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Since I promised before, telling her my sacrifice for magic isn’t an issue. As long as I keep my side of the promise, Munyechka should keep hers as well.

「To be more precise, I cannot cause any damage even when using combat sorcery. I can invoke combat spells, but they vanish into thin air on contact.」

Saying so, I promptly made a knuckle-sized fireball and slowly moved it towards Munyechka. She curiously examined it before grasping the flame. The fireball then disappeared as if devoured by her hand.

「That does appear to be the case. I can feel the flame’s warmth, but it didn’t burn me at all. Well, it’s not like this body would burn, but the point stands.」
「Even a scorching wind’s heat is adjusted to be incapable of damaging a strand of hair.」
「And you have no clue why it’s like that, right?」
「The sacrifice itself is probably in the realm of magic.」
「True. Even I have no idea why I can still exist like this, after all.」

It’s called magic exactly because it’s beyond human understanding. So while I do at least understand the mechanics, I have no idea about things like, for example, where the kinetic energy from the doll’s attack dissipated to.
Maybe it’s better to accept that not knowing how magic works is the norm. In the first place, even sorcery was unknown back in my old world.

「Still, was it really alright to tell me about your sacrifice?」
「It’s fine; as long as you keep your side of the promise. Besides, just because I can’t use attack sorcery, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have any means of attack.」
「Your magic is wholly dependent on Cielmer’s existence, isn’t it?」
「It was born from me thinking only of protecting Ciel. Back then, combat sorcery didn’t really seem to be helpful for the situation, you see.」

The good old days of the Rispelgia mansion. Looking back on it is enough to make my blood boil, so I’d rather not remember, but since it was also where I met Ciel, I can’t forget about it either.

It must be so liberating to get over it like Ciel did, but unfortunately for me, I’m too mature to be capable of that. Now it’s an awkward question if I’m actually being mature about it, but I’m certainly not young enough to easily forget.

「Let’s not touch on your past, then. It doesn’t sound like a pleasant time.」
「Our past is simply a slightly unique misfortune among all misfortunes of this world, but it may still be better not to hear it. After all, last time I tried sharing, I was refused.」

When I was about to share how we got covered in spiders, Shusii backed down on the spider silk idea.
I wonder how she’s doing these days. And when will we ever get the opportunity to wear the dress Lisyl made?
Among the dresses made for us, only Ciel’s party dress has been worn so far, but maybe that’s just how it is.

At this rate, we might as well wear it when active as Ainsel, but the mask and that dress don’t really match well, so that’s a nope.
That get-up would make us look like a noble that just left a masquerade party.

「Now then, you’re concerned about how the doll will turn out, are you?」
「Yes. Even if it ends up being the same quality as your other dolls, how will it be on my end?」
「Honestly, there’s no telling until we try. You and I are different, so I’m not even sure if it will succeed.」
「Just to confirm, do you have all five senses?」
「It might be duller compared to a real human body, but it’s there. Including this body, I create my dolls to be as human as possible. It moves through muscle-like internals and has blood-like fluid flowing through it.」

It’s awfully curious how she emphasizes the “-like” part, but it certainly sounds like it mimics the human body very well.
Still, while she does love dolls, she doesn’t necessarily seem to love humans, and I feel like the charm of dolls should be their difference from actual humans.

「Munyechka, you said before that you love dolls, so I’m surprised that you went to great lengths to make them look so human.」
「I was troubled by that same dilemma in the past. A doll is an imitation of the human form. If so, shouldn’t the goal be to make them look as human as possible? However, can dolls that can’t be distinguished from humans really be considered true dolls?」

Munyechka started speaking with a nostalgic tone, so I listened to her while giving adequate responses.

「I was traveling the world while searching for an answer when I first met Fiiya.」
「Really!?」

Hearing a name I didn’t expect, I was taken by surprise.
Her having met Mother Fii isn’t particularly a surprise at this point, but I just didn’t expect her to bring it up now, so I couldn’t even prepare myself. I still have much to work on, I guess. Seeing my reaction, Munyechka showed a meaningful smile as she continued speaking.

「When I was able to get on speaking terms with Fiiya, I mustered the courage and asked her, as she seemed so detached from the world, about my plight. And her answer was, “If it was made to be a doll, then it is a doll.”
Her response figuratively melted my worries away. Whether one is made to look more like a human or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it is a doll.」

And from then on, she apparently felt indebted to Mother and started associating with her more.
It was quite interesting to hear of Mother’s history on such an unexpected occasion.