New Wood Golems

I gathered a massive amount of Smile Points and planted trees like crazy until defense could be handled by Wood Golems alone.

I had to work hard to take the least risky method I could think of.

My aptitude grew stronger the more people there were.

But in my case, doing that required an enormous amount of Smile Points anyway.

But since Smile Points were needed for that, it meant I could strengthen Wenti’s defenses while making people smile at the same time, so there was no reason not to do it.

Even if that made them realize Wenti’s value, I didn’t mind.

Sooner or later they would notice anyway, so I might as well take what I could first.

To avoid war and preserve peace, while reporting diplomatic relations with the elves and communicating with His Majesty the King, I needed military power rivaling other territories.

Getting stronger in order not to fight really was strange when I thought about it again.

So besides earning foreign currency and acquiring slaves through it, we decided to plan measures to increase population.

That meant incorporating the desert folk into Wenti—people we knew of before but had never actively interacted with.

We had already absorbed the villages formed by kingdom refugees, but the desert people who had lived here for decades still lived scattered in settlements, except those already in Tree Village.

When we spoke via Ran-san before, they were quite arrogant and showed no interest in coming here, but now the more people the better.

Personally I planned to wait until Wenti prospered and they came in a hurry, but since the opportunity was here, I hoped to incorporate them all into my territory.

I wouldn’t impose heavy taxes, and at the very least food shortages and water scarcity would be resolved, so it should be win-win for both sides.

“Then please handle it.”

“Leave it to me, Woody-sama. I, Jinga, will definitely incorporate the entire region into your territory.”

I asked Maton, Shekuri-san, and Jinga-san to negotiate with nearby settlements.

The first two had various duties in the village, so they would manage through letters, but Jinga-san intended to visit settlements personally.

Desert people valued personal bonds, especially with kin and neighboring settlements.

So someone who visited directly, like Jinga-san, was often trusted.

I had him take an Ice Wood Golem as escort and also gave him a World Tree so the journey would be comfortable.

And thus Jinga-san departed alone, heading north from Tree Village—

If I wanted to increase military power without human casualties, mass-producing Wood Golems was quickest.

But with new trees like the Holy Tree and Dark Tree added, Element Fruit gained greater variety.

And according to the information on the light panel, these trees could produce even stronger Wood Golems.

If combined with the power of the Tree Guardian Beasts… it should become a force other lords wouldn’t easily invade.

So I decided to check the Wood Golems currently available.

To verify combat strength, I tested together with Nadja and Simurg-san, who were knowledgeable about monsters.

“First, let’s confirm how much stronger monsters become with Tree Guardian Beasts.”

My goal this time was the most cost-efficient way to increase military power.

First I summoned a normal Wood Golem.

Next I summoned a Tree Guardian Beast and had it grant protection to the Wood Golem.

Then I summoned another Wood Golem and had them fight.

As expected, the Wood Golem with a guardian was clearly stronger.

Its movements were smoother and attack speed completely different.

When I added normal Wood Golems, one guardian-blessed Wood Golem equaled about three without guardians.

Summoning one Tree Guardian Beast required 10 Smile Points.

And one could grant protection to up to 10 units.

Using a Tree Guardian Beast required:

1 guardian beast and 10 Wood Golems = 10 + 40 = 50 points.

To match that strength with Wood Golems alone would require

30 Wood Golems = 120 points.

And that didn’t even include the guardian beast’s own combat power, so clearly using them was stronger.

While I thought about saving Smile Points for emergencies, Nadja offered a good idea.

“Woody, why not also ask the guardian beasts placed at each home for security to help?”

“—True! I completely forgot, but they only guard the House Trees, so they should still have spare capacity.”

So I teleported through the trees, asked Shekuri-san to inform everyone we’d borrow their guardian beasts’ power, and returned.

Next was testing compatibility between Tree Guardian Beasts and Wood Golems.

Currently there were four kinds: Fire Cat, Water Dog, Wind Pig, and Earth Mole.

Conveniently, each corresponded to one of the four attributes.

To create an Element Wood Golem required an Element Tree, a Wood Golem, and 20 Smile Points for crossbreeding.

Their strength was far beyond what Wood Golems alone could handle.

When I tested five guardian Wood Golems against one Element Golem, it was a good match.

Then I attached Fire Cat protection to a Fire Wood Golem.

The flames surrounding it clearly intensified.

When tested, even Wood Golems with guardians couldn’t compete.

“Ah, by the way, what happens to the guardian when a Wood Golem is destroyed?”

The guardian-blessed Wood Golem burned to ashes by the Fire Wood Golem.

Testing it showed the Tree Guardian Beast could grant protection again to another unit.

So it wasn’t one-time use—the protection could be reassigned after destruction.

That meant guardian beasts were more useful in the rear granting protection rather than fighting at the front.

I kept testing with different patterns.

As expected, matching attributes produced the strongest results.

Just like with Wood Golems, assembling guardian Element Wood Golems would be most reliable militarily.

“Alright, then let’s finally make the new Element Wood Golems.”

“Ohh, I’ve been waiting!”

I summoned the new Element Trees—the Holy Tree and Dark Tree—and crossbred them with the existing Wood Golem.

A faintly pale Wood Golem and a pitch-black, somewhat frightening Wood Golem were born—