(Heartfelt thanks to 'Shao Feng Ye,' 'Yume no Shouyou,' 'Lei Xiang,' 'Lightly Painted Smoky City k,' 'Phantom Yin Hua Shang,' and 'Sui Feng Qi Wu' for their rewards!)
Why did 'Automatons' exist?
Even the most incompetent apprentice Automaton Master or magician could recite the answer to that question backward and forward...
In order to escape lengthy incantations and cumbersome Magic Arrays, and use magic more concisely and swiftly, magicians developed Magic Circuits—devices that condensed all the conditions required to cast a spell, serving as substitutes for the rituals involved in casting magic.
With Magic Circuits, which condensed all the requirements for using a spell, magicians only needed to pour magic power into them to cast magic that had been "prepared in advance," allowing them to use spells in an instant.
But Magic Circuits were merely tools that prepared all the conditions for a spell, existing as substitutes for lengthy incantations and cumbersome Magic Arrays.
Even with a spell prepared beforehand, a magician still had to control the Magic Circuit in order to activate and use it.
Thus, while magic could indeed be used much faster than without Magic Circuits, it still failed to satisfy some people in combat. So, in pursuit of an absolutely streamlined and swift way of using magic, 'Automatons' were born, along with Automaton Masters.
With 'Automatons,' Automaton Masters could leave the task of controlling Magic Circuits entirely to the 'Automatons.' They only needed to provide magic power to cast spells.
To put it bluntly, 'Automatons' had only been created so that magicians could use magic quickly.
That fixed the purpose of 'Automatons.'
Combat!
Other than combat, 'Automatons' had no other reason to exist!
Naturally, given that purpose, 'Automatons' became tools used by nations for war.
However, even with 'Automatons,' Automaton Masters to control them were still