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Chapter 19 – A Bard and a Resonant Tone
“I did it…!”
Clare came into the living room with the doll, looking a little excited. Rona, who was maintaining the enchanted tools, and Selena, who was reading, turned their eyes to Clare.
“Oh. Is it a doll?”
“Yes, it is! It’s finally finished…!”
The girl doll jumped up with both hands raised in joy. Since Selena came to the hermitage, Clare, in addition to her training and socializing, has been working on making dolls every day using various skills such as woodworking, pottery, sewing, alchemy, etc., in her spare time, and it appears that she has finally completed it.
“Congratulations, Clare.”
Seeing Clare looking so happy, Selena smiled and congratulated her.
“Hehehe. Thank you.”
“Can you move the doll now?”
“Yes. I’d be happy if you could take a look at it when you have time.”
“My work is mostly done.”
“I was just reading a book. I’m more interested in Clare’s puppet manipulation.”
Clare nodded along with the doll in response to their reply, and said, “I’ll bring the assembled doll then,” and headed to her room.
Shortly after Clare returned, a figure – a doll – entered the living room, following her. The two knew from the size of the parts Clare was making that the doll was taller than Clare herself.
The main reason she can make large dolls without hesitation is that she has a dwarf bag that makes it easy to store and carry. She has her own magic to control it, so it’s not a problem, and if she wants to control her doll in front of others, she can just keep it small.
The doll Clare brought was dressed like a bard with a feathered hat.
The ceramic face is beautifully sculpted with a slender face. The lips are slightly colored, perhaps due to a different type of glaze.
The eyes are made of glass beads. Even the pupils and irises are reproduced and embedded in them.
The hair is monster hair. Each strand is carefully embedded, giving it a beautiful texture, but thread-like hair can be easily manipulated with unique magic, so it was not a hassle for Clare. If it was done normally by hand, it would undoubtedly have been a daunting task.
Sewing is similarly easy for Clare. Since it is a task using thread and needles, she can freely perform complex sewing and elaborate embroidery. By combining the colors of each thread and devising a weaving method, parts of the clothing, such as the hem and sleeves, have a gradation, which would be an extraordinary amount of work if done by hand.
The fabrics themselves were not particularly expensive, but the combination and processing of the fabrics gave them a glamorous and luxurious atmosphere, despite the calm and refined colors.
“This is… intricate.”
“It’s more like a work of art than a doll…”
“Hehehe. With the unique magic, you can move it freely regardless of its size, and you can increase the amount of work. I’ve packed it with many things I want to do. I think it’ll move quite a bit, so let’s play with the doll outside.”
The three of them and the doll go outside the hermitage. As Rona and Selena watch, the doll, controlled by strings, hangs its head as if it has lost strength.
“Well then–”
Clare, standing a little distance away, says this, and the magic threads extending from her hands shine, and the doll raises its head as if it has come to life. It looks around as if it has suddenly regained consciousness, puts its hands on its hips and bows gracefully to Rona and Selena. Next to it, Clare also picks up the hem of her robe and bows in unison.
The bard doll turns around and bows to Clare, then holds out its hand as if inviting her to dance. Clare nodded and took the doll’s hand, and the doll and its owner performed a dance.
It was something Selena had taught Clare. It was for dancing at evening parties and balls.
Clare and the bard spun around and took their steps. Slow and graceful at first. Gradually getting faster.
It wasn’t Clare who was taking the lead in the dance. It looked like the doll was leading. Of course, in reality, Clare was controlling it.
She put her hands around her partner Clare’s waist and lightly spun her owner’s small body around. Was it the doll or the owner that was making her dance?
The bard and Clare left, bowed to each other, and the dance ended. But the puppetry didn’t end there.
The bard had somehow taken out a harp from somewhere and was now in his hands. Selena blinked, but Rona could tell that the harp she had shrunk was now back to its original size.
The strings on the harp are made from Clare’s magic thread. When the bard plucks the strings, a warm tone resonates.
“This is…”
Rona mutters, and Selena stares in amazement. Waves of magical power emanate from the harp along with the sound, and when she is bathed in it, she feels as if power is welling up from within her body.
When the bard finishes playing, he and Clare bow, and Rona and Selena applaud.
“It was wonderful to see…”
“Hehe. So that’s a movement you can only do because you can control puppets with magic. And… I found a new way to use strings that looked pretty interesting.”
“It’s a by-product I discovered by chance when I was trying to get the puppeteer to actually play an instrument while puppeteering. The effect is amplified when the puppet plays… and the effect itself seems to change depending on the melody played.”
It varies depending on the melody, but it can give any opponent within the sound’s range a buff or debuff.
“Well… you’ll be busy playing and putting magic into it, so it’s not very useful if you don’t have many allies, and I don’t think it’ll be used in the Great Sea of Trees…”
Clare said, looking off into the distance. She was shy and surrounded by puppets in her previous life, so even though she became a puppeteer, she didn’t have many friends… Clare recalled.
Even now, Clare has few acquaintances, friends, or allies to work with. Only Rona and Selena. Either way, it’s questionable whether the effect is enough to make up for Clare’s inability to attack.
In the Great Sea of Trees, there was also the problem that the nature of the spell made it conspicuous. It might be one thing if they were inside the barrier that Rona had deployed, but it would be a bad move to make the surrounding monsters aware of their presence.
It would be a different story if they were fighting side by side with a larger number of allies, though.
“If you understand the problem, that’s enough. If you keep it in your hand, it will be helpful somewhere. And… the effect is amplified when the doll is played, right?”
“Yes. I need to research the type of effect and the reasons for that.”
“Hmm. I can kind of understand why the effect is stronger when the doll is played. Your unique magic originates from your feelings and is strongly connected to them. Puppeteering is your true desire, right?”
“I see… I understand.”
Rona had previously hypothesized and told Clare about the unique magic she had been born with. She thought that the desire from her previous life to show something to people and to surprise them had come to fruition as a unique magic, so it could be used in various ways, such as changing the properties of the thread or adding the effects of different spells.
So if it had the property of having an effect that was amplified when it was passed through a doll, it made sense to Clare.
“If the options for unique magic increase, it makes me think about it a lot.”
“That sounds like something worth researching. If you’re thinking of using it in the Great Sea of Trees in the future, you’ll have to be careful.”
“I understand.”
For example, making combat dolls and things like that is also in the cards.
The materials and funds for that can be obtained from the Great Sea of Trees and the capital city, so it doesn’t seem like there will be any problems with making them, Clare said, smiling slightly as she looked at the doll.
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