When Sian and Joan had finished their steamy adventure on the couch, Sian used magic to clean them both up. He then escorted Joan to her room, but even though she was already clean, she still decided to change her clothes.
Although her servants were waiting for her on the first floor, she did not need to go downstairs, since her belongings were in the inventory of her system. While waiting, Sian stood in front of Joan's room until she came out.
"Do I look good?" she asked.
"You look good enough to pass for a low-class noble," replied Sian, "but quite simple for a queen."
Although Joan dressed modestly without any flashy ornaments, her bare legs would be enough to attract attention. Her white short dress was not flashy and had a modest cut. As if she wanted to hide her identity as a queen, she wasn’t wearing her crown.
[https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/d46e8d91-7794-4cae-9c45-5f0b38bb2fb8/dfxt8jq-6d69da53-7ec9-4dc6-8589-5b6d4c1ccdce.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2Q0NmU4ZDkxLTc3OTQtNGNhZS05YzQ1LTVmMGIzOGJiMmZiOFwvZGZ4dDhqcS02ZDY5ZGE1My03ZWM5LTRkYzYtODU4OS01YjZkNGMxY2NkY2UucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.kfhV6panqOR4OGsrnerV45zIKjU__5w0TzWGYj4VE7o]
"I want to explore the luxury areas of the hotel. From what I've heard, it sounds interesting," Joan said.
Since Sian no longer felt the presence of Maria, Tod and Bazo in the hotel, it meant they were no longer in the tavern. Therefore, he did not object to being her guide.
"Okay," he replied.
Joan then playfully linked her arm with Sian's and joked, "We look like a couple."
Ignoring her words, he said, "Let's start with the training center."
Joan, dissatisfied, said, "I thought this would be a more romantic outing."
"I have some golems that you would like to see," explained Sian. "Their power can be adjusted for training."
Despite Sian's confidence, Joan seemed skeptical of his words.
"As far as I know, golems are very easy to defeat and have very predictable movements," she said.
Sian, confident in his work, replied, "When you see them, you'll understand."
Although it didn't seem like an interesting place for most women, this was not the case for Joan. Sian knew her well enough to know that she would enjoy the training center, especially the golems he created for individual training rooms.
With Joan by his side, Sian led the tour, taking her to the training center. At the entrance, there was a large room that looked more like a store with various weapons for sale. As it was the first day of opening, there weren't many people in the place, just a few curious people looking at the weapons.
Not long after Sian and Joan entered the training center, they were greeted by a young blonde woman with short hair and green eyes named Lisa.
She politely bowed and said, "Welcome to the training center, Lord Sian."
Lisa was one of the women who belonged to the Silver Moon ex-mercenary group.
Although he had some golems with him, Sian still spoke in a loud and clear tone to Lisa, "Prepare a training golem in the arena."
"Yes, my lord," Lisa replied, "please follow me to the arena."
Hearing their words, the people around them began to whisper.
"Did you hear that? These two are going to fight a golem."
"I heard from one of the attendants about these training golems, but there's no way they can be useful."
As they had to pay to use the golems, it seemed that no one had tested them yet.
"This is just a waste of money," commented one of the spectators.
Lisa noticed what was happening and turned to the curious onlookers and said, "The arena is an open space, and you can come and watch if you doubt the golems' ability."
One of the men replied, "If it's free, then I'll go."
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Following that man's words, several others seemed to share the same thought. Upon hearing this, Sian smiled.
According to Illianna, people needed to see to believe when it came to Sian's golems. Only then, people will start asking to train with them, and the training center would make money. That's why Sian insisted on requesting the golem in the arena instead of the private rooms. The goal was to show the power of the golems to the spectators.
Guided by Lisa, they quickly arrived at the arena, which had a huge space capable of accommodating hundreds of people.
Joan looked around and said, "It looks like a coliseum, there are even seats for the audience."
"This place can also be used for future competitions,” Sian replied. “Or at least that's the intention."
"Please wait here," Lisa said, continuing to the center of the arena. There, she took out a silver disc and threw it on the clay floor. In a matter of seconds, a clay golem formed.
Unlike the ones Sian used in the construction of the hotel, this one was much smaller, about 1.70 meters tall, and had a bulky stature with a humanoid appearance, but without human features.
"This golem doesn't seem very sturdy," said one of the spectators.
He wasn't the only one with such thoughts, the others also began to whisper and question the effectiveness of the apparently weak golem made of clay.
"The golem is in a state of inactivity and will only attack when attacked," Lisa explained. "If the attacker remains motionless during the fight or shouts 'I give up,' the golem becomes inactive again."
"You can feel free to test it," Sian encouraged Joan.
"Are you sure?" Joan laughed, teasing Sian. "Don't complain if I turn it back into clay again."
"Well, you can try," Sian teased back.
"Very well," Joan accepted the challenge. Drawing her two silver pistols, she approached the golem, stopping a few meters away from it.
Since the day Sian had invaded her castle to steal from her until the present moment, Joan had already created many weapons for herself and trained her body. Although she wasn’t a first-class fighter, Sian had seen Joan training with Milka and knew that despite being weak, she could defend herself using her creations.
"Begin!" Sian shouted.
As Sian finished speaking, Joan gathered magic in her guns and fired a beam of blue magic at the clay golem. The attack was so powerful that it destroyed the golem's head, leaving the spectators in awe.
As Joan turned to Sian, ready to boast, the murmurs of the spectators grew louder and she realized that the fight was not yet over.
The golem's head began to slowly regenerate, but Joan had no intention of letting that happen. She fired several times at the golem, filling it with holes. Despite this, the golem still stood while it was returning to its original form and started running towards her.
Trying to keep her distance, Joan also started running, shooting her magic pistols at the clay golem that was chasing her. With every shot she fired, a new hole was formed in the golem, but it didn't affect its speed as it continued advancing towards her.
As the golem wasn't concerned with anything other than getting closer to Joan, it was closing in on its target. Despite casting a spell to increase her speed, Joan still couldn't distance herself far enough from the golem.
When the golem finally reached Joan, it delivered a powerful blow that caused her to spin on the ground a few times before quickly getting up and shooting again.
As the fight continued, Joan kept firing with her pistols at the golem, but unless she could sever one of its legs or hit the core, it was futile. The golem, on the other hand, was gradually increasing the strength of its blows.
Although Joan had sustained a few bruises and scratches during the combat, Sian was not worried about her life. The reason for this was that he knew the golem wouldn't kill her, and he could also heal her at the end of the battle.
Despite managing to last for a few minutes, Joan's endurance reached its limit and the golem finally managed to immobilize her against the ground. After a few seconds, the golem released Joan and became inactive again.
Seeing how impressed the spectators were with the golem's prowess and were commenting on it, Sian felt that his goal was accomplished and approached Joan, extending his hand to her.
"What did you think?" he asked.
"It's amazing," she replied, holding his hand. "Share its secret with me. I have many things I can offer in return."
"Let's leave that for another time," Sian said. "For now, let's take care of your injuries."
Turning to Lisa, who was beside him, Sian said, "It's up to you."
"I'll take care of it now," she said. "Those who use the training golems' services this week will have their injuries healed for free."
Immediately, she began to cast a spell and quickly launched it at Joan, making the scratches and bruises on her body disappear. This was also part of the demonstration for the spectators.
"Now let's continue the tour," Sian said.
There were still other training locations in the training center, but the golems were the only things that would catch Joan's attention and needed to be presented to the spectators.
The next place they visited was the game hall. It was a large space where guests could play board games, cards, dice, chess, and others. Although there were not many game options, judging by the number of people present, it seemed to be a popular place for those who wanted to pass the time. As access to the site was free for everyone, there was a large number of people there, more than in the training center.
After that, Sian took Joan to the hot springs. Although there were hot springs on the ground floor, Sian took Joan to the one on the fifth floor, which was more suitable for nobles.
Even though Joan tried to convince Sian to enjoy the waters with her, he declined and took her to the spa. There were a variety of relaxing and invigorating treatments, including herbal baths, massages with aromatic oils, and exfoliations.
Illianna had said that this would be popular among the wives of the nobles, which seemed to be true judging by how Joan seemed to be enjoying it.
There were still more things that Sian could show Joan, but he needed to make lunch for the girls. Although they could eat at the hotel restaurant, Sian still wanted to prepare their food. Leaving Joan at the spa, he went up to the top floor.