Chapter 23
Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: 023. Otilie - (Complete)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
According to Priest Lowen, there had been some kind of unidentified vibration and collapse in the magic department building.
Because of that, the academy—which had been on high alert after the Full Moon Festival incident—had erupted into a huge commotion.
No wonder no worshippers showed up at the chapel that day. So that was the reason.
"...Hmm."
As far as I could recall, there was no such event in the original story.
That left two possibilities.
Either this collapse was so minor it wasn't even mentioned in the game.
Or it was a butterfly effect caused by my mistake.
"...Yeah."
Honestly, I figured it was the latter.
It just so happened that a week ago, the woman who came to the confessional was from the magic department.
Could she have caused the accident?
Like some mustache guy who flunked art school entrance exams.
"...Who knows, damn it."
The magic department at Erebos Royal Academy was practically like the Galápagos Islands.
Unlike the theology or knight departments, which were open enough to allow outsiders to observe the end-of-month evaluations, the magic department maintained a closed-off atmosphere.
So as a lowly priest, I had no way of knowing internal affairs there.
Unless I heard it straight from the person involved.
"Father, I failed."
The next day, the person in question showed up.
*
Otilie had received a failing grade on that day's evaluation.
Not just the lowest score, but a straight-up fail.
"I even got suspended. For a week."
She'd been suspended for a week, too.
"...So, they told me I have to take the makeup classes that open during break after this semester ends."
Erebos Royal Academy, with its exorbitant tuition, was a place where prestigious nobles mainly enrolled, so they rarely gave failing grades to students.
Apparently, Otilie was the only one in the magic department this year to fail.
After class, her supervising professor Gregor had called her in and lectured her for a good while.
- 'Didn't I tell you? That toy of yours is disrupting the order of magic! Ihen Dorp, if the day comes when you make that useless doll again, I will personally see you expelled!'
The fact that he mentioned expulsion made it clear this was no joke.
But Otilie let all that nagging go in one ear and out the other.
She had blocked a veteran mage's attack, even if just once.
The moment Professor Gregor's face filled with bewilderment, Otilie felt a thrill unlike anything before.
It was completely different from the sensation of pranking the old butler back at the high castle.
At that instant, everyone in the classroom had focused on Otilie, and she was certain it was awe, not contempt.
"Father... yesterday, I saw the possibility. I know what I want to do now."
"...Hmm, what on earth are you saying, sister...?"
A hesitant voice came back belatedly from beyond the partition.
Otilie realized her mistake. She'd been talking only about herself.
"...W-Well, actually..."
She explained everything.
About submitting the doll for the magic department's performance exam, angering the professor, and getting a failing grade.
After hearing the whole story, the priest let out a sigh of relief for some reason.
"So, that collapse at the magic tower was...?"
"Ah, yes. Probably because of the magic the supervising professor used on my doll."
It seemed the commotion had drawn the academy guards, causing quite a mess in the department.
That was likely a big reason why Otilie got suspended for a week.
Someone had to take the blame, and it was easier to pin it on a student without backing than the professor.
"Still, it's a relief. No one got hurt."
"...Actually, it's not true that no one got hurt."
Otilie pulled out a single spring from her pocket.
It was the only remnant left of Edelweiss.
"My doll got destroyed."
It had blocked one attack with the defensive magic circle, but couldn't withstand the barrage of gravity magic that followed.
In the end, the automat doll Edelweiss—which she'd painstakingly modified over a week—shattered into scrap metal.
With the core frame broken, there was no way to repair it.
The depth of her affection made the sorrow all the greater.
"Oh dear. That must be heartbreaking."
The priest offered careful condolences.
"No. It's okay. Dolls... I can just make a new one."
Otilie didn't despair.
As she'd said, she'd seen the possibility.
"By embedding magic circuits into the doll, I could make it cast magic, even if limited. It's only basic spells now, but if I research more and implant more complex circuits, it could use advanced magic too. And when that happens, I can make the ultimate doll that won't be pierced even by that professor's magic!"
"W-Well... yes. Congratulations."
"It's all thanks to you, Father. Without you, I never would have even tried."
"...No, I just..."
Otilie could no longer hear the priest's voice.
She clenched the spring tightly in her fist.
After that incident, it was like the puzzle pieces fell into place in her mind.
She had the thread now; all that was left was to make it real.
'A new doll.'
Unlike the late modifications to Edelweiss, this one would be designed from the start with mana circuits embedded.
She planned to use top-grade materials. If she contacted the butler to bring parts from the scattered automat dolls at the high castle, there'd be no issue.
The doll that emerged would be the pinnacle of all she'd ever made.
Quick to react to magical manipulation, yet able to cast complex spells through its built-in circuits.
So...
'Human-like.'
Yes.
A doll just like a human.
No—a human in the form of a doll.
"Father."
"Yes?"
"Truth is, I still... don't know why I'm at this academy. It feels like wearing clothes that don't fit—like an uncomfortable itch."
That was true.
Otilie and Erebos Royal Academy were total opposites.
However...
"But I think I know what I want to do. I want to fulfill my family's long-cherished wish."
"Your family's... long-cherished wish?"
"Yes."
Otilie nodded vigorously.
'The perfect recreation of a human.'
The professor had called it the aspiration held by Ihen Dorp centuries ago.
The traces of that research were the automat dolls piled up in the high castle.
Otilie had always wondered.
Why were there so many dolls accumulated in her home?
Now that she was at Erebos Royal Academy, she understood. They were all the results of trial and error.
Someone's research, milestones, footprints.
Of course, Otilie didn't have strong attachment to the Ihen Dorp name.
But blood couldn't lie, perhaps.
Otilie liked dolls.
And having seen the possibility, she wanted to see it through to the end.
"... ."
Meanwhile, the priest seated opposite fell silent.
Maybe the word "family" made it hard to respond.
He really was kind. Otilie smiled faintly and spoke.
"So, could I ask one favor?"
At Otilie's question, the shadow beyond the partition tilted its head. She rubbed her slightly flushed cheeks and continued carefully.
"I'm going to make a new doll from now on. I want to name it after you, Father... If it's okay, could you tell me your name?"
Names mattered.
Just as the doll that broke yesterday had the moniker Edelweiss.
Just as the dozens, hundreds of automat dolls at the high castle each had names.
This new one would be the same.
"...Sure, I suppose... if it's just the name. I'm Leo."
The priest pondered briefly, then nodded and answered.
"Leo."
Otilie slowly let the name roll off her tongue.
It was a good name. Especially the 'Le' sound, the way the tip of her tongue lightly tapped the roof of her mouth.
"Thank you."
With sincere gratitude, Otilie left the confessional.
She had no money for an offering, so she placed the brass spring that had powered Edelweiss instead. As an intricately crafted piece, it would surely fetch a good price.
"Hoo."
She let out a soft breath.
A smile spread across her face. Otilie took one last look at the chapel and departed.
Her steps were light and springy.
If she hadn't come to this chapel, she might have buried that doll—and with it, the Ihen Dorp aspiration and her own identity.
The fact that she hadn't was thanks to meeting a benefactor here.
- 'Surely, miss, you'll meet many connections at Erebos. Some good, some bad, of course. But...'
The old butler had said it with detached calm.
- 'You'll also meet someone who can help your talents bloom.'
That's what the old butler had said.
He'd lied to her many times.
But this one, Otilie was certain, was true.
*
After that, Otilie threw herself into doll-making day and night.
It was the first time.
The first time she'd been so absorbed she forgot to eat or sleep.
Her hands didn't stop, her mind raced.
As if she'd been injected with some awakening agent.
——Click.
During her week-long suspension, Otilie holed up in the Ivory Tower dormitory, crafting the doll.
The outside world buzzed with some inter-department exchange event, but it was another world to her.
——Rumble.
The skeletal frame gradually took on a human form as time passed.
——Creak, creak.
All the dolls Otilie had made before were modeled after her own appearance.
Not this time.
Before her eyes stood not a black-haired, black-eyed girl doll, but a sturdy male automat doll.
Its build astonishingly resembled Priest Leo's. She'd managed to approximate the shape from the shadow reflected opposite in the confessional.
But the doll's face was blank.
"The face... I don't know it yet."
That's fine.
She could learn it gradually over time.
Start with what she could do now.
"...Leo."
Calling the doll's name, Otilie carefully lifted a single strand of hair wrapped in a handkerchief.
Golden hair. She'd picked it up near the chapel a little while ago.
"So the priest has blond hair."
Otilie grinned.
The ambition harbored by Ihen Dorp—that is, Otilie.
The perfect recreation of a human.
The recreation of a 'perfect human.'