Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: 030. L's Lie - (Complete)
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Otilie had been repairing the doll from the moment she opened her eyes until the sun went down, not even stopping to eat.
In truth, the atmosphere didn't exactly allow for casually heading to the dining hall.
The Ivory Tower was in chaos, as if mourning a death, ever since the top student from the Gray Tower's first-years had emerged.
"Mm…."
But that quiet atmosphere felt far more comforting to Otilie.
Back at the high castle, every day had been just as serene.
"…Let's focus."
Otilie shook her head.
The date Priest Leo had mentioned for the incident was today—the end-of-month evaluation posting day.
A disaster could strike at any moment.
Steeling her resolve, she picked up her tools.
The doll 『Leo』 now perfectly mirrored the face of its original owner. It was so exquisitely crafted that anyone on the street would mistake it for a real person.
"…Yeah."
—Click. Click.
It was around the time she was winding the spring on the third doll.
Clunk.
The door opened. Without a knock.
No one had ever opened Otilie's dormitory room door since enrollment. Naturally, she eyed the entrance warily.
There stood a woman with a stark white face and stark white hair. She wore the first-year uniform of the magic department, but her face was unfamiliar.
"Hello. Oh, you're making dolls, perfect."
Otilie furrowed her brow at the woman who approached so amiably.
Seeing that reaction, the woman raised both hands.
"Don't worry. I have no intention of bullying you or anything. I just want to be friends."
"…Friends?"
It had been ages since she'd heard the word "friends."
Otilie had called her dolls friends before, but no one had ever approached her wanting to be hers.
"Yeah. Friends."
The woman smiled brightly and stepped closer. Otilie pointed her tool at her. The woman stopped in place, still smiling brightly.
"Won't you join me?"
"…What do you mean?"
"Join Shadow."
"Shadow?"
"That's right. It's a place with good friends, including me. I can assure you, Otilie—you're one of our kind."
Being suddenly called "one of our kind" brought her no joy.
As Otilie's expression grew subtle, the woman added,
"In Shadow, you can unleash your talents without restraint. Your abilities are precious. They can't be left to rot in a shithole like this. Take my hand, and together we'll establish a new order in this rotten world. Doesn't that sound fun?"
"…."
Otilie thought there was some truth to the woman's words.
This place was a shithole.
Her guiding professor had no interest in understanding the potential of dolls, and neither did her classmates. Otilie was isolated, wearing herself down.
Just recently, she'd buried a cherished doll with her own hands.
—'Talents others can't understand are the true talents. You're creating, Sister.'
But things were different now.
Otilie had found her own muse.
She'd been affirmed for her talents. That alone gave her the drive to move forward again.
If she hadn't met Priest Leo, would she have taken the woman's hand?
She couldn't know.
But…
"…."
At the very least, to Otilie now, following this woman seemed like it would make fulfilling the Ihen Dorp family's vow impossible.
It would also deny the pledge she'd made before Priest Leo.
"No thanks?"
"…Huh?"
"Why should I be friends with you?"
"…."
So she refused.
There was another reason, too.
"More importantly, you're weird."
"What?"
Otilie frowned.
Humans don't make spring noises, just as dolls don't breathe.
Yet this woman before her did both.
She was closer to a doll than a human.
But closer to a human than a doll.
This inexplicable contradiction clung to the woman.
—'…So, there's a bad person hiding in the Ivory Tower?'
—'Yes. I don't know who, but they'll act on the end-of-month evaluation day in two weeks.'
Priest Leo's voice echoed in her mind.
An alarm bell rang at the same time.
Otilie cautiously activated the doll's drive mechanism. Seeing the motion, the woman sighed.
"Sigh… Your insight is impressive. Such a waste of talent. The Shadow Wolf would have liked you a lot."
"Don't come closer. You'll get hurt."
"Pity. Guess I'll have to use you as a puppet after all."
At that moment, the woman's eyes turned violet.
Before Otilie could react, her body stiffened.
Not exactly stiffened—more like all strength drained from her body.
A sickening sense of helplessness.
She couldn't even breathe.
"Eugh…."
Even desperately trying to move, Otilie's gaze remained locked on the woman's eyes.
"If you wield secret magic to manipulate matter, I manipulate minds. That's why I thought we could be such good friends."
The woman slowly approached and lifted Otilie's chin.
"What a shame."
Otilie's mind went blank.
Precisely, just before it blanked.
Bang!
The wardrobe in the corner of the dorm burst open, and a blond priest leaped out.
"Huh…? I didn't sense anyone."
The woman hurriedly turned her eyes to the blond priest. Thanks to that, Otilie briefly regained control of her body.
"…Who are you?"
The doll 『Leo』 looked so much like a real person. Sure enough, the woman's eyes turned violet again.
But 『Leo』 was an inanimate object.
Mind manipulation had no effect.
"…My power doesn't work?"
The moment the woman recoiled in shock, 『Leo』 raised its hand.
"Kuh! Why?!"
As the woman leaped back,
—Boom boom boom.
The highest-tier attack spell slammed into her.
The explosion demolished the entire dorm room, hurling the woman beyond the tower's outer wall before finally subsiding.
"Ha, haah."
Otilie lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.
Clank.
The doll 『Leo』 that saved her approached. Before stowing it in the wardrobe, Otilie had programmed an auto-defense incantation into it. It had paid off handsomely.
"…『Leo』, you saved me."
Otilie smiled broadly.
Her legs gave out, but it didn't matter. She forced herself to stand. 『Leo』 kindly supported her.
Priest Leo was right after all. That woman was the mastermind lurking in the magic department. With the situation botched, who knew what she'd do now.
So…
"…I'm the only hope."
She reaffirmed it.
*
———RUMBLE BOOM!
The massive explosion near the Ivory Tower rang out about an hour after Sophia and I started walking the streets.
The ground suddenly shook, knocking items off market stalls. I immediately assumed a combat stance, but the nearby pedestrians' reactions were lukewarm.
"…Another explosion?"
"This is why mages are…."
Ah, the magic department.
What kind of lives have you all lived?
Explosions in broad daylight, and no one bats an eye.
But unlike the pedestrians, I was different.
"Master, this smell… something's off."
Sophia wrinkled her nose.
I focused my sense of smell just in case, but caught nothing. It seemed more like Sophia's unique sixth sense than actual smell.
Well, in the original game, Sophia did have a detection passive.
"What smell?"
"Like a person, but not quite. Hard to describe… clean yet dirty."
That confirmed it.
'Pale Face.'
A member of Shadow.
Just like the Shadow Wolf who caused the first act's incident, this was another from the kingdom's shadowy organization, Shadow. A tricky foe specializing in brainwashing and mind control.
Pale Face, who had been disguised as one of the magic department cadets, had finally revealed herself.
This explosion heralded the prelude to Act 2's climax.
I didn't know the explosion's cause, but I had to stop Pale Face before she summoned the Predator.
'There was another Shadow member in Act 2 besides Pale Face….'
String Master.
Pale Face summoned the Predator, but String Master spawned the countless chimeras alongside it.
I needed to track that woman down too, but
the priority was stopping Pale Face from summoning the Predator.
"Miss Sophia, can you track that smell?"
"Yes. I can."
"Let's go."
Sophia looked at my face.
As if asking if I knew all this.
As if bringing her here was all for this reason.
A hint of disappointment in her green eyes made her thoughts obvious.
"Miss Sophia, once this incident is over, we'll finish our outing properly."
"…Yes!"
She reluctantly opened her mouth, then nodded with renewed vigor.
'What a good doggo.'
Such simple sentiments.
*
Tracking the smell's source was easy. Sophia headed straight for the Ivory Tower like she had GPS on her feet.
There was a long street at the base of the Ivory Tower, and we finally arrived at one of its alleys.
"It's here."
Sophia picked up the Ink Sword.
Deep in the alley stood a woman fitting the name Pale Face—white hair, white skin—with blood trickling from her mouth.
'She's injured?'
The Act 2 mastermind was half-dead right in front of us.
What the hell happened?
As I desperately tried to make sense of it, the woman looked up at me.
"Kuh."
I instinctively averted my gaze and pulled Sophia behind me.
"Wh-what? M-Master?"
Sophia flailed in my sudden embrace, but I ignored it.
"Sister, that woman's eyes shatter the mind. Never meet her gaze."
"Y-Yes…."
Pale Face's ability was mind manipulation.
No, closer to brainwashing.
Eye contact was the trigger, so avoid that at all costs…
"Y-You…!"
But Pale Face's reaction was odd. She staggered to her feet, pointed at me, and screamed in a tearing voice.
"Priest! You dare… dare attack me?!"
"…What?"
In this world, Pale Face and I were strangers.
So she shouldn't know me, much less rage at me.
"Eeeeeek!"
Yet Pale Face stared at me in terror, shaking violently.
'Why's she flipping out at me?'
No clue.
"M-Master… that woman…."
"She's a bad person."
Shing.
With those words, the Ink Sword was drawn.
Sensing its eerie aura, Pale Face turned and glared straight at us.
"…You, at least—I'll grind you to bits and turn you into a useful puppet!"
Pale Face raised her hand, and I shouted urgently.
"Miss Sophia!"
Sophia lunged at my call. But before the Ink Sword reached her, a massive explosion erupted from the Ivory Tower.
Unlike the previous one, this was on another scale entirely.
The tower's upper five floors collapsed cleanly.
The shockwave made Sophia hesitate for a split second. Debris began raining down.
"Kuh!"
Sophia spun and deflected the falling rubble over me.
In that gap, Pale Face had fled into the alley shadows.
"…Shall we pursue?"
"I'd love to, but…."
I scowled and looked up at the sky.
From the Ivory Tower's upper levels, amid the collapsed inner walls, a massive black silhouette rose. A long body with a house-sized maw. At a glance, a black monster resembling a sea eel.
"…Predator."
I had to stop that first.