They are actually being controlled remotely by some mages on top of the wall. The suits of armor have machinery inside to help them move, but there is no programming. The enchantments look like they were done by a child and not a very creative one.

  I have only taken two steps away from the carriage when a force locks onto me and freezes me in place. I can tell that it is coming from the gate itself, some form of defensive enchantment. However, it feels really weak, I can probably break it just by flexing my muscles, but I don’t.

  I stay still to wait and see what happens, just holding me isn’t enough to be an act of war. To my surprise, a group of servants come running out from the gate carrying a platform. They set it up behind the line of suits of armor and once it is done a man steps up onto it.

  He is a young man, maybe in his early twenties, but he is dressed like a peacock. His blonde hair is perfectly styled, he obviously spends a lot of time in front of the mirror. However, even with all that, he is not what most would call attractive, a lot would call him ugly.

  His face is too pudgy to be handsome and he has what I would call crazy eyes. His blue eyes are bulging like they are about to fall out and he doesn’t blink enough. Although, I do find the tattoos on his cheeks to be interesting, mainly because they are magical.

  They are just lines, nothing artistic like what Bella does, but they are enchanted. It is just a simple mana storing enchantment, but it is more than I thought the Magic Kingdom had. None of the other mages have tattoos that I can see, so maybe it is something they recently developed.

  ??? screams “Before I have you torn apart, you will tell me where my wife is!”

  “I don’t even know who you are! Other than an overdressed idiot. How am I supposed to know where your wife is?”

  ??? says “I am Chase Morrison! My father is the king of the Magic Kingdom and I will be the next king! I am the greatest mage in the world! If you don’t want to tell me where my Lin is, then I will just torture you until you do!!”

  “Well, first off, the Magic Kingdom doesn’t have kings, so you just proved the stupid part. Second, you must be the idiot my wife Lin told me about, the one who couldn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘no’. Third, you aren’t even a decent mage, let alone the world's greatest! Lin could demolish you with a single spell!”

  As I was hoping, my remarks set Chase off and he starts ranting like a madman. Everyone is paying attention to his ranting, which means no one is really paying attention to me. While Chase has everyone distracted, I write a simple set of programming and sneak it into the golems.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  It is enough for basic commands only, but it will stop the mages from controlling them remotely. More importantly, the golems will only listen to my commands from this point on. When I pay attention to Chase again, he is still ranting and shouting threats at me.

  “Amn, do you think this is enough to count as an act of war?”

  Emperor Amn says “I’m afraid not. Despite all his threats, he hasn’t actually done anything to you.”

  “So, you mean we have to stand here listening to his childish tantrum for longer?”

  Chase yells “Enough, take him! We will just torture the information out of him!”

  At his order, the soldiers rush forward towards me, but the golems don’t move at all. Chase notices it before anyone else and starts yelling up at the mages on top of the wall. I stay still and wait until the fastest of the soldiers reaches me and grabs hold of me.

  “Is this enough?”

  Emperor Amn says “It could be, but they aren’t actually attacking you.”

  Over a dozen soldiers have piled onto me by this point, but they haven’t managed to move me. With nothing more than a shrug of my shoulders, the holding spell is broken and I send the soldiers flying. They knock over a lot more soldiers and the ones that don’t get knocked down draw their weapons.

  Of course, their weapons can’t even hurt me, but some of the mages throw spells at me. Those can actually hurt me, well the ones that aren’t using lightning or fire can. Unfortunately, the spells that can actually hurt me are outnumbered by the spells that heal me.

  “That should be enough, right?”

  Emperor Amn says “Oh, absolutely! This is clearly an unprovoked attack on the ruler of a sovereign nation. It is an act of war and we have all witnessed it.”

  “Think it’s enough to justify me leveling the city?”

  King Vex says “I wouldn’t go that far! There are a lot of innocent people in the city! Slaughtering all of them would turn the entire continent against you!”

  “Fine! Golems, clean up this mess and capture Chase.”

  Chase laughs and says “You think you can command my golems?! You idiot! They aren’t even capable of obeying commands! Wait! Why are they moving?!”

  The golems may be simple by my standards, but they tear through the soldiers easily. None of the soldiers has a weapon that can deal any damage to the golems, they just get slaughtered. When the mages see that, most of them take off running, despite Chase being grabbed by a golem.

  Even the soldiers and mages that are safe up on the wall take off and flee into the city. I wasn’t planning to send the golems after them, but at least no more are attacking me. Soon enough, there is no one living outside the gate except for Chase, who is ranting again.

  “Shut up! Now, first you are going to tell me how you knew I was the one who took Lin away. I look nothing like I did back then.”

  Chase says “Why would I tell you anything?!”

  “To avoid unimaginable pain!”

  Emperor Amn says “Ash, you can’t torture him! That would absolutely start a war with the Magic Kingdom!”

  “So? It is a war that I would easily win and it might teach them some humility.”

  Chase says “That’s impossible! We have over a thousand mages, no army can match our power!”

  Emperor Amn laughs and says “According to my intelligence network you barely have five hundred mages and most of those are low level. Are you counting the students in the academy to get that thousand mages?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Even if they had a thousand mages, I could deal with them easily enough with just me and the golems. I’m assuming those were some of the best mages that he could find and as you saw, they can’t do anything to me. The real question is, how badly do I want to punish them?”