CH 68

……Once upon a time I also believed I’d build a very normal, ordinary transport vehicle.

“So it’s ended up being a magic bug anyway!”

I quietly averted my face.

“……It’s not that bad, is it?”

I had considered various things. I mean, wouldn’t it be smarter to go with something like a tank in a world as dangerous as this?

Assuming I add rocket launchers in the front and rear, and movable Gatling guns on the sides, how am I going to defend against all enemy attacks? Going with just four tires would be scary as well, no?

The Ryokus have six legs (excluding the two front legs), but since the torso part of the transport vehicle is going to be longer, I must increase the number of legs. If I make it rectangular like a truck, it’d be easier to hit it with direct attacks and the frame would be more fragile, so wouldn’t it be better to go with a curvy design?

I pondered about all this and much more, just to suddenly remember pill bugs. So I made one. Tehe.

Just a tad more mechanical, okay?

This time I had Sword choose some light metal, and although it’s hidden by the legs, it also possesses a crawler track. If you open the round windows, you can shoot Gatling guns from there!

Thanks to a shutter, it looks like the back’s rear would split into upper and lower parts whenever it’s opened. By the way, the driver’s seat also uses a shutter function. You enter it by moving the front glass part up.

In the unlikely event of the crawler track getting destroyed, the vehicle can still be supported by its multiple legs, and should the legs get destroyed, the crawler track can cover as a driving force. The vehicle itself can automatically judge whether to use track or legs depending on the terrain.

Only Bennyboy, who built it together with me, was pleased by all of this.

“Awesome! It’s a dream come true, seriously! I’d love to give it a test drive, though!”

Thanks, Bennyboy. I’ve been encouraged by your kind words. Leading me to get carried away a bit too much…

Since I’d hate for it to be mistaken as a magic bug, I recorded, 「Even though I might look like this, I am a golem! I am helping out with carrying things!」 as a voice track, and made sure that it could be played through a megaphone.

“…As far as my opinion goes, I actually feel like this thing is goin’ to draw attacks for the sake of obtainin’ it, you know?” Sword grumbled.

“Who cares anyway. It can deal with most stuff thrown at it. Now then, time to give this baby a ride.” Happy and antsy, Bennyboy got into the driver’s seat.

I climbed in as well…

“Unyu!?” 1

Sword also got on.

“What’re you doing in here!? Weren’t you uninterested in this!?”

“I never said that I’m not interested. Your goin’ to build several more anyway, aren’t you? I’ll also give my advice, so come on, move a bit, will you?”

The heck! Just a while ago he was ridiculing it as a magic bug!! Rather than a bug, it’s become a colony now! 2

“By the way, what’s this thing called?”

“Multi-legged Transport Golem, but feel free to name it as you like.”

“You were so picky about Ryoku, and now your readily delegatin’ it to an idiot?”

“I built Ryoku while having a clear image in mind. This is the result of me getting carried away as I came up with ideas.”

“Ah, just as I expected.”

Also, when it comes to me naming it, I can’t come up with any names other than those which mustn’t be used at all costs.

“Cool, you ‘kay with me calling him Char then?”

Ben’s naming sense was unexpectedly decent.

＊

The driver’s seat is quite mechanical. It’s crowded with measuring instruments and panels. Of course you can drive Char without looking at all those, and you can also operate it by voice. Or rather, since I set the default driving mode to be auto, things will be fine just like this. But, as someone who loves operating robots, I believe custom voice recognition to be the death of any manual PC settings, and instead wish to fiddle with the detailed settings myself.

Therefore I set the driver’s cockpit up like that.

Sword got startled when he saw it, and started to suddenly fidget around. I’m pretty sure he’s super curious.

Bennyboy said, “Whoa! But, do I have to memorize all of this?”, with a slightly dejected undertone.

“No, not really. It’s basically set on automatic. Or maybe I should say, it all runs automatically. You might get an urge to fiddle around with it if you learn how, but just ignore it for now. Instead I’ll have you master the necessary driving skill.”

He openly felt relieved when hearing me.

＊

“‘kay, time to set out.”

Bennyboy slowly stepped on the accelerator. In response, Char quietly started to move.

“Wow, it’s not shaking whatsoever!”

“Well, yeah, I added something like a shock-absorber. As standard it uses the crawler track, but if the ground gets too rugged, it’ll walk on its multi-legs.”

All for the sake of a relaxed traveling, yep.

“Somehow…’tis a really comfortable drive.”

“Oh! You can tell?”

I became happy since Sword noticed it, and ended up explaining, “It’s fully equipped with air-conditioning! The set temperature is ［22° Celsius］. Ah, please think of it as the current temperature. If you want it to be a bit hotter in here, touch the up-arrow over here, and if you want it to be cooler, touch the down-arrow. In case you want to save fuel, you just need to stop it with the “Turn off” next to it. In addition, it’s also equipped with an emission of ［Negative Ions］, or what you’d call a forest therapy effect. If you’re in a forest, the air is much cleaner than in town, right? That’s what I mean. Furthermore, ［Humidification］, moisture is important as well, hence the steam is being released outside to some extent.”

Sword was dumbstruck.

Bennyboy answered, “Incredible! Though I didn’t get ’bout half the stuff you said just now.”

“Always driving during long journeys is tough, isn’t it? Falling asleep at the wheel is terrifying. Thus, I’ve tried to create an atmosphere which is as comfortable as possible, but has a slightly lower temperature to prevent sleepiness. I don’t know about carriages, but this kind of car…err, golem is prone to make one drowsy! If you get assaulted by a spell of sleepiness, you have to stop driving, park on the roadside, and sleep!”

Thanks to the automatic brake system, Char won’t crash into obstacles, but that’s no reason to drive while sleepy!

“Aye, aye!”

Playboy, do you really get it?