Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
Studying, researching, occasionally turning on a broadcast to communicate with the Forest Keepers, and as always, a repetitive daily routine continued.
Finally, the catalyst that would break Luke’s monotonous and leisurely life had arrived.
“Finally.”
The ordered doll from Merlin and the magic stone from Homiru had finally come into Luke’s hands.
Luke couldn’t help but let a smile lift the corners of his mouth.
After examining the quality of the dolls and the magic stones, Luke mumbled,
“Both are of high quality. My judgment was not wrong. Everyone’s abilities are remarkable.”
Both the doll and the magic stone were perfectly satisfactory, aligning precisely with his demands.
However, no matter how skilled they were, it must have been quite difficult for them to meet the deadline he proposed.
Still, he had no choice but to express his gratitude to both Homiru and Merlin for creating such well-made items for him.
In fact, even though he had previously discussed the doll with Merlin, the request he made of Homiru was genuinely unreasonable. He had asked for it on the spot the same day they first met.
He would have to properly thank Homiru later.
Anyway, he had truly not expected the magic stone and the doll to be completed simultaneously.
Now it was a question of which to work on first…
Luke rested his chin in thought.
Should he prioritize finishing the doll to secure combat and labor resources, or should he start with enchanting the magic stone to reduce the loss rate with Arinseia’s computer and improve synchronization for real-time computational capability?
After pondering those two options for a moment, Luke quickly reached a decision.
“Alright, I’ll work on the doll first.”
As much as he wanted to enhance the computer and try out the new technology he had envisioned, the day of the presentation was approaching fast.
What was pressing wasn’t high computational work but rather basic labor.
Besides, even if he postponed the magic stone’s work, while its performance might decrease somewhat, he still wouldn’t be completely unable to carry out the existing high-performance computing tasks. Furthermore, to better synchronize the computing performance with the current magic stone, structural changes to the entire garden of Arinseia would be necessary.
On the other hand, there were many living armors that were left abandoned in the corners of Arinseia, accumulating dust, their state so poor that although their cores were not completely broken, they were nowhere near operational.
These armors couldn’t be used at all unless they were contained within dolls.
To do that, having a few more hands would certainly be helpful.
Soon, Luke nodded and looked at a box filled with dolls resembling Liv.
“Alright, let’s start with this.”
—
“Alright, let’s get started.”
With that, Luke chose comfortable pajamas that wouldn’t interfere with delicate work, and carefully tied back his hair.
Since the task required a lot of mana, he dispelled the polymorph he used to hide his horn.
To alleviate the fatigue from his half-complete magic sight, he found and put on the enchanted glasses he had taken from a dark mage, and retrieved the metal cookie tin that Pyris had previously opened, thinking it contained snacks, only to be greatly disappointed.
Having completed all his preparations, Luke sat down on the floor and began inserting the cores into the dolls’ backs, applying various enchantments and stitching them up.
With many stuffed bears stacked around, and him planting cores and conducting enchantments while stitching, anyone who didn’t know better might think he was simply attaching eyes to dolls, but in reality, the task required exceptionally high concentration and magical ability; otherwise, it would be impossible.
It hardly took thirty minutes to implant one living armor into a doll!
Perhaps if a proper mage who understood how living armors were made witnessed such a scene, they might have fainted in shock.
Yet, even if it was a feat that would terrify other mages, this was already Luke’s third time performing such a straightforward task.
He had learned from the trial and error of both Liv and Kate in the previous two instances.
So, there was nothing particularly novel for Luke now.
Having completed the straightforward implantation task with ease, Luke looked at the doll standing on the floor by its own power, sighed in satisfaction at his work.
“Phew. I’m getting quite used to this now. Playing with dolls, that is.”
Playing with dolls, and when looked at this way, isn’t my hobby rather un-girlish?
Except for the fact that the dolls he was playing with were actually powerful mage-level sorcerers and swordmaster-level warriors.
Chuckling at such a trivial joke that came to mind, Luke picked up another doll and placed it on his lap, mumbling to himself.
“Looking at it this way, I’ve really changed a lot.”
Luke sometimes wondered what it would be like if he were just an ordinary girl playing with dolls.
A life in this peaceful everyday setting, without any thoughts, worries, or concerns, simply socializing with other kids his age and living life as one of them.
What would living as a truly ordinary child feel like?
Not knowing circle magic, having no memories or knowledge of a past life, without the Dragon Heart, the ability of adaptive beasts, fragments of the goddess, or magic sight.
Forgetting all memories of Renie and Kail, the end of Arinseia and the demon realm, and all the truths intertwined beneath them, just living a normal life like everyone else.
What would an ordinary version of himself look like?
With that question in mind, Luke pictured his own appearance.
A girl with no special characteristics, devoid of any essence of dragons, goddesses, beasts, or circles.
At that time, he probably wouldn’t have this inconvenient and unusual dragon horn, as dragons don’t exist in modern times.
Then what about the ears? Would they be like a beast’s? Human? Maybe resembling an elf’s.
It wouldn’t make much difference.
Perhaps only one side would have differently colored eyes that stand out due to the magic sight.
At that time, both might have teal-colored irises.
Or they could be a completely different color.
Perhaps unlike now, the name would also be a little more girlish.
Like Lucy or Luna, a common name.
What about hair color or facial features?
Would those change to something ordinary as well?
“…….”
And even if that was the case, could he be happy?
While pondering such thoughts, images of the family he had regained in this life, including Yerna and Dayton, floated before Luke’s eyes.
The kind and caring guardian elf, Yerna.
A friendly, sometimes dependable human friend, Dayton.
And his lively little sister, Pyris, who adores her older sister Diana…
Yes, it would likely still be a loud and bustling life without much change.
Being with them, such a life wouldn’t seem bad at all.
Rather, in a corner of his heart, it felt like he was hoping for that.
Perhaps this ‘body’ before awakening the self known as ‘Luke Irushi’ had originally possessed such a personality.
Thinking that, Luke chuckled softly and muttered.
“Well, whatever happens, Renie’s prophecy will come to fruition.”
She said that I would definitely be happy.
Just then, as Luke flipped the doll resting on his lap,
-Creek, whooosh!
Suddenly, a space opened up.
Cutting through the fabric of space was Liv, returning as the commander of the Arinseia Knights to check for anomalies and report back.
“Oh, Liv. You’re back. Was there anything unusual in Arinseia?”
Having safely returned to Luke’s room, Liv slowly lifted her head in response to Luke’s words.
-Her eyes widened.
She couldn’t help but freeze.
Before her were piles of dolls that resembled her, and there was Luke, sewing while holding a doll on his lap.
That was, in every way, a shocking scene for Liv.
However, oblivious to Liv’s feelings, Luke just tilted his head while brushing his hair back.
“Those are your subordinates. What do you think?”
“……!”
In response, Liv immediately waved her hand as if protesting, tapping her chest.
That gesture seemed to indicate, ‘You’re ignoring me and handling another doll,’ but interpreting it that way is too simplistic.
From Luke’s perspective, the meaning of that gesture was that it was unfair and inefficient for a commander and swordmaster like her to have the same appearance as ordinary knights.
If everyone looks the same, how would one know who is commanding whom, and that could create confusion in the chain of command.
In fact, during the prosperous days of Arinseia, Liv’s armor was often adorned with different emblems and decorations from those of the ordinary knights to avoid such confusion.
From Liv’s viewpoint, it was a valid tactical protest.
“Hmm, you’re right. After all, it would definitely create confusion if the commander appears the same as the ordinary knights.”
Think about it, no matter how well they usually could identify each other’s mana patterns, they couldn’t process all that information in the chaotic environment of a battlefield.
Whether human or golem, there is a limit to how much information can be processed at any given moment, and if there’s too much information to handle, it could lead to confusion in prioritizing that information.
In such situations, having a different appearance would certainly help with information filtering.
Liv must have protested from that perspective.
Luke nodded and stroked his chin.
He had thought getting just the dolls would be enough, so he hadn’t considered that.
However, that didn’t mean he could send back the already completed doll designs to have them changed.
Doing so would delay the schedule too much.
Furthermore, it was impossible to take Liv’s core, which was already perfectly adapted to its current body, and implant it into another doll.
Because, unlike the others, Liv’s core was precisely optimized by Luke for that body.
Transplanting it into a new form would inevitably damage the core.
That wouldn’t be good at all.
By the way, who would have thought Merlin would perfectly replicate Liv after showing her as an example…
Well, at least the quality turned out to be exactly what he wanted.
“Then, what do we do about this…?”
Luke needed a strikingly identifiable change that would not cause any modifications to Liv’s body or the bodies of the other dolls, with minimal alterations.
After contemplating that for a moment, Luke soon thought of an idea.
“Alright, just wait a moment, Liv.”
Luke got up from his seat and rummaged through his bag.
—
A moment later, Luke tied his sky-blue handkerchief around Liv’s neck.
“Ta-da! Now you can definitely tell the difference from the others, right?”
“…….”
The handkerchief seemed to please Liv greatly, as she nodded vigorously in response.
“Alright then, could you now take each of the finished dolls to Arinseia? Oh, and please also check if your sword skills have dulled.”
“……!”
Upon Luke’s orders, Liv saluted with a spirited move and began to lead the completed dolls into the spatial dimension.
‘This really feels like playing with dolls.’
Liv appeared to be in quite a good mood.
The reason was unknown to him, though.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter what the reason for her joy is.”
Seeing Liv happy brought a smile to Luke’s face.
Watching her, Luke removed his glasses and stretched.
He still had many dolls left to work on, but for today, this would suffice.
Overdoing it with enchantments in one day was tiring, and if he made a mistake, it would be a waste of mana.
“Phew, for the time being, Liv and I will be busy, huh? Right, Kate?”
“Uh-huh, I agree.”
Kate quietly nodded as she watched the array of stuffed bears.
‘Liv really got riled up over Luke handling another doll that looked exactly like her, while surprisingly being delighted with the one that received a special gift from its master.’
