After I got the knight’s doll and girl’s doll from Nord-tousan, I walk in the hallway of the mansion while hugging those dolls to my chest.

  「Ohー, I knew it, the quality of the girl’s doll is highー」


  It’s slightly taller, with three heads taller than the knight’s doll. With beautiful long blonde hair and big blue eyes. With a blue dress covering her whole body, it seems to display her as a carefully raised girl from a well-to-do family.

  It looks similar to my previous life’s Western dolls, very pretty with a well-ordered shape.

  That Viscount Dole, is it possible for him to make a stuffed animal using cloths and also real people doll……


  The hands, arms, legs, and knees are strongly built, and they can be moved to a certain extent. There are no irregular or unnatural parts at all.

  It would take quite a considerable zeal to create a doll of this level by myself. This is already on the level of a doll craftsman.

  Let’s deal with the doll carefully to respect such passion for making dolls

  And while I was about to go to the second floor while thinking like that, I can hear Mina’s voice coming from a room near the kitchen.

  「――Viscount place, they say that you can hear footsteps when you’re walking in the hallway in the middle of the night, you know?」


  「What are you talking about, a ghost story? Then, I will listen……」


  Since I got curious about the content of their conversation, I try to peek into the room and saw that it was Mina and Mel who is sitting and talking in the break room.

  「But this is a story from my friend’s friend’s female cousin, alright?」


  「……that’s so fa」


  Indeed. It’s on the level that can already be said to be an urban legend. It’s so distant that you can’t be sure whether that’s a made-up story or not.

  「It is said that a maid of an Earl’s house was making rounds at night, when everyone is asleep. And when it was deep into the night, the maid hear footsteps from behind her as she was walking in the hallway……」


  「If it were our place then it would be Eleonora-sama who is thirsty and came down to look for a drink or Alfried-sama who was already there drinking juice from the refrigerator before we know it」


  「Right right! Other places will just ask for the maids to bring them their drink, but those two just went down to get them themselves, saying they want to choose for themselves! The other day, I thought that my heart will jump out of my chest when Alfried-sama called out to me while I was doing my night’s rounds!」


  Hearing Mel’s grumbling, Mina fiercely agrees with Mel as she raises her voice.

  No, I mean, I normally put my cold drinks inside my subspace, you know? But there are times when I suddenly want to drink the fruit juice Bartolo made.

  I don’t have a lot of Bartolo’s specially-made fruit juice, and people will be angry if I drank all of the stored fruit juice.

  「Setting Eleonora-sama aside, I never felt Alfried-sama’s presence at all」


  「If anything, I don’t want him to suddenly call out to me. It’s bad for the heart……」


  I think that’s terrible of you to say that.

  The two of them went to talk about my lack of presence for a while, then they returned to talk about the ghost story.

  「We’re off-topic, let’s go back to the story. So after the maid heard the footsteps, she involuntarily turn around to look behind her but there was no one there. There is only a long hallway and the darkness filled the place. But, from the depths of the darkness, the sound of footsteps can still be heard. It’s as though the sound is approaching the maid……」


  「……」


  While Mina told the story in a low voice, Mel listens to her while folding her arms.

  And Mina - who was in a good mood that Mel is properly listening to her story - continues with her story in an even more lively manner.

  「Then the maid walked away from the sound of footsteps. But still, the footsteps didn’t get farther from the maid. Finally scared, the maid walked down the hallway briskly as if to pull away from the sound. And then, somehow, the maid’s back is getting heavier and heavier………!」


  「……」


  「……and maybe it’s because her back gotten so heavy that she finally can’t walk anymore, so the maid looked back fearfully……」


  「……what happened after she looked back?」


  「It is said that the maid was found dead the next morning, her figure was still beautiful even as they found her body……」


  Oi, wait a minute. It’s missing the important parts, isn’t it?

  「Wait, the important parts are missing don’t you think? What happened after she looked back?」


  As if to express my feeling, Mel hit the table *bam* and said that.

  「The, there’s ‘that’ you know! As the maid looked back, her soul got pulled out by a ghost-like spirit」


  So Mina answers Mel’s questioning as though she was flustered.

  She moved her gaze diagonally and above, it felt like she desperately thinking about it right now.

  「Hmm, but that was just a made-up story, right? At best, it’s just the Viscount laying his hands on the maid and then he had a fight with his wife, it’s a convenient story made up to cover the disposal of the maid, isn’t it?」


  「Hey! Please don’t say something scary Mel-san! It’s actually probably when you strangely say it in that strangely captivating manner」


  「Ahaa, was my story scarier than yours?」


  「Mou! Please stop it, tonight is my turn to do nightly patrol you know!」


  Looking at Mina with a pale expression on her face, Mel laughs loudly.

  I guess the maids are having a really fun break time, huh. It would be bad for me to intrude so let’s go back to my room before they found me.

  I left the break room and go up the stairs to the second floor.

  Hm, an empty hallway at night. The sounds of footsteps. The back got heavier, huh……


  It was also a common type of story even among the ghost stories in my previous life, and even in games, there are horror games where dolls are starting to move in the middle of the night.

  Dolls that move in the middle of the night……


  If I move their limbs using Psychic, I might be able to make the dolls walk. Let’s try it out, that looks a bit interesting.

  And so I return to my room while enjoying the bubbling curiosity that comes up from the idea.

  Then, I put Knight and Girl’s dolls on the floor.

  First, let’s try moving the Knight’s doll.

  Then I use the non-attributed magic Psychic onto the Knight’s doll.

  The Knight’s doll controlled by my magic power is able to float in midair without any problem, it floats in the direction I intended.

  Ooh, just floating alone makes the Knight’s doll looks cute and it’s interesting to see.

  But this time, my objective is to make them be able to walk.

  I slowly lowered the floating Knight’s doll to the floor.

  And when I tried to make it stand without it floating in midair, the knight’s doll fell flat on the floor.

  Even that movement is cute, let’s do it once more.

  But still, even when I tried three times, four times, the doll kept on falling as though it was slipping.

  Humm, let’s try the western doll this time. Unlike the knight’s doll, this one is made using real doll material so it should be able to stand by itself, right?

  I set the western doll to stand on the floor without using Psychic. Then, the western doll did not slip or fall down, and it showed me a splendid standing posture.

  And in order to move on to the next stage, I use Psychic on the western doll.

  Wrap the whole body of the doll with magic power, even while doing that I pay special attention to its limbs.

  Immediately after that, the western doll’s legs start to slowly take a step forward.

  「Ooooh! The doll moved!」


  I tried to make the doll take another step forward while being happy about the progress, but then the western doll fell forward, perhaps it was due to the bad timing of the moving limbs or the center of gravity collapsing.

  It’s comical seeing the pretty western doll face-planted on the floor while its butt was stuck out in the air.

  It looks pitiful seeing it like that, let’s properly put it back on its feet.

  After setting the western doll on the floor, I tried to make the knight’s doll stand on the floor again.

  But, the knight’s doll keeps on falling as it slips each time.

  「Mmー, sure enough, its feet are soft so it slips on the floorー」


  I groan seeing the knight’s doll falling down on its back in a clumsy manner.

  It’d be great if it can pretend to walk and float in midair delicately like Do〇emon, if possible I want it to be able to walk on the ground.

  But it will surely be difficult to do that with the knight’s doll cloth and cotton material.

  The unexpected advantage of the knight’s doll is its ability to turn it into a ghost or an antagonist.

  Hmー, if it’s just standing on its feet, then I’ll be able to do it using magic somehowー.

  After thinking about it, I come up with a simple answer.

  「……maybe I should cut up the doll and insert an iron plate into the sole of its foot to make it easier to walk?」


  Elna-kaasan is surprisingly skilled in sewing real clothes but if it’s just this much even I can do it. It’s a bit easier to open it and sew it back again rather than making slippers.

  So I take out the sewing kit from my subspace.

  And then I start the operation to alter the sole of the knight’s foot.

  I unsew the thread sewn on the sole of the knight’s foot with the sewing kit. When I opened it, two pieces of cloth appear - in place of a cushion -, so I cut them again.

  Immediately after that, pure white cotton can be seen after I cut them and I play with them.

  「……it’s soft」


  It’s probably the cotton that was harvested in Viscount Dole’s territory. It’s very soft and comfortable to the touch. And besides, it’s pure white and pretty.

  Satisfied with the feeling of the cotton, I insert iron plates I bought at the royal capital into the knight’s soles.

  I’m glad I get something big and scrap-like plate that can be used for all sorts of things.

  I installed the iron plate so that it won’t come off and fixed the cotton to cover it.

  After that, I re-sew the sole of its foot and I can see the figure of a knight standing firmly on its two feet.

  「It’s standing! My knight is standing!」


  I yelled in excitement because I’m too happy with the result.

  It’s knight because it’s a knight doll. Though it’s plain, I think it’s the coolest name and easy to call anyway.

  As knight is firmly standing on the floor, it won’t fall down just by pushing it with my finger, maybe it’s due to the iron plate fixed on its feet. The center of gravity is quite stable. So there will be no more scenes of knight slipping and falling.

  Just that, there are some places where the angular iron plate is sticking out, but when I think about the fact that it is able to stand stably and walk, it is still within my expectation so I’ll just pretend I don’t see it. Let’s not worry about it.

  1. Al starts calling the doll 'knight', Engrish