"No, it was fine. Actually, I have a list of plants here that I need seeds of. If you can get them. I also need some high grade soil and a couple of seedlings of high value trees. I am planning to plant them in my castle."

Zachariah says "I don't know what we have in stock, but I will get someone to check immediately."

"Thank you. Also, if you can find me care instructions for what you have it will save me some time."

Zachariah says "Sure. I have a couple of people who are botany experts. I can have them prepare the information for you."

"Thank you. That will save me some time. As usual you can take it out of my share."

Zachariah says " Sure, but it won't even make a dent in your profits."

"Things are going that well?"

Zachariah says "Would you like to buy half the city?"

"Really? Even with all the materials and everything?"

Zachariah says "The sales of the high grade weapons and bows has gone better than even I imagined."

"So, I take it you are getting promoted?"

Zachariah says "Oh, absolutely!"

"That's great!"

Zachariah says "It's all thanks to you. Everything that has gone right lately is all because of you. Also most of the things that have gone wrong, but that only affected the city, not my business."

"Thanks, I guess?"

Zachariah says "I will have everything I can find sent over to the castle. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so."

"Alright, that works."

After leaving Zachariah's place I head to the market to take a look around. Zachariah will find the special plants I need, but I also want some normal stuff. In fact, I am thinking that having flower beds on either side of the castle entrance might be nice.

As I am shopping I also realize that I will need to buy gardening tools for the golems to use. Sure, I could make them, but that seems like a waste of effort, they don't need to be high quality. I managed to find everything I need and want and still make it back to the castle before the delivery.

Since seeds can't be put into storage, it is actually two wagons that show up. It seems that they even kept the soil out of storage, but I don't know if that was necessary. Zachariah said he had experts in botany, so I will just trust that they know what they are doing.

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To spare the workers the effort, I move everything out of the wagons using my mana. Once the wagons are empty, one of the guys hands me a small, handwritten book. It contains the details and care instructions for every plant they found for me.

They also labeled each packet of seeds, which helps since they all look the same to me. After the wagons leave, I head back inside and start reading the small book. It doesn't take me long to read the whole thing and then I go back to working on the golem core.

However, I haven't gotten far when I change my mind and make a second core. Then I work on the programming for both at the same time, I want them to work together. Two golems just for gardening might be overkill, but I want the practice.

Doing the programming actually ends up being easier than I was expecting. It turns out that the programming is based on knowledge of the magical language. As such, it seems that I was worried for nothing, I have a huge advantage.

My advanced knowledge of the magical language makes programming the golems easy. In fact, I am able to do much more complex programming than I was hoping. The hardest part is converting the gardening knowledge into the magical language.

In the end, I have to create new words in the magical language to make it work. I am guessing that no one has ever tried to use magic to make gardening automatic before. Or if they did, they didn't bother to share their knowledge with other mages.

Once the programming is done the cores are ready, so I start working on the bodies. The only hard part of making the bodies is that every piece has to be shaped perfectly. It requires me to focus very intently for the entire time I am shaping the metals.

It takes me a long time to make all of the various parts for the two golems. Before I can start assembling them, Lin comes down the stairs into my workshop. It seems that a lot more time has passed than I had thought, it must be time for dinner.

Lin says "I figured I would find you down here. Do you even know what time it is?"

"Nope, not a clue. I am guessing it is dinnertime?"

Lin says "That was a couple of hours ago."

"Oh. Did you already eat?"

Lin says "No. I lost track of time as well. I am starving!"

With a laugh I put down the part I just finished making and head upstairs with Lin. Using the pouch I lay out dozens of dishes, enough to feed a small army. We both dig in straight away, I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled the food.

Lin says "I saw the huge pile of stuff outside. I take it that the plan for the garden is going well?"

"Yeah. The golems should be done tomorrow and I will have them set up the gardens and plant the seeds."

Lin says "That's good. Assuming that the golems work out, what's next?"

"Until the empire tells me that they are ready, I plan to keep playing around with golems. Next I want to see if I can make a golem that Athena can use as a physical body. That way she could help do more than just control the ship. I also think that she would enjoy having a body."

Lin says "Wait, doesn't Athena already have a body?"

"No, what you see on the ship is just a projection. If she wants to interact with an object she has to use magic. Technically, the ship itself is her body, this would just be a puppet that she could use."

Lin says "Oh, I didn't realize. Did you ask Athena if she wanted a body?"

"No. I didn't want to get her hopes up before I knew if I could do it. It isn't like I will make her use it if she doesn't want to. However, I am pretty confident that she will like it. In fact, if it works I plan to make one for Jarvis when I make him and another for Yui when we return to the peninsula."

Lin says "Why are you worried about it working? It doesn't sound like it would be that complicated?"

"Because for it to work the way I am planning, the golem's core will need to be tied directly to the ship's core. Not only will that make the golem part of the ship, but it will allow Athena to control it like it is her actual body. It is just that I have never tried to link two cores together, so I can't be sure it if will work."