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Natalia is currently in tumbling doll shape. She’s an automaton, but be wary if you’re squeamish. She’s just undergoing maintenance, there’s definitely nothing lewd about it at all.

I wake up and find myself sitting on a chair in Ophelia’s room. It reminds me of when I first came into this world. I’m naked just like that time, though there was one big difference. My arms and legs are detached, and my nerve threads are disconnected so I can’t move at all.

“Umm, Mistress?”
“Oh, you’re up. Good morning, how do you feel?”
“Good morning. I’m feeling okay, I just have a headache.”

I can’t tell if it’s because I just woke up, or because the golem had kicked me around, but my head was hurting faintly.

“I rearranged some stuff while I was repairing you, so maybe that’s why. Let’s just wait and see how it goes, I’ll check again if the pain continues though.”
“Thank you.”

I wonder what she did while I was asleep? I kinda want to ask, but also not really, it’s a bit scary to think about.

And that reminds me, the last I remember is fighting the golem in the forest, I wonder how that ended. I know I rushed in carelessly and got kicked badly, but after that I don’t remember anything. I feel like I did fight more, but I can’t say for sure.

“Mistress, what happened to the golem and Mir?”

I ask her that, and Ophelia looks slightly bothered, her eyes avoiding mine.

“So you really don’t remember then.”
“Remember what?”
“Don’t worry about it. All the golems have been destroyed, and their creator is dead, everything’s over. Thanks to your swift decisions Mir didn’t suffer any grave wounds either, and she’s doing well.”

Hearing that makes me feel relieved. I remember losing my mind when I saw Mir getting hurt, but I’m glad she’s okay.

“Anyway, you decided to get hurt in Mir’s stead again. She was really worried about you.”
“I see. I’ll have to apologize the next time I see her. I’m sorry I caused so much trouble for you.”

Mir is a really sensible person, so she must feel guilty seeing me cover her. But I felt that the reason was still the same as during the Tyranoghavial encounter. I can’t feel pain, and Ophelia can fix me if I break, so helping Mir who would feel pain and take a long time recovering was the best option.

“You’re lucky I was able to put you back together, you really need to be more careful. It’s not like I have limitless resources either.”
“Understood.”

That reminds me, she needs Orichalcum and World Tree Seeds to repair me. Both are expensive materials, and while I don’t know how much Ophelia has stocked up, I can’t go wasting it all.

Thinking I could throw myself at anything because I could get fixed was a bad idea.

“I’m done fixing your limbs, let me attach them.”

Ophelia begins connecting my nerve threads, bringing them back to my arms and legs. Slowly I start feeling mana course through them. It was like my limbs were starting to wake up after a long sleep. But it seems like they’re heavy sleepers, refusing to move.

“Is something wrong?”
“I still can’t move. Maybe they just need more time to readjust?”
“Huh. Let’s check on your Sorcery Core just in case then.”

My Sorcery Core is different to most common ones, being virtually a source of infinite energy.

Regular Sorcery Cores can only output whatever mana was poured into them beforehand, but mine can generate its own. But that also creates a coating of byproducts on the core, so it needs to be cleaned regularly.

“Umm Mistress? Do we really have to do that right now?”

But cleaning it is something I personally don’t enjoy too much.

“You did push yourself a lot this time, so there’s probably a lot more gunk than usual there. If you let it be, the Sorcery Core will lose efficiency, and that’ll only make things worse for you.”

I knew that much, but somehow doing that still feels embarrassing, or a bit scary…

“Come on, just brace yourself like you always do.”

Ophelia pushes her finger into my chest, and a magic circle appears on my skin.

“Mm…”

I felt weird, slightly itchy, and almost painful. When the magic circle disappears, a small hatch opens on my chest. Usually it just looked like part of my skin, and only me and my Mistress Ophelia know how to open it. That’s the gate leading to my heart, so to speak.

But the heart itself was the main issue.

“I’ll start then.”

Ophelia used tweezers to start pulling out clumps of gunk.

“Ah…Nghn…”

The first time I almost lost my mind when she just put a finger in there. Now it’s my second time, but it’s not any easier at all. I have to grit my teeth or I would easily lose consciousness.

“I think I got the biggest parts out.”

She’s done? I felt relief hearing that, but Ophelia quickly destroyed my hopes.

“I’ll take the smaller bits out now.”
“Hii-”

Ophelia grabs a small brush now. And she pushes it in without mercy.

“Hweah! M-Mistwess!”
“Just bear with it. It’s for your own good.”
“Uhh…”
“Oh, it’s kinda sticking to this place here.”
“Mm, ahh!”
“Just a bit more.”
“Hiaa… Nghn… Ahhhh!”
“Alright, I got it off.”

My back arches back instinctively, and I lose consciousness.

Olivia: “I wish I was home right now!”
Amy: “Homesick all of a sudden?”

Please consult Chapter 12 to see Natalia’s first heart-racing experience.