"I handle my own energy replenishment, so that's not necessary. I also have self-repair functions, so no maintenance is needed either. However, while I doubt this would happen given the current security in this town, the Core is a precision component and will need repairs if damaged. My output isn't particularly high, but unlike humans, I don't fatigue—and when you need extra hands, I'm the perfect laborer."
"But a billion is... Come on. What about combat ability?"
"Well, of course—it's lower than a Hunter's. But I'm very useful. You don't need to pay for medical treatment even if I 'die,' and I have ranged attacks too."
The key to selling a product is trust. You must not lie.
At Citry's words, delivered with a smile, the clerk in charge of managing Sulus's town purse grimaced. He was whispering with other members, but Golems were generally not that powerful.
No, compared to an adult male who hadn't absorbed any Mana Material, they had more than enough combat capability—but they'd be no match for anyone who might actually attack the town. If that's what they wanted, they'd need to pay at least ten times that per unit.
Sulus's defenses, from Citry's perspective, were laughably inadequate.
The outer walls were far shorter than those of other towns—only about a meter tall. The tops were adorned with thorn-like designs to prevent climbing, but any Hunter or anyone who'd absorbed even a small amount of Mana Material could leap over them with ease.
There were watchtowers at the four corners, but the guard force as a whole seemed completely unmotivated.
Originally, this town was a tourist destination, and Hunters visiting for the hot springs were not uncommon. Many stayed for extended periods, so the bulk of security was likely handled by those guests themselves.
That meant the town had enjoyed peace for years. The fact that the guard force hadn't increased even after word of the bandit group drove away guests was proof they were far too accustomed to that peace. For that matter, a hot spring dragon infiltrating the hot springs was something that would normally never happen.
From the perspective of Citry, who had fought countless bandits, Hunters, Phantoms, and Monsters, they were ridiculously complacent.
Well, none of that really mattered.
The more complacent they were, the more work there was for Hunters. Increasing the guard force meant potions would be bought and sold, benefiting the Alchemists. Either way, it was a business opportunity.
"I wonder if this town really needs such expensive defenses..."
Having learned the vacation destination was a hot spring resort, Citry rolled the black-and-gold patterned circular sphere—the Core—across her palm, still speaking to the overweight clerk who wore a reluctant expression.
"There's no need to worry. This is just a trial run. I'm sure you'll be satisfied—let me start it up for you as a demonstration."
She knew a test was necessary. She had to verify its performance beforehand—otherwise, she wouldn't know if it was useful in the field for her real work: hunting as part of the Mourning Specter.
Alchemy was an accumulation of effort. The results were always satisfying when they came, but even the verification process was thrilling.
Feeling the excitement building in her chest, she approached the narrow hot spring river flowing through town. A pair who looked like a couple out for a stroll were leaning on the railing, gazing down at the water.
More visitors must have arrived—the streets were dotted with people.
"All you have to do to activate it is drop this Core into liquid..."
Still wearing her gentle smile, Citry dropped the Core into the hot spring river. It made a small splash and submerged.
The gaunt clerk in a suit widened his eyes.
"Nothing's happening?"
"Just wait a moment, please."
In pure water, the change had taken one second. How long it would take in hot spring water containing impurities was also part of the test.
She made eye contact with the couple, who had been chatting quietly as they leaned over the river. The man had a plain, honest face; the woman was pretty.
They were probably about the same age as Citry. Perhaps out of shyness, the girl averted her gaze—but Citry didn't look away.
Citry Smart was a rear guard. She wouldn't avert her eyes from a potential enemy—that would be far too complacent.
And then the moment came. With a soft splash, the Core rose. The clerks' faces twisted in astonishment.
As someone unveiling a new product, there was no better feeling than that expression.
The Core Citry had brought was a prototype for a Water Golem.
Hot spring water formed a humanoid shape around the Core. Apart from the faintly glowing Core, the body contained no impurities—and the face had no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. Wisps of steam rose from its entire form, making the sight almost comical.
Water Golems already existed, but they required large-scale rituals to create. Citry's new model, however, could be freely activated as long as it had a Core. Moreover, it worked perfectly fine even in water containing impurities.
She was confident she'd created something perfect, but seeing it actually activate before her eyes brought a wave of relief.
"There we go! What do you think? This is my very own Hot Spring Golem! Unlike traditional Golems, it's portable and easy to activate—a revolutionary product!"
"W-what is that—?!"
She couldn't stop the excitement from bubbling up in her voice. In front of Citry, beaming with delight, the Hot Spring Golem swung its massive arms overhead. Then, without hesitation, it brought those thick arms crashing down toward the stunned couple.
Screams erupted. The woman instinctively drew a knife and slashed at the arm, but the attack passed right through its watery body—and in the next moment, the Golem knocked her flat.
The clerk, who had been staring blankly at the scene, rushed over in a panic. Citry dropped the remaining Cores she was carrying into the hot spring.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
"......Sigh. You really are completely complacent, aren't you..."
She wasn't laughing. Citry had been thrown into confrontations without any defenses at all in the beginning, too.
Before she knew it, the figures who had been in her peripheral vision had encircled Citry and the others in a wide ring. That said, even without the encirclement, she already knew those dressed as tourists were no ordinary tourists. The Mourning Specter's dedicated scout was Riz, but Citry was far from incapable of the same.
When undertaking the Thousand Trials, the first skill you needed was the ability to sense when something was off. The second was the ability to respond flexibly, and the third—was resistance. Their movements were natural, but there was ever so faintly the aura of trained professionals. And once she'd noticed, a preemptive attack was only natural.
At the same time the new Hot Spring Golem stood up, a barely perceptible whistle of something cutting through the air came from behind. The Golem that had been pinning the couple grabbed both targets by the back of the neck with its arms, squeezing in between. A flying knife embedded itself in its body, lost its momentum, and was absorbed inside.
This attacker— Was an assassin.
Their movement, their stealth, their coordination—none of it was amateur work.
Without changing her expression, Citry confirmed this. She gestured to the new Hot Spring Golem and spoke in an exaggeratedly cheerful voice.
Presentations had to be delivered with confidence. And the same was true in business.
"How are we looking? Its strength is roughly on par with an average adult male, but it excels in combat—especially defensive capability. It can absorb most projectile momentum and will throw itself in front of you to shield you from damage! Well, it might be overkill if you're just using it for guard duty."
"What's going on?! What's happening?! Hey!"
"If you don't want to die, stay back."
She sidestepped the clerk rushing toward her.
It seemed there were no enemies inside the building. Citry's clients looked completely overwhelmed, their faces a pitiful mess. This was no act.
On the other hand, the expressions of those surrounding them were extremely calm. They'd shown a moment of surprise but quickly regained their composure.
Men and women, young and old—eleven in total. Not a huge number, but Citry was alone. Since they'd launched such a flashy attack, she could expect no reinforcements from the town guard. And she had to consider the possibility that their opponents might receive reinforcements as well.
Klye, thank you. Going to all this trouble just to provide test subjects for me...
The assassins seemed to have abandoned all pretense of subtlety. Countless knives flew from every direction. All were aimed at Citry, though some targeted the three clerks who served as her demonstration audience. They were the bigwigs running Sulus—she couldn't let them get hurt if she wanted future business to go smoothly.
She sent one unit and another newly activated Golem in their direction. She had a total of thirty Hot Spring Golem Cores. Each unit's individual power wasn't that impressive, but if she could activate them all, the numbers would tip in Citry's favor.
The first Golem, still gripping the couple's necks with both hands, swung the weapons it held in a wide spinning arc, knocking the knives out of the air.
Naturally, numerous knives lodged themselves in those weapons, but that was Citry's least concern. She didn't need units specialized for this level of assassination work.
"I programmed their combat skills myself! Naturally, even if blood mixes in, it doesn't affect the Golem's movement at all!"
"Hiiik!"
The overweight clerk let out a short scream at the sight of the Hot Spring Golem streaked with dark red. He seemed to have gone weak in the knees.
That was convenient. The best thing for a protection detail was for them to stay still. Getting into a pocket would be even better, but— A fourth and fifth Golem activated one after another. But their speed was slightly slower than Citry had anticipated.
Water impurities were part of the reason, but the main factor was likely the limited water source. It was fine at this scale, but it could prove problematic for emergency deployments.
The rain of knives was no issue. The real problem was their limited close-quarters combat capability.
She delegated defense to the two newly activated Golems and charged forward with the two humanoid Golems wielded as weapons. The enemy showed only a slight grimace as they advanced—remaining composed despite the Golems charging at them with footfalls like splashing water.
An unarmored man dressed far more like a commoner than a fighter didn't retreat. Instead, he lunged forward, gripping a short sword with both hands, and leaped into the air.
The Hot Spring Golem swung the enormous "weapon" in its hand for a crushing blow, but the man slipped inside the arc, closing the distance like a body tackle. He drove forward through the Golem's body with the full force of his momentum, his blade aimed straight for the Core.
There was a faint, hard sound.
The pierced Core immediately lost its power. Unable to maintain the Golem's form, the water body collapsed into nothing but a hot spring. The couple held in both arms was thrown to the ground, and the deeply damaged Core made a hollow sound as it rolled across the floor.
The Core itself hadn't been severely cracked, but it was a precision component. Once the inscribed magic formula lost its power, nothing could be done.
The man who had destroyed the Hot Spring Golem faced Citry with a grin, thoroughly drenched from head to toe.
"Well, well. Seems the Core has durability issues. ...Maybe I cut costs too much. But the metals suitable for coating are all expensive..."
"Get her! Kill that woman! The Golem's weakness is the Core—it's not hard at all!"
"Next—ranged attack capability. Allow me to show you the weapons."
Two Hot Spring Golems that had newly positioned themselves beside Citry raised their arms. Cylinders several centimeters in diameter sprouted from above their forearms.
At the sight of those cylinders, the drenched man's expression changed. But it was already too late.
Without waiting for Citry's signal, countless high-pressure hot spring projectiles were fired toward the assassin group.
§ Activation issues. Core durability issues. Combat capability issues. Movement speed issues. Using ranged attacks makes the body smaller, limiting ammunition capacity. When mixing poison potions into the body, avoid corrosive potions.
Verdict—failed. Not yet performance worthy of actual hunts.
The test results were terrible, but productive. Failure is the mother of success.
Citry wore her usual smile as she looked down at the man who had collapsed at her feet.
"To think you took out five of them. How troublesome."
"Ngh... guh..."
"Yes, yes, I know what you're trying to say. If you'd had the numbers advantage, I'd have gone down without issue, right? Absolutely—spot on. Running out of a decisive advantage is a problem. Maybe I should program combination attacks and sell them in sets of three."
"You... bitch..."
"Oh, I don't even need you to say it. You didn't expect me to fight back, did you? But in battle, there's no such thing as cowardice. Your group was quite skilled at suppressing your presence, I'll give you that—but perhaps your endurance could use some work?"
She twirled the trigger of the pink, toy-like gun in her right hand around her index finger, showing it to the man who was now glaring at her with labored breathing.
The gun that looked like a toy in both color and shape was indeed a toy. But not just any toy. A toy—a Treasure Weapon.
A gift from someone precious to Citry—a water gun that never, ever ran dry.
The "Ultimate Water Gun."
Klye Andrich had taken what was merely a toy, used it until it was completely spent, located its nonexistent "water source," and obtained the power to change the ambient moisture in the air at will.
The projectiles fired from Citry's water gun were potions she wore on her person at all times. Now that she could change the water source freely, this had become an indispensable companion she never went on hunts without.
Around Citry, the remaining Hot Spring Golems stood silently, awaiting orders.
Twenty-four units remained. Five had been destroyed, and one had been neutralized after Citry's poison potion mixed into its body, immobilizing the Core.
On the ground, thirteen unidentified attackers lay unconscious. Some had taken hits from Golem strikes or projectiles, some had failed to destroy a Core and suffocated inside the Golem's body, and the experienced members had been hit by Citry's poisons from the "Ultimate Water Gun."
Their target probably wasn't Citry herself. If they were after members of the Mourning Specter, this number was nowhere near sufficient. Not even ten times this would do.
What to do... Citry stared at her pale-faced clients as she considered.
She couldn't identify them. There were several candidates, but nothing conclusive.
She reflected that perhaps she should have feigned defeat and let them reveal more. The assassins' knives appeared to have been coated with poison, but the Mourning Specter members' resistance was absolute—so high that even Citry's poisons wouldn't work on them. That was only natural, since Citry herself had trained their tolerance.
Fine, she'd have to interrogate them... She wasn't bad at interrogation. She could certainly torture them too. Using potions to extract confessions would be easier, though.
"What the hell are those things?!"
"Just your average assassins. I don't know which organization they belong to, but they're quite well-trained. My Golems outperform them, though. How about it—order now and I'll include the ranged weapons as well."
She never forgot to pitch a sale.
She directed the Water Golems to hoist the convulsing assassin before her eyes. She'd avoided using instant-kill poisons for precisely this purpose. Still, she should finish the interrogation quickly.
Just as she was about to set off, something unexpected entered her field of vision, and Citry's eyes went wide.
She furrowed her brow and turned to check on her clients.
"......Um, did any of you request reinforcements?"
"What? Of course we didn't."
Beyond the town walls, on the far horizon, a small shadow had appeared.
Horses. A group of riders was approaching. Not a huge number, but not small either—at least a hundred, possibly more.
A merchant caravan would use wagons, and this was far too fast. It could only be military, but Zebuldia's military was comprised almost entirely of knights.
Looking up, dark dots scattered across the sky came into view. Flying troops. Whether they rode flying dragons or giant birds, this was far from ordinary.
Ten she could handle, but a hundred was impossible for Citry alone. She was an Alchemist, after all.
The clerks seemed to finally notice the approaching shadows, their eyes widening in stunned silence.
Citry beamed her brightest smile, pressed her palms together toward her valued customers, and made her proposal.
"How about it? This is exactly when you need them, isn't it? Hot Spring Golem Cores—right now, I have exactly twenty-four units available at two hundred and forty million Gill. If you need more, it'll take time, but I also accept pre-orders."