Lord Of Puppets

<<….>>

<<It has been already sometime since my golem had left the dungeon and headed to the city.>>

<<By now it should had given the message and ran back here…>>

<<But it did not came back.>>

<<Logical explanation.>>

<<The golem was hunted down.>>

<<Was it the adventurers?>>

<<Did they mistaken my golem as an attacker?>>

<<So far…. Nothing.>>

<<There was no contact whatsoever and nobody even came to the abandoned camp.>>

<<I've had my golems raid the camp and take pretty anything valuable from there… But there was really nothing valuable there.>>

<<Mostly foods, spare weapons or some basic stuff.>>

<<Nothing impressive.>>

<<Still… They left quiet number of them… I guess they didn't had time to pack everything?>>

<<…>>

<<Well… I don't know if they are willing to have the peace talk or not, but I can't really wait.>>

<<Before even sending the messenger, I instantly ordered my golems to start setting up base, OUTSIDE the dungeon.>>

<<Not that I had been exposed, there is no longer any need to stop the construction of the outside base.>>

<<The reason why I did it before was because it could cause some "noises".>>

<<If somebody were to enter the forest, they may not find the dungeon and golems per say… But if they heard the construction noises, then it could definitely caught somebody curiosity.>>

<<However now? I can start it of at the full swing, since I've already been exposed.>>

<<Not only that, I've prepared some more necessary materials before hand and store them within the dungeon.>>

<<I've also constructed special golem, the worker golems.>>

<<These golems aren't really meant for combat, only for construction.>>

<<I will obviously using my knight and puppet soldiers, since they don't really have anything to do.>>

<<With this, the base construction was already going smoothly.>>

<<Well, it wasn't really useable yet, since I needed to level area a bit by cutting down the trees around my dungeon.>>

<<But still, those trees weren't anything special.>>

<<They maybe massive, but by no means were magical or tough, just a simple wood.>>

<<Still, it will be useful once it is reinforced.>>

<<I've thought maybe about having me craft everything craft by hand and reinforce everything…. But that would take far too long to prepare every single part and material.>>

<<…>>

<<Hm….>>

<<Maybe I should think about golem which could at least apply simple enchantments?>>

<<If I could make a production line like this, I could create a powerful base, which would hold off any form of attacks.>>

<<…>>

<<I will put this on the list.>>

<<But for now, base production.>>

<<I will be taking over the inner circle of this forest completely first.>>

<<Not the entire forest, since it would take far too long time if I were to do it all at once.>>

<<Not only that, I don't know when the next attack will came.>>

<<I need to at least construct the base to the point where it can be used at least a bit.>>

<<I've also ordered the "trap setting golem" to began implanting traps throughout the forest.>>

<<And pretty much, the days went like this.>>

<<The golems continue the construction of the outside base while being directly watched over by me, while the traps were being set by everywhere.>>

<<As for the enemy?>>

<<I saw scouts.>>

<<Simple put, there were people watching the forest from afar AND there were also some people entering the camp.>>

<<They were using horses to travel around… But I could take them down.>>

<<The new generation of the crossbow golems could had struck down the horse with volley of shots before then hunting down the fleeing scout.>>

<<…>>

<<But I can't do it just yet.>>

<<I still don't have reply from them.>>

<<I don't know if they are reconsidering the peace option…. Or are they preparing for the war.>>

<<Either way, I need to be prepared for either of the possibilities.>>

<<While the golems are working outside, I'm quiet busy inspecting the items which I've had obtained from that man by the name Arthur Wirmur.>>

<<He had many things on himself, one of the things was these 2 weird things.>>

<<A medallion like object, depicting helmet and a crow.>>

<<The medallion doesn't look like anything special. If checked it multiple times, but there is nothing going on with it.>>

<<The second thing that stood was this.>>

<<A identification card.>>

<<People in outside world posses something called identifications card, a cards that can show one person identity or show authority they hold.>>

<<For example, the adventurers posses something called 'Adventurer Guild Card', which can function both as their identification card as well as representation of their rank.>>

<<This card right here isn't a common identification card.>>

<<It seems special.>>

[Golem high ranking expert and specialist – Arthur Wirmur]

[Position: Vice factory leader of the Mikrofon golem factory.]

[Member of Gorijy empire personal golem magic researching and manufacturing tower – Bijinwo Tower - Rank 3]

[Civilian Status: Noble – Baron – Gorijy Empire]

[Birthday: January 1 - New Podan Callendar - Year 1022]

<<I don't know if that man held high positions…. But here is what I know.>>

<<Nobles are the people born from rich or powerful families.>>

<<Sometimes the ancestors of these people either done some great things, giving them and their families a special form of social rank.>>

<<Ranks give some form of authority to each noble, but at the same time, it also gives them "job", a specific thing they need to take care of as form of their duty.>>

<<Next is this thing. Magic tower.>>

<<According to the books, magic towers can have many different functions.>>

<<The organization maybe focuses about raising mages.>>

<<About maybe researching specific form of magic or element.>>

<<Or maybe they have many different functions at the same time.>>

<<A public magic tower is a tower which is works with many different nations, while the personal tower are the towers that are tied specifically to a nation.>>

<<This one is called Bijinwo tower, a private tower which is tied to the empire.>>

<<By the way, according to the books the reason why these organization are called towers was because of the fact that the powerful mages would create their own towers where they would research their own magic while teaching apprentices.>>

<<Even though organization to this days are also called "towers", there are not literally towers, it could be just a simple building like a school even.>>

<<From what I've also read, the "mage tower organization" have a ranking system.>>

<<Rank 10 usually means things like apprentice and what not.>>

<<While the rank 0 represent a total authority, a leader of specific tower.>>

<<Some towers don't have number rank 0, but instead multiple ranks 1 who rule the tower united.>>

<<Anyway, this men held the position of number 3…. Quiet high-ranking position.>>

<<However, he was killed quiet easily.>>

<<Not only that, I saw him clearly giving into the panic.>>

<<He didn't even tried using magic and instead tried using guns?>>

<<….>>

<<Maybe it is related to this thing.>>

<<Golem manufacturing and production?>>

<<I've heard about the empire using golems, but I didn't knew they had a magic tower which is solei dedicated to their production and research.>>

<<….By any chance, they were hoping to enslave me to obtain "research material" from me?>>

<<….>>

<<Desperation?>>

<<Greed?>>

<<Possible.>>

<<Hostile…. Confirmed.>>

<<Don't trust.>>

<<Anyway… I think I maybe in even bigger trouble.>>

<<Not only I will have to deal with adventurers, but also magic tower?>>

<<Things are just going better and better.>>

<<…>>

<<That man…. Maybe the reason why he used guns instead of magic was because he doesn't specializes in combat magic?>>

<<Maybe he only knows how to make golems which can fight for him?>>

<<…>>

<<If I knew that, I would had just captured him instead.>>

<<But at the same time, I wanted to secure the briefcase at any point AND I knew there were some people on the loose who were able to avoid my detection pretty well.>>

<<Capturing him would be far too difficult.>>

<<….But still, I've obtained everything he had on him.>>

<<Including these two thing.>>

<<Weapons called "guns".>>

<<From what Ariava once told me, guns were once considered a revolutionary weapon in the past, which completely dominated the world at one point.>>

<<There were sometimes even wars which were apparently even fought with guns only.>>

<<However, there came a problem.>>

<<Guns broken and they had ammunition problem.>>

<<Not only that, as magic and arts developed as well as other stuff, the overwhelming advantage of the guns began disappearing…. Before then being completely removed.>>

<<Now guns are just normal "weapons".>>

<<They still can be seen in wars and what not AND there are weapons which uses gunpowder, for example cannons OR those explosive barrels which they used against my golems.>>

<<The man had two guns on him.>>

<<One – A simple flint gun.>>

<<A one with extremely simple function and appearance… However, it aims is extremely solid and it possess enough fire power to deal solid amount of damage to the training dummy.>>

<<This gun can probably blow a hole in the human head…. Interesting…. Very interesting.>>

<<The main downside is the gunpowder and ammunition through.>>

<<My crossbow golems can retrieve their bolts after firing and then reuse them over and over again.>>

<<But the gun powder?>>

<<Hm…. This is really problematic.>>

<<I think it is better if I just stick to the crossbows.>

<<Still, this gun power is weirdly strong.>>

<<It looks like the gun from the old time, but by no means it is one.>>

<<A form of distraction? A manipulation?>>

<<Maybe that man wanted to make opponent think he was using inferior gun while in reality possessing a powerful one instead?>>

<<Interesting….>>

<<And now…. The next gun.>>

<<It is… Different.>>

<<Unlike the previous gun it doesn't look like it is using a flintlock, but instead something which smack a back of a bullet?>>

<<When I press the bullet, this part on the back smacks very hard the back of the gun.>>

<<This part needs be manually set up, before then being simple released upon pulling the trigger.>>

<<This gun has a single barrel, but it has something similar to me my crossbows.>>

<<It has a part which rotates with 6 holes, where in each hole a bullet goes in.>>

<<When I pull the part on the back, it seems it causes the barrel thing to rotate, swamping the position of the holes where the bullets goes.>>

<<The bullet hole on the top is aligned with both the small hammer thing and the gun barrel…. I think I know how it works.>>

<<This gun can fire repeatable in 6 times in a row before you need to reload…. Interesting.>>

<<I've tried messing with it by pulling the trigger and pulling hammer part back over and over again…. And based what I saw? I think I was correct.>>

<<This gun bullets seems different.>>

<<They are covered in something and their shape is different.>>

<<I've looked through the books and apparently, they were a newly developed type of bullets, which were meant to counter attack the advance of the other areas of power and military…. However, in the end, the bullets weren't able completely keep up with other advances.>>

<<From what is written here, the idea was to store the gunpowder inside of the bullet.>>

<<The hammer hits the back of the bullet, which causes the gunpowder to ignite and causes the top part which sticks out from the top of the bullet to fire… And that top part is the projectile.>>

<<The casting which the bullet contained the bullet will be left behind, while the bullet itself fly far away.>>

<<Apparently the guns using these kind of bullets were far superior.>>

<<But how different it is compare to the regular flintlock type gun?>>

<<….>>

<<Should I create a gun and see the difference myself?>>

<<…>>

<<I should…. But this isn't the only thing I need to look out for.>>

<<This gun is different.>>

<<And I don't mean just the whole design and function…. No.>>

<<I'm sensing somewhat powerful mana from this gun….And not only from it.>>

<<From the bullets as well.>>

<<This gun…. What is it?>>