Ash, age 20. An earth mage and a D-rank adventurer. He can't use large-scale attack magic and gave up on being an elite long ago. But he doesn't mind. Why? Because Ash has his two gorilla-style golems. With their muscular two-meter frames, they deliver double lariats and dropkicks. Whether it's magical beasts or skeletons, they blow them all away without question. The guild's whisper behind his back is 'Gorilla Guy.' Well, they're not exactly wrong.
His daily routine involves hunting deer-like
The Daily Life of a Golem Bastard - Top-Quality Boar, and a Story That's Not Just Leftovers
Mornings at Orca's Inn start with the smell of stew.
The aroma of onions, garlic, and bone-in meat simmered low and slow. Then the wheaty scent of fresh-baked bread. At the counter, a dozen or so customers were already shoveling down breakfast.
Ash sat in his usual spot—the far corner of the counter. His sleep-mussed brown hair was, as always, left as-is. His gray eyes were still half-closed. In the deep dish before him, the daily stew sent up wisps of steam.
He lifted a spoonful to his mouth. Hot. Good.
"[gentle]……Hah."
A small breath escaped him before he knew it.
Yesterday's exhaustion still lingered. Teaching those three—Kyle, Baldo, Lily—had been, honestly, more draining than he'd expected. But still. It hadn't felt bad.
Another spoonful.
(*Orca's stew really is the best.*)
That was when it happened.
A dull *thud*, and a shadow fell at the edge of his vision.
He looked up.
On the other side of the counter, Orca Bahn had planted both elbows down and was staring at him.
Forty-five. A former adventurer's wife. Normally, she'd be cracking jokes as she brought the food out. But now, her eyes were like a cat sizing up its prey.
"[gentle]……What's with that face?"
Ash set his spoon down.
"[serious]I've got something I want to ask you."
Her voice was lower than usual.
"[gentle]You come up with a new dessert or something?"
"[serious]No."
She shut that down flat, then pulled a sheet of parchment out from under the counter.
She thrust it at him.
Ash took it and scanned it over.
—*Prime Boar, standing delivery order. Two head per month. Purchase price: eighteen silver coins.*
His finger stopped.
"[gentle]……Prime Boar."
"[serious]The ones in the mid-levels of the Perga Forest. You know 'em."
He knew them.
Prime Boar—a boar-type magical beast weighing over four hundred kilos. More than double the mass of a standard deer. The meat was tender, the fat richly sweet. He'd heard that if you brought one down without damaging it, it could fetch over twenty-five silver coins as a top-grade ingredient.
"[serious]But see, when a normal adventurer takes one down, the slashes and magic tear up the torso meat. Damaged meat can't be sold as top-grade. But your golems—"
"[gentle]Can crush just the head and legs, pinpoint."
Ash continued, matter-of-fact.
"[gentle]I get the logic."
"[serious]Will you do it?"
There was none of her usual banter in her voice.
(*Two head a month. Eighteen silver coins.*)
In Ash's head, the abacus started clicking.
Right now, he hunted fifteen to twenty deer a month. Average income: thirty to fifty silver coins. Rent was six silver. Food, ten. Five for golem materials. And then—
The orphanage.
The monthly meat delivery.
(*With this contract…… I could have a little more breathing room.*)
"[gentle]Conditions?"
He looked up and asked.
"[serious]Bring it down without a single scratch on the meat. One mark anywhere, and the purchase price gets cut in half. Can you do it?"
...
Ash fell silent for just a moment.
Golem strike control.
Right and Left—operating two golems simultaneously, landing pinpoint strikes on targeted locations. It was what he'd been doing all along. Crushing a deer's skull in one blow. That, he could do.
But.
(*Head and all four limbs, each at the same time. And absolutely no damage to the torso.*)
The precision required was on a whole different level.
It wasn't about holding back power. He had to control the point of impact and the angle down to the millimeter.
"[gentle]……Well."
Ash placed the parchment back on the counter.
"[gentle]I'll give it a shot."
"[surprised]Really?"
"[gentle]If I can't do it, the only thing that suffers is your shop's reputation. I don't lose anything."
The corner of his mouth relaxed, just barely.
Orca stared hard at him—
"[laughing]Hah. Same charmless way with words as always."
—and broke into a grin.
"[serious]Then I'm counting on you. First delivery's within three days. Can you manage?"
"[gentle]I'll do what I can."
Ash stood up.
He gripped his staff in his left hand.
In his head, the image of golem control was already starting to assemble.
(*Vertical strike to the crown. Lateral strike to the hind leg joints. Simultaneous timing. Force adjustment—*)
"[gentle]Ah."
Before he left the counter, he glanced back, as if just remembering.
"[gentle]If I pull it off, throw in a month's worth of free dessert tickets. On top."
"[laughing]Greedy bastard, aren't you."
Laughing, Orca waved him off with a flutter of her hand.
——
The mid-levels of the Perga Forest.
Past the five-kilometer mark from the entrance, the density of the trees changed.
The trunks of the broadleaf trees were thick, their branches stretching high, the undergrowth covering the ground rising to knee height. Sunlight fell in streaks through the gaps in the leaves, dappling the ground at his feet.
Short sword in his right hand, staff in his left, Ash pressed on along a game trail.
(*Presence…… around here?*)
He stopped.
He scanned his surroundings.
Mud marks on a tree trunk. Traces of a boar rubbing its body against it. Hoofprints stood out sharply on the ground. Fresh.
(*Close.*)
Ash focused his awareness on the summoning mark on his left wrist.
The earth-toned geometric pattern began to pulse with light.
"[gentle]Come out."
He drove the tip of his staff into the ground.
In that instant—
A sound, *zzz-zzz-zzz*, and the earth at his feet swelled upward.
The soil shifted shape as if it had a will of its own. First, legs formed. Thick arms. A torso. And then, a small head.
Two golems stood side by side to Ash's left and right.
Both stood about two meters tall. Squat builds, with only their arms abnormally long. Their fists were the size of a grown man's head.
Right and Left.
Calling them by name was a hassle, so that's what he called them.
"[gentle]Let's do this."
Ash spoke curtly and moved down the game trail.
The golems followed in silence. Their footsteps were heavy, shaking the ground.
—And then.
He found it.
Beyond the trees, a black shadow.
Prime Boar.
Nearly three meters long. Over four hundred kilos. The bristles covering its body were hard as wire, and its two tusks were the length of short swords. Right now, it was rooting up the ground, eating something.
Ash shifted his short sword to a reverse grip in his right hand and issued orders to the golems with his left.
(*Right—head. Left—hind legs.*)
The two golems slowly spread out.
Right moved forward. Left circled around behind the boar.
(*Distance is…… five meters. No, get closer.*)
Ash steadied his breathing.
Focus.
He channeled magical power into the golems. Right to the right hand, Left to the left. Controlling two spell formulas simultaneously—there were almost no earth mages in Valm who could do this.
"[gentle]——Do it."
The moment Ash murmured it.
Right leaped.
The heavy bulk hung in the air. Its fist swung up—
But.
(*—Failed it.*)
The descending fist caught the boar's crown.
But the angle was slightly off. The force glanced sideways.
A dull *thunk*.
The boar's eyes rolled back.
A full concussion. But it wasn't dead yet.
"[angry]……Shi—"
The next instant—
"*BUMOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!*"
The boar took off running.
Half its eyes rolled back to white, the four-hundred-kilo mass plowed through the forest.
*CRACK! CR-CRASH!*
The sound of trunks snapping. Trees thirty centimeters thick broke and toppled like twigs.
"[serious]We're going after it."
Ash broke into a run.
Right and Left lumbered after him, *thud-thud-thud*.
The boar didn't stop. It probably meant to run straight, but in its half-conscious state, it had no control. It slammed right, slammed left, and every time, a tree broke. The ground was gouged.
(*I underestimated this.*)
Ash gritted his teeth.
(*Don't damage the meat—that condition was stuck in my head, and it made Right's strike go soft.*)
Among hunters, there was a saying: "swallowed by the conditions." When you're too conscious of the conditions for taking your prey, you lose your natural movement. That was exactly what had just happened to Ash.
The boar changed direction.
This time, it charged straight at Ash.
"[serious]Whoa."
Ash leaped sideways.
*DO-GOON!*
The tree where he'd been standing a moment ago snapped under the boar's charge.
(*Close one.*)
Just then.
Something fell from the branches above.
*Plop. Plop-plop.*
Five or so little things, like tiny furballs.
Squirrels—small animals that looked like them. Startled by the boar's rampage, they must have fallen out of the tree. Eyes spinning, they twitched and spasmed.
"[gentle]……Sorry."
Ash pressed his hands together for a split second, then ran on.
The boar was still running.
After it had made about half a circuit of the forest, its legs finally started to tangle.
It slowed, dragging—
*Thud.*
It crashed into one last tree and stopped moving.
Ash put his hands on his knees and caught his ragged breath.
"[gentle]……Hah."
A drop of sweat fell to the ground.
Looking, he saw blood seeping from the boar's head. The first strike must have cracked its skull.
But—
The torso was also wounded. It must have snagged on branches while fleeing. Part of the meat was torn.
"[gentle]……Underestimated the conditions, didn't I."
Ash muttered.
He was angry at his own carelessness.
(*At this rate, I can't finish it in one blow.*)
——
The second attempt came the next morning.
As Ash walked the same game trail, he reassembled the image in his head over and over.
(*The problem isn't holding back power. It's the precision of the impact point and the angle.*)
Yesterday's failure had made that clear.
Right Golem's strike had gone soft because he'd unconsciously pulled its power. But there was no need to hold back. If anything—
(*Vertical strike to the crown. Concentrate all force on a single point and crush it.*)
If he didn't let the force disperse, he could shatter the skull.
"[gentle]Today, I'm finishing it."
He re-gripped his staff.
(*Right—vertical strike to the crown. Left—lateral strike to the hind leg joints. Timing: perfectly simultaneous. Margin of error: zero.*)
He summoned the two golems.
"[gentle]Let's go."
He himself also gripped his short sword in a reverse hold.
If by any chance the boar was still moving, he'd deliver the finishing blow himself. For that, the distance was three meters. Not too close, not too far.
—He found it.
Beyond the trees, a different individual from yesterday.
Bathed in the morning light, its black bristles gleamed dully.
Ash issued orders to the golems.
Right moved forward. Left spread out to the side.
(*Wind direction is…… at our backs. Low chance it'll catch our scent.*)
He closed the distance, inch by inch.
Ten meters. Eight meters. Five meters.
(*Three, two, one—*)
"[gentle]Do it."
This time, he didn't hesitate.
Right's fist dropped vertically.
Left's fist shot in laterally.
Perfectly simultaneous.
—*Crunch.*
The crown caved in.
—*Squelch.*
The hind leg joints snapped backward.
The boar made no sound.
Its consciousness must have been snuffed out in an instant. The massive body collapsed on the spot.
*Thud.*
The ground shook.
That was all.
Ash didn't move. He kept his short sword at the ready and counted to three.
No movement.
Its breathing had stopped.
"[gentle]……Well."
Ash put his hands on his knees and steadied his breathing.
"[gentle]That's about right."
His voice was flat.
But—
Inside, it was different.
(*I did it.*)
Golem control. This was the first time he'd achieved this level of precision. Simultaneous strikes to the head and limbs. And both without a millimeter of deviation.
(*With this…… I can do it.*)
Ash stood up and approached the boar.
The torso was completely unscathed.
Blood was flowing from the head, but that wasn't a problem. What mattered was the condition of the meat.
He re-gripped his short sword.
First, bleeding it out. He cut the carotid artery in the neck and h
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