Her bewildered father seemed like he was about to say something, but Aisha held up her hand, cutting him off. “No thank you,” she said gently but sternly. “No more words, please.” Wish, and it would be granted. But stop wishing and it would end. “To tell you the truth, I knew from the very beginning that you weren’t my father. I’ve been a bad girl. I knew you weren’t real, but I just wanted you and Mistress and Izuna to stay by my side forever. I’ve been so bad...” Aisha hung her head like she was confessing her sins.
There was no need for her father to respond. He stood there and listened. This was nothing more than a ritual Aisha needed to complete.
The very first day Aisha had met this copy of her father, he had talked about Nacht, saying, “She was cute! Maybe she’ll make good wife material when she’s a bit older!” But that had been an absurd thing for him to say.
“You never would have said that,” Aisha went on. “No human would say something like that after Mistress almost killed them.” Nacht’s murderous intent had been enough to stop Aisha’s breath, and she hadn’t even been the target of her mistress’s enmity. It was an overwhelming force before which mortals could do nothing but tremble. And yet her father had recovered his spirits immediately, asking if Nacht was Aisha’s friend and praising her as cute.
Aisha had made excuses, played along with the ruse, and even tried to convince herself that it was fine. But in the end, this man simply wasn’t her father. Someone who did whatever Aisha desired was a far cry from the father she knew. Thinking back, even the words that had pierced her heart—“Well, what brings this up now?”—had been taken from her memories.
She could just about recall the exchange. It had gone something like this:
“Papa!” Aisha had said. “Did you see that? I skipped that stone fifteen times!”
“Whoa!” her father had exclaimed. “Is that a new record?”
“So...does that mean...”
“Hm? Do you want something, Aisha? A reward? I can get you a reward!”
“No! Papa, you promised that you’d treat me like a grown-up when I beat your record!”
“I see. I suppose I may have said something like that. But... Well, what brings this up now? Is something wrong?”
“If I’m an adult, I should be allowed to help around the house! I’ll cook dinner today, okay? And tomorrow, we can go to the forest together!”
“H-Hang on! The forest is dangerous, you know!”
“But I’m an adult now! I’m allowed!”
“Hrm. Well...”
Ultimately, those had been nothing more than words her father had uttered at some point in his past. He had nothing at all to say to the Aisha of the present.
“I’m sorry, papa...” Aisha said, but her words of apology were not meant for the figure in front of her. They were for her departed father, who had raised her for most of her life. “I called something that wasn’t you my papa. I insulted your memory.” Aisha had fallen into the illusion of her father. She hadn’t listened to her mistress, whom she knew to be correct, but had instead let herself be taken in and doted on by the fake time and time again. “I’m so, so sorry.” Aisha bowed low, pressing her forehead into the floor so hard it left a mark. “I understand how important it is to live in the present. And I know how precious the present is too. My father’s love is with me in the present, and so are Izuna and Mistress Nacht.”
Aisha was done. She’d wallowed in the past for long enough. As soon as the declaration left her mouth, the doll that had been imitating Roland was enveloped by light and returned to its original form. All that was left was a lifeless mannequin.
“Thank you,” Aisha said to the doll. “I had a nice dream.” Then, she left the inn and stepped out into the pitch-black night. She looked up at the sky. “I’m going to keep the promises I can. Don’t worry.”
No, that wasn’t it. There was something much more important she needed to say, even if it made her cry. Even if it was sad. Even if it hurt. Even if she couldn’t help sobbing out loud.
“I’m sorry I never said this until now,” she began. She put all of the love and emotion she could behind her words. “Thank you for taking care of me, papa.”
Aisha smiled, filled with genuine joy.
~ ‡ ~
The sight of the battle defied all expectations. Screams of anguish filled the air. An army some few thousand strong tore a hole through the Sindorian force. The front line had fallen, and the commanders were in disarray. The soldiers in black advanced mercilessly, like hunters closing in on fleeing prey. They had cast aside their robes to reveal full suits of enchanted steel armor. Arcane geometric sigils were engraved in the frames of their armor, which moved as if they were alive. There was something unsettling about the way they moved—as if they were some type of unknown creature merely assuming human forms.
“Raaaaahhh!!!” A brave knight on the front lines dove into the ranks of the armored aberrations. He swung the hefty, rough-hewn greatsword in his hands with enough force to cleave through human flesh and shatter bone. But it was no use. It was like trying to cut through a boulder. The sword impacted a soldier’s armor with a hollow ringing sound and shattered, a fragment from the destroyed sword rebounding and cutting the knight on the cheek. His arms then lost their strength and he dropped his sword.
“N-No!” he shouted. “Stay back!” The doll showed no emotion as it closed in on the disarmed knight. Its arms were enormous—each as wide around as the knight’s waist. It used its powerful limbs to seize the knight by his head, which it twisted clean off. Then, it continued marching forward, making distorted mechanical sounds as it dragged its enormous arms behind it.
The Estollian force had passed through the Leegh mountain range numbered twenty-five thousand, while the army Sindoria had sent to meet them was seventy thousand strong. They had met in an open plain, each with an unobstructed view of their enemy, and commenced battle. It had scarcely been an hour since then, but the Sindorian forces were in total disarray.
“I see,” murmured Margrave Reinholt as he surveyed the field. “With those machines on their side, it’s no wonder Estoll seemed so strangely confident in their victory.”
House Reinholt was a powerful noble family that governed the lands from the Leegh mountains all the way out to the Sindorian border with Estoll. They were famous for their military acumen—one full half of the seventy thousand soldiers Sindoria had sent to the field had been mobilized by the Reinholts. After all, theirs was the responsibility of defending Sindoria’s vast borderlands from invasion by monsters or other kingdoms. They had far, far more soldiers in their employ than any other noble family. Margrave Reinholt had led countless expeditions to the south, slaying monsters that threatened the people. He knew the area well and was the natural choice to lead the united Sindorian army.
“Are you surprised they had something up their sleeve?” Yuri asked. She had been sent here to assist the margrave as a “punishment” by Her Highness The Princess.
“Flabbergasted!” answered Margrave Reinholt. “I never imagined they would have something like that. I’m not sure how much of this we can take. Dame Yuri, Madame Krista, what do you make of those dolls?”
The two looked over the scene playing out on the front lines just in time to see the main brigade of mages launch a desperate flurry of magic, sacrificing the soldiers engaged with the enemy to try to destroy the accursed dolls. Dozens, even hundreds of fireballs filled the sky, raining down on the front.