Published: July 3, 2025
The ship of the kingdom delegation finally set sail the next morning.
While the crew members who had already boarded were safe, many crew members who remained in the duchy castle got caught up in the turmoil and lost their lives.
The fact that they were able to leave the following morning was also due to the duchy making an effort to gather crew members.
During the extended stay of one more day, the delegation spent their time as they pleased.
Of course, a certain water attribute mage was eagerly analyzing the information on the disassembled golem...
By the way, while Ryo intended to 'disassemble,' many others viewed it as 'dismantle,' so it's worth noting that distinction.
Disassembly does not involve destruction, while dismantling does...
“I’m slowly starting to understand the points of magical power reduction…”
Ryo murmured, laughing devilishly, which caused the six people from Room 10 and Room 11 to keep their distance.
Their common understanding was simply, “Let’s leave him be.”
However, they did make sure to communicate meal times properly.
“Ryo-san, let’s have our meal in the dining hall.”
When Amon said that, Ryo suddenly looked up and stood up.
“Yeah, let’s go eat.”
The saying “alchemy is more important than three meals a day” didn’t seem to apply to Ryo...
Although he did eat properly, during the ship journey, Ryo was continuously immersed in analyzing the disassembled golem.
Of course, the leader, Hugh McGrath, negotiated with the duchy, and some conditions were attached, but officially, the ownership of the disassembled golem was transferred to Ryo.
It was likely a significant judgment when the alchemy team and the maintenance crew decided that it was “impossible to restore from that state.”
Normally, even if someone has made a substantial contribution, something akin to a national secret would not be handed over to adventurers from another country...
Ryo had no intention of reassembling it either... he understood that it was fundamentally impossible, but... it was very beneficial for him to significantly enhance his knowledge of golems through alchemy.
Around that time, a major disturbance occurred in the Corridor Nations.
There were the nations of "Aiteke Bo" and "Schultz," listed in order of proximity from the Central Nations.
Both were city-states and could be considered relatively small compared to what one would call a 'nation' in the Central Nations.
However, they each had a population of hundreds of thousands and, loosely speaking, some form of government existed.
Yet, in Aiteke Bo, due to the foolish actions of the lord, Duke Zlaransu, a massive swarm of caterpillars attacked the city and the lord's mansion, resulting in Duke Zlaransu’s demise.
Several key members of the government also lost their lives.
Furthermore, the proud walls of Aiteke Bo were significantly destroyed by this caterpillar swarm.
This situation was quite dire for a nation located within the Forest of Jet Black.
The Forest of Jet Black is notorious for the abundance of monsters, even more so than the average forest.
Nonetheless, these were just monsters after all.
If the goal was simply to prevent them from invading the city, there were many strategies available.
Certainly, with a massive swarm of caterpillars like this, there was little that could be done, but such occurrences happened once in several decades or even a century.
It was not something to be overly concerned about.
They could have taken their time to repair the walls. They should have been able to do so...
Until now.
“No way, it can’t hold anymore!”
“How can those guys ride horses in the forest!?”
“They’re shooting arrows while mounted!”
“I report! The First Knight Order has been completely annihilated…”
“Horsemen have breached at the point of wall collapse!”
“Enemies are coming one after another…”
On this day, in just one day of fighting, Aiteke Bo fell.
Duke Lanshui, who had succeeded Duke Zlaransu as the lord, accepted the offer of surrender.