CH 91

*Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* *Gathunk!*

One day, a large silver monstrosity that looked like a super-sized metal spider came walking onto the girls’ front lawn. It had 8 long legs that extended out to form a nearly 3 meter long diameter black ball with a large ‘^’ to symbolize its face.

Ellis, Reeve, Frau, and Katie were standing in their front doorway, staring at it with mouths wide open.

Ellis was the first one who regained her sense of reasoning first, and so she took up the task of addressing Claire who was standing with her chest puffed out in front of this monster.

“Hey Claire, what is this disgusting looking thing?”

The question took Claire aback a little, but she angrily responded, “How rude! This is the first golem I created, ‘8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1!”

Reeve put the name aside for the moment and asked,

“So what does this monster do?”

Claire puffed out her chest in pride once again and answered, “Its eight legs work in conjunction, and it is able to traverse over any wasteland or wetland!”

Frau had guessed that from its extremely long name, but there was one question that was bugging her.

“Why would we ever need to traverse over any wastelands or wetlands?”

The sudden question made Claire falter a bit.

“Eh, we would traverse because……”

And then Katie delivered a hard truth.

“Engineers egoism nya.”¹

That last word was the tipping point, and Claire threw herself over and hugged 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1 with tears rolling down her face.

After waiting for Claire to stop crying, Ellis asked her how she made a golem in case she ever needed assistance. About two sentences in, Ellis put her hand over Claire’s mouth and told her to, “Dumb it down.”

Claire’s revised explanation was as follows.

Three procedures are necessary to building a golem.

The second is the magic, {Create Golem}. According to Claire, the more complicated of movements the golem will need to make, the more magic power that is needed in order to create it. Even with the magic tools Ellis had given her, it took Claire days to create the golem in secret.

Still, with Mogemoge-kun, rather than each of his legs working as individual limbs, they work more intermittently as a process to produce an effect similar to walking. It won’t be able to perform any complex functions, but the necessary magic power to create it was low. This was the standardized production method for Magic City Wisdom’s Gorgon Golems.

The third procedure is the creation of the activation device. This would be the medium for giving commands to the golem. Generally the activation device for a Gorgon Golem is a ring, but it seems that just about anything can be used. However, there can only be one. There is a link between the motion program of the golem and the activation device, and a second one would disrupt the process.

Alphonse, the Magician’s Guild guild master in Wisdom, had been working on Gorgon Golems and had been working extensively with activation devices to get more basic golems to do more–with often disastrous results. On the other hand, the Gorgon Golem Ares and Izerina made was strengthened from the second stage on to create a stronger, simpler creation.

“If that’s the case, then you can say that the basic Mogemoge-kun is finished. So now you can start adding on the bonus features.”

Ellis was actually starting to get excited about this as well.

“That’s right, I’ve already thought of several upgrades I can give him. By the way Ellis, his name is 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1. Don’t omit parts.”

Troublesome.

“Well, let’s all think about what Mogemoge-kun can be used for.”

Ellis completely ignored Claire’s objections and passed the question onto the other three. Reeve raised her hand first.

“How about placing chairs on the ball and riding it?”

A substitute vehicle? Ellis nodded her head and turned towards Claire.

“Let’s try it.”

“Alright Ellis, Reeve.”

Claire ran into the house to grab a chair, and after a few minutes, it was securely fastened to the top of the golem’s ball. Then after a short effort to climb up it, she sat down and activated it.

“Advance! 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1!”

*Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* Mogemoge-kun began moving forward.

……….

Claire quickly activated Mogemoge-kun’s emergency stop function and jumped down to the ground. No sooner had her feet touched down than she was running towards the wetlands down the street. Guessing what had happened went inside to get her some water.

“…….ride, the worst…….”

Claire trudged back to the mansion with a blue face and was barely able to groan out her impressions. Frau promptly handed her a glass of water and patted her back as she drank.

“What if we use it to draw the carriage?”

This was the proposal Frau brought out.

“Okay, let’s try it.”

The resurrected Claire nodded and started hooking Mogemoge-kun up to their luxury carriage.

“Advance! 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1!”

*Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* Mogemoge-kun began drawing the carriage.

……….

Well, it was doing it, but it was only about as fast as someone walking on foot. Like this, it’s obvious to anyone that the Magical Horses are superior.

Claire quickly became depressed.

“It’s a piece of an engineer’s egoism after all nya.”

Katie mercilessly twisted the knife, and it looked like Claire was about to start crying again.

“Alright then Claire, how about trying this?”

Ellis whispered something into Claire’s ear, and after a moment of thinking, Claire’s eyes lit up like a lighthouse.

“Ellis, thank you! I’m heading back to the workshop for a bit!”

Claire ran back to Mogemoge-kun and returned it to its miniature doll form and dropped it in her pocket. She then pulled out her Magical Horse and rode it in the direction of town. After watching her go, the four other ladies went back to their own work for that day.

Claire ended up not returning until supper-time that night looking a tad odd.

“What is it Claire? You look like you’re in a good mood. Did something happen?”

Claire gave Reeve a large smile before shaking her head.

“Secret.”

Reeve was taken aback a little by the enormous smile Claire had, but after recovering, she turned her eyes towards Ellis. Asking her the same question when Claire wasn’t around, Ellis unfortunately gave her the same answer.

“Secret.”

The two shared the same indiscreet reaction and refused to elaborate. Well, it was pretty easy to imagine that it had something to do with Mogemoge-kun, so Reeve didn’t bother pressing the issue.

And so from there dinner continued in peace. Then came bathtime after that followed by,

Nighttime

“Thanks to Ellis, 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Mogemoge-kun Number 1 will grow to be an active player.”

“Alright, then in reward, please let me shorten his name.”

“I guess I don’t have a choice. Just Ellis then.”

“Alright, then let’s skip right to this.”

A, ah, that’s…….Aaahn…..

The other three girls became agitated hearing the louder than normal workout taking place, but they were properly knocked out when their turns came around.

Then the chilled morning air came.

Claire made her way to her workshop at the crack of dawn.

Frau was to make her rounds to all of the food shops in Cross Town to give feedback on any new recipes made.

Katie was running security on behalf of the Thieves’ Guild and currently patrolling through Gentleman Street.

Reeve had cleaned her sword after doing after some rudimentary sword practice and then took a nap under the sun with Pi-tan.

Ellis was plotting something somewhere.

In other words, it was business as usual.

And then a few days passed.

*Gathunk!* *Gathunk!* *Gathunk!*

A large sleek spider-like golem came walking on their front yard with its eight legs, but this time it looked a little different.

“Ellis, everyone, come see at the wonder I have built!”

Claire ran into the house calling out Ellis and everyone else to introduce them to the large monstrosity that had returned. This time around a large joint had been affixed to the top of Mogemoge-kun’s center, and after observing it for a moment, it became clear that it was actually meant to be a base which would allow somebody to attach various other instruments to it. What Ellis had advised Claire to make was a ‘construction machine’.

Or so Claire proudly declared.

“Behold: 8 Legged Wasteland Traverser Soil Preparation and Transportation Mogemoge-kun Number 1 Revised!”

The name has gotten even worse.

Mogemoge-kun was now pulling something similar to a plow, and it almost looked like a dragonfly with the way the metal base and cables came off of it.

“Now we can safely level and work with the land in wastelands or the wetlands.”

Besides this attachment, she had also apparently created several more which could be used to carry away rocks or trees as well. Hearing her describe it, the other four became honestly impressed. Even four amateurs like them could tell how much help an invention like this would be for land development.

“Well, I’ve already decided to give this guy to Master. He was so happy!”

Claire laughed while telling everyone that her newest invention had already made a sale.

Ellis could feel Claire’s joy. She placed deep affection and love into whatever she built. Now, if only her naming sense was a little better.

“Well, I think next time I’ll build another golem with everyone’s ideas in mind!”

……….

What kind of monstrosity is she going to bring with her next time?

This thought played through each of their heads, but rather than voice their concerns, each of them forced a smile and nodded their heads as Claire continued to dance around overcome with happiness.

By the way, Mogemoge-kun would go on to become the hottest new product to be sold in various places under the Claire-Flint brand.