The homunculi were excitedly manipulating the bio-type golem recklessly.
“Run-nnng!!”
Thud thud thud, as they dashed through obstacles, the greenhouses where Class 980 seniors were growing sweet potatoes and the gardens where Class 982 new students had planted lettuce were wrecked.
“Roll-nnng!!”
Boom boom boom, the cart passing by followed the wildly spinning bio-type golem, creating trenches, while the research lab assistant, who had been escaping through a tunnel, screamed as the collapsing tunnel fell around him. The nearby seniors hurriedly dug up the ground to rescue the unfortunate assistant.
“Push-nnng!!”
Testing its power, a push spell fired at the ceiling broke the Mana Shielding and shattered a chandelier, plunging darkness into the cafeteria, causing students in the dormitory to scream.
“Oknodie second years, get those crazy golems outside the dormitory right now!”
Under the reprimand of an angry fourth-year senior from the Adventure Department, I had to lead the excited homunculi out of the dorm.
I thought if I could find a pilot for the golems, I could control them conveniently with fewer spells inscribed.
Golem pilots have always been known for their high cost.
Unlike traditional golems that move well on their own, these high-spec golems require a separate pilot, making them incredibly valuable.
As one gained experience, their rate of increase would become terrifying.
That’s why I had planned to hire a homunculus, which lives at most a year, to handle it, perform a funeral instead of a salary negotiation, and inject new homunculi each time…
However, the short lifespan also had a critical downside.
They were too young and childish!
Unlike long-lived homunculi, short-lived ones lacked the mental power to focus on guard duties.
After cleaning up the mess caused in just one hour, I looked at the shattered points and decided to return the homunculi to the palace, opting to cover it with spells instead.
“Ugh, so annoying.”
“Goo.”
“If it’s too annoying, then just don’t do it! Why suffer?”
“Goo.”
“Once you suffer, you can relax afterward!”
“Goo goo.”
The constant whining of Goo was irritating, so I wondered what was going on until I noticed it pointing at the control seat while diligently inscribing automatic activation spells.
“Do you want to try it too?”
“Goo!”
Our Goo, despite being genderless and formless, had a surprisingly masculine hobby.
“You must be smarter than short-lived homunculi, right? You can guard the house well and follow commands.”
“Goo!”
“Still, you can’t.”
“Goo goo goo!”
“Why not? The homunculus has to battle assassins trying to kill me, but if it had the specs to actually kill me, my bio-type golem would get wrecked too. If Goo is inside, it’ll die with me!”
“Ugh, Goo goo goo…”
Seeing Goo’s deflated response made me chuckle.
“Why would a homunculus be put in such a terrifying weapon? Short-lived homunculi die quickly anyway!”
“Goo?!”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to give them a chance to experience piloting a giant robot before they die, maybe they’d even go home happy bragging about being a former giant robot pilot?”
How cool and enviable would it be if the hamster next door had a title like [Former Giant Robot Pilot]?
I should’ve also taken one to raise in the academy dorm!
“Goo.”
“Do the parties not like it like this?”
“Whatever.”
“How come you communicate so well?”
Senior Alice crinkled her hat in disbelief, using telepathy.
“It’s been easy to interpret lately.”
Hmmm, has my skill level increased?
[Goo became aware of telepathy after enduring severe mistreatment.]
Oh my.
It wasn’t me getting smarter; it was Goo!
—
Today is the day to simulate the automatic operation of the homunculi guard unit.
Just then, Titosso came running from afar.
“Oknodie! One of the noble uncles who came to the launch ceremony sent an invitation ticket to the casino in the City of Pleasure! Let’s go-t…”
A sword strike flew towards Titosso’s neck just barely blocked by my Mana Shield.
“Oh, right, I forgot to inscribe the safety spell that says friends shouldn’t attack if they rush within 3 meters!”
How could I forget that in the episode where I was creating that spell because I had no friends back then!
“Guh?! W-What… What happened…?”
“Nothing at all! But Titosso, you were tricked again, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t tricked!”
“There’s only one reason to summon the Saintess to the City of Pleasure; it’s to drug her and make her go crazy while controlling her like a cheap villain!”
“Yikes! So that’s it?!”
Titosso ripped up the ticket.
“We’ve got plenty of points without that! They don’t refund points well there, and all you’ll encounter are clueless villains challenging for the seat of Great Evil or evil Demon King’s Four Kings trying to dominate humans through gambling!”
“Whaaat? That sounds too scary! I’m not going!”
I was on my way to comfort Titosso, who had gone from excited to gloomy, while finishing a food menu for the collection.
A passing goose took a kick from the guard unit’s foot with a thump, a sparrow flying between trees was caught in the guard unit’s grab and got its wing broken, while a senior rushing to submit an assignment on time collided with a sparrow due to a throw in this peaceful lunch break.
Suddenly, students with colorful, rainbow-dyed hair blocked our path.
“Excuse me!”
“Huh?”
“I heard Oknodie seniors are really short. So… which one is the Oknodie senior?”
They were Class 982 freshmen.
Titosso chuckled, his playful expression sparking joy as he stepped forward.
“It’s me! Freshmen, what brings you here?”
Hmm. Even the goofball known to students and seniors sometimes wants to show off in front of the freshmen.
Since this seemed fun, I crossed my arms and watched.
Teaching the freshmen, ah, so cool.
Titosso, lost in his thoughts of grandiosity, faced an unexpected harsh reality.
“We can’t forgive the senior who destroyed our garden!”
“Seriously, how could we butter up the seniors to get sweet potato seeds and dream only of the harvest day?!”
“Make good on our damaged garden!”
“Besides, we were secretly growing poppies to sell to the seniors!”
At this unexpected statement from the green-haired newcomer secretly growing poppies, the others quickly covered the green-haired’s mouth and pinched their arm, thinking that was a no-go.
“Ugh!!”
“You don’t have to give us the poppies!”
“You bastards! Save our lettuce!”
“Anyway, the senior was at fault, so please compensate for the damage done to our garden!”
Titosso was about to cry.
“Yikes?! Oknodie, how could you do something so nasty! Didn’t I allow it when I said I’d mimic Oknodie?!”
“Don’t act cowardly, senior. If you were born a woman, you should stand tall and take responsibility for what you did. Don’t hide behind your peers.”
“Bully! Look at you, pretending to be someone else, lacking pride in your name! So pathetic!”
“Don’t provoke the senior! What if we end up getting wrecked like our garden!”
Titosso’s embarrassed look was entertaining, but if I teased too much, he might suddenly burst into tears, scaring the freshmen and making them cry too. So I decided to intervene here.
“He’s Titosso, and the real Oknodie is me!”
“There’s only so much goodwill to people. Don’t try to take the blame for your friend. The senior will be fine, so just pass on!”
“Ehhh?”
The red-haired first-year, appearing to be the leader among the freshmen, used [Wind] magic to push me forward.
Of course, I wouldn’t budge at all, and the freshman, seeing my lack of movement, cast a stronger spell with a puzzled face.
[Speedy Continuous Step] magic!
With every step, it would cover 2 meters and naturally increase the speed of the next three steps, a supportive movement magic.
When you incorporate this in a swordfight, the collective charge speed increases tremendously, making it really fun!
“Oh? This isn’t affecting me…? Tch, it only raises my magic resistance! Innocent senior, just get lost and receive my powerful magic!”
The redhead seemed determined to use a spell too precious for public use and gathered an enormous amount of mana that wouldn’t recover before a deep sleep was taken tonight.
[Seredin’s Movement Declaration] magic!
This is a powerful moving magic specialized to forcibly move even the heaviest objects or ships.
By making things that shouldn’t move actually move, using this in a village would likely demolish dozens of houses, instantly marking you as a villain with a Level 4 trap magic!
It was astounding how they made both the guard unit and me move simultaneously, but sadly, a very flimsy structure stood too close to us.
Crash!!
As if the rickety structure was already swaying, it was only natural that it would collapse when magic was applied.
With a disheartened freshman witnessing this, just as the pavilion collapsed, an important document summoned through conditional summon magic swooped down.
━━━
[Fine Notice]
The relevant student is advised that due to the crime of destroying the facilities of the Student Affairs Facilities Management Office, they must either pay a fine of 1000 points, rebuild the pavilion, or perform 20 hours of volunteer service for the Student Council.
━━━
“What the?!”
“Oh dear, you shouldn’t have recklessly used magic outside the classrooms or training grounds!”
“A thousand points? If I pay this hefty amount, I won’t even be able to buy black bread!”
“I’m being generous! I’ll give you a thousand points if you forget about the Oknodie incident!”
“Senior…! Even though you have nothing to do with Oknodie, covering for a friend’s fault and looking after the freshmen, you’re truly admirable! I won’t forget this even till the day I die!”
No, it’s Oknodie’s fault.
“What’s your name, senior?”
It’s really Oknodie.
Just as I was about to answer feeling awkward, I saw Professor Weird’s creeping vine approach from the path, drawn by the commotion of the fallen pavilion.
“Eek! It’s Professor Weird’s minion! Run!”
“Yikes?!”
Caught by the scruff, Titosso let out a pathetic scream.
“Wait, I didn’t just send 1000 points?! It’s also the compensation for the garden! To apologize for my friend’s mess while perfectly compensating, this is overwhelming gratitude! I MUST know that person’s name!!”
The redhead’s voice rang out, echoing into the distance before fading away.
