“Money received from the alchemist Franka, treating the winged monkeys like kids.”
This was payment for raiding the treasures of the labyrinth and handing them over to the Halder Trading Company. (Well, to be precise, just part of it.)
Dorothea had a rather abundant funding power, making transactions smooth sailing.
“First, let’s check the insides—tell the doll to lie down on that workbench. The sword and shield are dangerous, so put them aside.”
The man spoke, and Dorothea gave you a look that said ‘Did you hear that?’ while you silently flopped onto the workbench.
“Oh ho?”
The man raised his eyebrows enthusiastically, showing his admiration.
“This one has quite a high intelligence, huh? It can move based on situational judgment without concrete orders from its master?”
“High intelligence, my foot. It’s just a fool.”
[‘Tin Knight’ protests that this is too harsh of an evaluation!]
You expressed your discontent, but Dorothea acted as if she didn’t hear you at all.
You felt wronged. All you ever did was live according to your immediate desires!
“Hmm, I wonder how the circuits are arranged. It might take some time, so if your legs start to hurt, find somewhere to sit nearby.”
He had been very wishy-washy in his speech.
As the shop owner, he was maintaining basic courtesy, but now and then his true nature slipped out.
Dorothea glanced around but didn’t seem to have found a spot to sit anywhere.
It appeared there were no seats that appealed to her in the slightest.
The man’s light humming combined with the clinking sounds of you being disassembled echoed melodically.
It felt similar to being examined in a hospital, but without any sensation or pain, so there was hardly any tension or reality to it.
“Wow… It’s true that the technology is outdated, but the craftsmanship is no joke, huh? This wasn’t made by one person alone. It seems like several top-level craftsmen from different fields got involved. If old man Griffin had seen this, he might have gone wild.”
“Can it be repaired?”
“For the internal magical circuitry, it should be possible with the materials and equipment we have now. But more urgently, this needs immediate attention. It’s like a building with pipelines that have an immense number of cracks and leaks. If left alone, it would have eventually gone ‘boom!'”
[‘Tin Knight’ is shivering as if it feels a chill!]
You were gripped by fear, but the repairman didn’t seem to catch your words, and Dorothea didn’t appear to care either. You felt so lonely.
“Does the self-repair function not fix that?”
“Well, a self-repair function is like skin or muscle or bone for a human. This falls under the category of internal organs.”
“Then what about other things? Can we increase the capacity for storing magical power or set it up for remote supply like other magical automatons?”
“Hmm. Usually, the gems act as magical tanks. And this doll’s gem is already quite large, you know? Over time, as it wears down and gets smaller, one can only wonder how massive it must’ve been when it was new. Anyway, it would be pretty hard to find one bigger than this. It’s not just a money issue; it’s because such gems are usually used as accessories by high-ranking individuals, so there are practically none available for something like this.”
“What about remote supply?”
“That would be faster to do with a brand new unit. If you really want it, instead of messing with the existing body, you could transfer this artificial soul to a completely new magical automaton…”
The repairman trailed off.
His joyous chatter about various things vanished, his eyes widened…
Questions.
Aghast.
Denial.
And then rage.
The repairman emanated a terrifying aura, throwing down his tools and storming toward Dorothea.
You attempted to rise, but with bits and pieces scattered all over, you couldn’t budge an inch.
His hand reached toward Dorothea’s neck, then suddenly halted.
It seemed he was about to grab her by the collar, but due to the structure of Dorothea’s clothes, that would have been quite tricky.
The man fidgeted awkwardly with his outstretched hand and, with an irritated gesture, he slammed it down towards the floor.
“Hey, what’s that? You definitely didn’t make it, so where the hell did you get something like that?”
Dorothea narrowed her eyes.
Even with a big guy towering over her, barking threats, she showed absolutely no sign of fear.
“That’s not how you treat a guest. And how is that even related to the repair work?”
“Cut the niceties and answer my question!!”
“You explain first.”
“Wow, seriously…!”
The man’s fists were trembling with rage but he couldn’t bring himself to strike, so he just yelled instead.
“That’s a human soul, not an artificial one!! It was made by sticking a living person right into it!!”
Dorothea’s eyes went wide.
Just when she was about to utter something, her lips twitching, someone creaked the door open and walked into the workshop.
“Hey! I told you to lock the reception counter when I’m in the workshop! What if someone steals the goods… or, uh…?”
A girl with reddish-brown hair, resembling the repairman but with a stronger hue, paused mid-sentence as she confirmed the chaotic scene in the workshop.
So, you had the shop owner, Dorothea, being yelled at by a scary fellow while you were all disassembled in the background.
Unlike the man’s emotional stages of confusion, shock, denial, and rage, the girl’s emotions were much simpler.
1. Confusion.
2. Okay, got it. You’re dead.
“Hey, you, moron!!”
The girl whipped out a monkey wrench from her waist and charged fearlessly at the repairman.
“Wait, that’s not—ugh! Ugh!”
Blood gushed. Screams erupted.
What unfolded in a workshop in the back alley of the city of gears was a quickly escalating bloody action scene that didn’t wrap up until about ten minutes later.
***
“I’m so sorry! I knew my brother was a fool, but I didn’t think he was the kind of trash who thinks with his lower half instead of his brain! I’ll beat him into shape, so please just forgive him this one time!”
As the girl repeatedly apologized, bowing her head, Dorothea wore a perplexed expression that was hard to describe.
Usually, when a perpetrator’s family says, “I’ll make sure to educate him, so please give him another chance,” the trustworthiness of that statement is famously low… but who knows?
She looked at the repairman squirming on the floor like a caterpillar, and for this girl at least, her claim of “I will educate him even if I had to beat him” seemed surprisingly credible.
Still, Dorothea thought perhaps she had overdone it a little.
If they lost the only decent repairman they found, it would be troublesome for Dorothea too.
“…Okay. I haven’t really been harmed, and on the bright side, I learned something.”
As she said “learned,” Dorothea glanced at the Tin Knight.
‘A human soul, huh?’
If you were to ask whether she had been suspicious of that, the answer is of course yes.
The overly expressive emotions, the high intelligence—all of those proved the Tin Knight’s exceptional nature.
However, Dorothea had never seriously considered that possibility.
‘Putting a human soul into a doll itself would place a considerable burden on that soul. If it lasted for decades or centuries in that state, it wouldn’t be able to withstand it, even if it somehow survived, its sanity would surely be gone.’
Suddenly, Dorothea shivered at the thought that crossed her mind.
That’s right. Thinking back on it now, the Tin Knight’s state of mind was hardly intact!
‘There’s no way someone with a complete set of marbles would act like that. So that’s what this is about.’
Dorothea let out a low groan.
With that thought, things started to align in her mind.
Not to mention, she had directly witnessed the soul hidden beneath the armor and the container, which couldn’t be denied.
With a gaze filled with a mix of pity, Dorothea stared at the Tin Knight.
She initially thought it was just a strange being but finding out it was a patient made her feel a tad more considerate…
[‘Tin Knight’ points out that staring so hard at the inside is oddly revealing!]
Kaaan!!
Dorothea’s staff swung down mercilessly onto the Tin Knight’s face.
“Eek!”
The girl beside her jumped back in surprise.
It seemed she mistook this as Dorothea expressing her anger towards her brother, but at this moment, Dorothea couldn’t care less.
“First, let’s wrap up the repairs as quickly as possible. Also, do you happen to work at a blacksmith’s?”
“Oh, um, yes! But it’s not a full-fledged weapon shop, just a supplementary workshop.”
“Then cover the metal on the head of my staff. So it can be used as a bludgeon.”
Though the girl swallowed the question, “Isn’t that what you already do perfectly well?” in her head.
She firmly believed her idiotic brother was in serious trouble when he returned.
***
The man’s name was Smith.
The woman’s name was Sync.
Smith, who had bandages and food wraps around his face, awkwardly apologized to Dorothea.
“I, uh, apologize. Seeing him do such trashy things got me a bit worked up.”
“Apologizing with an excuse is the worst. Bro.”
“You’re hardly innocent either, jumping right to hitting before listening.”
Sync glared at Smith, who was sweating profusely, avoiding eye contact.
With this brotherly bond of theirs, Dorothea asked, “Is the work all done?”
“The internal magical circuitry is done. No more leaks every time you boost magical power. However, re-creating all those circuits is impossible, meaning it might operate a bit differently compared to when this automaton was first made.”
“Well, there are two types of veins: thick and durable, and thin and bursting. Usually, most magical automatons only have the thick ones, but this automaton… the knight had fine veins as well. Right now, they’re all severed and blocked, leaving only traces.”
Sync replied, and Smith added with a frown, “That fine, intricate circuitry can’t be reproduced?”
“Nope.”
“Not right now.”
This resulted in similar yet different answers from both of them.
Smith furrowed his brow.
“Hey, it’s either you can’t do it or you can’t do it. What’s with that ‘not right now’ nonsense? Pathetic.”
Sync grumbled back, “If we had access to the old workshop that grandfather used to run, it could definitely be done!”
“So what’s the use of that? Anyway, let’s pretend we never heard that last part. It’s for the best.”
Smith continued explaining with a sulking expression.
“Those detailed circuits are ultimately useless. A modern magical automaton only needs thick magical circuits to work perfectly well.”
“That counts as a meaningless organ then?”
“Exactly. When crafting various complex devices, it often turns out that way. Something you thought was necessary becomes dispensable, or you end up needing something you thought wasn’t necessary. It’s an ongoing process of refinement. Well, the knight was made a long time ago, likely just to mimic the human body as much as possible.”
Dorothea crossed her arms, deep in thought.
‘…It feels like the results are rather lacking compared to what I expected.’
Remote supply was impossible since it required a brand new automaton.
Increasing the magical capacity wasn’t feasible due to the lack of appropriate gems.
The only thing that seemed to have been improved was the magical circuitry, but even that left some doubts.
Dorothea observed the two of them.
They mentioned something about grandfather’s workshop, implying there was some backstory, but from the vibe, it didn’t seem like they would easily share it.
Even if they did open up, there were doubts about whether it would be something Dorothea could resolve.
“So, if we can just find a suitable gem, we can improve the capacity issue then?”
“That’s true, but just getting a bigger gem doesn’t automatically mean it’s better.”
“I can confirm if it can hold a lot of magical power. If I find something decent, I’ll bring it back.”
After exchanging such goodbyes, Dorothea opened the shop’s front door and stepped outside.
Just as she was about to move on, she caught sight of two figures appearing to walk into the shop.
One appeared to be a girl around the same age as Dorothea.
Shining blonde hair and blue eyes. A white dress that seemed out of place in the dark alleyway.
Beside her stood a knight clad in pure white armor.
No.
A magical automaton.
[‘Tin Knight’’s eyes sparkled at the emergence of a 2P color scheme!]
Black and white.
The dull metallic sheen reminiscent of a battlefield, and the splendid metallic sheen that might march through a crowd.
Dorothea realized something.
It was an intuition, closer to instinct than theory.
And it seemed the girl in front of her had reached the same conclusion.
The girl smiled and greeted her, “I’m Gale Elilraz, the Witch’s Apprentice from the North. Are you… the witch?”
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")
