Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 202:  Golem Corps

Having begun making golems, what I will be focusing on in the golems this time is the performance of the golem cores.

I still can’t make a golem of the same caliber as Titan, but I’ll be drawing a magic formula with the aim of having a flexible AI, to a degree.

The types of golem that I’ll make are:

Polypod-type Golem (Spider)

Polypod-type Golem (Scorpion)

Equestrian-type Golem (Centaur)

Normal Knight-type Golem

Heavy Knight-type Golem

The addition of the Scorpion Polypod-type Golem is partly because of the inclusion of the spider-type that would become Kaede’s subordinates.

The upper half of the scorpion-type was similar to the spider-type, but its lower half will have 6 legs and 2 pincer arms, and it has a tail with a poison stinger. It might be the golem with the most ways to attack.

The Heavy Knight-type Golem specializes in defense, equipped with a large shield, heavy mace, and a bulky armor.

「Takumi-sama, will there be no archers?」

「Hm? Archers?」

「Yes, if there are golems of the heavy knight-type, normal knight-type, and equestrian-type, I simply thought that it would be adequate to have an archer-type golem as well.」

I tried considering what Sophia said. Certainly, if I look at it as an army, a way to attack long range is essential, and even in Japan’s Warring States period, the era prior to the application of guns, many casualties of the war were attributed to bows.

「Right, our means to attack long range is lacking.」

「Indeed. If possible, I believe it would be beneficial to have a means to attack long range.」

「Thank you, Sophia. I’ll try planning it out right away.」

Being told about methods for long range attack by Sophia, the first things I associated with it were sniper rifles and assault rifle. Gunpowder can be made with alchemy. The detonator and cartridge were the same. As I’ve already made chromium molybdenum steel with alchemy, the gun barrel could be cast from that using Smithing Magic. But it’s impossible for me to make masses of firearms by myself. Also, I’d like to avoid introducing gunpowder, which has not discovered it yet, to this world, if only for my mental health.

「Once a monster rises above a certain rank, it wouldn’t receive much damage if the attack isn’t incorporated with magic power.」

「Indeed. That is why we Elves shoot arrows clad in magic power and attribute magic.」

With that being the case, firing lead balls wouldn’t be applicable for anything but weak monsters. Magic devices that shoots out attribute magic already exists in this world, if I’m not mistaken. One is the large-ish magic crystal inlayed into the tip of a staff. It must have been a very expensive magic device that fires the magic contained in the magic crystal etched with magic formulas.

Even though I can make magic crystals myself, procuring a large amount of magic stones that would serve as materials for it is a big ordeal.

At first, I considered weapons that fire magic attacks like the ones equipped on the magic ship, but I realized that while it was fine to prepare ample magic crystals for the armaments of a gigantic ship despite being somewhat massive, it’s wrong to compare it to providing golems with weapons that must be portable. Furthermore, the ship is equipped with a magic device that replenishes magic power from the mana in the atmosphere back into the magic crystals. An attack by means of magic consumes a lot of magic power.

「A way to consume less magic power huh…… as expected, arrows carried by Wind magic might be realistic.」

「That’s correct. Wind magic and bows have good affinity, after all. The method of circulating magic power through the arrow is unusable when the arrowhead is made of iron, therefore we Elves use a technique by cladding an arrow in magic power to increase its piercing strength known as Piercing Shot.」

「Then I’ll prepare a magic device for the right hand of the archer-type golem to cast that magic.」

Then I suddenly remembered a weapon in Japan.

Called “Hazuyari[1]“, it is a bow with a spearhead fastened at its tip. If it was just in its plain form, I’d have worries about the strength when using the spear, but that can be resolved by the materials and magic that exist in this world. It’ll suffice if we procure masses of ready-made arrows from Papeck-san.

Polypod-type Golem (Scorpion) – 1

Equestrian-type Golem (Centaur) – 4

Normal Knight-type Golem – 4

Heavy Knight-type Golem – 2

Archer-type Golem – 4

This will be one platoon and I decided that the polypod-type golem will be the leader.

Four platoons is a company, four companies is a battalion, and right now my objective is to make a battalion-sized golem corps.

「240 golems huh. Once we include the equipment into the count, the sighs really will begin to spill out.」

「A 240 golem corps? I’m certain that would be a spectacle.」

「It would be a company if it was a troop of 240 humans though. Well, these are golems, after all.」

If possible, I’d like to make a division and brigade-sized golem unit. I don’t know why, but my intuition is telling me to prepare. Whether this is because of the Insight Skill or a supernatural-like foreboding, I don’t know.

It’s not like it would be any trouble even if we over-prepare, so I’ve decided to act based on my intuition.

With Laeva and the Dwarves’ help, I made all sorts of golems. To fight against threats that may eventually come.

***

Footnotes:

1. example of the bow: Single blade here, possible variation here.

2. Spider polypod golem missing from the platoon count.