Chapter 43: Puppet Craftsman Acquired

-with Yamai and Yoshino-

"This is... really intriguing"

The young woman said as she observed the spirit circuits within Kaguya with excitement and enthusiasm visible in her eye.

Her magic circuit was spread around her entire body like a root, allowing her internal mana to flow naturally within her body, like that of a puppet, but... unlike a puppet, they generate their own mana within them.

"Do you believe us now?"

Kaguya said before forcefully pulling her arm away from the woman for getting goose bumps from her actions.

"I do but... it is indeed strange, how can the 3 of you directly use mana without the aid of a puppet?"

The woman asked out of curiosity while Irori prepared tea for all 4 of them with a conflicted expression on her face.

"Answer: Judging from your own magic circuit, which is underdeveloped... Yuzuru assumes that maybe this is because that your kind have no method that can fully practice and nurture your magic circuits..."

Yuzuru answered with a straight face, staring at the beautiful woman, looking at them with amusement.

"A method?"

"Answer: Indeed, you're methods just rely on transfering mana to another medium or a catalyst, that is why it's underdeveloped, your kind no nothing about mana manipulation and termination"

Yuzuru says before creating a ball of wind within her hand.

"A spell relies on two important steps, Mana Manipulation that allows the shape that the caster desire to form like a spear, a curse, etc. and Termination in where the caster need to cut off the spell's connection with the caster's magic circuit, allowing the spell to solidify and permanently take that form"

She said while manipulating the wind around her in her left arm.

"What I'm doing on my right hand is called a 'spell' it allows me to form my mana into any element that I desire, but is limited to the caster's affinity to a specific element. Pure mana is basically a blank piece of paper, something must be written inside for it to be identifiable"

"On my other hand is called 'manipulation'. Unlike 'spell', you control the mana of the pre-existing elements around you at will... Even though its capabilities are limited unlike 'spell', it's casting time is much faster than a spell because you just have to control something that already existed around you... and this method is much harder than a spell since you have to establish a connection with the magic circuit of nature itself... If you place too much you'll get devoured by nature, by if you place too less you won't be able to manipulate the element properly... It has to be precise and accurate, that is why a spell more popular to mages and other beings since it is much easier to manage"

She says before cutting off her own connection to stop the spell on both of her hand while Kaguya and Yoshinon looked at her with interest since they never heard of such information before.

"But... There are more complex spells out there that requires specific instructions for it to form... For example, contract magic, it is kind of similar to what your kind do to connect to a puppet. Create a string of mana towards the puppet and transfer a specific amount of mana for them to use an ability... and then you cut if off"

Yuzuru explained before taking the cup of tea on the table.

"But contact magic is much complex than that since the caster has to create a connection between their magic circuit"

She says as she took a sip from the cup of tea in her hand with the same elegance that she copied from Kurumi.

"Hmm... Then why can't we form a spell like the 3 of you?"

"Answer: That's because you not placing enough mana into your spell"

"What do you mean?"

"Answer: A spell needs a specific amount of mana to form... but in your case since your mana capacity is low, forming a simple spell will be much difficult since you cannot supply enough mana for the spell to properly form"

"This is... truly interesting, if you don't mind can you answer some of my questions?"

The woman said as she leaned on the table, looking at her with hope filled eyes.

"Su-"

"Answer: It isn't for free"

Yuzuru quickly cut off her sister by covering her mouth, answering the question herself to stop her sister from making reckless decision.

"What do you want in exchange?"

"First, can you tell us your name?"

"It's common courtesy to introduce yourselves first before you can ask for my name"

The woman said as she clapper her hands to call the other 2 dolls inside the living room where they were staying at.

"... Y-Yoshino H-Himekawa"

Yoshino shyly introduced herself while pulling her hood to hide her face.

"I'm Yoshinon, it's nice to meet such beautiful ladies"

The puppet in her hand introduced itself in an energetic manner, cutely waving its small hand towards their direction.

"Introduce: Yuzuru Yamai"

Yuzuru followed as she gazed at the new figures inside the room, looking at the same black haired girl they froze before, glaring at them in anger while the other one is a cute little girl with brown red hair tied in a twin tail, staring at them with glittering eyes.

"..."

"Kaguya, introduce yourself"

"Kaguya Yamai... It's nice to meet you"

Kaguya reculantly introduced herself to the 4 of them.

"Good, My name's Shouko Karyuusai... I'm sorry about what happened before"

She says before patting Yaya's shoulder, signalling her to introduce herself to the 3 of them.

"... Yaya..."

"Yaya, apologize to them"

"B-but-

"Yaya"

Shouko cut her off as she looked at her with a serious expression on her face.

Yaya gritted her teeth in anger as small tears formed on the side of her eyes, clenching her dress before apologizing in a pitiful tone.

"... Yaya's sorry"

She said while bowing her head, averting her eyes from the 3 of them before running outside the room.

"... Sorry about that"

"No it's ok"

Kaguya waved her hand in front of them to stop them from apologizing any further.

"She's a good girl... it's just that she not that fond with strangers"

Irori says with a wry smile on her face as tried lessen the tension between the 4 of them.

"It's ok, she's really similar to one of our sister back at our home"

"Query: You mean Natsumi?"

"Yeah, she's not really fond of strangers that much in the past... well I don't know if the same still applies now since we haven't seen her in a while"

Kaguya said while rubbing her chin with her right hand, remembering the times when Natsumi always pulled out a dangerous pranks to strangers who dared to come close to them, she is a child in both body and mind but ever since she met Lucias her personality stared to change for the better... except her mischievous side.

"We don't really mind what she did because it's basically the natural reaction of someone when a stranger trespass her territory so let's forget about that"

Kaguya says in a casual tone, breaking the awkward atmosphere inside the room causing Irori to sigh in relief as she smiled with gratitude towards the 3 of them.

"I haven't introduced myself, you can call me Irori"

"You can call me Komurasaki! It's nice to meet you!"

The two tailed young girl energetically waved her hand at the 3 of them before running towards Yoshinon who was shyly hiding behind Yuzuru.

"Let's play, Yoshino-chan!"

"A-Ano..."

Yoshino quietly muttered as she got pulled by Komurasaki towards the garden of the large house.

"K-Kaguya-san"

Yoshino called out for help while looking at them with a pitiful expression on her face.

"Have fun, Yoshino"

Kaguya smiled at her, not understanding her cry for help as she waved her hand with joyful expression on her face causing Yuzuru to look at her with a weird expression on her face.

"What?"

Kaguya asked, confused as she noticed her twin's strange look.

"Nothing..."

Yuzuru answered as she averted her eyes from her before looking at Shouko's direction.

"Let's go back to my questions from before... what do you want in exchange for the information about magic circuits?"

Shouko asked as Irori left the room to give them privacy as they discuss their deal.

"We want... you to join our faction"

"What?"

Shouko asked in confusion as she never expected this kind of request from them.

"A faction?"

"Yes, you see we were sent here to gather more allies to our side, at least 150 members must join our side for us to go back"

"... So you just came here to pull me towards your side, huh?"

Shouko said in disappointment while looking at them with tired eyes before lighting up a thin pipe for her to smoke.

"No, it's just a coincidence that we met you... In fact we might never asked you to join us at all because you're far too weak to become our ally"

Kaguya bluntly says, nothing hiding anything nor sugaring her words for her to accept their request.

"We only need you to fill in the numbers, in fact you can request us with any resources that you need as long as you pay the faction for it"

"... Resources? What if I wanted fresh body parts of humans?"

Shouko asked as she tried to scare them off.

"Of course, but under a one condition and that is... They're the corpses of our enemies"

Kaguya answered with confidence causing Shouko to cough out the smoke in her lungs from the shock that she felt from their casual tone.

"Y-You... do you realize what you just said?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah we haven't told you yet... The place where we came from, we have a lot of enemies that wants us dead, but because of our power we were able to hold them off pretty easily, like destroying a faction that ticked us off"

"Concur: Indeed, you can obtain large quantities of the materials that you'll need from us... Not only human bodies but..."

"Bodies of other beings as well"

Kaguya resumed her words with a large smirk on her face.

"What?"

"The place we came from has several different beings that exists... for example devils, angels, spirits, grim reapers, dragons, and a lot more... If you join us you can obtain their part which is richer in mana content than the ones you use to build the 3 from before"

"Addition: The law of our place can't contain us, only our faction leader can stop our movements. Even though our place is dangerous, we are powerful enough to give you the protection that you'll need"

"..."

"What is your decision, Shouko?"

Kaguya asked as she leaned closer to the table with a wide smile on her face, staring at her contemplating about the pros and cons that comes when she joins their faction. If what they said was true then her existence is insignificant in their place... she only need to fill up the numbers

"... *Sigh*... under two conditions"

She sighed in defeat, even though it's risky... It's worth a shot.

"What is it?"

Kaguya asked with anticipation while Yuzuru just stared at her with an emotionless expression.

"I want freedom, you cannot force me to make any puppets against my will... also give me time because I have to discuss this with the military..."

"N-"

She tried to answer but was cut off once again by her sister who was staring intently at her direction.

"Alternative: It is possible but in exchange... You have to create 150 banned dolls for us"

"... What you're asking me is really difficult to accomplish"

"Alternative: We will give you as much time as you want... And you can use our own flesh and organs to create it"

"YUZURU!?"

Kaguya screamed in shock and fear from her sister's words as she hugged her body like protecting it from her.

"Explanation: We can regenerate our lost organs easily, stupid Kaguya. Did you forget?"

"But still... it's scary"

"Retort: It's a worthy sacrifice for Lucias"

"Ugh..."