mtlumby2d Chapter 73 The Garden of Demi-European Yaqi 1
Chapter 73 The Garden of Demi-European Yaqi 1
About a month ago, a doll went out of control at the Garden of Beauty waste disposal site.
Originally a magical doll responsible for guarding against scavengers taking away the waste, she now attacks indiscriminately anyone who gets close. Whoever approaches will suffer her fierce retaliation—she looks like a frightened deer.
In order to resolve this matter, the officials of the Garden of Demi-Europe issued a "bounty" to magicians from all the nearby kingdoms, offering a reward of one hundred gold coins to anyone who could solve the problem of the out-of-control doll.
A large sum of money may attract reckless individuals.
But most people who went to fight against it ended up suffering a crushing defeat.
The overwhelming magical firepower was used like crazy, as if it were free. In such a high-pressure environment, those who valued their lives were naturally no match for the out-of-control magical puppets.
“100 gold coins…” Elena looked thoughtfully at the magic leaflet that had been handed out to her.
She had to admit, she was very tempted.
This was a huge sum of money—and the difficulty was manageable even for a witch. There was a degree of danger, but Elena felt she could handle it.
In addition, she was also interested in that magical country with its highly advanced magical technology. Several days ago, she had already made plans to travel there—so this request was just a side thing.
Since that's the case, let's do it right away. If another magician beats me to it, my precious 100 gold coins will have to say goodbye.
She put away the magic leaflet and rode her broom toward the wasteland.
……
"Do you have a deep understanding of magical dolls?" Elena asked, riding her broom and looking at the motionless sculpture behind her with its eyes closed.
That's right—he doesn't initiate conversations and is mostly like a statue.
“Beatel is everywhere.” Jean didn’t even open her eyes. “But I haven’t looked into it.”
That's true—he also doesn't have access to information at that level.
Influenced by dream magic, many of the memories she had encountered back then receded like the tide after waking from a dream. Apart from a few particularly vivid ones, Elena could no longer remember Beatrice's appearance.
“Moreover… all these magical puppets were made by the same witch,” Jean continued. “Without a doubt, she is an absolute genius in this field.”
"Do you know her?" Elena asked.
"Let's say we do, but I'd rather not know them."
That's a really ambiguous answer.
"We've arrived." Elena urged her broom to make an emergency landing.
The wasteland is located in the middle of a dense forest.
Before them lay a field piled high with all sorts of magical waste, large and small, just as the intelligence had described, with many magical dolls visible around.
However, most of them do not have a human-like appearance; their most notable feature is that they lack a skull structure.
They're called dolls, but they're more like machines equipped with guns.
As Elena hesitated, a magical doll spotted her, and immediately, a red light emanated from its forehead.
"Intruder detected - expulsion procedure initiated!"
Hey hey?
Before Elena could react, a barrage of bullets rained down upon her. These bullets were unlike any she had ever seen in the kingdom; they seemed to be magically modified.
Not only is its power on a completely different level, but it also has a tracking effect.
"Ha—" Elena pulled out her wand, and several pieces of trash around her rose into the air and rushed towards the bullets. The trash and bullets collided and perished together.
This must be the damaged magical doll? After all, it attacked me without me doing anything.
In that case—I, the Gray Witch, will gladly accept these one hundred gold coins.
Countless ice spikes were summoned in the air and rushed towards the target. At the same time, several magic arrows also shot out and were mixed among these ice spikes.
The doll stiffly accepted Irena's magic, then collapsed to the ground, on the verge of being destroyed.
Is it really that simple? This money is too easy to make.
Just as Elena was about to go over to check, Qin stopped her.
Qin looked in a certain direction: "There are still people watching."
Irena followed Qin's gaze and saw something shimmering in the dense forest.
That white light—was it a sniper rifle?
Elena was just about to cast a spell to create an ice wall to block the incoming bullets.
"Have we been spotted?" The expected sniping did not occur. The scope was removed, and then a person emerged from the dense forest—no, it was a magical doll.
She is the only humanoid magical doll here.
The difference between her and a living person is that her joints are made of mechanical skeleton.
In addition, her body was mutilated, and her face had several holes through which one could see some magical machinery inside.
She tossed the sniper rifle aside and raised her hand above her head: "I have no hostility—I just want to use this gun's scope to watch you two from a distance—if you don't believe me, you can check the gun; it's empty."
Irena did not lower her guard, even though the newcomer seemed to pose no threat.
"There are no bullets," Qin said succinctly, even though he hadn't picked up the gun to check. "Explain your intentions."
"Did you come here for those hundred gold coins?" she countered.
"Yes," Qin said.
“I am that out-of-control doll—” she sighed, as if she had made up her mind. “My name is Holberly, the only doll here that has not been replaced.”
"Go on."
“I would like to ask you for a favor,” Holberly said.
……
When Holberly was created, she was given the order to guard the junkyard.
For decades, she has faithfully protected the national property here as a magical doll.
As a doll, she doesn't need to eat or sleep; her motivation is magic, and this forest itself has plenty of magic for her to draw upon.
Even so, she could not escape the fate of being replaced.
Even though she was practically flawless—the latest magical doll was far superior to her, and it seemed that for some political reason, she was about to be phased out.
Therefore, a month ago, the official in charge of taking her for retraining announced a cruel truth to her—she was about to complete her mission. The remaining work was entirely handed over to the headless, superior magical doll.
Even though she has made so many contributions to the Garden of Demi-Europe, driven away so many scavengers and annihilated so many ungrateful monsters—so what?
This was destined to be her fate.
This should also be the final fate of all magical dolls.
If it were any other magical doll, it would likely execute the orders from above immediately. After all, they have no thoughts of their own; they were born to live solely to complete tasks.
But Holberly is not quite the same as a normal magical doll.
She gained affection.
Although the reason is unknown, perhaps it is due to the cumulative effect of the forest's magic over the years, and also because she reads various books from the junkyard every day.
She began to learn to think.
She began to ponder the meaning of her own existence. So when she heard that she was to be optimized, she realized that she was afraid of death and completely unable to embrace her fate with the same generosity as her fellow humans.
Overwhelmed with fear, she brandished her gun, threatening the officials who were supposed to be optimizing her career not to come any closer—thus, she was deemed out of control by the higher-ups at Garden of Beauty and became their primary target for elimination.
In an effort to eliminate Holberly, they dispatched wave after wave of magical dolls.
But these dolls, who only rigidly follow orders and don't know how to adapt, are no match for the intelligent Holberly.
Adhering to the twelve-character guerrilla strategy of "when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy tires, we harass; when the enemy retreats, we attack," Holberly defeated wave after wave of enemies who wanted to dismantle her.
Therefore, the higher-ups at Garden of Beauty, finding it too troublesome, passed the responsibility of dealing with Horbelli to the public.
The strange, unrecognizable magical doll that Elena had seen earlier was actually sent to subdue Holberly. But at the same time, they were also given the mission of eliminating the intruders.
It's probably because Elena came directly without the certification and permission of Garden of Demi-Europe that she was treated as an intruder.
The flyer actually mentioned this, saying that if you are interested, please contact us.
But Elena naively assumed that she had solved the problem and could simply collect her reward, leading to a blunder where she accidentally killed one of the bandit-suppression soldiers.
But the real bandits...
They were standing right in front of them.
“You’re worth a hundred gold coins, aren’t you afraid we’ll kidnap you and take the money?” Elena asked.
“I know I’m scared, but I’m willing to take the gamble,” Holberly said.
"Tell me the reason." At this moment, the only doll around them was the one that had been destroyed by Elena; the other dolls had not yet noticed them.
“Because the moment I was discovered, I knew I wouldn’t be a match for them,” Holberly said. “And…”
"You destroyed this doll, so you're now on my side."
Holberly grinned mischievously: "Its body will retain images from before it was scrapped. When those officials arrive, you'll have to pay a considerable amount in compensation."
"Oh?"
“I have a way to get rid of these images,” Holberly said. “So, do me a favor.”
As expected of a wise doll.
Irena didn't have a deep understanding of this kind of magical technique, and she really couldn't handle the image for the time being. If she handed over Holberly, not only would she not get the hundred gold coins, but she would also have to pay out of her own pocket, which would be too tragic.
"How can we help?" Elena asked.
“Help me escape from here,” Holberly said with a smile.
A month of intense fighting had left her battered and bruised; if things continued this way, she would inevitably be beyond repair. This was the main reason she risked her life to ask someone for help.
She wasn't sure if this would threaten anyone else.
But this was the only way for her. When she was discovered, she made up her mind—if she could, she didn't want to die.
She wants to live.
I want to go out and see the world.
Instead of being forever confined to the narrow sky that was defined when it was first created, never to step out of this wasteland.