Chapter 24: "Frozen"

Chapter 24: "Frozen"

I thought it was just a wall, but I didn't realize it also had a magnificent gate...

I look up at the gate in front of me.

It's pure white and even looks a little clean.

"It's not a good idea to go in through the front gate. At least we should make some kind of plan..."

"Heidi, you go around the back. I'm going to go in through this gate."

I ignored Heidi's words and gave her instructions.

I'm not going to be able to do it with you around.

I've already told you, you're in my way, so I'm going to ask you to hide around there.

"But Zubel might be setting some kind of trap, right?"

Hmm, she's not biting.

I don't know how to move her....

Let's go with this.

"I was thinking on the way here that maybe Fatima is being threatened by Zubel."

"What!?"

"Think about it. Would Fatima, that reserved woman, do such a daring thing? No, she wouldn't."

Reserved? I almost snicker after saying it myself.

Heidi looks down thoughtfully.

One more push.

"Surely the gentle Fatima must have disagreed with Zubel. Maybe that's why she's trapped here. ...That's where you come in, Heidi! You're going to save her. And then we all hunt Zubel down and make him pay for his crimes!"

...Totally. I don't know how anyone can really say such a line.

Well, I hope Zubel pays for his crimes with death.

"Well... that's a possibility..."

No way.

"Okay! I'll go around the back and try to find Fatima."

"You're on it. I'm counting on you."

"I'll take care of it! You take it easy, too!"

Heidi said goodbye and ran.

... It's too easy it makes me sad.

You know, that's why guys like me took your body....

When all this is over, it might be a good idea to say something that will raise her guard.

Well, from the looks of it, she's going to go from the best place to the worst place for confinement.

That should buy me some time.

But still, I wonder what's going on... that there's no reaction even after all this fuss right under their noses.

I lightly touch the gate.

I feel a cold sensation on my hand...but it's not iron.

It is ice.

...Could it be that all of this is ice?

Everything from the fence to the gate seems to be made of ice.

Then, I should just blow it up with a flame system.

I tried to let go of the gate, but...oh, it won't let go.

The part I touched stuck to the gate and wouldn't let go.

"Hmph."

I peeled the whole skin off.

Thank God Heidi wasn't there.

After repairing the wound, I regained my composure and blew up the gate with Explosion II.

...This magic is useful.

It can kill or disable most things with a single blow.

If I can adjust the power and directionality, I can adjust it to burn someone alive.

I walked through where the gate used to be and entered the compound.

I wonder what I'll find.

Enter the grounds through the gate.

Inside is just as I remember it from what I saw.

The gardens, the mansion...nothing much has changed.

So.... This guy in front of me is just as I remember.

He made a noise right under his nose, of course he'll come out.

"It's been a long time, Mr. Rothfeldt."

The woman in front of me, Fatima, is just as I remember her, with cold eyes and a beauty that could be described as sharp.

In my previous life, I would have been so nervous that I would have said something stupid, but now she looks like an insect to me.

I have no idea what she is thinking.

"Hello, Fatima. I'm glad to see you too, right?"

At first, I respond in a Rothfeld-like tone. not sure what to say...I mean, is there anything you can say to me now? I've changed a lot...

Well, okay.

"By the way, is Zubel here? I need to talk to him."

Either way, this one is for later.

Let's kill Zubel first.

"What do you care about that? I know you have been through a lot. But from now on, I will be here, and we will rebuild the Oratorium family together."

Even if I prevented it somehow, she would not be able to do anything if I closed the gap.

The weak point of magic is the chanting time.

If you come without a vanguard, your.......

"Bloop!"

A strange voice came out as I hit something that looked like a wall.

A wall!? A barrier?

I recover my collapsed position.

"What the...what the hell is that?"

I muttered to myself.

The flames had cleared, and where Fatima had been... there was a strange man.

In a word, it was an ice knight.

A mass of ice, 5 to 6 meters long and designed like an armor, equipped with a long spear and a circular shield.

The shield was melted with the arm it was equipped with, so the magic must have been prevented by that.

No, really, what is this guy?

A demon...no. The design is too inorganic. It's a man-made thing, no matter how you look at it.

Is it a golem? But I heard that's a pretty hard thing to use...

Golem, a magical puppet.

It's a puppet that works by magic.

It is not so difficult to make.

You make the shape, joints, and other moving parts out of appropriate materials.

Put in a magic stone to receive commands.

That's all.

The rest is done by sending magic power, and the magic stone will automatically send magic power to the whole body and move it.

If you just want to move it, there is no problem.

So, what is the problem?

The answer is fuel consumption and control.

First, fuel consumption.

Golem consumes magic power as long as it is moving.

In other words, as long as it is in use, it is constantly taking magic power.

It is said that a mage with an average amount of magic power can't keep it up for 10 minutes if it is used normally.

Unfortunately, no one in my memory has ever used it, so I can't believe 100% of what I've heard, but I think it's generally true.

By the way.

A simple puppet is made with magic and immediately put into battle.

Keep the size down and reduce the consumption of magic power.

Put a magic stone in place of a battery to run it.

I heard that there were some ideas, but all of them were rejected.

The reasons are...

Instant dolls...It consumes magic power to maintain the shape, so it is better to modify the doll after all.

Reducing the size...Generally successful, but the fundamental fuel consumption could not be solved, so it was "better than bigger" level.

Battery...Built-in battery can solve this problem, but it is costly because magic stones that can contain high-density magic power are precious.

And the other problem is....

"Well done, sir. That was quite chilling, wasn't it? But when did you learn magic?"

Fatima's voice brought me back to my thoughts.

"I was surprised too. What is it? It looks like a golem or something."

"What? Oh, you know what a golem is, Mr. Rothfeldt, you are so knowledgeable."

Hey, Heidi. Your fianc thinks you don't know anything.

"As you can see. They are golems that I created. Well... let's call them ice puppets."

Oh...so they are golems after all....

...by the way, there was a disturbing word mixed in with Fatima's words....

"They?"

Fatima smiles.

Wow, she smiled again. I don't remember seeing her like that.

"Yes, it's them."

A sight that would have made my blood run cold if I had been sane was right in front of me.

The same golem as the one in front of me suddenly appeared from the space behind Fatima.

There were at least ten of them.

From the way they appeared, I guessed that they were magically concealed.

I had no idea.

I knew that concealment magic is difficult to detect, but I didn't expect it to go this far.

Hmmm. I should join Heidi and run away from this....

I glance at the gate I came in through.

"Please don't do such a boring thing."

Several large dog-shaped ice golems had appeared around the gate.

This is what happens, isn't it?

It was supposed to be a surprise attack, but when the lid was opened, it turned out to be an ambush....

How many times has this happened?

I let out a sigh inwardly.