Interlude: Golem Master.
In Chaldea, as always, peace reigned.
"Hmm..."
Having received a generous reward in the form of Saint Quartz for restoring the Okeanos singularity, Ritsuka launched the "Fate" heroic spirit summoning system again.
"Teacher? What are you doing here?"
Before him, in hopes of a strong Servant, appeared a Caster of rank three in a silver frame.
"Oh. It's you, Master."
Caster in a blue robe and golden mask, the alchemist Avicebron, known as the Golem Master, sat with his chin propped in his hand, lost in deep thought. Ritsuka's voice broke his trance.
"I was thinking a little. I was pondering what materials in this world would be best suited for creating an effective golem..."
"Oh-oh. That's the Golem Master for you."
Avicebron himself found the address "Teacher" burdensome, but due to his intellectual appearance and passion for golem construction, this nickname stuck to him like glue.
"Master, I will do everything possible to ensure that the history of humanity is not burned. However, I have a cherished dream that I have been pursuing for many years."
"A cherished dream?" Ritsuka asked as they walked down the corridor together.
Avicebron stopped and, with all seriousness, clenching his fist, exclaimed:
"To create the perfect golem! One that will work forever without needing fuel, and will not be destroyed by any blows or attacks!"
A golem with a perpetual motion engine and absolute durability... Ritsuka, using all his imagination, pictured something like a giant transformer.
"Oh, and of course, it will be humanoid, one-to-one scale, and in the form of a maid."
"What?"
Ritsuka's fantasies of a giant battle robot crumbled to dust. The Teacher's face was not visible under the mask, but a suspicion arose that this Servant's "roof" was also slightly off...
"Oh, that went well. So, you need an infinite energy source and damn hard metal?"
Deadpool, who appeared out of nowhere with the sound of flushing water (though there was no toilet nearby), spoke as if he had been eavesdropping the whole time.
"Unfortunately, such things do not exist," Avicebron sighed heavily. "I understand that myself. Energy arising from nothing is a miracle that violates the law of causality. Just like invulnerable metal."
The alchemist had almost given up hope. Where in this world could such miraculous substances be found? He thought it would be easier to beg them from the gods themselves.
"Well, I have something similar lying around. Ta-da!"
Deadpool rummaged in his pants and pulled out a small energy source emitting pure white light, and a piece of metal resembling raw ore.
"Oh, this is!"
"Oh, I feel an extraordinary aura."
Ritsuka guessed what this thing was. It seemed that if you inserted it into the chest of a certain armor...
"What? I took it with permission. (Probably...) In that country, there are mountains of this stuff, would they notice the loss of one small part?"
"That's right! What harm could come of it? Let's get started immediately!"
Looking at Avicebron, who, despite the mask hiding his face, trembled with excitement and hurried Deadpool, Ritsuka felt that the image of the noble Teacher had finally shattered.
Since Avicebron, as a Caster, required a workshop for the "Territory Creation" skill, he was allocated the most spacious room.
And in this workshop, to fulfill a humble dream and realize someone's fantasies, Avicebron and Deadpool, like a pair of mad scientists, began mixing ingredients.
"So this is an arc reactor? I'd love to meet its creator personally! This person is definitely a genius!"
"Well, yeah, a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist... Oh, Robert, I'm so jealous of you."
With the help of magical energy and Avicebron's skill, the mysterious metal – which Deadpool called "vibranium" – took shape. Now all that remained was to insert the reactor into the chest area.
"Thank you for your cooperation. As soon as it's activated, my dream will come true. A perfect golem that will move forever and never break!"
"What should we call the little one?"
Avicebron looked at the doll, which had peacefully closed its eyelids, and answered Deadpool's question:
"A name! Of course, such a great creation must have a name! It shall be called..."
"My ex?"
Avicebron stared at Deadpool for a long time. His expression was unreadable through the mask, but his gaze clearly asked, "Are you serious right now?"
"Uh... Let's just call her 'Iron Maiden'."
"Iron Maiden! My lifelong dream is finally coming true! Come on, turn it on!"
Deadpool, with burning eyes (though it wasn't visible through the mask, his aura was exactly like that), flicked the switch.
At that very moment, the reactor in the golem's heart whirred, and the Iron Maiden trembled slightly all over.
The two, watching this with delighted laughter, resembled Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his assistant Igor.
However.
"Huh?"
With a deafening roar, an explosion thundered somewhere in the depths of Chaldea. The scale wasn't large, but the sound was so powerful that all of Chaldea's personnel, already on edge from Leo Lyanur's terrorist attacks, jumped in terror.
"Hmm, strange. Did we overdo the power?"
Amidst the debris and smoke, Avicebron, whose mask was covered in soot, calmly rested his chin on his hand, analyzing the reasons for the failure.
Deadpool, no less scorched, picked up a fragment of the arc reactor that had rolled to him. On one of the facets, a tiny engraving was visible:
"Made in China."
"What the hell! Damn it! It's a Chinese fake!"
Deadpool threw the fragment to the floor in anger.
And another explosion thundered.
Use original products.
Emiya flinched involuntarily.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan