CH 106

Chapter 106 – What a cruel price!

“By the way, Bucket.” Mii said.

“Hey, Bucket.” Muu said.

“Can you even move this?” They asked.

“Wow… I totally can’t.” I replied after a quick attempt.

This doll has been remodeled enough to the point it looks like an evil spirit, and this ended up making it absurdly hard to operate.

I mean, it was already hard enough to operate the original version due to how low my Magical Gloves level is though.

At best, I could barely make it walk before, but right now I can’t even do this much.

It would be possible if my Magical Gloves level was higher, but I only do quick tests with the dolls after I finish crafting them, so this skill barely gains any levels. Right now it’s at level 65 only.

However, that is not a problem, as it’s Hime who will use it! She not only has evolved Magical Gloves a few times, but she also has the Puppeteer skill!

I’m sure she must have also evolved Puppeteer already, so there is no doubt she will be able to not only move this doll, but also make it perform great actions!

“Then, let me contact Hime right away.” I told the twins.

“I was waiting for that!” Mii exclaimed.

“I was tired of waiting already!” Muu exclaimed.

“I wanna see it move!” They said together.

I giggled at their words, “You two really helped me a lot this time… Oh, right, I still need to give you a reward.”

While writing a message to Hime, I wondered what kind of reward should I give to the twins who helped me out by doing way more than originally requested.

They’re experts in alchemy, so I think it would be good to give a reward related to that, but they can already work with the materials I have available for me… I don’t think simply giving processed materials to them would be good enough.

What do I do now?

“Fried rice with crabs!” Mii exclaimed.

“Shrimps with chili!” Muu exclaimed.

“Let’s eat together at Kuuruu’s restaurant!” They said together.

“You don’t want any materials or anything?” I asked them.

“We also enjoyed it!” Mii said.

“It was fun!” Muu said.

“Playing with Bucket is more fun than materials!” They exclaimed in unison.

I giggled, “Thank you. Then, once we’re done, let’s go eat together with Hime.”

“Let’s!” They said.

It’s a bit embarrassing to hear those heartfelt words from elementary schoolers, but I guess that’s fine. Let’s treat them to a meal for the reward.

I also sent a message to Hime, so all that is left is waiting for her reply.

Though she might take a while to come if she’s in a raid. I actually considered calling her, but it would be a huge bother if she was raiding, so sending a message was better.

******

“I’m here.” Hime said.

“You’re here!” Mii exclaimed.

“Glad to see you” Muu exclaimed.

“Welcome!” They said together.

“This workshop mine, you know? Why are you the ones doing the welcoming?” I told them both.

Hime replied to my message fairly quickly, then came not too long after.

She is in for a pretty big surprise, as the spider doll is in the workshop, but we’re still in the living room.

Hime also doesn’t know about its existence yet. As all that I told her on the message was that I had finished a new doll for her.

This incredible gem will surely surprise her!

“Sorry for calling you when you must have been busy, Hime.” I told her.

“It’s okay.” She replied.

“Bucket! Hime!” Mii exclaimed.

“Over here!” Muu exclaimed.

“Hurry! Hurry!” They both said.

“Aye aye. Though we don’t need to hurry that much.” I replied.

Hime is probably pressed for time to some extent, but it’s not like we need to run to the workshop or anything.

Still, the twins are elementary schoolers, so I guess that’s not what they’re worried about. They’re just excited with the prospects of seeing the doll move.

It’s fun to watch them show their childish side bare like this, even if they’re a bit too noisy.

“Tadaa!” They exclaimed together.

“Amazing…” Hime muttered.

I giggled, “We got a bit carried away, but this is mine, Mii’s and Muu’s creation.”

“Amazing…” Hime muttered again.

“You’re right!” Mii exclaimed.

“It’s amazing!” Muu exclaimed.

“Absolutely amazing!” They said together.

The twins ended up getting behind Hime and pushed her all the way to the workshop.

When we got there and she saw the spider doll, her reaction was just as expected.

Sure, she didn’t show that much emotion, but the twins are used to it by now. They know how surprised she is.

“Amazing…” Hime muttered once again.

“That it is!” Mii exclaimed.

“It is indeed!” Muu exclaimed.

“Just as we planned!” They both said.

“Amazing…” Hime muttered once more.

“Hime, you’ve only said ‘amazing’ since a while ago…” I commented.

“Because it’s amazing…” She replied.

I laughed at that. To think she was so surprised that this was the only word she could mutter. I guess she was taken aback plenty.

Nonetheless, me and the twins started explaining how it worked, since this doll had various gimmicks.

The sword legs could all be stored freely if needed, and the fangs on the face were strong enough to probably kill me with a single bite.

The humanoid part also had a lot of different things equipped in it, so it was a bit hard to explain how it worked, but we managed to tell her all the details in one way or another.

“And that’s it!” Mii said once we were done.

“We finished!” Muu said.

“Hime, move it!” They exclaimed together.

“Can you do it?” I asked her.

“I’ll do it.” She told us.

Now that we finished the explanations, it was now time to experiment with moving it around.

I couldn’t even move it with my skill level, but Hime should be fine. She seems quite motivated right now, after all.

The spider doll can be moved by using the threads from the Magical Gloves in mostly the same way that the wooden dolls could, but it works a bit differently.

The wooden dolls had all their threads attached to its back, but the spider doll’s body is too big for that. The magical power consumption would be too large if all threads were just connected to its back, so we had to make some adjustments.

However, we ended up greatly increasing the difficulty to operate it while doing the changes that reduced the magical power consumption. Not to mention that this doll still consumes plenty of magical power even after all that.

Moreover, because there are too many moving parts that need to be operated independently, all ten threads are now required to operate it.

Hime can handle moving ten threads individually though, so she should be able to do it.

The same can’t be said for other people though. They’d probably have a pretty hard time using this doll properly.

Well, that’s what happens when you exaggerate with the magical remodeling, I guess.

“Ooh!” Mii exclaimed.

“Oooh!” Muu exclaimed.

“It moved!” They said together.

“As expected of Hime.” I commented.

“Heh.” Hime said.

Differently from me, who couldn’t move it at all, Hime made the doll walk beautifully.

Though this doll is too big, so it’s hard to move it properly within the workshop.

“Would the garden be better than here?” I suggested.

“I agree!” Mii exclaimed.

“I like the garden!” Muu exclaimed.

“Let’s go now!” They said in unison.

“Then, Hime, can you put it on your inventory?” I asked her.

“Roger that.” She replied.

No matter how big this doll is, once it’s put on the inventory, its size becomes irrelevant.

Carrying things in the inventory is always quite convenient.

It should be possible to move the doll normally for as long as we aren’t in an excessively narrow location, but a considerable amount of magical power would end up being consumed just by moving it, so the inventory is better for that.

Though I’m a bit worried… “Hime, will your magical power be okay?” I asked.

“I can handle it, but not for long periods of time.” Hime replied.

“I see, I see. As expected of you, Hime.” I told her.

“Heh.” Hime said.

Seems like even Hime, who always uses the dolls with ease, has some limitations with this spider doll.

Still, it should be fine for as long as she uses it only in battles.

Moreover, I’m sure Hime is evolving her magic skills to solve the magic power shortage.

I just don’t do it because the amount of magic power I have is already excessive to me, a crafter.

******

“Secret technique, spider drill!” Hime exclaimed.

“Ooh!” Mii exclaimed.

“Whoa!” Muu exclaimed.

“So cool!” They said together.

“Wow. If we were in the real world, there would be a big hole in the garden now.” I commented.

“Heh.” Hime said.

After going out to the garden and testing the spider doll out more, we found out that Hime could do much more than simply moving it.

In fact, she could fully use all the gimmicks and even create some special moves of her own.

What she did just now was to concentrate all eight sword-legs onto a single point and rotate them at high speed.

It’s the kind of technique that is common in mangas and novels, but it’s really amazing to see it happen with such a huge body. Not to mention its incredible destructive power.

However, since we’re at a safe area, the soil wasn’t scooped nor were the walls broken… Still, this was amazing.

Especially because the attacks from this giant body are not only powerful, but also very fast and versatile.

That’s only possible due to Hime’s incredible doll management capabilities though… But even then, the performance of this doll is incredible enough as is. Her being able to make those incredible movements just makes it even better.

“Hime, you’re truly…” I started saying.

“… Forums.” She cut me.

“Ah, right. They’ll probably make a huge fuss once they see this doll, so I guess we should post about it in advance.” I replied.

“Agreed!” Mii exclaimed.

“Agreed!” Muu exclaimed too.

“We all agree!” They said together.

The performance of the doll would already easily stand out by itself, but when you add Hime’s amazing capabilities on top of that… There’s no doubt that there will be some ruckus about this.

Its huge body stands out a lot, and people already know that I’m the doll maker… Even if the possibility of being banned from my store holds a lot of people back, it’s still quite possible to get some people become unreasonable when seeing such a gem.

Though I doubt they’d even be able to move the doll properly…

“Ah, Bucket, there is a problem.” Hime said.

“Oh? Could it be the price?” I asked.

“Yeah… I don’t have enough.” Hime replied.

“The market price is… Wow, this is crazy!” I exclaimed.

“Whoa!” Mii exclaimed.

“Wow!” Muu exclaimed.

“What a cruel price!” They said in unison.

I was too distracted with doing all the remodeling and with watching Hime do the movement experiments with the doll, so I didn’t check its price at all until now and… It’s really high. Even higher than the Sealed Dark Mysterious Sword.

Though I supposed that can’t be helped when considering how great its performance is.

Still, with a price like this, even I would have a hard time paying for it… I mean, I do have enough money to pay for it on the spot if I wanted to buy it, but it would be a huge blow in my savings, and I’m someone who makes money selling steel items with Options.

So, to Hime, who is a top combat-focused Pioneer that has a lot of her money being spent on the Shadow Tears, this is definitely way too high of a price.

“Do you want to pay for it over time like Mika did?” I asked.

“Please.” Hime nodded.

“Of course! There’s no problem with renting it to you, Hime!” I told her.

“Thank you.” She replied.

Just like Mika did, Hime has now rented a very strong item from me. But it’s okay, because Hime is my dear best friend, after all!