Ch#140
"What's your name?"
At Tie's question, the doll answered spiritedly.
[Marbas! That's me!]
"Tie is Tie!"
Tie held out one hand.
Marbas hesitated before bouncing forward, bonking its head against Tie's hand, then retreating.
Watching curiously, Tie asked.
"But hey, Mar-Mar, are you really a spirit?"
[I'm not Mar-Mar, I'm Mar...]
The doll flinched and glanced at Lucarion and Ppuppue.
Then it hurriedly replied.
[Ma, Mar-Mar it is! And from today, I'm not a spirit—I'm Master's servant! I'll serve diligently without any reward from now on!]
Ppuppue smiled contentedly at its strict discipline.
Then, as if pleased, it thumped the floor with its nose.
Tie approached Marbas.
"Got it! But Mar-Mar, why were you sealed in there?"
Marbas drooped its lion head and let out a deep sigh.
[That's because I was sealed away when the Ebranis dynasty fell...]
"Ebra-what dynasty?"
"Ebranis dynasty, Tie."
Nordics approached.
Nordics sat beside Tie and looked at Marbas with curious eyes.
"Ebranis was an ancient dynasty. Once the most prosperous in the world. Records say they mastered both magic and mechanical engineering. Which is why even today... there's talk that their wisdom actually came from non-humans."
"Non-human...?"
Tie's gaze turned back to Marbas.
The child asked in a curious voice.
"Mar-Mar, did you give wisdom to the Ebra-whatsit dynasty? Is that why you got sealed?"
Marbas let out another deep sigh.
Then it spoke in an uncertain voice.
[My memories are fuzzy, but...]
Before the conqueror sealed Marbas into the wooden doll.
As Tie said, it had maintained contracts with the dynasty's members across generations.
The reason was to share knowledge.
[Probably. All the technologies the Ebranis dynasty had—I created them.]
When Marbas provided blueprints to the dynasty, the people of Ebranis praised it like a god.
Marbas enjoyed that praise.
But one day, a problem arose suddenly.
'Did the Ebranis dynasty start rampaging against neighboring kingdoms?'
They began creating weapons with the technologies from Marbas.
Human greed truly knows no bounds—the dynasty waged reckless wars of conquest.
Innumerable lives were lost in the process.
Marbas, who had been indifferent at first, realized something was wrong around then.
While pondering how to resolve the situation.
'Someone came, turned the dynasty to ashes, and sealed me in this wooden doll.'
So much time had passed since, that Marbas had forgotten all its past memories.
It couldn't even remember who had sealed it.
'Was it human? No, maybe not human... A dragon?'
Marbas looked down at its body in frustration.
A limbless wooden doll.
A curved torso like a human woman's and a roughly carved lion head.
Unwittingly, an indignant mutter escaped.
[...This is so unfair. They even put me in a female doll...!]
Hearing that, Tie opened her mouth wide, then shouted.
"Mar-Mar, you're a boy!"
Marbas wiped away invisible tears in its mind.
Because it had no arms in doll form to do so.
Just then, its eyes met Ppuppue's.
"Kyuu."
At the 'what're you looking at' expression, Marbas hurriedly averted its gaze.
For some reason, just seeing that elephant made its heart race like it'd eaten something bad.
'Was there bad blood with that guy in my forgotten past?'
What if that elephant was the one who destroyed the dynasty and sealed it in the doll?!
But Marbas shook its head.
It didn't want to indulge in delusions on top of its faulty memory.
"Then Mar-Mar, now you're Tie's subordinate, so you'll play with Tie, right?"
Marbas looked up.
Right before it, its benefactor who freed it sparkled her green eyes.
[Y-yes, something like that.]
Oddly, its benefactor already commanded an elephant and young dragon that weren't to be trifled with.
Calling such extraordinary beings her subordinates.
'Truly, a powerhouse.'
In truth, Marbas's seal couldn't be broken easily.
It required power superior to the sealer's mana.
After some deliberation, Marbas nodded inwardly.
'Yeah. Better stick with this side.'
Though unsealed, Marbas still couldn't return to its original form.
Having been sealed too long, it needed time to reconstruct its body.
'With mana strong enough to break the seal, just having it nearby might help.'
Having assessed the situation, it bounced in front of Tie.
[If there's anything you want to make, reinforce, or restore, show it to me!]
Tie tilted her head.
Marbas continued confidently.
[Don't underestimate me—I can make flying ships, siege weapons, self-repairing armor! Nothing I can't create!]
Tie pondered deeply.
Then, as if struck by an idea, she dashed off somewhere.
Soon, what she brought was one Teleportation Circle from the cart.
"Then Mar-Mar! Make a million two hundred of these!"
The squad members' eyes widened.
But Marbas boldly positioned itself before the Teleportation Circle Tie set down.
[Of course! Leave it to me!]
Golden energy gathered in Marbas's eyes.
The energy grew to the size of Tie's fingernail, then shot toward the Teleportation Circle with a pop.
But.
"What's this? Did it do it?"
As Tie said, the power dissipated like heat haze at the edge of the Teleportation Circle.
[Uh, uh oh.]
Marbas bounced around the Teleportation Circle in a panic.
'Why isn't this working?'
This is strange.
The blueprint in its head was definitely correct.
It hurriedly recalled the blueprint again.
[Must be rusty after so long! One more try!]
It gathered power again. But,
Sizzle...
"Kiddo. That spirit we met before, the one who gave you Oblivion's Sanctity."
"Yeah! Seradin Princess's spirit!"
"Was that spirit kinda dim like this one too?"
"Nooo! Super pretty!"
Marbas trembled.
[Urgh, I-I can really do it!]
Pop- sizzle...
Pop- sizzzzzzz...
But three, four attempts yielded the same result.
Marbas collapsed in shock.
Its wooden doll body rolled across the floor.
'This can't be.'
In its prime.
Teleportation Circles were basic to it.
Marbas was proficient in both mechanical engineering and magic—there was no blueprint it couldn't create!
It struggled back up.
And gathered its last strength, firing at the Teleportation Circle.
Bang-!
Finally, a similar-looking Teleportation Circle duplicated beside it.
Marbas bounced high in excitement.
[S-see! It worked! Just one for now, but I succeeded in duplicating a Teleportation Circle...!]
But it soon shut its mouth.
"Selina, what's this?"
"Dunno. Seems like it plays music when you open it. Dad brought it from some island... "
No one was watching it anymore.
* * *
That evening after dinner.
"Okay, now let's start the meeting!"
Tie, sandwiched between Veil and Basto, hopped down from the sofa.
The child trotted to the table and placed her chin on the stack of Teleportation Circles atop it.
Then, mimicking her kindergarten teacher Isoljae, she said.
"Agavert everyone! Starting tomorrow, we're going to siege Mana Stones!"
