Chapter 198 – Defeat

Content warning: depictions of violence.

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That day, Reinhardt went to visit Stearina’s house in the morning.

It was to discuss things regarding the control of golems. For that reason he brought his own work, Schwarz Ritter, with him.

As he had also been cautioned by Jin, he had five guards deployed in the surroundings of the house. Originally the guards had been soldiers dispatched from Shouro Empire.

“Welcome, Reinhardt-kun.”

Since last night Stearina had got to calling Reinhardt with ‘-kun’.

“Hey, good morning Stearina.”

Even Reinhardt addressed her without an honorific.

They proceeded inside, and he was led to a spacious living room. There stood two golems and two Automata Stearina had made.

“Right now, this is my masterpiece.”

“Hmm, it’s wonderful.”

One of them was the same type as the crystal golem ‘Ceres’ that had been previously destroyed during the golem party, and the other was a steel male-type golem.

The Automata were in the form of a girl in her late teens and an adult woman.

“The golems are ‘Eris’ and ‘Caster’. The Automata are ‘Sylene’ and ‘Mylene’

After quick introductions the two got into their discussion. They both had true artisan’s spirits.

“About that crystal golem, from what I can tell, it moves using the [Forming] magic, right? Isn’t the Magic Energy efficiency extremely bad?”

Reinhardt asked, and Stearina answered.

“That’s right. However, simultaneously with [Forming] the mobile parts have [Softening] applied to them to weaken them.”

“Hmm, I see. I suppose it’s then about 30 percent more efficient than using only [Forming]?”

“That’s exactly right. In practice it’s around 25 percent. Long periods of operation are impossible, you see. Although, a crystal golem’s purpose isn’t in its practical use.”

Reinhardt also could agree with that.

“That’s right. Seeing Ceres for the first time was startling. You took it to a direction someone like me would