| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 2228 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1099 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
At the same time, tools can be utilized at any moment because they are incapable of thought, they do not question their existence. But what would happen if a tool was able to think and desired a different life?
For example the carriage he was in, the chair he sat on, the pen in his hand, his house, if all of them became conscious and began moving on their own, desiring a different life, society as a whole would crumble.
On top of that, people are not always receptive to other beings, even if they appear as people too.
Even now there were largely two groups of people in the world.
One group contained the humans, elves, and dwarves, created by the Goddess of Light Branses, which everyone recognized as people, and the other group born from the Goddess of Darkness had demihumans, demons derived from monsters, and the undead which went against the rules of life. The second group existed only in certain territories, and were not recognized as people by radical groups like the Bran church and the Sacred Land Alliance.
At one point the territories that eventually became the current kingdom of Seperion also had deeply rooted ideas like that.
Then the founding king united all of those territories and determined that all species were equal, but the change did not happen overnight. Changing the nature of people’s minds was not something easy.
The king tried to put members of various species in the position of nobles, but that also created division within species.
At the same time, species that once were not treated as people in the past would let their new recognition get to their head, giving them a sense of superiority above other humanoid species that were still not recognized as people. Basically moving them from the receiving end to the giving end.
Something similar had happened in the Gardeland party too, as they quickly resorted to calling names. Sometimes small differences could lead to vastly different treatment, like how demihumans could be regarded as animals, or humans as hairless monkeys.
The idea that magic automatons could join society was the delusion of a madman1.
Current society simply did not have the capacity to welcome even more species as equal.
Giving a magic automaton the freedom to think and feel in such an environment was too cruel of an act. As heartless as it sounded, Knox believed tools should remain as tools.
“Neiiiigh!”
Suddenly the horse neighed loudly and the carriage made a sharp turn before coming to a stop. Knox somehow avoided taking a strong hit, his body that was starting to age still fit enough to keep him safe.
“What happened?”
“My apologies, Lord Knox. Someone jumped in front of the horse.”
Knox stepped out of the carriage to check on what had caused the sudden stop, and the driver bowed deeply while apologizing.
“Someone did what?!”
Had they ran someone over? Fearing that, he went to look at the road, and the light of his lamp illuminated a figure on the road which was moving slightly.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?!”
Knox started running towards the figure, but then stopped still. He had suddenly caught the familiar scent of wood and metal, and could hear the low whirring of a Sorcery Core, all coming from the fallen figure.
Then the figure clattered up on its feet, it was a humanoid doll.
“This is a magic automaton!”
The magic automaton’s frame looked really rudimentary, like all details had been scraped off. Or at least that applied to most of its body, for some reason its hands were detailed, all five fingers having joints in the correct places.
Its head was equipped with four light sensing devices, which lit up strangely before the magic automaton lunged at Knox.
“Hmph!”
Multiple silver streaks spread out from Knox’s fingers before a robbed figure jumped out of the carriage, tearing a hole through its ceiling. It was a large magic automaton, who Knox called Judith, and was controlled through the silver thread connected to his fingers. Judith was a fully dependent magic automaton, and would only move under direct control of Knox, just like how his philosophy dictated they should be.
Judith then grabbed the arm of the incoming magic automaton, flinging it up into the air, before her chest compartment opened to reveal a magic device, which produced a huge mana spear that was thick like a log.
The magic automaton in the air twisted its body to dodge the spear before digging its nails into the side of the spear, sparks shooting out with a shrill sound as it slid down along it, heading straight for Judith again.
Knox quickly dispelled the mana spear, removing the enemy magic automaton’s support. But by then it had already gotten close enough to take hold of Judith’s head.
Still, Knox remained calm, controlling the thin wires to make his next move.
Judith’s head remained in place as her torso began to spin like a top with daggers held out to strike anything nearby.
The hits sent the enemy magic automaton flying away tumbling on the ground.
Eventually it managed to dig its fingers into the ground to stop the momentum, before standing on all fours like a quadruped animal.
The four light sensing devices blinked again, and then the magic automaton jumped away into the darkness of the night, its business seemingly concluded.
Knox did not even consider chasing after it.
Whatever it was and no matter where it came from, it had been hit by Judith multiple times without taking any damage, while Judith’s head presented many cracks in the area that was grabbed. If he had taken longer to think of a way to retaliate, Judith’s head could have been crushed entirely.
Knox knew better than trying to fight such a strange foe in the middle of the night.
But more importantly, that magic automaton was something unknown to Knox, who was known as the Doll Count.
“I don’t get it. Its body was way too normal compared to those elaborate hands. Or rather, the arms were way too advanced2.”
It was a really odd mismatch, as if the hands had been made by a master and then strapped together to the most basic frame.
But making conjectures now would get him nowhere, so he decided to stop thinking about it. It would consume his brain capacity for no good reason, so he resumed his trip back home. He would worry about whatever it was if he ever ran into it again.
