“—Hey, Mother, I went to school and met a lot of people.”

I could hear voices coming from the laboratory late at night.

The boy’s voice was serene.

“I heard that it was an academy for aristocrats, so I thought it would be full of terrible people, but when I spoke to them, I found out that wasn’t the case. For most part, anyway. Some were just hopeless. I thought one young lady was a high and mighty, but she’s really just a girl who really cares about her friends. Although her family is well off, she wants to pursue a career in magic research in the future. It’s a waste, isn’t it? If she stays with her family, she would be set for life. And even if she manages to become a researcher here, she’ll just be acting at the behest of the king. This a harsh place where everyone is out for themselves.”

Is he talking about Anita?

I see, he probably refused to recommend Anita out of concern about her future.

As a child he lived in a poor village, whereas at present he was in the hands of the king.

I could see why he would never want to go out of his way to enter such a place.

His soliloquy went on.

“—Also, I became friends with a girl who was notorious for being bullied in my class. It turns out that her body is being possessed by a villainess from 800 years ago. I feel really bad for her. I wonder what kind of mental abuse she’s been forced to endure… I pray that her body will be returned soon—”

“—Wait, what kind of nonsense are you spouting!?”

Leaving aside the strange nickname, I really care about Cecily?

When I instinctively slammed the door open with a bang, Eivind turned around a little, chuckling.

“Between the two of us, which is worse? Me, or the one who was eavesdropping?”

“…To begin with, I’m surprised you’re awake.”

“Well, I couldn’t really talk to my mother during the day because everyone was there.”

I see, from his perspective, he finally had time alone with his mother. I guess it was my fault for intruding.

I wonder if his shirt, which was more disheveled than usual, was his nightgown. His mother, who was wearing a loose dress, was caressing his tousled hair.

At first glance, the sight of an 18-year-old fully grown man being spoiled by his mother was difficult to accept, but it had been 10 years since his mother was brutally murdered.

How long had he been looking forward to that moment?

[Nora will still proceed with it, right?]

R-right…

His mother didn’t even bat an eye. Like a mother, she kept patting his head.

While I was thinking about how I should broach the subject, Eivind spoke to me.

“About my mother’s clothes, thank you… She must have been embarrassed being naked for so long.”

“Don’t worry. Cecily was the first to notice. To be honest, I didn’t really care until she mentioned it.”

“Maybe because you’re a researcher. What does Ms. Travasta like? I have to thank her.”

“Cecily likes cheese.”

“Then, for next time, I’ll look into some delicious restaurants.”

Such an abrupt conversation.

Normally, the conversation would’ve gotten even more lively from there.

‘What kind of cheese does she like? Wow, we have the same taste.’

Eivind was a natural conversationalist, so much that I would end speaking too much.

However, for today, the conversation ended there.

He was giving signals that he wanted me to leave.

But instead of leaving, I asked him a question.

“…It was made from a Killing Doll, right?”

“That’s right. Ironically, a murder puppet has the best magic conductivity. My mother’s Crystal was made 10 years ago, so the chain of command won’t work as it would on normal dolls.”

Even more ironic, many of the tools used to kill people were really well made.

However, if you asked me, that was probably because they were created using sorcery—a magic that was considered lost. While spells could be used by many in the same way, they had a low degree of flexibility. In the first place, I wished that the very idea of creating tools to kill people would gradually become obsolete.

“Did Eivind create that Killing Doll from scratch as well?”

“No, with the current level of magic, it’s impossible to create such a high-performance doll. This is one of the two dolls that were found in the same place as the doll you destroyed earlier. That one was actually more durable, so I was planning to use that as the main vessel, but to think that someone could break it…”

“It was wrong to bring something so dangerous to school.”

“I kept it nearby because it was dangerous. Well, after everything is said and done—”

‘It couldn’t be helped.’

He must have been about to say that, yet couldn’t.

Because his ‘mother’ grabbed him by the neck.

---

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