Puppeteer's Successor (2)
"...Damn it."
[My child...]
Verdandi gazed at Eunhyeon with pity as he wiped the tears streaming down his face with his sleeve, though inwardly she felt a spark of joy as well.
It meant that his shattered heart, broken over endless ages, was slowly, bit by bit, beginning to mend.
Eunhyeon was just as flustered. Tears he hadn't shed even on the brink of death twenty years ago were now trickling down his own cheeks.
He carefully lifted Arkys into his arms and gently laid her on the floor.
Then, with deliberate care, he began removing the gothic dress she wore.
[...My child? Why does undressing a woman feel so familiar to you?]
One might expect hesitation or clumsiness from inexperience, but Eunhyeon stripped away Arkys's gothic dress with fluid, practiced ease—no fumbling, no second-guessing.
His movements were so natural that even Verdandi, watching closely, felt a twinge of suspicion.
"Dolls don't mean you can neglect maintenance forever. When I traveled with Arkys, I handled the parts she couldn't reach herself—the joints, cleaning, all that."
With her clothes fully removed, Arkys's porcelain-white naked form looked every bit the body of a girl no older than fifteen. Yet unlike a human's, it was a intricate marvel of magitech: exquisite components nestled in key places, the pinnacle of puppetry engineering.
That complexity demanded meticulous care, and Eunhyeon had poured endless attention into it.
As a doll, she lacked reproductive organs in her lower body, and though her chest bore the subtle curves of youth, she had no nipples.
He unlatched the mechanism at her chest, opened it, and peered into her core.
Even after centuries, the magystone heart—Arkys's very essence—shimmered with a brilliant azure glow, its beauty eclipsing any gem sold in markets.
Eunhyeon tucked the extracted heart into his bosom, closed her chest, and once more lifted her tenderly into his arms.
[What will you do with that doll?]
"I'll bury her. Properly."
Arkys wasn't human, but to Eunhyeon, she was closer than any human ever had been.
Performing a funeral rite with utmost reverence was his deepest respect, his highest honor to her eternal rest.
There was no rule saying only humans deserved human burials.
Back on Earth, people even made graves for their pet dogs.
It was Eunhyeon's heartfelt wish to treat and respect Arkys as a person.
[I see. Then I'll pray for her peace as well. She was your friend, after all.]
Arkys had no soul.
She was merely a doll following programmed patterns—until, for some inexplicable reason, she developed self-awareness, thoughts, and actions of her own.
But that didn't matter to Verdandi.
Having watched Eunhyeon's mortal journey from the divine realm, she understood and empathized with his heart.
"Thank you."
Eunhyeon smiled faintly, pleased by her words, and offered his gratitude to his goddess.
As he turned to leave the palace with Arkys in his arms and rejoin the party, he glanced back over his shoulder.
Gazing at the dolls rendered immobile by his Mana Pulse grenade, he murmured softly.
"I'll come fix you all too. Promise."
With those words, Eunhyeon exited the Palace of Trials and teleported to his waiting companions.
"...My god."
Yuria and the rest of the party stared, dumbfounded, at the streaming feed.
The view had suddenly shifted inside the palace, centering on Eunhyeon amid open coffins and rising dolls. As the battle unfolded, they'd watched with bated breath, hearts pounding.
The sight of the dolls simultaneously emerging from their sarcophagi, crimson eyes locking onto Eunhyeon in unison, was straight out of a nightmare.
With overwhelming physical specs and flawless tactics, no lone fighter should have withstood them—yet Eunhyeon parried every assault, turning the tide and neutralizing them one by one.
As she watched, Yuria imagined another possibility, her face draining of color.
'No such thing in the original novel...'
The story had diverged sharply from what she knew.
In the Fate Pioneering Märchen she'd read on Earth, while the protagonist and Alex's party methodically cleared the Arkys Great Labyrinth, a side character golem master triggered a trap and plummeted to the depths.
By sheer luck, he reached the core, claimed Arkys's legacy, and grew stronger through puppetry knowledge in this very "Arkys Great Labyrinth Expedition" arc.
In the book, the golem master earned Arkys's recognition the moment he entered the Palace of Trials.
But what if that recognition hinged on being a puppeteer?
What if Yuria—utterly uninterested in puppetry, solely after the heart in Arkys's chest—had entered instead?
She'd have been torn apart by those dolls.
The chilling thought sent goosebumps racing across her skin.
'This world... is real.'
She realized she'd grown complacent, thinking novel knowledge gave her mastery over this realm.
Unlike protagonists in dramas, movies, or books, she was powerless, foolish, naive—and now she had to face that truth.
'No, but I still have a chance.'
There stood a man at the center of this unforeseen twist—one absent from the original flow.
'He's the protagonist of this story.'
This world was no longer the webnovel Fate's Märchen.
The setting and characters might remain, but an extra-like figure from outside the book had seized the narrative's heart.
"He was right. I wasn't even worthy to face this place's trials."
Eunhyeon wasn't a puppeteer, lacked the qualifications—yet he'd claimed the labyrinth's treasure through sheer force, no different from conquest.
Could Yuria have done the same? Absolutely not.
Just reaching and entering that chamber would've meant her death.
"Huh...?"
Erin gaped at the magical projection of Eunhyeon, stunned.
After a massive blast crippled the dolls, he'd approached the beautiful figure on the jade throne... and tears had fallen.
They could see him, but unaware the feed included audio, the party was utterly baffled.
"Why's he crying...?"
Erin couldn't shake her worried frown, eyes fixed on the image of Eunhyeon.
"I'll take a short break and return."
Eunhyeon cradled the doll—girl-like in form—like a precious child, his expression as calm and composed as ever.
The party exchanged glances, and the highest-ranking among them, Alex and Yuria, nodded as representatives.
As Eunhyeon walked off alone, Erin trailed after him.
"Um... you okay?"
"With what?"
"Well, I mean..."
He looked far from fine—wholly unlike his usual self—but Erin couldn't bring herself to press.
Trailing hesitantly behind, she eyed the doll in his arms.
"Pretty doll..."
So lifelike it barely seemed artificial; mesmerized, Erin stared blankly at Arkys until a sudden question bubbled up.
"What're you gonna do with her?"
"Bury her."
"The doll?"
"She's a doll, but she was my friend."
Eunhyeon's casual tone, referring to a being over four centuries old like an old pal.
Erin found it odd but sensed he didn't want to dwell on it, so she dropped the subject.
Her perceptive nature—honed by always reading the room—spotted his rare low mood instantly.
"Want help with the burial?"
"I'd appreciate that."
At the labyrinth's deepest, most secluded corner, Eunhyeon accepted her offer without hesitation.
He handed Arkys to Erin and summoned a shovel, digging into the earth.
Erin held the doll gently, watching him work in silence.
'He's full of surprises.'
Eunhyeon always unveiled something new.
Mysterious magic summoning items from thin air; connections others could never dream of; ties to ancient relics from four hundred years past.
How is that even possible?
'Wait, is Hyun over four hundred years old? Nah, no way.'
How could a human live that long?
Erin dismissed the absurd notion.
After burying Arkys and returning to the party, Alex immediately addressed Eunhyeon.
"Starting right away?"
"We have to."
"Huh? What? Aren't we heading back?"
Yuria blinked in confusion.
"This was our goal coming here. Getting Arkys's heart was just a step."
"...And the goal is?"
"Building a house here."
"A house?"
"What?"
"House?"
"Did I hear that wrong?"
Not just Yuria— the Cracir escort knights, uninformed on the plan, looked equally baffled.
"Uh, Lord Eunhyeon. Isn't this a dungeon? Building a house inside... that's a bit..."
Even Eira, struggling against her common sense, asked hesitantly.
"Right. Eira, as you said, this is dungeon territory. But who owned this dungeon?"
"Uh... that doll you carried out?"
"Exactly. And just now, I inherited the successor's seat from her—Arkys. What do you think that means?"
"Ownership of this dungeon too...? No way?"
She gasped at her own words, but a voice confirmed her guess.
Per the master's will, Blacklist 'Eunhyeon' is now recognized as the new master of this dungeon.
Several party members stared blankly into space at the voice.
"Ha..."
They were speechless, dumbfounded.
"This actually worked..."
No human had ever "conquered" a dungeon like this.
Even when Eunhyeon had announced his intent to claim it outright, doubts lingered amid the journey—but he'd achieved it effortlessly, seamlessly.
"Everyone?"
The party turned to him, entranced.
Confirming all eyes on him, Eunhyeon smiled and spoke.
"This stays secret. Got it?"
"......"
Like a group under hypnosis, they nodded silently, accepting.
"Alright, on to phase two."