The Witch and the Doll Swear

Jingle, jingle, jingle.

After shaking the golden bell three times in a row, the young man outside the door was a little nervous.

One, two, three, according to the work manual and the teachings of the predecessors, shake it every other number, so that the ringtone can be clearly conveyed while being compact.

After shaking it three times, the young man took his hand away from the rattle beside the door and looked down at the pocket watch in his hand.

Repeat the process after a minute or so so that you are polite without being too loud.

[Dakana] is just a relatively ordinary hotel. Although there is a high-end suite comparable to the most luxurious hotel in the city, no one usually stays there. According to the manager himself, more money requires expensive services. Naturally, the most luxurious hotel in the city will go to the most luxurious hotel, and those with poor pockets will not favor those luxurious decorations, however.

There are always people who are not so rich but not so short of money patronize this place out of face or other reasons, and every time they visit, they will bring a sum of income that can offset the daily maintenance costs, and they have private rooms comparable to top hotels The economy hotel is quite famous in this small town.

However, often these guests do not have the tolerance and self-cultivation of those who are really used to luxury and luxury. Therefore, when the captain of the airship entrusts the hotel to wake up those who are temporarily living here because of yesterday's snowstorm When traveling, only this one can be selected, and it is decided by lottery.

Thinking of the seniors talking about the hardships they suffered from the residents of this room, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

When he got the black lottery, those colleagues who were gloating at other people's misfortune were still vividly talking about the scene where the young lady staying here negotiated with the captain in an extremely indifferent and capricious manner because she was absent from yesterday's vacation.

It is said that in the face of the middle-aged man's earnestness, the beautiful and petite girl only used the phrases "so?" "Even so." "I want the best room", which is almost contempt His attitude made the man who organized the passengers to check in speechless. Imagine the "iceberg-like coldness" and "no awareness of causing trouble to others". He felt that he was an extremely unfortunate young man from early in the morning. He sighed a long time. Take a breath.

The store manager promised that no matter what unexpected consequences happened, he would bear the responsibility, but the indescribable expressions of those seniors after hearing this made his heart shudder.

The second hand of the pocket watch was about to go around, but there was still no movement behind the door, just as he was counting the seconds and was about to ring the bell again.

"who is it?"

A somewhat lazy voice came from behind the door.

"I am the waiter of this hotel. Mr. Vitos asks the staff of this store to wake up everyone who had to stay here temporarily due to the blizzard yesterday. The blizzard has stopped. Mr. Vitos hopes that you will arrive at the entrance of our store in another 30 minutes. Assemble, the airship will take off at sunrise."

Confused that this voice was not as "cold as an iceberg", nor was it self-willed "without the slightest sense of causing trouble to others", the young man took out a piece of paper from his pocket and repeated the written notice.

His speech speed slowed down a little. People who just woke up may not be able to reflect too fast words. Slowing down is easier to hear.

However, even if the speaking speed is slowed down and the volume is raised, the guests who are separated from the door and at a considerable distance may not be able to hear clearly. Use it many times without going wrong.

"Thirty minutes, right?"

But the reaction at the door caught him off guard.

"Yes, thirty minutes. Now...it is 6:86, and there is still some time before the dawn."

He quickly looked at the pocket watch held in the other hand, and reported the accurate time on the densely packed scales. After hearing what he said, the guests in the most expensive private room fell silent for a while.

"I see, thank you for your hard work."

He simply answered.

"Eh? Okay... Excuse me."

The young man who was ready to repeat it a few more times has not yet reacted, but now that "Thanks for your hard work" has been said. The young man could only mutter "It feels... completely different from what the seniors said..." and leave in front of the most expensive wooden door.

Behind the door, Tina put down the quill and closed the notepad.

"Assembly in thirty minutes, and then, the airship is about to depart."

"Yes, the blizzard has also stopped."

The doll who heard her say that blinked her eyes, floated up and pushed open the French windows of the balcony.

A sharp cold wind swept away the warmth radiating from the fireplace in an instant, and the petite witch curled up in the velvet sheet and eiderdown quilt without a strand, and couldn't help shrinking into the bed, only a few strands of it gradually changed to bright platinum. Blonde lotion spilled on the pillow.

"Wow, it's cold—"

"After all, it's the wind from the north. Although it's not as cold as the City of Thousand Towers, it's necessary to wake up Lily who is lying in bed."

While talking, Alice, who was wearing only a thin nun's uniform in the bitter winter wind but didn't seem to feel the slightest chill, floated back to the head of the bed, and stretched out her hand to pull the thick and soft quilt.

"Hi...yeah..."

"ah……"

One didn't stand firm, and the lady doll fell into the quilt.

"Hey, I'm running out of magic power..."

After all, this is not such a high-end hotel. The balcony is not capable of melting ice and snow and draining snow water like Liliana's tower. It seems that pushing away the French windows blocked by thick snow has already made Miss Doll's little magic power go away. It's almost used up.

"However, it would be too cruel to tear off the warm quilt at this time..."

Tina, who saw what Alice wanted to do at a glance, also sat by the bed.

Tingna woke up very early, thanks to the constant temperature magic on the expensive brand suit, although the cold wind was blowing on her face, the girl didn't feel particularly cold.

The first time the doorbell of the room rang, Liliana, who was looking past her, persuaded Alice not to go straight to the main tower to find the remaining two parts. Firewings flitted across the sparse stars in the sky.

At that time, Liliana asked her suddenly, "Did you hear it?" Before she could answer, the crisp bell woke her up from her dream.

When I opened my eyes, in the darkness of the winter morning, the blizzard had subsided.

"This is the only way to wake up Lily who doesn't want to get up..."

"Speaking of why Miss Liliana can't get out of bed in the city..."

"To be precise, in a gathering place to a certain extent, because of the relationship between the witch race and the kingdom of dreams, as soon as there are many dreaming individuals around, they will be tied down in their dreams by this connection."

"...The reason you told me before doesn't seem to be this?"

"Eh? Did you tell Miss Tina before?"

The puppet lying on the quilt was a little surprised, but immediately, she shook her head weakly.

"But this is only one of the possible reasons. Lily and Alice can only guess what happened to them so far. What happened in the ruins? What happened to Lily and Alice? For hundreds of years, even I don't know why Lily can't get out of bed easily in the city."

The puppet looked at Tina with a sad expression.

But soon she smiled again.

"But now is not the time to talk about this. Miss Tina will see what happened in the ruins [Sith] soon. Now, help Alice wake up Lily. Lily must take a bath after she wakes up. , only 30 minutes, isn't it?"

"ah……"

Indeed, Liliana has the habit of getting up to take a bath, no, not just Miss Witch, Tina also has this habit under the influence of Ai Lifu, but only for 30 minutes...

"It's okay, Lily still practices nudism even in a blizzard. There is nothing wrong with the cold wind, but the time to take a bath..."

"..."

The guilt of dragging people out of the warm quilt to face the cold in the winter, disappeared because of Alice’s words, whispering please forgive me, Tina pushed the thick quilt from the curled up witch’s body open.

after a while.

After a simple wash, after returning to the airship, which is not as luxurious as the hotel's suite, but still has a clean toilet and a bathtub, Tingna felt leaning against the bathtub and staring at her toes, waiting for the magic spell on the airship. Miss Witch, who can boil hot water to compensate for getting up early to take a bath, seems to have her back turned to her intentionally or unintentionally.

"That, Miss Liliana..."

"...?"

Even if he called, he just checked his face a little bit, that soft and beautiful figure is fascinating... No, no!

"Could it be, is that... angry?"

"...Is it difficult for Miss Tina to guess my emotions?"

... Sure enough, you are angry, right?

Tina turned her head in embarrassment.

"That... because there is only a very indistinct expression...so..."

Alice said in lip language not to worry.

"So... well, it's good to be able to see the face, but if I can't see it, it's really hard for me to pay attention to Miss Liliana's emotions."

And it's useless to cover up, this witch must be able to easily see through her true thoughts, so Ting Na had no choice but to answer like fate.

"...is it like this in the dream?"

"……What?"

"...Miss Tina didn't notice at all. What kind of mood did I have when I proposed to find the remaining parts of Alice?"

Liliana looked up.

Deadpan... no.

The slight change in expression that would make people mistakenly read it was fleeting, but Tina didn't see anything from it. The girl thought for a while, then shook her head blankly.

"...Really, it's the same as Alice at that time."

Liliana didn't seem surprised by this reaction, but what she said made people care.

"...Don't worry, Miss Tingna will know soon, this journey will reach the end before noon, the rest of the story, let's make a long story short."

Sensing the doubt written on the girl's face, the witch just bundled up her long hair. She paused in the middle of the action. She looked at the metal water pipe protruding from the wall, gathered her hair with one hand, and used the other hand to , Unscrewed the tap.

The sound of water echoed in the not-so-big bathtub, and the curling hot air covered the glass of the round porthole with white gauze.

"...the experience of the two temples after that, there is indeed nothing to say. Although the memories and emotions of those souls have been entangled with me, making it difficult for me to concentrate, after Alice has the ability to fly, we spend almost nothing Kung Fu got back Alice's hands and feet."

Slowly tied up her long hair, the witch spoke lightly.

The ancient magic does not regard the properties of fire, air, water, and earth—that is, light and darkness, which are very different from the four elements called fire, wind, water, and earth—as things on the same level, so the parts of Alice are also called According to the division of these four elements, it is divided into four parts and placed in four directions.

"...Alice's head was placed in the temple representing the earth, so below the opera house was the cornerstone of the rock, and her body was placed in the temple representing the fire, so the collapsed temple was on the lake of lava, and the rest , water and wind, these two temples..."

There is nothing special about these two temples.

The appearance of the temple representing the wind looks like a pavilion soaked in the color of the sky. The bluestone is built with thirteen straight columns with a bowl mouth, and the azure glazed tiles are layered on top of each other, covering the four-leaf clover-shaped pavilion top. Like the scales of a dragon.

This mixed Eastern and Continental-style building is suspended above the deep valley on the west side of Sith, surrounded by sporadic pumice rocks, and a deep canyon below. The moonlight cannot illuminate the end of the canyon, only darkness.

Like the other two temples, there is a high platform of gold and emerald in the center of the gazebo, surrounded by layers of curtains. Liliana was attacked by those stones when she was carried by Alice to fly through the hollow valley. .

"It's only about 7 or 8 pieces, and it's not too big. Alice smashed it into pieces with [Seraphim]'s wings. Obviously, the defensive magic of that temple is those pumice rocks."

Alice sat dignifiedly in front of the mirror on the dressing table. In order to let the girl understand, she used some balls of light as a reference: the light ball in the center is the location of the temple, and the scattered light spots are those pumice rocks, a small ball squeezed out Shampoo was Alice and Liliana. After Shampoo flew over, those light spots also flew over, but all of them disappeared when they passed by Shampoo.

"Eh? Why is the defense of the Temple of Wind so weak?"

Not even blocking.

"No, there can't be only a few rocks that can be driven by magic in a complete state. It's possible that they are huge enough to fill the deep valley, and they are likely to be the kind of crystal used to suppress Alice. , when the magic is activated, a heavy storm will be rolled up in the sky."

The little puppet shook its head, and the light spots around the light ball suddenly became denser. Dozens or hundreds of golden light balls danced irregularly, creating a terrible storm in Alice's hands that flooded the gap.

In the blink of an eye, there was nothing left of the clump of shampoo.

"...that valley is exceptionally deep, at the end of the darkness, although you can't see anything, it should go straight to the end of the earth, fall to the end, maybe it will be the infinite void beyond the barrier of the world, therefore, this The magic that should be eternal has also been broken, and the Temple of Wind itself is almost damaged. When Alice and I fell, the floor that should have been solid also shattered into dust."

"After Alice and Lily took away Alice's legs that were placed there, the entire temple fell down. Alice and Lily floated in the air for a long time but did not hear the sound of falling to the ground. Probably, they did fall into the ground. Void."

"...Then, we went to the Temple of Water, which is in the north of Sith. The rushing river diverged into an arc-like tributary, and finally merged into a lake. In the center of the lake was a dilapidated ruin. Although the protection is dilapidated, it is still tidy. The guardian of the temple is the [Sanctuary of the Sea King] in ancient magic. As long as we get close, there will be countless powerful water elements emerging from the lake. Our prudence keeps us alive. Otherwise, even if it is flying in the air, it will be destroyed and annihilated by the overwhelming water arrows, which is the famous great magic."

Hot water filled the bathtub.

Although she was almost destroyed by water arrows, Liliana still soaked the whole body from the neck down into the slightly scalding hot water after simply washing her body. Let out a pleasant breath.

"Then, how did Miss Liliana and Alice break the magic? It must have been very, very hard, right? Since it's a huge magic..."

"...No, the method of dispelling this magic is not complicated or difficult. The key structure of this magic is hidden under extremely deep water. Generally speaking, there are layers of protection, but for the same reason, these protections It was also damaged in more than 200 years. We threw Alice's remaining [Coordinating Leader's Pupil] into the lake and caused a violent explosion. The entire magical structure collapsed completely. What is left to do is to take Alice's hands, and very lucky to find Alice's spare eye parts in that temple."

"In terms of the preservation of magic alone, the damage to the Temple of Water is even more exaggerated than that of the two Temples of Fire and Wind. Even if Lily pulled back the curtain and took Alice's legs from there, the temple did not collapse. Lily and Alice Si still sat and rested on the steps of the temple for a long time."

"Yes, is that so...... Although it seems to be an understatement, it is really dangerous, right?"

Yesterday and before, Liliana's narration was always full of various details. This was the first time that such a brief description was made. Tingna imagined such a scene while taking off her clothes, but the picture in her mind and Compared with what I saw with my own eyes last night, it was like the gap between a master and an apprentice.

"That...Miss Liliana, now...can you use that dream magic?"

"...not recommended."

The witch's black eyes were raised, and she stared carefully at the girl who was washing her body, a gleam of iridescent light flashed in her starry pupils.

Then, she calmly shook her head.

No reason was given.

But maybe there is a reason for that? After bathing, Ting Na, who also soaked her body in the fish tank, hugged her knees and thought.

"...Let's start from here."

Liliana also hugged her knees, and her body was slightly tilted on the white porcelain bathtub. After using such a sentence as the beginning of the story, the witch lowered her head and calmly stared at the hot water surface.

The steaming heat gradually disappeared in front of my eyes.

Ting Na stared blankly at the white porcelain bathtub slowly turning into a bottomless lake reflecting the empty starry sky. She raised her head and saw that the full moon she saw in her dream last night was hanging in the sky as if frozen.

"In this way, the doll is complete, thank you Miss Liliana!"

There was a happy voice in my ear.

This voice made Ting Na's words stuck in her throat, and she turned her gaze back. Miss Witch is still sitting in front of the girl, her skin has turned back to a lovely fairness, and there is an extra white dress on her body. It is no longer a bathtub to lean on, but a few cold stone steps.

Alice was held in her arms, but it was not the nun-like [Saint of the Sun], but a slim and elegant evening dress. In the arms of the girl, the slender arms of the doll held Liliana's hand, Her legs in long sandals were swaying leisurely, she didn't seem to notice that there was a person soaking in the lake water in front of her, she just smiled and looked around with those blue eyes.

It is no longer just a head, and it is no longer like a human stick without hands and feet and can only rely on the wings on the back to fly. After the doll becomes complete, its temperament seems to be more distinct than when it only has a head.

"What kind of magic is this..."

The witch didn't use the dream magic, but Tina felt like she was in a dream again.

Liliana was right in front of her eyes.

But it's not an immortal witch, but a human girl who just retrieved the parts together with the doll from the ruins to make the doll complete.

She sat on the steps of the dilapidated temple, stepped her bare feet on the steps immersed in the lake, her delicate toes seemed to be kissed by the cool water of the lake, and stretched out.

It looks like he is enjoying this hard-won leisure.

However, the girl did not look at the lake that reflected the lonely starry sky and the full moon, as if she was not satisfied with the scenery that would be disturbed by the water waves at any time. She raised her head, stared at the night sky, and answered the doll's words one by one. .

Her expression is so melancholy, what is she worried about?

The hard work on the way was taken lightly by the witch as the narrator, but no matter how hard and dangerous it was before, it is now over, right? Alice regained her complete body, gained powerful abilities, and was able to fly freely, taking them away from this world. Even if there were any hidden mechanisms or dangerous traps in the main tower, they would definitely be able to escape. Break it.

In fact, hundreds of years after this experience, they just appeared in front of me, taking me out of the hometown I thought I would never leave, didn't I?

Almost staring at the girl who was fascinated, she thought blankly.

"Miss Liliana, do you need a longer rest?"

"...Well, Ms. Doll, she seems very happy."

"I'm very happy. It turns out that this is how it feels to have a body, hands and feet."

Opening a pair of cute little wings like a baby bird, it flew out of Liliana's arms, and the doll danced happily.

"Really, thank you Miss Liliana very much. If Miss Liliana didn't insist on finding all the doll's parts, I don't know how long it would take for the doll to become complete..." "...No, it's nothing, I I just feel that if this is the case, no matter what happens next, it will be safer..."

"That's right, if you had this pair of [Hands in Control of the Law] and [Walking in the Abyss] early in the morning, at least Miss Liliana wouldn't have to work so hard at the lava lake, ah, and this [Eye of Waves] , if you get it before coming here, the doll won’t have to use up the [Coordinating Leader’s Eye].”

He shook his hands, stomped his feet, and pointed to his sea-blue pupil.

For the first time since I can remember, I have a complete body, and I can see the scenery outside the opera house. In the near future, I will be able to leave this almost static world with Liliana to see the things that have not been recorded in my mind. In knowledge, the world after the destruction of the magic empire will also be able to find its own erased past.

It's impossible not to be unhappy when something unimagined in even the wildest fantasies is about to become reality.

"……Yes."

But what is concerning is that after obtaining the body, Liliana's mood seems to have been very complicated. Probably, she has not been able to escape from the remaining memories and emotions of her soul.

Those heavy and deep emotions have been entrenched in her heart. Although [Listen to the Power of All Things] can hear her inner voice, it is too complicated, mixed with fear, worry and some tension, which makes the puppet somewhat incomprehensible .

There is no longer any danger.

Even if there is any accident, she can protect Liliana.

——However, in the future, these can also be learned slowly. How to get along with a human like Liliana, and what these complex emotions represent, after leaving here, there is enough time to learn.

"Don't worry, Miss Liliana, the defense at the top of the main tower is actually quite weak. The law of Sith is not as stable as that of the mainland, and many strange and dangerous materials are often imported here as materials for research and experiments. The magic that sets good rules for guarding will need to update the magic from time to time. It was mentioned in the log of the guards that they did this at the beginning, but it didn't take long to find that the efficiency was extremely low and it was easy to misreport. Soon, the defense on the top of the tower will become completely artificial."

"...and now that everyone is moving, there is no danger there, right?"

"Let's put it that way."

So, what to do now is to dispel the girl's worries, tensions and fears. Caution is necessary, but there is no need for timidity.

Although the doll doesn't know why it has so many functions that are obviously not for a doll, but at least for now, the doll has the confidence to protect the girl.

Maybe it was conveyed.

Because of the smiling face of the doll, the girl whose melancholy expression was somewhat relaxed stood up from the steps and looked towards the distant tower.

"...No matter when you see it, it's always so grand."

A towering tower surrounded by two twisted ribbon-like lands. According to the puppet, at the top of the tower, there is a portal connecting the Sith ruins and the mainland. If there is no accident, that is the final goal landed.

"...Then, let's go."

Withdrawing her distant gaze, Liliana hugged the doll into her arms.

The doll twisted in the girl's arms, and after confirming that it was hugged well, the several-meter-long golden-red wings stretched out.

The luster of the flames wrinkled the moon surface of the lake, and looked up again.

The moon, the stars and the night have already wrapped the slightly cold body.