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Chapter 1 – Puppet Show in the Moonlight
The Black Witch lives in the Great Sea of Trees. This is known to the people and adventurers who live in the northern part of the kingdom, the territory of Margrave Tolland.
In the southwest of the Great Sea of Trees as a whole, there is the Black Witch’s hermitage, a little way inside.
Part of the forest is open and surrounded by a fence, and within it there is a field. There are fruit trees and a well.
There is even a shed where livestock such as chickens and goats are kept, and those who know the Great Sea of Trees will be shocked to see this idyllic scene and wonder if they are really in the depths of the Great Sea of Trees.
Of course, even though it is deep inside, it is still a shallow place compared to the whole of the Great Sea of Trees. Still, it is not in a place where the casual person can enter. It is understood that the witch who owns the hermitage keeps others away, and this is not wrong.
Inside the hermitage – in front of the cauldron, there was a small figure.
A long-haired figure wearing a robe with a black cape. If you have only heard the story that the Black Witch lives there, you would think that this figure owns the hermitage.
However, this small shadow is not the Black Witch. It is her apprentice. If you look at the face under the hat, you will notice that it is a young girl.
The girl is holding a small doll in her arms. She is beautiful but expressionless.
The witch herself is sitting nearby, within eye range.
“Let’s start then. let’s start with the compounding of the wound medicine I taught you yesterday.”
“I understand, Rona.”
The girl’s mouth is not moving as she answers. The mouth of the doll she is holding in her arms is moving. It’s a kind of ventriloquism. Under the supervision of the witch called Rona, the girl pours water into a large pot, puts it on the fire, and puts the ingredients of the potion into the pot in a set order to make the potion. She stirs it occasionally to gauge the reaction of the liquid, and finally casts a spell to complete it. During that time, Rona doesn’t say anything as long as there are no mistakes in the procedure. She just watches.
At the very moment when the girl casts the spell on the final step, purple smoke rises and the work is complete.
Rona lightly clasps her palms together, and a wave of magical power spreads out from there.
Along with a sound like a balloon bursting, something invisible pops around the girl’s body.
“Ah.”
The girl – or rather the doll in her arms – cries out and looks towards Rona, but the witch shrugs her shoulders.
The girl’s bright brown eyes, looking at the witch, change to a vivid shade reminiscent of amethyst. Her hair color, too. It was a mysterious pale blonde that looked silver depending on the light.
“The potion is completed, so that’s what caught your attention, right? When you’re relaxed or concentrating, that’s when your defenses become weak. It’s better because it’s just recognition inhibition, but if it was a stealth or defensive spell, it would be fatal if they were broken.”
“I’ve still got a long way to go.”
While the doll was saying that, the girl deployed the recognition inhibition spell again, causing her hair and eyes to turn light brown.
“That’s true. The ideal situation would be to be able to unconsciously prevent it from being released even when asleep. So, since the spell has been broken, go do some work outside without your unique spell or golem. If you improve your basic proficiency, the strength of your spell will increase, and whether you’re a witch or whatever, it’s your stamina that matters in the end.”
“I understand.”
“As for the potion… well, I guess it’s useful.”
As for Rona, who was peering into the cauldron, the girl headed outside the hermitage.
The girl takes the goat out of the barn to feed it weeds, and weeds the fields, wells, and areas around the paths, while keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t eat crops or harmful plants and doesn’t escape.
The girl’s movements, which occasionally touch the goat to control its behavior, show that she is used to the job.
If you look closely, you can see that the magic shines when she touches the goat, and you can see that she is either communicating with the goat or controlling its behavior.
The doll nods with satisfaction as the goat moves away from the crops, and the girl strokes its head. When the task is finished, the doll takes the goat to the barn and fills a bucket with water from the well, sprinkles it on the fields, and adds drinking water to the water bottle, among other small tasks.
When the girl is fetching water and sprinkling it, she is using magic somewhere. For example, the hand that the girl is pulling the well’s pulley is infused with magic, increasing her strength, and the same is true when lifting the large water bucket and sprinkling the water.
Strengthening physical functions to assist with work. Strengthening effects both physical strength and the use of magical power. A method to train both at the same time. It’s a simple method, but it’s definitely effective.
Even if training in parallel, one can continue to mix it into their daily work for a long time because as long as they have a sufficient amount of magical power. I could be said that this was the girl’s big deviation from the norm. After finishing her various tasks, the girl returns to the hermitage.
“Outside work is done.”
“Hmm. Well, I’ll take a break and then have lunch.”
With that, Rona stands up, but the doll looks at her awkwardly and shook its head.
“I’ll make it.”
“Just take a break now.”
“…Rona doesn’t really care about the taste… Based on the ingredients we picked yesterday… I think today will be…”
“Heh, heh. It’s herbal porridge, so it has the effect of speeding up magical recovery. Also, it has a bitter taste and smell that you need to get used to.”
Rona grins.
“…Can we do something about the taste and smell?”
“Well, porridge isn’t anything special, so the way you cook it shouldn’t make much difference. Fine, do as you like, Clare.”
Rona shook her shoulders with amusement before handing the kitchen over to Clare. Clare nodded her doll and headed to the kitchen, pondering how to use the prepared ingredients.
–From Rona’s perspective, Clare was a quiet and shy child from the time she was old enough to understand.
Rona was prepared to take care of the child and the troubles it brought along.
Taking care of her as a baby was to be expected, and Rona had her share of difficulties, but she was surprised at the likes and dislikes and discipline that normal children develop when they grow up and become aware of things.
Once she became aware of things, she was quiet and had a blank expression, but she obeyed well and didn’t require much care, as she remembers. She was intelligent as well. And even though she had a blank expression, it didn’t seem like her emotions were gone. She was like a doll, with her face barely showing anything.
When she was told about things related to daily life, like the toilet and drinking water, she remembered them just once, and she didn’t put things in her mouth or make a mess. If she told her about the monsters in the forest, she won’t go beyond the fence, and she’ll stay within sight.
It’s easy to raise her, but it’s true that it feels strange to describe her as quiet, sensible, or just a smart kid.
When she read books to her while teaching her how to write, she began to speak politely, though haltingly, perhaps imitating the characters in the books she had read to her. It’s not a bad thing. She thought it was the influence of the books, and thought it would become normal as she grew up.
Clare seemed to predict things that she hadn’t been taught, and acted accordingly. Rona thought that this was something she learned from experience as she grew up.
Maybe that’s how it is if you’re a genius. She was also quick to learn letters and calculations, so she believed that Clare’s personality was also like that.
Meanwhile, Clare showed a strong interest in magic, especially golems.
Rona uses earth golems for farm work and heavy labor. They can act autonomously after receiving simple commands, so there are jobs that can be entrusted to them and jobs that can’t, but as long as you don’t use them incorrectly, they are useful.
Clare was quiet, or rather, she did things at her own pace, but when she saw the golem, she leaned forward a little and watched its movements intently, which was impressive.
“Grandma Rona, what is that?”
“It’s a golem. It’s a clay doll that moves with magic.”
“Golem… Magic…”
Even when she learned to talk, she asked questions like that about golems. If she had been curious about goats, it would have been because she was curious, but for example, although she was fond of goats, she didn’t seem to be impressed by them or find them strange or touched for the first time.
Of course, from Rona’s perspective, who wanted to teach the child her own magical skills and knowledge, she had no complaints about Clare being smart and sensible, and felt that it was desirable that she showed a strong interest in magic and golems.
The answer to this small sense of incongruity came one night. It was around the time when she started teaching her how to use magic, including lectures, meditation, and simple techniques.
She remembers very well that it was a quiet night with a beautiful moon.
“…What is that? Magic?”
Feeling a small amount of magic power being activated, Rona got up from her bed.
It was outside the hermitage. The toilet is outside the main house. It appears that Clare woke up and left the main house, but Rona gets up and goes to check on her.
It wasn’t a large amount of magic, but it was a way of using magic she had never felt before, which made her curious.
When Rona sneakily looked at the source of the magic, she saw a shocking sight.
A young girl was making a small clay doll dance. Thin threads of magic stretched from her fingertips and connected to the limbs of the clay doll at her feet.
The clay doll bowed, spun around, jumped, and danced as if it was alive. There was a fantastic sight of a young girl making a doll dance in the moonlight.
It was an unexpected sight. Rona, who has seen many things, was so impressed by the remarkable technique that she was fascinated by it. Yes, it was not the magic itself, but the method at which she was using it. As she watched, she realized.
Surprisingly, Clare was not making the doll dance with magic. The only thing the strings do is keep the clay doll from falling apart, and it is the movement of the hands, fingers, and strings that controls the doll. It requires mastery of the technique, and it is unlikely that she had been secretly practicing this technique somewhere, as it was a wavelength she had never felt before.
She hadn’t even been taught how to disguise or conceal magical powers yet, so it would be impossible for her to do it while hidden from Rona. In fact, Clare was letting her magical power flow freely without any caution.
She still didn’t know the reason, but Rona realized that this was probably the source of the discomfort she had felt up to then.
So what about the thread technique itself? Arranging magical power into such an intricate shape is an extremely difficult feat. Let alone controlling a doll with it…
(–Is that a unique magic…!)
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