The Water Magician

"What did you say? Vim Row was defeated?"

"Yes, Lord Garwin."

Wingston, at the Duke Shrewsbury's annex.

Vim Row is one of Garwin's top-tier kin and one of the four generals.

He had been wreaking havoc in the towns along the Western Border of the Federation with a thousand physical soldiers.

The one dealing with him was the Duchy of Volturiino, but since they weren't a particularly strong fighting force, Vim Row had continued to pillage the town without suffering significant losses.

Until now...

"They said he lost five hundred physical soldiers."

"Half of them? But even if there were ten times the number of knights, they could never defeat my physical soldiers... Could it be that he failed to besiege a castle like Orenju did?"

Garwin glanced at Orenju, who was sitting on the sofa, and asked.

Orenju, suddenly brought up in conversation, pretended not to hear and looked away.

"No, I have given strict orders for Vim Row not to attack walled towns."

"Then why did you not push Vim Row, but had me assault the castle instead...?"

Orenju complained, her voice louder than a mere murmur in response to Izolda.

"It’s for Lord Garwin's experience. Greenu and Bruenu are high-ranking kin. What they experience will become Lord Garwin's experience."

"Is that really true...?"

Orenju replied with a skeptical expression, looking at Garwin.

To Orenju, Garwin was certainly not clever.

If the experiences of the high-ranking kin were supposed to contribute to his own, then after thousands of years, he should have accumulated enough experience to be a bit smarter...

"Orenju! Do you have any complaints?!"

"No, Lord Garwin. Not a single one!"

The four generals were, so to speak, part of the demon Garwin.

Betrayal was unthinkable.

Probably impossible.

(In that instant, I feel like I would disappear...)

Orenju thought to herself.

The words she voiced were entirely different.

"When it comes to the allied forces, they’re led by a 'famed general' after all."

Since awakening, Orenju had been learning about the current situation in the Central Nations.

After hundreds of years of being asleep, her knowledge was practically useless.

She needed to catch up with the flow of time regarding her knowledge.

That said, she hadn't learned about the advancements in water magic...

"Yes. Regent Lord Aubrey. Nevertheless... the power of kin should be incomparable to humans. It is hard to understand how they could lose half..."

Izolda replied, shaking his head.

"There may be something we do not know."

Garwin murmured.

"As expected of Lord Aubrey... to defeat the demon army..."

That was the first thing King Abel said upon hearing the report.

"We have received word that they deployed artificial golems."

It was the report from Knight Commander Dantan.

Upon hearing this, Abel nodded vigorously.

Three years ago, during the invasion of the Duchy of Inberri by the alliance, the artificial golems were first deployed.

It was Frank de Verde, who had gone to the alliance from the kingdom, who played a central role in their creation.

Now, three years later, there are said to be over two hundred artificial golems in the alliance.

"It seems golems are indeed effective against opponents like demons."

Dantan nodded at Abel's murmuring.

In terms of reducing human casualties... in that regard, golems overwhelm knights, mages, and of course, adventurers.

After all, none of the allies would die in battle.

For this reason, the kingdom had secretly begun the development of golems centered around Viscount Kenneth Hayward.

That said, manufacturing artificial golems is not an easy task.

Even Frank de Verde took over twenty years to finally create something satisfactory.

Even that genius alchemist Frank de Verde.

For Viscount Kenneth Hayward, who is said to be on par with Frank, creating artificial golems is no simple matter...

They could create something that has legs, arms, a body, and a head, and can move...

But that is merely in the experimental stage.

From there, it would take a lot of trial and error to make it capable of fighting on the battlefield... and that would still take time.