dumb, then we are prepared to take drastic measures.”

Trist answered Paul’s glares with open contempt.

“Oh? And what kind of resolution can a knight from a spineless kingdom possibly have?”

That remark finally made Paul snap.

“You…! You’ve pushed your luck far enough!”

He drew the longsword attached to his saddle.

“You drew your sword, didn’t you? It seems you’re the ones making the first move.”

This was exactly what Trist Clarot had been aiming for—to manufacture a situation where it could be said that the Egelea Kingdom initiated the conflict. Such were his orders from the center.

“Golem unit, forward!”

Responding to Trist’s command, ten combat Golems of the Kingdom of Celuroa stepped forward.

“I’d hate to cause human casualties, you see. Why don’t you bring out your Golems as well?”

“What…?”

Paul’s force only had two combat Golems, compared to Celuroa’s ten.

“Ah, if you’re short on numbers, shall I even the odds? It’s only proper chivalry, after all.”

While speaking in that mocking tone, Trist gestured to have eight of his combat Golems fall back.

“Two versus two. A fair and square fight. Sounds good, yes?”

Watching Trist, who couldn’t seem to be serious even at a time like this, Paul issued an order to his combat Golems.

“Target: Enemy Golems. Move out!”

In response, Trist gave his own command.

“Target: Enemy Golems. Objective: Annihilation.”

And so, the battle between the combat Golems of the two nations began. Since both were autonomous, there was no room for human intervention. The soldiers could only watch from a distance to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

While the combat Golems of both nations were roughly the same size, their speeds were vastly different. The Celuroa Golems were moving nearly twice as fast as the Egelea Golems. In close-quarters combat, a speed difference is decisive. When builds and weights are similar, being faster is a massive advantage.

The Celuroa Golems exploited the Egelea Golems’ blind spots. They dodged the Egelea Golems’ charges, circled behind them, and slashed with their swords. Whenever an Egelea Golem turned to swing back, the Celuroa Golem had already moved out of reach. Each swing from the Celuroa side left shallow wounds on the Egelea Golems. It was clear they were being toyed with.

“Hahaha, how pathetic. This is the difference in class.”

“Grr…”

Paul gritted his teeth. Behind him, his knights shared his frustration.

“Captain! Please, let us fight instead of the Golems!”

One hot-blooded soldier shouted, but Paul rejected it. Even with his blood boiling, he was still a captain.

“No. Look at their Golems. Eight of them haven’t even moved yet. If those come into play, humans would be crushed in an instant. Remember the tragedy at last year’s Golem Party?”

“Ugh… then are we just supposed to stand here and watch our Golems be destroyed?!”

“I’m not saying that. But… there is no strategy to overcome this situation.”

Unlike the frustrated Paul Raid, Trist Clarot was entirely at ease.

“If you like, you’re welcome to use your ‘chore’ Golems too, you know?”

He provoked them by intentionally belittling the universal-type Golems. Perhaps unable to endure it any longer, Paul gave the order.

“Universal-type Golems, combat mode. Target: Enemy Golems. Coordinate and destroy.”

“Then, us as well. Go.”

Universal-type Golems were a size smaller than combat models. Their armor was thinner, making them lighter and more agile. However, even with that weight difference, they couldn’t surpass the enemy Golems in agility.

“Coordinate! Coordinate! Coordinate!”

The orders were fired off in rapid succession—a three-part instruction for three Golems to target one. Following this, the universal Golems converged on their opponents. Unable to handle the combined assault of three units, the Celuroa Golems were forced into a defensive posture.

However, in terms of numbers, since the combat Golems were already locked in 1v1 fights, the remaining count was 8 against 20. It wasn’t quite a 3-to-1 ratio. This meant there was one Celuroa Golem moving freely and one engaging two universal Golems.

The “wildcard” Golem moved across the battlefield with impunity. Just as it seemed the universal Golems had one pinned down, they would be attacked from behind and sent flying, rendering their coordination useless. This cycle repeated over and over. The dynamic—the Celuroa side clearly playing with them—did not change.

Furthermore, the universal Golems were inferior in performance. Gradually, the Egelea Golems began to falter. While being toyed with, they were taking hits, and the damage was slowly accumulating.

“Shall we bring this to an end?”

Just as Trist muttered those words, a dagger was pressed against his neck.

“Order your Golems to stop.”

It was a young girl who had done it. Or rather, it was Dona, Philip Tifo’s female-type Automaton. She had skillfully stood up behind Trist’s saddle and held the dagger to him. Apparently, she had approached his horse unnoticed and waited for an opening.

“You…”

Gone was the composure from moments ago; Trist’s face twisted into an expression of pure hatred.

“Did you not hear me? I said order your Golems to stop.”

“Commander!”

A soldier from the border patrol rushed forward, but…

“Don’t move. If you move, the commander loses his life.”

An Automaton’s emotionless voice sounded eerie in such moments. The soldiers froze in their tracks.

“Now.”

Threatened repeatedly, Trist finally buckled.

“…S-Stop.”

Following that command, the ten Celuroa Golems ceased all movement.

“Good. Bring that guy over here,” Paul requested of Philip, who gave a signal to Dona. She then pressured Trist.

Trist approached slowly. But then, he decided to gamble. He pulled the reins tight, forcing his horse to rear up. Unable to maintain her balance, Dona had no choice but to leap from the horse.

“Golems! Incapacitate them!”

Being threatened seemed to have enraged Trist. He issued a ruthless order to his Golems.

Just then—

“Waaaaahhhh!”

A soldier behind Trist screamed.

“W-What is that!?”

The knights of the Egelea Kingdom opened their eyes wide in terror, staring at what lay behind Trist. Even Trist was forced to look back.

And what Trist saw when he turned…

…was an endless swarm of black insects crawling out from the Soldrake ruins.