The whole host of party guests had assembled outside the ballroom at one of the training squares of the imperial knight, to watch the spectacle that started unfolding not too long ago, starting with a bet between Marquis Orlof and the Court Blacksmith of Minas Mar.
At the center stood a knight piloting a dungeon buster. The roughly 2,5m tall mech suit was
painted with aggressive red and copper coating, as well as the crest of the marquis displayed on the chest. He was waiting for his opponent.
"Tower Master, can't you overthink it again?" Their own envoy tried to stop him, but what was he supposed to do now? Pull back when he just unearthed such a fantastical chance to advertise Minas Mar's prime products?
"Don't worry, I won't humiliate them too badly," was the best he could promise. Seth had no intention to display overwhelming strength here; he had no interest in selling them the actual prime products.
Ever since Arget Nore pulled out from Urth, they had lost the biggest buyer for mass-produced combat golems they had. Well, technically, they lost their only client. Since then, they had just been piling up in the storage rooms below Minas Mar.
Despite dispatching them as defense and security support forces to the various Tree Stations of Minas Mar, they still kept on piling up. The Golem Forge tirelessly worked in the background, gobbling up the overproduction of the Mines Minas Mar owned.
Seth stepped into the ring, waving at the crowd. " As you all heard, I'm Master Smith, the court blacksmith of Minas Mar, and I made a bet with Marquis Orlof here. But his idea was something boring, like a clash of fine blades. I, on the other hand, want to show you something interesting," he spoke u,p and with a wave of his hand, he brought out one of the ordinary combat golems he had stored in Legion.
"These are a product of my own Workshops. We call them Autonomous Battle Puppets, or ABP," he simply came up with a cool name to catch their interest. "They are unmanned forces that act with almost human intelligence in battle. When I heard the Marquis suggesting a friendly comparison, I surmised it would be a good chance to introduce them to the noble society assembled here," the bard winged it.
"So it is true, that thing is actually going to fight the dungeon buster?" Some people voiced their questions in the small uproar that followed. Most had thought it was a joke up until now. To these people, the thought to try and pick a fight with a dungeon buster was ridiculous, even though they saw what Monique was capable of.
Orlof wasn't worried either. His mood actually seemed to improve as they watched the bard keep talking. "As you heard, we will have a little demonstration between Master Smith's toy and my aide Heron using his Dungeon Buster. I hope everyone will enjoy the show," he said, confident in his victory.
"Then would you mind if I take part as the referee?" an older, raspy voice suddenly asked. A man in a more conservative uniform, but with a long, flowing coat of smooth black fur on his shoulder, stepped forward. He was quite the sight, with the massive scar running down the right side of his face.
The scar went straight through his right eye, which was hidden by a black eyepatch, covered in golden embroidery. A murmur went through the crowd when the man stepped forward. The crowd kept whispering Lord Paven over and over.
"I'm sorry for the late introduction. I'm Murdok Paven, the Duke of the Northern Territories," the old warrior introduced himself to Seth with incredible gravitas.
"I can't possibly ask Lord Paven to play the referee in this small bet," Orlof tried to stop him politely but desperately.
"You need not worry, Marquis. This old man is participating out of his own curiosity," the Lord said, ignoring any further objection. Based on their actions, the two didn't seem to be on good terms, although the conversation stayed civil.
This way, the Duke of the Northern Territories became the referee for Seth's little publicity stunt. With him taking positions, everything was ready to begin. On the training square, the glistening dungeon buster faced a smaller golem who looked like a regular knight in plain armor.
"Ready your weapon," the Paven instructed. The knight in the dungeon buster raised a blade with a peculiar design and glowing with enchantments. The audience could feel the power emanating from it.
The ABP, on the other hand, raised what looked like a simple silver spear.
It seemed like the victor was decided from the start. At least the audience had already chosen their favorite. Not that Seth didn't expect it. Everything was going according to plan; he even took their representatives' doubts into consideration.
"Go!" Lord Paven gave the signal, and the two opponents charged at each other, clashing in the center of the training square. Sand and dust were blown in all directions when the spear and the sword met and came to a grinding halt.
The dungeon buster was towering over the golem, wielding a massive sword, almost as long as the spear. Yet, the golem was not being pushed back a single step. Under the fascinated eyes of the nobles, the fight turned into a quick flurry of weapons clashing.
While both parties kept accruing damage to their armors, it was only the sword accumulating nicks and scratches when meeting the full-metal shaft of the spear. At this point, most audience members had forgotten that one party was not even human, completely enraptured in the fight.
Seth's goal was already achieved. Although these guys were not piloted by a human mind, the standard combat golems, running on the golem ego of Forgebrand were made of better materials on average. The blacksmith suspected it would be a close fight, but ultimately the golem had a slight disadvantage.
This became apparent after the fight went on for roughly 20 minutes. Both combatants had suffered some amount of damage, but the dungeon buster was finally starting to gain the upper hand. The experienced knight inside had gotten used to the golem's moves and began adapting.
Since this was an ordinary golem without a soul or anything, it also didn't heal over time. It also had a limited power supply. The fight would end soon, one way or another. However-
"I believe this is enough for a demonstration. We should end this here before either party suffers irreversible damage," Lord Paven suddenly spoke up to end the match. Just when the golem seemed about to lose, the friendly demonstration was called off without a clear winner.
"Lord Paven, why do you suddenly want to stop?" Orlof asked indignantly. Seth also felt like this was a clear intervention in their favor; however, Paven only gave the Marquis a cold stare.
"Look at your own man, Marquis. The knight had been operating a dungeon buster at full throttle for almost half an hour. Do you want to ruin his life just to push this to an end? Against a puppet at that?" The barely veiled disgust was oozing from his words, looking at the noble who was about to burn out a rare knight and dungeon buster.
"I'm sure Minas Mar is also willing to concede that the fight was no longer in their favor?"
Was Seth willing to concede? He didn't mind. His goal was achieved. He had effectively shown that his product was able to go toe to toe with their priced dungeon buster. On top of that, it didn't need a knight to operate, and sending it into battle did not risk any lives. This should be more than enough to open the eyes and pockets of these people.
"Indeed, in a prolonged fight against an experienced knight of similar strength, the ABP will draw the shorter straw. On the other hand, their main focus is monster subjugation," the blacksmith casually dropped the main selling point.
"Monster Subjugation?" the duke asked, slight doubt in his voice.
"Exactly, they would usually be dispatched in small parties to deal with power beasts," the blacksmith lied through his teeth. There was no need to use them like this on Urth. However, it was exactly what the people of this world suffering from demons and dungeons needed.
"Parties?" the Lord repeated. "How big would those be?" he asked carefully.
"Usually 5-10 members," the blacksmith came up with some number, mostly because he knew how this sounded to those listening. Casually sending out 5-10 beings on the level of a dungeon buster was outrageous and far out of reach for most people assembled here.
"Could it be you are intending to use these on the Auk Archipelago?" Duke Pavern asked perceptive. Obviously, they weren't, but it was a good narrative.
"I won't say I didn't bring a few for my own safety... But after hearing about the troubles of this world, we intended to offer these for purchase," the blacksmith opened Pandora's box. When they heard that items like this were up for purchase, hell broke loose. Moderately, since nobles were still nobles.