Chapter 183 – We Provided Military Assistance!

“Hmm…this is delicious.”

Baris had the appearance of a devil, but he said this with a gentle smile.

After taking Rulat as a captive, we decided to return to Sheorl for now.

I had left Ashtron and some of Sheorl’s guards in the Arancia capital of Alanberc. As they had some time before the next attack from the undead, they would mainly stand guard and watch the holy place for any signs of movement.

As for us, we were inspecting the magical mushrooms that had been sent from Arancia.

And by inspecting, I meant cooking them with everyone and eating them.

Including Baris, Sheorl already had a lot of monsters who had grown up in the forest, and so it seemed that they felt a sense of nostalgia towards the mushrooms.
The Cave Spiders had been growing their own mushrooms, but the Arancia mushrooms had their own distinct flavor, which they seemed to enjoy as well.

Upon seeing this, I turned to Guardian Vanessa, who had overseen the transportation of the mushrooms, and said,

“It looks like everyone likes them.”
“That’s good. We also…well, I would be lying if I said we never grew tired of them. But it’s a taste that we are fond of.”

Vanessa muttered with deep emotion.
This was their main source of food, and they had done their best to improve them. And so she was very happy to hear that we liked them.

We had received the mushrooms from Arancia in return for our fish. They were also going to teach us how to grow them, and so under Baris’s supervision, a farm was being built in Sheorl’s underground.

Vanessa had an expression of relief as she bowed her head to me.

“Well, I shall return to Princess Alyssa and make my report.”
“About that… There is one other thing that I want you to tell her.”
“One more thing?”

Alyssa looked puzzled, and so I pointed her in a certain direction.
It was the large plaza in front of the palace, which was the widest space on the whole island.

Vanessa turned to look at it.
There stood a giant suit of armor.

“Is that…”
“Yes. A Golem that works much like the Dwarf Golem you just saw. We wasted no time in having Mappa and the others make it.”

Only three hours had passed, but they had already made something of that size… There was no doubt that Mappa had superhuman ability, but his apprentices were also becoming incredibly skilled.

“I see. So that’s why it has a different shape. It looks just like a human knight.”

As Vanessa said, the Golem that was kneeling in the plaza did not look like the Dwarf Golem.

It had two arms and two legs, but it was much more slender.

In other words, it was closer to a human than a dwarf.

The outside was completely covered in plate mail, just like the kind that royal knights wore. And on its head was a bucket-like helmet. As this was a prototype, it was made of iron.

I nodded at Vanessa’s words.

“I had them make it so that it would be easy for a human to control it.”
“Do you mean to ride it, Lord Heal?”

I shook my head.

“No, I want you to ride it.”
“M-me?”
“I heard that you are a prominent sorceress in Arancia. That’s why I brought you here. Mappa said he would make others that are controlled by people who don’t use magic, but this weapon is still suited for sorcerers.”
“Are you sure that you want me to do it?”
“Yes. It’s part of our military assistance towards Arancia. However, these things cannot pass through the tunnels and gates so they will have to be produced over there.”

The people of Sheorl could just continue to defend Arancia.
However, there was no guarantee that the underground gate connecting the two places would exist forever. And so it was important to make sure that the Arancia people were able to defend themselves.

Vanessa bowed her head once again.

“Thank you. I would be happy to ride on it. If I’m being honest, I was actually very curious. Just, that naked one…”
“Don’t worry. These ones will be made so that the armor does not come off…”

There had been some complaints regarding this, but replicating the feature of being able to easily take off the clothes would mean using more metal. And when I explained this to Mappa, he nodded in agreement.

In any case, I decided to head over to the plaza with Vanessa.

“Now, time to ride the Golem… Hmm. Golems and Golems, eh?”

I wondered what we could call this boardable Golem.
Normal Golems had Heart Stones, and would listen to and follow your orders. And so it would be confusing to use the same name for both of them.

“Since it’s armor that moves with magic… What about Mado Armor? Vanessa. Try riding this Mado Armor.”
“Yes! …Huh?”

Vanessa noticed that a man was walking towards us. It was Mappa.

“What is it, Mappa? …What’s that?”

Mappa was holding some shiny clothing.
He offered it to Vanessa.

“He wants me to wear this…huh?”

Vanessa spread out the clothing and her cheeks reddened.
It was made of material similar to tights, only it covered your entire body.
So if you put it on, it would fit perfectly to your body…which would perhaps not be ideal for a young woman like Vanessa.

I looked coldly at Mappa, as he started to put on his own suit made of the same material.

There were some decorations, like an emblem on the shoulder, but it also accentuated Mappa’s round body, which was hard to ignore.

…It was somehow worse than it was when he was barely wearing anything.

“Mappa… Just because you’re a child, it doesn’t mean you can get away with everything.”

But Mappa shook his head as if I was being absurd.

And then he pointed at the suit he was wearing.

“Huh? The magic energy…”

Apparently, Magic Absorbing Crystals were used in the suit, and you could see magic energy gathering towards it. So it was just like the Mado Armor—in other words, even those who had trouble gathering energy would still be able to use it.

“So, that means anyone will be able to control the Mado Armor.”

Mappa nodded his head.

“But Vanessa can already use magic. But perhaps it will be even easier if she wears it and gathers more energy.”

Upon hearing this, Vanessa blushed but opened her mouth.

“We-well, if that’s the case… I don’t know why I shouldn’t wear it.”
“You’ll be inside the armor at least. So no one will see you.”

Mappa nodded at this, and then we headed to the chest of the Mado Armor in order for him to demonstrate to us how it is controlled.

Apparently, the inside—where the control chair was, was also different from the Dwarf Golem.
It was still a spherical chamber, but this one did not have all of the complicated contraptions of the dwarf type.

“Wait, there isn’t even a chair? How will you… What?”

Mappa closed the door of the Mado Armor chest, and then moved as if standing up.

And the image that was projected onto the wall of the cockpit began to rise.

“It’s standing up!?”

Mappa then thrust out his fists and entered a strange pose.
And then the Mado Armor moved. My guess was that it was now doing the same pose.

“Th-the armor can copy your own movements?”

Mappa nodded as if to say ‘yes.’

“…It’s not just the name. Even the way you use it is more like armor than a Golem now. But with this…”

I turned to Vanessa and she nodded.

“It should be easy to control!”
“Aye. This will be a great addition to Sheorl and Arancia’s fighting force… Mappa. Can I ask you to make more of them?”

Mappa beat his chest as if he welcomed the challenge.

And like that, production of the Mado Armors began in Sheorl and Arancia.

Next Chapter

The Cave King will live a Paradise Life -Becoming the strongest with the mining skill?-