The Hovering Experiment
Day three in the Kingdom of Gandharva. Every member of the Golem Squad stood clustered beneath the Cyclopses, their faces bright with anticipation.
“They’ve changed quite a bit. Is that for the sandstorm?”
“The rest looks like the legs and backpack… right? They’re bigger now.”
The Knight Department students, who hadn’t taken part in the development, spoke among themselves. Split roughly in half between those following Professor Reina and those simply observing, they watched with genuine interest, trying to understand each component’s purpose rather than just its appearance.
Reina studied the black protective plating covering the joints and asked quietly, “This won’t cause any functional problems, will it?”
“Sand getting inside would be far more fatal.”
A little sand might be tolerable, but a sandstorm would produce far more than that. Joints were both a golem’s most vital parts and its greatest weakness; any risk of them being ruined by sand had to be eliminated. The current measures were still experimental, but they should prove sufficient for now.
In addition, the Cyclopses were fitted with various magical tools for gathering mobility data on sandy terrain. More important, however, was the machine standing right beside them.
“Hovering testbed.”
It had been built by stripping the equipment from the original Knight testbed and replacing it with Cyclops components, the legs redesigned solely for hovering. Fully sealed, it was the most critical unit in today’s trials.
Professor Reina’s Cyclops, now wearing the stripped Knight equipment as an auxiliary pack, stood nearby, but it was little more than an afterthought compared to the hovering prototype.
While the Golem Squad members from the Magic and Knight Departments wandered about, staring in wonder, Eisen stepped forward, heart pounding, and shouted, “We’re beginning the first mobility test!”
“Everyone to your positions! Collect the data! Maintain comms with the riders!”
People scattered at once. Iserina prepared to cast spells at a moment’s notice while the first sealed Cyclops began to move. The moment it took a step, its feet sank deep into the sand. It lurched forward in an awkward crawl.
“Think it can run?”
“Probably not, but want to try anyway?”
An alchemy student who had been monitoring the internal comms looked his way. Eisen nodded. “Run.”
“Might as well give it a shot!”
The Cyclops charged forward and immediately toppled. Sand exploded outward with a heavy thud. While the magic students calmly blocked the flying debris with spells, a voice crackled over the comms.
“Failed!”
“Figured as much! Stay right there! We’re coming to remove the equipment!”
They had expected it to fall from the start. The alchemy students rushed over, laughing even in failure; one of them used the momentum of the tumble to sprint on all fours.
“It really feels like Lord Eisen has multiplied.”
“It does.”
“I don’t go running on all fours, though.”
“Lord Eisen would’ve made a stone slab and slid across it, just like last time.”
After answering Noel, Mina, and Erica, who stood beside him, Eisen walked toward the hover testbed. The Cyclopses wouldn’t explode if they fell, so he could let others handle them, but the testbed was different. No one knew what might happen. Therefore…
“I’ll ride it.”
He climbed into the cockpit with magic, powered up the machine, and watched the fallen Cyclops finally right itself and withdraw. The moment he moved the legs, a tremendous vibration shook the frame. For an instant it threatened to pitch forward, then the machine steadied and began to glide.
“Hovering really is the answer.”
Walking wasn’t necessarily inferior, but at the current level of technology, hovering was clearly superior. The machine slid smoothly through the air. When he tested movement in every direction, the students’ excitement rose visibly—unlike during the Cyclops trial.
“That huge thing is actually floating?”
“Does that mean it’ll really be able to fly freely through the sky someday?”
Even from the sidelines, the sight was thrilling. Pilotable golems were never small. Material and technological limits had forced them to be far smaller than originally planned, yet they were still large enough that one had to look up from a building rather than from the ground.
Anything visible at a single glance was already at a safe distance. And now that colossal steel body was gliding across the sand as though it weighed nothing.
“It would be strange not to find this amazing.”
Of course, it couldn’t stay airborne forever. The technology was brand new; flight time was still short. A small explosion erupted from the legs as if from overload, and the machine dropped to the ground. Its energy was completely depleted. But one fact remained clear.
“It flew.”
Hovering itself had succeeded. It was a precious first step achieved by many hands working together.
“Excellent.”
There was still a great deal of work ahead, but the most important step had been taken. Smiling, Eisen climbed out of the cockpit and shouted, “Improvement work starts right now!”
“Bring the tools! Strip it down and check everything!”
“Find out exactly where it exploded!”
The starving alchemy rioters charged forward, eyes blazing. It was a deeply satisfying sight.
****
Strictly speaking it had been a failure, yet the alchemy students knew that succeeding on the very first try would have been far more frightening. They showed no sign of discouragement.
“Sita, Mew! Once you finish analyzing the Cyclops leg detachment, go make the equipment! Request materials from the Christa Trading Company!”
“This spot looks like it couldn’t handle the overload. Show it to the professor!”
They moved with lively energy, already preparing the next round of tests. Even the students from other departments, who had merely watched until now, began to stir—partly because the first objective had been achieved despite the failure.
“According to Eisen, who wrote the manual, we have no idea what might go wrong with a Cyclops in an emergency! You saw for yourselves how different a controlled environment is from an uncontrolled battlefield! Go help and learn something about machinery while you’re at it! Me? I’m busy! Go study!”
“Reina’s trying to slip away, so I’ll catch her.”
Reina issued orders to the Knight Department students, apparently remembering what was written in the manual, only for Iserina to grab her by the collar as she attempted to escape. Rodelini sighed softly while examining the damaged hover unit.
“I want to go over there too.”
“We have plenty to discuss before that.”
Originally, Eisen should have been the one standing among them. He should have spent the night analyzing the destroyed hover unit, identifying the problems, and making improvements. But Mina had been rather insistent, so he had stayed quietly by her side.
“You looked tired when you returned from the meeting yesterday. Did something happen?”
“With this many ears around, it’s nothing good.”
The fact that Mina was bringing it up now, amid all the commotion, meant the information was urgent. She continued, “First, Prince Rial didn’t come here simply to buy weapons. Second, the Order seems to want power of its own.”
“…The first part makes sense, but the second is surprising.”
Erica answered with rare seriousness, and Mina nodded. Noel’s expression grew grave as well.
“…If the Order gained real power, it would be suppressed. They wouldn’t do anything so reckless…”
The Saras Order’s status was recognized precisely because it held no military strength; that neutrality allowed smooth missionary work in every nation. The moment it acquired power, it would be crushed. “And yet they spoke so openly in front of Mina…”
While he was still pondering what that implied, Mina spoke quietly. “According to the Order’s information, monsters are moving in large numbers. Prince Rial’s success in arranging the academy’s pilgrimage seems to be an attempt to borrow the academy’s strength.”
“The academy isn’t a military organization… though it could certainly be treated as one.”
It was easy to forget, but Professor Reina alone was a human weapon, and there were also famous mages like the headmaster and Professor Iserina. Since Vespia’s nobles were essentially all mages, bringing the academy along would instantly secure a force equal to its student and faculty numbers. Of course, they had no obligation to fight for a foreign country, so using them as direct combat power was nearly impossible for Prince Rial.
Eisen and Abathus, however, were exceptions. With the performance contest between Cyclopses and chimeras still ongoing, the battlefield remained the best place to evaluate their machines. Refusing to fight would hand the opponent an immediate advantage, making outright refusal an awkward position to maintain.
“As for the Order… the First Saintess said this.”
“What did she say?”
“She wants to hire Eisen.”
…So they wanted to borrow the academy’s power—especially his. He had almost no connection to the Order beyond Mina, so the words didn’t feel entirely real. Noel’s expression darkened at the mention of hiring.
“…Is it true?”
“It is.”
The atmosphere had turned uneasy. Mina spoke calmly to the visibly displeased Noel. “From what I can tell, there’s a faction within the Order that wants military power, and the First Saintess seems halfway aligned with them.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because there were people begging.”
Mina’s disgusted face suggested someone had actually said something along the lines of “Hand over the Cyclops, Saintess!” Compared to that, “hire” sounded almost moderate. Still, it was moderate only in wording; the First Saintess clearly desired military strength as well.
“What on earth are they thinking?”
While Erica murmured, Mina waited a moment before speaking again. “Judging from the way they spoke, the large-scale monster migration seems to have some cause.”
“A cause? Surely not…”
Noel spoke as though something had occurred to him. Mina shook her head. “It looked like a natural phenomenon. Not the Empire’s doing.”
Apparently the investigation had already ruled that out. Mina turned to Eisen and said quietly, “So tomorrow, when we go into the city, we should look into what’s really happening.”
No one present asked why. They all understood that knowing the enemy was the first step to victory.
“We already have so much research to do, and now an investigation…”
“Did you tell only us first because you were worried the information would reach Abathus if you told the rest of the academy?”
“Unnecessary confusion. The professors need to know, but the students shouldn’t. Not yet.”
So the information would be shared eventually. For now, however, Mina had called only their group together first.
“I know you’re busy with research, but given the situation, get ready.”
“Understood.”
After all, their goal was to defeat Abathus. Sometimes one had to set personal desires aside. Noel clapped her hands softly.
“In that case, we’ll begin the investigation as well.”
“Fortunately, we’ve received permission to use the Gandharva Kingdom’s royal library. It’s just a short walk along the main street.”
“The kingdom’s library? I thought entry was usually restricted…”
“The authority of a saintess is absolute. Hooray.”
Mina tried to get everyone to cheer, but no one did. Still, her decisiveness in immediately preparing once she decided something was necessary made it hard to begrudge her the lack of enthusiasm.
“As you know, tomorrow is a holiday. We’ll have plenty of time to spend together.”
“Together…”
Noel reacted to the word. Erica also seemed to be thinking something. Then Mina began to smile.
“In that sense, Eisen.”
She wore a bright smile as she spoke slowly. “Tomorrow, let’s go into the city together—just the two of us.”
“Tomorrow, please go into the city with me, Lord Eisen.”
“Tomorrow, let’s go explore the city together, Eisen!”
Three voices overlapped perfectly. The three women looked at one another.