Chapter 201 Chess And Golem
As I stepped out of the classroom, Alicia the Alchemist Girl and Amelia the Pharmacist Girl showed up. It seemed they had been hiding in the library.
"Ah, Ms. Alicia. So, you saved my grandfather from the golem earlier, didn't you? I'm sorry for the trouble."
"I thought it was your father, but it was His Excellency the Marquis, and I was surprised."
"Ahaha. Mr. Theofrastos is as usual, I see."
Alicia the Alchemist Girl smiled, looking a bit troubled but also amused.
"I'll introduce you. This Ms. Alicia is an alchemist and the creator of that box that makes sounds. She's also the one who drew the magic circle that activated the healing magic I gave to Chloe, so Chloe should be grateful to her. And the other Ms. Amelia is a pharmacist, and her recipe is used for the herb tea blend. She can make all sorts of medicine, and she's also the developer of hand cream and cosmetics. And there's also Ms. Teresa, the blacksmith...but..."
"Teresa will come later. She just finished the commissioned item from the young lady, so..."
"I'm looking forward to it."
Sara then introduced her cousins.
"This is my cousin trio, you see. From top to bottom, Adam, Chloe, and Christopher. As the children of the Grandchester Young Marquis, they're the real deal, unlike me. Even after the hunting tournament, Adam is staying behind, it seems."
Chloe and Christopher reacted to Sara's words.
"Hey, that's unfair, only Adam gets to stay!"
"I wanna stay too!"
'What are these kids talking about, I wonder?'
"Chloe promised to tell me about the capital's trends, right? It's nice that you come to play often, but isn't leaving the capital a breach of contract?"
"Ah, yeah, that's true."
"And why does Chris want to stay behind, anyway?"
"I wanna play with Sara!"
"I'm busy, so no way."
'I just remembered he wants to play. Chris had better grades than Blaze, so I need to put him in the chess match. Oh, but who should be his opponent?'
"By the way, I'll set up the chessboard, but there's no opponent. Adam lost to Blaze, after all."
"Ugh..."
"Let's take a comprehensive test again after the hunting tournament, and if you score over 300, I'll lift the ban."
"Ugh, I guess I have no choice. Okay."
Adam scowled, but nodded in agreement.
"Can Scott play chess?"
"Yeah, but I'm really bad at it."
"Can Blaze play?"
"I don't even know how to move the pieces."
'Hmm, what to do...'
"Miss Sara, I love playing chess very much!"
Cordelia, the female educator, raised her hand.
"Um, we're using a magic chess set, but Miss Cordelia, are you very skilled with magic?"
"As a noble, I'm on the lower side. But I'm from the Baron household, after all."
"Huh, Miss Cordelia is a noble? You said you were a commoner earlier, didn't you?"
Adam asked, surprised.
"Yes, I was born into the Baron household, but I got married and lost my noble status. Now I'm single again, but I didn't go back to my family home."
"That's what happened."
'Ah, I've got a great idea!'
"If Adam becomes Miss Cordelia's familiar, that'd be great. You're not allowed to play on your own, but if you become Miss Cordelia's hands and feet, I'll give you permission. Just follow Miss Cordelia's instructions and move the pieces."
"Got it."
Adam nodded with a serious face.
"You two, if your magic runs out, be sure to say so, okay?"
"Yeah, we won't make the same mistake as yesterday."
"Really, huh?"
Sara placed the chess set she made last night on the table, still a bit suspicious.
"These pieces will return to their initial positions if you say 'set up'."
"Wow, this looks fun!"
The people around them were watching with great interest.
"Miss Sara, are these pieces small golems?"
"Yes, of course. Ms. Alicia sees right through it."
"That's an interesting idea, but is this still disposable?"
"Yes, it's just a prototype, so it's disposable. But I'm thinking of using the magic flowing through the chessboard to refill the magic stones in the pieces."
"I think it's possible. I'll try drawing a magic formation."
"Actually, Adam and Chris passed out from magical exhaustion because they played too much chess."
"That sounds plausible."
"That's why I want to put a limiter on it, but I wonder if that's possible?"
"It's a challenging theme, but it's not something we can do right away. It means creating a system to monitor the magical energy each individual possesses."
"I see... It's difficult. Well, we need to include a warning. I also need to create something to present to the royal family. If we present a magical tool that causes the royalty to faint, we might be suspected of rebellion."
"That's genuinely frightening."
The two players facing off had instructed their pieces to perform special moves like en passant and castling, but the pieces moved smoothly without any problems. Scott and Blaze were watching with interest, but since the game was highly advanced, they seemed not to fully understand the details of the match.
"This chess set is incredibly expensive, isn't it?"
"All the pieces are golems made from high-purity magic stones. Even if there were a magician who could make these golems, just preparing magic stones with the purity needed to replenish magical energy would cost nearly 5,000 Dallas. It's not something a regular merchant or merchant guild could easily produce."
"I see. Also, the papers on magic stones capable of replenishing energy have just been submitted, so almost no one can commercialize them right away, right?"
"Yes. It will likely remain a monopoly of the Sophia Merchant Guild for a while, but I wonder about the pricing. Since each one has to be handmade by me, it won't become a local specialty."
"Since it takes Miss Sara's precious time, please don't price the standard version below 8,000 Dallas."
"Yes. If we set it too low, we might receive an overwhelming number of requests to make more, which is scary."
'I have to set it at a price that discourages overcharging.'
"Still, there will be alchemists with the courage to disassemble and study it. To be precise, it would likely be requests from merchants or merchant guilds."
"That's right. There are few alchemists with the financial resources, so without requests, it's unlikely to happen."
"Oh, I thought alchemists were profitable."
"Even if they have income, it quickly disappears into research costs. That's the sadness of alchemists."
"That's not hard to imagine."
"Mr. Paracelsus was fortunate to have the patronage of the previous Marquis Grandchester."
At that moment, women from a village on the outskirts of the territory arrived with samples of sachets to be sold with potpourri at the merchant guild. The maids eagerly started arranging the samples on a large table.
"Wow, so cute!"
As Chloe rushed over excitedly, Jane admonished from behind, "Miss Chloe, please don't run like that. Remember to maintain your grace."
"Hehe. Even tomboy Jane has changed a lot."
"Eh?"
Cordelia without taking her eyes off the chessboard, spoke to Jane.
"Aren't you Jane Bronte? Have you forgotten me?"
"Now it's Jane Rochester. Could you be Cordelia Barnes?"
"Yes. I was lonely that you didn't recognize me."
An unexpected connection emerged. It seemed the two knew each other from the capital. As young baron's daughters, both families were far from wealthy, and they used to borrow and lend dresses and accessories.
"I heard you got divorced, but I didn't expect you to be here in Grandchester."
"Since Nia is running the Elma Farm here, I came as well."
"Eh, Nia, as in Tonia Harlan? I had no idea. I feel like I'm the only one left out."
"Unlike us, you're a noble daughter. You're still a noble, aren't you?"
"Sort of. I got married after turning 30 because I couldn't prepare a dowry. My husband passed away three years ago, and the family headship was taken over by my son-in-law."
"Perhaps the relationship isn't very good?"
"Quite the opposite, but since it's a poor viscount family, I have to earn my own living."
"You're impressive."
"Not as impressive as Lia or Nia."
Sara and Chloe looked at the two, dumbfounded.
"So you knew each other."
"Yes. We used to spend a lot of time together in the capital when we were children. I never expected both of us to become teachers."
"I'm not confident I can teach as well as Lia."
When Jane answered with uncertainty, Chloe firmly disagreed.
"That's not true. Thanks to the manners and conversation skills Miss Jane taught me, I can now behave confidently at tea parties."
"Indeed, Miss Jane's manners are beautiful."
Even Rebecca, who received direct training from the queen, found no fault in Jane's manners.
"I served as a Lady-in-Waiting at the palace for a long time. That's how I was recommended as Chloe's governess."
"I see."
Even while chatting, Cordelia's chess skills seemed to surpass Christopher's. The game ended in a swift checkmate.
"I lost!"
"Hehe, the move of the knight here was the cause of your defeat."
"Oh, then what if I move the pawn here?"
"In that case, I would do this..."
Christopher and Cordelia began a post-mortem (analysis) of the game. Watching them, Sara started to consider if having a feature to memorize and reproduce chess scores (game records) would be useful.
'Eh, wait. It might be a good idea to teach chess to a magic golem? If it becomes smart, could I create a chess set that one person can play with?'
Sara, lost in thought, was approached by Chloe.
"It looks like Sara is thinking about something complicated again."
"I was considering the commercialization of the chess set."
"Are you planning to sell it?"
"I want to, but it seems unlikely to be priced affordably. All the pieces require high-purity magic stones, and they're all handmade by me."
"In that case, you'll need to make it decorative enough for the nobles to be satisfied. The current pieces are too plain. Also, it's critical that they can't be used without magical energy, isn't it?"
"Since the pieces move with magic, it can't be helped."
"So it won't be a product that anyone can buy, like a sound-producing box."
"Oh! That's it!"
Sara's thoughts aligned with Chloe's suggestion.
"Ms. Alicia, could we use magic stones to power the chess set? With a slightly larger magic stone that can replenish magical energy?"
"Are you suggesting making it exchangeable like a sound-producing box?"
"Yes! I want it to be able to move just by the player giving commands."
"It would also require a mechanism to recognize the player's voice, and that seems difficult to achieve quickly. It's not impossible, but it would become a much more expensive magical tool."
"I want to create an extremely high-performance chess set that's pursued to the limit! And I want to teach chess to a magic golem!"
"Miss Sara... you have some extraordinary ideas. Soon, the merchant guild's golems might start playing chess with local townsfolk, and it would be quite scary."
"That might actually make them popular!"
"They might even dance a victory dance after winning a game of chess."
"――It looks like people might come to the Grandchester territory just to face off against golems!"
Rebecca interrupted the excited Sara. Sara's schedule was already packed, and Rebecca decided that adding any more unnecessary tasks would be a bad idea.
"Ms. Sara, let's think about it after the hunting competition."
"...Yes."
Sara quickly understood Rebecca's intention and decided to set aside the idea for now, jotting it down and stepping back.
However, Christopher overheard the entire conversation.
'Hmm. After the hunting competition, it might be fun to play with Sara. Facing off against golems... it's bound to be interesting!'
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)