The next morning arrived, and Red got out of bed at the crack of dawn.
Litt’s reaction last night had left him restless, but it only made him more determined to track down the Magical Doll that had vanished who-knows-where.
“I’m heading out.”
“Mm, be careful on the road.”
Litt stood at the doorway, wearing her usual gentle smile as she waved to him softly.
Without delay, Red hurried straight to the Puppet Shop from last night to meet up with his group of troublemaking friends.
As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Tos letting out a yawn that could shake the heavens, shuffling out of a room draped in hanging silk like a wandering spirit.
With those two huge dark circles under his eyes, he looked utterly listless—almost as if he’d gone at it ten times in a single night.
Yet, despite his half-dead appearance, the moment he spotted Red, he immediately slung an arm around Red’s shoulders and grinned mischievously.
“~Red! So, how’d it go? How was your ‘field exercise’ last night? Heh, the feel of the real thing’s gotta be a million times better than flying solo, right?”
He waggled his eyebrows, his tone dripping with the smugness of someone who’d “been there.”
As if suddenly recalling something, he added,
“Eh~ though I guess, if you’re being strict, a Wasted Automaton doesn’t really count as the real thing…..”
“Ugh… don’t bring it up.”
Hearing this, Red couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“I didn’t get to experience anything at all. The Magical Doll I made, who knows what happened—it just disappeared without a trace. Mason and I, plus a whole bunch of Blood-Hunting Spiders, turned this entire area upside down and still couldn’t find it.”
“Huh???”
Tos looked at Red like he’d just heard the joke of the century, sweeping his eyes over Red with the disdain reserved for a complete fool.
“Yeah, right! Keep spinning that yarn! Let me guess—your thing conked out at the critical moment and you were too embarrassed to admit it, so you made up this story?”
“If you infuse magic into a Magical Doll, at best it can move around a bit in the shop. Know why? There’s a special Magic Array here—Magical Dolls can only move within the array. The moment they step out the shop door, they go back to being dead lumps.”
“And you lost yours? At least come up with a better excuse! Don’t tell me you really… ‘can’t’?”
He deliberately dragged out the word “can’t,” his tone infuriating to the extreme.
“Damn it! I’m not making excuses.”
Red promptly flashed Tos two straight middle fingers, itching to jab them right into his face.
Just then, Mason pushed the door open and came in, rubbing his sore eyes.
Before he could say anything, Red stepped over and said,
“Mason saw it with his own eyes, too. If you don’t believe me, ask him.”
Seeing Red’s serious stance, even Tos had to mutter, half in doubt,
“You two aren’t ganging up to mess with me, are you?”
“Not a chance….”
Mason had searched all night.
Not just Succubus Street—he’d nearly scoured all of Nightbright Town.
Even with the mechanical creatures Red provided, there was still no sign of that Magical Doll, as if it had vanished into thin air.
The two began explaining the events of last night to Tos, who only found it stranger and more incredible as they went on.
“That really does sound kind of spooky… A Magical Doll, something that’s totally not alive, running around like a real person—who’d believe that?”
“I know, nobody would believe it if I told them either…”
Red let out another deep sigh.
Why hadn’t he thought things through and made the Wasted Automaton look like anyone else, instead of making one that looked exactly like Litt?
If it were anyone else, maybe it wouldn’t have been such a pain now.
“What’s going on?”
Brian came out from the back room.
Compared to Tos, he looked much more refreshed, not at all as if anything had happened.
Maybe because one of them had experienced a Magical Doll, while the other had met a disguised “fake doll,” huh?
After seeing Brian, Red and Mason gave him a quick rundown.
Brian stroked his chin, deep in thought.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of something like this.”
“Same here,” Tos spread his hands.
“If things like this can happen, isn’t that no different from making a living person?”
Mason chimed in.
“There’s still a difference. When Red made the Magical Doll, he didn’t add this,” Mason said, picking up a piece of Meat Lingzhi as a demonstration.
The others immediately understood and silently gave Red a thumbs up.
“So focused on white stockings, you forgot something as important as showboating. That’s just like you, brother.”
“Damn it!”
Red’s face darkened.
“Stop with the snarky comments and help me come up with something. I don’t want Litt to bump into that Magical Doll on the street someday.”
“For real…”
Mason nodded, “Even if I can’t find her, letting her wander around out there is definitely a risk.”
At heart, a Magical Doll isn’t a human.
It only takes this shape to suit popular tastes.
Given the right circumstances, it could turn into a killing machine in an instant.
More importantly, Red wouldn’t agree to make himself a new Magical Doll until the old one was found.
So of course Mason was anxious too.
Just then, the steady Brian shared his own thoughts.
“I don’t really think there’s any need to panic. From what I know of Litt, even if she finds out you made a Magical Doll in her likeness, she won’t get mad. If anything, she’ll be embarrassed but secretly pleased.”
“I agree,” Tos nodded seriously, “With a temperament as gentle as an Angel’s, how could she possibly get angry? Actually, Red, you could just go explain everything to Rit right now. When you find the Magical Doll later, you might even get to double up—”
As the four chatted, they walked out of the Homeless Clan Puppet Shop.
“I’m back.”
Still with no clue where to look for the Magical Doll, Red dragged his exhausted self back to the Weapon Shop.
It was odd—he ran a Weapon Shop, yet he almost never seemed to be in it.
He always left Litt to watch the shop for him.
He couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about it.
“Welcome ba… m, huh?”
Seeing how physically and mentally worn out Red looked, Litt couldn’t help but jump in surprise.
“Red, you look really tired, are you okay?”
Hearing Litt’s concern, Red couldn’t help feeling a twinge of warmth in his heart.
But her next words nearly scared him half to death.
“I just… saw a girl who looked a lot like me.”
What a tease.