Volume 21 Sidestory 1, Golem, Doll, or Something Else

Schmidt, head of Crown’s merchant division, regularly visited the Administration Floor.

Of course, he often conducted official business, but that usually took place during the regular meetings.

The reason why he visited the Administration Floor regularly was because he was looking forward to Kousuke’s development of new magical tools.

Of course, there wasn’t always something new every time.

More often than not, the meeting ended up with nothing.

For Schmidt, who was busy as the department head, time was precious, but still, he thinks it worthwhile to come visit him.

Although new magical tools only appear once in a while, the ones that do appear occasionally tend to be very useful to Crown.

Unfortunately, the magical tools that Kousuke makes were usually so advanced that the magical tool craftsmen employed by Crown could not reproduce them.

Not only could they not reproduce them, they could not even analyze them, so one could understand how advanced they were.

This was partly for ostensible reasons, but also because he longed for the business dealings he used to have when he was a peddler.

Now that he was a department head, Schmidt was no longer dealing on a personal level, even though he did some large commercial transactions.

It was natural for him to do so, but he sometimes found it lonely.

However, the transactions with Kousuke were one-on-one discussions, so in a sense, they could be described as the personal transactions of a peddler.

It would be difficult to say whether a discussion between a Tower manager and an executive of an organization in the Tower could be called a personal transaction or not.

One day, when he visited the Administration Floor as usual, an unfamiliar person appeared.

The unfamiliar person greeted Schmidt.

Normally, one of the female members would have noticed and responded, but that day was different.

A woman whom he did not recognize was dealing with the situation.

As a side note, the women around Kousuke, led by Kouhi and Mitsuki, were all beautiful.

The woman, who was as good-looking as any of them, was dressed in a perfect maid’s outfit.

Generally, daily necessities for the Administration Floor were supplied through Crown.

Therefore, Schmidt was aware of all the goods that were being distributed to the Administration Floor.

However, he had no recollection of wholesaling the clothes worn by the maid.

Not only the clothes, but also the maid herself, he could not remember, but he had never heard of any new people being brought into the Administration Floor.

Inwardly, tilting his head, Schmidt sat down in the chair offered to him.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Yes. I would appreciate it if you could make me a cup of tea.”

It would be impolite to refrain from being reserved here, so he replied that way.

Upon hearing Schmidt’s answer, the maid made a perfect motion to respond.

Once that maid left the conference room, she returned with tea.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Oh, thank you. By the way, when did you arrive here? I’m sorry, I don’t recall anyone being hired by the Tower.”

“Well. I was just created recently. This is the first time we have met.”

“….Created?”

Schmidt tilted his head at the curious expression, but when he heard the maid’s answer, he almost spewed out the tea he was about to drink.

“Yes. I am the first maid golem that was recently completed.”

“!!!!!!!!!?”

The tea nearly spewed out, but he managed to hold it in.

Schmidt was able to endure, but he couldn’t stop himself from coughing.

“What, what did you say…?”

Schmidt’s voice echoed through the conference room shortly thereafter.

♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦

“… So, what is this about?”

Schmidt glared at Kousuke, who replied with a wry smile.

“Well, just two days ago, Kouhi and Mitsuki completed a new golem as a joint effort. That’s her.”

Pointed out by Kousuke with his hand, Maid Golem No. 1 bowed her head curtly.

In times like this, she was designed not to say anything unnecessary.

“She’s a golem, you say?”

“That would be the case, you see? I didn’t even get to see her until she was finished. I didn’t expect her to be so perfect.”

If he was not informed of this, he would have thought it was a normal human species.

There was some discomfort in assuming it was human, but if I had been told that it was such a species, it would have seemed to be a normal one.

Incidentally, he was allowed to touch her arm, and the feeling was the same as skin.

At first, he thought that they summoned her, just as they did with Wahid and the other members.

From the way the members looked when she was unveiled, Kousuke somehow knew that Schmidt would react in this way.

“…I don’t think it’s a work of art that can be summed up the way to describe her, I would say she was “overly high-spec” right?”

I don’t think it’s a work of art that can be summed up in one word, “highly finished,” is it?”

“Oh, as I thought?”

No one could tell at first glance that she was a golem, both in appearance and in movement.

She was that good.

Moreover, she also performs the practical work of a maid.

If she were to be put up for auction, it would be impossible to predict how much she would fetch, even if she was not a favored person.

“Of course, she can’t be put up for sale…right?”

” Not possible.”

At Kousuke’s words, he let out a sigh inwardly.

Although it was to be expected, he could not suppress the feeling that it would be a waste.

However, that feeling was dampened by Kousuke’s next words.

“So far, neither Kouhi nor Mitsuki seem to be interested in making anything other than what they use here. Besides, can you imagine what would happen if you put only a few of these things up for sale?”

“…Eh?”

“If you put a few golems with that much intricate movement out into the world… I’m scared just thinking about what would happen.”

If the amount of money only hovers without a ceiling, it would still be fine.

In the worst case, it could escalate into an armed conflict… the troublesome possibilities would be endless.

“… What about mass production?”

How was the development department’s progress?

“…To be frank, it’s not looking good.”

In Crown’s development department, headed by Isnani, the Golem was also a subject of research and development.

In fact, the department’s main focus had become golem development.

However, aside from Isnani, the subordinates were not yet up to speed on the Golem.

That development department referred to the Golem No. 1 a masterpiece, and their works were far too inferior to her.

“Even Golem No. 1’s technology is in that situation. It’s very, very hard to catch up with her technology. Besides… right, this.”

Kousuke held out a sheet of paper toward Schmidt.

“What’s this?”

“I knew you would surely ask. I made a list of the materials used for her.”

Schmidt was looking at the form as he listened to Kousuke’s words, but his face turned pale from the first line and was almost white by the time he reached the last line.

“I’m sure there are people who would want it, no matter how much the price goes up, but whether they can actually afford it? I mean, if you look around the world, maybe there are some, but…”

“… Even if there were, they would probably go bankrupt the moment they paid.”

Schmidt, finally recovering, managed to reply.

.

Even just one of the materials used would crush any average merchant.

Some of them even included things that even Schmidt had only heard of by name.

A large number of materials were used, even if only one of these materials could be used to compete with a whole country.

The reason for the abundant use of such materials was, of course, because the materials were obtained from the monsters that appeared in the Tower.

The monsters that appear in the Tower were the result of Kouhi or Mitsuki’s own efforts, so they could be obtained without any problems.

“So, mass production is almost impossible because of the materials. Both Kouhi and Mitsuki said they have no intention of selling it to anyone else. Even if we sold it, it would only cause a commotion, and that’s not a good thing.”

Schmidt, who understood the situation completely, also shrugged.

“It would certainly be better not to put it out there. It’s such a waste, unfortunately.”

“I can understand why you feel it’s a waste, though. If we put it out there, we’ll probably only get trouble, so it can’t be helped.”

If Kousuke could, he would have liked to show that this kind of golem could also be made, to increase the value of the golem.

However, he did not want to go to the trouble of putting out something that would only cause trouble.

There was no choice, but currently all they could do was hope for the best from the development department.

“That’s right… Now then, shall I have you show me something new today?”

Schmidt had completely given up on the maid golem, but he had not given up on Kousuke’s tools either.

Kousuke, who knew this was going to happen, smiled wryly as he engaged in dialogue with Schmidt.