Chapter 24 – The Doll Maker Luca 3

Once the decision was made, it was better to act quickly.

I wonder if Luca will praise me for this?

I wonder what Crazy Bear will say?

I visited Luca’s workshop on the outskirts of town.

When I arrived at Luca’s house, a rabbit plush toy was stuck in the postbox, struggling to get free.

“What are you doing, Rabbit-chan?”

I pulled it out.

The rabbit bowed and apologized, then charged again and got stuck in the narrow postbox.

Luca’s house was filled with stuffed toy rabbits made by her sewing team. I couldn’t tell the difference, but Luca could.

“Be careful. Support 1.”

I pulled it out again, and this time I cast a buff spell.

The rabbit bowed and apologized again, then stuck its head into the postbox and retrieved the letter without getting stuck.

I felt a strange sense of unease afterwards.

Since Luca was shy, it was pointless to ring the bell. I tried to ringing it just in case.

Clang clang.

She didn’t come out.

I had a spare key though, even the friendly delivery person had one.

“Luca~I’m here to visit~!”

I walked through hallway, searching for Luca. I smelled leather. It seems they handle leather products recently. But of course, they won’t go into the living space.

…By the way.

Luca is also a magician like me.

In exchange for receiving the blessing of being a ‘puppet user’, she has a hollow within her body that has been taken by the abyss (demonic realm).

The sacrifice she paid was a fear of other people.

It’s just my imagination, but maybe Luca wanted friends? When she reached out to get her friends who were residing in the abyss, the jealous one choosen, the result was he took away her courage so that no one else would come near her.

Well, it’s just my own speculation.

I think the first time I heard Luca’s voice was on the day Crazy Bear first spoke.

They became good friends after that. In other words, Crazy Bear is a resident of the abyss who took away her courage.

I don’t want to believe this but, what I mean to say is that this guy might be dangerous.

###

Seriously?

I feel betrayed, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t want to believe it, but this friend of mine seems really dangerous.

I speak to the friend who is still moving his hands vigorously, without noticing me, out of a mix of shock at having glimpsed a secret I didn’t want to see and a desire to still believe.

“C-Crazy Bear. What the hell are you doing there?”

Crazy Bear turned to me with my voice and was tying up a rabbit stuffed animal. Oh, this guy is really crazy.

“Oh, partner. You came at just the right time. Can you come over here and help me out for a bit?”

Rather than being embarrassed about being seen, he asked me to join him calmly. What a guy.

“No thanks, I refuse!”

With Luca’s magic, I have a great barrier!

It was successful…ah, that was close.

(TLN: Aix considers the art of rejection as Luca’s magic.)

I’ve heard rumors that there are adults who enjoy that kind of play.

“I don’t have such a perverted hobby, so please don’t involve me. “

“Why not? It’s okay to have a little fun, isn’t it?”

Crazy Bear resumed playing as if to show off to me, and the bound rabbit was shaking uncontrollably.

Did you guys agree to this beforehand? If not, I’ll do my best to stop it, but if it’s consensual, I want to run away from here with all my might. Which is it? I can’t read the expressions of the stuffed animals.

Moreover, Crazy Bear seemed unsatisfied with how he tied up the rabbit and started undoing it. Maybe he has a craftsman-like quality like Luca.

What kind of work are you trying to create, anyway?

Something hit my foot and I snapped back to reality.

It was a ball of yarn that had been unraveling and rolling all the way to the other room.

The stuffed rabbit occasionally stumbled while chasing the ball of yarn. It tried to grab it, but then tripped and scored a goal with its head.

The ball of yarn that it had finally caught up to kept rolling away.

The reason why the ball of yarn rolled here was understood by the great detective, Aix.

So you are the culprit!

The culprit rabbit, who had lost sight of the ball of yarn and looked around, finally found it and perked up its ears in excitement. As if adding to its crimes, it started walking away unsteadily.

“Wait up!”

Finally, Luca, the owner of the house, appeared with lots of scraps of thread stuck to it.

“Hey, Luca. I came to play!”

“Ah!”

Luca turned around embarrassedly and brushed off the lint that was stuck to her head.

Oops, was she in the middle of something?

“Sorry for coming so suddenly.”

“It’s fine that you came, but at least ring the bell, won’t you?”

Luca protested with teary eyes and a pleading look, but I protested with my eyes, “I did ring it!”

The two of us exchanged angry glances.

“Alright!!! What do we have to play with?”

Whoa!!

Suddenly, Crazy Bear’s excited voice interrupted our exchange.

Sigh, what’s going on? Stop surprising me like that.

Looking towards the direction of excitement, a rabbit that had been untangled from a knot was thanking Crazy Bear with a bow.

It seems that Crazy Bear only helped the rabbit to untangle itself from the knot.

“Why did you even get into such a mess? I wonder.”

“Crazy Bear, I trusted you.”

“What are you talking about, partner?”

Crazy Bear pretended to be foolish.

Luca looked tired as she tried to change the subject.

“So, what’s this mess?”

“It’s nothing.”

Luca brushed off the question, seemingly hiding something.

Suspicious.

“Um, could it be…”

Bang!

Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and the three of us rushed to the scene.

There, a clumsy rabbit was struggling to move its legs, buried under a pile of fallen materials.

When I looked at Luca with jittery eyes.

“That’s right! We can’t function without you! Is that so wrong?”

An angry Luca retorted.

Um, sorry.

I didn’t know it would be this bad when the Intelligence +1 of the buff magic wore off.