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63. Thinking
🕑 Added 2024-05-31 14:00:06 +0000 UTCInstead of the musty old building he’d expected from his first entrance, Ike found himself climbing the stairs of a fine manor up to the bedroom. A lush red carpet stretched under his feet. Narrow windows gazed out at the town, where moonlight silvered rooftops and faintly lit the streets. On the second story, he picked the first empty room from the stairs and stepped into a sumptuous room. Thick carpets. Heavy drapes on the broad diamond-paneled windows. A deep four-poster bed with fine curtains stood against the wall. Opposite it, a fireplace opened. It was dark for now, but wood awaited, in case he grew cold. A few orbs floated overhead, lighting the space.
Loup looked around. She sniffed at the floor, then jumped up on the bed. Stretching out, she rolled around on the bed, her tongue hanging out, a goofy grin on her face.
“Enjoying it, girl?” Ike asked. He slung his pack off his shoulders and set it against the wall.
Loup made a happy grumble in her throat and kept rolling around, rubbing her whole body against the bed.
Ike snorted. I’m going to have so much wolf fur on my bed.
He pulled out Rosamund’s head. She glared ferociously at him.
“Sorry. I don’t think you want anyone seeing you like this, though, do you?” Ike asked.
Rosamund glared, but just a little bit, she shook her head.
“Right. They might think you’re a dark magic artifact or something. I did it for your own good,” Ike told her. He loosened the gag.
“Sure you did,” Rosamund countered.
“Yeah, fair. Hey. How common are human-sized dolls among mages?”
She furrowed her brows. “What?”
Ike’s eyes widened. “That’s right, you were in the bag. Ket and Tana took me to this place where there’s a whole army of human-sized dolls. They kind of look like you, actually. So I was wondering if that’s a common thing among mages or not.”
Rosamund shook her head slowly. “I’ve…never heard of any skill like that.”
“Except for whatever made you.”
Her eye twitched. Her mouth started moving erratically.
I probably shouldn’t remind her. Ike cleared his throat and quickly kept talking. “It’s unusual, then?”
“Yes. I’d say so.”
“Hmm. Because they were wearing the uniforms of a different city, apparently, but they did really look like…er, another human-sized doll I saw recently,” Ike said, quickly replacing the word you.
“Roquefort, I bet. They’ve been after our city for decades,” Rosamund said darkly. “What color were they?”
“Uh, brown, with red stripes…”
“That’s Roquefort. Quickly! We have to warn father,” Rosamund urged him.
Ike held his hands up helplessly. “I don’t have a way out of the Abyss. Besides, Ket and Tana tried to warn your father, and they were stopped. If a Rank 3 can’t reach your father, how is a Rank 1 like me supposed to?”
“They were stopped?” Rosamund furrowed her brows.
“That’s what they said. They were a little light on the specifics,” Ike replied. To be fair, it ended with Tana cursed and both of them under the thumb of an asshole hunter, so they probably don’t want to recount all the gory details. I’d imagine it’s hard for Tana to hear or talk about.
Ket…there was something in the way he said it that gave me pause. I should seek him out alone when Tana’s not around. See if there’s more he has to say, that he’s not saying out of consideration for Tana.
“But…that doesn’t make sense. Father can enter the Abyss. He should be able to see the army himself. Unless…unless there’s something blocking his senses…” Rosamund frowned.
Ike raised his brows. That’s a good point. Her father can enter the Abyss freely. I’ve seen it happen myself. I don’t know if I have as much faith in his senses as Rosamund does, but it does make it a bit strange that he didn’t notice Ket or Tana all the way on their way to visit the city, or all the way back. Does that mean he wanted them to fail? But…
Ike shook his head. Sitting back, he pursed his lips and thought to himself, putting all the evidence together.
An army of puppets in enemy attire. Rosamund’s a puppet. The city has low magepower compared to the other cities. Puppets are rare among mages.
There are two options.
One, this enemy city, Roquefort, has not only replaced the city lord’s daughter right under his nose, but also planted a troop of enemies in the Abyss right outside his city. That requires a lot of subterfuge. It does kind of explain the city lord abandoning Rosamund, but, eh, I feel like there’s a lot of skill on Roquefort’s side to make all of this work out. Especially replacing the city lord’s daughter without him realizing. It also doesn’t really explain why the city lord walked out of the Abyss with a new Rosamund without him caring. I mean, sure, I guess I could see a scenario where he used the fake Rosamund’s destruction to rescue the real Rosamund, but… it feels too convoluted.
Option two. The city lord created Rosamund as a puppet for some reason. I don’t know why, but Rosamund is kind of the missing piece in both scenarios. This means the city lord has puppet-making skills. All the puppets are his, even the ones in the Abyss wearing Roquefort uniforms. In this case, the city lord walking out with a new Rosamund makes sense. All he needs to do is make a fresh puppet, and Rosamund is as good as new.
It doesn’t make a pretty picture. I don’t like it. But if the city lord lacks powerful mages, what better way to make up for it, than to have your enemies fight one another instead of you? Create a fake army that looks like your enemy city Roquefort, and have them fight your other enemy city. It doesn’t matter if your puppets win; they just have to start the fight convincingly, then escape. Once the other city is enraged, they’ll attack Roquefort, and from there, you have your war. And when they’re done, swoop in and pick up the scraps.
He took a deep breath and turned toward the door. “I think I need to talk to Ket.”
“You mentioned them earlier. Who’s Ket?” Rosamund asked.
“A friend.” Ike put the gag back on and tucked her back into the pack. She struggled, annoyed, but was powerless to escape. Ike stretched, then looked at Loup.
Loup wiggled around on the bed and stared at him, her mouth open in a happy smile.
“I’ll leave the door open, but feel free to stay,” Ike said, chuckling a little. He went to the door.
Loup rolled around. She stood and hopped down, trotting over to Ike’s side.
I wonder how Ket will feel about dogs in the kitchen…? Oh well. If I need to, I can send her back upstairs. Ike headed down to the kitchen, full of questions for Ket.
