The deep night was hushed outside the window, broken only by the rustle of a gentle breeze through leaves and the occasional faint echo of birdcall drifting in the night sky.
These tiny details felt especially vivid in the stillness.
On one floor of the dormitory, a window was pushed open. Moonlight streamed through, draping a silvery veil over the girl seated by the windowsill.
Beside her, a red storage box lay open, its twenty-four smooth, round chocolates looking particularly delightful.
The cloyingly sweet scent of chocolate still hung in the air.
Suddenly, a fluttering of wings erupted from the open window as dozens of birds scattered in all directions from the dorm.
This was the Six Singing Chocolates, one of Alice's ploys.
Its true form was that red storage box, containing twenty-four starling familiars. They held no combat power to speak of, serving mainly for surveillance and search.
They were common-level fairy-tale monsters—easy enough to shoot down with a simple gun, and prone to accidentally flying into buildings and dying even under normal circumstances.
At Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart, the world's premier institute for magecraft, the guards carried loaded firearms. Some were even graduates of the academy.
In this campus, bristling with live weaponry, the attrition rate for the Six Singing Chocolates was particularly high.
Especially with certain students who preferred night-time excursions, who would occasionally order their automatons to attack the birds.
Alice sat beside the now-empty storage box.
Not far from the table, a large bag of cocoa powder stood out conspicuously. This was what she had dragged Charlotte back to the mansion to fetch earlier.
It was also the main ingredient for making the Six Singing Chocolates.
Once the birds had reached their designated areas, Alice calmly closed her eyes.
A month had passed since the last incident they'd uncovered.
During this time, the attack frequency of Cannibal Candy had decreased—only one automaton had been assaulted this past month, found indoors.
Alice had a slight recollection of the automaton targeted in that attack—one capable of manipulating water.
The Six Singing Chocolates still couldn't monitor the entire campus yet.
Twenty-four was indeed too few. If only she had twenty-four hundred, things would be much easier.
Something to consider for the future, perhaps.
Alice stroked her smooth chin, waiting for the birds' reports.
The clear, bright moonlight, soft as silk, shone on the distant woods, lending them a mysterious aura.
A mild wind shook leaves from the trees, and with it came a faint tremor of magical energy from afar.
It was a message from a bird in the outer area of the lecture building. The target had finally appeared.
Alice focused her attention. After a slight, dizzying shift, her vision filled with a moonlit lawn.
Two humanoid automatons were leaning against a tree trunk, pressed close together.
Bathed in the pure white moonlight, their silhouettes resembled two friends leaning on one another, raising glasses to discuss the moon.
If not for the fact that one of them was only half there.
Even obscured by a cloak, the figure of the doll—clearly feminine in form—could be seen pouncing on the black humanoid automaton beside it.
Her hands tore at the upper body of the black automaton, the surroundings littered with 'innards' and 'bloodstains.'
The latter's lower half was crushed to pieces, scattered further away.
He lay powerless on the ground, his eyes vacant, his magical energy long depleted.
The girlish automaton intimately wrapped her arms around his chest, her tongue gently lapping at the left side.
The location of the heart—the Magic Circuit.
Crunch, scrape.
A gruesome feeding sound arose as the skin over the black automaton's chest slowly dissolved, exposing the internal components bit by bit.
Suddenly, darkness spread from the distance as thick clouds drifted across the sky.
In an instant, the clouds blotted out the moonlight over the area.
The scene in Alice's eyes plunged into darkness.
In that blackness, the sound of Cannibal Candy's feeding still echoed clearly in her ears.
A few seconds later, moonlight once again bathed the earth. Cannibal Candy had already moved away from the black automaton.
A deep, smooth cross-section was left on the black automaton's chest, identical to the marks left by that 'Cursed Sword Sword.'
The heart—the Magic Circuit—inside was gone.
Alice narrowed her eyes slightly.
So the missing Magic Circuits from the previous bodies weren't destroyed... but devoured...
In her vision, Cannibal Candy started walking with heavy steps toward the direction of the dormitory buildings.
The path she was taking... led straight toward Alice's own dorm.
The sound of feet tramping the muddy ground gradually faded as Cannibal Candy's figure receded into the distance.
Only after the figure turned a corner did Alice maneuver the starling to slowly take flight.
A soft fluttering of wings sounded as the small bird soared upward.
But the next instant, came the click of a heel against concrete.
Cannibal Candy, stepping off the lecture building's wall, lunged toward the starling, a flash of silver armor visible on her form.
A moment later, a pale, delicate hand filled Alice's view.
Crack.
The scene in Alice's eyes vanished into nothingness. She slowly closed her eyelids.
A silver girl... Hah.
Those missing Magic Circuits... No wonder they're targeting Charlotte.
It seemed Charlotte's purchase of her family's Magic Circuits and stockpiling them in her dorm had been discovered.
The most distinctive features of a Cannibal Candy attack were the unique magical residue and the missing Magic Circuits.
With similar magical traces present, and a large number of Magic Circuits close by...
Charlotte made the perfect scapegoat.
A few seconds later, the figure seated by the window slowly rose to her feet.
Simultaneously, countless birds flew in through the window, transforming back into chocolates as they settled into the storage box.
The collective flapping of wings woke the dolls in Alice's room. They opened their containers one by one, looking curiously at their master.
"Suigintou, go wake the golden-haired fool in the next room," Alice said, glancing at the Magic Circuit on the table—the 'Flight' circuit Charlotte had previously agreed to find. "Tell her to move all the Magic Circuits from her room to the mansion."
Suigintou rubbed her eyes with tiny hands.
She stood up, her expression drowsy. "Right now?"
"Right now."
--+--
"...A starling?" A melodious girl's voice came from Cannibal Candy's mouth as she stared puzzled at the small bird, its neck crushed in her hand. "Why would a creature primarily found in Asia..."
Before she could ponder further, the bird's body in her hand instantly melted.
Like chocolate meeting high heat, it coated her palm.
Damn it! It's magecraft!
After a second of stunned hesitation, she flung the chocolate from her hand and broke into a sprint toward the central lecture hall.
The darkness did nothing to slow her steps. She ran at undiminished speed, meeting no obstacles along the way.
Neither the patrolling disciplinary committee members nor the school guards were anywhere near her path.
And on the second floor of that central lecture hall—was the space reserved for the disciplinary committee.
--+--
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.