“So what brings you all here today?”
“Well, it’s kinda awkward to say this after what happened with Albert...but we had some questions about the golems too,” Tida said.
I was surprised to hear that was why they’d come here as well.
He glanced hesitantly over at Albert, who was currently sitting formally on his knees as Primera scolded him. Then, Tida gave Luna a little nudge and began to explain the reason for their visit.
“It wasn’t a part of the curriculum until last year, but after the headmaster saw you using a golem, he decided to incorporate golem studies into our classes.”
Since it was a new subject, there weren’t any good existing resources, and they couldn’t ask the upperclassmen for advice either. That’s why they’d come to me first.
Tida and Amy seemed genuinely interested in learning more. But Luna, on the other hand...
“I’ll stand out if you tutor me, Tenma! I might even score higher on my tests!” she exclaimed.
Well, if she was willing to actually study for once, I wouldn’t complain about her motivations.
“So you want me to teach you the basics of golems?” I asked. I figured I should give them a heads-up first. “Just to warn you, most of what I know is self-taught, so depending on how they’re grading this stuff, it might actually cost you points.”
Tida shook his head. “I’m sure the academy wants to know the fundamentals of your golems. They might even give us bonus points instead of a deduction.”
“Okay then, let’s go.”
I turned towards the dining room, but Amy suddenly said, “Wait, what about Albert and Primera?”
“We shouldn’t interrupt their heartwarming sibling bonding session!” Cain interrupted before I could answer.
Amur gave Amy a little shove and got her moving. As we walked away, I saw a golem carry Leon off to a guest room. He’d taken that hit full on, but thanks to the golem holding back and Leon’s freakish stamina, he’d come out of it mostly fine.
We reached the dining room and started setting everything up.
“I expected this from Cain, but even Aina’s excited!”
Cain and Aina were the first ones to get ready. They already had their notepads out and were eagerly awaiting my golem lecture.
Tida and Amy seemed pretty motivated too, just not as much. As for Luna, even though she had been so enthusiastic earlier, she was already spacing out, distracted by the sweet aroma drifting through the room.
“All right, let’s get started,” I said.
I wasn’t exactly qualified to be a teacher, and most of what I’d learned was through trial and error, so I decided to just explain how I usually built a golem. I paused every now and then to answer questions.
Aina had the most questions, followed by Cain. Tida and Amy didn’t ask much, but not because they weren’t interested. They just couldn’t get a word in edgewise—those first two just wouldn’t stop asking questions.
Luna’s enthusiasm was now long gone. “Aura, more tea!” she called out. “Oh, and snacks too!”
“I want the sweet bean jelly from the second drawer from the back of the top shelf. It’s hidden under a false bottom!” Amur yelled.
Luna had already given up on studying and was enjoying teatime with Amur. And Amur was giving ridiculously specific instructions to Aura just to give her trouble. I knew for a fact there wasn’t any sweet bean jelly hidden in that spot, and Aura was beside herself trying to find it. Luna and Amur just laughed their heads off watching her search furiously.
Normally, Aina or Tida would’ve scolded Luna for slacking off, but they were way into the lecture...or maybe they were just choosing to ignore her this time.
“Why aren’t golems more common, Master?” Amy asked once I had finished covering the basics. The moment she said that, I thought I saw Cain’s and Amur’s eyes light up.
“Well, building a golem requires specialized skills and multiple types of magic. Not many people have all that. And if you try to build them with a team, you’ll run into differences in skill levels and mana output, which makes creating a golem really tough. That’s why very few people actually use them,” I said.
Come to think of it, introducing golem studies at the academy might actually help the kingdom advance. I had no idea when those results would start showing, however.
“Tenma, what exactly are those required skills and types of magic?” Aina asked.
Looking flustered, Tida jumped in to stop her. “Aina, don’t!”
Aina blinked and then snapped back to reality. She quickly apologized.
I waved it off. “Eh, it’s not like it’s classified info or anything. You’ve gotta know smithing, stoneworking techniques for processing metal and magic cores, mana manipulation... And then there’s the magic know-how. You’ll need to know Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth spells to help with the crafting. Oh, and alchemy.”
“Alchemy? I see...”
Honestly, besides the alchemy part, making golems didn’t really require any advanced spells or skills.
Alchemy was tricky, though. A lot of it came down to intuition, and not many people were that skilled at it. But if you wanted to make high performance golems, you couldn’t avoid it. That was exactly why even big noble houses like Duke Sanga’s family struggled with golem production.
“I mean, it’s technically possible to make one without alchemy, but it’d be really hard,” I said.
“Hrm, so learning alchemy is difficult, but avoiding using it for golems is even harder,” Aina muttered as she jotted down notes. Just like I’d expect from one of Queen Maria’s top agents.
The spy from House Sammons was diligently scribbling away just as intently. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure who I was actually teaching at this point.
I decided to stop catering to the spies and focus on the actual students now that I’d covered the basics. “So, are you two following along okay, Amy and Tida?” I asked.
“I get why it’s so hard to make one now,” Amy said.
“I think I understand in theory, but I’m not sure I’d know where to start if I actually tried to make one. Especially since I couldn’t process a golem core,” Tida said.
They both seemed to have accepted that making golems was beyond them for now, but they weren’t giving up. They were excited to learn alchemy and give it a shot. And since goblin cores were good enough for practice, they said they’d gather some while leveling up their magic through adventuring. That was smart.
Afterward, the two spies cross-checked their notes to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, while the two students started quizzing each other and sharing their thoughts. Then...
“That was rough...” Leon muttered.
“I’m really sorry, Leon...”
Leon and Primera had walked into the dining room.
“That’s classic Leon for you! He’s not bright, but he’s tough as nails!”
“Yeah! Wait, that’s not a compliment, is it?!”
Their little comedy act got a laugh out of everyone.
Primera looked genuinely sorry, though. “Tenma, I really need to apologize. My father and brother have betrayed your trust.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “First of all, I never felt betrayed. It didn’t even bother me. Duke Sanga talked to me about it beforehand, and I told him it was okay. And I just let Albert’s behavior slide, so I guess that counts as him having permission. Leon’s the only one who got hurt, so as long as he’s not mad, it’s fine.”
I glanced over at Leon. He just shrugged and said it didn’t bother him.
That should’ve been the end of it all. Should’ve being the operative word.
“I’m glad to hear that, but I don’t think you should go so easy on them,” Primera stressed. “That’s why even though you and Leon were gracious enough to forgive them, I have a duty to make sure my father and brother are punished for what they did.”
And with that, Primera turned and left the dining room, saying she was taking Albert and going home.
“I wonder what she’ll do to punish them when she gets home.”
“I have no clue. By the way, has anyone seen Kriss?”
No one had. There were only two likely places she’d be, though—either with Shiromaru or with Mary and Aries.
When we found her, she was actually with all three of them, snuggling with Mary and Aries, looking over the moon. Shiromaru was by her side.
I heard about Primera’s punishment later.
“So the duke’s punishment was a total ban on sharing any of the golem intel I gave Tida and the others, and the duke and Albert both had their allowances reduced by a quarter? Yeesh, that’s pretty harsh.”
The moment Primera had gotten home, she had immediately sent letters to Duke Sanga’s wife. A few days later, the duke and Albert had been summoned back to their duchy. The duchess had decided on that punishment for them, and her decision had been final.
“Losing your spending money and all that sweet golem info? That’s tough.”
I heard that even Queen Maria felt bad for them. But just a little.
Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Volume 11 / End