The Tin Knight, the Obsessive Lady, and the Junior Tin
"You did not gain your name by birth, nor take up the sword by bloodline."
"Drip coffee recipe. 20g beans. 300g water."
The grand hall of the Karstein Grand Duke's Residence. Amid the solemn knighting ceremony, strange lines were mixed in.
"…Yet you defended this land more than anyone."
"Pouring. In 50g increments, six times. Extraction time—"
The knights began chuckling one by one, but one man didn't laugh.
"With this, you are a knight of Karstein. Do you swear your loyalty?"
"Response. Yes, miss."
If only he'd said "ma'am" instead. Freira Karstein flashed a sly smile.
A crest was engraved over the armor Hamel wore. The symbol of a barrier warding off frost—the emblem of House Karstein.
It's been a few weeks since we ordered Hamel from Argent Heavy Industries.
A lot had happened in that short time, more than expected.
Hamel had rescued her when she was kidnapped by barbarians.
Without being told, he'd recorded Gaius Kroitzen's treason and quashed it bloodlessly.
This time, he'd even stopped a demon commanding beasts.
Freira had just turned twenty. By the standards of this era, she was already of marriageable age.
…If Hamel were a living person, I might have already given him my heart.
A faint sadness welled up.
Ten years since her mother vanished. Cursed with an incurable illness from birth, she couldn't even attend the academy. Naturally, she had hardly anyone she could call a friend.
Marchioness Marsaine's daughter and Alsanna. Just those two.
The marchioness's daughter had been kidnapped during the barbarians' western invasion. She was probably dead by now, or reduced to slavery.
Alsanna had gone to the Holy Kingdom for pilgrimage after graduating from the academy. Years passed without even seeing her face. Only recently had she been assigned to the Karstein Diocese and finally returned.
So Freira had no one to talk to.
A lonely bird in a cage. She'd heard the duke's commoners called her that.
That was probably why Ulrich had ordered Hamel. He wasn't alive, but he came equipped with a joke function.
He'd wanted his daughter to have something like a friend.
So he's mine.
Freira pressed her lips together tightly.
Father had given him to me, and he'd helped our house multiple times.
And I'd customized his face to my exact tastes, making him the ideal look.
He was solely my possession.
"Um, Freira…?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. What?"
Alsanna, watching the ceremony beside her, kept stealing glances. It was probably because of that sharp smile from earlier.
Freira knew Alsanna hadn't done anything with Hamel. She was a Holy Kingdom priestess, after all.
Still, imagining the two chatting cozily over chess made her chest tighten.
That was why she'd said something unnecessary to Alsanna.
"Are you okay? Your face has looked pale…"
"Yeah. Thanks for worrying. …Alsanna, you know my health isn't great, right?"
"Y-Yeah…?"
Freira curled her lips slightly.
"But Hamel helps a lot."
"Ah, his medical functions, huh? What kind of treatment does he do?"
"He massages my heart."
"Your heart… massages…?"
Alsanna's gaze locked onto Freira's chest. Then she dropped her eyes to her own, blinking dumbly like an idiot.
She clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, of course.
"Th-th-that's good! If it helps, th-then great!"
"Right? I should ask him again soon."
"Hic!"
Freira felt an inexplicable sense of victory watching Alsanna turn beet red and start hiccuping.
Still, she should apologize for making her so nervous.
I'm not just a tin can anymore.
I'm a full-fledged tin knight.
Pow!
…
Posing in front of the mirror changed nothing.
They weren't about to grant fiefdoms or pay to an automaton. And with my arcanium alloy shell, I didn't even need armor.
Still, as a nominal knight of the grand duke's house, it'd come in handy somewhere.
Anyway… Freira was acting even weirder than before. Right after Alsanna fled with her flushed face, babbling nonsense.
"T-T-Tin can sir… No, Hamel. Remember! Freira's a person, and Hamel's a tin can!"
"Query. Field answer?"
"If you do th-that to Freira, I'll report you to the Holy Kingdom!!"
What the hell? Wasn't she the one harassing me? Or was she the one having naughty thoughts?
Alsanna seemed unusually fixated on that stuff in the original story too. Maybe because priestesses had to stay celibate for life.
The moment she scurried back to the cathedral, Freira latched onto me like she'd been waiting.
"Um, Hamel. My heart feels cold again… *cough cough*."
Employer Status Check
Perfectly Normal
Lying through her teeth, huh?
I gave a perfunctory response and went back to floor cleaning as usual, but this time she wanted me to do something weird.
"…Hamel always works so hard. On cozy days like this, I get sleepy."
Freira dragged me into her bedroom. She sat on the bed and stared intently.
Lap pillow, maybe?
"Come on, Hamel! How about lying here and taking a nap?"
The exact opposite. She patted her own thigh, signaling me to lie down.
I don't sleep, miss.
To be precise, I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.
This was more torturous than I thought. Do you know how boring nights are? Solo solitaire's gotten old.
"Response. Unit is an automaton. Does not sleep."
"Hamel. Lie down."
I lay down. It gave me chills.
Freira looked down at me, stroking my face. Her eyes were damp, just like her father's.
"Now, repeat after me. 'I belong to Lady Freira.'"
"Playback recording. 'Now, repeat after me. I belong to Lady Freira.'"
"Ah, not in my voice!! Say it in yours, with feeling!"
Was she broken? How was I supposed to talk? Give me a vocal module already.
The grand duke's daughter seemed to think the same, her expression darkening. Hey, if you just install one, I could recite the Joseon dynasty order or the Epic of King Dongmyeong for you.
Her soft hand brushed my cheek.
"Sorry. But if I even gave you a vocal module, and you still couldn't say anything…"
Freira smiled sadly.
"I'd be too heartbroken."
Ah… so that was it. Now I got it.
No more holding back.
I couldn't take it anymore.
Imagining Freira's face when I finally spoke made my groin stiffen.
Not that I had one.
Crude as it sounded, I was serious. I knew her family history and insecurities better than anyone.
So, it was time to really claim it.
The vocal module.
How to get it?
There was a reason I'd been checking the date every day.
Today was the birthday of one of the heroines.
An automaton had just been completed at Argent Heavy Industries.
AGT-XA17-001, flagship military model, Cadaver type, prototype.
Elise.
The only one produced before the empire fell.
It had a self-accident module developed in secret, tuned synthetic skin—indistinguishable from a human at a glance.
Bonus: it let countless players mod the city walls into mechanical scrap.
And of course, it had a vocal module.
So how to summon the one at Argent HQ?
Follow the original's shortest contact route.
I gazed at Freira soulfully and stood.
Her eyes regretfully scanned my face.
"Hamel? Where? Stay with me a bit longer…"
"Bathroom is that way."
I slipped into an empty room. Opening the panel near my nape, I felt a thumbnail-sized device.
Status-Sensing Transmitter.
It periodically sent signals to Argent confirming I was operating normally.
Handy for wrecking enemy automatons. Naturally, automatons couldn't destroy it themselves.
Status-Sensing Transmitter Contact
Per Automaton Three Laws, unit cannot interfere with transmitter
But who am I?
A possessor who could flip off the Automaton Three Laws.
I gripped hard—crunch—and yanked it out. Smashed it underfoot.
[…]
Act Sensibly
First time I'd shut up that nagging system log interfering with my comms.
Argent would've noticed the anomaly by now. They'd send someone to check if I was broken or needed repair.
Elise would arrive in days.
Junior. I've been waiting for you.
Now then… lend me that voice of yours?
The Imperial Capital was famous for its beautiful contours.
From the majestic palace at the center, to the ministers' offices and soaring magic towers. Ancient buildings stood firm.
And amid them rose symbols of technological civilization.
The Third Magitech Industrial District.
Mana burned in reaction furnaces, spilling dreamlike colors. Gears meshed, pistons thudded steadily into the earth.
Here stood the building every imperial citizen coveted.
A silver-white skyscraper rivaling the magic towers—Argent Heavy Industries HQ.
In the top-floor room, a man murmured softly.
"One unit's signal cut out. The one ordered by Grand Duke Karstein of the North."
"Just send a telegram to the duke, no?"
The woman opposite replied flatly. The man smiled and chided her gently.
"Argent loves variables. A tiny uncertainty can remake the world. So go see for yourself with those eyes, and report back."
"Understood. I will investigate the unit's current status and repair needs."
The woman accepted the order impassively.
Silver-white hair symbolizing Argent. Practical bob cut, amethyst eyes rippling with mana. Slender frame designed for efficiency.
The one-and-only prototype in the world.
"…Siegfried. A question."
"Ask away."
"If the unit is rogue or hostile, is destruction authorized?"
"Think you can win?"
The silver-haired automaton turned at the man's question.
"Of course. It's an older model than me, no? I can turn it into scrap metal. I'm perfect, after all."
The man clapped at her arrogance bordering on hubris.
"See for yourself and judge. Off you go, Elise."