episode_0123

Pier Tiavel

“Good…. This should be enough, right? Hehehe…. ”

While Aria searched for books, Pier Tiavel, a girl preparing something inside the tent, grinned at what was before her eyes. Then she snapped her fingers, and as soon as Tiavel snapped her fingers, the candles on the tent walls instantly began to light up. The interior, filled with dolls, slowly started to reveal itself, and Tiavel, looking around the brightly lit tent, seemed satisfied as she murmured with a wide smile.

“Ahhh…!! This is enough! With this much, I’ll be able to defeat even that Saintess…!! Hehehehe…. To be able to turn the Saintess into a doll…. I feel so good….!!”

Tiavel, who had been gazing at her preparations for 20 minutes, began to feel greatly excited that she could finally get her hands on Aria. At that moment, she heard the sound of the tent ripping and Tiavel, startled, looked back. Aria had torn through the tent with her staff and was slowly entering. Despite Aria’s unexpected appearance, Tiavel didn’t seem flustered; instead, she chuckled and welcomed Aria.

“Welcome, Saintess! Did you come to this tent where I am, on your own accord, to become a doll?”

“….? Are you Pier Tiavel? The puppeteer who kept talking to me….”

“….! How did you guess my name? While I was preparing a present for you, you’ve been busy too, haven’t you? But why do you look so surprised?”

When Aria recognized her, Tiavel was curious and surprised about how Aria had figured out her identity. Then, as Aria herself wore a bewildered expression, Tiavel tilted her head and asked Aria. Aria then asked Tiavel, wearing a look of utter incomprehension.

“That makes no sense…. The diary stated the time of Doruga’s destruction. Doruga should have been a ruined village 40 years ago…. But why do you look the same age as you were back then….?”

Aria simply couldn’t understand why Tiavel still looked like a young girl, 40 years after Doruga’s destruction. Tiavel tilted her head, then scratched her head, and began to think deeply.

“Hmm… Has it been 40 years already? I wasn’t interested in how much time had passed, so I didn’t know. It must be because I received the dolls’ blessing, I guess!”

‘I tried to test her by pretending to be flustered… and it seems she truly doesn’t know…. But I can see it with my own eyes. The reason why you’ve lived for 40 years in that same form…’

Aria realized that Tiavel, as she had expected, didn’t know why she had lived for 40 years in the form of a young girl. Seeing something only she could perceive coming from Tiavel, Aria became certain that this was the reason Tiavel hadn’t aged. Then she sighed deeply and began to ponder something.

‘Ugh…. Here I go again, pondering…. This means I’m the only one in a difficult situation again…!!’

“What are you thinking about again? Honestly, you know well that now isn’t the time for that, Saintess! It’s time for the curtain to rise on our play! Now, look forward to it!! My special dolls!!”

As Aria pondered something again, Tiavel spread her arms and shouted for Aria to anticipate her dolls. At that moment, the candles behind Tiavel began to emit a bright light, and with that light, 40 dolls in the form of adventurers appeared. But regardless, Aria continued to ponder something, and having finally made a decision, she sighed deeply and thought as she looked at Tiavel.

‘Haaah… It can’t be helped. Although my hands are trembling so much I want to kill that little kid…! B-But still!! Zeke-nim’s praise comes first…!! Ughhh… I’ll endure it….!! Everything for Zeke-nim’s joy…!!’

Ultimately, Aria decided that receiving praise from Zeke was more important than killing Tiavel, so she made a resolution. Then Aria belatedly noticed the adventurer dolls behind Tiavel, and seeing their attire, she asked Tiavel.

“Those are all people who visited Doruga and were killed by you, aren’t they?”

“Hmm…. I don’t know what you were pondering that made you only notice my dolls now… but anyway, you’re right! All these people came to Doruga as adventurers and died, becoming dolls because of me!!”

“Honestly, I never thought I’d say something like this…. Hooo… but this is for Zeke-nim…. How did you come up with the idea of turning people into dolls?”

When Tiavel confirmed that the dolls behind her were indeed people who had been adventurers, Aria thought she had never imagined asking about someone else’s circumstances, then sighed deeply and asked Tiavel why she had thought of turning people into dolls. Tiavel then tilted her head and asked Aria.

“Why does the Saintess who was trying to kill me suddenly want to know my circumstances? Did you eat something wrong while I was preparing the dolls?”

“I also have my own circumstances now. Even though I want to snap your neck with my bare hands right now…!! I’m holding myself back, you know? Won’t you tell me…?”

“…. Puhuhuhu…. I don’t know what it is, but it’s amusing…. Fine, I’ll tell you.”

When Aria spoke seriously, saying she was holding herself back from killing Tiavel due to her own circumstances, Tiavel, intrigued, chuckled and began to manipulate small dolls with a ball of yarn. As the dolls came forward, they bowed politely, and Tiavel said to Aria.

“Welcome, everyone, to the performance of the little dolls. The play ‘The Orphan of the Wasteland Village’ will now begin, so please enjoy the show~”

“…. Just say it. I don’t have time for such plays.”

“…. You have no manners. Don’t worry~ It’ll be over quickly~ Once upon a time, a very long time ago~ an child lived in the wasteland~”

When Aria complained that she didn’t have time for a play, Tiavel said it would be over quickly and began manipulating a shabby doll. The old, shabby doll sat down, and Tiavel manipulated other dolls as she narrated.

“When that child turned six, they were abandoned by their parents and lived in an old house. The parents left the child and went far away, and this child had to live alone. You might ask why they had to live alone when there were other villagers? The reason is that the child’s parents were involved with some religion. Because of that, the child was seen as ‘unholy’ by people and had to live a lonely life.”

Tiavel made other dolls surround the shabby doll, then moved their arms to make it seem as if they were pointing fingers at the shabby doll. Then Tiavel, adopting a sad expression to match the atmosphere, continued to explain.

“You are an unholy child! Your mom and dad abandoned you because you’re unholy! We wish you’d leave this village…. Everyone scorned the child, but they didn’t drive them out. Perhaps a trace of pity remained? But the child didn’t give up. Instead, the child gathered strength and used their exceptional memory to learn how to live by observing various people. They learned farming to get crops and cooking to prepare meals. But that only made others perceive the child as a monster.”

‘…. That’s what was in the diary.’

Aria, watching Tiavel’s play, realized that the diary’s owners hadn’t known the child learned how to live by observing others, and thus mistakenly thought the child was surviving on their own and treated them as a monster. Tiavel then manipulated the doll to hold cotton and leather in its hands, as if making dolls.

“But the child still didn’t give up. Thinking that if they gave gifts to other children their age, perhaps they would be accepted, the child made dolls based on what they learned from observing people! Using leftover leather and cotton, and also stones and wood! But even those were perceived by people as cursed objects, so everyone shunned the child. And so, the child, living ostracized by everyone, one day… Ta-da! Met a certain Saintess!”

As the play’s atmosphere shifted from gloomy to the part where the child met the Saintess, Tiavel smiled broadly and manipulated a small Saintess doll to approach the shabby doll. Then she continued the play.

“The Saintess asked the child many things. What their dream was, what they wished for…. And the child, with a bright smile never seen before, told the Saintess. ‘I want to live with many dolls inside a tent! I want to live with other people!’ Then the Saintess said, ‘Then you just have to keep working towards that. I will help you.’ The child felt great joy that someone would help them. But… people’s scorn remained the same. So the child realized. If people became dolls, they would get along well with me! They would accept me! And… hehehe… hihihihihi….”

The moment the play transitioned to the part where the child wished people would become dolls, Tiavel couldn’t control her laughter and just kept laughing. At that instant, the shabby doll Tiavel was manipulating burst apart. Seeing this, Aria sighed deeply and pointed her staff at Tiavel, saying.

“Haaah…. I roughly understand the situation. And I know what needs to be done. First, I should probably smash those dolls you made.”

“Hehe…. Hiii…. Huhuhu…. Uhuhuhu…. Do you really think that will be easy, Saintess? These dolls, you see….”

“….Hm?”

When Aria spoke as if she could easily destroy her dolls, Tiavel chuckled, clutching the ball of yarn, and asked Aria if she truly thought it would be simple. Then the dolls behind Tiavel each drew their weapons, and as they released some kind of power from their weapons or hands, Aria let out a hollow laugh and said.

“Hah. So they can use all the powers they possessed in life, huh? But will that be alright? Your tent might get blown away, you know.”

“Are you even worried about my tent? How thoughtful! But you see…. I wonder if you know that the entire Doruga is my dollhouse? A place that has become my doll’s home doesn’t easily break unless I’m killed! Well… it did collapse from your attack… but my dolls’ attacks can’t even scratch my dollhouse! And if all these dolls hit you directly, do you think you’ll be safe?”

“Hmm…. Alright, well… it seems I’ll have to use some power too. It would be a great mistake to think I can only use brute force, Tiavel. Oh, omniscient and omnipotent one in the heavens. Your follower, who seeks to borrow your power, begs you to lend me strength. I will punish the sinner with your might.”

Judging that she would need to exert some power to face the adventurer dolls behind Tiavel, Aria ran her right hand along her staff and chanted a prayer. The staff began to emit a yellow light, and Tiavel, seeing it, was greatly astonished and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow…!! That’s amazing!! You had a power like that too!”

“Oh, one in the heavens. I shall punish the sinner with your power. Judgment upon the sinner!”

“Hm?”

The moment Aria aimed her staff at Tiavel and chanted the prayer, a powerful beam of light erupted from Aria’s staff towards her. Tiavel hastily manipulated one of the magician dolls to create a shield. However, as the shield began to crack upon impact with the beam, Tiavel, startled, quickly dodged to the side. Simultaneously, the shield shattered, and the magician doll was engulfed by the beam, turning into dust.

“Whoa…. That startled me…. You had something like this too? Hooo…. This won’t do! Everyone, charge together!!”

“Go on… come at me.”

Realizing that Aria was still hiding other powers, Tiavel decided she couldn’t give her any more leeway. She grabbed the ball of yarn and manipulated all the dolls to rush at Aria. Aria then swung her staff to strike away a warrior doll charging at her with a sword, and threw her staff at an archer doll next to her, aiming to shoot an arrow, piercing its head.

“Oh? Are you abandoning your staff? You shouldn’t do that, should you?!”

When Aria threw her staff at the archer doll, Tiavel quickly manipulated three knight dolls to charge at Aria. Aria then struck the hand of one charging knight doll, making it drop its sword, immediately snatched the sword, and threw it straight at Tiavel. Tiavel, startled, ducked to avoid the flying sword and exhaled a sigh of relief, saying.

“Phew…. You really can’t let your guard down with this Saintess…. I almost had a big problem….?”

The moment Tiavel, relieved at almost being impaled by the sword, looked back at Aria, she saw Aria, who had utterly destroyed the three knight dolls that had charged at her with her bare fists, immediately running towards the staff she had thrown. Tiavel was dumbfounded by the knights’ futile defeat.

‘Those were knights who had quite a reputation… and the other dolls were strong adventurers too…. They’re no match for that Saintess….’

“Mere dolls like these cannot defeat me. And even without my staff, I can shatter these dolls with my fists.”

“Oh?”

The moment Tiavel was dumbfounded that five dolls had already been futilely defeated by Aria, Aria swung her staff to shatter the heads of three other adventurer dolls, rendering them immobile. Tiavel began to ponder something deeply. Meanwhile, Aria parried the sword of a warrior doll swinging at her with her staff, then used her staff to push the sword into the warrior doll, breaking its waist.

“No matter how much a sword is forged with power, it won’t work on me.”

“Alright. Then, just like the Saintess did, we’ll fire a beam too! Everyone, get ready!”

“….?”

Recalling that Aria had just fired a beam, Tiavel manipulated five magician dolls to come towards her. She then made all the magician dolls cast magic circles. As all the magician dolls deployed their magic circles, Aria spun her staff, preparing to counterattack. Meanwhile, Zeke was….

“Ugh….. Uuuugh… Slurp slurp…..”

…talking in his sleep.