In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 4.1

Interlude II: Stuffed Toy Fantasy 

“......” I rubbed my eyes at what I was seeing in front of me. 
I certainly didn’t remember drinking any alcohol... But how else could I explain it? I was seeing double... Since when were there two Paulas? 
“...Am I seeing things? Don’t tell me I’m still asleep...” 
“You most certainly aren’t. There are two...” Leen let out a little sigh and spoke in an almost disappointed manner. 
What, really? As if to greet me good morning, the Paula on the left raised her arm into the air and gave me a little wave. Then, she lifted the arm of the Paula next to her, making that one wave too. 

“...Is it a stuffed toy? Although... You’re a stuffed toy too, Paula...” Paula was the product of Leen’s Null spell, [Program]. She had been engineered to act life-like, with realistic reactions and responses. 
Paula was the result of over two hundred years of gradual programming. Leen could use every kind of magic except Dark, after all. The little bear was definitely impressive and could display a wide range of emotions, despite not actually being alive. 
I picked up the stuffed doll that resembled Paula and raised it into the air. 
Oho... It even weighs about the same... It’s really well-made... Kind of weird that it isn’t moving, though. 
“Where’d this come from?” 
“Linze. She’s been into handicrafts and sewing lately, and created this little Paula copy as a test-out of her skills. Did you perhaps indoctrinate her, or something?” 
“Hmph... Obviously I didn’t. She just started getting interested because of that book.” 
I’d brought a book back from the Reverse World. It was a little one about handicrafts and little sewing activities. Seemed like it had a lot of advice on how to make toys. 
Linze picked it up and read it back to back. She grew up around a lot of children, so her natural talent for embroidery had seen a lot of practice over the years. It would probably be more apt to say that her interest was rekindled, rather than started up. 
I ended up giving her a full sewing kit and a lot of cloth I had as a present, as well. It was no problem since the stuff was just sitting unused in [Storage] anyway. I would’ve preferred it to have some kind of use in the end. 
“But this is really something... Are you sure it’s not an exact copy? By the way, did you make Paula originally?” 
“I didn’t, no. Paula was actually created for me by Eris. That girl was always good at that kind of thing.” 
I see... So Eris is your mom, Paula? If I remember right, Eris is the court magician of Mismede and the girl who gave me a little bit of trouble when I went to the fairy village... I guess I caused her some annoyance... 
Paula turned to Leen and made a gesture. Leen had gotten pretty good at understanding her from the slightest movement. 
“Hm? No, that’d be impossible. Even if I applied programming to this little one, it wouldn’t become like you for a couple of hundred years. And to be honest... I can’t remember what I did to you to begin with, Paula.” Paula looked a little downtrodden by Leen’s words. 
I see... Guess the little bear asked if it could have a playmate... Well, that’s kinda cute. 
Leen had slowly added different features to Paula over time, so it would make sense that she wouldn’t remember the individual processes that led to Paula as she is now. 
That also made Paula make seemingly random motions and actions now and then. 
For example, if Paula was hit, sometimes she’d react with anger... but other times she might act sad. Paula also had a fight or flight response, but it wasn’t something learned. It was something programmed into her. 
Even if there was a “Get angry” response, that might manifest as “stomping your foot,” or “raising your hands.” It was hard to tell exactly what situation would prompt what response. And so, it was no wonder Leen had trouble recalling how to map the responses in the same way. 
I enchanted Paula’s ribbon with [Storage] and allowed the inanimate Paula to slip inside. She just had to tug the left side of the ribbon to store something and tug the right side to release it. It could only store one thing, but it would allow her to carry around her new “friend” without any hassle. 
“Thank you, Darling...” Leen smiled sweetly toward me. 
Man, Linze really is amazing, though... I’m not bad at painting, but this takes a whole other level of finesse. 
I decided to go see Linze because I was concerned. I hadn’t seen her at breakfast so I wondered if she was still asleep, it was unusual for her not to be there in the morning. 
I invited Leen to come along, but she said she was going to oversee Sue and Renne. She liked to do her own thing, and I certainly didn’t begrudge her that. 
I climbed up the castle stairs and came out into the private area. The knights in our castle weren’t allowed to come up here. Laim and the maids came through, but they typically didn’t interfere much, same with my sisters. 
I knocked on Linze’s bedroom door. Even though we were engaged, I wasn’t about to go and exhibit bad manners. 
“Linze. Can I come in?” 
“H-Huh? A-Ah... Yes, okay!” 
...She okay? Something was funny about her voice, but I opened the door anyway. 
“Hey, how are y— Ah?!” I involuntarily made a funny noise. 
The room’s filled with stuffed toys! There’s a whole mountain of them in here... Don’t tell me... Did you make all of these, Linze?! The girl herself was sitting in the middle of the room, gently rubbing at her eyes. 
“...Were you sleeping sitting up?” 
“S-Sorry... Seems I fell asleep...” 
That’s dangerous! There are needles and scissors around, you know! I took some coffee out of [Storage] and handed it over to her. She looked at it with a frown, but perked up slightly when I brought out some milk and sugar for her as well. 
The caffeine in this world was considerably stronger, so it’d definitely wake her up. I wanted her sleeping properly going forwards, though... 
“Mmm... Tastes good...” 
“Glad you like it, but... did you make all these, Linze?” 
“N-Not all of them... I bought a few to use as reference.” 
Hm... I can still tell which ones you did make, though... I looked on top of the chest of drawers and recognized one of the plushies there immediately. It was a white tiger, and it looked just like Kohaku. 
I also noticed plush versions of Sango and Kokuyou, as well as a cute stuffed Kougyoku. They all had really cute, chibi designs going on... and looked very well made. 
“Wait, that one’s...” 
“Hm? Oh, eek! N-No, wait! D-Don’t look at...!” It was a stuffed toy that resembled a young man. He had a white coat and black pants. 
Is that... me? Heh... He’s a little bit cuter than I would’ve expected... 
It seemed like the doll Linze was scrambling for wasn’t the one of me, however. The one she’d grabbed for was another entirely. 
It was a doll with short, silver hair and a cute little hairband. The doll’s eyes were blue, the same blue as the blushing girl by my side. 
“...What a cute little doll.” 
“Wh-What?! U-Uhm... D-D-Do you really think so...?” 
Actually, I think both you and the doll are cute. 
“Can I have one of these...? I think it’d look nice in my room.” 
“O-Of course! I’m really happy that you like them!” Linze gave me permission to take one back. What a precious treasure. 
She’d made an incredible amount, though... I looked around the room in wonder. There were over a hundred, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. 
Most of them were little animals like cats and rabbits. They were all designed in a cute, slightly deformed style. Even I could appreciate it. 
“I lost track of time... It was so much fun that before I knew it, I’d ended up making so many... I just kept getting ideas for which one to do next...” 
“I understand being excited, but it’s important to get your rest. People will get worried if you’re falling asleep at random and stuff... It goes without saying that I’d get worried, too.” 
“Okay...” Linze was a delicate girl, so I didn’t want her to push herself past her limits. She wasn’t as energetic as Elze, after all. 
Then again, she was pretty similar to her sister in terms of stubbornness sometimes... But I actually really loved and respected that about her, too. 
“Hm? What are you making now, anyway?” 
“Ah, it’s not a toy this time... I was making some clothes. I thought my sister would like them.” 
You made these?! I took it in my hands and felt along the sleeve. There was a pretty lace sewn into the cuff, I didn’t know Linze was capable of embroidery this intricate. 
“Ah, uhm... I didn’t actually make the lace part... That came from Mr. Zanac’s store... I’m not so good at knitting, but I’d like to get better...” 
Oh, really? I wondered if she’d considered working for Zanac or something. His store was rapidly expanding its repertoire lately. 
As I was thinking to myself, the door opened. 
“...Good morning, Linze. Oh, Grand Duke? Why are you here?” Sakura had opened the door and waltzed on in. 
You ever hear of knocking, lady? She looked at us with sleepy eyes and looked between me and Linze. She was holding a lot of cloth in her hands. 
“Sorry, I fell asleep earlier... Oh, did you do it?” 
“I did. I cut it along the paper pattern.” 
Sakura laid out the fabric along a desk, they were cut into various shapes. It seemed like they were the pieces for another stuffed toy. 
“Have you been helping her, Sakura?” 
“Yeah. It’s a puppet for my mother’s school... Linze was helping make it. We’ve been doing puppet shows... for the kids...” 
“Like this, see?” Linze held up a little cloth puppet with her hand and made it move around a bit. It was basically a hand puppet, the kind you’d see in kids entertainment shows. 
“There are a lot of animals in the story... so I stayed up all night cutting the pieces...” 
“Oh, interesting. I’d help, but [Modeling] doesn’t exactly cover cloth...” That spell basically allowed me to transform natural materials and shape them how I saw fit. It didn’t exactly work so good with stuff like cloth or leather. 
I couldn’t help with sewing or anything. I could make more needles and scissors, but that was about it... Oh, wait...! 
“You two, I think I remember seeing something about a magic sewing machine in Babylon’s storehouse...” 
“Sewing machine...?” Linze tilted her head to the side. It would probably be easier to just show her. I pulled out my phone and used the internet to find some sewing machine videos. I wanted them to see it in action, so they’d easily understand. 
“Wow! That’s fast! It’s sewing stuff really easily!” 
“...That looks useful. Mhm...” 
The two of them were practically glued to the screen. The sewing machine needle moved up and down at a rapid pace, easily stitching the fabric together. 
It was easy to find out how a sewing machine was structured on the internet, so building it was possible... But it was a little complicated for me. I’d maybe be able to make an older foot pedal one at the very most. 
I didn’t exactly know what a magic sewing machine would be like... But it would probably be a good quality one. It was a remnant of an advanced age, after all. 
“So this thing’s in the storehouse?” 
“I think so, but— Whoa!” 
“Let’s go, Touya! I want it!” Linze started yanking on my arm. 
Alright, I get it! Calm down, please! It wouldn’t exactly be the same as the sewing machine in the video, and frankly, I didn’t even know if it’d work well or even be there at all... 
But I couldn’t say that in front of Linze, who seemed so hopeful and excited, so I let out a small sigh and silently opened a [Gate] to Babylon. 
 
“This is-a the magic sewing machine! It’s-a perfect for-a the sewing, yes! Doctor Babylon didn’t-a make this. It’s by Rosetta!” Parshe brought out a strange device that vaguely resembled a pen attached to a small spinning wheel. Was that seriously the machine? 
“This-a machine uses molto tiny and precise teleportation magic to move the thread through-a space. No needle, no danger! It-a has plenty of built-in safety features as well. No risk to fingers.” 
Linze tentatively tried it out, brushing the pen part against two overlapped pieces of cloth. Amazingly, sewn cloth appeared from thin air and bound the pieces together. 
Wow. That’s cool... I wonder how many different applications this thing has. 
“This is useful, but it takes up a lot of magic... It probably won’t be helpful for big jobs, but it’ll speed things up.” 
“That makes sense to me... [Teleport] uses up a lot, after all...” Sakura nodded her head slowly, it was her spell after all. Though in my case, it never affected my magic much. Whoops. 
Either way, I wondered if it would lessen the burden on Linze. We luckily had three of these devices, which meant other people with more magic could help her out, too. 
I just didn’t want her using up all her magic and collapsing or something. 
“I’ll be okay. I won’t overdo it. If it comes to it, I’ll use my engagement ring to tap into your magic, okay?” Linze smiled gently at me, holding up the ring on her left hand as if she’d been reading my thoughts. I was glad she was thinking of her health. 
“We’ll be able to finish in time for the show... That’s good...” 
“When’s the show, anyway?” 
“Day after tomorrow... With just Linze it would’ve been impossible...” 
It seemed that Sakura’s mother, Fiana, had prepared a lot of events at the school on that day. One of them was going to be a puppet show. It seemed to be an event for children, even kids who didn’t attend the school were allowed to come by. 
“There were puppets at the school, but they were all tattered... it was just easier to make new ones from scratch instead of fixing the old. I ended up going a little overboard though, haha...” 
“Linze, you’re too picky... Nobody cares too much about the quality of the lining, we just need to be able to put our hands in there...” 
“Th-There are subtle differences in hands, you know...?” 
How fussy... Well, I guess that’s how artistic creators are. But I think Sakura’s right here... I don’t really care about puppet lining. 
“I saw a puppet show when I was a kid... It was a lot of fun, but what I liked the most was the mascot character who showed up...” 
“Mascot character...? What is that, some kind of wooden figure?” 
Oh... I guess this world doesn’t have big mascot costumes... I remember seeing some of the tribes in the Sea of Trees have animal furs that kind of resembled it... But I guess it’s not close enough. 
I pulled up some images on the internet. 
“See? This is a mascot costume... It’s like a big stuffed toy without the stuffing, and people wear it. There are a lot of these at various events in my world.” The image I was showing was a mascot without the head part on, revealing the person inside. That kind of thing would upset a child, but it was the easiest way to explain what I meant. 
“Wow... I want to see one...” 
“Yeah! The children will love it!” 
Huh? Wait a sec... You’re gonna make one? Hold on now, don’t go getting any ideas... Even with the magic sewing machine, it’d take too much time, wouldn’t it? 
“Touya... If we make the suit... can you help us with the materials...?” Linze fluttered her eyes at me... That was unfair. How could I say no? 
“I... I mean... I guess that’d be fine...” 
“Amazing, Grand Duke...” 
“Ahhh, thank you! Sakura, let’s use the new equipment to finish everything up right away!” 
“Mhm...” We got the rest of the magic sewing machines and teleported back to the surface. 
...How did things end up like this? 
“Master. Would-a you like-a me to help?” 
“No, don’t worry... But thanks for the offer.” If that clumsy idiot tried anything, we’d just waste a lot more time. 
Alright... Let’s see... Just gotta look up the materials, uhh... styrofoam, and urethane... That’ll do. 
The best equivalent to styrofoam was the innards of the Treants we’d recently killed, so we had that. The urethane could be substituted by magical beasts that had pillowy skin... That wouldn’t be too hard. 
I was already thinking about what the costume might look like, but it was hard to picture. I decided to leave that kind of thinking to Linze, anyways. 
I headed off to fetch the required materials. 
 
“Whoooa!! What’s this?!” Elze yelled out with joy as she hugged me through the costume. 
Damnit... It’s too thick, so I can’t feel anything through it! We should’ve gone for something less fluffy! 
“Whoooa! It’s a giant Kohaku! So cute!” Sue jumped up and practically tackled the opposite side to Elze. Luckily, I’d enchanted the costume with shock absorption, so it’d be fine no matter what. 
The final product was a giant mascot outfit based on Kohaku. The giant bipedal result was something I’d taken to calling “Mr. Kohaku.” Though given that Kohaku was a girl, perhaps it should’ve been Ms. I hoped that this character would become somewhat of a mascot associated with Brunhild. I’d be able to move around and wave my arms in a fun way and have everyone wave back. That being said, it was hard work... I had my doubts this character would become as popular as a certain black mouse. 
 

My liege... What is with this strange behavior?!? 
Now now, Kohaku... Just because it looks like you, doesn’t mean it has to act like you...? 
Kohaku sent me her thoughts on the matter. She seemed a bit mad. 
Fufu, I think it’ssss pretty good... It looksss just like you.? 
Come now, you idiot. It loosely resembles you. Why are you getting mad?? 
Kokuyou, Luli... You two...? 
Come on, Luli... Don’t tease her too much...? I quickly stopped the quarreling before it turned into a full-on fight. Still, even if she wasn’t sold on the idea, this mascot would probably be really popular with kids. Sango and Kokuyou seemed to agree. 
“What’s the deal with this thing, anyway?” 
“Yeah, are you in there, Touya? What gives...?” Elze let go a little. She seemed puzzled. 
“Ah! He can’t reply, the suit has [Silence] enchanted on the headpiece so no noise can come out... Even if he speaks, we won’t hear it!” Linze quickly explained the situation to everyone. There were a lot of mascot characters that did talk, but I wanted to cover all bases here. I figured a mute mascot would be better, because then anyone could get into the suit and play the part. It was a pretty smart decision. 
“I think kids will love it.” 
“Mm... We did good...” Sakura nodded to Yumina and muttered. 
...Wasn’t the main feature supposed to be the puppet show? 
Still, it was pretty tough... I had [Gravity] helping me out, but my movements were still restricted. 
It was hot, too. I tried to use Wind magic to keep things circulating. Surely that would cool me down... But it didn’t. It was taking too long, at any rate. 
Oh no... I tried to take off the headpiece but the arms of the costume were too stubby and limited in mobility. I couldn’t take it off. Linze helped put it on to begin with, so I turned to her for help again. 
“Sorry... Could you take the head off?” 
Oh, wait. Crap... They can’t hear me because of the enchantment... What do I do?! I tried to inform everyone that something was wrong by frantically wiggling and waving my arms. C’mon! Notice! 
“...What are you doing, Touya?” 

“Ah... Do you want to tell us something, Touya-dono?” 
That’s right, Yae! You got it! I frantically pointed towards her. 
“Ohoh! I was right, I was!” 
I tried my best to point the arms of the costume toward myself in a desperate mime act. 
“Pointing to yourself... So... you?” 
“No, I think he means Kohaku.” 
“I think he wants to see Kohaku...” 
Hilde, Leen, and Lu all gave their own ideas. Come on guys, why did this turn into charades?! I spent a few more minutes gesturing like mad, hoping they’d realize I wanted the headpiece off. When they finally guessed it right, I fell to my knees due to mental fatigue. I’d been defeated by Linze and Sakura’s handiwork... 
“...Grand Duke, you could have escaped with [Teleport] at any time...” 
“Oh.” 
Sakura spoke bluntly, and I stared blankly into space. Damn it... 
 
“Wooow! So cool!” 
“He’s all fluffy!” 
A barrage of children came at me from all directions. They weren’t doing any damage, but they sure were forceful... 
It was the day of the puppet show, and my debut was proving popular. Well, it was technically “Mr. Kohaku’s” debut... We decided to just go with him being a guy mascot, since he wasn’t exactly meant to be Kohaku anyway. The kids were a little cautious at first, thinking I was some kind of weird summoned creature, but after a while, they started running at me all excitedly. 
I was glad they were having fun, but they were certainly going all-out. 
Hey, hey! Get off my back...! I can’t even run away because they just keep closing the distance... I can’t even run fast because of how stubby these legs are! My visibility was a bit limited too, so I ended up tripping and bashed my head... It hurt! I needed to calm down and collect myself. The kids riding on me all fell off, too... 
Gh... 
“[Power Rise]!” 
“Whoa! Amazing!” I used my increased strength to quickly pick up all the kids and carry them around. I tried to gesture around to tell the kids to be a little more careful, but I wasn’t sure they were getting it. 
“Alright, everyone. The puppet show is about to begin. Please come inside... You don’t want to be late, after all...” Fiana clapped her hands together and the kids began filing into the classroom. They sure seemed used to it... I was thankful she saved me. 
“Are you alright? I think they just got a little excited because they’d never seen you before...” Fiana came over to check on me. I tried to say “No, it’s alright... I’m okay,” but I was muted in there... so I just gestured it. I decided that I should probably make the [Silence] enchantment a toggle. 
After all the kids entered the classroom, I was led into another one by Fiana where I could discard the outfit. I used [Teleport] to escape the confines of fluffy, child-friendly hell. The Mr. Kohaku costume promptly collapsed to the floor without my frame supporting it. 
“Whew...” That was rough. There were a lot of things I could improve on. 
I stuffed the mascot outfit into [Storage]. I didn’t want the kids to see it in that deflated state. 
I left the empty classroom and headed next door to check out the puppet show. The puppet show had originally been planned by the schoolteachers working there. It seemed that Sakura had caught on, and went to Linze for help. 
Yumina and Lu also helped out after hearing the story, and the four of them worked hard all the way up until the event. I played my part, too. 
When I got to the classroom door, I could hear Linze’s voice. It seemed that the show had already started. 
I didn’t want to interrupt the performance by butting in... 
I used [Invisible] to conceal myself, and [Teleport] to appear at the back of the room. 
Infiltration complete... I looked around and saw Mr. Mittens in the corner... He moved toward me, nose twitching as if picking something up. I forgot his sense of smell was great... 
“...You gotta be kitten me... That you, Grand Duke?” 
“...Yeah, it is. I didn’t want to cause a fuss by coming in late...” I whispered in a quiet voice, so only Mr. Mittens could hear me. 
“Makes sense to meow... Just be careful, I got purretty suspicious.” 
“Don’t worry about it. Just tell Sakura I’m here, it’s fine.” 
“Gotcha...” Mr. Mittens left without a sound. He was certainly something... He made good security, so I could give him credit there. 
At the front of the classroom, the stage was set. There were a lot of puppets, rabbit ones, bear ones, dog ones, and cat ones... all dancing along the edge of a desk. Linze and the other performers weren’t visible to the audience. All they could see were the colorful puppets. It must’ve been rough to keep their arms up for so long. 
Here’s an abridged version of the story... One day, a witch arrived in a peaceful forest full of animals. The witch treated the animals unkindly, so they asked her to leave, but she was very strong, and the animals could do nothing against her individually. In the end, the animals all teamed up together and drove the witch out of the forest using their combined specialties. 
The story was kind of similar to “The Crab and the Monkey.” But the theme in The Crab and the Monkey was more based around retribution. The theme in this one was a little more about working together and finding strength in unity. 
“This is a nice forest, I like it! This is my forest now, animals! Eheheee!” 
The witch spoke out her threat, which caused the animal puppets to tremble. I was amazed that Yumina was the one doing that creepy, hoarse old voice. She was also playing the part of the cute forest rabbits, too... She had some serious voice acting skill. 
Wait a second... That sound... Is the god of music doing the soundtrack for this thing?! The kids seemed even more drawn in by the tense atmosphere, and they all sympathized with the plight of the animals. 
There was one child in particular who was watching the show transfixed, a piercing gaze. He couldn’t have been more than six or seven. He was staring at the puppets as if mesmerized. It was almost like he was committing their movements to memory. Seemed like he was mumbling something too... He was a weird kid, to be sure. 
Still, everyone was having fun in their own way. It was pretty hard to find a way to appeal to everyone in a room, so I was impressed they’d done this well. And as I pondered, the show moved on to the final act. 
“Hurray! We took back the forest!” Linze’s cat-puppets started yelling out in joy, and the story came to a close. Sakura summoned some birds for the ending roll and had them all chirp a song in tune with the god of music’s accompaniment. 
Wait... This song... What the...? I guess they’re singing it without understanding English, but I know what it’s saying... Pretty weird to hear them say “Saturday Night! Saturday Night!” over and over like that... It doesn’t really even fit! 
It was a nice song, and the kids were all clapping along to the beat in no time. The animal puppets swayed to the rhythm as well. Rock and roll could unite worlds, it seemed... 
The puppet show had been a resounding success. 
“Ahhh... I’m so tired...” 
“We did good... We did really good...” 
“I had a lot of fun!” 
“I almost forgot some of my lines...” 
“Good work. You should be proud, everyone.” 
We cleaned up the performing area and set the classroom back to how it was meant to look. We then went to eat some light food, since it wasn’t quite time for dinner. Mr. Mittens sat on Fiana’s lap, gently lapping at some matatabi sake. 
...Don’t get drunk, little cat knight... Sousuke had vanished along with his songs at some point, too. 
“Thanks so much for your help today, everyone. The children seemed incredibly happy.” 
“I’m glad you enjoyed it, too!” Linze smiled at Fiana. 
“You worked really hard, Linze. But please, get proper rest from now on... Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” 
“Okay. I promise!” Linze let out a little giggle. I was glad it all went without a hitch. 
But when we went back to the classroom to gather up the puppets, something was off. 
We’d stored all the puppets in a box by the side of the stage... but now they were all missing. 
“Wh-Where are they?!” Linze began a frantic struggle, looking under and over just about everything in the room. It was a pretty big box... If it was still here, we surely would’ve seen it. 
“...A thief?” Sakura muttered quietly. I wasn’t sure about that... They were just puppets. They weren’t exactly worth much. What would a thief want with them? Even if they didn’t have much material worth, they were still important to us... Linze looked at me, almost teary-eyed, and I resolved to find them. 
Mr. Mittens had gotten black-out drunk on sake, but I tried to ask him for help. I was pretty sure his nose was completely useless when he was intoxicated, though. 
“...You can’t help, huh?” 
“Meow...? Milady... Where... Hic... Get meowtta here... I smell... Uhm... Lemme paws here... I smell... Hic... Catnip! Haha!” 
He was definitely no use. Well, I wasn’t exactly mad at him. He’d been working hard... so it was fine. 
“Touya, can you find them?” 
“Leave it to me. I’ll get them back.” I nodded at Yumina and took out my smartphone. Then, I fired up the map and ran a search for Linze’s hand-made puppets... Luckily, the answer was clear in a flash. 
“Whoever has them hasn’t left town. I’ll go ahead and catch them, alright?” 
“W-Wait! Take me!” I was about to [Teleport] out when Linze asked to join me. I wondered if that’d be alright... but I was sure she could hold her own against one or two petty crooks. 
I took Linze, but wondered about the other three... I didn’t think going there in droves would help. 
“Alright, I’ll open up a [Gate]. We’ll have Mr. Mittens keep lookout... That way we can all go.” 
“Work hard... We’ll eat later, okay...?” 
“Gotcha... Get meow in there...!” 
The woozy little cat gave Sakura a little salute. We took away his bottle, and I cast [Recovery] on him. 
“Alright, let’s go.” 
We went through the portal and came out the other side. We came out to the outskirts of town, where some new houses had been put up. It was evening, so the smell of dinner wafted through the air. The place we were headed was the house right next to the portal. That’s where Linze’s puppets were... and maybe even the culprit. 
I was about to move on ahead when Sakura suddenly stopped me in my tracks. What did she want, I wondered... 
“...I can hear the words... Can’t you?” 
“What words?” 
“Someone is speaking the dialogue from our play...” 
“Huh?” Dialogue? What do you mean? I peeped in through a distant window and saw a young boy sitting in a room. 
Oh...? That’s the kid who was staring at the puppet show all the way through... I looked at his hands, and he was wearing a couple of Linze’s puppets. That meant he was the culprit... But why did he do it, I wondered. 
“I can’t make out what he’s doing properly from here... [Long Sense].” I used my smartphone to display projected senses of sight and hearing in the air. That would let us all see what was going on here... 
“Leave this place, you animals! Eeheheeeh!” 
I was surprised at the sudden exclamation. The phone displayed the boy in the room, holding up the witch puppet. He was showing it to a little girl, laying in bed. 
It looked like he was recreating the play for her. 
“...He’s doing our play?” 
“Sure seems like it... I saw him when the play was being performed... He was really focused on memorizing it all.” I was seriously impressed someone so young could commit all that to memory... He probably got a few details wrong but he was nailing the narrative on a whole. 
The girl had a damp towel on her forehead... She was probably his sister. Judging from her occasional coughing, I assumed she was sick as well. 
“I see what happened here... The boy wanted the girl to be able to enjoy the puppet show, too... That’s why he stole from us.” 
“Mmh... That doesn’t mean he was justified in stealing, but... it adds context...” 
Yumina and Lu nodded quietly. They were right. I didn’t have anything to add. 
Yumina turned towards me. 
“What do we do?” 
“I don’t really know...” He might have had his reasons, but stealing was stealing. Still... Renne was a thief once... And I took her in under my household as an employee. At the end of the day, context was key. I didn’t like to judge people based on snap-decisions or hard times. “Linze, Sakura? What do you think?” I decided to ask the two victims. 
“He should return the puppets, I think... They belong to the school, after all...” 
“Sakura...” Before I could speak up and get Sakura’s opinion, she had stood herself up and headed towards the door of the house. 
Whaaat?! 
“Ah...” Sakura walked straight into the boy’s room. He had proof of his crime in both of his hands. I didn’t think sorry was going to be enough... 
“...It’s wrong...” 
“Huh?” 
“...That line is wrong... It’s not ‘We’re gonna...’ it’s ‘We’re going to...’ okay? It’s different, see? This character doesn’t speak like that...” 
She gave him a little glare, then a nod. ...She’s giving him tips? Sakura took the dog puppet from the boy’s hand, put it on, and walked towards the side of the bed... She crouched down until she was out of sight from the bedridden girl. 
“We’re going to win against that mean old witch!” The dog puppet (Sakura) yelled out dramatically. 
Why are you... doing the show, exactly? Linze giggled slightly, before standing up and heading into the house after Sakura. She took out the squirrel puppet, fitted it on to her hand, and crouched down next to Sakura. 
“How could we leave our home?! This is our forest! We have so many memories here!” 
Uh... Linze, you’re doing it too...? Before I knew it, Yumina and Lu had vanished too. What the... 
“That witch can use magic, though! How can we fare against her?!” 
“It’s impossible to... We can’t defeat her... We have no way...!” They’d taken the fox and raccoon puppets and were going all-in as well. 
Linze’s puppet play kept on going, and the little girl on the bed seemed like she was having the time of her life... There was nothing else for it. 
I entered the house and sat down next to the boy, who was staring in shock and awe at what had just happened. I looked down at the puppets on the table. 
“That your sister?” 
“...Yeah.” 
“Wanted to show her the puppets, huh?” 
“She really wanted to see them... but this morning she started getting really hot... Mommy said she had to sleep, so... I-I was gonna put them back tomorrow, promise! I promise!” The boy stammered and looked as guilty as he could. I doubted he was lying. But a crime was still a crime, and he probably had to reflect on it. 
“These puppets were made for the children of the school. Even if your sister couldn’t see them, you shouldn’t have taken them. That girl over there worked really hard to make them. Do you know how sad she was when she learned they were gone?” 
“I... I’m... I’m sorry...” 
“Promise you won’t do this again?” The boy nodded his head slowly, a sincerely apologetic and sad look on his face. 
Well, seems like he’s reflected enough. I don’t really like being tough on kids. 
The little boy promised to apologize to everyone he affected, and we settled down to watch the next half of the show. 
 
“That’s what happened, then...?” 
“Yeah. But all’s well that ends well. Everyone had a great time at the show, too.” 
We were eating dinner and telling everyone about what had happened. The boy apologized properly to Linze and promised he’d say sorry to Fiana later on. I gave his sister a special medicine we’d produced thanks to Babylon, which would mean she’d be fine by morning. [Recovery] wasn’t capable of preventing stuff like colds and fevers, after all. 
“...I think I can understand the kid’s feelings... I used to worry about Linze when I was little, too...” Elze smiled softly. She seemed to understand the feelings of wanting to look after your sister. 
“Whenever I slept through things or missed things as a child, my sister would always bring me things...” 
“Aha...” I was glad to hear that. Elze definitely loved her sister a lot. Elze averted her gaze slightly, though... I wondered why... 
“One time I did take an apple from the garden without asking... Aunt Lana got really mad at me...” 
“Oh dear. But it was just one apple... Why’d she get mad?” 
“No, she, uhm... trashed a whole tree trying to get it...” 
“I-I didn’t have a choice! It was really high, so I couldn’t reach! I thought if I used [Boost] and hit the tree, it’d fall down... I didn’t know the tree would break into splinters!” 
I laughed slightly. It amused me that she thought of beating the tree up before she considered climbing it. Seemed Elze was reckless even at a young age. That didn’t surprise me at all. 
“Mmh... This is a shame... I wanted to see the puppet show... My father wanted me to stay and study, though...” Sue had come over for dinner, she hadn’t been around for an evening meal a while. Usually, she ate at Duke Ortlinde’s place and came over in the evening instead. 
“Don’t worry... I had my mother record the show on my phone. That way, we can watch it later!” Sakura pulled out her smartphone and smiled. They were getting used to the phones, which was good. 
Elze scooped up some meat on to her fork and chowed down before turning to her sister. 
“Hey, what kinda story are you to make next?” 
“Ah, well... I’m still thinking, but... I wanted to do a story about family... Or maybe an adventure one...?” 
“A story of adventure?! That sounds good, it does! Will you require me to help you with swordplay advice, will you?! Please let me help!” 
“Adventure?! That means it should be a story about knights! Linze, you should do a story about a dragon-slaying hero!” 
Yae and Hilde suddenly rose out of their seats, excited. I wouldn’t have minded helping out with a more exciting story, either. 
“Oh, Paula? You wanna be in it too?” 
The stuffed bear waved her arms around as if to say “Yes! Yes!” Leen grinned slightly. She was way too big for a puppet show, though... Unless... Maybe we could have her play some kind of giant bear that guards a forest... 
“I’ll help you too, you know?! Liiinze! Let’s make a story full of love, you know?! I know all about love, you know?!” 
“Uwaaah!” Karen suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started yelling in Linze’s ear. The poor girl was so shocked she dropped her spoon into her soup. Calm down... You’re gonna give her or me a heart attack one of these days... 
If something interesting was happening, Karen had a habit of appearing out of thin air to get in on it. Her senses were way too sharp, honestly. 
After finishing the meal, we decided to watch the recording of the puppet show that Fiana had made. It was a show for children, but everyone really liked it. Linze and Sakura were especially proud. 
After that, the video switched to a clip of “Mr. Kohaku” being chased around by kids. Fiana... You were recording that? 
The next day, I was in Linze’s room again. She was frantically making puppets to match all the ideas everyone had given her. I felt a little sorry for her. It seemed like she’d be making more stuffed toys and puppets for a while. Still, she seemed happy, and she wasn’t pushing herself to the brink... so it was fine. 
Thanks to the whole incident, I got a little interested in embroidery too. 
I wonder if Zanac or Olba would be interested in marketing them with Linze’s advice... We could probably start a Brunhild brand of children’s toys... 
...And so, Brunhild became known as a land where you could find high-quality stuffed toys. I didn’t expect them to be quite so popular... but this world was full of surprises.