Chapter III: The Wolf and The Puppet – The Story Reaches a Dead End Again

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair opened her eyes. On top of her head, a strand of hair seemed to wake up with her and take life too. 

She looked at the paper covered ceiling for a moment, not fully conscious yet. By the window at her left, she could see it was night, and it was raining. Her sight was blurry, so she instinctively reached for her face with her hand. However, that is when she noticed something – her body was extremely sensitive. She couldn't lift her hand without feeling every single millimeter of the cover scraping against her skin. She felt every fold of the bed under her, her toes bitten by the cold, her hair ensnaring her neck, her sweat going down her curves… 

In short, she felt her body.

The strand of hair on her head stood right up as she redressed herself in panic . She suddenly remembered everything – she was tracking down an angel in the sewers and…

She looked at her left hand. When she fought the angel, it was the first part of her body to burn, but now it was intact. That was the case of her right hand too, it was totally healed. The girls couldn't restrain her tears. Her hands trembled as she looked at them with glee – her strand of hair waved left and right. 

"Thank goodness! Thank goodness! They are still here! With that, I can… I can still continue!"

She passed her hands across her cheeks. No matter how much she wiped her tears, they would come down, running. She was smiling, laughing even. Just seeing her hands and hearing her voice was enough to make her extremely happy. 

"They are still there."

The girl was taken out of her reverie by a toneless voice. Someone climbed on the bed and sat behind her.

"See? They are still here."

Suddenly, the person put her hands on the girl's chest making her let out a little cry of surprise – the strand dressed right up again pointing toward the ceiling like an antenna.

"Wha, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!! Wait… WHY AM I NAKED?!!"

The stranger suddenly started fondling her breasts while mumbling short sentences.

"All big. All soft. All marshmallowy."

"W-Wait!!! Eeeek!!! S, Stop!!! Don't touch me there!!! STOP!!!"

"There? Where exactly? Here?"

"Eeeeek!!! I, I said, stop that!!! Stop it!!!"

"When someone asks you to stop, that means they want you to continue."

"WHERE DID YOU LEARN SUCH A THING?!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in!!!"

The girl made a movement with her hand, seeming to expect something to happen but… nothing…

"You are a bibliomancer, right?" the girl behind her asked. 

The girl gasped. She was in the lower ring, why would someone know what she was? When she came, she even put on clothings typical of the locals. What gave her away? Besides, even if that girl did know, how did she cancel her spell just now? She never heard of someone capable of canceling a bibliomancy's code instantly without doing much more than… fondling breasts…

"You… You are a skilled one, I must admit. I didn't expect to meet someone such as yourself in the lower ring. Tell me, how did you do that? How did you block my code?"

"I am skilled at fondling breasts? Then I should try with Master's next."

The girl frowned. 

She hit the stranger behind her with her elbow, and jumped out of the bed. Once she was far enough, she stretched her left palm toward the mysterious person with a scowl.

The girl's appearance startled her at first. She was no older than her with brown hair in an asymmetrical bob hairstyle. Her bangs were trimmed and a plated braid passed across the left side of her head, like a headband. She wore a sort of black nun outfit – minus the cap and with a white sarashi – black boots, and an eyepatch on the right eye. Her only visible eye was turquoise, and her hands were covered in bandages. The detail that attracted the most her attention however, was the black choker around this girl's neck – it was the mark of the puppets, the slaves.

When she saw it, the black haired girl's face distorted with disgust. "(Something like that touched my body?! How humiliating. I could never wash enough to take off that horrible stench!)"

"That hurts." the girl in nun's outfit noted.

She then tried to get up, but the black haired stopped her with a treat. "Don't you dare move a finger, you filth!! How could you?! How could you lay a finger on me?! For your crimes, you shall be condemned to death right here and right now!"

The girl in nun's outfit tilted her head in incomprehension. She looked in different directions for a while before suddenly getting up anyway.

"I said, don't move!" the black haired girl yelled.

"..."

Ignoring her second warning, the girl jumped from the bed and she drew even closer.

"Very well, you asked for it! I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in!!!"

Again, black haired girl uttered words, expecting something to happen. But nothing, absolutely nothing.

"(I… I can't use my abilities?! I even distanced myself! Does this place have some sort of bibliomancy canceling system?)"

"It doesn't." the girl in nun's outfit suddenly answered.

"(Huh? Just now, did she… did she just hear my thoughts…?)"

"I didn't."

Hiding her body with her hands, the girl nervously made a few steps backwards.

This was bad. She already heard about bibliomancers skilled enough to read into others mind, but she never met one up until now. She even started to think it was a baseless rumor, but if that doll could really do that...

The girl let out an arrogant snort. "(Yeah right…)"

So what if her opponent could read her mind? She just had to act faster and that was it. It just meant she didn't have much time to hesitate. Besides, that doll just seemed to reply to 2 random questions that she happened to ask to herself at the moment. It was a doll, it wouldn't be surprising if those words were just the result of its inferior brain defaillance. Yes, it must have been that – well placed nonsense. Why did she always go and imagine the worst? She had to keep this wild mind if hers under control. 

"Whatever… Listen, if you let me pass now, I shall forgive you."

"I can't." the girl in nun's outfit replied. 

"Why is that?"

"I can't."

"Well, you sure are cheeky for a lower ringer filth. But exceptionally, I will forgive you for that too. Now, bring me my grimoire, will you?"

"What is a grimoire?"

"I am talking about—"

"Oh, that little book of yours."

"Yes. Can you give it to me?"

"I can't."

"..."

This conversation wasn't going anywhere. She should not have expected anything from a low level filth anyway. That girl was just a doll, a collection of meat and bones that just happened to look human. Dolls were brainless creatures so, in order to keep them under control, they had to abide by rules fixed by the society. And the first and most important of those rules was…

 "'A doll must always obey its master's orders', right? That means you should listen to my orders! Now, give me my grimoire! Oh, and don't forget about clothes!"

"You are not my master." The girl in nun's outfit almost instantly replied, slightly annoying her interlocutor.

"(Good grief. Lower ring's dolls are even dumber than I thought...) You don't seem to understand so allow me to present myself! My name is—"

"Alexandra B.B. Wolf, 9th of the name. A bibliomancer of the prestigious Wolf household… was it?"

"That… That ability of yours is troublesome, but if it means that I don't have to explain everything…"

"You are not my master."

Alexandra frowned. "What don't you get, you filthy lower ringer? I am a bibliomancer of the prestigious Wolf household! Do you understand now? I am everyone's master here!"

The girl tilted her head. "Everyone's? Does that mean you are Master's master?"

"Good, good! You are not so dumb after all! Since I am your master's master, that means I am your master too and since I am your master, you have to obey my orders!"

"But since Master isn't my master yet, that means you are not my master yet either. And if you are not my master yet, that means I don't have to obey your orders."

"... What?"

"But then, if Master is not my master yet, that means I have no master and if I have no master, that means you are my master, so I have to obey your orders."

"W, Well it is good you understand, but—"

"But then again, if you are my master and I don't obey your orders something should happen to me. For instance if I said 'I won't obey you' something should happen and yet, nothing happened meaning you are not my master."

At that moment, Alexandra lost all composure and yelled at the girl like one would yell at a dog.

"Shut up!!! Just do what as I say, you filthy lower ringer!!! Who do you think you are, refusing one of my orders?!! I am a bibliomancer, you hear?!! A bibliomancer!!! I have way more value than any of you useless lower ringers, especially more than a piece of trash like you!!! I can't believe it!!! I do you the honor of asking something out of a filthy thing like yourself, but you dare to refuse?!! Who even allowed you to think?!! Piece of trash like you should just obey like the mindless brute you are!!!"

Alexandra pointed to the ground in front of her. "Now, grovel and beg for mercy!!! Beg so that I can begin to—"

Alexandra received a violent slap on her left cheek. She fell backwards, startled by the sudden pain coming from her face. She touched her cheek with her hand as if to verify if the burning sensation on it was real or not. More importantly, she couldn't understand what just happened – did a doll just slapped her?

"You sure talk a lot." the girl in nun's outfit noted.

"Hmph! Is that it then? All you brutes know about is violence! Did it feel good hitting me? You must have felt good, huh?! Laugh while you still can! When I get out of here and find my grimoire, you are going to regret what you just did! I will make you—"

Alexandra received another violent slap on the right cheek. This time, the shock sent her straight to the floor. Getting up, she glared at the girl who was still standing in front of her, expressionless.

"A certain person once said that, if someone hits one of your cheeks, you should offer the other one. That is why, if I only hit one of your cheeks, it would be unfair, wouldn't it?"

"Why you! You… You dare to humiliate me?! Just wait until I—"

"That's two times."

"Huh?"

"I hit you two times, and I received no warning or penalty. If you were my master, I would have received a penalty. If you were a human, I would have received a warning. So, what are you, marshmallow girl?"

Alexandra frowned and clenched her teeth. "Does this please you? Do you enjoy humiliating me with that ability of yours? Must be useful to read into others minds, right? Are you not ashamed of yourself? You can infiltrate others' privacy and exploit their weaknesses. Does this amuse you? I guess it does, doesn't it? You filthy doll!"

"But you are not even that, are you?"

"..."

Alexandra slowly got up and slapped the girl on the left cheek out of anger. The girl's face only moved to the side because of the violence of the hit, but nothing else.

"That hurts."

"Like I care!!!"

Alexandra pushed the girl to the side. She was already fed up with this. If necessary she would what she had to herself. She never counted on dolls and it wouldn't start now. First, she had to get out of here, and find her grimoire, then she could continue her mission. 

"Wait."

Alexandra felt something cold against her throat. It was a straight silver knife held by the girl's bandaged right arm behind her. 

Alexandra glared at her past her shoulder. "What do you think you are doing, you filth?"

"I am Master's doll. My name is Shogo. Master healed you and asked me to keep you in this room until she comes back. If you interfere with my mission, I will have to hurt you."

"Hah?! Do you think—"

"Oh. My hand slipped."

Shogo sliced Alexandra's throat. 

Without even understanding what was going on, Alexandra kneeled on the wooden floor. She held throat from which blood was gushing like a fountain. 

"(Slipped?! How can its hand 'slip' this much?! It totally intended this, didn't it?!)"

"My hand slipped." Shogo repeated.

Alexandra fell on the ground. There was a sharp pain in her neck. She couldn't prevent her blood from exiting her body at tremendous speed. She couldn't talk anymore. Her heart started beating faster. Her skin turned colder. Her heart began beating even faster. She started to lose consciousness. No it was her eyes blacking out on their own. Her throat started hurting less. This time, she was truly losing consciousness. Her blood was hot. Her skin turned slightly paler. 

She was dying...

She was dying without being able to do anything about it...

She was dying without accomplishing anything...

She was dying without even fully understanding why...

No, she wasn't dying anymore …

Alexandra was already dead.