As dusk slowly turned into darkness and shadows began to blanket the alley, a woman leaned against the wall, taking a drag from her cigarette.
Though she had certainly quit smoking, it was unavoidable.
At that moment, she felt so exhausted that without inhaling the smoke from a magic herb, it seemed she might lose consciousness.
Phew.
She exhaled the smoke into the night air and looked up at the sky.
Although the stars were not visible, she imagined that they existed somewhere beyond and watched her own drawn-out clouds disperse, letting out a small laugh.
“It’s been a while since I smoked, and my body just can’t take it.”
She had been abstaining from smoking for quite a long time, and the cigarette she was currently smoking was not an ordinary one sold in stores.
However, it wasn’t that she couldn’t endure it.
What truly troubled her was not this cigarette, but rather the countless deaths of the “dolls.”
The puppeteer, Merlin.
She lit her cigarette and mumbled with her eyes closed among the corpses.
“I’m sorry, children. You had such an unworthy mother.”
When the battle broke out, the first to move was Merlin’s “doll.”
Long before this incident occurred, she had already placed a “doll” within the organization to act as her eyes and ears.
Thanks to that, Merlin had been able to anticipate that ‘he’ would come to find her today and prepare accordingly.
However, despite being a place she had meticulously prepared in advance, the caliber of the assassins sent by ‘him’ was far too impressive.
Ultimately, it was only after suffering a huge loss of all her dolls that she managed to barely force them to retreat.
It was not a satisfactory outcome, but there was nothing she could do.
At present, Merlin could not think of a better solution than this.
If she had contacted her disciples, they would have rushed in to fight without a second thought, but Merlin could not do that.
The death of the “dolls” was still much better than the death of her disciples.
To go against ‘him’ meant nothing less than death.
But Merlin was a puppeteer.
Creating dolls and staging plays.
She smiled faintly and took another puff of her cigarette.
The scarlet ember sparkled in the darkness, and soon white smoke erupted once more.
Then she flicked the cigarette toward a doll that resembled her.
Thunk, the cigarette hit ‘Merlin’s’ face.
It was a kind of incense in memory of ‘Merlin’s’ death.
“May you find peace over there, Merlin.”
Thus, she who had never wished for retirement was now free of that burden and turned her body around, holding onto the last red doll sweater she had woven.
————
Chirp chirp.
At the sound of chirping, Luke lifted his body from the bed.
Ruffling his disheveled hair, he looked around and nodded with a satisfied expression.
“This is really a nice room.”
Although the flow had been interrupted once due to Pyris’s cavity incident, Luke had successfully finished moving and had already decorated the room to his liking.
He had set up enchantments and neatly dealt with any evil spirits.
As a result, this mansion was now fortified against attacks from siege weapons, had a barrier to repel pests and wildlife, and maintained the ideal climate for human activity, not to mention he had hidden a spatial pocket in his room as well.
Each enchantment was packed with practical functions.
If this place weren’t situated near the forest, a magical explosion of insane proportions would have gone off, but fortunately, as it was within a location where he could draw on the forest’s mana, Luke’s restraint was not put to the test this time.
Having laid down multiple enchantments and ousted the evil spirit’s presence, Luke even spared the lingering spirit that had been expelled from the mansion.
The mana from ethereal monsters like ghosts or banshees was a good catalyst when creating the essence of a doll and significantly beneficial for enhancing reactivity.
So he had slightly added that wicked spirit to create ‘Kate’s’ consciousness.
Of course, he refined and decomposed the spirit’s essence thoroughly enough to prevent any blending.
It was as if he was using one stone to kill two birds; no, for Luke, it was an incredible gain that surpassed even four.
There were, of course, some frictions during the process.
—-
As he prepared to move boxes downstairs, Luke had come up to the second floor to remove the wicked spirit.
However, enchantments required suitable materials, and since the enchantments were of higher level, the performance of the materials needed to match.
Therefore, Luke had slightly adjusted the ointment he had made earlier to heal Yerna’s arm to be usable as a mana circuit for enchantments.
Having prepared a large quantity of purification to neutralize black magic, reworking it into an enchantment for the mana circuit was not particularly difficult.
“I never expected to use this in such a way…”
Even though the purpose was slightly different, raw materials are meant to be used for their original purpose.
Thus Luke dabbled with the golden eagle’s feather as he painted the mana circuit with the ointment, and the once-hiding evil spirit, now unable to hide because of Luke’s enchantment, was cast out, screaming in a tormented voice.
“Why are you doing this to me!”
“Because you’re in my house.”
Visible evil spirits were quite a rare occurrence, but Luke remained calm.
Though it was rare, Luke was not new to such wicked spirits.
From what he observed, the spirit seemed to be going on about why this was “his house” or how he “bought” this house, but Luke didn’t bother to listen until the end since the story was just a cliché.
Most reasons a spirit would dwell in a house fell into the routine of a typical tale.
Cases of being murdered by robbers or spouses were quite common.
In the case of this spirit, it seemed he’d been betrayed by a business partner, lost everything in his business, and then hanged himself in despair.
“Yeah, that’s a pity, but how does that have anything to do with me?”
Luke replied nonchalantly.
Well, one might listen attentively once or twice, but the truth is that knowing the story behind someone’s death is not particularly productive and mostly just dampens the mood.
The dead cannot be ‘changed’ by others, and that is simply more unpleasant.
It was like listening to a rebellious child throwing a fit.
So, in fact, Luke was not at all curious about why the wicked spirit had such grievances.
He merely thought that the depth of the spirit’s resentment was quite profound to have a self-aware existence.
If it were Luke in the past, he wouldn’t have even bothered to respond.
From Luke’s perspective, acknowledging the spirit’s words and responding at all was already a great respect.
————–
With that, having finally cleared all thoughts of the spirit from his mind, Luke began to survey his room again.
Luke’s room featured a research table, a small desk for various setups, shelves stuffed with numerous books, as well as boxes for organizing computers and miscellaneous items, and a large box he could fit in, placed adjacent to a clothing rack.
On the wall were hangers for dried herbs, leather, hair, etc., with nothing hanging at the moment, he had placed a clothes hanger instead.
Though slightly modern, it was indeed room befitting a mage.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely to his satisfaction.
He still needed numerous magical experimental tools which were quite expensive, and hence he hadn’t acquired them yet.
Small tools like incense burners or measuring cups could be obtained quickly, but what Luke wanted was more than that.
He lacked a large cauldron to blend multiple ingredients and a telescope to accurately locate stars.
But he could gradually fill in the gaps whenever such thoughts arose.
“I need to work hard to earn some money.”
Luke turned his head with a cheerful thought.
The bright morning sunlight streaming through the curtains illuminated his face.
To ventilate the mana inside, Luke promptly drew back the curtains and opened the window.
-Swoosh, clang!
Immediately, bright light streamed down upon Luke’s face.
He frowned slightly at the brightness, but his eyes soon adjusted, and his vision calibrated to an appropriate brightness.
The view pleased Luke’s heart as well.
Bare trees without leaves, faded grass, and the high blue sky.
Though he could not see the vibrant green of summer because it was autumn, he very much enjoyed the unique brownish hue of the season.
“Ah!”
Taking a deep breath, it felt as if the distinct aroma of autumn joyfully filled his chest.
Being close to Luke Forest made it fresh because there was no unpleasant smell of black magic wafting from the Lienne forest.
Yes, this house had the advantage of proximity to the forest.
It was close enough that if one hastily walked from the Luke Forest caretaker’s facility, they could arrive home in about 30 to 40 minutes.
Generally, since there were not many facilities that civilians could freely use in Luke Forest, it didn’t stand out as a significant advantage, but it was a substantial merit for Luke’s family.
As Luke leaned out of the window to stretch widely and savor autumn, he suddenly noticed a familiar face.
“Black-billed Golden Eagle…!”
He had seen the black-billed golden eagle perched on a branch near his house, seemingly preparing to eat while holding a large caterpillar in its beak.
However, the reason Luke showed such delight was that this golden eagle was a very special one.
Although it had noticeably grown since he last saw it, Luke recognized at a glance that it was the same one that had been hidden behind the barriers within Dylan’s facility.
“Nice to see you!”
As Luke expressed his joy, the golden eagle flapped its wings a few times in apparent delight.
Then, it landed near Luke’s window before soaring away in an instant.
“Wait…!”
Luke, surprised, reached out his hand toward the golden eagle, but its movements were so swift and agile that he couldn’t catch it.
“It already left…?”
What could have been so urgent?
Luke murmured in disappointment.
Of course, he couldn’t have a conversation such as how they had been doing all this time, but still, having some connection made him want to offer it something to eat.
As he pondered, he looked down at the window and suddenly stopped.
A caterpillar he had never seen before was wriggling by the window.
It was an Ogura beetle caterpillar.
“…”
It seemed to be a gift left behind by the earlier golden eagle.
Was this, perhaps, a housewarming present?
Thinking it humorous, Luke couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.
“Hahaha!”
Luke laughed heartily, raising the caterpillar high and shaking it for the golden eagle to see as it disappeared into the distance.
“Thank you so much for the gift! I’ll enjoy it!”
Then, the golden eagle also shrieked as if to respond.
-Phewwoooooo—!
