Crank, who set the sack down at the well in the center of the village, brushed off some dirt from his clothes and saw Carrot approaching before he knew it.
“I got what I wanted, and I did what I had to do. Let’s go back tomorrow morning.”
“Did it take quite a while this time?”
Crank, who moved his shoulders as if feeling stiff, said.
“It happened because we reverse-engineered the entire internal structure. Oh, yes. I need to get Bomba some weapons.”
Among the rusty iron swords loaded on the wagon, Crank selected one in good condition, sharpened it with a whetstone, and rewrapped the leather on the handle.
And before leaving the next day, I handed it to Bomba.
“Use your basic armament. It would be better than beating him with a wooden club.”
Taking the knife, Bomba bowed her head. Crank looked at the villagers and said.
“Basic maintenance must be done by you. If the battle suit is torn, you have to sew it, and if the blade is dead, you have to sharpen it. That little attention and effort becomes the combat power of the automaton.”
“Nothing difficult, I understand. If it’s a day, I’ll stand it up.”
“We will do the sewing.”
“Then, we’ll be grooming ourselves!”
Crank nodded as he looked around at the men, women, and children in town.
“Bomba is an antique that is over 100 years old. It was quite advanced at the time. So collectors and adventurers can see and come back. If there is an owner, they will try to buy it even with force, and if there is no owner, they will try to steal it.”
Anxiety and anger began to linger in people’s eyes.
“I think I’ll leave it alone! Without Bomba, we die!”
“that’s right!”
Crank looked around at the villagers and spoke again.
“There have been several scams targeting automatons. I’ll give you money with another automaton, so let’s exchange it.”
“I know! They turned into robbers, and the exchanged automatons didn’t pass ownership, so they just returned to their owners without a fight!”
Carrot, who had climbed into the carriage and crossed his arms, turned his head.
“Oh, do you know?”
“Stop talking! This is what happened to me in another town three years ago. Even though the old people there were blinded and stopped, they didn’t listen and changed it and then it was all stolen. I won’t be fooled again!”
Crank nodded.
“Anyway, beware of such scams. And in the case of Bomba, it was created before the 3rd rule of the automaton was enacted, so it will be very useful against bandits who threaten the village.”
A few of the people tilted their heads.
“What are the 3 principles of the automaton?”
Carrot replied.
“First, you have to follow human commands. Second, it must not harm humans. Third, you must protect your body as long as it does not violate the above clause.”
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“Ohhhhh! Was there such a thing?!”
“Something great!”
Carrot pointed to Bomba.
“That’s why we can’t harm you humans, so if you have a lot of experience, you can tweak the 3 principles a bit and beat them to the point where they won’t die, but in the end you can’t kill them. But Bomba is like that.”
“Oh, is that great?”
Carrot did not make fun of the ignorant country folk. Instead, he smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s great. If bandits attack the village right now, I won’t be able to kill them. I have to hit him and knock him out. It will take a lot of time to subdue, and by that time, someone gathered here will die. But Bomba has no such restrictions, I will kill all robbers and thieves to take revenge and save all of you at the same time. The difference is huge.”
Everyone opened their mouths and nodded. Meanwhile, Crank moved closer to the people and spoke lowly.
“And if you ever have a chance to sell the bomba, please contact me first. I will buy it at the highest possible price.”
The faces of the villagers became grim at the sudden outrageous proposal. said the village chief.
“Okay, really, if that happens, I’ll call you first.”
“thank you.”
Crank stepped back and climbed into the wagon. Carrot said goodbye instead.
“letter! Review the letters! If you don’t know, ask Bomba! I’ll test it next time I come! You know!”
At the sound, some villagers forced a laugh and waved.
As they got farther out of town, Carrot leaned over and said to Crank.
“what do you think about it? Will those villagers sell us bombas? Or should I sell it to someone? Or will someone in the village conspire with an outsider to siphon it off?”
Crank lowered his gaze slightly to see Carrot.
“Bomba, disappointed in the villagers, runs away to us. 100,000 Leeds.”
“Fuh ha ha ha ha!”
Carrot bursts into laughter.
As Crank slowly drove the wagon, he said in a bright voice that the villagers right behind him would be shocked if they heard it.
“It is said that water flows from top to bottom, and the human heart only flows from top to bottom. People will do anything when they are in a predicament, and of course they will do anything for their own greed. And the bomba was created so long ago that it’s unrestricted. There is no master setting, and the defense of the village is not done because someone ordered it, but it is done with good intentions. You can quit anytime. A free personality.”
“Hey, I didn’t know that. That’s why you didn’t answer when I asked who the Master was.”
“The food situation in the future, the population that is only shrinking, the poor defense of the village, and the automaton that is in charge of it alone, everything is in a state of coincidence. It’s breathtaking. If it goes wrong just a little bit, it collapses right away.”
“Can I? do you have money 8 million Leeds.”
“I already got it. The reverse blueprint of the 100-year-old automaton of Izelia’s Aegstar family, if Bomba is the last one, this would be an item of great value.”
“But it’s not money now.”
“that’s right. It is currently in a private collection. It’s something you can refer to later when repairing. But I’ve learned quite a bit in a week of hard work. 8 million is cheap to self-taught the almost secret automaton maintenance technique.”
“okay! If you like the master, I like you too! ruler! Let’s go home! To save my younger siblings!”
Despite Carrot’s strong cry, the horses pulling the wagon ambled along. But still, Carrot was good.
“This filthy world with the insidious master is so exciting! Ahahahaha!”
At the same time, not knowing that the benefactors of the village were talking behind the scenes, people just looked at the wagon leaving the village and said a word with sad eyes.
“These are the people I’m grateful for.”
“I know.”
“…She has a really nice body, and she’s tall. I want to see your bare face.”
“Wow, Mickey, is that type of person?”
A village girl with freckles on her face blushes a little and starts twisting her body. Then men appeared with a cart.
“I don’t know if it will go well, but I have to make fertilizer by moving the rotten monster corpses as he ordered. Bomba. Tell me where you are.”
Nodding their heads, Bomba and the men headed to find the monster corpse they had abandoned in the woods.
The fertilizer applied to the potato field used rotten leaves scraped from the forest, but at Crank’s unconventional suggestion, the villagers didn’t know if it would work, but they thought about doing it.
A middle-aged man shoveled in front of a monster corpse pit and said.
“I can’t eat the 8 million Leeds of grace that that young man gave me on a daily basis like a dirty swindler. I want to make a big potato that my friend wants somehow. We want to let people know that we are people who remember loyalty.”
“But are these too many?”
“You hit me a lot. Bomba.”
Bomba, who was on guard, took out a notebook and wrote something down, but the men did not know how to write.
So I drew a picture and put it out.
Inside the notebook, a cute automaton’s face resembling a bomba was drawn, and the mouth part looked like it was smiling.
“I am good at drawing too.”
“I must learn letters from my daughter, too.”
“ah! Why don’t we cover this place with dirt and leaves instead? It will rot and become dirt on its own.”
“oh! That’s good! I can take the rotten soil and use it as it is!”
At someone’s suggestion, the village men started working as is. A few days later, the soil created by the decay of the monster’s corpse was picked out, mixed with the leaves, sprinkled on the field, and potatoes were planted.
And they started calling the potato fields crank potatoes.
A few months later, the villagers were surprised by the tremendous harvest that occurred in the Crank potato field, and the people who found it amazing experimented more on their own to mass-produce compost made by mixing animal and monster by-products, and from the following year, a pioneer village The yield of macro potatoes has increased explosively.
“Ooh! Potatoes the size of a human head!”
“Amazing, Great! hahahaha!”
“Bomba! Look at this! There are so many big potatoes!”
When the children came running and showed them the potatoes they had dug up, Bomba, who was wary of the surroundings while people were harvesting, took out her notebook and unfolded the picture she had drawn one day.
The face of the cute automaton resembling a bomba had a smiling mouth.
As rumors spread that the village became famous for its potato farming and that it uses powerful automatons as guards, people from nearby villages began to move in quite a bit.
In gratitude to an adventurer who told them the secret, the people of Mekro gave the potato the following name and sold it to the market.
“Crank potatoes?”
“It was harvested in a pioneer village a little far away, and it sells well because the eggs are large and delicious. My wife bought it yesterday. Was it okay to make it into a stew?”
The adventurer who was eating buttered potatoes with beer at the guild cafeteria turned his head. Coincidentally, the protagonist of the story, the adventurer, was talking to someone.
“Hey, is the crank real? The story of this crank potato.”
Crank, who turned his head, said as if he was in trouble.
“I never thought things would turn out like this.”
“Fhahahahaha!”
The people around him giggled, and some looked at the legendary adventurer who left his name with potatoes as if he was great.
At that time, the guild receptionist came into the cafeteria and found a crank.
“ah! Mr. Crank! A letter came from Macro!”
“oh! I heard that even a tiger will come when I say it!”
Crank held out his long arm to receive the letter, opened it and read it. Carrot, who was sitting next to him, slipped in.
“What is written on it? Will you finally sell the Bomba?”
Crank stared at the letter for a while and said while scratching his helmet.
“No, since he made a lot of money from potatoes this year, he said he wants to place an order for two used automatons for security purposes.”
“huh?”
Carrot accepted the letter. There was some crooked writing on it.
“oh! I think this was written by the next chief clip? It was worth practicing hard calligraphy!”
Then, Carrot holds out her hand.
“Give me 100,000 Leeds.”
Crank, who was looking at Carrot with dumb eyes, punched the palm of his hand.
“ah!”
“what? Did you make a bet with your automaton?”
“The legendary potato adventurer’s actions are unusual.”
“If the automaton you carry is Carrot, it’s good enough. Is that guy almost human?”
Crank took out a silver coin from his purse without saying a word. Carrot smiled, holding a coin in her hand.
“Ahahahahaha! Money extorted from the owner is always special! ruler! I’m drinking beer! master! Give back a beer to each person in here!”
People couldn’t help but laugh when a free beer was placed in front of them.
“Wonderful, really.”
“Look! hey! Carrot! thank you! I’ll drink well! I don’t know what I got it for!”
Carrot smiled briskly and gave a thumbs up.
“For you people who live hard! Cheers!”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s cool! Whoa! Cheers!”