Emperor of Steel

Chapter 34: Mine Development 3

The main headquarters of the knights of the Rakan was west of the permanent residence.

Several buildings were centered around a large area ground, the largest of the buildings was the main building for the purpose of storage and maintenance of the Gigants.

“Mr. Butler, you here?”

As Hans was approaching a Gigant, the knight guarding the entrance asked him.

Hans was once the rider of Gigants representing the Rakan estate, and later was much cared for by the knights and the armed forces, he was respected by the knights.

“There is a lot to do. Yeah, what about the repair on the Gigant?”

“It is going very well thanks to the funds that the young Lord had given Mute the other day.”

Mute had taken out some of the money that Luke had given to him for the Magic Tower and bought parts and materials needed for the repair of the Gigant from Hades.

The magic tower was surely important, but for the sake of the land, he thought that it was more important to restore the Gigant and power.

That improved the performance of the three used Gigants, which were in a very poor condition.

And the five scrap Gigants, which were rusting and stuck in the warehouse, were then taken out and restored.

All thanks to that, the morale of the knights had risen considerably recently.

Previously, there were just three Gigants that could be used, which made it impossible for the young knights to become Gigant riders.

Once the restored Gigants could be deployed, they would recruit new riders, which was why everyone was getting very passionate with their training.

Hans, who was feeling reluctant for Luke, who wanted to invest in magic, realized that his thoughts were very narrow after seeing the knights.

“But, are you here to find the young Lord?”

“What?! Did the young Lord came here?”

“You didn’t know? Earlier in the morning, he was here learning magic engineering from Mute, and he wanted to learn about the Gigants too.”

Hans, who was shocked by what he heard, hurriedly moved inside.

His heart was pounding thinking about the young Lord controlling a Gigant again.

Luckily, however, Luke was only talking to Mute about the Gigants.

“Sir Mute. How does this magic circle work?”

“Oh, there are a total of three spells in there, the anti-gravity circle that helps with jumping and running, the balance circle that holds the center of gravity, and the secondary circle which helps the two circles…”

Mute was explaining everything he knew in detail.

Some of the things which he said were much more advanced than the knowledge that Luke knew in the past, and there was a magic circle theory which he was just hearing for the first time.

‘As expected, the magic of this age has evolved into a variety of complex magic which cannot be compared to the past.’

Upon listening to Mute, Luke thought to himself.

He did know that a lot of things might have changed and improved, but as he kept on listening, he realized that he had a whole lot of things to learn.

For example, in the old days, the hands of the golems could only just pick things and move them.

Their forms weren’t like that of a human.

But the hands of the Gigants had the same shape as a human hand. Starting with swords, they were able to do much more delicate things.

So the riders, who were good at maneuvering, could properly pick up a glass of wine with a Gigant’s hand.

And with the basic study of the golem magic, Luke was able to learn magic engineering without much difficulty.

“The core is more complicated than I thought.”

“Of course, at least 20 up to 50 magic circles are applied and combined for safety, and there are also assistive devices to prevent the mana from running off.”

“Then do the Iron Mages have to memorize all those stuff?”

“No, one should have at least 7 circles in magic and the knowledge to design and build a Gigant by themselves. Before that, everyone is made to work on separate Gigant fields.”

“Then what about the estates like ours, where there is only one Iron Mage? And what if we don’t have a wizard that has 7 circles?”

“Then the whole defective part has to be changed. It sure is very expensive but also has the advantage of reducing the maintenance time.”

This was why the Magic Towers didn’t just make Gigants, they were also producing and selling high-consumed parts and were making significant profits.

“If the parts can’t be made or repaired, then wouldn’t it be dependent on the Magic Tower?”

“Of course there are such problems. But we can’t just ignore the power of the nobility, and I know that similar parts are being manufactured in the other magic towers, so I’m not completely dependent on one magic tower.”

If the system was made dependable, it would have been the wizards and not the nobles who would be ruling the current world.

Nevertheless, high-performance parts and core engine magic circles would never be revealed by the Magic Towers.

‘The wizards like to hide stuff all the time. It is the same as back then.’

Luke wanted to have a lot of power for his revenge.

Like with his Golem Legion in the past, he now wanted to have a powerful Gigant Legion.

To do that, rather than just buying his own Gigant, he wanted to find a cheaper way to make them. It was good to think about the future while he was at it.

They would probably be inferior to the warrior-class Gigants, which were being produced in the Magic Towers.

‘If Mute is in 5 Circle, do we have to join the Magic Tower to learn more? Or should I maybe try and kidnap a senior wizard?’

With his current skills, Luke could surely abduct a 7 circle wizard. Iron Mages were known to be immature in battles.

Luke had a concerned look, so Hans approached him and said,

“What do want to do, young Lord? To study magic engineering… uhg!”

As he was speaking, his eyes went wide.

Hans wasn’t able to see it because of the distance and his presbyopia, but when he looked closely, Luke and Mute stripped the Gigant and pulled out all of its parts from the inside.

“Young, young Lord, what are you doing now?”

Luke looked back and then replied like it wasn’t a big deal.

“I was just wondering what the Gigants look like.”

“So you made it look like this?”

Occasionally, some rider wondered about the structure and the performance of what they were riding.

But Luke’s level of comprehensibility wasn’t that great.

Disassembly and assembly of a Gigant without any significant magical knowledge were just like breaking them down.

“Even if you want it, this is…”

“Hoot, whether a person or a machine, one needs to look inside and see it properly.”

‘Ah, so…’

Hans, who was kind of feeling cranky because of what they were doing, soon admired them.

He thought that the young Lord was dismantling the Gigant like any spoiled child.

‘You sure are very different now.’

Was it because he had seen death very closely.

Back then he was just a little lord of a simple estate, but now, he somehow felt like a wise man looking far into the world.

“It could be. How is it? You see anything more in detail now that you are seeing what’s inside?”

“Well, it isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”

“Yes. Don’t exert yourself too much. Just because magic encourages vast profound learning and skills, it doesn’t mean that you have to be an expert in every field.”

Knowing the intention of the young Lord, Hans still wanted Luke to be hailed as the descendant of the knights, which was why he said that.

But without knowing that, Mute broke that flow.

“Even then, the young Lord is very quick in acquiring magic theories and knowledge. He is surely much worthy than those guys over there.”

As Mute was praising Luke, he looked back there will cold eyes.

There were three Iron mages, Todd, Gordon, and Humphry, who was dragged by Luke into carving magic circles on their gloves.

After a period of unintentional physical assaults, they started working so hard that it was safe to say that they were worthy enough.

“But I was wondering, when did the young Lord start to learn magic?”

Luke became jumpy after hearing Mute’s question and quickly made a rough excuse.

“I just learned it… by myself…”

“Self-learning? You used to tell me that you hated magic when I tried to teach you before, right?”

“Hahaha, you know… I almost died, and then suddenly, I just wanted to study Gigants and try to learn magic.”

At Luke’s rough excuses, Mute seemed like he was convinced with his answer. After the incident that happened a few days ago, he became a fierce follower of the young Lord.

“Teach me a lot in the future.”

“I will tell you everything that I know.”

“Haha, thank you.”

Hans frowned seeing the two talk.

He felt like the young Lord wanted to be a wizard than a knight.

As the guardian of the young Lord and Rakan’s representative, he wanted the young Lord to be an excellent knight.

‘I’m still glad that he isn’t scared of Gigants.’

There were knights who often avoided getting close to a Gigant after encountering a major accident.

Luke didn’t seem to be in that phase at all.

It was because he was still going near the Gigants and observing them even after his accident.

“Be careful to not damage that plated magic circle…. Uhhh! Do not touch the magic stone! Any minor flow and it will completely change the mana wave!”

“Don’t worry. I know that much.”

Rather than being scared, Luke was trying to grasp everything about the Gigants.

‘I hope you don’t overdo it though.’

It was a pleasure to see the young Lord try to be more ambitious than his ancestors.

But Hans, fearing that his aspirations would cause another accident to him, walked away, hoping that the young Lord would be cautious.