"Hehehe♪ Father and I have put a lot of work into this!"
Seis thrusted out her chest and said proudly. Yes, unlike the Opus series, which were ‘works of art’, these "products" were mass-produced. They were slaves that had been remodeled in large numbers for a long time, in order to allow Seis to gain experience in surgery. The latest model of them would be sent to the west in place of the destroyed adventurers. That was the original plan.
"I think I'll let Fem oversee those 'products'."
"That is......! That is my greatest honour!"
Fem knelt down, creating an audible knock. Good, good, I'm glad she was satisfied with it.
"She would practically be a military governor. Are you sure we can leave this to a golem?"
"It is not like it encompasses negotiations with the margrave's army. We're just collecting actual battle data and providing support if necessary. After all, the west is on monsters’ territory. We have no idea what kind of monsters are there, and the observers of the ‘products’ will need to be able to fight in case of emergencies. I'm going to expect His Excellency the Margrave to make the big adjustments. Right off the bat."
In short, her role was to collect data and run wild as she pleases without getting in the way. I hope she will do her best to be useful to me while satisfying her fighting tendencies. Fem and I would be happy, and Lord Doldran would have replacements for his lost adventurers. Win for everybody. Sounds like a great idea.
"Their A-ranked adventurers are gone, and replacing them are your loyal forces. I pity the Margrave."
"What are you talking about, Due? In addition to the new model, I'm sending them Fem that's way stronger than the adventurers. They’ll have a much better fighting chance against the monsters. Besides, unlike her and the high-ranking adventurers, the ‘products’ can be replaced at will. I'm sure Doldran Margrave will agree that it is a good deal."
Uni commented as a matter-of-fact. She was an adventurer, and one with a nickname to boot, yet she gave such a harsh assessment. In her case, she had killed more adventurers than she had collaborated with them. She probably felt more annoyed than attached or proud of adventurers.
"Depending on the results of the operational tests in the west, the day may come when mass-produced slaves replaced adventurers. They can be supplied stably, obey orders reliably, and have lower operating costs."
"Of course, they will only be sent to the territory of nobles belonging to my faction."
After all, they were my most important political pawns. I'm willing to relieve them of their security burdens so that they can operate at maximum capacity. After all, the cost of hiring adventurers and preparing for large scale expeditions to fight monsters is quite high. There are not many adventurers who are willing to work without pay like Uni. I'm sure it would make things far easier for them financially.
But other than members of my faction, the territories of other nobilities and other countries were outside of my jurisdiction. Allowing external parties entire their sphere of influence would increase the risk of information leakage, so the only lords who would accept my ‘products’ would be members of their own faction who have been brainwashed. As I said before, there was no noble who would welcome a person with a powerful fighting force roaming around in their own territory.
"Even dragon-slaying heroes are replaceable, huh? I wonder what adventurers are then......"
Due muttered depressingly to himself. He too was a former adventurer who had risen to the rank of B. He might have been brooding about the end of those who were ranked higher than he was.
"But there are all kinds of dragons, aren’t there. From strong to weak ones. I've analysed the wrecked armours that Fem has recovered, and the material seems to be from a fairly young specimen. Probably a young dragon, less than a hundred years old."
"They killed a lower level dragon species, the Lesser Dragon. Even so, it's enough of a threat to wipe out a local city or two, but it's no match for the Opus series. How about going to the west or St. Gallen to hunt dragons? I'm sure we’ll get some good material."
It would be difficult to face some kind of legendary dragonlord, but it would not be so difficult if it were a mid-grade dragon that was several hundred years old. I possessed only a few samples of certain dragon species, so it would be enticing to hunt them.
"Hehe, sounds good. As for me, I'd like to capture them alive. Our cyclops was recently defeated, so we need to replenish our supply of big game anyways. A dragon as the boss of the Trees of Darkness would not be a bad idea."
"Yes, yes! I think the chimera material was interesting! Wouldn't it be more interesting to combine fire dragons, ice dragons, and thunder dragons to make a super dragon that spits out seven colored breaths?"
"...... high-ranking dragons can humanise, right? So I'll take a virgin female dragon..."
"I object. To Opus 04's proposal. It is difficult to capture a high-ranking dragon alive. In addition, there is little point in selecting females that meet Opus 04's aesthetic needs."
"I mean, what the hell are you doing with a dragon? No, don't tell me. I can imagine it already."
"So what do you want to do with the dragon after you hunt it? How about you enlighten me, Due-senpai? Do you want to use them as materials for swords or something like that, just like an adventurer would?"
Everyone seemed to have different opinions on how to use a dragon. There was one person who was out of line, but that was as expected.
"No, to be honest, I wouldn't recommend using dragon-made weapons. They boost performance in exchange for life force, right? If that's the case, it's better to use orichalcum or something else from the start to make high performance equipment."
"......Is that how it works?"
"I agree too. First of all, we can append such functionalities that boost performance temporarily later, whenever we want. ...For example, Fem."
As I said, I turned my gaze to Fem. She was a masterpiece that made me proud, being able to shake off the dragon slayers who wore dragon armaments with ease.
She nodded her head in agreement.
"Affirmation. By circulating magic power through magic infused metals, its strength and other properties can change. I have those abilities by default."
Fem was a golem made with orichalcum, a super material. The Orichalcus Brain wasn't the only high-end feature she had.
The Vril Generator, a semi-permanent magic generator. Magic generators consume fuel, but the one installed in Fem was different from the norm. The magic fuel known as Vril, becomes impure on usage but it can be reused many times by installing a purification system. Basically, it was a perpetual motion machine one could only hope to find in dreams. However, if Fem was damaged and leaks occurred like it did last year, Vril would need to be resupplied, but that won't happen very often. It’s not like there were many strong mages who could cast the highest rank of electric magic.
"In fact, most of their attacks didn’t go through, right? The only weakness is when you're supplying another weapon, consuming your magic power and lowering your defence."
This is another dilemma we face for mass production of heavy weapons. Since magic was used to fill up the gaps from the current state of science and technology, only those with an abundance of magical power could operate them. Even if Uni or Drei were capable of using them, the two of them would fare well enough with just their magic and blades.
"This is something that needs improvement...... Why don't we just put a generator in the weapon! If we do so, the supplied magic power goes up, and the firepower will go up, too!"
"No, Seis. That would make it too large. Rather than generators...capacitors would be a better fit? It would be more compact."
"Wow, awesome! As expected of father! Good idea! Then next time, then we will go in that direction for upgrading!"
"Getting a more powerful weapon. I look forward. To it."
Seis had already set her sights on her next toy while Fem looked excited for it. I’m glad they were enjoying themselves.
"I guess I'd better get to work on my own research. Since Fem went through the trouble to get these specimens back."
"Oh, you mean the well-endowed priestess? Hehe, she’s in good condition, isn't she? The combination of her devotion to God and her immoral body is really something..."
"She won't be passed on to you, 04, because the opportunities for procuring such priests as test subjects are truly limited."
Uni was right. We couldn’t afford to hand out our precious experimental subjects to Charl. In fact, he was already given many high value toys, and I didn’t want his lust to grow any further.
And that's when Drei interjected.
"By the way, Master. What are you planning to do with priests? To be honest, they are unlikely to contribute to the study of alchemy or immortality."
It was a reasonable question. After all, they were religious people. They did not aspire to gain eternal life, but for peace in the afterlife. At first glance, they might not seem to have any value in achieving my goals.
But it’s too early to say that.
