<Message from the translator:> Best golem makes its appearance! You’ll see their cute interactions starting next chapter, so stay tuned~
Chapter 8: Call and Response -Part 2-
Afterward, I managed to do several more attempts until evening.
As a result, I got all the way up to Golem No.5, but all of them were short-lived as they crumbled away……
I had used the example order provided in the introductory book for Golem No.1, but for No.2 and onward, I started testing with more and more complex orders. What I’ve discovered was that if the order gets too long, it won’t work.
If there are too many words, the spell will flop and the golem will not animate even if the contents of the command are simple.
Conversely, as long as the command remains short, the spell will activate no matter how complex and abstract the order is.
For example, the order “Please fetch a lot of purple fruits,” worked despite its abstract nature.
Ah, by the way, the purple fruit I was talking about is, of course, the glorious cranberry apple.
According to the introductory book, golems weren’t something one could continuously create, but it didn’t look like that was an issue for me.
It felt like as long as my concentration lasted, I could pop them out all day long. Far from running out of mana, I couldn’t even feel it being depleted.
I sometimes forget this, but I am, more or less, the “Sorcerer King” blessed with a stupidly large amount of spell power.
At times like this, I was glad to be the Sorcerer King.
Half a day had passed since I created Golem No.1.
I looked up at the western sky to see that it had already begun to be dyed in a beautiful golden color.
I should prepare dinner soon.
This will be my last golem experiment for the day.
“……Hn, first is forming the base.”
When you end up creating 5 golems in a row, you end up getting the hang of creating the base.
I decided to try out creating one in the garden.
Whenever I went to search the study or grab some food, I passed by the area to get to the house. During those times, I thought about trying out my golem experiments in the back of the house.
Seeing how smoothly these experiments were going by the book, it seems that I wouldn’t have to worry about [Create Golem] causing an accidental explosion.
My line of sight was fixed straight ahead to the garden when another object ahead caught my eye, causing me to stray off the path.
—There stood a beautiful white pillar.
It was the same snow-white pillar I noticed when I first discovered the hidden house.
It was connected to the spell circle used to summon me into this world, but with its role fulfilled, it didn’t appear to have any significance and just stood out.
Since it was positioned directly behind the house, it wasn’t damaged by the [Create Pebble] incident.
The immaculate pillar silently loomed over me.
At that moment, I felt my mischievous side peek out.
…If I made a golem out of this, wouldn’t it be super high-class?
Since I’ve been following the textbook method the whole time, I felt like I was getting accustomed to the spell process.
Nonchalantly, I turned and started walking towards the pillar, deciding that my new golem shall be made from this pillar.
“—[Form Base].”
The pillar disintegrated into many small white particles and began to dance in front of me.
I felt like I was surrounded by glittering snow.
I focused my power, and slowly, the particles fused together, gradually forming the base of the golem.
The end result was a pure white golem towering at 1.9 meters tall.
It still resembled a wooden mannequin like the others before it, but I would say that I’ve gotten the hang of creating these guys.
A wooden mannequin was still a wooden mannequin, so the design was rather simple and polished. Still, he looked pretty strong.
The pillar’s original circumference was close to 3 meters wide while the golem’s thickness was roughly the same level, meaning that the particles must have been compressed pretty tightly.
Plus, this time it wasn’t dirt but a stone golem.
It was necessary to go all-out yet remain careful when applying the next spell.
“[Reduce Weight].”
I diligently cast the spell I had repeated numerous times already.
Yup, there was no problem this time as well.
Now comes the hard part.
I had several drafts for a command that would prevent my golem from crumbling.
At the very least, I knew that it couldn’t be like my usual “One-Two-Bam” commands.
The golem would crumble as soon as the order was completed.
So, I needed a command that could be executed but not completed. A command that could be constantly maintained and obeyed. And on top of all of that, it must be short and concise.
I was thinking that for the meantime, I’d just start vague and gradually get more specific.
In short, I intended to try out various patterns of abstract commands like, “Serve me forever.”
“[Command—]…”
What should I order?
Since the command “Gather a lot of fruits” worked, any abstract order should be fine as long as it could actually be performed. At the very least, I have as many chances as I want since nothing happens when the spell doesn’t activate.
Yeah, there was no need for me to think this hard about it.
As long as the contents of the order didn’t diverge too much, I could just spit out whatever comes to mind.
…‘Obey me’…huh.
As a cultured man, I have no need for a slave or servant.
What popped in my head at that moment was my dumb dog back home.
You may be thinking that I was the owner of him, but he was a rather free spirit.
I wonder what exactly he was to me.
He definitely wasn’t a slave. Nor was he a servant.
When he didn’t want to do something, he made it known.
When things got troublesome and we would both be involved, he would ignore me and run away.
But, at the same time, if I really needed him, he would stay and listen.
And if either one of us would be in danger, then—
What would you call that kind of relationship?
Ah, that’s right.
“…—[Be my partner forever.].”
Silence enveloped my surroundings.
At first, I wondered if I had messed up. Then, I leisurely began to think of what my next order should be.
But what I really felt next was the air…no, the whole atmosphere, tremble.
If I recall correctly, this was the same feeling when I broke the seal on the Grand Rock Door.
I had cast spells numerous times since then, but that feeling never came back.
It was at that moment when that happened.
—I felt that something was starting to be forcibly sucked out at a frightening pace.
I had used some crude example like releasing a fart last time, but this time was certainly not something that shoddy.
My power was being drained quickly and forcefully.
Was that my mana!?
The direction of the torrent of mana was towards the white golem before me.
The raging flood of mana pouring out of me continually flowed into the snow-white golem, looking completely out-of-place in this battle scene. I could already sense the power circulating inside of it.
It wasn’t exactly visible; I could only say that I had sensed it.
But this is…sucking…too much…
My consciousness gradually grew darker.
——————
…Let’s start from the top.
At that time, I was gravely mistaken about golems.
As the introductory book had explained in the beginning, golems were a topic of research at national-level military facilities. It was an academic discipline that was both advanced and complicated. As such, there was absolutely no need for an introductory book to go into such minute and technical details about it. That would just be a waste. In the first place, the author Luvel Zairein didn’t even seem to be an expert on this subject anyway.
Therefore, the [Create Golem] spell mentioned in Introduction to Wizardry IV was as simple as one of those monthly subscription things that send you parts so you could build your own walking robot. Even the base I used was just that; there was nothing additional added.
However, I unknowingly ordered that bare minimum of a golem a command that was on the level of “Work like a near-futuristic SF robot.”
So, this assembly-kit type of robot was forced to become a futuristic robot. Furthermore, the absurd amount of mana I had at my disposal as the Sorcerer King was being imbued in it with a gorilla-like force. I had thought that this would turn out like the other experiments I had tried with the end result being just a dud.
However, I was unaware of the unknown factor in this situation.
A variety of complex happenings intertwined, creating a change that surpassed human understanding.
Was it just a coincidence, or was this something that should be called “destiny?”
This lifeless, simple, single-use base of a golem.
A command that wasn’t supposed to work.
A gentle Sorcerer King of Earth.
And finally, the sorrowful witch’s——.
—Finally, my consciousness completely blacked out.
——————
I wondered exactly how much time had passed.
I woke up in a bed.
So, so sluggish.
My entire body was suffering from an unbelievable sense of exhaustion.
I slowly blinked.
I felt like I was dead. It was impossible to even move a little.
Which reminds me, where was this place?
I looked around.
From what I saw from the slight damage spread about, this must be the interior of a dilapidated home.
Ah, now I remembered.
I was inside the bedroom…of a dead evil summoner…in another world…
I was gradually coming to my senses.
Wait a sec. I get it that I’m inside the bastard Zairein’s home, but, what was this situation?
I had just collapsed in the garden, right?
So, how did I warp all the way over here?
And there was this thing that had been bothering me for a while.
—A white wooden mannequin was staring at me from the side of the bed.
Ah, this guy was the golem I created from the pillar.
Golem…what number was I up to?
“….Are you the one who carried me all the way to bed?”
The white golem didn’t answer.
However, he moved slightly in response to my voice. Additionally, the way he turned his head as if to listen to me made it appear that he definitely held some kind of intellect.
My experiment was a success!
I was super happy but regrettably, my body was still sluggish and I couldn’t move.
Or more precisely, the current me right now wouldn’t have even been able to crawl all the way here all by myself.
Knowing my personality, I probably would have only made it to the entrance way and slept right on the spot.
In other words, there was no doubt that my new golem brought me to bed and nursed me.
I see now.
…………
You’re a super nice guy, aren’tcha!
My favorability of this golem instantly shot up.
And for animals you like, you give them a name.
That was my style.
As names stick with you for life, it’s something precious.
Let’s see…umm…
What should it be?
Well, it has to be cool, duh. And a golem-like name would be good, too…I think.
“Alright, I got it. Your name is ‘Goltarou[1]‘!”
Yup.
It is a simple yet sensible masculine name if I do say so myself.
[1] Yup, it’s Gol(em) + tarou. MC’s naming sense strikes again!
Towards the Sky 
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