Kirakishou was feeling a bit put out. Ever since Suigintou had fallen silent, their master had been carrying her around instead.
Honestly, that spot should've been hers too.
Perched on Alice's shoulder, Kirakishou puffed out her cheeks in a sulk, arms crossed tightly over her chest.
Alice, for her part, was completely oblivious to the little doll's fuming presence on her shoulder.
Her attention was wholly captured by the door standing before her, and the bizarre scene unfolding within it.
The N-Field was full of such doors, each connecting to somewhere else.
Seeing strange images through them was perfectly normal; you could potentially glimpse anything.
But the view in this particular door was especially peculiar.
It showed a lush, dense forest, filled with countless towering ancient trees.
That in itself was ordinary enough. The oddity lay in a scarred, patchy clearing within that forest, where numerous trees had been ripped from the earth and now hung suspended in the air.
In fact, if not for those floating trees, the clearing wouldn't even exist.
Looking closer, you could still see clumps of earth clinging to the roots of many trees, as if they'd just been violently uprooted.
Alice slowly came to a halt, and the other dolls turned to look in the direction of her gaze.
Her eyes scanned upwards, towards the tops of the floating trees, searching for some external force that might have torn them from the ground.
But after a long moment, she couldn't see anything connected to them.
Strange...
Just as Alice was pondering this, the remaining trees in the area began to tremble.
Whoosh—
This time, Alice saw it clearly. An invisible force wrenched the trees directly from the soil.
As they rose into the air, the clumps of dirt around their roots, which should have fallen away, rose right along with them.
And it wasn't just the trees and dirt. Stones and even small animals from the surrounding area also began floating, as if caught in a zero-gravity environment.
"Where is this outside?" Alice asked the sulking Kirakishou on her shoulder.
With a dismissive 'hmph!', Kirakishou leaned over and glanced at the door. "It's next to a river on a small island. The stones form a circle, creating a placid pool of water."
Spending so much time in the N-Field made it easy for her to identify the location.
A zero-gravity environment on a small island?
Alice narrowed her eyes slightly.
Before she could ponder it further, all the floating objects suddenly jolted.
As if subjected to a powerful downward force, they plummeted to the ground.
CRUUMP—
The sound of the impact echoed, and dust exploded outwards in all directions.
The billowing cloud of debris blocked Alice's view, forcing her to rely on her hearing to figure out what was happening.
Along with the crashing thuds, she could make out the sound of things being crushed.
Trees snapping, rocks being pulverized, and mixed within it all, the pitiful, agonized cries of animals.
A few seconds later, the dust settled.
A massive crater was now gouged into the earth.
It looked as if a steamroller had passed over it. Everything that had been in the air moments before was now flattened, pressed tightly and seamlessly into the ground.
Among the wreckage were the mangled bodies of animals, their forms burst open, painting the scene with splatters of blood.
At that moment, several figures approached from the distance.
A few seconds later, a group of people, dressed in military uniforms like the ones she'd seen at Shouko's place, slowly came into view.
Accompanying them was a doll.
This is... Shouko's handiwork?
Alice squinted, fairly certain in her deduction.
The doll was cute and beautiful, with a distinctly Japanese style.
Her face and figure bore a strong resemblance to both Komurasaki and Irori.
The Japanese kimono she wore made Alice even more certain she was connected to Shouko.
However, unlike Komurasaki and Irori, this doll lacked that sense of vitality, that spark of life.
The figures in military uniforms gestured animatedly at the edge of the crater, chattering away as they began their discussion.
It was a little hard to make out.
Alice leaned forward slightly.
Just then, a white, earphone-like object appeared beside her ear.
"Master, use this." It was the adorable Kirakishou, coming to her master's aid.
Simultaneously, a slender, white thorn vine extended into the scene on the other side of the door.
It wriggled to the edge of the crater, slowly morphing its shape. Within two seconds, a white morning glory flower bloomed there in the forest.
Alice gave Kirakishou's little head an appreciative pat, took the offered earpiece, and listened carefully.
Faint voices came through. "...Oboro...fuji... Great Brit... Your Majesty... exchange."
Exchanging techniques on Automata?
The voices continued. "Rehearsal... one month from now... demonstration..."
It seemed that doll was the focus of their exchange.
Judging by the earlier display, its Magic Circuit was likely gravity-related.
'That could be useful for the Volumen Hydrargyrum,' she thought.
And based on the sheer scale of the effect, its Magic Circuit seemed quite powerful, too.
Alice rubbed her smooth chin, a flicker of interest in her eyes.
Still, stealing someone else's property wasn't exactly proper. She'd just ask Shouko later if she had any Magic Circuits related to this.
After a few more seconds, the voices faded, and the figures slowly retreated.
No more information to be had, then?
With a sigh of regret, Alice put down the earpiece. Turning around, she found five little heads staring intently at her, their faces brimming with curiosity.
Alice couldn't help a soft chuckle. She waved a hand lightly and said in a gentle voice,
"Let's go home. It doesn't really concern us."
"Okaaay~" came the chorus of five clear, childish voices, a sound cheerful enough to lift anyone's spirits.
--+--
After returning home, perhaps because this was to be their future residence, Suiseiseki developed a keen interest in the upkeep of the Western-style mansion.
She thumped her chest and volunteered to take care of all the housework.
Once she and Souseiseki had chosen a room on the second floor, she immediately dragged the other dolls into a major cleaning campaign.
"Shinku, you're responsible for the east side of the second floor. I'll take the west side. Suigintou and Souseiseki, you handle the first floor."
Suiseiseki stood with her hands on her hips, dishing out assignments.
"And Alice... ah, right!"
Just as she was about to assign a task to Alice, she seemed to remember something. She hurried over to her own suitcase.
Her small, green-clad form darted about like a plant swaying in the wind.
After rummaging for a moment, she pulled out a flat, rectangular gift box and walked over to Alice.
Biting her lip lightly, she extended both hands, offering the gift to Alice with a hint of shyness.
"Thank you, Alice, for letting us all live together peacefully."
"Thank you," Alice replied, the corners of her mouth lifting into a gentle smile.
She slowly crouched down to meet Suiseiseki's gaze and accepted the gift.
Then, she very deliberately flicked a glance towards Suigintou and Shinku.
'You two, take a lesson from her.' — The meaning in that look was so clear even Hinaichigo could have read it. The corners of Suigintou and Shinku's mouths twitched almost imperceptibly.
Simultaneously, they let out identical 'hmph!' sounds and turned their heads away.
'Those two little brats,' Alice thought with an internal sigh of exasperation. She withdrew her gaze and looked back down at Suiseiseki with renewed gentleness.
Seeing Alice accept her gift, Suiseiseki was overjoyed.
"Then, Alice, could you please take care of the garden's—?" she chirped, her voice full of eager hope.
The adorable one had spoken decidedly un-adorable words.
As Alice's expression grew progressively flatter and more impassive, Suiseiseki's voice gradually trailed off, fading into silence.
Under Alice's steady, calm stare, Suiseiseki silently averted her eyes. "I... I'll take care of the garden with Souseiseki. We are Gardeners, after all."
Then she shot a look of pure desperation towards Souseiseki.
'Souseiseki, help me!'
Seeing her sister's pleading eyes, Souseiseki gave a resigned nod.
'Yes, Suiseiseki is still cute after all,' Alice thought, nodding to herself in satisfaction.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.