Sister

My eyes slowly opened when I heard knocks ringing on the door.

“Princess? Please wake up. It’s morning. Time for your breakfast.”

My brow wrinkled as I slowly got up. I looked at myself, trying to remember what had just happened last night.

I was in intense pain. Hm, is this heaven?

Well, of course not. I stood up and looked around. It was my room.

I’m alive! I’m alive!

Amazing! Incredible! How lucky! I was alive! I didn’t die from the magic thing! Then, could this mean I had a second class now? Could be. Unless it overwrote my first, but I hoped not. I double-checked my body in the mirror, and it would appear that I was not damaged whatsoever. Although I was feeling sore. It must be from the intense pain I suffered.

I grinned. Well! It didn’t matter! The pain was a small price to pay for my life! And it wasn’t too bad. Well, the pain was terrible…

“Princess? Wake up!”

Oh right, the maids. Crap. I needed to clean up the quick altar.

“I’m awake!” I shouted. “Just give me a moment!”

I quickly grabbed a nearby cloth and rubbed the blood on the table. However, to my dismay, it was hard to remove, they had dried up. Ugh, I didn’t have time for this. So instead for now, I returned my desk to its proper placement and put some fabric to cover it, and then some of my small puppets.

That should do for now.

I took a deep breath. I wanted to try it. Once you get the class, you should be able to use it immediately. The knowledge of how to use your magic would already be engraved in your mind. I held out my hand, and willed for a sword to appear in my hand.

Blue celestial light appeared in my palm, and quickly shaped into a blue, translucent, starry sword. I held it tightly. It was light. I tried swinging it. I didn’t know how to use a sword, but I was quite pleased that my magic worked!

Nice!

Wow, truly what a relief. I didn’t know what I would do if I died — well, I wouldn’t get to do anything since I would be dead… Anyway, at least this confirmed that the two souls in my body had merged.

I was feeling hungry, so it was time to eat.

***

It had been a couple of days since I got my second class of Astral Forger. For now, I discovered no drawbacks from having two classes in one body. Which was good. Currently, I was trying to get used to using this new magic of mine.

I may be granted knowledge of how to use it, but that didn’t mean I instantly had mastery over it. This was like trying to get used to using a bicycle, or something more complicated. You knew the basics, but the muscle memory just wasn’t there yet.

And given that I was trying to use it alongside my Puppeteer class, it was a bit hard to learn. Oh yeah, my Puppet magic was still here, which was a relief. I needed to imagine conjuring armaments for multiple puppets at once. But for now, I was trying it out on my main puppet.

I was about to finish making his gauntlets, it might be done in a couple of days. That said, I was not too stressed about it now that I could just conjure magical armaments in the blink of an eye.

Immediately after taking a bath, I went straight back to my room.

I stood in front of my main big puppet. He was frightening-looking. His face was like a white and black mask but not exactly a mask, with two dark eyes and a stitched mouth — I didn’t do that, by the way, it was Avenelle. He had a thin body, wearing a formal coat and pants, but a bit ripped all over the place. When standing, he was around ten feet tall.

“Hm. I should call you something.” Avenelle had yet to name him whatsoever. If he would get a name, it must be cool at least. I placed a hand under my chin, thinking.

I already had an idea of what he would do, he would use blades to cut down my enemies. He was not exactly some kind of knight, as obvious as how he appeared. Blades, slices…

“I got it.” I smiled. “You shall be named Ripper.”

I held out my hand, and crimson strings appeared on his limbs. The puppet, Ripper, slowly stood up. Thankfully my room was big and luxurious, so he fit just fine with a little of a slouch to avoid the hanging chandeliers.

I cast my Astral Forger ability, and the celestial gauntlets covered his metal gauntlet, it had sharp points on the fingers. Afterward, small scythes appeared in both his hands. From what I could think, scythes would be fitting for something like the Ripper. He could grab you with one, keep you in place, while he cuts you with the other. I grinned, pleased with the result.

Once I finished with his gauntlets, which I had to show to my father, I could get straight to working with my other dolls.

I made him move around, swinging his weapon. The weird thing about this was that I didn’t need to manually command every movement. I only needed to give it a little assistance, and it could do most tasks. But the more complicated actions would need my direct involvement. Like there was some sort of simple artificial intelligence in them or something, like NPCs in games. But, it was not like it had those, it was more like my indirect thoughts or subconscious was guiding them. Magic, huh? Therefore, I had already imagined how it moves and fights.

I was about to try it out here when there were knocking on the door. I quickly turned around and disabled all magic, and the doll dropped to the floor.

“Avenelle? Are you here?” asked a female voice.

I blinked in surprise. It was my elder sister, Vivienne. I didn’t expect she would come and see me.

“S-Sister? Yes, I’m here. Please wait.” I rushed and opened the door.

I was immediately greeted with a smile from the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.

“Hello, Avenelle.”

“Hi, sister. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I… I just wanted to visit you, and check how you’re doing.”

I was feeling puzzled as to why she would go out of her way to do this. She had never visited me in my room since I was a small girl. And she was acting a bit differently.

“I’m… I’m doing well, my sister.”

She caressed my cheek gently. “That’s good. I heard you have been spending more time in your room these past few days right after breakfast. Are you busy?”

“Yes, I’m working on my dolls.”

She nodded. “May I take a look at what you’re making?”

“Of course. Come in.” This was weird.

She stepped inside and looked at the dolls all over my room. “I didn’t think you would have made this many.”

“It comes with a lot of free time.” That kind of had a bad implication that I was doing nothing in my life. Especially to Vivienne, who wanted me to learn more than this. “But I swear, sister, if I get more time, I’ll learn something else. Like the ones that you’ve suggested.”

She shook her head as she picked up a small doll. “You truly loved making dolls. So careful and meticulous. Each is unique in its own right.”

“... Well, I tried making them unique.”

“How wonderful indeed. I’ve been thinking… Perhaps it was rude of me to try to force you to learn something that is aligned with me.”

“What do you mean?”

She slowly turned towards me with a soft smile. An entirely different vibe that I would usually get from her. “We all have our own passions. And we can’t force them on others.”

“Uh-huh…” I was a bit puzzled about what was going on. “Is this why you’re here, sister?”

“I just wanted to spend time with my sweet Avenelle.” She suddenly wrapped her arms around me, giving me an embrace. She gently patted my head. “My dear little sister…”

I could feel her hug tighten. I was completely baffled by why she was acting this way, but I was sensing something strange from her. Like, she was more sincere than usual towards me.

“Vivienne, is something wrong?”

“Keep on with your passion, little sister. Have fun as you do.”

“Y-Yes…”

You mean have fun as much as I can before you go and kill me…? No… wait…

I think I was starting to understand why she was here and talking to me like this. Vivienne had barely talked to me when she heard about what was going to happen to me. Like she didn’t want to face me out of guilt or something. Was this why she was here? Guilt?

I didn’t imagine she would ever feel guilt at all.

“... If only I could spend more time with you, little sister.”

“But we’re all busy…”

“Indeed, and it’s annoying. Everything is annoying to deal with.” We were still hugging, but I could sense the sincerity in her voice. “Your hair is so pretty, Avenelle. You really are my perfect little sister.”

“Y-Yes…”

“With the little free time I had today, I would like to spend it with you.”

Faced with her rare sincerity, I couldn’t help but open up to her. This warmth that I could feel inside, it felt so pleasant. It was almost similar to what I felt with my mother. I never had any siblings, so this one was quite a strange experience. But it was nice. I never imagined that it would be this nice. Vivienne was feeling quite reliable right now. And I couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly.

It’s nice to have a sibling.

This made me wonder what my life would be on Earth if I had a sister or a brother. Things might have been a bit different. At least I would have a shoulder to lean on, or an embrace to share with.

“W-What would we spend it on?”

She shifted back with a visible smile, but I noticed a little moist in her eyes. It would seem she was feeling a bit emotional, but hiding it. Still, I expected she would hide her emotions better considering the kind of person she was, and the kind of job they were giving her. But perhaps it was kind of different when it came to family… or to me.

“I just want us to talk.”

I was a bit surprised to hear something so simple.

“Talk? What about?”

She looked around the room before pointing at Ripper. “That puppet looks interesting. And it looks kind of adorable.” Adorable? I swear this household had a weird sense of what was cute or not. “Can you tell me about it?”

But I was looking forward to telling her about him, and how I went about designing him.

“He’s my guardian.”

“Guardian?”

“Like a butler or something similar. He shall protect me when I’m in danger.”

“Oh? That’s interesting.” She approached Ripper and touched his face. “You stitched his mouth.”

I nodded. “He does not need to speak but follow my bidding without question. But all of it is just symbolism.” I shyly giggled. “Ultimately though, it will also strike fear in my enemies, stitching one’s mouth is not a pleasant sight, after all.”

“You really have an interesting taste, my dear little sister. But he fits you, as a puppeteer, everyone will be compelled to act as you wish. Is he still not finished?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, but almost. And afterward, I have to show him to Father.”

“Ah yes, he did request you put weapons on him. Does this puppet have a name?”

“Ripper!” I was feeling quite proud thinking of that name.

“Oh? Is he supposed to rip enemies to shreds?”

“Uh-huh!” I walked up to his gauntlet. “See the sharp fingers on him?”

“I see them. It will be quite painful for the enemies to be grabbed by him then.”

“Indeed.”

She chuckled and looked around, noticing a particular doll. “Would you look at that?”

I shifted my gaze in the direction she was looking at, and I froze in place. Oh crap, this was going to be embarrassing.

Vivienne quickly approached the small doll hidden behind the others on the table and briefly laughed. As I stood there frozen with blushing cheeks, she fiddled around with the doll. “Is this a mini-Avenelle?”

“...”

Indeed, it was a small doll version of me. I just thought, or rather, Avenelle thought that it would be nice to make a doll based on her. It wasn’t supposed to be seen by others, that was why it was hidden behind other dolls.

Vivienne grinned widely, intrigued by the mini-Avenelle. “So adorable! My goodness! You should have told me you made something like this.”

“Uh, hehehe…”

“Can I keep her? No, wait, I’m going to keep her.”

You’re not even going to ask permission?!

I knew this was going to happen the moment she saw that thing.

“I’m going to keep this mini-Avenelle in my room.” She giggled. “So adorable. I finally have a doll you. All that’s missing is a mini-Vivienne. Oh! Little sister, I request you make a doll version of me!”

I let out a sigh. “... Very well. Soon.”

And so after that we talked some more. Mainly about my dolls, while holding mini-Avenelle of course. This was a weird experience, Vivienne actually showing interest in my work. But it was nice.