Pov Vanessa:
I was surprised when I opened the suitcase, when I opened it there was only a dismantled metal body and a magic core inside the suitcase.
The suitcase itself already had several barriers, but around the core, there was another barrier, I realized it was a sound barrier.
One thing I noticed was an Aura I felt coming from that core, I didn’t feel that Aura before when this chest was closed, but I could also feel a presence in that core. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒆𝒕
I look at Queen Melissa who doesn’t seem to like seeing this core.
“This idiot is very persistent about being free, he doesn’t mind being trapped, he minds not being able to do his research.” (Queen Melissa)
“How do I get him into this body?” (I)
“I don’t know, ask him later, but do it when you’re not here anymore.” (Queen Melissa)
“It was a pleasure doing business with you.” (I)
I didn’t need to check anything, I’m sure Queen Melissa wouldn’t go back on the deal she made with my Dad, even if I did something so stupid, my Dad wouldn’t just sit around accepting it idly.
Knowing him these months, I’m sure he’d do something crazy and steal Nicolas right from under Queen Melissa’s nose, maybe even steal the Black Empire’s vaults just for revenge, I can see him doing that kind of stupid thing.
I take one last look at Queen Melissa, she doesn’t like how this ended but I can’t tell if it’s from losing Nicolas or not having the chance to punch my Dad.
I can’t blame her, a lot of people want to punch my Dad for doing stupid things.
————
Pov Zenos:
After Vanessa went to meet Queen Melissa, I went to the library.
I was in the library with a notebook in hand, I was trying to think of better ways to entertain the people of the Dungeon when Freya walked in a little dejectedly.
“What happened?” (I)
“I remembered something, I remembered something very important.” (Freya)
“To make you look like that depressed, it must be really important.” (I)
“We forgot about the Elf Queen Lolth.” (Freya)
“What’s with her?” (I)
“We forgot to make her an Ancient Elf…” (Freya)
“…” (I)
“…” (Freya)
“(I really forgot about it…)” (I)
I close the notebook in my hands, then put my hand to my face trying to think of an excuse to forget something so important.
I know we are under no obligation to do these things, but this is something that helps the Elves who have been the friendliest race to date to me.
Also, Freya enjoys helping Elves, especially helping those connected to the World Trees, she feels happy and proud to do so.
I look at her between the fingers of my hand still on my face, her eyes are distracted like she’s thinking about something else, plus she’s still depressed.
“Come on Freya, no need to be depressed, we can go back to Elf Village to do this, what do you think?” (I)
“I know that, I’m not worried about it.” (Freya)
“So what are you worried about?” (I)
“I normally wouldn’t forget something this important, as a maid, I must be my master’s support, forget something this important…” (Freya)
“We all make mistakes, don’t think about it too much.” (I)
“Sorry about that, master.” (Freya)
“I’m not used to making mistakes like that, I’m not like you making so many mistakes one after another… sorry.” (Freya)
“No need to apologize when it’s true, unfortunately, I make a lot of mistakes, I’m very distracted and I get carried away by the moment sometimes, I won’t even start talking about my curiosity.” (I)
“So just relax, we’ve been doing a lot of things all this time, everyone gets a little lost sometimes.” (I)
Freya returned to her youthful appearance when she became an Old Elf, so I sometimes forget that she has been alive for a few centuries, it seems that being an excellent maid is something important to her.
She doesn’t even realize that she’s been working as a counselor or assistant to me for a long time.
I follow Freya around town to the tree house street, it was a very pleasant place.
————
Later that day, I had just had an excellent fish meat sandwich, I didn’t expect it to be this good.
Soon I see people entering the meeting room where I am with a big map of this continent drawn.
Those who entered were Vanessa and the others, Ivan was carrying a Chest on his shoulder.
“I’ll tell you what, that Queen doesn’t like you at all.” (Diana)
“Was it that bad?” (I)
“She realized right away that none of us were you, her expression was calm, but her eyes betrayed her anger.” (Ivan)
“You were right, she really wanted to throw some punches at you.” (Vanessa)
“That’s why I didn’t go, after all, I wouldn’t be standing around taking punches from anyone.” (I)
“You already stood there letting me hit you.” (Diana)
“That was training, it helped me train my resistance and healing skills back then.” (I)
I look at the trunk Ivan drops on the floor as he approaches.
“Please don’t tell me he’s inside that box.” (I)
“He’s inside the trunk.” (Vanessa)
“I didn’t expect them to kill him.” (I)
“He’s alive, at least I think that can be called life somehow.” (Vanessa)
I check the chest and notice a magic lock, I found it interesting, but before seeing how it works, Vanessa hands over a paper with the password to open this chest.
As soon as the chest was opened, I was surprised to see that, they were parts of a humanoid robot, there was also a core, but I also noticed a barrier around the core.
I look strangely not understanding what this is all about, then look at Vanessa, Diana, and Ivan.
“What is this robot doing here? I thought you were going to get Nicolas.” (I)
“What is a Robot?” (Diana)
“I don’t know.” (Vanessa)
“I don’t know what a robot is, but what’s inside that chest is the Magic Engineer Nicolas.” (Ivan)
“…” (I)
I look at Vanessa and Diana confused, but when I hear Ivan’s explanation, I look at him and then into the trunk.
The next few seconds were a repeat of me lifting my head to look at Ivan and then looking down into the trunk.
I must have looked like an idiot for someone watching from afar, but I couldn’t help it after how unbelievable this news was.
“(Nicolas is a robot!?)” (I)
“You seem to be confused, but I can understand this, this news is very strange.” (Ivan)
“According to Queen Melissa, this genius Magic Engineer turned himself into a Golem.” (Vanessa)
“A Golem…” (I)
I keep looking at the separate pieces inside the Chest, there were arms, legs, head, and back.
Everything was made of metal, the head was just a metal box with magic crystal spheres for eyes.
“(No matter how I look at it, this is a robot.)” (I)
“Can a person transform into a Golem?” (I)
“As far as I know, no.” (Vanessa)
“I don’t know how he did it, but he was a fool to do something like that.” (Vanessa)
“I can feel an Aura…” (I)
I could feel the Aura originating from what appeared to be the core, it was this very core that had a sound barrier around it, bone gave me the idea that he was able to speak.
I close the trunk and take it to the mansion’s hall where I usually do the awakening ceremonies, but this time I chose this place because it’s secluded and spacious.
I lift the core with big wooden tongs I stole from the kitchen, I won’t touch something I don’t know what it might be.
“Free at last, thanks for letting me out of this cage without sound, my good boy.” (Nicolas)
“What is your name?” (I)
“My name is Nicolas, nice to meet you…” (Nicolas)
“My name is Zenos, these are…” (I)
I spent the next few rounds talking to Nicolas who was just a core, a sphere that couldn’t do anything but talk.
I introduced myself and did the same for the others, after that I asked Nicolas to tell me more about him, Nix was all the time in my shadow ready to focus if he lied about something.
During our conversation he said he was an Outsider just like me or Samira, he said he always liked technology but never specialized in anything, to help the family when he was younger he started working in construction together with his father.
He said he was Korean, he said he always liked technology but learned almost everything on his own, he said he only remembers sleeping and when he woke up he was being born in this world, he was born as an Elf, as he had a long life.
He has dedicated his life to magic, but not the practice of magic like most people, he sees magic more as a source of energy, a type of energy he could use to fulfill his life’s dream, robots.
He started talking much faster and more movingly as he talked in detail about his ideas boiling in his head.
He studied some blacksmithing, magic, and spiritual runes, he talked about how he cried when he saw books about Golems when he was still young.
He never seemed to stop talking, even when I asked him to stop, so I put him back inside the trunk, inside the sound barrier to silence him.