- - - - - - - - Disgusting rag’s mansion - - - - - - - -

 

*Clang* … *Clang* … *Clang* 

Hammering sounded throughout the mansion as the disgusting rag worked hard to create new iron body parts for me. He had just woken up 4 hours after I had returned from my little expedition. I mentally applaud him for the workaholic attitude.

The disgusting rag’s brow furrowed with concentration as he poured molten metal into a large cauldron, its contents glowing like liquid fire. Armed with a pair of thongs, he grabbed a long glowing ingot from the furnace’s mold. Sparks cascaded in his wake as he placed the molten metal onto a thick slab of anvil, the searing heat illuminating the workshop.

The resonating strikes continue to echo throughout the room. He meticulously shaped the metal, coaxing it to bend and twist under the relentless pounding. Slowly, the vague outline of a human limb began to emerge, a leg. As the leg took form, he set it aside on a wooden stand, its surface glowing with a polished sheen. With it, the day had already ended, and the tired disgusting rag began preparation to go back to sleep.

But before that he seemed to remember something and grumbled. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something on it. He opened the door to go outside the workshop, the sound of two doors opening and one closing can be heard in the distance. A few minutes passed, he then came back and went to sleep peacefully.

Well, let’s begin round two of our little expedition, shall we?

First objective: find that paper

Getting up from the workbench, I silently exited the workshop. At the end of the hallway, I could see the door to the great hall is slightly opened. 

After entering the great hall, I saw a blue flag had been raised near one of the windows by the front door. Under it, there is a box embedded into the window, one side jutting to the inside of the mansion while the other half to the outside. Upon closer inspection, it resembles a mailbox of some sort.

There is a door on the box, it was locked. But luckily for me, the keys are left dangling there. I opened the box and retrieved a letter from the inside. Unluckily for me, or expectedly I guess, the letter is sealed with wax.

At the back of the letter, the time, and destination of the letter was written there: Alten kingdom royal capital, royal palace, building 2 room 3. Sent: day 56, summer season, year 801

After some thought, I plan to search the mansion for the corresponding wax and stamper. Usually, these kinds of things would be found in an office or bedroom, right?

I climbed up the stairs to the unexplored second floor, trying to find said rooms. A few minutes passed by as I scouted the area. When I entered one of the large rooms, I noticed a familiar tool on one of the desks beside a bed. I confirmed the usability of the wax sealing set and finally ripped the letter open.

 

- - - - - - - - letter start - - - - - - - -

 

Your Highness Wilhart van Alten of the great Alten kingdom,

 

The artifact works as described by the ancient texts. It can receive commands and put them into action unquestioningly.

In a combat test, it was able to defeat an orc faster than a team of non-magic knights could.

Currently, I am improving the vessel of the artifact with iron materials, but do not have the equipment nor labor force needed to forge the torso and the head. I highly encourage your highness to invest in this artifact’s development. It could drastically change the tide of wars if I find a way to make it use magic.

I will list the resources needed for my experiments in a separate letter according to your highness’s reply.

 

- Sincerely, Kardiman Giorgi

 

- - - - - - - - letter end - - - - - - - -

 

As I had predicted, this intel is valuable enough to go through all that trouble.

Now, what should I do with this information…

Currently, if I escape and find a way to hide myself and find a backer, I can maybe live off a combat oriented job.

The disgusting rag will probably outsource the making of my body parts. If I can intercept the request, I can perhaps design myself to have a more human-like face. But, artificial skin is off the equation. I wonder if skin-colored paint exists, and how will it look on metals? What about the eyes? Does the uncanny valley exist here? I also have to do the integration myself after leaving the disgusting rag… too many uncertainties and assumptions, I’ll shelve the idea for now.

The possibility of having magic abilities is also another reason to postpone the second idea.

Now, about the prince. If I remember correctly from the map in the library, the royal palace is quite far from here. I wonder if I can…

As a brilliant idea entered my head, a plan too good to pass was formulated.

Two hours passed while I practiced impersonating the disgusting rag’s handwriting. When I felt satisfied with it, I began to write down a new letter.

 

- - - - - - - - letter start - - - - - - - -

 

Your Highness Wilhart van Alten of the great Alten kingdom,

 

The artifact works, too well, in fact. It appears that the artifact possesses its own sentience.

He identifies himself as a male human adult, and a name; Ardis. He says he’s a king from a lost ancient empire that has preserved his soul in the artifact for a future generation.

After a day of interaction, I concluded that he’s pretty cooperative in my test, so long as I improve the vessel that he’s in. In a combat test, he has the ability to subjugate an orc faster than a team of non-magic knights could. He’s also willing to provide his knowledge and abilities if given a compensation. 

Currently, I am improving his vessel with iron materials, but do not have the equipment nor labor force needed to forge the torso and the head. I highly encourage your highness to invest in him. He could drastically change the kingdom if he really had the knowledge of a past ancient empire, and he says that if I can get him to use magic… he will show you some lost spells.

I will list the resources needed for my experiments in a separate letter according to your highness’s reply.

 

- Sincerely, Kardiman Giorgi

 

- - - - - - - - letter end - - - - - - - -

 

I wonder if this is enough? Should I just go all out?

The rest of my expedition time went by with me writing another letter with my name as the sender to personally ‘persuade’ this prince. I got back to the workshop four hours after I started, like usual.

 

- - - - - - - - 4 hours later - - - - - - - -

 

The morning starts with another round of banging metal by the disgusting rag. He got up as usual and started working on my second leg. The day ended with the second leg finished and nothing unusual happening.

At this pace, I can have my body upgraded in two days. Without the torso and head, of course.

This next expedition objective is to make preparations for a cover-up operation. The cover-up is for when that prince sends his reply letter. I will search around the mansion for his past letters, see the usual time for arrival, and forge a fake reply based on my observations.

I go outside the workshop to the great hall. This time, my ear flinches as I hear something, or rather, someone. Wanted or unwanted, visitors in the middle of the night are not good for me. Sneaking behind the door to the great hall, I silently opened the door and tried to peek through it.

Only to be received with a throwing knife flying for my head. My trained instincts kicked in, helping me quickly evade and catch the knife before it scratched my wooden head. Wouldn’t want any noticeable damage for the disgusting rag to find me with, after all.

Anyway, it looks like our visitor has noticed me. So, let's greet them by coming out to the other side of the door.

“Oh hello there” let’s see how our visitor responds…

A kick to the face, I see. I jumped backwards, moving my body out of the collision course with the leg. After regaining my balance, I turned to face the visitor for a good look. What I saw was a maid. Plain, ankle-length dress, an apron, and a maid cap. On the other hand, I could see her confused expression, possibly due to my abnormal body.

What is this maid doing, throwing knives and kicking people in the head? Granted, I was an unexpected visitor too, but how is a maid even able to do all those things in the first place? Are all maids in this world like her? Well, no other options than to ask.

“Hi, I see that I’m not welcomed, but could you do with a more gentle greeting please?”

Her expression stutters a bit before focusing back, for a punch. She steadied her stance and said some indiscernible gibberish. Those gibberishes were definitely some sort of magic, as seen from the anomalous cracking patterns of white light, glowing out from her right hand.

“Much violence I see, it’s not the answer, you know?” It's the question.

Sensing the potential danger, I swiftly moved backwards towards one of the walls. Why am I pinning myself against a wall, you say? It’s simple; for a foothold. One of the more interesting techniques I found when playing the simulated universes back then. When you have plenty of time to set up a dodge against an enemy, you can use this technique. Watch and learn.

The maid’s eyes shone a dim light in the dark as her hands covered in cracks of light trembles for an impact to its target. Her body leans noticeably, shifting her entire weight forward, giving her all for this single strike. In the next millisecond, she dashed from her original position towards me at full speed. Her right arm fully stretched backwards, ready to swing forward.

For my technique to work, I need to calculate the closest possible impact location between me and her when I launch forward. This ensures that she misses me at the last possible moment and doesn't have enough time to think. A clash between an object with exponential increases in speed and a linear kick of speed from a wall. A near impossible move for a human, even those training for their entire lifetime. Luckily for me, I had plenty of time to train.

I see it now, the optimal time to move. T-0.6s away 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Now. My body ducks forward, my brain screaming my wooden joints to move at the exact speed needed to achieve my technique. At the same time, my left foot began to rise up from the floor, going backwards, to a position for kicking it against the wall. Now, at T+0.4s, I am in what you call a Naruto running position, with one foot up against a wall that is.

One millisecond after, my foot has reached the calculated optimum of five degrees above my center of mass. When I kicked the wall with all my force, I launched forward like a torpedo from a destroyer ship, flying to my target; her thighs.

The maid's expression panics as she tries to redirect her punch downwards towards my head. But it’s all too late. My head whizzes past, way below her meteoric punch. I extend my arms forward, taking her thighs with my fall. We both rolled on the ground.

I then took the opportunity to knock her unconscious.

Objective completed: no damage taken to my body, minimal damage to the enemy.

Now, what should I do with her?

At first, I thought of just joint-locking her. But, after that show of magic, I don't think I can hold her for long. Now I have a sleeping maid girl to deal with, one with violent tendencies. How the hell would I stop her magic?

Wait, she did that weird mutter before casting her spell. Maybe magic spells require incantation here? Okay, this may be workable. I will need to visit the library to confirm it first.