Does the Assassin Girl Dream of the Mana Doll?

“I’ve got you now.”

Confident in his strike, he swung his sword.

“What?!”

But what he felt was the sensation of cleaving through empty space and the recoil of striking the floor. The woman had vanished from his sight.

A miss.

What happened?

His mind pondered the question, while his instincts screamed, “Behind you.”

In such situations, it was a matter of following instinct. He forced his momentum-laden body to stop and pulled himself up.

“Damn it!”

Without even turning around, he swung his sword, which had bounced off the floor, behind him. He managed to reach the woman’s neck, but all he achieved was a scratch.

Then, a cold pain struck the back of his head, coming just before he could complete the swing. He felt the short sword tear through his medulla oblongata. He didn’t understand exactly what had happened, but he knew it was something fatal.

Even so, he tried to swing his sword.

His blade reached for the woman’s neck… but that was all. It fell to the ground, pulled down by gravity as if it had lost all strength.

“…Ah, was I a step too slow?”

Realizing that, he felt his body go limp. So, this was death.

It was… it was quite amusing.

A life of doing whatever he wanted, behaving as he pleased. And now, to have his curtain call in such an incomprehensible way. It was strangely amusing to think that only someone like this could stop him.

“I’ll be waiting for you in hell…”

He moved his diaphragm, which should have been still, and forced his lips to move, though they had lost their strength. With a ferocious grin, he collapsed onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

A single red mark remained on his pale white skin. That was the last thing he left behind.

“…Go ahead and go alone…”

She let out a deep sigh from the pit of her stomach. Even so, her gaze remained fixed on Curtis. He had collapsed on the floor, but he was a man of great strength, so she couldn’t let her guard down until she was certain he was dead.

It had been a brief battle, but she was exhausted—she had used every ounce of her strength. She understood that if she had made even one mistake, it would have been her lying there. That was why she had prepared thoroughly and then… deliberately gambled.

Her greatest ability was “teleportation.” She could instantly move to any place she could see, any place she could perceive with her detection magic, and any place she had been before. That was the secret to how the Ghost had succeeded in so many seemingly impossible assassinations. Conversely, since she couldn’t teleport to places she hadn’t been or couldn’t perceive, she had to walk to new locations.

It was probably something magical, but even she didn’t understand the principle behind it. It had suddenly activated when she was a child, scaring her parents and causing them to abandon her… which was why Greg had picked her up.

That ability was perfect for an assassin. But even with that power, she wasn’t certain she could defeat Curtis. A surprise attack by teleporting behind him. Even to that, he would react and block her strike before it could land. That’s what she had concluded from observing Curtis’s fighting style.

In fact, even after she had thrown him off balance, he had come close to slicing through her neck. If he hadn’t been off-balance… without a doubt, the Ghost’s head would have been severed.

In other words… appearing in front of Curtis had been part of her plan. She had deliberately exposed herself, allowed him to attack, and induced the moment when he would lose his balance.

“He was really troublesome…”

She felt relieved that she could now speak of him in the past tense. After taking a few breaths to recover, she cautiously approached Curtis… and slit his carotid artery. His heart had likely already stopped, as the blood spurted out weakly. Eventually, it ceased.

After observing him for another minute to confirm his death, she knelt beside Curtis. She reached around his neck and removed the holy symbol he had been wearing.

Though it was stained with blood and exuded an air of sinful defilement, the Ghost didn’t care. She wiped it roughly with a rag and placed it in her pocket.

“Now, what about that?”

Her breathing steadied, and with no trace of the recent intense battle, she murmured. Her gaze shifted to the place where the treasure of this ruin was likely located. It was a spot where the pipes winding through the ruins converged. There were several buttons on a desk that resembled some kind of control panel. Behind it were several large tanks, each seemingly large enough to fit a person.

Apparently, this was the treasure of the ruins.

“Well, I can’t take this back…”

She spoke in a rare tone of trouble, staring at the capsule. Then, she turned her eyes to the control panel. If she operated it, would something happen? Perhaps it would make this treasure easier to carry.

Though she had some knowledge of magic, she didn’t consider herself a researcher. She couldn’t understand what any of the buttons meant or how they were arranged. So, she pressed the switches randomly.

As she leaned forward slightly… at that moment, a drop of blood fell from her neck. With a small splat, it stained one of the panels.

Suddenly, the light emitted by the pipes increased, and the terminal began to glow as if it had come back to life.

What was happening? As she observed her surroundings, she heard a voice.

“Blood reaction confirmed. Magic rank B, eligible for master registration. Checking suitability… conditionally cleared.”

“Blood pattern, magic pattern registered. Authenticated as master.”

She couldn’t comprehend the situation that was unfolding on its own. She understood each word, but she couldn’t grasp what they meant together.

“Registering master name. Please state your name.”

“Eh? I… I am…”

She was about to say “Ghost.” But for some reason, she intuitively felt that name wouldn’t be right. After a moment of silence, she spoke.

“I am Egret. My name is Egret.”

She stated her name—a name that no one used anymore, not even herself. The light intensified, emitting a powerful magical energy.

“Master name registered as ‘Egret.’ From now on, you will be recognized as the master.”

As the Ghost—no, as Egret stood there in a daze, the capsule slowly began to open.

What emerged from within was a girl who appeared to be about the same age as her. She was slightly shorter, and her long, wavy blond hair gave her a somewhat youthful impression. The robe she wore, which looked like a pale blue dress, rippled with overflowing magic. Intricate magical patterns were embroidered with gold thread on both her tunic and robe.

The girl slowly opened her eyes, which were the color of the sky. When she saw Egret, she smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Master. I am a Combat-Tactics-Class Mana Doll, Eliminator. Please, feel free to call me Ellie.

Your name is Egret… May I address you as Lady Letty?”

Still not fully understanding the situation, Egret vaguely nodded.

This was the first meeting between a girl raised as a tool and a girl created as a tool.”

**Next: The Girl Called “Mana Doll**