Chapter: 7 Recuperation
It has been a week since the battle on the mines, the remaining Knight Golems helped the sentinels clean up the battlefield, stripped anything that could be used or sold the corpses were buried in a mass grave and then resumed mining until every vehicle is packed with low quality mana stones and a few rough gemstones.
Even After 2 days the adventurer teams were still fast asleep in their respective steel wagons even the shaking of the vehicles along with mana stones beside them did not wake them up, Salazar have been ejected from Gemini Doc even though he is still severely injured he is no longer in danger its just that Sera didn’t want to waste precious medicine if they could just heal naturally, after which Sera Hawke then entered Gemini Doc despite not having personally entered combat the amount of stress and tension almost crushed her and so now she lay inside the body of her sentinel and perform medical checks and administer drugs.
In those two days Marianne secretly spread rumors of the failed expedition of Lavant elites spinning tales of how the Elite Magic Knights were not even capable of capturing one Lady, the existence of Sera Hawke has been an already open secret to the nearby Kingdoms and high nobility even though her background is a complete mystery they are well aware of her abilities and potential, they were of course even more impressed once they have heard of the rumors.
As the rumors reached the Kingdom of Lavant morale has hit rock bottom and King Draken Lavant IV almost ordered a full scale assault on Kaladia just to regain some of his reputation but was luckily stopped and brought back to reason by the court ministers and noble vassals.
In the City Of Kaladia Sera Hawke’s status skyrocketed including in the surrounding territories as soon as the rumor’s started circulating and that includes the adventurer teams Tempest and Inheritors, there are already talks to the guild about queuing up in line to hire them.
It was dark and they are camped or rather parked beside a small river, the apprentice mages woke up first with sore body and gasped at their companions situation suddenly remembering the horrifying event they just went through.
“oh no! Salazar, Salazar can you hear me!?” said one of the mages as she saw their leader covered in bandages from head to toe like a mummy wanting to touch him but was stopped by a voice.
“he is fine as well as the others their lives are no longer in danger as long as they rest they would back on their feet in perhaps a week or two” said Sera as she ate dinner
The mages and the recently awaken squires relaxed a bit before their sore muscles reminded them of their own situation, before long they also decided to join Sera in dinner forgoing etiquette as they just munched down on their food after having not eaten in two days.
After smelling food Tandtra, Verde, Gramel, Dorma and Dormo came out of their steel wagon dragging their sore bodies.
“ugh…I haven’t fought that hard for so long” said Tandtra as she streched her body as she saw Verde just sat down and ate her food clearly not in any cheerful mood after just surviving at the skin of their teeth.
The Dwarves on the other hand are the same as always. Loud and crass they eyed Sera as if wanting to ask something but eventually decided against it and wait until they were inside the city.
Tandtra then said “ we woke up beside sacks full of mana stones you mined those alone?”
“no. I have the remaining 3 Knight Golems mine them including the rest of my… other golems following behind secretly and mined for 2 days before leaving” as Sera pointed at Riot, Torch Light and Ashura full of battle marks.
Followed by a somewhat awkward silence they returned to their steel wagons to rest as the golems stood guard with varying degrees of injuries.
Due to the passengers being injured and with their heavy haul from the mines, the speed travel has become slow almost as slow as a horse drawn carriage, with a few minor monster attacks which was easily brushed by the Knight Golems and Sentinels it still took the convoy 3 days to reach the city.
It was getting dark when they entered the gates of Kaladia and head towards the inner city where Sera Hawke’s tower is located, after arriving at the tower Peter,Lydia, Bellato and several other employees of Sera welcomed her return. It was not a particularly grand welcome but they knew Lady Sera despite being wealthy and powerful is an eccentric of sorts that did not like too much extravagance.
“welcome back home Lady Sera” as the employees said in unison
Sera just waved her hand and nodded to everyone before dispersing them she and the adventuring teams are dead tired and want to just relax after a small meal they washed up before going to sleep Sera went to the masters bedroom she ordered the sentinels to start repairing themselves before dropping like a log in her bed.
While the adventuring teams of Inheritors and Tempest where led to a guest house beside the tower made of stone and fine wood. Salazar was carried to a bigger bed surrounded by worried people.
“looks bad. Last time I saw he was being eaten alive by the wolves” Said Dormo
Darma, Tandtra and Gramel shot a sharp glance at him sending a mental note to ‘‘SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
“what? It did happen…. didn’t it? What the hell” said Dormo as he just shrugged before leaving
The squires are also bandaged up but not as heavily as Salazar, all they could do was wait and hope that Lady Sera’s golem that’s called Gemini Doc would take care of their leader.
one of the apprentice mages said “this golem is quite impressive I have never seen its like even in the other kingdoms”
Gramel took this opportunity to tell off Darma of her suspicions against Lady Sera “see that, even the ancestors don’t have that and you better keep your accusations to you’re self until you have evidence”
Darma was just silent as she observed Gemini Doc as it delicately changed Salazar’s bandages.
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“okay, so Salazar’s life is no longer in danger and everyone is beat, we should now go to bed and let the golem do its job, come on now move along ” Tandtra encouraged the dispersal of the group as they went on their own rooms.
One week has gone the squires are bandaged still but are now able to move with very little problems the Elves and Dwarves are naturally sturdy and the apprentice mages have long recovered and the Inheritors as a team are only waiting for Salazar to be able to move, despite waking up several days ago his body is still weak.
“message my Lady, its from the merchants” said Bellato as he extended his hand with a paper and bowed
Sera took the letter and dismissed Bellato, she is currently changing engines of her vehicles from steam to electric although electricity comes from the magic stones its still better than steam and more familiar to work with.
Medusa’s remains had been brought back full of cracks evidence of heavy battle it went through Sera has it in mind that the modern technology sentinels she have that makes her main force could not forever remain victorious she had started planning to create a set of new Sentinel Golems made of technology and magic.
Then she remembered the letter from the merchants, the steel wagons have become a huge hit even in the nearby Kingdoms and are ordering more, Sera ordered the sentinels to double time on making steel wagons.with little thought she decided to pen a reply to be sent by Bellato to agree in their request. with Sera having just acquired around 80 sets of broken weapons and armours to be melted and to be recycled as these types of method would make her save time and effort in the long run.
“I’ve had enough rest. It is time to make use of the profits I have earned in my little expedition” Sera steeled her self as she immediately went to work. The new design of Knight Golems would now be based on actual Magic Knight capable in both martial art and magical alike.
After her close encounter with an actual Magic Knight her heart almost fell down that these so called Elites were only initial level yet they almost manage to stand toe to toe with Ashura her strongest sentinel. Drawing from experience and inspiration Sera designed a new Model for her Knight Golem continuously for 2 days nonstop that even Lydia had to muster her courage and bang at the doors of Sera.
“Lady Sera I apologize but this can’t be good for your health you just recently returned this certainly cannot go on you are still a lady and a lady must maintain her appearance” said Lydia with worried face
With dark circles under her eyes Sera replied tiredly “that long already huh… I guess I overdid it, don’t worry about it I’ll sleep and I have already eaten I have stashed food here in my room so don’t worry about me too much I know my limits” she said before closing the door luckily Sera had some chocolate bars left as a matter of fact there are several crates of it stashed away in her freezer more than half were now crushed though but still edible.
Thanks to the recent windfall of fortune Sera Hawke now has planned to create 50 of the new upgraded Knight Golems, to maximize its offensive ability its original spell model of regeneration via absorbing the same materials would have to be improved, to make space for more complex spell models, she had planned to add an additional control crystal.
Upgraded Knight Golems - 2.5 meters - 1 ton
Heavy Armour - compared to its former model it is now 100% made out of steel its additional weight made it slower but more sturdy and powerful, it has 2 control crystals one inside the head and another at the core of its torso,on the abdominal region would be 6 pieces of mana stones embedded inside, it has an enchanted long sword its pommel embedded small control crystal and mana stone with spell models of sharpness and speed on the blade, its kite shield also has a small control crystal and mana stone with a more powerful spell model of barrier. All in all although its not quite comparable to a Magic Knight yet, but even veteran soldiers would have a really hard time against the Upgraded Knight Golems.
Medusa - 4 Meters - 10 Tons
Medium Armour - now made completely of solid steel it now has 4 control crystals one for the head one inside the core of the torso and two is inside the breast, now each of the 25 snake hairs are installed with mana stones there are also additional spell models and improvement, the Haste and Slow spell models have been improved while adding wind spell to not only move faster but also jump significantly higher there is also wind blades to cope with ranged opponents.
Before going to sleep Sera made final checks on her design. With satisfaction she thought to herself “even a little more expensive than necessary at least these new models would really pack quite a punch” she already plans to spend 80% of her fortune to make the new versions of Medusa and 50 Upgraded models of the Knight Golem to ensure her safety with the war coming closer by the day.
The next day the Dwarves of team Tempest approached Sera Hawke to ask her about that uncannily similar to Dwarven weapons that she has.
“umm.. lady Sera I truly meant no offense but on behalf of the dwarven race I must ask where have you learned to make the weapon on top of your vehicle” said Gramel uncomfortably
It was afternoon and they were in the garden just beside Narud’s mausoleum having iced tea and snacks.
“why… what does it have to do with the dwarves?” she said as she sipped some iced tea
Being forced as the spokesperson was really uncomfortable for him but better him rather than Darma or Dormo whose etiquette doesn’t even exist.
“well… you see they resemble some dwarven weaponry…. forbidden weaponry, should it be proven to have come from the Dwarves I’m afraid that other Kingdoms might scramble for it not to mention a task force being sent by the Dwarven race itself” he said nervously yet as calmly and as politely as possible
Although looking slightly annoyed Sera replied calmly “no Gramel my creations do not come from any Dwarven knowledge on any manner shape or form on any level whatsoever”
“I already suspected that BUT… I’m also afraid that not everyone might accept such answer, firstly your enemies would push this idea even further and the jealous Dwarves who guarded our race secrets might not be too happy with their similarities”
“well… I am not provoking anyone and I do not intend to contend either, but if they come for me they will only find death…and there’s more to come 45 more” she said as she pointed towards the 5 already newly finished Knight Golems gleaming with power and energy almost mimicking Magic Knights
“umm… I’m just saying if you truly not have taken Dwarven knowledge then maybe not make them look similar?”
Sighing “I don’t even know what Dwarven weaponry looks like… look if you know some Dwarves planning to attack just tell them to write their last will and testament first”
Unnerved. Gramel just nodded and left thinking weather if Sera Hawke is telling the truth if she was then fighting her would be a catastrophic loss not to mention the new models of golems that mimic Magic Knights, Gramel is already having a headache on how fast she builds them even wizards take time building them yet she finished it in what? Days. And yet he is also convinced that Sera has not taken any Dwarven knowledge, her creations may look similar but not too similar that it could cause too much problem. however Gramel has lived long enough to know that this small little detail could potential cause bloodshed no it most certainly will “BUT it sure as hell not be starting with me!” he said to himself.
In the following days more carpenters and stone masons were hired again by Sera Hawke as she bought the neighbouring houses, demolished them and dug 10 meters underground for her laboratory rather than take months Sera went out her way to hire ALL available workers even the apprentices just so that the underground laboratory would be completed in just a week there were hundreds that answered her call the heavy lifting of boulders were handled by her Golems and Sentinels.
The construction costs a small fortune indeed but with orders being placed at the steel wagon money is not really far away from her, as the underground laboratory started to take its shape she also added industrial machinery like hydraulic press and hammer, plasma cutter a weaker version of what Torch Light uses as she made this additions and of course the workers were not aware of these strange contraptions.
In a few days Salazar is awake and can finally move but still bedridden Sera insisted that they can stay as long as they required to or at least until Salazar fully healed.
“Lady Sera I apologize but I believe we have already overstayed we must depart soon” said Salazar
“not in your condition, are you crazy?! you are in no way fit to travel” said one of the squires
But Salazar insisted “no we must go as soon as possible, Lavant is coming closer by the day and we have staed for too long in Kaladia not to mention we are injured and far from being capable to do missions, we should return to our families for now and see what the future holds for us as a team”
It was followed by silence from the entire team.
“well if you are adamant in leaving then I guess this is a farewell gift then” Sera said as Lydia pushed a steel plated wooden wheelchair, the wheelchair has been engraved and sculpted extravagantly by Peter making it truly a work of art.
Salazar being surprised asked “what might this be Lady Sera?” as he pointed at the wheelchair
“its a wheelchair, for injured patients that can’t yet walk. See these you can grab these and roll it like this and you can move yourself forward without using you’re legs but considering the severity of your injury I would suggest against it and instead have someone push you from behind as such” Sera said as she showed an example of how a wheelchair works
Before Salazar could even say anything the other members of the inheritors also inspected it and even played around with it.
Sighing Salazar offered his most sincere thanks to Sera Hawke as he and the inheritors left from her tower.
Team Tempest on the other hand only left a note to Lydia saying that they could no longer stay in the city as the drums of war draws ever closer and hope for Sera’s understanding as the adventurers guild strictly forbids participating any form of warfare against the Kingdoms or Factions within the Continental Isle or risk being forever kicked from the guild and being kicked from the guild usually does not bode well for anyone for any matter.
After reading through the letter she remembered her conversation with the Dwarf Gramel about the Gating Rail Gun after that conversation the prospect of getting any gunpowder was literally gone in smoke and now aside from the invading Lavant she now has to worry about the Dwarves clamoring about her weapons being similar.
“similar he said.. I wonder if the Gatling type of weaponry already exist in the Dwarven arsenal?. No most definitely it already exists otherwise why would it LOOK similar, it would seem like I would have to remodel the Railgun and make several turrets just to maintain already abysmal the firing speed.
“Seriously can’t these people just leave me alone for once” Without further wait she moved forward and started making another series of contingency plans for the potential problems she might encounter. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.