“You still play with dolls at your age?”

Although my arm hurt when he grabbed me, it wasn’t enough to cause a bruise thanks to my long sleeve.

When I smirked at the school prince, who was asking me about where his doll was, he clicked his tongue.

“…Let’s have a change of scenery.”

Eivind Dahl snapped his finger.

Enveloped in a floaty sensation, the scenery in front of my eyes changed. He used teleport. I looked outside the window, and discovered that we were still inside the academy.

We were in a small, dark room without a single door. I could see several dolls lined up as the acrid smell of chemicals filled my nose.

Underneath my feet was a magic circle bearing the teleportation spell. Inscribed on the user’s part was the name ‘Eivind Dahl.’

Judging from those facts, it was probably a laboratory he rented at the academy. In order to prevent outsiders from entering, teleportation was most likely the only means of entering this place.

“I want to retract my previous words. This is a decent hobby. Do you specialize in dolls?”

“Actually, I was expecting you to be scared at being teleported, or at least a scream when greeted by the dolls…”

He smiled wryly at me. Then, he took out a small dagger from his breast pocket. He held my waist and rested the silver blade against my neck. I gulped.

“…Why would a genius magician like you resort to using knife?”

“I still have principles. Besides, this is the most effective way for intimidating others.”

Well, that’s pretty old school…

Even if I, [Nora], were to die, I couldn’t let [Cecily] die, which was why—

“Where did you hide the Killing Doll? It shouldn’t be released to this world.”

I carefully answered his cold question.

“—How am I supposed to know!? Why are you blaming me!? You are the one who misplaced it!”

“Ha. So, you’re still going to feign ignorance.”

More like, I honestly have no idea?

Although, from his perspective, I was probably the most suspicious person he’d seen these past few days.

Indeed. The submissive lady, who’d been downtrodden for a long time, suddenly stood up for herself. Most likely, he refused to leave me alone because he was suspicious of my sudden change in behavior. Moreover, it seemed that he was researching something that could pose a grave danger if it were slipped out.

Ignoring the dagger at my neck, I put my finger on my chin and looked at the dolls around me.

“But… a Killing Doll? Why would you research something so controversial? Are you about to start a war?”

[Killing Doll] was a humanoid weapon that was invented 800 years ago, but was soon discontinued. Part of the reason was because of cost and durability issues, but the primary reason was moral.

At my casual question, Eivind answered firmly.

“By chance, I managed to create a replica during my research. It was completed three days ago, and I haven’t reported it to the research institute. I also haven’t done any operational tests. Therefore, the attack performance and durability should be low… And the same goes for the control aspect.”

“—In other words, if it goes out of control, it’ll just break. Still, I can see the danger it would pose if, say, it went berserk in an academy filled with powerless students.”

“—Why do you know that much!? Is it a terrorist attack!? Are you trying to take the students hostage!?”

“Like I said, I really don’t know anything… Besides, if that’s the case, we should look for it, right? I’ll help.”

At that moment, an explosion shook my eardrums. A large hole had appeared on the wall.

Beyond it was a female doll, its inorganic red eyes glaring at us.

“Good girl. You came back on your own.”

“—Dammit, so you were targeting me all along!”

“Like I said, this has nothing to do with me. But to be honest, I can see why some people might have a grudge against you.”

At first glance, he may seem like the ultimate playboy—flirtatious yet handsome, but he was also ruthless towards those he didn’t care about. In every ages, it’d been proven time and again that love and hate were two sides of the same coin.

As I was rambling, the doll’s eyes sparkled once again. There was a signature phrase from 800 years ago, ‘Eye Beam (Me Kara Beam[1])’

Just like that, a violent beam of light reflected off the floor and continued towards us.

Eivind discarded the knife and clicked his tongue before hiding me behind his back. He extended his hand and conjured a transparent shield that deflected the beam of light. As a result, the other dolls in vicinity were burned…

Even though they are just objects, my heart still aches.

However, before I could even process my grief, Eivind pulled me by the arm.

“Uh…?”

“A suicide bombing, is it? Even if you’re the culprit, I won’t let the woman I like die in vain. Please confess your crime and go to jail!”

“No, like I said, I’m not the culprit?”

Although he greatly misunderstood me, it seemed that he still had my safety in mind.

He led me outside, leaving the Killing Doll behind us. Afterwards, Eivind ran straight for the grounds outside. The students who were doing extracurricular activities scoffed at me, but they screamed and ran away at the sight of the humanoid killing machine that was chasing us.

“Stay behind me!”

Then, he started chanting a foreign spell. However, from the keywords he used, it seemed to be quite deadly. Perhaps, he wanted to finish it in one blow.

I didn’t know how many times I had said this, but for someone his age, he was amazing.

Maybe I should just act my part as the damsel in distress…

After all, I was sure that he could deal with it—

“Lord Eiiiiviiiiiind~!!”

[Neria…!?]

Suddenly, I heard someone swooning, and Cecily responded almost immediately.

Neria was so carefree, she ran towards us while waving her hand, unaware that the Killing Doll was about to unleash yet another ‘Eye Beam.’

“Fool…!”

As a result, Eivind’s spell was interrupted mid-chant. In return, the doll also turned towards Neria. The accumulated magic power in its eyes turned towards the approaching Neria.

[NO—!!]

Cecily, stop…!

My body started moving on its own.

I ran past Eivind, who was in panic, and hugged Neria to protect her. At the same time, I could sense a mass of magic expanding right behind me.

---

[1] Digi Charat reference

***T/N: Oh wow, whatttt? There’s a reason why he’s a 10 yet he doesn’t respect personal boundary!? Yanno, color me surprised.

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