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“…So, we’re heading back for now, Master?”
“No. I’d rather not make two trips. We’ll just summon the king here directly.”
“But… how?”
“Just watch. I’ve been holding onto this for exactly this kind of situation.”

Once we’d retreated beyond the village’s outskirts, Master reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a gold coin.

It was larger and thicker than a five-hundred-yen piece—if I remembered right, the highest denomination used in the Regulus kingdom.

“What’s that coin for?”
“Step back a bit. If he’s not asleep, this should get his attention…”

With a flick of her finger, Master sent the coin spinning upward, producing a sharp, clear clink! as it rose into the air.

Just before it could hit the ground, however, the coin vanished——and in its place stood the king, who should have been in his castle.

“Hmm! You called, White One!”
“Ehh!? Your Majesty!? How—!? Is this a magic trick!?”
“It’s not a trick, Momo. You’ve seen it happen before. This is the Greedy King’s Unique Magecraft.”
“Indeed! Behold the very embodiment of my magecraft—Greed!”

Despite the sudden summoning, the king stood tall and proud, not the least bit flustered.

Now that I thought about it, back when Master overheated herself or when fighting with Theo’s group, the king had appeared out of nowhere—that must’ve been thanks to this spell.

“I see… a spell that swaps your position with a gold coin that’s been attuned to your magic power. Clever.”
“Just so. The only requirement is that the coin be valid currency within my kingdom’s circulation. The spell’s range increases in proportion to the coin’s value.”
“So as Regulus prospers and its coins spread to distant lands, your reach extends with it. Truly greedy.”
“No need for such flattery, White One. Now then, You summoned me—what task requires my royal hand?”
“I didn’t exactly ask for your help.”
“But we need it, Your Majesty! It’s awful! There are tons of Koutei-looking golems and it’s a huge mess!”
“Momo, please—quiet for a moment.”

――――――――…………

――――……

――…

“Oh-ho! The same model as the golem serving that Saint of Aldebaran, is it!? I want one!!”
“Knew you’d say that. Still, that makes things simple—capture duty’s yours.”
“Wait—capture? We’re not destroying them?”

After we gave him the rundown, the king’s eyes were sparkling like a kid in a candy store, practically ready to sprint straight into the cave.

Even Master seemed eager to get her hands on one of the lookalikes. But honestly, trying to capture one of those things—armed with beams and blades and who knows what else—sounded like pure madness to me.

“I want to disable one intact and study its internals. It bothers me that they’re so similar to the Saint’s attendant. Besides, he wouldn’t listen even if I told him not to, would he?”
“Well, that’s true… but won’t His Majesty just capture one to make it his subordinate?”
“…Then we’ll need at least two.”
“If there are a bunch of them, I bet he’ll just want all of them.”
“Ugh, what a pain. Who was it that brought this guy here again?”
“You did, Master.”
“What are you waiting for, White One! Come! Let us uncover the mysteries of this ruin with our own hands!”
“…Well, worst case, he’ll make a decent decoy.”
“Master!”

I couldn’t just let that one slide, so I glared at her, and she shrugged theatrically.

“Half a joke. He knows when to retreat, at least. And besides… I doubt the golems will attack him.”
“Really? You have any proof of that?”
“We’ll see soon enough. Let’s put it to the test—those things are friendly toward true humans.”

――――――――…………

――――……

――…

“Welcome. This is E-003 area. We greet you.”
“Mm. You may rise. Be at ease.”
“O-ooh… it’s true…”

Even watching from just outside the village’s boundary, the king showed no sign of being attacked.

Just like Master had said—their treatment of him was completely different from how they’d treated us. But why?

“You carry the trace of a dragon inside you. That’s probably why they misidentified you as an enemy. A pure human would never have been attacked from the start.”
“I see… but wait, then why were you attacked, Master?”
“How should I know. Maybe the dragon’s scent rubbed off on me from you.”
“Eh!? Am I really that smelly!?”
“Quiet. If you make a fuss they’ll notice us.”
“Uuugh, now I’m self-conscious…”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Master was hiding something, but pressing her now would only make her dodge the question.

Meanwhile, the king was already walking deeper into the ruin with one of the lookalike golems at his side—if we didn’t move, we’d lose him.

“Let’s follow them. Quietly.”
“Eh, but if we go into the village again, won’t they spot us?”
“That’s why I asked the king to deliberately scatter excess magic power. As long as we’re not seen directly, we should be able to slip into his aura and tail them.”
“Oooh, Master, that’s amazing—you figured all that out from just one encounter?”
“Not really. It’s all just conjecture. If their sensory organs are more advanced than I’m assuming, we’ll be discovered instantly and riddled with holes.”
“……”
“Don’t make that face. This is still a hypothesis built from my own experience. It’s better than a wild guess.”

Saying that, Master strode after the king without hesitation. Didn’t she feel any fear?

But it seemed her prediction was right—the lookalike golem walking ahead didn’t notice us at all.

I couldn’t sense this “magic aura” at all myself, but… what was it like, this sensation she spoke of?

“Don’t stray too far. Step outside the range of that magic power and they’ll sense you immediately.”
“Th-that’s hard…”

Following Master’s lead, I trailed behind the king, keeping just the right distance. We’d been tailing him for over ten minutes, taking detours whenever he did, until we finally reached the same cave as before.

Pushing deeper inside, we arrived at the storage room where all those lookalikes hung from the ceiling. The king’s eyes lit up, and he started negotiating to get one of the golems for himself.

I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying from this distance, but when he slumped his shoulders in defeat, it was pretty clear the deal hadn’t gone through.

“What in the world is that fool of a king doing?”
“Come on now… Ah, looks like he’s heading even farther in.”

The king, quickly bouncing back, exchanged a few more words and followed his double’s lead deeper into the cave.

We hadn’t noticed it before, but it seemed there was another passage ahead. A door illuminated in blue light—something straight out of the future—stood before us.

“Good grief… how far does this cave go?”
“Let’s follow him. If we lose him now, we’re in trouble.”

I hoisted my visibly tired master onto my back and ran after the king.

But as soon as he passed through that futuristic door, it slammed shut right before our eyes—and didn’t open, no matter what we did.

“W-wait, what!? Why!?”
“Emergency detected! Emergency detected! All active units, intercept the intruders immediately! Repeat!!”
“…Oh come on, why now!?”
“Now’s not the time for that—get ready, Momo!”

A deafening alarm blared throughout the storage chamber, red warning lights flashing wildly from the ceiling.

At the same time, faint glimmers began to appear in the eyes of the lookalike golems hanging above us.

…Wait—don’t tell me all of those are about to attack us!?