I walk down the corridor of the mansion, holding the knight and girl dolls from Nord Dad, holding them to my chest.

''Oh, I knew the girl was of high quality too!

　Three heads, a little taller than a knight doll. The blue eyes which were crispy to beautiful long blond hair. The blue dress that covers the whole body seems to represent the daughter of the deep window.

　She looks like a western doll from a previous life, and has a very pretty and well-formed shape.

　I wonder if Viscount Doll can make not only plush toys made of cloth, but also real dolls....

　The hands, arms, legs and joints are solid and can be moved to some extent. There are no distorted or unnatural shapes in any places.

　It's a lot of enthusiasm to be able to make this level of work by yourself. It's already at a craftsman's level.

　I'll treat it carefully so as not to disrespect its passion.

　As I was about to go upstairs with that in mind, I heard Meena's voice from a room near the kitchen.

''-- At the Count's place, I hear footsteps in the middle of the night when you're walking down the corridor, right?

What is this, a ghost story? Well, let me ask you something...

　I was curious about the content, so I looked into the room and found Meena and Mel sitting in chairs in the break room, chatting.

'This is about a friend of mine's friend's cousin, isn't it?'

That's a long way.

　Indeed. It's like an urban legend or something. It's so far away that there's no way to verify that it's a lie.

''The woman was the Count's maid, and she was making rounds at night when everyone was asleep. And when the night was quite late, the maid was walking down the corridor when she heard footsteps from behind her...''

'We'd have Lady Elinora coming down thirsty or Lady Alfried drinking juice in the fridge before you know it.

'Yes, yes!　Everyone else calls out to us maids and asks us to bring them, but those two come down and say they want to choose for themselves or something!　When Master Alfried approached me the other night on his nighttime rounds, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!

　Mel's blurted out words, and Meena shouts out in fierce agreement.

　No, I usually have a chilled drink in my spatial magic, right?　Sometimes I just want to drink the fruit juice Bartolo made for me.

　I don't make a large amount of fruit juice with Bartolo's characteristics, and if I stored it or something, he'd be mad at me for drinking it all.

''Aside from Elinora-sama, I haven't felt any sign of Alfried-sama.

'I wish you wouldn't talk to me anymore anyway. It's bad for your heart....

　I think that's terrible.

　They spent a moment arguing about my lack of attention and then went back to the ghost story.

'Let me back up since we're off topic. When the maid heard footsteps, she couldn't help but look back and saw no one there. Just a long corridor and darkness. However, the footsteps could still be heard from the depths of the darkness. It's as if they're approaching the maid...

....

　Meena lowers her voice as she talks to him, and Mel listens with her arms folded around him.

　Meena is pleased to see that Mel is listening to her, so she starts to talk more flippantly.

'The maid walks away from the sound of footsteps. Still the footsteps do not leave the maid. The maid finally gets scared and walks faster down the hallway to shake it off. Then, for some reason, the maid's back became heavier and heavier...!

....



"...what happened in retrospect?

The next morning they found the maid dead in her beautiful form...

　Hey, wait a minute. I think you're missing the point.

Hey, am I missing the point? What happened in retrospect?

　As if to express my feelings, Mel says with a bang on the desk.

'Yeah, that's the thing! The maid looked back and was drained of her soul by a ghostly being!

　Meena responds to Mel's pursuit as if in a panic.

　Her gaze moves up and diagonally, and she feels like she's desperately thinking about it now.

'Hmm, but this story is just a made up one too, right? It's a convenient story made up by the Earl to get rid of his maid after he got into trouble with his wife for messing with her anyway, right?

'Hey! Don't say anything scary, Mel!　There's something strangely glossy about it, and it looks like it's actually possible!

'Haha, was my story scarier than yours?'

Shit!　I'm the one making the rounds this evening, so please don't do that!

　Mel looks at Meena, who has a pale expression on her face, and laughs carelessly.

　What a joyful maid's resting form I am, I guess. I don't want to interrupt her, so I'll go back to my room before she finds me.

　I leave the rest room and go up the stairs leading to the second floor.

　Hmmm, an empty corridor at night. Footsteps I can hear. My back gets heavy.....

　It's the kind of thing that's often seen in ghost stories from a previous life, and there was a horror game where dolls started moving in the middle of the night in video games.

　A doll that starts moving in the middle of the night....

　Maybe you could make the doll walk by moving its arms and legs with a psychic. It sounds interesting, let's give it a try.

　I return to my room, enjoying the curiosity that has been bubbling up in me.

　Then I put the knight and girl dolls in my room.

　Let's move the knight doll first.

　I apply an unmagical psychic to the knight doll.

　The knight doll, controlled by my magic, floats in the air without a problem and floats in the direction I intended.

　Oh, just having a knight doll floating around is cute and interesting to watch.

　But the purpose of this time is to make them walk.

　I slowly lower the knight doll floating in the air down.

　Then I tried to make the doll stand on the floor without levitating it, but the doll fell down with a thud.

　Such actions are cute to watch, but again.

　However, after three or four attempts, the knight doll slips and falls.

　Hm, let's try the Western-style doll next. Unlike the knight doll, this one is made of stiff doll material, so I'm sure you can make it stand up.

　I make the western doll stand on the floor without using a psychic. Then the western doll slipped and didn't fall over, and stood up beautifully.

　Then, to move to the next level, I apply a psychic to the Western doll.

　I make it envelop its entire body with magical power, while dividing its consciousness into its special limbs.

　Then the western doll's legs move slowly and start to move forward.

''Oh!　The doll moved!

　I try to take the next step with glee, but either I moved my limbs at the wrong time or my center of gravity collapsed and the western doll fell forward.

　It's hilarious to see the adorable western doll sticking its butt out and its head on the floor.

　I feel sorry for him, so I'll get him back on his feet properly.

　After placing the western doll back on the floor, I try to get the knight doll to stand on the floor again.

　But every time I do, the knight doll slips and falls.

''Hmmm, after all, if they have soft feet, they'll slide on the floor.

　I snarl at the knight doll as it falls unceremoniously on its back.

　I could subtly levitate them in the air and pretend they're walking, like Do-Yen, but I'd rather have them walk on the ground anyway.

　But in order to do so, this knight doll made of cloth and cotton is really hard to do.

　The advantages of a knight doll have been unexpectedly avenged in some way.

　Hmm, if I could at least stand, I could do something with magic.

　After thinking about it, I come to a simple answer.



　Mother Erna is surprisingly good at sewing real clothes, but I can do this kind of work myself. It's easier than making a pair of slippers to open and re-sew.

　I pull out a set of sewing tools from the sub-space of spatial magic.

　I then proceeded to modify the sole of the knight's doll.

　I unravel the thread sewn into the sole of the doll's foot with my sewing kit. When I opened it up, I found two pieces of cloth that could be used as a cushion, so I cut them open further.

　Then a pure white cotton comes out from inside, so I play with it with my hand.

''It's ... soft.''

　It must be cotton from the Viscount Dorr's estate. It's very soft and comfortable. And it's beautiful and pure white.

　I was soothed by the feel of cotton, and then I put the small iron plate I bought in the capital into the sole of my foot.

　I'm glad they gave me a large one and even a scrapboard for various purposes.

　I set it up so that the iron plate doesn't shake and re-lay the cotton.

　Then I re-sew the soles of my feet again, and there is Knight, standing firmly on his two feet.

'I'm up!　My Knight is up!

　I shout in my excited voice in delight.

　I'm a knight, so I'm a knight. It's cheesy, but I think that's the coolest and easiest thing to call him.

　Standing firmly on the ground, the knight doesn't fall over when I push it with my fingers, probably because of the steel plate planted in the sole of his feet. His center of gravity is fairly stable. There are no more knights who slip and fall.

　The somewhat angular steel plate is where it stands out, but that's also within the scope of what I can meditate on, considering I'm standing and walking steadily. Let's not worry about it.