Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 638

“Your Grace, maintenance on the Titan is complete,” Adelia announced.

“Excellent work,” Grand Duke Saint-Ouen replied, looking up from the book he was engrossed in within the research tent.

“Your Grace, any further maintenance or upgrades to the Titan might be challenging. We anticipate reaching the next battle site sooner than expected.”

“Understood. There’s no need for additional equipment; just keep the current systems in good condition.”

“So, can we consider the Titan complete as it stands?”

“Yes, we can.”

According to the plan, the Titan was slated for deployment in just two more battles.

“After those two battles, it would be best if the Titan is never used again.”

“I see,” Adelia replied, nodding at the grand duke’s words.

The massive war machine was better left idle unless absolutely necessary. Once the Gate Incident was resolved, the Titan should only be deployed to handle any remaining monsters, and nothing more.

The Titan was already powerful enough; there was no need for further upgrades. Spending time on unnecessary enhancements could mean it wouldn’t be ready when truly needed.

Adelia and Grand Duke Saint-Ouen agreed to keep the Titan as it was, freeing themselves from the constant pressure of upgrading it. At last, they felt a sense of relief. Their heavy workload was lightened considerably.

Adelia quietly observed Grand Duke Saint-Ouen as he sat in his chair.

With no more need to research upgrades for Titan, Grand Duke Saint-Ouen had turned his attention to a book instead of his usual research papers.

They rarely talked about anything other than work, so seeing Grand Duke Saint-Ouen engrossed in a book unrelated to the Titan sparked Adelia’s curiosity.

“If I may ask... What book are you reading...?” she inquired.

From the intricate content and diagrams, it was clear the book was a tome of some significance.

“It’s my family’s secret tome,” he replied.

“O-oh, I apologize. That wasn’t my intention,” Adelia stammered, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment at the thought of having inadvertently peeked at the secret tome of the Saint-Ouen family. She was well aware of its importance and confidentiality.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen gave a faint smile at Adelia’s flustered reaction.

“I misspoke. I apologize. What I meant to say was that there wouldn’t be anything new for you in it. This particular tome concerns something you’re already familiar with.”

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen closed the book and revealed the title to her.

[Automatic Mana Device - Vol. 27]

“...?”

This particular tome, a family secret, was thick but not overly ornate. It was well-maintained, and its title was straightforward.

Adelia recognized the words immediately.

“A book about golems...?”

“Well, technically, it’s about all devices powered by mana. Golems are just one example.”

Devices powered by mana included magic trains, warp gates, and, of course, golems. Adelia’s expertise was in magic crafting, which placed particular focus on this field.

It was a vast field of study, and the existence of at least twenty-seven hefty volumes on the subject spoke to its complexity.

Having created the Titan, Adelia had already mastered nearly all the existing knowledge about golems. Much of it had been passed down through the Saint-Ouen family, so even if she hadn’t read every word herself, it was as if she had absorbed it all.

That was why Grand Duke Saint-Ouen had remarked that she wouldn’t find the information in the book to be anything new.

Adelia found herself impressed by something entirely different.

The Saint-Ouen family steered clear of dark or forbidden magic, but that only fueled their curiosity in every other magical field.

The sheer volume of secrets they had amassed over the years was staggering.

Just their collection on mana devices alone spanned over twenty-seven thick volumes. How many more secrets lay hidden within their archives?

Adelia felt the weight of that accumulated knowledge pressing down on her. Without such a vast repository of wisdom, the Titan could never have been created.

However, something puzzled her.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen had insisted there was no need to upgrade the Titan any further, yet here he was, poring over the family’s secret tome on golems.

He should have remembered most of it by now.

Sensing Adelia’s curiosity, Grand Duke Saint-Ouen shook his head.

“It has nothing to do with the Titan. The information in this book has nothing to do with that.”

“Oh... I see.”

“It’s specifically about past research on remote control neural networks used in mana devices.”

“Like... the system in the Master Orb?”

“Exactly, that’s one of them.”

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and Adelia each used a Master Orb to activate and control the Titan.

Without both of them, the Titan was inoperable.

Remote-controlled neural networks... Adelia couldn’t fathom why the grand duke was suddenly focused on that, and naturally, the grand duke himself couldn’t reveal the true reason for his interest.

He couldn’t admit that it was due to the Demon King’s request to find a way to neutralize the Immortals.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was unfamiliar with the magic behind the Immortals, and thus, he had no idea how to counteract it. All he could do was speculate.

He was in the midst of unraveling that mystery.

“Have you ever been to Arnaka?”

Arnaka, the capital of the Saint-Ouen Duchy... It was Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s hometown and Harriet’s hometown.

Adelia shook her head at the question.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been there before...”

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen chuckled at her response.

“There’s no need to apologize. It’s perfectly understandable. Once the war is over, I’ll take you there for a visit. My family would be thrilled to meet you.”

Adelia couldn’t help but notice that the grand duke had been acting a bit strange lately.

He had always been a solemn and dignified man, yet he carried a kindness and gentleness that softened his demeanor.

Lately, though, he seemed to smile more frequently. Was it because the war was finally nearing its end?

Once, he had been a figure of unwavering solemnity and dignity. Now, he appeared as someone who had found resolution.

To her, Grand Duke Saint-Ouen seemed more radiant than ever.

However, she could not pinpoint exactly why.

“Anyway, in Arnaria, we don’t employ guards. And we have very few retainers.”

“Ah... I’ve heard you’ve replaced the guards with automated golems.”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t exactly a secret, so Adelia knew as much, having spent considerable time not only with Grand Duke Saint-Ouen himself, but with his other mages.

In the capital of Arnaka, at the White Palace Arnaria, automated golems had taken over the roles of the guards. It made sense; those with power often prioritized safeguarding their own.

Arnaria was a place where human unpredictability had been entirely cut out. It was incredibly secure, but also undeniably lonely. Adelia remembered hearing stories about this from Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s sons, Harriet’s brothers.

“This book contains the secrets of automating those golems and establishing a kind of neural network for remote control,” explained the grand duke.

“Ah, I see.”

At the moment, the largest golem in the Allied Forces was the Titan. However, the golem forces were not limited to just the Titan. There were also iron golems, crafted from metal, that could teleport across the battlefield with short-range teleportation magic called Blink, and fought with relentless intensity.

These golem forces had been active even before the Titan’s deployment, and continued to be even afterward. They were not part of the main force, but provided crucial support.

Sometimes, these automated golems operated according to the designs of mages, while at other times, they were directly controlled, maneuvering strategically across the battlefield.

In essence, the book that Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was engrossed in was one that detailed the creation of a golem army.

It explained how to automate golems, how to control them, and how to link the entire army through a magical neural network to be commanded remotely. This wasn’t just theory; it was technology that was already in use, applied and proven in practice.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen wasn’t unfamiliar with the book; he had read it before, since this portion of the family’s secrets had already been applied. In a sense, he was merely reviewing its contents.

Adelia was eager to assist him if she could.

“Did you find any areas in the system that need improvement?” she asked, her voice filled with genuine curiosity.

Magic crafting was Adelia’s forte, and now that the work related to the Titan was complete, she was ready to lend her skills to Grand Duke Saint-Ouen. She was determined to help, whether it involved enhancing the existing army or tackling other challenges.

“No, not really,” Grand Duke Saint-Ouen replied. Yet, his gaze lingered on Adelia, suggesting that there was more to the story than he let on.

To Adelia, it seemed as though he was deep in thought. Was he revisiting familiar knowledge simply because he had nothing better to do?

“I just wanted to explore certain possibilities,” he said.

“Possibilities...?” she echoed, curious.

“Perhaps Arnaria’s lack of human guards is actually a vulnerability,” he suggested.

“A vulnerability...?” Adelia repeated, puzzled.

Arnaria had replaced all its guards with golems to eliminate the unpredictability of humans. How could that be considered a weakness?

“Adelia, imagine if you could interfere with the neural network that controls Arnaria’s golems,” he proposed.

“Sorry...?” she responded, intrigued.

“If you could do that, then you could control Arnaria’s golems from the outside, effectively opening or closing all of Arnaria’s gates at will, couldn’t you?” he explained.

The idea of seizing control of the golems lingered in the air.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was discussing an intriguing concept.

“If that were possible, wouldn’t Arnaria, having replaced all its guards with golems, be vulnerable to a single mage capable of such interference?”

“I hadn’t considered it from that angle. But if it were true... it would indeed be dangerous.”

Arnaria’s golems were interconnected. If someone managed to hijack that network, they could seize control of all the golems.

“That’s what I’ve been contemplating. Whether it’s feasible or not, it’s something no one has dared to attempt yet... that’s what’s been on my mind.”

Arnaria was merely being used as an example. Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was discussing something entirely unrelated, but Adelia, lost in her thoughts, was considering a different matter.

She wondered about the network of golems that already existed. Could someone hijack it to take control of the golems? Was that even possible?

“I’m... not sure,” she mused. “But the fact that no one has been successful at it does not mean it hasn’t been attempted before.”

“In the past, people used to neutralize golems by using things like dispel magic, but that’s old news now,” Grand Duke Saint-Ouen reflected. “There’s no point in creating golems that can’t withstand a dispel spell.”

If a golem could be easily neutralized by a simple dispel spell, it would be pointless.

Imagine a massive war machine like the Titan being taken down by a single spell—it would be laughable.

Golems were designed with defenses against spells meant to neutralize them. Resistance to magical interference was a fundamental aspect of golem technology.

But what Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was considering was different. He was thinking about interfering with the control neural network, not just neutralizing it. It was a completely new direction.

The grand duke was contemplating a type of magic that had never existed before. Adelia couldn’t fathom why he was suddenly interested in meddling with golem neural networks at this moment.

If such magic were to exist, it would be incredibly dangerous. Not only would it be Arnaria’s problem, but all the golems operated by Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and even the mighty Titan itself could potentially be hijacked by someone.

It was an issue that had never been considered, let alone researched. It was possible that such a thing might be surprisingly easy to accomplish.

Adelia believed Grand Duke Saint-Ouen was contemplating this to bolster Arnaria’s defenses, but regardless of whether it was necessary or not, the Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s concern remained steadfast, and if she could do anything to assist him, she would.

“Then, let me think about it too—”

—Your Grace.

Just as Adelia started speaking, a voice called out to Grand Duke Saint-Ouen from outside the research tent.

“What is it?” he asked.

One of the mages entered the tent, pointing outside with a serious expression.

“There’s something you need to see,” the mage said, his voice tinged with curiosity rather than urgency.

***

The mage led Grand Duke Saint-Ouen to the designated location. His sons were already there.

“Ah, Father,” one of them greeted him. “You’re here.”

“What’s going on?” Grand Duke Saint-Ouen asked, noting the puzzled expressions on their faces. He looked around.

“Oh, it’s a golem,” he remarked.

“Yes,” someone else confirmed.

Before them lay a fallen golem, its presence more perplexing than alarming.

It was a medium-sized iron golem. Its only enchantment was the ability to use Blink, a short-range teleportation spell. Even so, it had a massive frame, and could tear through enemies with explosive physical power.

Recently, monsters that could breathe superheated flames capable of melting iron had begun to appear, but Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s legion of golems always held their ground against them.

Much like the Immortals, these golems could be retrieved and repaired as long as their core systems remained intact.

As a result, Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s golem army rarely saw a decrease in numbers.

“As you can see, the exterior is intact, but it won’t restart at all,” someone explained. “We retrieved it from the previous battlefield. The recall magic failed to bring it back, and we haven’t been able to restore it.”

“I see,” replied the grand duke.

Indeed, there was almost no external damage. It was as if the golem hadn’t even put up a fight.

His mage corps had retrieved the untouched golem from the battlefield and brought it back to camp. Despite their best efforts to reactivate it, nothing worked. In the end, they summoned the grand duke himself for assistance.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen listened to his eldest son’s account before examining the golem himself. After a series of thorough checks and inspections, he furrowed his brow, clearly puzzled by what he found.

“The internal mana circuits are all destroyed. No... not destroyed. The components are all intact,” he mused aloud.

It became clear why the other mages had sought his expertise.

“The embedded magic has, for lack of a better word, ‘evaporated.’ Is that even possible?”

The magical systems within the golem hadn’t been destroyed; the magic in them had simply vanished, as if something had erased it entirely.

If it had been completely obliterated, that would have made sense. But there was no external damage, and the internal components, including the mana stones, remained untouched.

And yet, the magic within had been meticulously wiped away.

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen stood before the golem, baffled by its inexplicable state.

“It seems like it’s been hit by a powerful dispel spell...” he mused aloud, despite having confidently claimed that his golems were immune to such neutralization spells.

Monsters didn’t use dispel magic. At least, they weren’t supposed to. And even if they did, his golems were designed to resist such neutralization spells.

Could monsters wield magic now? Dispel magic strong enough to deactivate the grand duke’s golems?

Then what about the Titan?

Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and his mage corps grew increasingly concerned as they stared at the inert golem.

What if this mysterious force had targeted Titan instead? It would have been reduced to nothing more than a colossal hunk of metal. If that had happened, they would have been left with a Titan that was stripped of all its magic. A truly despairing thought.

“Um... May I take a look?” Adelia asked cautiously, breaking Grand Duke Saint-Ouen out of his daze.

The other mages and Grand Duke Saint-Ouen stepped aside, allowing Adelia to examine the golem. She began her inspection. Her findings mirrored Grand Duke Saint-Ouen’s earlier assessment.

As Grand Duke Saint-Ouen had noted, the damage was unsettlingly precise. The core components and mana stones remained untouched. However, the mana circuits essential for the golem’s operation were completely destroyed.

No—not destroyed. If they had been destroyed, there would be debris littered around the damaged circuits.

It was as if someone had somehow meticulously removed only the mana circuits.

Could such a precise and thorough dispel spell, capable of neutralizing a golem with countermeasures against precisely such magic, truly be possible?

For Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and his mages, the situation was baffling.

Among the golems that had been retrieved, the one that appeared most intact was, paradoxically, the one that was most severely compromised.

The idea that monsters might wield powerful dispel spells filled everyone with dread.

“Ah... I think... I know what happened...” Adelia said.

Adelia alone had an inkling about what had created this strange situation.

***

After calming Grand Duke Saint-Ouen and assuring him that if her hunch was right, it wasn’t something to be overly concerned about, Adelia set off.

She made her way to the part of the camp where the Temple’s forces were garrisoned; specifically, the Royal Class camp.

In this peculiar scenario, Adelia had a strong suspicion about who was behind it all.

“Golem...? Me?”

“Yes. Do you remember anything?”

It was Scarlett, the girl with the fiery red hair.