NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12 - That Doll is Dangerous
“Wait a minute… Do you even need to eat?”
Letty asked curiously as she lowered her backpack. She took out some portable preserved food—hard bread, which was good for long-term storage but was extremely tough, along with some highly nutritious nuts—and handed them over to Ellie.
“Ah, thank you for so much food. As for eating… Well, yes, I do eat, in a sense. But it’s different from how humans do.”
According to Ellie, she has a magical device inside her called a ‘Void Generator’. By placing any kind of matter into it, it compresses and obliterates the material under unimaginable pressure. Then the mana from the matter is extracted and converted into pure energy, which she uses as her own mana.
“I see… I don’t fully understand, but basically, you can eat anything?”
“As long as it goes through my mouth and throat, I can eat pretty much anything—even stones, if necessary. But it doesn’t look great, and… for some reason, I was given taste buds, so I’d rather not do that.”
She responded while biting into the hard bread.
“… This is something that I’d rather avoid as well if possible…”
“You’ll just have to deal with it.”
“When we get to the surface, I’m going to eat lots of delicious food!”
Ellie, on the verge of tears, kept gnawing at the bread like she was scraping off chunks. Watching her quietly, Letty murmured:
“… Do you even have any money?”
Ellie froze at that. Her neck creaked as she slowly looked at Letty, on the verge of tears….
“Uh… maybe I could pay you back later?”
“…Well, that’s fine, but I don’t have much money either, you know?”
Letty sighed rather deeply.
“I’m fully recharged and ready to go anytime!”
Ellie stood up, raising her voice as if to break the awkward silence. Letty also stood up, reorganising her belongings.
“… I thought you might say something about leaving the bodies behind.”
“Well… I’ve served in the military several times before, so I know how much time and effort it takes to bury someone. Especially in a place like this. Besides, no one’s going to be around here anymore, and those people were our enemies, weren’t they?”
In response to Letty’s slightly puzzled question, Ellie’s voice was pragmatic yet calm, despite her soft smile. Letty gave a small nod in understanding before she and Ellie walked toward the door.
The four lifeless bodies were left behind…. For most likely, forever….
—
“The plan is for you, to be on the front lines, right? That way, it’s easier for me to secure a clear line of sight?”
“Yes! And there’s no way I’d let my precious master go out front and risk her life!”
“Got it… then let’s stick to that plan. I’ll take the rear, watching the flanks and handling any ambushes.”
Letty felt a strange mix of embarrassment and warmth as she listened to Ellie passionately declare her intentions, her fists clenched close to her chest. As she briefly wondered why a magical doll would even need such a mechanism to show emotion. Letty drew her short sword and positioned herself in front of the door.
A softly spoken spell spread out in small waves of magical power. It was a detection spell to check for enemies. Although the door reduced its accuracy, it was enough to tell what she needed to know.
There were no enemies directly behind the door, but they would encounter something within about 10 meters of opening it. Additionally, there was a corpse just beyond the door.
When Letty relayed this, Ellie looked at her with curiosity.
“You really took the time to learn such a basic spell, huh?”
“… People sometimes ask me that… so it was the same in your time, too?”
Muttering softly, Letty stepped aside, allowing Ellie to take the lead. Ellie’s expression turned serious as she glanced at Letty. Once she saw Letty’s nod of approval, she opened the door and stepped forward.
Ahead was a wide corridor, large enough for five people to walk side by side. At the far end, where the path turned into a T-shape, a large shadow came into view.
“There’s an enemy at that corner. It’s probably an Iron Golem.” Said Letty
“Understood!”
With that response, Ellie began walking forward nonchalantly.
“Wait, Ellie?”
Surprised by Ellie’s unexpected action, Letty hurried to follow, though still cautious of their surroundings. The noise of their footsteps seemed to trigger something, as the Iron Golem emerged from the corner, just as predicted.
Ellie raised her hand toward the golem.
“Mana Doll Eliminator, identification number 739, issuing an emergency shutdown order. Cease all functions immediately.”
A small, humming sound accompanied a faint blue glow emanating from Ellie’s hand. The Golem’s head briefly glowed blue in response, but almost immediately turned to a blinking red light. Even Letty could understand—the Golem had gone rogue and was rejecting the command.
Ellie sighed softly and took a deep breath, gathering mana into her palm. Once it was accumulated enough…
“Mana Blaster.”
That word was the trigger. The gathered light exploded outward, violently surging toward the Iron Golem like a torrent. The light struck the Golem, and with a loud metallic crack, something thick and hard snapped.
When the light finally dissipated, the Iron Golem’s upper body had been obliterated in nothing, leaving only a pile of metal that collapsed onto the floor.
“… This is… your power?”
“Yes, this is one of my built-in weapons, the ‘Mana Blaster.’ What do you think?”
Ellie’s bright smile was met with Letty’s troubled expression. She hadn’t expected her to be this powerful. Her face said it all.
“Well, I didn’t earn the title of tactical-grade doll for nothing. Still…”
Ellie’s confident expression turned sorrowful as she approached the Golem, gently touching its remains.
“This Golem was part of the facility’s defense system. But now it won’t even listen to my orders…”
She glanced around at the ceiling, walls, and floor, her eyes narrowing as she took it all in.
“I remember this ceiling and these walls, but now the lights are almost gone, and most of the paint is chipped away. There used to be signs on the walls, too…”
She pointed to the wall, which was scratched up by monsters, but any writing was long gone.
“… I guess 1,500 years really have passed… It still doesn’t feel real.”
Ellie’s soft words hung in the air. Letty couldn’t find the right words to respond. They stood in silence for a while, until Ellie seemed to snap out of it.
“There’s no point dwelling on it. I can’t change the past, and I’m still functioning, right? I even have a new master now, too.”
Although she wasn’t as energetic as before, Ellie smiled as best as she could. Letty returned her smile with a troubled look, her own expression stiffening.
“… Now that I think about it, are you sure you’re okay with following me? I’m not a soldier of the empire or anything…”
“It’s fine. The system recognized you. That means it’s okay for you to use me. Maybe you have some connection to people from the old days.”
Ellie paused, staring intently at Letty.
“And besides, I can tell you’re a good master, Miss Letty. I just know!”
Ellie’s smiling face made Letty feel uneasy. She wanted to express something but couldn’t find the right words. Her expression remained rigid. What was it she wanted to express? Has she ever even thought about that before?
“… Well, I’ll try my best to be a good master for you from now on.”
With that, Letty gently took Ellie’s hand. The trembling in Ellie’s hand ceased the moment Letty touched it—no, it stiffened.
“Ellie?”
“Ah! T-this… this is exactly what I mean, Miss Letty! How many girls have you charmed like this? How awful!”
“… I feel like I’m being unfairly accused here…”
Ellie squeezed Letty’s hand back, flashing a radiant smile.
“But still, I knew it! You really are a good master, Miss Letty.”
“… Really? I don’t quite get it, but…”
For some reason, Letty couldn’t meet Ellie’s gaze and looked away. Was this the second time? She couldn’t shake the strange feeling within herself.
“Well, in any case, let’s focus on getting out of here safely first!” Said Ellie
“Y-yeah…”
“I don’t know who’s the master anymore,” she muttered with a shrug, following after Ellie, who had already started walking ahead.
**Next: An Unexpected Visitor**