“Leon! Move your legs more! Get control of the golem!”
“Right!”
Hmm... Once they get that big, it’s harder to maneuver them. Then again, its power is being suppressed right now, so once it’s operating at full strength, it might be able to bulldoze its way through no matter what. Maybe I should’ve asked to see a wooden golem first after all...
“Go all in now, Leon! Hit it with a full combo! Golem, focus on defense only!”
“Huh? Oh, r-right! Got it!”
Leon was easy to deal with in situations like this. Even if he had doubts, he’d usually forget all about them once he started moving. Anyway, thanks to Leon’s attacks, the golem’s stone body had started chipping all over. If he had been using his regular weapon, it might’ve fallen apart in just a few hits.
“Tenma said his golem got taken down in a few hits by Chaos too. Maybe it’d be better to use an iron for the body. Well, we should probably master the wood and stone golems first...”
I thought I should probably write down anything that came to mind, and that was why I’d already filled up nearly half my notepad. But that was still better than forgetting something important, and even if I ran out of space, I could always flip it over and use the back. It’d be a pain to read later, but I could take my time decoding everything when I got home. The bigger issue was that at this pace, I’d fill both sides before Leon keeled over. But if that happened, I’d just call for a break and go find some more paper.
“Leon, it’s the golem’s turn to attack now. But don’t fight back, just dodge!” I called out.
“Huh? Wait, hold o— Whoooa!”
Hmm, it transitioned from a defensive stance to an offensive attack quite smoothly... Father’s golem would be a beat or two slower. And that’s even while this one’s abilities are suppressed...
I didn’t even want to think about how much difference there was between Tenma’s and my father’s.
“Maybe it’s not just a difference in technology... It could be something more fundamental.”
Just as I was thinking that aloud...
“Oh, I’m out of space. Leon, let’s take a—”
“Ngh...!”
I had run out of paper. I looked up to call for a break just in time to see Leon take a blow to his stomach and collapse. I guess he hadn’t dodged in time.
“Tenma! Leon’s down!” I called out and looked around...
Oh, there he is.
I found Tenma right away, but I also noticed a bunch of cold, accusatory glares aimed right at me.
(End of Albert’s POV)
A carriage pulled up in front of the gate just as Cain was mulling over whether he should make a fool out of himself.
“A guest? No, it looks familiar...”
I’d seen that carriage plenty of times coming to visit, so there was no mistaking it. But more importantly, since Aina was driving it, it wasn’t hard to guess who was inside.
“Excuse us, Tenma.”
Aina brought the carriage around, hopped down from her seat, and greeted me politely. She reached for the door, but it swung open before she had a chance to do it herself.
“Hope we’re not intruding, Tenma. After you, Princess Luna,” Kriss said.
“Thanks for having us, Tenma!” Luna chirped as she stepped down with Kriss’s help.
“Thanks for having us, Tenma. Go ahead, Amy,” Tida jumped down next, helping Amy out of the carriage.
“Thanks, Tida. Sorry for the sudden visit, Master.”
I was about to say hello to Amy because I thought she was the last one in the carriage, but Kriss reached out again. I thought it might be Queen Maria inside. I got a little excited since Cain and I had just been talking about her...
“No need. I can get down myself.”
However, the voice that came definitely wasn’t the queen’s.
“Sorry to drop by unannounced, Tenma.”
Primera was the last one to come out of the carriage. She looked a little uncomfortable about showing up without an invitation and apologized the moment she saw me. Kriss gave her a sharp look for that.
“Primera, the way you said that makes it sound like Prince Tida and Princess Luna have no manners. You should be careful of that in the future,” she said.
Primera immediately apologized to Tida and Luna, but both of them brushed it off with a laugh. Tida even joked that Kriss was right and offered me an apology for his rudeness.
He was clearly trying to lighten the mood, and I thought that would be the end of it, but Kriss was soon led away by Aina, who scolded her quietly out of earshot. Tida and Luna looked puzzled, but they didn’t seem to catch what was being said.
I, however, could hear it just fine, and I had to agree with Aina, who was telling Kriss that she was the rude one. Her correction was technically right, but since neither Tida nor Luna seemed bothered, pointing out Primera’s behavior in front of everyone else was like telling the whole world the royals were being rude.
“Anyway, Tenma. I see that Leon’s training with a golem, but what exactly is Albert doing?”
“Oh, well... He seems really curious about my golems.”
“Since Leon’s dumb, Albert’s using him to try to gather intel on the golems,” Cain blurted out, immediately ratting out Albert to Tida and making sure no one thought that he was involved.
“Um, Tenma, don’t you think this could be a problem?” Tida asked. He looked worried, but not for Albert’s sake. He was probably more concerned about Queen Maria losing her temper.
“Yeah, it could be, but I doubt she’ll say anything outright. Because if she did, she’d also be calling out the royal family,” I countered.
There was no way Queen Maria or Prince Lyle hadn’t already examined the golems I’d made for the royal family. Tida looked surprised, but Cain and Kriss just nodded like it was common sense.
“You guys take your golems out every once in a while to check them and do maintenance on them, right? This is the same kind of deal. Albert’s just physically using Leon to observe one in action. And if I’m okay with it, then it’s not a problem,” I said, sticking up for Albert.
“That’s only true if my brother actually asked for your permission. But he didn’t even tell you that was what he was doing, right? Isn’t this the same as stealing?” Primera asked.
Well, she wasn’t wrong. I glanced towards her but locked eyes with Cain instead.
“Tenma, Primera’s over there.”
A moment ago, he’d been staring straight ahead, but now...
“Hostile intent! Wait... Primera?!”
Amur had popped up out of nowhere but suddenly recoiled from the sheer force of the vibe Primera was putting out. Honestly, I was just glad that fury wasn’t directed at me. She’d just secured the number two spot on the list of Scariest Women When Angry.
“Does my father know about this, Tenma?” Primera asked.
“Yes, the duke knows. Actually, he was the one who asked me to keep an eye on Albert for him.” I could tell that my tone of voice sounded a bit awkward when I replied to Primera, but thankfully, no one commented on it.
“So he’s an accomplice... Or the ringleader, rather. I guess I should tell my mother about this.”
“He did say I could punish Albert as long as I didn’t go overboard. What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“I’d actually like to handle that, if that’s all right with you,” she said.
“Sure, go ahead. Consider it your job now.” I jumped at the offer—I wasn’t about to hesitate to throw Albert under the bus. At least that eased Primera’s hostility a bit.
And then...
“Tenma! Leon’s down again!” Albert shouted across the yard.
I had a few things I wanted to say to him for ruining the mood, but it wasn’t like it was Leon’s fault, so I ran over to help. But not long after I started moving, I felt Primera’s anger swelling again behind me.
I guess it wasn’t my imagination after all...