The Potential of Golems

"Ahem, so let us begin the meeting concerning how Kehma was overjoyed to be showered in Niku-chan's pee…"

"Hold it right there. That interpretation is dripping with malice. It was an accident, Your Honor."

For now, I issued an order to Rokuko as Dungeon Master to keep her mouth shut about the wetting incident.

She went quiet immediately, so I decided to try making golems again today.

"Niku, go get me some dirt. About the same amount as yesterday."

"Yes."

Just as Niku grabbed the shovel and left the master room, I remembered something.

Come to think of it, how much work did the Clay Golem (Mini) actually get done?

… Right, I should've checked on that first.

"Hmm, let's see here…"

I brought up the dungeon surveillance monitor from the menu and checked on the room I'd ordered the golem to dig through. The Clay Golem (Mini) was scratching away at the wall. How admirable. But it hadn't made any progress at all… was that because the wall was bare rock and the clay golem's hands weren't strong enough?

Careless of me. I'll need to give it a pickaxe…

"Hmm, so it really will just keep going like that forever unless you give it proper instructions."

"How long will it keep working?"

"Huh? Well, until its mana runs out, right? It's a golem after all. And since mana accumulates thickly inside the dungeon, it'll never stop, you know?"

Amazing. No maintenance costs? That's seriously amazing.

The performance far exceeded my expectations, and I nearly passed out. Maybe I could just leave everything to the golems and sleep?

"No no, Kehma, golems can't do proper work. You told it to dig a hole and it hasn't even managed that. Look at this."

"Hm?"

I looked where Rokuko was pointing on the monitor. Yeah, the Clay Golem (Mini) was scratching the rock wall… wait, huh?

Looking closely, something felt off. The Clay Golem (Mini) was scraping at the rock wall.

But its hands were worn down. Its fingers were damaged, yet it kept grinding its hands against the stone. Even though it couldn't dig, it single-mindedly, stubbornly kept trying to advance.

"This is bad…"

"See? Golems are stupid. They can only do what they're told, nothing else. So even if it can't dig a hole, it'll keep trying to dig one."

Yeah, this is bad. Really bad.

But for a completely different reason than what Rokuko was thinking.

I couldn't stop myself from grinning.

For now, I'll have the Clay Golem (Mini) come back and wait on standby. I need to fix its hands too.

"I-I'm back… hah… hah…"

"Welcome back, Niku. You did well, good girl… Now then, time for an experiment."

Niku had brought the lump of dirt, so I took it from her, patted her head, and cast [Purification] on her.

Sorry it's just a simple reward, but there's something I want to test right now.

If I'm right about this, Create Golem is a jackpot spell.

I kneaded the dirt while pouring magical power into it.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"… And here we have the finished product."

"What is this?"

I had created three palm-sized golem arms of different lengths. Just the arms.

The golem had a shaft inserted into the center of a palm-sized basin-like container, with three needle-shaped arms extending from the axis.

"No no no, this is a golem? It can't be, what's with this shape?"

"It's a clock. A clock."

Yes, this was a Golem Clock. I'd assigned numbers to each of the three arms and ordered them: Arm 1 does one rotation every sixty seconds, Arm 2 does one rotation every sixty minutes, and Arm 3 does one rotation every twelve hours.

In other words, they served as the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand. A clock that would keep running as long as its mana lasted.

… Adjusting the time was a pain, though.

By the way, during the creation process I realized, "Wait, the hands don't need to be shaped like normal hands at all," so they were properly needle-shaped arms. It was a clock made entirely of clay, but at a glance you'd never guess it was a golem.

"A-a golem shaped like this… Wow, Kehma, you have no common sense."

"What are you saying after summoning me from another world? I don't know this world's common sense to begin with, you know?"

Even so, I was surprised how easily I could make a modified golem.

Moreover, since it was just arms with almost no joints, and probably because I eliminated the function to process vague commands, the mana consumption was considerably low. Maybe about a tenth of what the Clay Golem (Mini) uses?

"So what are you going to do with this? If you wanted to know the time, you could just check the menu, right? You didn't need to make something like this."

Oh right, the Dungeon Master's menu does have a time display…

"… I'll give it to Niku. Yeah, I only made this for an experiment anyway. Now that I know it can be done, it's not like it was a waste."

So I decided to give the Golem Clock to Niku as a present.

But then I noticed something… come to think of it, Niku was still wearing rags and going barefoot. How could I have let that slip?

I immediately spent DP to exchange for [Cheap Clothes (Dress: 8 DP)], [Cheap Shoes (Children's: 10 DP)], and [Knee-High Socks (White: 70 DP)].

Then, watching Niku change, I noticed she wasn't wearing underwear, so I quickly exchanged for [Girls' Underwear (20 DP)]. That was close.

It cost some DP, but once she had a full set, [Purification] would take care of the rest.

Having just one outfit including underwear wasn't a problem at all. Quite convenient, really.

The materials weren't bad. Eventually, when we had more DP to spare, I'd like to dress her up cutely. Ah, Rokuko too.

… Actually, what's the deal here? I sense something arbitrary about the knee-highs being so expensive.

Three and a half goblins? What's up with that? Is it because they're a luxury item?

I attached a [String (5 DP)] to the Golem Clock and hung it around her neck.

When I told Niku I was giving it to her, she stared at the Golem Clock intently.

I thought she must really like it, but apparently she just didn't understand what kind of thing it was.

Right, she was a slave. There must be a lot she doesn't know… Yeah, starting tomorrow I'll have Niku learn various things. Rokuko can teach her.

Wait, actually, what is Rokuko even doing? Nothing? Get over here and switch with me. Do my work for me.

… No, never mind. I could only see a future where this place becomes a Goblin Paradise and goes bankrupt.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

I repaired the hands of the Clay Golem (Mini) that had returned.

Since I had the opportunity, I tried making one of its hands into a shovel shape out of stone. It turned out to be pretty easy. When I poured enough magical power into the stone, it became pliable like clay and easily took the shape of a shovel.

… Clay Golem (Mini) Revised, Shovel Hand Version!

It seemed like dirt required less magical power to shape than stone did. If I were going to make a human-sized golem, it'd probably be best to start with a dirt golem and give it a pickaxe.

For now I'll use this Clay Golem (Mini) as a prototype to try various things, and if they work out, I'll apply them to a human-sized golem. In that case, calling it Clay Golem (Mini) every time is long and tedious. Plus its hand isn't even clay anymore, so I'm not sure if it even qualifies as a clay golem.

So I decided to give it a name. Since it's a prototype golem, an experimental sort of name would be good.

"Alright, you are Testor. Testor is your name. Got it?"

The former Clay Golem (Mini), now Testor, nodded as if to say it understood.

Then I gave Testor new orders to go outside the cave and fetch dirt.

It should come back each time it's dug up about a basketball's worth of dirt. By the time I wake up from sleeping, there should be plenty of materials stockpiled.

… It won't stop moving inside the dungeon, but how long can it operate outside? I'll need to look into that too.