BGDBP 20

Chapter 20

Chris pulled Piani into his arms and spoke.

“Don’t yell in front of my kid. It’s disgraceful. And it’s not ‘just a little.’”

Chris spoke firmly. Piani, held carefully in his hands, thought the same.

‘Exactly, it’s not just a little! How dare he touch me so rudely and call it nothing?’

Even though today’s accident was caused by Piani, a stranger roughly scattering Piani and the other dolls was definitely a serious matter.

But not for Johannes. Getting worked up just because someone touched some dolls—how was that reasonable?

Watching Johannes shake his head, Chris muttered in a low voice.

“And if it wasn’t done by a person, how do you explain what just happened?”

“Hah, well of course it was…”

Johannes began confidently, but couldn’t finish.

‘Come to think of it… it is strange.’

How did a doll that had been sitting still fall, and how did a doll that had been lying face-up end up face-down?

‘N–No way…?’

Johannes looked at Piani, who was wearing a peculiar smile from within Chris’s arms.

Its expression was the same as yesterday, yet somehow more ominous and wicked.

Gulp—Johannes swallowed hard.

Annoyed by the way Johannes was glaring at Piani, Chris narrowed his eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Packed into that short sentence was a very clear message: If you don’t open your eyes properly this instant, I’ll open them for you—permanently.

“S–Sorry.”

Quick on the uptake, Johannes hurriedly looked away.

Cold sweat formed on his forehead, though Chris was responsible for only about twenty percent of it.

‘N–No. That can’t be. Cursed dolls can’t actually exist. Sure, there are monsters and black magicians in the world, but cursed dolls and ghosts? That’s totally different. Those things can’t possibly exist.’

Right. There’s no way cursed dolls or ghosts could exist.

“If they did, would they only appear in novels? There would’ve been endless essays published. Stuff like ‘I Have Seen the Being!’ And that’s not all—newspapers would report it constantly! ‘Another Attack by That Thing… Three Casualties. Immediate Countermeasures Needed…’”

As Johannes bit his nails, Chris asked with a serious expression,

“Johannes. What have you been muttering all this time?”

Indeed, at some point Johannes had started speaking his anxieties aloud—eyes wide and bloodshot, voice trembling so much that his teeth clicked.

Piani looked at Johannes’s face, which had surpassed “saw-a-ghost” levels and gone straight into “became-a-ghost.”

‘So scary. How can someone so handsome use his face like that?’

Cold sweat dripping from his chin, Johannes forced a smile.

“T–There’s no such thing… right?”

“What are you suddenly talking about.”

“If such things existed, the world would’ve ended long ago… right?”

As Johannes babbled desperately, Chris shook his head.

“I’m not in the mood to deal with a lunatic. Get out.”

“Yes, sir!”

Johannes vanished immediately—so fast it stirred the air.

‘He’s basically flying away…’

Tsk tsk. Piani clicked his tongue.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Chris asked Deon while stroking Piani’s head. Deon answered gently.

“He does that from time to time, doesn’t he? Like when a light flickers out, or when he walks down the hall late at night…”

“It’s morning right now.”

A bright morning, with sunlight streaming in like waves.

Deon chuckled softly.

“He must be very depleted these days. Even yesterday, when I mentioned you had gone to bed early, he reacted the same way.”

“I can understand being shocked about that.”

Chris rocked Piani gently, like soothing a baby.

‘This is entertaining.’

To Piani, whose doll-life was usually dull, this kind of safe thrill was delightful—or rather, would have been, if not for—

[Your Grace! What do you think you’re doing in front of my grandfather?!]

Piani yelled. A grown man rocking a doll like a baby in front of an elderly gentleman took a level of courage most people didn’t possess.

‘Does he not know what embarrassment is?’

Piani thought that, though in truth Chris wasn’t someone who lacked shame—he simply didn’t bother caring about others’ opinions.

“Still, it’s quite fascinating. The moment you found the doll, you were able to sleep again…”

Deon spoke with emotion.

‘Whoa. He called me “Sir Doll.”’

Piani felt both pleased at being addressed with honorifics and oddly bitter that a grown elder was calling a doll “sir.”

“‘Sir Doll,’ huh. I like that. I should make the others call it that, too.”

Chris replied, satisfied.

Piani grew even more bitter at the prospect of being called “Sir Doll” by more people.

“Anyway, I feel like fate has tied me to this child.”

Chris rubbed his face against Piani.

[Ack! A handsome man’s face is touching my entire body!]

Flustered, Piani’s body warmed all over.

“If you found Sir Doll like this, it must really be destiny.”

“Exactly.”

Chris nodded with a faint smile. At that moment, a round orb-shaped magic device on his desk began ringing loudly.

BRRRRRR!

[Ahh!]

Piani jolted in surprise. Chris, used to the sound, casually placed his hand on the orb.

“What is it?”

—Hello, Duke Hespia? It’s me, the Emperor…

Piani’s mouth fell open in a silent scream.

‘His Imperial Majesty?!’

The Emperor of the Loroa Empire was only twenty-eight—a young, beautiful man with reddish-gold hair and red eyes. He was unmarried, and was consistently ranked among the top three most desirable marriage partners both inside and outside the Empire.

Chris frowned and growled in a low voice.

“What brings Your Majesty to me today? The weather’s annoyingly nice…”

His tone toward the Emperor was shockingly disrespectful.

—Ahaha… Sounds like you’re saying you shouldn’t be bothered on nice days.

The Emperor forced a bright laugh.

“…”

Chris didn’t deny it. Feeling awkward, the Emperor cleared his throat.

—Anyway, there’s an urgent call from the South. Killer Fish seem to have invaded the coast. It would help if the Duke could go…

“Haah… The Southerners can’t even handle one?”

—Not one—hundreds. They’re coming in swarms.

“If it’s hundreds, then hundreds of knights can fight them. The South has more than enough power.”

—No, the problem is they’re not monsters you can fight one-on-one…

The Emperor continued in a deeply apologetic tone.

—Either way, they’re barely holding them off. Could you go quickly?

“Tell them to try harder.”

—This… isn’t something effort alone can fix…

“Hah.”

Turning his head lazily, Chris spoke firmly.

“No. It is because they don’t try. They always ask for help and cry to be saved—of course they never improve.”

—“Never improve”… You may find it easy, but to others it’s hard. Killer Fish are one of the highest-ranked monsters in the compendium.

“Holding onto a monster compendium that’s over a hundred years old and declaring ‘this creature is strong so we can’t fight it’ is the real problem. Honestly, after a hundred years, shouldn’t humans be stronger? Science has advanced this much—why haven’t those knights evolved at all…?”

The Emperor felt like he was being scolded inside a cave. Tears welled up as he wiped his eyes.

—Sniff… A–Anyway…

“Are you crying right now?”

Chris cut him off.

—N–No? I’m not, nyah…

“You are. Your nose is stuffed.”

Chris sighed, voice thick with irritation.

“Could you stop crying at the slightest thing? Honestly, I don’t know what you’ve done to deserve crying about. I feel like I’m the only one doing any work.”

—Uuugh… O–Okay. Sorry…

“I’ll hang up now.”

As Chris moved to take his hand away, the Emperor panicked.

—W–Wait! You are going, right?! If we leave this alone, people might die…!

“…Fine.”

Chris gritted his teeth so hard the tendon in his jaw stood out.

The Emperor exhaled in relief.

—Thank you! You saved us. I’ll be sure to reward you later!

“…A reward?”

Chris repeated, voice deadly.