Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

A red dragon overlapping a harp.

The empty ballroom.

It's like a maze of corridors stretching endlessly.

It is amazing and sigh-worthy that the desert poets of Mouland tell legends in the language of birds and roses. Could it be that the wizards of the End of the North are also good at depicting epics with pen and ink like them?

Even if you can't understand the text, the rhythmic arrangement of words and sentences interwoven with illustrations are enough to make people imagine thrilling adventure stories. The illustrations drawn by Ella Hepper with a pen are not very detailed, but they are able to fully present the wonderful scenes seen during the journey. Those things that seem to exist only in fantasy make people wonder whether other wizards are also born painters like her.

"Why are you suddenly silent?"

"Because, Miss Ella has explained it clearly, 'hasn't she?'

“Don’t use rhetorical questions…”

It was a rhetorical question in Giant language. Although Ella was not proficient in this ancient and mysterious language, she could still understand such simple and common phrases.

She was just saying "It's better not to talk to me", but now she feels uneasy because the other party suddenly fell silent. Humans are indeed extremely complicated creatures in Ashlee's eyes.

"Like this, if we put pen to paper, write, and draw, will knowledge increase? Those 'once loved, then forgotten'."

"Please don't make it so simple. I feel like the whole world has been reduced to a different dimension after you said that..."

Ella couldn't help but frown.

"As for knowledge, there is as much as you want. If everything written down is useful, then the secret codex wizard would have it too easy."

"I hope Ella can be more relaxed. That way, it might be a better situation for me."

"Are you serious?... Never mind. I know you are serious without asking. You..."

"And then, what about the choice of knowledge?"

"Knowledge that can bring power, knowledge that involves the depths of the world, knowledge that is unknown to the public... The more such knowledge is, the more nutritious it is as food for the magic book. The 'mystery mage's own understanding of knowledge' is also very important. Knowledge with a deep understanding is more valuable than knowledge with a superficial glance. Similarly, some knowledge may not make sense at first glance, but if you understand it deeply, you will find that it is more than it seems... What are you laughing at?"

It would be more accurate to say that I saw her smile rather than that I just happened to catch a glimpse of the slight curve at the corner of her mouth.

If it was on anyone else's face, perhaps it would be impossible to see the change in smile. But when it was on Ashatherine's face, it looked much clearer. Perhaps the saying "people care more about annoying things" did make sense. Ella secretly decided to throw this sentence into her diary.

"It's okay to tell this secret to me?"

"A secret? This kind of thing can be analyzed using logical reasoning."

"Yeah."

"Of course. Anyone who knows a little about the Secret Codex Mage should know this."

This sentence is completely ironic.

It's like saying, "You care about me so much, but you don't even know this."

The conversation was temporarily interrupted, and the small ice basement was once again filled with the monotonous white noise. The blizzard roared along the ground, and the roar could be heard clearly even in this underground. If it was omitted, the only sound left was the sound of the pen tip scratching the paper, and the sound of the pages turning when the paper rubbed against each other. The slightly yellow paper was not as plain or even rough as its appearance, but instead gave people a delicate and historical impression. Even the sound of interaction with it was so pleasant, mixed with the simple and monotonous sound of the wind, as if it had become a delicate piece of music.

It's still early before dawn.

Rather, Ella Hepper got up too early today.

Although she sleeps less than eight hours or even six hours every day, she never has dark circles under her eyes and never appears dazed. It makes people curious about the reason.

It was probably related to the two evil swords. Even without any evidence, Ashlee was still convinced.

Sketching, writing, just doing such "simple" actions, she could feel the aura of the magic book changing. Ashlee was not a wizard, sorcerer, or mage, at most she was just a being that could drive magic power and could sense some seemingly plausible things, even so, she could still clearly perceive the things that overflowed from the magic book.

That is distortion, no doubt about it.

The distortions that overflowed from the pages of the book, along with the dark kings and their followers, were clearly invisible to the naked eye, but they made the book even more profound and evil, and complemented the cover made of human skin. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably see the myriad things that rose with the breath, tentacles, limbs, fangs, pus, crystals, eyeballs, long tongues, holes, gears, masks. If they opened the pages, those who were illiterate would be protected, while those who sought knowledge would fall into chaos.

Perhaps this is why "grimoire" is called a synonym for "madness".

However, neither Lunicia nor Ashetherin knew anything about this. The wizard in front of them was just a friendly and important travel companion to them.

“…What a surprise.”

"What are you talking about?"

"You're surprisingly honest today."

As Ella said this, she put the cap of the pen back on, placed it on the edge of the table, closed the magic book, and tidied the small desk in perfect order, making it look no different from before she went to bed last night. Then, ignoring the hands that were still under her armpits and folded in front of her chest, she raised her arms high and stretched lazily.

"I was too lazy to resist... and yet you didn't do anything."

"Your words are as sharp, charming and terrible as the dusk of the dark angel. Could it be that you are expecting it, Miss Ella?"

"Do you believe I can chop you down?"

Ella stared at Ashlee—even though she couldn't see clearly from this angle but still tried her best to stare at her—but she didn't really put her hand down, and she reached out to the scabbard beside her.

"Don't answer a question with a question—"

"I really want to chop you this time."

"Then it seems that I should strive for unconditional immunity for myself..."

"There's no such thing! I'll chop you into pieces next time!"

It was clearly made of steel, machinery, and a cold puppet, but for some reason, her embrace was so unexpected. Just leaning there, a feeling of comfort surged from my body - clearly when she was sitting down, she had no advantage in height, and her figure was rather slender, at most only slightly better than mine, so why did it feel so comfortable when she was hugged from behind?

Was it because of her futile efforts?

It goes without saying that he would warm up his body so that Ella would not get hurt by just sticking to him.

Although he could have simply sat with his legs together, he ended up sitting like a duck.

This probably didn't matter at all to her with her ball joints, but the main point was probably that she didn't want Ella to sit on her hard metal legs. From beginning to end, she only used her soft and fleshy upper body to welcome Ella.

The same was true when he hugged her. Both the angle and the strength were just right to make Ella feel most comfortable.

Ella could sense this effort. Although she wanted to simply say "whatever...", she still showed an expression of helplessness, confusion, annoyance, and something else, as if she didn't know what to think.

"So, why go to all this trouble? I have no idea what you're thinking."

"What are you talking about this time?"

"No...nothing..."

It's really stupid of me to ask such a question.

Ella quickly shook her head and denied it.

If I show that I care a lot here, I will definitely lose! ——Although there is no reason at all, and I don’t know what I am fighting against, but I just have this thought. Even Ella feels a little confused now. Maybe it’s really because of lack of sleep. It must be like this. Yes, it must be like this.

"This machine is trying to break Miss Ella's personal space."

"What nonsense are you talking about."

"Ms. Ella is very good at rejecting others. You are a rose, a ruby, and a small and exquisite dagger. You have such a wide personal space that it is overwhelming. I guess no one could get close to Miss Ella before."

What is personal space? Ella didn't quite understand the term, after all, it sounded like a made-up word by Ashlee, but she could still roughly guess its meaning based on the context. It probably meant a sense of distance from others, and if someone stepped into this distance, they would feel uncomfortable, something like that?

"When it comes to Luna, his personal space is reduced to almost non-existent. Even so, he still inadvertently shows his distant side... He is not good at normal communication in language, his topics are very purposeful, and he also keeps a distance physically? He was so bold at the beginning."

“How could I…?! Anyway, you are a construct that has left society, so why are you blaming me for this?!”

"Accusation, will you?"

"Should that be considered teasing or sarcasm?!"

Although what she said was absolutely right.

No matter how much she claims to have a special relationship with Lunicia, it cannot change Ella's weakness in actual communication. Because she is not good at communicating with others, she can't find topics to talk about, and her formulaic answers and conversations based on practical issues, coupled with the extremely lack of physical contact unless it is accidentally or Ashlee Linn's instigation, really make people wonder "Is this person really the Ella who took the initiative to steal someone's first kiss?"

It can only be said that the impulse caused by long-term suppression can indeed temporarily blow open the valve of social difficulties, but it cannot guarantee smooth progress in the future.

"It was already so difficult when facing Luna. When Ella was traveling alone before... the conclusions she was able to deduce were really enough to make even the mechanical puppets feel sad."

"It's not right for a mechanical puppet to feel sad!"

"I see. Is this the point?"

"Besides, for anyone other than the Savior, that kind of thing would also be..."

"So, what about Ella?"

"W-What?"

He hugged Ella's body and leaned forward slightly, letting the pink-haired girl's thin body sink into his warm arms. Ashlee's lips were pressed against her ears, whispering softly as if she was telling a private whisper.

"What is Lunicia to you?"

"What kind of question is that..."

"So, what is it?"

"everything."

The false smell and breathing sound, the moist warm current, mixed with the faint and sweet corpse stench, and the alluring words all hit Ella's ear, making her body tremble slightly and a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"To me... Lady Luna is... everything."

"All, everything, only?"

"All, everything, only."

Chapter 6: Dusk at the Festival Bureau

"------"

It seemed that some sound was faintly heard.

At this time, one should let the consciousness float up and then open his eyes - it should be like this, this is the iron rule that applies to dungeons and battlefields. However, the body did not obey the call of instinct, but only pulled the consciousness that floated up and pulled it back to its original position.

It’s okay, it’s okay not to wake up so soon.

This is the safest place in the world.

"--grown ups--?"

There seemed to be some distress in that voice.

Did I make it too difficult for her? Although I felt a little ashamed, the shame was not enough to make my consciousness return to the boundary of reality. It just floated up slowly and lightly. If this attitude was called laziness, I would probably have no way to defend it. My slow-moving mind could not recognize the inevitable evaluation that would follow.

After all, this place is so comfortable.

“Senior Evelin!”

The voice became louder, and consciousness began to waver. The owner of the voice was probably shaking her body. But that was all later. After all, when she called her name, her mind had already broken free from the constraints of gravity, floating upwards, flying, crossing the boundary between sleep and wakefulness.

……

"...Um...Novia, huh?"

He responded with a voice mixed with fatigue and slowness, casually pulled off the light-blocking folder covering his face, and slowly opened his eyes. It took a long time for his eyes to regain their normal focus, and his brain seemed to have shaken off the rust hanging on it, and it resumed operation with a creaking sound.

All this made her laugh at herself. If she were in the wild or in a dungeon, even if there were friends keeping watch around her, she should never be so lax and careless. Perhaps it was because she had lived in peace for too long that she had become a little lazy.

“Senior Evelin, are you awake…?”

"Come on, I still can't get used to honorifics..."

“I’m very sorry, Senior Evelin…”

"No need to apologize. If we were in the military, I would allow you to call me 'Sir', Novia, but given your current position, you can just call me 'Evelyn'."

I couldn't help but rub my forehead, where I still felt a dull pain, and even my thinking became slow.

“Well, okay, Senior Evelin…”

——I still can’t change it.

I can't help but have such thoughts.

"It's okay, I'll correct it slowly. What time is it now, Novia?"

“Five and three minutes, Senior Evelin, I woke you up at the time you requested. It’s just…”

"It's okay. If it affects my schedule, I'll wake up on my own."

Evelyn felt a little amused. She knew what the person in front of her—Novia de Liario, a woman with long hair, gentle apricot eyes, and a personality as gentle as her eyes—was hesitant to say, which was nothing more than a question about how she was difficult to arouse and so the appointment was postponed for a minute or two.

Although I did say "wake me up at five o'clock", I didn't say I had to be on time to this extent...?

"What's the plan next?"

"Consul Yanilo invites you to dinner at 7:30. Deputy Director Miranda will also be there. The venue is the St. Aidanfu Hotel."

"Miranda? Are you back already?"