Chapter 208 – The Master of the Doll

“I’m going in.”

Ashley and Marlene faced the Golem with their Long Mace and rapier at the ready, beginning ground combat training. The Golem was modeled after a figure armed with armor and swords.

This was close-quarters, ground combat training. While unspectacular, it was effective for building fundamental strength. Once you could read an opponent’s movements, the skills could be applied to aerial combat or ranged shooting battles as well.

Given Ashley’s weapon choice, her fighting style was straightforward – she would strike areas likely to take damage or deliver powerful blows to stun her opponent before finishing them off in one go. However, she added her own unique flair to this approach.

She stepped right into the Golem’s range, dodging attacks while striking at its knee joints. She created ice spikes on her Round Shield to deliver a shield bash, then struck the staggered opponent’s dominant arm side to take it down. The entire sequence flowed with elegant grace.

In Ashley’s close-quarters movements, one could see Rosetta’s influence in her body maneuvering and attack methods. She seemed to have thoroughly studied human vital points and anatomy, delivering remarkably logical attacks. It was also noteworthy how ice would shoot from Ashley’s feet just before her attacks, freezing the opponent’s supporting leg.

As for Marlene, perhaps because she had an experienced rapier user like Mihaela as a mentor, her movements had visibly improved recently. She maintained a certain distance from the Golem, identifying gaps in the armor of approaching opponents to deliver slash attacks and thrusts.

If one wondered whether this was ineffective against heavily armored opponents, that wasn’t the case. Marlene’s rapier occasionally crackled with lightning, which made dealing with it without magic quite difficult. She would use feints involving weight shifts and subtle tip movements, needing only to land shallow thrusts. Once she shocked her opponent, they couldn’t dodge or defend against her follow-up decisive strike.

…Actually, given the nature of lightning, she didn’t even need to make contact. The Golem properly dodged, but electricity spread from the blade, effectively shocking it anyway. Marlene’s committed thrust had pierced a vital point through a gap in the armor. She was also beginning to channel Fighting Spirit, though still weakly.

“How was that?”

After defeating the Golem, the two turned to us for feedback.

“Good. Those movements were quite excellent.”

When I answered, Ashley looked somewhat bashful. Marlene smiled without reservation.

“Shall we try switching the Golem’s weapon and continue a bit more?”

“Yes!”

Thus the training continued. What weapon should the opponent have? Perhaps a spear for reach training. Well, since both could incorporate magic into their fighting, I doubted they’d struggle much.

Above the courtyard, Grace, Sheila, Irmhild, and Seraphina were conducting coordination training.

Sheila advanced toward the Golem with Grace closely overlapping behind her. From behind, Irmhild fired practice arrows with cloth tips. Sheila predicted the arrow trajectory by sound, positioning herself to avoid being hit while serving as Grace’s guide.

Just as Sheila closed in, she leaped upward while performing a vertical spin motion, releasing Sticky Thread to interfere with the Golem’s counterattack from behind. Simultaneously, the arrows hit their mark. Normally, Seraphina’s power would imbue them with Cursed Melody effects, but that was omitted this time. Finally, Grace flashed her axe, cleaving the Golem cleanly in two vertically.

We continued morning training in this manner for a while until Rosemary appeared in the courtyard. Though she hid her mouth behind a feather fan, her eyes were wide with surprise. She seemed astonished by the training scene.

“Good morning.”

“Yes, good morning.”

“Good morning.”

We exchanged morning greetings in turn.

“Thank you for last night’s late meal. It was delicious.”

“Not at all. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. I must have been tired. I didn’t even dream until morning.”

Grace and Rosemary had that exchange.

Yesterday had been quite chaotic, and Rosemary hadn’t been able to eat dinner.

When I showed her to her room, she looked somewhat pale, so I asked about her health, but she only said it was unrelated to the book and she was fine… Then her stomach rumbled quietly, and I realized she probably hadn’t eaten.

I thought she could have just said so, but she apparently couldn’t bring herself to ask for food outright. So I asked Grace to prepare a late meal on short notice.

That said, perhaps because of such interactions, the two seemed to have warmed up to each other somewhat.

“…I’ve never cooked before. But it seems to be this household’s rule, so I’ll make an effort from now on.”

Covering her mouth with the feather fan and closing her eyes, Rosemary spoke.

“That said, everyone here is quite impressive in various ways… Catching up seems like it will be quite the challenge. I need to retrain this rusty body of mine.”

“Hm? Catching up, meaning you’ll delve into the labyrinth too?”

“That’s my intention… Was that unwise?”

“No, not unwise at all.”

For Rosemary’s outings, I had borrowed a different Disguise Ring from Anastasia to change her appearance.

Or rather, ultimately, deciphering work would be dangerous unless Claudia or Marlene were present. If she’s going into the labyrinth, then having her accompany us would indeed eliminate redundancy. She’ll likely be quite busy, but asking for confirmation might be unnecessarily tactless.

“I’d like to understand your fighting style. Will you use dolls like before, or summon Dragon Fang Soldiers?”

“Unfortunately, the catalyst for Dragon Fang Soldiers was confiscated. However, while deciphering ancient documents recently, I found some interesting magic.”

“Oh?”

When I prepared a Golem, a Magic Circle appeared in Rosemary’s hand. From her fingertips extended thread-like strands of magic glowing purple.

“Dark Magic Fifth Rank: Strings Edge. And Dark Magic Sixth Rank: Marionette Jack.”

As she spoke the words and waved her hand, the purple threads tore through space, severing the Golem’s head. Threads then entangled the Golem’s limbs, and just as another Magic Circle glowed, the thread colors shifted to rainbow hues. But that was all. As the magic threads intensified their glow, they burst apart and scattered.

“Ah, as I thought, it won’t work on your Golems. The magical control is too strong, they get repelled.”

She said this while looking rather pleased.

“Puppet Strings, then.”

“Yes. I need to partially reconfigure the Spell Formula depending on the target, but it can handle most opponents. I’m considering applications too, but I’ll save that demonstration for another time.”

So it’s hard-to-perceive slash attacks from mid-range and manipulation of the opponent’s body. Quite fitting magic for Rosemary, one might say.

That said, Rosemary wants to accompany us into the labyrinth too. She probably has some rust to shake off, and I think the Blazing Fortress would be too Hard right away. Considering the order of Sealed Door releases… having her get accustomed to the labyrinth while warming up in the Magic Light Water Vein seems more appropriate.

Well, going to the labyrinth the day after yesterday’s events feels somewhat rushed. Let’s take it easy today to welcome Rosemary.

Rosemary looked at various items around the house and entertainment room, occasionally nodding as if impressed. Like Miriam, she probably had her own unique perspective and noticed different things.

“Master, Lord Alfred has arrived.”

Around late morning, Cecilia guided Alfred to us. Given yesterday’s incident, he probably came to check on things after hearing Rosemary had come to the house.

“Good afternoon. How are things?”

“Thanks to you, everything’s settled down.”

“–So it seems. As I mentioned on the Communication Device, I’m glad you’re unharmed. What was it like inside the book?”

He glanced at Rosemary playing billiards with Ashley and Marlene, smiling.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Giant silverfish and such – nothing comforting.”

My words seemed to make Alfred imagine the scene, darkening his expression.

“That’s a bit… Their fast movements are hard for me to handle.”

“Right? If I were designing a Spell Formula, I wouldn’t make such a gloomy place.”

“That in itself sounds like it would lead to something outrageous.”

Alfred laughed as he said this.

“By the way, I’d like to request a full equipment set for Rosemary. Is that okay?”

“Taking her into the labyrinth? We have some capacity at the moment.”

“That’s the plan. I think she’s more of a rearguard type… Well, we should consult her preferences too?”

When I looked toward Rosemary, she seemed to have finished her billiards session and came over.

“You’re Albert, right?”

“Yeah. Should I say it’s been a while?”

“Perhaps. It seemed you were discussing equipment – if it’s acceptable, might I make a request of my own?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I want to create a Magic Doll. A unique piece I can use in the labyrinth. Besides payment, I can provide simple dolls that could serve as labor. What do you think?”

At Rosemary’s proposal, Alfred blinked in surprise. Those must be the ones she used at Anastasia’s mansion.

If it’s a specially made doll, it sounds interesting, and I’d like to be involved in the development too. After all, I have some Magic Stones left over that I haven’t decided how to use.