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With Andassis the Seventh gone, the only other member with royal blood in the room, Meister Amori, naturally assumed the leading role. “Greetings, Lady Mo Na, His Majesty told me the gist of the situation last night, but I still wish to hear from you exactly what your plans are.”

“I understand. But before that, I wish to let everyone see something.” I pulled out the first iteration of the magitek armor which I drew up last night… Technically, Ferti’nier was the one who just gave it to me all drawn up, but still… Moving on. The two meisters were all frontrunners in their respective fields, with the ability and renown to match -else Andassis wouldn’t have sent them to me at all – so now was as good a time as any to clue them in.

“This is?” Amori received the lambskin schematic from me. He swept over its contents, eyes narrowing a mere second later. “A golem?”

He was partially right. After all, why else would there be an expert on alchemical constructs and blacksmithing here?

“Strictly speaking, these aren’t golems. Rather, they are magitek armors.”

“Magitek armor? I’ve never heard of it before.” His brows knitted together. “I see… so this is why His Majesty did not try to explain the subject beforehand…”

“Since it’s armor, then blacksmithing is required.” Belud muttered from down below. Thanks to his prodigious lack of size, he could barely see the scroll, even on the tips of his toes. The two of them clearly weren’t on good terms either, and the halfling was quick to snap at his counterpart. “Bring it down. Do you expect me to fetch a stool just to look at the damn thing?”

“My bad.” Realising his own error, Meister Amori quickly lowered himself to the same level as the halfling -which was honestly quite comical to watch.

“Hmm…” The halfling nodded as he skimmed over the schematics. “Whether we’re talking about its form or armor, the requirements are steep.”

Is he saying he can’t do it?

“Is it not possible with our current techniques?”

“Oh. It’s no problem at all, that’s assuming you’re willing to come along with me for a drink tonight. For inspiration, and all that.” The moment he heard me address him, the halfling’s eyes immediately turned predatory.

“Sure, if you don’t mind me yelling “pervert”, right now.”

“…maybe not…” The halfling reined in his lecherous smile and shook his head. “Anyway, I understand. You can be sure I’ll follow these schematics, dearest Lady Mo Na.”

“Then you have my thanks in advance, Meister Belud.” I smiled superficially at the halfling, who in turn nodded and retreated to the side. However, not before muttering to himself in a voice he thought only he could hear.

“Pity her personality is as abysmal as that chest…”

As whose chest? Is he talking about me?

I turned down to look at my chest… Not like a man needs them, so hell if I care!

Being the magnanimous soul that I was, I decided to let him off the hook. I turned my eyes towards Meister Amori who was still perusing the schematics. “Meister, do you have any questions for me?”

“Just so, in fact.”

“Perfect, I’ll be sure to answer to my best ability.”

“Why not create a golem instead? Why must it be manned, wouldn’t that result in casualties in the event of a failure?”

“A golem’s intelligence would be lacking. And by having a person pilot the armor, both parties’ strengths would be enhanced. I’m sure in time, with mass production, such a design would become mainstream.”

Golem alchemy wasn’t an exclusive discipline in this realm. But even with the knowledge and resources assembled, the true defining feature of a golem was its core – the soul that was trapped within it.

Because the Western Human Realms was a world of magic and fantasy, there was no equivalent to an AI. Or rather, the trapped soul would function as an AI-substitute. Yet the intelligence of such a substitute was directly linked to the type of soul trapped within. After all, one couldn’t very well expect human levels of intelligence by putting in a cat’s soul. In short, a human’s soul was the best choice. Because of that, the Alchemist Guild banned their golem alchemists from attempting such a heinous act. But who could really say how well this ban had been enforced? At the end of the day, an undead was similar to a golem, in some sense. There was only a fine line separating a necromancer and a golem alchemist…

But even if one were to put aside morality, such a substitute had a fatal flaw. Souls transferred into a foreign body often experienced rejection. Almost like planting a sprout into foreign soil, the transferred soul would often suffer severe damage. A powerful and sturdy soul would be required to create a highly intelligent golem core, and these were always highly sought after.

Naturally, I couldn’t just magick a bunch of powerful souls into existence to fit into my mass production, now could I?

And piloting a Gund@m is a man’s romance! I’m sure, even in this world of swords of magic, this sentiment rings true…

“Reasonable.” He nodded in approval, but he soon launched into a barrage of further questions. “How is the armor controlled? Also, based on the schematics, this armor will come out to an average of three meters tall, correct?”

“The control mechanics are actually the most complex part, but there is already a solution.” I directed his gaze towards the schematics once more. “Look down there, amongst the list of ingredients required, do you see that line about meditation stones?”

“Meditation stone…” His eyes went wide. “I see now! So the stone will allow the user to act in synchronicity with the armor?”

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