“Alone… Is that really okay?”
– “Yes, of course! I’m doing very well right now! How about you? Are the kids bothering you? It must be tough?”
“Hmm, it’s not tough. Diana and Pyris are excitedly looking around the town.”
– “I’m glad to hear that. If I find a way later, let’s go together next time.”
“Yeah…”
Even though it was a long-distance call, and the quality of sound was not very good due to possible signal loss, emotions were sufficiently conveyed through the words.
Fortunately, there was definitely no hint of sadness in Luke’s voice coming through the receiver.
Rather, it had a bright and lively tone, almost to the point of feeling a bit of joy.
“…”
Still, Yerna couldn’t feel at ease.
But was that really Luke’s true feelings?
Was he perhaps acting so as not to worry her?
As those thoughts crossed her mind, Yerna noticed subtle static mixed in with Luke’s voice over the phone.
– “Crunch, crunch, clank, clank.”
It seemed like the noise wasn’t just communication static, but something more ambiguous.
Moreover, it seemed like Luke’s breathing also sounded slightly ragged.
Yerna, worried that something might have happened to Luke, asked anxiously.
“Luke? Are you doing something outside right now? There’s strange noise around, and your breathing sounds rough. What’s going on?”
– “Huh? Can you hear that?”
At that, the surrounding noise suddenly ceased.
And a slightly surprised, higher-pitched voice from Luke came through the phone.
“Yeah. It sounds like dirt and clanking… Is it nothing serious?”
As Yerna asked with concern, Luke soon continued speaking in a bright voice again.
– “Haha, actually, I’m just tending to some flowers right now. That noise was probably from scooping dirt.”
Luke’s voice brightened once more.
It seemed he was keeping himself occupied by gardening out of boredom from being alone.
Especially since it was nighttime in Aires, which typically wouldn’t necessitate tending to a garden — it indicated he was indeed caring for the flowers.
“Isn’t it night there? It truly seems you must have been quite bored alone.”
– “Ah, haha… Maybe so. But, well, I enjoy doing this, so it’s not just a simple way to pass the time.”
“Is that so?”
Indeed, Luke truly loved taking care of flowers.
He would often engage in flower arranging when he could.
Lately, it seemed he had refrained from such a gentle hobby due to the kids’ presence, but it appeared he wanted to spend some quality time with the flowers now that they weren’t around.
Contrary to Yerna’s worries, Luke seemed to genuinely be enjoying his time alone.
Sighing with relief, Yerna responded with a brighter tone.
“Then there’s really nothing to worry about?”
– “No, nothing to worry about. I’m really enjoying myself, so please enjoy yourself too, and…”
Luke hesitated for a moment before continuing clumsily.
– “…Mom.”
His tone, using that still unfamiliar title, carried a hint of bashfulness.
It was simultaneously adorable and commendable, making Yerna feel as if she had truly been acknowledged as his mother, causing her lips to curve into a smile.
“Okay, I understand. Then let’s meet again later.”
Finally, Yerna answered with a lively voice completely unlike when she had first called, and ended the call.
As Dayton, who had been watching the conversation from nearby, placed a hand on Yerna’s shoulder and smiled as if to say, “Look at that,” Yerna smiled back and handed the phone to Dayton.
“Are you relieved now?”
“Yeah.”
Now, she truly felt she could relax and enjoy herself.
Thinking that, the sky looked remarkably clear.
——
“Haah.”
Luke, who had concluded the sudden call, let out a deep sigh.
What exactly was up with Yerna’s senses?
To be able to catch such subtle noise even with poor communication quality!
This kind of subtle sound would have been something he would have dismissed without concern.
Even if Yerna was an exceptionally skilled Forest Keeper, this was quite astonishing.
Luke thought that it might sometimes be too difficult to deceive Yerna’s senses and looked around.
An expanse of flourishing flowerbeds, with several Asriel-made Iron Golems wielding farming tools and tilling the soil, and in the distance, a gigantic holy tree surrounding the sprawling castle was visible.
Indeed, this was not just a simple flower garden as Yerna had thought, but rather, the “Flower Garden of Arinseia.”
Luke was conducting the “Supercomputerization of Arinseia” there.
As Luke waved his hand towards them, the golems began to work again.
Then the noise Yerna had heard earlier started to become audible again.
The sound of scooping dirt and clanking was indeed the operational noise made by Arinseia’s Iron Golems handling the tools.
Fortunately, since Luke had not deliberately referred to it as a flower bed, Yerna wouldn’t have any way of knowing that.
But there were indeed no lies present.
It was true that he was dealing with flowerbeds and that it was pleasant to work undisturbed without the children around.
“Hoho, this is very good.”
It was a satisfied laugh at the process proceeding smoothly.
Arinseia was quite a vast area, and since the work required precision, issuing orders to the Iron Golems who hadn’t fully acclimated could have been very tiring, but there were two golems capable of understanding Luke’s magical circle’s intention and relaying commands to the others, making the task not too difficult.
Kate, designed to be a mage, acted as the “magic assistant,” holding a cane and drawing magic circles, installing parts, and testing if they functioned properly.
Liv, made to be the commander of the knights, took on the role of the “site supervisor,” relaying labor commands by riding on the shoulders of the knights.
The knight golems of Arinseia provided precise labor according to the commands of the two.
And the two golems also seemed quite satisfied with their roles.
Thanks to them, Luke only needed to give the necessary commands, allowing him to focus on the most interesting and crucial parts of the work.
It was quite similar to only assembling the most enjoyable parts of a construction set.
How could it not be enjoyable!
That joy was enough for Luke, who usually had obsessive-compulsive tendencies, to sweat so much that his t-shirt and shorts were soaked and dirt splattered all over his body, which he hardly even cared about.
After all, Luke was a mage who truly loved to think and create something.
Moreover, since this was a computer system utilizing all of Arinseia, although he expected results beyond belief, they would undoubtedly surpass whatever one could imagine.
Luke’s blueprints for the project were as follows.
He planned to primary retrofit the flower garden using the latest components as the main computing system and construct the power systems and computational assist magic formulas from spare parts separated from discarded magic devices, under the holy-type World Tree described as “Cliffort” that surrounded the castle of Arinseia.
Simply this alone would yield an absurd synergy, but connecting it with the “Hourglass of Time” to manipulate the location’s time would significantly reduce external calculation time by accelerating and reversing physical time.
A high-performance magical synthesis that even when compared to present-day computers, the time it takes to use it would also be relative.
If Luke organized and included his newly proposed theory known as the “Unified Equation” into this incredible system, that frightfully long calculation process would be able to be processed in a blink of an eye.
Although the Hourglass of Time wouldn’t be able to reverse or accelerate time for long durations as it did in the past, even that little was sufficient.
That meant, Luke would now be in a state equivalent to an 8th Circle mage in a particular magical domain.
If circle magic, high-performance artifacts, and the astonishing development of modern magic technology and theories would converge and produce synergy, perhaps this was the result.
Gazing at the computer nearing completion, Luke found it genuinely hard to suppress his laughter.
“Hahahahaha! Haha!”
Luke finally laughed out loud towards the sky.
As he did, the sacred light shining down from the blue sky of Arinseia, fixed in warmth, dazzled his eyes.
As Luke reflexively shielded his face with his hand to block the light, he felt the texture of mud-stained gloves on his face.
Had he taken care to protect his body with magic, there wouldn’t have been any blinding light, but the mana required to operate in the process of designing the entire Arinseia as a large computer was no trivial amount, so he currently had no mana to waste on such things.
Because of that, Luke didn’t even have the luxury to hide the horns that he had always covered with polymorph.
Well, there was no reason to maintain polymorph in Arinseia, where there were essentially no observing eyes.
Nevertheless, fortunately, no dirt had gotten into his eyes, so it didn’t matter.
Luke wiped his face roughly with a towel he had draped around his neck and shouted towards the sky again.
“This is truly the best! What do you think, Renie! What are your thoughts!!”
If Renie were to see this, she might have scolded him about what kind of trouble he was stirring in her homeland, but, fortunately or unfortunately, he didn’t hear her voice as he had in the past.
If she were to awaken now, it wouldn’t be too different from saying that the goddess had awakened.
Luke quietly muttered to himself.
“I clearly said I would see you again…”
However, how their meeting would come to pass was still uncertain.
It was evident that someday this age would meet its end, but just when that day would be was unknown.
And what choices he would make at that time, he hadn’t yet considered at all.
Compared to the days he had ahead, he had merely lived too short a life.
Unlike Renie, who had endured 3000 years in solitude.
Still, if he ever saw Renie again, there was something he absolutely wanted to tell her.
“Thank you, Renie.
For becoming the purpose of my life.
For becoming the one I could willingly dedicate everything to.
And…
‘For staying true to yourself until the very end.’
In the end, she remained a saint until the very end.
Until the moment she died and was forgotten by everyone.
Luke, momentarily lost in memories, brushed his hair back behind his horns and deeply plunged the shovel he was holding into the ground, shouting,
“Now, golems! Attention!”
With Luke’s voice imbued with magic, the golems ceased their actions in unison and turned their heads towards him.
Then Luke wiped the sweat off his brow with the towel around his neck and continued speaking.
“It seems everyone’s magic cores are starting to overheat. It’s time for a break.”
At those words, as if they had been waiting for them, the golems enacted a salute in unison before laying down their tools and marching towards the shade in an orderly fashion.
However, Luke showed no signs of wanting to rest.
The golems needed to take a break due to their magic core overheating, but he himself had no need for rest.
Thus, taking advantage of the golems’ downtime, Luke intended to start some very intricate work that he hadn’t been able to do previously.
Before, the subtle vibrations and noises produced by other golems had been a distraction.
As Luke was preoccupied with that, Liv and Kate attempted to join in the procession as well.
No, they tried to.
“Wait a sec, Liv.”
At Luke’s call, Liv halted her steps and looked up at him.
“…?”
“Didn’t you bring back my sunglasses and necklace earlier?”
To perform the more precise work, he needed the moonlight stone necklace and sunglasses enchanted for vision protection and magic sight assistance, which he had previously given to Liv to avoid hindrance during labor.
“…”
Then Liv, noticeably lacking strength, barely took off her sunglasses and necklace from her own face and handed them to Luke.
As Luke received the sunglasses and necklace and put them on, he thought.
It seemed that she really liked it.
The golem had an observant eye.
