Chapter 118 – Harvest Golem
After eating a light lunch, we took the golems out to harvest.
「Potatoesth, potatoesth!」「ryaa ryaa」
Collette was singing as she sipped along. Shiggy was hopping happily behind her.
The huge golems were following us.
—THWOOMP THWOOMP—
The sound of their footsteps echoed.
「…might have made these suckers a little too big.」
「…not a little, Al.」
Vi-Vi frankly looked a bit scared.
Our golems were about the same size.
They were about twice as big as a human and about twice as wide. So they probably had four times the mass of a person.
No, they were thick too. So maybe eight times.
Actually, since their arms and legs were thicker than a human, even more.
AND it was made from mithril, so more like ten times.
「It’s a golem built for harvesting.」
「…guess so.」
「Maybe we should have made them small?」
「…so these are more like for town defense, Al?」
Well, they would work pretty well in that regard. Their heaviness made them strong.
However, their heaviness would be a bit too much for harvesting. The field would be stomped like crazy.
Not so good for detailed work.
「Even if it’s weak, maybe small and thin golems would work better.」
「…yeah.」
「I guess we messed up thinking that a harvesting golem needed to be strong.」
「You’re absolutely right, Al.」
I was a bit regretful. However, there was no reason to feel down.
Even so, Vi-Vi looked a little blue.
「Moo moo」
Moofy rubbed her head into Vi-Vi. She must have sensed that Vi-Vi felt down.
She’s a smart and kind cow.
I guess I noticed myself.
「If we can’t use them for harvest, we can make new ones. Chin up.」
「Even though you say that…」
「Something else wrong?」
Vi-Vi looked at me seriously.
「Mithril’s expensive.」
「It’s not like orichalcum though. Don’t worry.」
「It’s weird that you even mention something that expensive, Al.」
Mithril IS expensive. However, it wasn’t that big of a hit in my funds.
It would have been wasteful to use orichalcum, but I still have loads of mithril stored up.
Still, Vi-Vi was frowning.
「AL. You need to think about this seriously. Even if we sold ALL the potatoes, it wouldn’t pay for one arm off that golem.」
「Yeah, you’re right…」
She was completely right.
If you thought about the expenses, it made no sense to spend more money than just hiring people to do it for you.
「But, Vi-Vi…」
「Yeah?」
「Since we’re talking about expenses, isn’t it weird to make harvest golems from mithril in the first place?」
「Y…yeah!」
We kind of laughed about it, and now she wasn’t thinking so much about the cost.
Well, it was the first ones we made, so I guess we should learn from it.
As we were talking this over, we arrived at the field.
「We made them, so let’s see how they work.」
「Yeah.」
The golems started working as we commanded them.
I don’t think they’d have too many problems. They moved pretty smoothly for a first time product.
And even though they were massive, they could work quite meticulously.
—-THOOMP THOOMP
But they were way too heavy. They were crushing the field rows.
「They are too heavy, Al.」
「Well, I can lighten them with gravity magic.」
「But mithril’s too HEAVY! You won’t have enough magic!」
Gravity magic does sap up magic quickly if you’re lifting something heavy.
And with the weight of these golems, it would take a LOT of magic.
「Yeah…I’ll be okay.」
So I threw gravity magic on the two golems and made them lighter.
「It’s a little hard though.」
「OF COURSE IT IS!」
Vi-Vi sounded exasperated.
They weren’t something you could easily make lighter.
It was difficult to keep them from damaging the field while not lifting them off of it so they couldn’t get their work done. It was a fine balance.
If you made them too light, they couldn’t pull any potatoes. But if you didn’t make them light enough, there was no point in using the magic.
「Still, a veteran magician has his pride!」
So I kept the exact amount of gravity magic cast on them as they worked.
「ryaa ryaa!」
Seeing this, Shiggy again flapped its wings.
I was glad the dragon could see me so focused. I felt like a dad teaching his kid.
And plus since Shiggy was magical, it could probably learn a lot.
So I just watched the golems work while casting.
「They’re doing pretty well.」
「My golem and yours work pretty well, Al.」
「They’re pretty even. They both can do detailed work.」
「Yeah.」
「Well, let’s just harvest as much as we can.」
「Don’t push yourself too hard.」
「I know.」
I could work up to my limit. Either way, the golems finished pretty quickly.
It only took them two hours.
Even with a wide field like this, two hours was very fast.
「Phew.」
Even though it was autumn, I was sweating.
It’s been a while since I used this much magic. There was only a bit left. I might have used too much.
However, I was done now, so I could rest.
「I can’t believe you, Al.」
「What?」
「That you could keep those golems cast on for two hours.」
「Well, I am tired.」
「And two of them at once. And MITHRIL!」
「They are quite heavy.」
Vi-Vi said to herself in awe,
「…can’t believe it.」
Millet brought both of us some cold water.
「Millet, thanks.」
「Good job, Mister Al.」
「Yeah, old man.」
I rubbed Collette’s head and looked at the field.
It was a good and clean harvest. There were other fields out there as well.
「I don’t have the strength to use these golems for the other fields though.」
「Of course YOU DON’T!」
「You want to make smaller ones?」
「Yeah, light and with cheap metal.」
「But light metal isn’t cheap…it’s not light, but steel is cheap.」
Steel was heavier than mithril. But since we’d make them small it should be okay.
And steel was way cheaper than mithril.
Costwise, stones were the cheapest, but Vi-Vi never said anything about making those.
I never thought about making them with stone wither. The problem is that magic didn’t flow well through stone, which made making a stone golem harder.
I guess I was nervous about making a stone golem.
I was a little nervous about steel too, but it was easier than stone.
I bet that Vi-Vi felt the same way. She whispered to herself,
「I guess steel might be a little hard…」
「I know how you feel. But the hard to cast ones aren’t expensive like mithril and orichalcum.」
「Yeah…then let’s make steel one’s, Al.」
Well, the problem is that I didn’t have a lot of steel in my bag or in my storage shack.
I guess I’d have to buy some.