A peaceful street, passing through a quiet alley, held a charming local doll shop that seemed to exist anywhere.
With excellent handmade dolls, custom-made doll clothing, and even doll repairs, this doll shop was quite well-regarded among those who knew it.
In the shop’s glass display window, a variety of dolls were presented, from cute dolls modeled after bears, rabbits, and lions to beautifully dressed dolls resembling pretty girls, catering to the discerning tastes of picky children.
The name of the doll shop was ‘Merlin Doll Shop.’
There was no better place nearby to look for a doll as a birthday gift for a daughter.
However, sadly, it was closed today.
After shaking the locked door and belatedly realizing this fact, a father of a family sighed with a dismayed expression.
If he had known this would happen, he should have purchased the doll yesterday.
—–
A room filled with cotton, fabric, needles, and threads, alongside completed dolls and unfinished ones.
A woman with black hair sat elegantly, relying on the light of a lamp placed on the table to sew.
It looked as if she were making clothing, but the size was so small that one could scarcely imagine it would be suitable for a person to wear.
However, thinking of the various dolls around her, one could assume it was indeed clothing for dolls.
The finished piece was a tiny red sweater, no bigger than the palm of an adult male.
At that moment, as one work was born from her hands—
– Crack!
– Tap, tap, tap!
Suddenly, the door of the workshop crashed open, and debris scattered everywhere.
The sound of multiple footsteps echoed throughout the dark room like an echo.
And finally, the people barged in on the woman, who had been quietly engrossed in making doll clothes.
– Thud, thud, thud.
– Tap, tap, tap.
Though they broke into the house, they were no ordinary thieves.
This was evident because they were all robust individuals, each gripping a cane or a weapon in their hands.
Moreover, even if they were robbers, their numbers were excessively large for merely robbing a mansion.
Yet despite the bewildering situation, the black-haired woman wore an indifferent expression.
She placed the doll clothing momentarily on the table, carefully set her glasses down beside the newly made red sweater, and rotated her chair to face the visitors.
“…Why are you here?”
There was a lack of strength in her voice.
Was she resigning herself to the inevitable?
The leader among the intruders opened his mouth toward her.
“Merlin, the Lord has ordered you to be removed.”
“…Is that so.”
She nodded and quietly closed her eyes.
Though she appeared to be the owner of this humble doll shop on the surface, the shop was merely a hobby for her; in reality, she was an educator raising assassins to be used in the underworld.
The Death Dollmaker, Merlin.
The assassins raised by her possessed cold hearts unbound by any sense, and thus were referred to as “dolls.”
Raising assassins and making dolls were not significantly different for her.
Consequently, her curriculum did not discriminate between orphans, test subjects, or animals.
She opened her closed eyes and stared at him.
“He knew, didn’t he?”
She had been contemplating retirement from her role as an educator in the underworld.
She had grown completely weary of teaching how to kill.
Now that she had aged, accumulated enough wealth, and gained significant influence, she thought she could safely withdraw; however, her relationships in this world were exceedingly complicated.
Therefore, she was in the process of eliminating any potential seeds that could lead to problems in her retirement plan.
But even she struggled with the thought of killing Dylan Hesriel, who held even greater influence than herself.
Yet, fortunately for her, he had suddenly died alone, allowing her to finally feel safe and consider retirement.
However, the underworld had no intention of releasing someone who had become so deeply entrenched.
In fact, she understood.
The perfectionist known as “that person” would surely come to claim her life.
It’s a common tale that old hunting dogs get discarded after the hunt is over.
“I guess I have no choice…”
Merlin laughed as if she had lost her marbles.
If only she could continue using the name ‘Merlin Doll Shop’ as her trademark.
It seemed she would have to create another name for her doll shop.
——-
Pyris, who had been terrified at the dentist, was currently humming a tune, pressing her cheeks with the healing patch enchanted with ice magic and partial haste.
Due to anesthesia, she felt no pressure on her cheeks, yet found it quite fascinating that she could feel something pressing against them with her fingers.
“Hmm, huh~.”
“Is the anesthesia that amazing?”
“Yeah! I can’t feel anything in my cheeks at all! It’s like I’m touching someone else’s cheeks!”
“Haha, I guess that’s true.”
Luke laughed as he watched her.
Despite all her senses being intact, the fact that she couldn’t feel her cheeks was indeed curious.
For Pyris, who found most sensations fascinating, it must have been an even more unique experience.
However, that wasn’t something she should be doing.
Luke reminded her of the dentist’s warning about not pressing too hard.
“Still, don’t press too hard. It could cause bleeding.”
“Okay.”
She answered well, but it seemed she had no intention of stopping her pressing.
“Ugh.”
However, Luke decided not to nag her any further.
He had been telling her repeatedly, and he doubted she would understand even if he mentioned it again.
Moreover, it seemed that if it was Pyris, leaving her alone wouldn’t cause much of a problem.
Pyris constructs her physical form from the mana of what she consumes, so if she were to consume her own blood, she could reconstruct her body without any significant loss.
And even if a problem were to arise, it could only serve as a lesson for Pyris.
Just like her experience at the dentist.
“If you want to avoid coming back for more injections, you’d better brush your teeth well from now on, right?”
Pyris shivered and replied.
“…Yeah! Pyris will brush her teeth well from now on!”
Injections are the things that induce the most fear in hospitals, so Pyris, who is influenced by the emotions of others, couldn’t help but be afraid of them.
However, seeing Pyris, who had been terrified of injections, smile without a care while getting her teeth pulled or filled moved Yerna to wipe her tears for a different reason.
Anyway, as the results showed, thankfully, the dental treatment ended without incident.
As a result, she had one severely decayed tooth pulled, and the others were ground down and fitted with crowns.
Pyris had been extremely afraid of the grinding tools, but once the anesthesia kicked in, she became quite intrigued because she felt nothing during the process.
The dilemma came with the treatment cost.
Fortunately, since insurance covered it, the expense wasn’t too high, but 220,000 Gil was quite a significant amount for Luke.
Upon hearing that price, Luke briefly thought, “Maybe I should’ve just used divine power without considering the balance of the Circle.”
However, Yerna readily agreed to pay that amount.
Seeing that, Luke resolved to earn a substantial sum of money.
For the sake of managing the accidents that he and Pyris kept encountering.
Then suddenly, Pyris cheerfully asked,
“Sis, but now that I’m not in pain, when can I eat?”
“The anesthesia will wear off in about two hours, so you should be able to eat then.”
Upon hearing the two-hour time frame, Pyris murmured in a voice filled with dismay.
“Ugh… I’m so hungry.”
“We can’t help that. If you eat while still under anesthesia, you might bite your cheek or tongue. So remember to brush your teeth well from now on.”
“Okay…”
Was it such a shocking statement that she couldn’t eat anything for two hours?
Pyris’ expression turned gloomy, and she began to walk slowly, as if eager to return home.
She looked so pitiful, like a puppy caught in the rain.
“…”
While it was a bit heart-wrenching, it was still her own doing.
Wasn’t it Pyris who always ignored the advice to brush her teeth?
However, even so, seeing the child looking so dispirited made Luke want to comfort her.
Slowing his pace, he walked beside Pyris, took her hand, and spoke to her.
“Well then, since we’re out, let’s buy some ingredients for dinner. You can eat in two hours.”
Luke’s words were echoed by Yerna.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. We don’t have any ingredients for the porridge that Pyris can eat.”
Even though modern magical medicine had advanced, it wasn’t possible to have a proper meal immediately after anesthesia wore off.
Even with partial haste and modern potions, it was better to eat porridge or similar food for about a day after having teeth pulled.
However, Pyris tilted her head in confusion.
“Porridge…?”
She couldn’t quite imagine what it would taste like.
After all, she had never eaten ‘porridge’ before.
Then, Pyris suddenly broke into a bright smile and exclaimed.
“I’m looking forward to it!”
Thus, that day, Pyris ate porridge for the first time.
It was delicious.
