Chapter 564: National-Level Military Force

Tauro’s experiments in creating puppet golems continued.

By combining a golem’s core with high-grade magic stones through [Creation Magic], he successfully overwrote the previous records and remade it into a new core that would allow it to function as Tauro’s personal puppet.

“Looks like this time it worked. All right—now I’ll return this new core to the Guardian Stone Golem.”

After taking a swig of a magic-restoration potion, Tauro approached the golem with the newly crafted core in hand.

“Leader, you sure about this? The moment you put that core back, it’s not going to start trying to eliminate us again, right?”

Ankh was understandably worried.

“That possibility… might exist, but it should be fine. Since the core is the golem’s power source, rewriting it should let me control it with my new ability, [Puppeteer].”

Tauro was confident that he could control it, although he had no concrete basis for that confidence beyond the new ability he had acquired.

“If you say so, I’ll trust you. But everyone, let’s prepare for the worst. Ragune isn’t here, so it’s up to you to take responsibility for your own defenses.”

Despite saying she trusted him, Aeris’s warning was blunt.

“I-I understand! I think I can do enough damage to the puppet with my current attacks, so if it attacks, I’ll immediately counterattack and stop it.” Zion nodded, bracing herself.

“All right, Leader—do it,” Ankh said, drawing his great magic sword and readying for combat.

“Not much faith in me, huh…? Okay—here goes. [Creation Magic]!”

With a wry smile, Tauro inserted the new core into the golem’s abdomen.

The stone in the golem’s head began to glow. With the grinding sound of stone against stone, the massive body slowly rose from the ground.

“Oh! This is incredible!”

Tauro exclaimed in amazement. Something had clearly happened: the puppet had merely stood up, yet he alone cried out in surprise.

“L-Leader? It’s not going to suddenly attack, right?” Ankh called nervously.

“Oh, yes, it’s fine! Right now, I’m actually sharing vision with the golem. I can see all of you from up above—but at the same time, I’m standing here looking up at it. It feels really strange!”

“““Sharing vision?”””

Aeris and the others exchanged looks.

“You can see us waving right now?” Aeris asked, waving at the golem.

“Yep, I can.”

As if to prove it, Tauro manipulated the golem to wave back.

“““Whoa!”””

The group waved again in astonishment.

“To think you can control that powerful Guardian Stone Golem… this might actually be an incredible combat asset,” Ankh said, impressed.

“Right? With this, we could probably stand against even a horde of Olog-Hai. And—there’s this too.”

With that, Tauro made the towering stone puppet vanish in an instant.

No, he hadn’t erased it; he had simply stored it in [Magic Storage].

“Since it’s not a living being, you really can carry it around… That’s amazing!” Zion exclaimed.

“I’m blown away… With these dolls, we could become the strongest adventurers around,” Ankh muttered, imagining the possibilities.

“…I suppose so. But to others, this could look threatening. We probably shouldn’t reveal too many of them.”

Aeris was right.

A four-meter-tall stone golem under Tauro’s control would draw the attention not only of the Adventurers’ Guild, but also of the military—and possibly entire nations.

It may have been because they didn’t know its weak points, but even three elite domestic adventurer teams fighting together had struggled to defeat just one.

Now, Tauro possessed one special core made from merging two originals, plus sixteen additional cores made by combining cores and magic stones—seventeen in total.

Even subtracting the two destroyed bodies, sixteen intact golem bodies remained.

If Tauro could operate all of these, it would mean that he would effectively command a formidable military force.

It was better kept secret.

“I’d like to test controlling multiple units at once. And once Ragune gets back, there’s something else I want to try. Can I keep going?”

Tauro said carefully, sensing the others’ slight unease. 

“Well, only you can control them anyway, so it should be fine. Go ahead. I’ll just sit back and watch—with a drink.” Ankh shrugged.

He had Tauro retrieve some alcohol from [Magic Storage] and began drinking casually.

“Ankh-san, you’ve become a lot bolder since your training at the Dragon’s Den,” Zion remarked—whether praise or sarcasm, it was unclear.

“Heh. That just means he trusts Tauro,” Aeris said gently.

“I trust Lord Tauro as well!” Zion declared proudly.

And so, in the secluded forest with no one but Aeris and the others present, Tauro repaired and activated ten Guardian Stone Golems.

He confirmed he could operate multiple units simultaneously.

“…Sharing vision is better done one at a time, it seems. But I can also let them handle certain movements automatically—that’s convenient.”

One by one, Tauro summoned the ten newly reborn stone puppets and made each perform different actions.

“This could even be useful for construction work in dangerous areas,” Ankh commented between sips.

“Yeah. If possible, I’d prefer to use them in ways that help people as much as possible,” Tauro agreed.

“In that case, maybe Pella-chan will have less work protecting Lord Tauro,” Zion mused aloud.

At that, Pella—currently disguised as Tauro’s belt—dropped its mimicry and bounced up and down in protest.

“S-Sorry! I just thought guarding Lady Aeris and Lord Tauro must be exhausting, so it’d be nice if your workload got lighter!”

Zion apologized sincerely in response to Pella’s protests, but the sight was so amusing that Tauro and the others burst into laughter.