Chapter 59: Master Elza

=============================================================

The next day, Louise-chan returned to Lulu Sanjion Capital, but not without a boxed lunch I affectionately made just for her.

I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to see her again for awhile, but there’s no time for such sentimentality. Afterall, there are many things that need to be done to prepare for the arrival of the guild officials.

So I spent my days, working energetically to renovate the guest house while creating new golems. I don’t have much sense when it comes to interior design, but Sierra is surprisingly good with it, so I managed to make the guest house stylish. Thanks to her help, the interior now has an austere impression; classy, and yet calming.

“Sierra, by any chance, were you born into a reputable family?”

“Hmph… Nothing of the sort…”

She denies it, but I can see that she was very upset by the question. I’m guessing she’s indeed coming from a good family, but there’s a further story behind it. She didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t pursue the matter.

Anyhow, Sierra seems to be so insightful in guessing what a guest would probably want when staying in the guest house, so I think she must have some kind of background in the business of customer satisfaction; I concluded that much by the way she was behaving.

————————————————————————————————————-

I’ve spent 18 days in using creative magic, so my level has gone up again.

＃＃＃＃

Creation Magic Lv.13　 All category creation time reduced by 12%, Improved quality of finished product

MP 2536/2536        (MP Recovery rate up: 2 MP/minute)

Food Production: Lv.11 Food creation time reduced by 22%

Tools Production: Lv.10 Tool creation time reduced by 20%

Weapon Production: Lv.2 Weapon creation time reduced by 3%

Material Creation: Lv.8 Material creation time reduced by 15%

Golem Production: Lv.9 Golem creation time reduced by 22%

Medicine Production: Lv.5  Medicine creation time reduced by 9%

Repair : Lv 3   Repair time reduced by 5%

Magical Tools Production: Lv 5  Magic Tools creation time reduced by 9%

Other ――

＃＃＃＃

A notable bonus associated with the levelling up this time, is the increase in MP recovery. Previously it was 1 MP recovery per minute, but now it is 2 MP recovery, and I can now recover 2,880 MP just by taking a day off now, which is very helpful.

Also, my medicine production has improved too since I’ve been frequently making blood for Sierra.

Furthermore, since I’ve been creating two Cimas as replacement for the ones that were destroyed by Janice, and I have been increasing the number of new type Nyoro golems, my golem production level has increased too and I am now able to create a new type of golem.

＃＃＃＃

Item Production：Wood Golem ・ Hedgehog type (Lv 1)

Category：Golem production（Lv.9）

MP Consumption　178

Explanation: A wood golem for weapons. It lacks power and defense but has excellent mobility. It attacks by sending iron needles that grow all over its body. Total length: 40 cm.

Production time：48 hours

＃＃＃＃

Oooh. Seems like it will be useful as a weapon, specializing in medium-range attacks.

It has a wooden body with plenty of iron needles sticking out of it. The length of the needles is about 20 cm to 12 cm, which is longer than a ballpoint pen. I tried shooting it on the beach and the effective range was about 50 meters.

I name the hedgehog-type golem Harry. [1]

“So, what do you think, Sierra?”

“Twould be a small task to dodge the spikes and trample them.” Sierra proudly puffed out her small chest.

“Not that. I know Sierra is strong. What I want to know is if it can be used to ward off monsters and weirdos. I need an objective point of view.”

“Let’s see… They would hardly have any problem against normal opponents. Especially since this fellow here is small, twould be easy to conceal; most opponents would not stand a chance against surprise attacks from their blind spot anyway. Furthermore, you could incorporate the dog golem to have a wider range of tactics.”

By dog golem, I think she’s referring to Wonder.

“If so, I think it’s better if you teach Wonder and Harry how to fight, Sierra.”

“Me, teaching them? How tedious…”

She didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

There are going to be a lot of people and adventurers coming to this island, and I don’t think all of them will be good people. I can never be too careful, after all.

“Make it worth my while, you say…”

“I’ll cook you any food you want.”

“Hummm…”

It didn’t bite, huh.

“Well, what if I make you your favorite alcoholic drink?”

“Sake is nice, but not worth the effort…”

Sierra doesn’t seem to have much attachment to worldly desires…

“Then, what if we have another sibling play again?”

After the last time when we were taking a bath, Sierra had been trying to coax me into recreating that kind of play again, but I have been rejecting her until now.

“Ooh? Prithee, do go on…”

She’s trying to sound casual, but I can see that she’s actually intrigued.

“Let’s see… From now on, whenever we go back to the cave, I’ll give you piggyback rides!”

“A-a piggyback ride…”

“Also, during meals, I’ll put the rice in your bowl for you. And you can even ask me to spoon feed you.”

“Oooh! A-and…?”

“At night when you’re about to sleep, I’ll lay beside you and tell you bedtime stories. I’ll even tell you stories from my hometown.”

“…do…”

Hm?

“Sierra will do it! Sierra will make Onii-sama’s golems as the strongest party! Sierra will train them until they are the best!”

Well will you look at that. She seems all fired up and ready to go.

“Thank you, Sierra. For today’s lunch I’ll make you your favorite omelette rice.”

“Yaaayy!! Sierra’s so happy!”

She’s actually going to be 43 years old in just two months. Is it alright for her to keep acting childish like this? But then again, maybe Sierra has been craving for this kind of affection. Besides, the circumstances between human and vampire might be different, so I decided to be as kind as possible towards her while she’s here.

When we returned to the cave, I gathered all the golems, except for the Cimas.

“Everyone, listen. From today on, this Sierra here will be your instructor. Listen closely to what she says.”

Up until now, the golem had only followed my order. But if I want Sierra to teach them, that means they’ll have to listen to her orders too. The question is, will they be able to follow her? [2]

“Wonder No. 1, move one step forward.” 

Sierra gave her first order to the golem…

…and Wonder complied, moving one step forward. That’s great, I guess the golems will be able to train with her from now on.

“It should be fine, right?”

“Hum. The rest will depend on the golems’ learning ability.”

The golems are able to learn through trial and error, so it should be fine, but that’s all the more reason that I don’t want to lose a golem that has already learning so much. I need to make sure that anything that can be fixed, will be fixed, before it become something irreparable.

Later on, however, I would find out that the new golems could inherit what the old golems had learned by coming into contact with old ones. As long they are not completely destroyed, they can pass on the things they have learned, which makes them increasingly easy to use.

The number of Cimas that I have had increased to No. 5, and now they are currently practicing pulling the small sailing boat that Janice arrived with. I think they are improving each day, so much that I think we should be able to sail between islands soon.

For now, I’m thinking of sending Poppo out to explore and look for other islands nearby. We never know what might happen in the future, so I want to search for an island that could function like a safe house if the need arises.

Yep, let’s proceed with such plan in secret.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Two days later, Poppo spotted a fleet of three ships while patrolling the island; it seemed that the ships carrying guild officials had finally arrived.

As I stood on the crescent shaped beach and gazed out to the sea, I could clearly see small boats being lowered into the water and preparing to come ashore. Amongst them, I could see a large woman giving instructions.

I wonder if that’s Master Elza?

I can’t quite make out her face, but her orange hair shines in the tropical sunlight. Suddenly, the person who I assumed was Master Elza jumped up on the ship’s railing…… and jumped down into the sea.

I thought she was gonna swim ashore, but instead she came running towards us, on the surface of the water, at full speed!

“She’s moving her left foot before her right foot breaks the surface. Such a tedious technique to use, wouldn’t you say?” Sierra calmly observed the person’s movement.

Hold on just a minute. I thought only basilisk lizard can do movement like that? [3]

BAM!

Just as she came within 15 meters of the beach, the woman kicked the surface of the water with all her might and jumped all the way to the shore.

And then she moved until she was very close to me.

“…”

She was staring at me so intently, I felt as if she was peering into the very depths of my soul.

“You must be Shirou Sanada. My name is Elza Birkin, they’ve put me in charge as the head of the guild’s island branch. You’ve been informed of me, right?”

Up close, I can see some of her orange hair has turned white, but I could feel tremendous strength radiating from this woman. I heard that she was over seventy years old, but she looked to be about fifty years or so.

“Yes. My name is Shirou Sanada. I look forward to working with you.”

“Aah, likewise. Now, can I ask you to show me around the island?”

It seems like she is a highly practical person; she’d rather investigating right away on what needs to be done, instead of doing formalities over a cup of tea.

 “Well then, I’ll show you the place where the soldiers of the survey team used to make camp, and I’ll show you the dungeon afterward.”

Master Erza narrowed her eyes at me.

“Hoo… That’s a good response. I don’t dislike a man like you.” She then nodded in satisfaction and crossed her arms.

===========================================================

1 A reference to Harry the Hedgehog, I think.

2 In a sense, unless Shirou retracted that order, it’ll mean he’s giving her the golem as inheritance after he dies, no?

3  Basiliscus basiliscus, also known as Jesus Christ lizard, is famous because it can walk run on water.