I sat comfortably in my dark throne as I waited for my new potential henchman. The ideas of how I could use a Golem for my world conquest swam through my head. I even considered if any of my skills would work well with the monster.

  I continued to go through my thoughts until I started to hear the sounds of destruction near the castle followed by the sounds of several citizens screaming. If I had to guess Mordred must have smashed through the walls when they couldn’t get the golem through the doors. Part of me thought about how I should have gone over there to help after all but then a flash vision of the deadly embraced shook me off of it.

  “Yeah… definitely was best I wasn’t there….”

  Paimoth stood to the side, looking away for a moment with his hand over his face. I could only imagine what kind of expression he’s making right now….

  The screams of my citizens increased more from what I suspect were those two bulldozing through the streets with the golem on tow until finally all my henchmen appeared.

  “We’re here boss!” Mordred said, exasperated.

  Once he saw me my black bear immediately dropped the Golem making my Minotaur curse a few words that I couldn’t pick up on from the sudden change in weight leverage!

  “Vladdy!!” came the cries from a rampaging bear full of affection!

  Following my Kobold instincts I tried to run, forging a wall of stone from the ground to slow his advances. This proved to be utterly pointless as Damian simply punched right through it like it was paper with a fist full of energy all with a happy smile across his face! That only heightened my Kobold instincts to want to run faster! It was one of the few times I could agree with it, this…. This is one of the most dangerous situations in my entire life!!!

  Unfortunately, he was faster still! Just being this close to his arms I could feel the strength of his oncoming embrace was going to be greater than normal even compared to earlier!

  The moment he grabbed hold of me I quickly felt my [Health] pushed to its limits as I held on for dear life just to stay conscious!

  “H-Help!!” I yelled in desperation only to be surprised to see no one willing to rescue me.

  “I do apologize master, but I need to concentrate in the repairs to this Mana Core” The Shadow Moth excused himself. Traitor!

  Even Mordred was reluctant to help me as he rubbed the back of his neck like he was sore. “Y-yeah sorry boss… I did get some of that affection off of your back…”

  How much did he traumatized him?!

  V at least was willing to walk close to Damian. At least SOMEONE was brave enough to-

  “Yay! Group Hug!!!”

  The young goblin jumped at us, joining in on the unwelcomed hug fest. My heart sank a bit as my body eventually accepted its fate as I sighed.

  Fine, to be fair I haven’t let him give me as much hugs lately so if it calms him down….

  After a few minutes of being cuddled by the big bear he finally loosened his grip.

  “Calmed down?” I asked, making sure not to make any sounds of anger or disappointment.

  “…. Yeah, sorry about that.” The Bear adventurer answered his tone back to normal monotone. Though I noticed that he didn’t let me go.

  …. Fine, I can handle a few more minutes, not like I can’t get any more embarrassed….

  “I do not know how you and V could handle such a grip boss…. Just a few seconds of that was more than I could handle…” Mordred said, shaking his head once the affectionate threat settled.

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  “Tell me about it…” I responded, before motioning a free hand. The ground below Mordred and Paimoth started to shake before sinking a few inches. I didn’t say anything else, but they seemed to get the message.

  I was just glad all the citizens minded their own business, and that Katherine was off helping out around the kingdom cause I couldn’t handle any more shame. I could have literally died from embarrassment.

  Ignoring my current predicament I changed subjects. “Paimoth, is the [Mana Core] ready?”

  “Oh, uh yes Master Vladimir.” He replied after recomposing himself and adding the finishing touches to fix the last of the crack before handing it to my free hand. “All that is left is to provide the orb with your own Mana. This will help the golem recognize you as its master.”

  I nodded, tapping on Damian’s arm so he could let me go. Holding onto the core tightly I concentrated and applied my own Mana onto it. It was a bit difficult since I mainly applied my Mana through my skills. It was different just applying my Mana directly so I imagined how I would use my [Material Forge] to reshape the materials before me and thought of my own Mana as a material.

  This helped a lot as my Mana flowed more easily into the empty Core. It took some time until I could sense the orb filled to the brim with my own Mana. Focusing a bit more I could of swore I felt a small emotion of happiness coming out of it, making me wonder if it was alive.

  I opened my eyes as I saw all of my henchmen looking at me with anticipation.

  “It’s filled, now what?”

  Paimoth raised a hand as several shadow tendrils wrapped around the Golem and readjust it to a sitting position, exposing the hole to its chest.

  Understanding what that meant I jumped to the inactive Golem. I used my skill to create a platform to raise me up to the empty socket and carefully placed the [Mana Core] inside.

  We all waited with bated breath, but there was no response. I felt a bit disappointed to see that it didn’t work but I was quickly proven wrong when the rocky creature started to stir. The empty slot where the eyes would be started to light up, similar to Paimoth’s. The ground practically shook in time with the large monster. Even Mordred had a hard time keeping himself still while I tried to keep myself from falling off of my platform.

  Just as the rumbling stopped, we all heard a voice coming out of the Golem. The voice sounded loud but low. As if it considered its own manners and didn’t wish to alarm anyone.

  “…. Hello….”

  The golem looked right at me, as if it already knew who I was just from laying his eyes on me. “…. You are creator? .....” It asked.

  I shook my head. “Technically no, though I did apply my own Mana to your [Mana Core]” I answered honestly, no point to hide any unnecessary facts.

  “…. Yes…..feel Mana inside….still creator…”

  I shrugged, “If that’s how you want to call me, I don’t mind.”

  The way this Golem spoke reminded me of Damian except instead of it being a lack of expression it was instead more like the rocky monster was processing its thoughts like a robot.

  “…...What is task…. Creator….” He asked, already ready to complete an assignment for me. Glad to see he’s diligent.

  “I wanted to see if you want to become a henchman of mine.” I went straight for the big question. I suspect that he’d probably agree to it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

  “…If that is creator’s task…. then yes….”

  And with the notification, the process of gaining a new Henchman was made official. Next was naming the large creature. ~

  I tapped on the ground, considering what kind of name would feel appropriate for a henchman of his stature. I considered using names that would sound similar to the word Golem but trashed that idea. I wanted something cooler than that and it was a bit too on the nose.

  I also considered just naming him Robot or something but felt that wasn’t right either. I rather a henchman of mine was given a proper name. V’s case was more because the little goblin asked for it. That gave me an idea though, I could just with the same process V went through and use parts of my own name to think of something.

  I then thought of a name, one that would represent my authority with a large wall of a henchman here.

  “And now for your name, what do you think of the name Vash? ~” I asked, staring at the Golem who waited for me to say something to him.

  He took the time to think it over, the rest of my henchmen seemed to like the name at least.

  “…. Ok…. I’ll be called Vash then…...as creator suggested….”

  “Great, welcome to the team Vash! It’s nice to have a new addition of mine! ~” I congratulated, happy to see my ever-growing army.

  “…. Thank you, creator……what will be my task as a henchman….” He asked, it seems someone’s eager to do something for me.

  I tilted my head as I thought on it. “Mmm, I’ll be sure to find something for you to do. A guy with that sturdy of a body would be very useful for me. ~”

  “Don’t forget you still have your strongest weapon here boss!” Mordred announced, feeling a bit competitive with having another strong henchman to join in.

  “…. understood, I’ll wait here…. until you require me creator….”

  Before I could reply to my new golem’s eyes shut down as his body slumped to the ground.

  Huh, and here I was worried he wouldn’t have much of a personality.