Alice and Lucifer were making their way toward the Undead Dungeon. Earlier, Lucifer had suggested that they use teleportation magic, explaining that there was quite a distance between the guild and the dungeon. However, Alice declined his suggestion, insisting they travel on foot instead. Not only that, she ordered Lucifer to choose a route where many carriage passed.
Her reason ordered the Lucifer to choose that route was because through Iyan's memories, she recalled the sight of a bipedal stone golem pulling a carriage. For Iyan, it might have been something mundane – a thing he expected from a fantasy world. But to Alice it was different. As someone striving to create a fully autonomous doll, the sight of a golem could be a new source of inspiration for her.
When they reached the main road, Alice found herself awestruck by the ingenuity of this place magic. The road was busy with various golems, ranging from humanoid forms to those resembling animals. Most golems look like standard golems, made of brown stone and bipedal, but some looked exactly like a normal animal.
While gazing at each of golems, Alice found an unusual sight. There was a golem that looked like a muscular man with no top and only short leather pants, with the golem coloring it could be a mistaken as a human - but Alice knew that was a golem. That golem carried a woman wearing a typical witch's outfit. It could have been an ordinary sight, if only Alice hadn't noticed the woman's lustful gaze on the golem.
"Quite the … eccentric taste," Alice thought while averting her gaze toward other golem.
After marveling at the variety of golem, Alice's curiosity shifted toward their cores. Her attention was drawn to a standard humanoid bipedal golem led by two men and pulled a cart with several Orc bodies. One was clad in a plain brown robe, gripping a wooden staff, while the other was a rugged barbarian, bare-chested except for his leather pants, carrying a massive axe in his back.
"Is the kingdom seriously tolerating any kind of pervert?" Alice thought again.
From the distance Alice could hear their conversation, the robed man seemed proudly said to the naked man that their investment of buying golem was not in vain. From it Alice decided that their golem would be the target of her experiment.
The reason Alice decided to experiment on that golem was because it wasn't their golem. That meant it most likely didn't have strong defenses, as that would hinder the use of the golem by other. So she thought she could inspect the core briefly without alerting them.
Unfortunately, Alice's assumption was wrong. The moment she attempted to infiltrate the golem's core with her magic, it collapsed immediately. A plume of red smoke erupted from its body, surging toward her. The smoke briefly enveloped her and swirling, before evaporating into the sky.
The crowd around Alice immediately turned their attention toward her. Murmurs spread as people recognized the sign of a golem's security measure being triggered. Immediately, the barbarian stormed toward Alice.
"HEY! What did you do to our golem?!" The barbarian shouted, his voice booming across the road.
Before Alice could respond, Lucifer stepped forward and bowed slightly toward the barbarian, "Please forgive, my master. She was curious about the golem and probed it with her magic."
"Haah! What kind of idiot is she?! Everyone knows that probing a golem's core will destroy it immediately! And this golem was very expensive, you know! You think an apology is enough?!" the barbarian's anger flared as he slammed his axe to the ground for emphasis.
As the barbarian and Lucifer squared off, the robed man trembled visibly. He had heard the rumors about Lucifer—a demon capable of defeating two high-ranking adventurers with ease. The fact that the guild master had let him roam freely was proof enough that he was someone they could not trifled.
The robed man quickly moved toward the barbarian, his voice shaking. "N-No, no, it's okay! We accept your apology!" He turned to the barbarian and hissed, "You idiot! They've apologized already, just let it go!"
"What did you call me!"
Before their bickering could escalate further, Alice interjected, "No, it's okay. I was in the wrong. I'll compensate you properly with a new golem. Though I'll need a bit of time to prepare it."
Hearing this, Lucifer froze for a moment, he remembered how long was the "little time" Patchouli took cooped up in her library to do her "research". That experience was not what he hoped to see from the Gensokyou inhabitant.
"No, miss Alice," Lucifer said hurriedly "Allow me. You had a little time in here, so you don't need to waste it on trivial thing like an ordinary golem."
Without waiting for Alice response, Lucifer opened his dimensional storage and retrieved a small golem doll. The doll looked like an ordinary golem, but instead of brown color it has a skin of lava rock. He then give it to the robed man.
"Will that be enough for compensation? I mean, it's smaller than the earlier golem," Alice asked, eyeing the doll with curiosity.
"Yes, this is more than enough," Lucifer replied. "If they channel mana into this doll, then it will grow big, even bigger than the earlier golem."
"Heeh," Alice mused. "Can you give me one? I want to try it."
"I will give you one later at the dungeon, Miss Alice. I think it will create too many commotion here."
The robed man hesitated before pointing at the doll. "Uh… can I ask about that commotion earlier? Is this golem safe?"
Lucifer gave him a sharp look but answered calmly. "It will follow your every command once you inject your mana, if that's your concern."
"That's a relief," the robed man said, nodding. "So, this golem has a security feature then?"
"It doesn't," Lucifer replied bluntly. "If you need one, speak to Ellysia, the mage guildmaster. Tell her Lucifer, servant of Patchouli, sent you. She'll enchant it for free."
The barbarian, who had been watching silently, finally stepped forward, crossing his arms. "Hey, I'm not sure if this is good enough compensation, but my friend here seems happy, so I'll let it slide. But there's another problem." He pointed at their cart, filled with orc bodies. "We can't carry all of this, and people will be pissed at us, if we just leave it there."
Lucifer sighed, "Fine. Go stand by your cart, and I'll teleport both of you to the Adventurer's Guild gathering spot."
The two men obeyed without argument. As they stood by the cart, a dark cloud enveloped them, their cart, and the golem remains. In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the spot, leaving the road clear once more.
Shortly after the commotion settled, two knights arrived at the scene. One of them was about to ask some question, but before he could said anything Lucifer spoke first, "There is no problem here, noble knight."
For a moment, the knights seemed dazed. Then, as if synchronized, they responded in unison, "You are right. There is no problem. We will continue our patrol." Without another word, the knights turned and marched away.
The onlookers stood frozen, their shock palpable. Everyone had expected the knights to investigate thoroughly, yet they had simply left after a few words from Lucifer. Despite the strange outcome, no one dared to question either the knights or Lucifer.
"Wow," Alice remarked, glancing at Lucifer. "You hypnotized them without even hesitating."
Lucifer sighed. "I wanted to avoid another unnecessary commotion for our journey."
"That's true, I want to avoid it too."
The two resumed their journey, ignoring the curious stares and hushed whispers from the crowd. The tension in the air gradually dissipated as they walked further away from the scene.
After a moment of silence, Alice spoke up. "I'm sorry about earlier,"
Lucifer shook his head. "No, it's fine."
Alice sighed, "I didn't expect their golem to have that kind of security mechanism,"
"After a mass golem-manipulation incident some time ago, the kingdom mandated the addition of security features to prevent similar occurrences. So every golem in this kingdom will have that security feature. But if it's you I think that security will be breached in no time."
"Of course." Alice proudly said, "If only I hadn't underestimated the magic of this place, I wouldn't have triggered it."
After walking for a few minutes, Alice and Lucifer arrived at the Mashi Kingdom's main plaza. Alice was amazed by the scenery around the plaza. At the center of the plaza stood a fountain featuring statues of four magicians, each casting water from their wands in streams of different colors. Nearby, several stages were set up where magicians performed their acts, drawing reactions from the crowd and earning coins tossed in appreciation.
On one of the stages, Alice spotted Juno – Patchouli's first opponent – performing a fireball juggling routine. He skillfully tossed four glowing fireballs into the air, pretending to flinch and yelp whenever they touched his hands. The audience laughed and clapped, occasionally tossing bronze coins his way.
Lucifer noticed Alice's attention and asked, "Are you interested in him, Miss Alice?"
"Not really," Alice replied casually, her eyes still on Juno. "Though I wonder if four is his limit."
"Even juggling four fireballs is quite the achievement in this world," Lucifer remarked. "It's why I'm so impressed by your ability to control countless dolls with ease."
"Really?" Alice said, raising an eyebrow. "Because of the fountain I thought the magic in this world was more advanced than Gensokyo's."
Lucifer shook his head slightly. "Not exactly. This world relies heavily on magic items rather than raw magical ability. Most of what you see is enchanted craftsmanship, not innate power."
"Hmm," Alice muttered, a hint of disappointment in her tone. "Well, can I perform on one of these stages too?"
"Oh, you wish to perform? Allow me to arrange that immediately," Lucifer offered, already stepping forward.
Alice stopped him with a wave of her hand. "There's no need to rush. You can handle it, after we've reached the dungeon and seen the automata."
"As you wish then, Miss Alice," Lucifer said with a polite bow.
With that, they left the lively plaza behind, the sounds of applause and laughter gradually fading into the distance.
Author note:
I'm back, and Thanks you all for your motivational word.
Unfortunately, this time the chapter of the story will be shorter. The reason is because it much easier to validate the grammar when each chapter is short, and it is much faster to write each chapter to avoid losing my motivation again.
As usual if there is a mistake or you have an idea you could inform me with PM or review. I hope you still enjoy the story.