“Letting off steam like last time, you mean?” Suimei guessed. “When we did it, it was before the battle started. Can we really do this right in the middle of the siege?”
“I would say it’s less about decompressing than it is maintaining discipline,” Graziella corrected.
“The soldiers of the royal capital haven’t faced real combat in a long time,” Titania elaborated. “For many, this is their first battle—they don’t know how to properly utilize their strengths, how to work as a unit, or how to move with the flow of battle. And since we are indeed under siege, that means the enemy has complete control over when the fighting starts.”
“Well, they sure got energy to spare,” Suimei said. “I’ve seen a few war zones ’cause of my job, and in those cases, everyone—from the rank and file to the top brass—are way too exhausted to even worry ’bout this stuff.”
“Yes. That’s the strange part,” Titania pointed out.
“Strange how?” Suimei asked.
“A defensive battle should usually be more exhausting,” she explained. “But that isn’t the case with our army. If all the demons wanted to do was topple the castle, they should attack now, without pause; our army is so stretched thin with nerves it would be the perfect opportunity to do so. However, right from the outbreak of this war, the demons’ attack has been sluggish.”
“You think they’re pulling their punches?” Suimei conjectured.
“Yes,” Titania agreed. “Otherwise, nothing here makes sense.”
“We have no idea what they’re thinking,” Graziella added.
“How’s the evacuation going?” Suimei asked.
“It’s well under way,” Titania answered. “The refugees have been relocated to the nearby towns and villages.”
“That sounds way too convenient,” Suimei mused. “Well, in a way, splitting up the citizens of the big city all over the place puts pressure on the locals and propagates fatigue across the land. The standard of living everywhere will take a nosedive.”
“You come up with some vulgar ideas...” Graziella said, looking a little put off by this.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Suimei said. “But I don’t think our enemy is so pressed right now to use such a tactic...”
“That’s why none of this makes sense,” Graziella agreed.
As they talked about such things, Hatsumi, who until this point had been observing the preparations for the mock battle, walked over to them.
“Hey, Suimei. Will Mary-chan be okay?” she asked.
“Hm? Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Suimei told her. “She knows her weaknesses. I actually doubt anyone here could even take advantage of her weaknesses to begin with.”
“Still, making her do it on her own is a little...” Hatsumi trailed off. “Not that I think she’ll lose either.”
Suimei doubted she would have problems facing mages and swordsmen alike. Things might be different against Titania, Graziella, or Felmenia, though.
“There’s something strange about that girl,” Elliot said after following Hatsumi to the group. “It’s like she’s... not quite human?”
“She’s a homunculus,” Suimei explained. “An artificial life-form, so to speak.”
“Artificial...? You mean someone artificially created life?” Elliot asked. “Your world does some outrageous things.”
“You might be right,” Suimei conceded. “But don’t say so in front of her. Those like her find it offensive.”
“I see. True, I suppose all life is equal,” Elliot agreed.
“That’s the gist of it,” Suimei said.
The preparations were just about done. Hydemary and a select few soldiers stood in the middle of the training ground. The soldiers ranged from eager for a fight to completely bewildered at having to fight a young girl. As for Hydemary, she had her magic wand in both hands above her head and was leaning left and right as she did some warm-up stretches. She was to face all of them at the same time—that would surely be enough to convince the naysayers.
“Let us begin the mock battle,” the referee said, having confirmed everything was ready.
“Mary, show no mercy, ’kay?” Suimei shouted lazily.
“Mm. I just need to beat them soundly, right? Like, totally black and blue?” Hydemary confirmed.
“Yup, yup, that’s the spirit.”
They were on the same wavelength. Suimei didn’t like the stink eyes his companions were turning his way, but he convinced himself that things were going to work out fine.
The referee shouted, “Begin!”
The swordsmen formed up at once, while the mages gathered mana to start their chants. Facing them all, Hydemary remained calm and collected. She didn’t gather mana. She didn’t chant. She simply twirled her magic wand around, as if playing with a folded umbrella.
Irritated by her behavior, the swordsmen brandished their blades and charged, their war cries resounding all over the training ground. They immediately closed the distance, but none could hit Hydemary. She dodged every blow with grace; not a single hair on her head was touched.
Before long, the mages finished their chanting and unleashed water magic at Hydemary. Yet Hydemary counterbalanced their magic before it could hit her. She twirled her wand, and as the aqua bullets came in contact with it, they popped and vanished on the spot.
“Hm? Is that it?” Hydemary complained. “If that’s all you got, this’ll be over pretty quick.”
“What?!”
“You cheeky brat! Don’t get full of yourself!”
“Wow, how scary,” she said in response to the enraged soldiers. “Isn’t it childish to shout at a girl like that?”
The interaction had Suimei curious.
“Man, they’re really on edge,” he said. “That’s all it took to piss them off?”
“Given the situation, you can’t really blame them,” Graziella said.
“Suimei, it’s your fault for provoking them in the first place,” Titania added. “Reflect on your poor behavior.”
As they spoke, one of the soldiers attacking Hydemary suddenly fell over on his own.
“Wh-Whoa?!”
He looked confused; he hadn’t tripped on anything. The man looked around to find the cause, and spotted an adorable stuffed toy hugging his leg.
“Wh-What is this?! A doll?!”
“Oh, her? I made her myself,” Hydemary told him. “Isn’t she cute?”
“I can’t get it off?! What’s going on?!”
The soldier was frozen stiff, as if the little toy clinging to his leg restricted the full range of his movement. In the meantime, more and more stuffed toys popped out of the shadows, everything from normal dolls to stuffed animals, each rising to cling to the leg of a different swordsman like children stopping their fathers from leaving for work.
Even when the soldiers tried to shake them off, the dolls remained, completely glued to their bodies. The soldiers tried to just ignore the dolls and attack Hydemary, but again, their movements were being restricted. Not only were they moving sluggishly, they even toppled over like the first soldier had.
This was Hydemary’s dollhouse magicka: the dolls were her familiars, and they acted in her stead to produce a multitude of results.
While the swordsmen were at their wits’ end trying to handle the dolls, the mages made their move. They scattered to surround Hydemary before chanting again, probably aiming to attack her with magic from every direction. Naturally, Hydemary inferred their intention immediately.
“Schrank, Versteck, Untergeschoss, Höhle, gestapelter Karton. Verstecken. Bleib Zuhause. Spaß, Spaß, Kinderparadies. Kein Eintritt für Erwachsene—Meine einzige geheime Basis.”
[Closet, hiding place, cellar, cave, stacked cardboard boxes. Hide. Stay at home. Fun, fun, children’s paradise. Adults not allowed—My Own Secret Base.]