Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 83 - Golem

“So what kind of golem do you want to make?”

Now a 4th circle mage, Yerica first practiced the specialty golem production magic left by Hecate for a day.

In the meantime, Ethan prepared materials. To make a specialty golem, the materials were as important as the magic itself.

“What I want to make is a wooden golem.”

“Huh? Why make it out of that… Well of course you can make it out of wood. But to withstand strong impacts, a sturdy material works better. A wooden one would break easily.”

A key trait of Hecate’s specialty golems was that they were much stronger than regular golems.

Not only that, regular golems could only make simple, rigid movements. But these specialty golems moved as smoothly as humans.

That’s why the material was so important.

If proper materials weren’t used, they couldn’t withstand impacts and would shatter.

“I’m making it with the assumption that it will break. This will be used for education.”

“For education?”

Hearing Ethan’s words, Yerica made an expression of sudden realization.

Unlike regular golems, being able to make complex movements meant it would be helpful for practical lessons.

“You mean to use it for practical combat lessons?”

“Exactly. I said education, but we can’t go catching monsters just for that.”

“Weak monsters are too weak, and strong monsters are too dangerous. My word… how did you even come up with this idea?”

‘I planned this from the beginning.’

If his only goal was protection, he would have picked someone other than Yerica.

The difficulty level to get her was extremely high at the beginning after all.

Yet the reason he chose Yerica was this.

“You just have to see the big picture.”

“You make a good point. Okay, so you want to make it out of wood?”

“I won’t use just plain wood. I said education, but it’d be meaningless if it shatters too easily.”

Ethan planned to use black ironwood.

“Black ironwood? Isn’t that extremely expensive? I heard it’s pricier than most metals.”

Yerica asked in surprise.

For something just used in education, it was too expensive a material.

“I said education, but that’s not the only purpose it’ll serve.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to sell this.”

“Sell it? My golem?”

The lightweight magic itself was just regular magic, so Yerica could sell that expertise to the David Merchant Guild with no problem.

But these golems were different.

Creating these specialty golems was Hecate’s signature magic.

That signature magic could not be sold.

“No. We absolutely cannot sell the specialty golem production magic. Yerica, only you can use that.”

“Then what?”

“We’ll downgrade the magic.”

“Downgrade?”

“Mix some of the specialty golem production methods into the regular golem magic. But preserve the unique motions specialty golems are capable of.”

That resulted in golems that were sturdier than regular ones, but not as durable as Yerica’s specialty golems.

“The trait of these golems is that they can move more smoothly than regular golems.”

“But they’ll break easily. Oh, if that happens….”

Ethan grinned.

An important thing when making products was ensuring they weren’t too sturdy.

If products were too durable, customers would never come back to buy new ones.

‘So to make them come back periodically, they need high performance but appropriately low durability.’

Instead of low durability, you raise the performance. Anyone who experienced that high performance wouldn’t be able to help but purchase again since these golems were different than regular ones.

“And isn’t revenge still revenge, even if it’s not directly killing the perpetrator?”

Hearing Ethan’s words, Yerica fell silent in thought for a moment.

The revenge Ethan spoke of didn’t utilize force.

“Selling the golems made with grandfather’s magic to countless people….”

“The nobles who falsely accused and hunted you as a witch will purchase them. Most of the upper nobles will be your customers.”

The ones who actively tried to capture Archmage Hecate were high-ranking nobles.

Sell Hecate’s magic-produced golems to those nobles.

Infiltrate them.

Thinking about this, Yerica felt a chill run down her spine.

As Ethan said, she didn’t only have to take revenge through force. This kind of revenge could be even more thrilling.

With that thought, Yerica nodded enthusiastically.

“I really shouldn’t make you my enemy. To think this much…”

“There’s also the reason for simply earning money off your magic.”

“Even so, I don’t mind Ethan. Those damn nobles looked down on Grandfather, but will soon desperately want the golems made with Grandfather’s magic. And you’re saying that to reassure me too.”

“…”

The more Yerica thought about it, the more she agreed Ethan’s method was good.

And the nobles would have no choice but to periodically purchase these golems. Wouldn’t it be her grandfather’s magic prevailing in the end?

Yerica nodded at Ethan.

“Let’s try downgrading it. Downgraded magic can be sold with no problem. But who are you planning to sell this magic to? Will you deal with the David Merchant Guild like before?”

“I’ll leave it to a merchant from the David Merchant Guild. But I’m going to fully utilize our mages for this.”

“Our mages?”

“The mages from the Magic Tower. It’s time they play on a bigger stage.”

Yerica figured if her dead grandfather saw this situation, his face would turn beet red from anger.

Who would’ve thought the signature magic that he devised would be used for education and business?

‘Oh well.’

She figured it was much better for the magic to continue like this than to forever disappear as high-level magic.

“Black ironwood? How many?”

The Marquisdom’s market.

In this Marquisdom, black ironwood, an expensive material, was only handled by two establishments.

Hearing the merchant’s question, Yerica took out a heavy pouch from her pocket and handed it over.

“However many this can buy.”

Seeing the opened pouch, the merchant’s eyes grew wide. The pouch was packed to the point of bursting with gold coins.

“You need this much black ironwood? What exactly are you planning on using it for?”

The merchant was very shocked.

With this much, even if he took out his entire stock of black ironwood, there would still be money left over.

“I need to make something.”

She planned to make Ethan only the highest quality products with the magic from her now 4th circle, which she had never used before.

‘I need to make him something incredible.’

She wanted to showcase her competent handling of the 2nd stage curse, while also seeing Ethan’s astonished reaction.

While Yerica went to purchase black ironwood,

Ethan used Wind Cloud to find the independent city of Butra.

This city of Butra was on the way to the Rond Marquis territory and was where David Merchant Guild member Etting Hunt ran her item-light weighing business.

‘It’s about time.’

For Etting’s lightweight workshop to have launched and settled into place.

Ethan headed straight for the inner market.

“I heard this is really popular in the estates.”

“Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently, they do amazing item lightening. No wonder they opened a branch here.”

“I heard mages were picky. This is my first time seeing one run a business like this.”

“Not just any merchant guild but the David Merchant Guild is running the branch directly. Gotta check it out even just from curiosity right?”

“As if anyone could stay away? I heard crowds of people are there already.”

“Seriously?”

The moment he entered, Ethan was already hearing talk about the lightweight workshop.

Among the people in the market, quite a large number were headed to the shop Ethan was looking for.

“As expected.”

Seeing the scene before him, Ethan smiled contentedly.

A long line of people queued up.

Similar to the Whiskers territory landscape. People lined up, and those who finished made stops at nearby stores.

“Please line up in order!”

“We’ll finish shortly!”

“It won’t take long! Just line up in order and we’ll get to you immediately!”

“Please take out the items to lighten and gold beforehand!”

‘She definitely has a knack for this.’

When first operating the lightweight workshop, Ethan paid a lot of attention to managing customers. No matter how good the service was, if receiving that service was inconvenient, people wouldn’t visit much.

On top of that, profit couldn’t be maximized either.

So there was only one solution.

Raising turnover rate.

‘Managing it like this will naturally raise turnover.’

He felt it was definitely a good call to sell this to Etting.

While observing, Ethan spotted Etting Hunt walking over from afar.

“!”

Etting seemed to have noticed Ethan as well, as she approached with a delighted expression.

“You didn’t even tell me you were coming. If I’d known beforehand I would’ve come out to welcome you! It’s been a while. I’ve heard the rumors going around. To think you became one of the head departments of that Ivecar school. And a teacher in the Swordsmanship Department at that.”

She looked busy but had a cheerful expression.

“Word spreads even this far huh. Thank you.”

Ethan glanced at the lightweight workshop and smiled.

“The launch seems very successful.”

“This is a service that can’t fail. Not being able to make this a success means failure as a merchant.”

Etting said with a laugh.

“Did you come to check if the launch went well? You must’ve been worried. But I operate businesses quite competently.”

At Etting’s words, Ethan shook his head.

“No.”

Etting naturally assumed Ethan came to check if the lightweight workshop, a service he helped create, was operating well.

So when he shook his head, she had a puzzled expression.

If not that, then why was he here?

“If not, then for what reason?”

“As you said, isn’t this a service that can’t fail? And I left it to someone besides myself, Etting.”

Seeing his gaze, Etting felt her assumption wasn’t mistaken. She wasn’t the one who came looking for Ethan. Ethan sought her out to give her this opportunity.

“You left it to someone who won’t fail then?”

“One of the most outstanding merchants I know.”

“Hearing you say that makes me curious. Who are these other outstanding merchants counted among the best?”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders to change topics.

“Anyway, I came for a different matter. By the way, there shouldn’t be anything more for you to worry about with this lightweight workshop business right?”

Having operated a lightweight workshop himself before, Ethan knew well these shops needed minimal oversight once the cycle with the mage business partners was flowing smoothly.

Things like the expansion of shops or various business matters just needed occasional checking in on.

That freed up time.

And merchants rarely left that free time idle.

“Yes, there’s time to spare. I’ve already put people I trust in charge so it can operate fine without me now. I have a lot of reliable subordinates.”

Hearing Ethan say this, Etting smiled knowingly. Asking about spare time had only one implication.

“I’ve brought a rather good item.”

Like last time, hearing Ethan’s assured words made Etting’s heart race again.