Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai

「It, it’s huge!!」

The advancing colossal Golem that made the ground shake with a thud with each and every step that it took, while scraping against the ceiling, stopped in front of the door that led to the next floor.

A single leg was plenty to make up for a gatekeeper, oi.

「A G, G-G-Golem!? Why is a Golem here!」

「『Obsidian Golem』……It’s a Golem whose entire body is made out of obsidian, and is a high class variety that rivals that of a 『Mythril Golem』. Among the subspecies of Golems, it’s a rare variety that boasts a high heat-resistance property……This is my first time seeing one as well.」

「Oi oi, are you serious……」

Seeing as how its red hot body was slowly cooling down, this big framed Golem, the 『Obsidian Golem』 turned back to its original glossy black body.

Obsidian……A variety of volcanic rock and a stone whose characteristics were that color and its glass quality. And if it were just normal items, those existed on Earth as well.

……However, in this other world of Reynbrook, it didn’t just end with being a glass quality volcanic rock.

Maybe because it carries Maryoku, it has a lot of strength, and despite it being glass quality, it’s hard to break and it’s even hard to put a scratch on it.

In comparison to Mythril, which is also called Magic Silver, it falls behind in rarity and properties, but because of its all-purpose nature and its ease of processing, it’s a stone that is circulated with a high price.

「It, it’s here it’s here it’s heerrreee!! With this guy, it’s like we pulled out an outrageous jackpot!! Come on, come on, Black Hair, go get him!! With a Golem that huge, those other Magic Stones don’t even stack up to it! Even becoming a billionaire is a path that’s right in front of our eyes!!」

Far from panicking in front of the absurdly humongous Golem, Angelica’s eyes were shining, brimming with plans of selling the Magic Stone. Oi oi, that’s a Magic Stone meant for the airship, isn’t it?

「Still, it sure does look tough……Fiona, can you defeat that thing?」

「Who do you think you’re saying that to, Yuu. In the end, it’s just a Golem that’s only somewhat tough and huge, you know? It’s easy.」

When she said that, Fiona raised the ring on the index finger of her left hand.

「So you’re using a ring-type invocation.」

「It isn’t anything special. It is simply acting in place of a staff.」

Saying that, Fiona closed both of her eyes and started an aria.

Maybe because it reacted to that aria, the Obsidian Golem started to move.

Contrary to its sluggish movements, the Golem rapidly got closer, but Fiona’s aria was completed faster than the Golem’s attack.

「─Burst into flames, ―─『Flame Tornado』！！」

Synthesized-type magic, Flame Tornado.

Rolling up a windstorm clad in flames, it wrapped up the Obsidian Golem. ……Wait!

「Oi, Fiona! Didn’t flames not work on this guy!?」

「Haa……Yuu, you know, it looks like you really haven’t changed at all in these three years.」

The Obsidian Golem that appeared from the bottom of the magma. Why would Fiona, who she herself said that it should have possessed a high resistance to flames, pour flame magic on it?

When I asked about that on reflex, Fiona exposed her displeasure and breathed a sigh.

「Magic is very diverse……The point is in how it’s used. If it’s possible to destroy an opponent by using an offensive force that exceeds their defense, then it’s possible to reduce the opponent’s strength and cause it to destroy itself. ……Like this.」

The Golem started to become red hot from being wrapped up in high temperature flames. Facing that Golem, Fiona pointed her finger at it.

「――Freeze――」

Lowering the atmospheric temperature of a specific spot down to polar temperatures, it’s a freezing-type magic that locks up the target in a large crystal of ice. The magic that was released without an aria was only able to cover the red hot Golem’s lower body, and was only at the level of obstructing the Golem’s movements.

Moreover, even if it was able to restrain the Golem, it could probably break the ice in an instant and continue to advance.

The moment that I thought that, fumes rose from the Golem’s body.

No, that’s not it. The ice that covered that body that bore a high temperature melted, and had turned into steam.

The Golem’s body, which had reached a high enough temperature for it to turn red hot, was rapidly cooled down, changed back to its original black color, and then──

*Bagin* (Crackle)

Together with a sound that could split one’s ears, a large crevice ran across the Golem’s body.

「So it’s shrinkage due to thermal expansion!」

「Therm……What is that?」

When I shouted out from finally realizing Fiona’s expectations, the nearby Bernadette tilted her head.

「Ahー, ……You see, when an object’s temperature increases, its volume also increases.」

「？？？」

Damn it, even though I know the principle behind it, explaining it to a person of another world who knows nothing about it is difficult.

「St, still, it’s great that you knew about that, Fiona.」

When I changed topics, Fiona breathed a small sigh.

「I don’t know that this thermal expansion or whatever is, but the fact that glass breaks when it’s cooled down from a high temperature is something that I was taught by Ahato.」

I see, Dwarves are knowledgeable about the properties of things like ores after all.

*Go, gogogo……*

Hearing a sound that seemed like something very heavy being dragged, when we turned around, the Obsidian Golem was moving only one arm and drew near us little by little.

「Y, yer tellin’ me that it wasn’t defeated!?」

「It should end if the core is taken out. ……Hoitto.」

Standing on top of the Golem that was moving while dragging its body, I tore out the stone that had a black luster that could be seen inside the crevice that ran through the middle of where a person’s chest and stomach would be with my hand.

When I did, the Golem fell down as if it lost its strength.

「So this is the Golem’s Core. ……It has an amazing amount of Mana.」

Having the size of a softball, when I held it in my hand, I reflexively muttered that due to the large energy that was transmitted from the Golem’s Core.

『Mana』. That, which should be called the source of Maryoku, was a power that represented life that only life possessed. It’s said that even the Maryoku in the atmosphere is something that was just Mana released from life and changed.

It seems that this Golem Core isn’t a Magic Stone, and looks like it should be called a stone that is a crystallization of Mana.

「Hey! Hey! Black Hair! Let us see it too!」

「Ahh, sorry.」

When I tossed it over to Angelica who was badgering me, Angelica gripped the Golem’s Core with both hands, and fixedly stared at it.

And then, in an instant, her facial expression changed to a smile like that of a child that just thought of something wicked.

「Ha ha ha……You really helped us out, Black Hair.」

「……Y, you guys, could it be!」

Angelica boldly laughed with the Golem Core in one hand, and behind her, the tall and lanky guy and the shorty were making a creepy laugh that went *Gufufu*.

Noticing that Angelica’s plans, Bernadette raised her voice.

「Yes, that’s exactly it. We’ll be saying our farewells right here.」

「「Saying our farewells! 」」

Saying that, Angelica’s group slowly looked like they were about to leave, but,

「……Are you guys able to go back without us?」

they solidified as if they were frozen by the words that Kuon asked.

That’s right, the Three Stooges originally wanted us as escorts and as war potential. True, once they obtained a Magic Stone, their business with us would be settled, but it was now a situation where they couldn’t go back or even continue forward unless they travel with us.

「I also thought this three years ago but, you guys really should work on thinking about your evil deeds.」