The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 674: Would you advocate for robots...I mean golems’ rights?

Chapter 674: Would you advocate for robots...I mean golems’ rights?

As Neel propped on Stan’s shoulder and started her analysis process, I plopped on the ground and took out a jar of lemonade while interviewing the Big Guy.

It had been a little bit more than a month, and the ruin was a big place. I wondered if something exciting might happen, or if the church’s agents ever come close through another path--you know, swimming from the third level. But it seemed like aside from Ignis popping in from time to time, nothing visited the chamber.

"Nothing is happening, as no one had even come close to this place," Stan replied. "The Great Salamander Ignis also stopped coming."

Pfft--did Ignis truly introduce itself as ’The Great Salamander Ignis’? Cute.

"Were you lonely, Stan?"

The golem paused for a few seconds to process the question. "I don’t think I am capable of loneliness."

"You think?"

"It occurred to me just now that my energy level is rising when I see you," Stan moved his eyes to look down since he couldn’t move his neck. "Perhaps I am wishing for some kind of connection."

"Oh!"

I clapped my hands before knowing it. Hearing that was akin to me finding out Shwa could throw a tantrum and cry so miserably after staying as a quiet, gentle baby for a month. Progress! Emotional progress!

Golem was inherently like a robot back on Earth, and it was hard to program emotions before the development of artificial intelligence. Even then, all kinds of ethical concerns arose from trying to give robots emotions, and all kinds of media made a dystopian vision of humankind being threatened by these robots.

I didn’t see such concern in this world, but it was probably because making golems was very hard and expensive. Besides, the golems were unlikely to get stronger than some of the strongest being here.

You know, like Sacred Guardians.

While I was musing over Stan’s seemingly advanced programming, Neel gave an explanation. "His programming was designed to be progressive--maybe so he could adapt to more than one challenger. He has a learning code to observe patterns and analyze them, including movement, actions, and behaviors."

"I see," I nodded, pretending to understand.

"He just did not have the chance to develop because he hadn’t been meeting anyone aside from you," Neel continued. "You can’t learn something if there’s no learning materials."

"Ah!" I clasped my hands, nodding harder. "On that note, what’s the situation with the rune code?"

"Give me a bit more time," Neel returned her gaze to Stan’s neck. "But it doesn’t seem very complicated at the moment. It was made very neatly, so it helped a lot."

Oh, wasn’t that a piece of good news? Perhaps we could finish this in a day and not incur my son’s wrath too much!

"Good work, Neel!" I shouted in support--the only thing I could do. And good luck--so I would be able to get home quickly. "Jade, Shiny--why don’t we prepare our picnic here?"

"Picnic!" the little boy who had been having a reunion with his mole slid down the golem’s knee. "Jade will prepare it!"

Chii!

I nodded and patted their heads proudly. "Good boy! Good mole!"

This is why educating children is important.

I took out the meal basket and the blankets that Arta prepared for us for this trip, including Jade’s jellies and Shiny’s grilled seafood. The little boy excitedly carried the blankets and spread them together with the mole. It was so cute watching them work hard for their meal, scurrying around to make sure the blankets were well-rolled, and even arranging some pillows so we could lounge around relaxedly.

Whoever said this was a battle arena? This was a safe zone for camping!

The two little creatures hoisted the picnic basket among them, wobbling in the process, and I helped by sending my mana to lighten up the weight. Ah...

I looked up and asked the girl up there. "Neel, will it be a problem if I give Stan my mana?"

"Your mana? Hmm..." the yellow eyes narrowed in contemplation, before she shook her head after a few seconds. "Not now. You can do that later so I can see what the energy distribution looks like."

"Okay, just give me a sign," I nodded. "Oh--don’t forget about your meal too!"

"Mm."

Didn’t seem like she’d eat. Oh, well--she would eat if she felt like it. Disturbing the flow of someone’s brainstorming process was not good, after all.

The spread of meal was sloppy--and by this, I meant that the rascals only took out their jellies and grilled seafood. I chuckled while building a sandwich for me and Neel, and eating it while observing Stan’s eyes.

I wasn’t an expert, but I felt like I could see some flickers in his eyes, which didn’t look as flat as before.

"Does it feel weird?" I asked curiously. The golems in the Lair were ’turned off’ before maintenance, so they probably felt nothing during the process.

"It’s different," Stan mused about it for a while. "I don’t know about weird."

"When Stan come out, Stan can learn a lot of things too!" Jade patted the golem’s foot, making it sticky with jelly. "Like Jade and Shiny!"

Chii!

I cleaned the sticky leftovers on the smooth stone surface apologetically. But Jade’s words made me realize that I hadn’t thought things through. For instance...where would Stan go after getting out of here? It was never discussed before since we didn’t even know if getting out was possible.

I looked up and asked carefully. "If you can get out of here, would you mind staying in the Demon Realm?"

"Demon Realm?" Stan looked at me. "Is it your home?"

"Yes."

"Stan, there are lots of golems in Papa’s and Jade’s house! Neel stay there too!" Jade raised his hands, and I caught them and cleaned them with water before he could vandalize the golem’s surface more. "The golems are as big as Papa and some a bit bigger, but not very."

Stan offered a standard reply that I reckoned was written in his rune code. "Is that so?"

Jade nodded with a big smile, before tilting his head and muttered curiously. "Jade wonder if there’s a little golem as big as Jade too..."

Did he feel lonely because I was getting monopolized by Shwa? Or was he getting impatient waiting for Shwa to grow up? After all, unlike him, Shwa couldn’t just pop out to be as big as a five-year-old child.

I chuckled and patted his head. "We can ask D’ara next time."

Jade gasped and clasped his chubby cheeks. "Then Jade should prepare cookies and chocolates for Teacher!"

That was a good strategy. I glanced at the Golem and asked again. "How about it, Stan?"

"My role is over once you receive the Goddess’s Tears and the medallion," the golem replied flatly. "I don’t have any further commands in my rune code."

Neel peeked out over the golem’s shoulder. "That means if you make a request, I can input new commandments while modifying him."

"I know," I smiled and gazed at the golem’s crystal eyes. "But I want to ask how you feel."

"Feel?"

"If you can feel loneliness, you can generate desire."

"Desire..."

It was something I learned slowly in this life. The ability to express your feelings clearly and freely, I realized, was a privilege--even though it should be a basic right for a living being. I knew golems were technically an ’item’, but just like how I didn’t want to think of Alveitya as a soulless being, I wanted Stan to live and experience things outside the boundary of his short duty.

"Do you want to come with me? Or meeting other golems?" I asked again. "Or...maybe you want to stay where you can work for the Goddess?"

This was why I was reluctant to just take him back with me. I had no idea what kind of principle was coded in his commandments. And while Neel said she could modify it, I didn’t want to go against Stan’s wish.

If Alveitya could be vocal about how pretty it should look, Stan should be able to be vocal about where it wanted to stay...right?

But it seemed like the topic might be too hard to decide on a whim, so I patted his leg. "You can think about it until Neel finishes modifying you."

"I understand," Stan moved his crystal eyes. "I shall think about it."

After that, we talked about what had been happening outside--or rather, Jade and I talked and Stan listened. Since Neel said he needed a lot of learning materials, we talked about all kinds of things we saw and experienced outside.

The storytelling paused when Neel told me I could start feeding Stan with mana so she could read the energy flow. Not long after that, Neel smacked the golem’s shoulder.

"Alright!"

She sounded the most energetic today.

"You’re done?"

"Yes, I’m done analyzing the structure of the whole rune code," she smiled widely--another rare occurrence.

"Oh! How is it?" I stood up with high expectations, since it sounded like excellent news. "Can you do it now?"

"If I have a sufficient energy source, I can," she nodded confidently.

I tilted my head. "What do you mean by energy source?"

She pointed at me with a smirk. "Your mana could work."