“Tenma, mind lending me a golem?”
Albert asked me that question out of the blue during one of our usual hangouts.
“That’s fine, but what do you need it for?” I replied. I’d used my golems in front of him before, and I had even let him borrow one as a bodyguard when we’d traveled. His request to use one here in the capital got my attention, however.
“Well, I’ve been stuck at my desk lately. Drowning in paperwork is making me get a little rusty, so I thought about maybe using one to spar with.”
That made sense. As I was thinking about which golem to give him...
“In that case, I can spar with you!” Leon interrupted, clearly thinking a golem wasn’t necessary, but...
“I don’t want to spar with you, Leon!” Albert said in an unusually harsh voice.
“Hey, what’s with the attitude?”
Albert sputtered a bit. “Oh. Um. It’s just, you tend to get carried away and forget to hold back, you know? But a golem will obey exactly what I tell it to do. It’s better for easing back into training,” he reasoned.
Cain gave Albert a suspicious look but didn’t press him any further. I already knew why Albert was so intent on using a golem—I’d talked to Duke Sanga earlier.
Apparently, the duke was planning to put a heavy focus on golem development, and Albert was going to act as his “spy.” I hadn’t expected Albert to ask me about it so soon, but it sounded entertaining, so I decided to play along and pretend like I didn’t know anything. I wanted to see what he’d do. Honestly, I was looking forward to his reaction when I’d tell him I had known what was going on the whole time.
Duke Sanga had told Albert his plans the other day. Then, the day after that, which was yesterday, Albert had plans to go somewhere with Eliza that he couldn’t get out of. That was when the duke had rushed over to let me know what was going on. I’d even offered to provide some basic golem specs to him as a favor, but he had turned me down and said he had a deal with the royal family. More important than that, however, he wanted to enjoy watching Albert crash out.
“The wooden golems are probably your best bet for sparring. Stone or earth ones could seriously hurt you if you’re not careful,” I warned.
I turned to grab one of the wooden golems I usually used for chores, but...
“Wait. I’d prefer one of the combat types. Is that...okay?” he asked.
“It’s fine, but...don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous for someone who’s ‘rusty’? Just stick with a wooden one.”
Wooden ones weren’t completely useless for observation, but Albert clearly had his eye on the combat model I normally used.
He started trying to justify it by saying things like “I’d probably break a wooden one, and that would just stress me out!” and “I need a little tension to stay sharp, so the combat model would be better!”
By that point, even Cain seemed to catch on that Albert had some hidden motive. He glanced over at me several times, clearly suspecting Albert was up to something.
Meanwhile, Leon was as oblivious as ever. “If Albert wants a combat golem, why not give him one?” he said. “Cain and I can back him up as witnesses if he gets hurt. And Duke Sanga won’t get mad if we explain what happened. Oh, and can I try it after Albert?”
Leon probably didn’t realize it, but he was actually helping Albert out.
“Fine. If you really wanna try out the combat models, you can. But not one of the big ones. Still, a single hit from one of those can really pack a punch, so you gotta be careful,” I warned.
Once they both nodded, I summoned a golem that was roughly Leon’s size. After I set its parameters to move more slowly, not punch as hard, and told it to obey Albert, the golem was ready.
“How exactly do you give it commands, Tenma?” Albert asked.
“I can’t tell you exactly, but basically, I’ve engraved commands onto the golem’s core that let it follow verbal orders,” I said. There was also a separate command for whose orders I wanted it to follow, but there was no need to mention that part yet.
“And when you’re engraving those commands into the core...”
“Come on, let’s just get started already! I’ll go first if Albert isn’t gonna do it,” Leon said impatiently.
Albert was trying to get more answers out of me, but Leon was annoyed. The latter grabbed a training sword and dropped into a combat stance.
“Go ahead and start, then. I’ll warm up while I wait!” Albert said.
“O-Okay. I’ll do that.” Leon looked surprised that Albert backed off so easily, since he’d only been bluffing. But after that, he started stretching and then stepped up to face the golem.
Albert muttered to himself as he watched. “Mm-hmm... Smooth movements...” He jotted something onto a small notepad.
“Hey...Tenma? Is it just me, or is Albert totally trying to rip off your golem design?” Cain leaned in to whisper to me. It seemed like he was finally catching on.
“Pretty much,” I said. “Duke Sanga visited the other day and told me that Albert might be acting as a spy. He also told me to teach him a bit of a lesson and report back on how it went.”
“Pfft! You and Duke Sanga are so mean! You’re totally gonna make a clown out of Albert!” Cain tried to keep it down, but he couldn’t and burst out laughing. Luckily, Albert was too busy scribbling down notes and giving Leon instructions to notice any of it.
At first, I thought his calling Albert a clown was a bit uncalled for, but as I watched Albert obsess over his notes, I started to think that maybe Cain wasn’t entirely wrong. After all, the duke was going to hear all about this later—he’d probably think it was hilarious.
“Care to share your golem intel with me too?” Cain asked hopefully.
“Sure, if you’re planning on getting permission from Queen Maria or if you wanna be a clown like Albert.”
“A clown, huh?” he muttered, and he acted like he was seriously considering it.
Honestly, I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal if he didn’t get the queen’s permission, but she was the type who’d be bothered by that kind of thing, so it was probably best to run it by her first. Otherwise, she might be a little frosty the next time I saw her...even to me.