Chapter 63
*Don’t Make Me Jealous*
Lady Irang, having suddenly revealed her true form, went on a rampage. The destruction she caused seemed even greater than the zombies’. She stomped and roared, destroying everything in her path. Every flap of her wings sent shockwaves through the fortress, causing the already damaged walls to crumble.
“We can’t just leave her like this!”
I grabbed the young master by the collar and shook him. He just swayed and replied,
“What do you want me to do?”
“Do something!”
To solve a problem, you had to consult an expert, right? I dragged him towards Lund, who was trying to stop Irang with magic.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
His usually calm face was contorted in distress, stained with blood and tears.
“Lund! What’s going on?!”
I asked as I ran towards him. The young master stood there indifferently, then used magic to deflect a piece of zombie debris flying towards us. He muttered, “Ugh, unsanitary,” and flinched.
Lund, seeing us, stumbled towards us and grabbed the young master by the collar.
“Did you know this would happen? Did you give Estella to me to put my sister in danger?!”
“You’re the one who took my doll. I just got her back.”
“My sister is in danger!”
“So it seems.”
Lund looked devastated by his nonchalant response. I approached him and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I was never under your control. I just wanted to stop you from hurting Lady Irang…”
“I knew you weren’t under my control.”
Lund gasped, struggling to breathe between sobs. His slender frame looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“I’m a mage too, I can sense the flow of magic. The Count’s magic was more prominent within you. The important thing is that he gave you to me.”
The young master stared at Lund, then smirked, his expression infuriatingly smug.
“Ah, so you were planning to use this to distance yourself from the Crown Prince? ‘The Imperial zombie investigator colluded with the strategist and started a rebellion. And then they were subdued.’ And since you couldn’t tolerate such an incident, you would sever ties with Crown Prince Umbram. Is that your scenario?”
Lund’s lips were pressed into a thin line. Meanwhile, Irang was still rampaging through the city. I paced anxiously. There seemed to be no one or nothing that could stop her.
“You were planning to lose from the beginning.”
Ah! So that’s why he had said, “Let’s go to hell together.” It was a losing battle from the start; we had bought tickets to the express train to hell.
“You dared to use my doll?”
The young master shoved Lund roughly.
“Young Master!”
I grabbed his wrists.
“Stop acting like a thug! Live up to your handsome face! Act like a cold-hearted pretty boy!”
“What are you talking about?”
Lund didn’t resist, just took another shove and clasped his hands together, pleading with us,
“Please calm my sister down. I’ve been suppressing her instincts with my magic. Now they’ve exploded. I can’t do it alone. Count Lupin Zepetto, I know this is shameless, but please, help me.”
“It’s good that you know it’s shameless.”
The young master didn’t let him off the hook. But he wasn’t planning to ignore him completely either. He handed me the handle of my vacuum cleaner.
“Even I can’t easily handle something that large. Estella, you said you wanted to do something?”
“Yes!”
“How about a hunting game?”
“A hunting game?”
“You just have to draw well.”
“Drawing is my specialty!”
“…Really?”
“No! Just kidding!”
Lund grabbed us and led us away. Irang had just stomped past us in her rampage.
“Let’s discuss this somewhere safe.”
We moved to a different location. The former barracks now looked like a picnic area with mats spread out. A war-themed picnic? Injured people were huddled in a corner, trembling.
“That’s Lady Irang?”
“Commander Irang was a dragon…?”
“I heard the only true dragon was Castor Dragonuska!”
“Everything will be destroyed at this rate.”
We gathered in a corner, out of Irang’s reach, and discussed our strategy. I just stood there, since I didn’t know anything about magic. And I had never seen a dragon before. I hadn’t realized they were so huge, like mountains. The legends described them as being the size of wolves.
The young master pulled a pen from his jacket and drew a diagram on his palm.
“Remember this drawing. This is the starting point, and that tree over there is the end point. Do you understand how to draw it?”
“What will happen if I draw this?”
“It’s a binding spell. It can stop Irang’s movements. It’s a large-scale spell, so I can’t move while casting it. I’ll even need this traitor’s help.”
Lund lowered his head, looking ashamed.
“I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Leave it to me!”
The young master knelt on one knee in front of my vacuum cleaner, his expression solemn, as if proposing. I blurted out without thinking,
“It must be nice to receive a proposal from the young master.”
He flinched and glared at me, still holding the vacuum cleaner.
“Don’t say such unnecessary things.”
“Okay, okay. But it’s true. You look especially dashing right now.”
“…You should keep your mouth shut.”
“You’re telling me to be quiet even when I’m complimenting you? Then why did you even give me a mouth! You shouldn’t have made one in the first place.”
“I made it because it’s pretty. What? Do you have a problem with it?”
He retorted gruffly. His words made me feel strangely pleased, so I squatted down in front of him and smiled.
“No! No problem. Young Master, what do you think about being the one receiving a proposal?”
“…Not bad.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Not you. I have someone else in mind.”
“Who? Have you proposed to her? Has she proposed to you? Should I persuade her for you?”
“Why are you so interested in my love life?”
He grumbled, but his expression had softened considerably. I smiled, finding his face adorable.
“Because I like you, of course!”
“…”
“Of course, my proposal was a joke. I want you to be happy. And you’ll be much happier if you marry a human.”
He didn’t reply to that, just silently cast a spell on my vacuum cleaner. The already magic-sensitive vacuum cleaner glowed brightly from the nozzle, almost blindingly so.
“Am I supposed to draw with this?”
“Trace the pattern I showed you on the ground.”
“With this… intensely bright vacuum cleaner?”
“Yes.”
“…Okay.”
I stood up, holding the gleaming vacuum cleaner. The nozzle was so bright that I wanted to put it away.
“Come back safely.”
“Yes! I’ll draw the most magnificent magic circle in the world!”
“You don’t have to overdo it.”
With his farewell, I ran towards Lady Irang. The vacuum cleaner hummed loudly, resonating with her powerful magic. It felt so alive, it was unnerving.
“Is this how the young master feels when he looks at me?! Vacuum cleaner, please calm down!”
I adjusted my grip on the vacuum cleaner and quickly assessed the area where I had to draw the magic circle. My enhanced senses as a doll came in handy. Fifteen points to connect, a few geometric shapes in between, and I even had a sense of the direction.
Having visualized the magic circle, I started running.
“Estella, be careful!”
I heard the young master’s warning, and a fireball fell from the sky.
“Yikes!”
The giant dragon wasn’t just stomping around, she was also spitting blue fireballs. Burning rocks were falling everywhere, so I had to adjust the trajectory of the magic circle slightly. He had said I didn’t have to be too precise, so minor deviations should be fine.
I dodged her stomps and fiery… projectiles (were they projectiles? I assumed so) and ran, dragging the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner across the ground.
Whoosh!
I heard a whooshing sound, as if the vacuum was blowing air and scraping the ground. It was the sound of the magic circle forming, repelling debris.
I heard a clinking sound and saw small pebbles flying towards me. Some hit the vacuum cleaner, some hit my legs. Thankfully, I couldn’t feel pain!
“I can’t break again! I just got repaired! I want to stay in one piece!”
Worried about being hit by the pebbles, I increased my speed. I ran in a wide circle around the dragon, and after completing the outer shapes, I had to move to the center, ending up right in front of her.
Dodging her stomps was difficult. And the zombie corpses scattered on the ground were getting in the way.
I kicked the corpses aside and continued drawing with the vacuum cleaner nozzle.
Rooooar!
Lady Irang roared in pain. Zombies were being torn apart by her sharp claws. She then lowered her head and opened her massive jaws right in front of me.
“Is she going to eat me?! I taste like rocks! We’re made of the same material!”
I cried out and ran away, still drawing the magic circle with the vacuum cleaner.
Thankfully, instead of eating me, she scooped up a nearby zombie corpse and shoved it into her mouth. Seeing that, I froze in shock.
“Oh no!”
A sticky substance dripped from her jaws. Her sharp teeth glistened. I ran towards her, still holding the vacuum cleaner.
“Lady Irang! Spit it out! No! That’s unsanitary!”