Aiko's POV:
My plan was simple, make a signal beacon to let my ancestors know where I was and that I was in trouble, then when reinforcement arrived, I would have them cause a ruckus to make it easier for the golems I had disguised as armor sets during our first escape attempt to come out of hiding and free the others. Then we could escape while everyone was distracted by my invading ancestors. They seemed adamant about getting my inheritance, so I was more worried they might decide to kill Kenji and Shinji than myself, but I was wrong.
After briefly escaping by myself, I had gotten caught again as I was scavenging for food while waiting for my ancestors to arrive and was eventually sent back to the dungeon. Fortunately, the armor golems hadn't been discovered yet, since the only armor golem any of the guards had discovered and lived to tell the tale would be the heavily modified one that now looks very different with all the vines and stones I added onto it. So, me being captured didn't put much of a wrench in my plans.
However, not long after getting locked back up, some lady came and dragged me by my hair through a secret passage in the dungeon for what I assumed was some private interrogation but turned out to be some spooky cult stuff.
"Oh, father of blood! Mother of flesh! I beseech thee …!"
After gagging me and chaining me to the floor, she started chanting some weird stuff about blood, flesh, life and death, that sort of thing as the runes around the room started glowing. I was pretty sure this was some type of black magic ritual at that point, as for what it was about, I wasn't entirely sure, but I was pretty sure it involved using me as a live sacrifice, and that's when I began to panic a bit.
*Rustling chains*
While I could pick the lock on these chains using the needles I have been hiding in my fists, but I'm not sure I could do so without any of them noticing, and even if I did, I'm pretty sure both the chick with the dagger and the two fatsos are nascent souls. If I did escape these cuffs and chains, if I didn't lose them immediately, which would be pretty hard with my legs being broken at the moment, they can just grab me and drag me back here.
None of my golems are hidden in this room either, which means that I can't just have one grab me and run. My best shot would be if I got some of the golems to come in for a raid, but I'm not sure if that would work, but I guess it's better than nothing. It will make escaping later harder though, but we can probably manage.
"Hm!"
But just as I was about to give the order, my brain started overheating from thousands of different messages popping in and out of my head, while I could feel my mind begin to grow foggy again. The psychic network that my ancestors use to coordinate with each other, passing on information requires a flesh and blood brain. The reason for this, hangs together with something the boss once explained to us. The soul is a slow learner, while the brain is a perfectionist. While my ancestors have been able to make functional bodies capable of holding a soul, they haven't been able to create a perfect substitute for a human brain. This causes a delay in their response time, making it difficult for them to pull off complicated maneuvers on short notice, and attempting to establish an information network like this without a proper brain will result in the majority of the information not going through, lacking in detail, and almost always arriving too late. That is why I am necessary, as they can briefly connect to my brain through my soul to process and send information to relevant parties, optimizing their response time and coordinating their attacks and strategies with each other.
However, this places a strain on both my brain and soul. My soul acts as an entry point for all the information, meaning that I am directly connected to the souls of all the golems. In general, acting as the host of a psychic link is not that hard as most of the heavy lifting is done by the brain, but the pressure keeps adding up the more people join the chat group. Meanwhile, the brain can handle a few tens at a time, but if a large number of golems start actively using my brain at once, my brain will start getting overworked, and best-case scenario, I'll eventually get knocked out and the network goes down until my brain cools down enough to start it up again. And right now, there were thousands of golems that suddenly connected all at once, or in other words, the reinforcements are here, and my brain feels like it's about to explode.
"WATCHOUT!"
*BANG*
However, when I saw him crashing down from the sky, it was as if the whole world froze. The pain stopped and I could feel all the voices fading into the back of my head, all but one that is. I was unable to move, or even blink let alone speak, even if I was not gagged and bound right now, but I was conscious and able to transmit my thoughts through our mental link. As I looked at that familiar face sculpted in metal, the only thing I could say was.
'Grandpa?'
The face, it looked just like grandpa from back then. In response to my message, I heard his familiar voice in my head.
'Aiko, I am, so sorry! You must have been so scared on your own!'
'What are you talking about you idiot!' I replied, conveying a mix of anger and frustration.
'Why are you so angry!'
'WHY WASN'T I ALLOWED TO SEE YOU? THAT BODY LOOKS SO AWESOME! YOU JUST ABANDON ME TO THOSE BORING LECTURES TO GO HAVE ALL THE FUN FOR YOURSELF, DIDN'T YOU? THAT'S SO UNFAIR!' I screamed into his head, genuinely hoping I gave him a migraine.
'Ugh! Please, Aiko, I didn't mean to leave you for all those years! Really, I am! Believe me, it burns me up inside knowing I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most, but-!'
'DAMN RIGHT! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURT MY HEAD TRYING TO MEMORIZE STANDARD MARKET PRICES! THEY ARE SO GOD DAMN VAGUE AND MUCH OF THE NUMBERS WERE OUTDATED, BUT THEY TOLD ME TO MEMORIZE THEM ANYWAYS FOR THE LESSONS! MEANWHILE, YOU ABANDONED ME TO GO MAKE THIS AWSOME GOLEM BODY! NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO GET A HEADACHE! AAAAAAHHH!' I shouted into his mind until I ran out of things to complain about and just started screaming until I felt better.
'UGH! ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! JUST PLEASE STOP SHOUTING!' grandpa shouted back, sending a tingle through my head.
'Hmph! I'm still mad you left me out of all the fun!'
'Is that really all you are upset at me for?'
'What else would I be angry about? Those small arms look so cute, and the big ones look cool to! The small ones are for utility purposes right, while the big ones are for combat and heavy duty tasks, right? And all the pipes and pistons in your stomach, what do they transport? It's not just cooling fluids! And then the wings they are-!'
'Okay, I get it! I get it! I was just worried you'd be upset at me for not being around after I perished.'
'What are you talking about? You were always with me, up until you left me to make this sick new body!'
'Huh?'
'You entered little grandpa's body after you died, and has been watching over me ever since!'
'Damn it! That blasted woman! When did she tell you?'
'Nobody told me!'
'Huh?'
'I'm not that stupid! I've known something was off about little grandpa since all the way back in Shiro academy! Even golems way more advanced than little grandpa aren't capable of showing that level of self-awareness on their own! So, when I met my ancestors in the inheritance trial, I put two and two together!'
'I'm sorry for not being able to help you!' He said, and I could feel waves of sorrow and regrets coming from him.
'Why are you sorry? You've helped me plenty as it is!'
'No, it is all my fault! I had entrusted you to someone I thought of as my friend, but he just abandoned you to rot in that academy project of his. All because I was too cautious of this fat bastard to strike him down sooner!' He said, in a bout of guilt and self-loathing.
'Oh right! While we are on the subject! Who are these people anyways, and why do they want my inheritance?'
'…! I guess you deserve to know! Just please, remember that none of this is your fault!'
And right after he said that a surge of information and memories flooded into my brain, telling me of my origins and the messed-up circumstances behind why I was brought into this world.