MTLNOVEL Chapter 9: The Devil's Invitation
Alexandra looked at Shogo in disbelief. Contrary to the doll, she couldn't read people's minds to see if they were telling the truth or not. And even if it was telling the truth, her opponent seemed way too confident about her abilities. If they were in an illusion, she probably couldn't win. Even if they weren't, it would know in advance what Alexandra would do next. This wasn't going anywhere. It was a dead end.
"You won't fight?" Shogo asked.
"I don't feel like dying a third time," Alexandra calmly replied.
Shogo looked at Alexandra her mouth slightly opened, "That's surprising. You want to kill me, don't you? Why don't you do it?"
"Hmph. Don't take me for an idiot. I won't fight a battle I know I already lost. When I have my grimoire back, we will fight and I will make you regret everything you did to me today!"
"I didn't do anything yet though."
"You understood me!!!"
"..."
Shogo took up her knife again, which frightened Alexandra. However, this time, she simply put it on Alexandra's laps.
"That was clever, marshmallow girl. If you fought against me…" Shogo suddenly produced another knife from under her left sleeve and slightly pressed its blade against Alexandra's throat, "My other hand would have slipped too."
Alexandra smiled arrogantly.
As she thought, all this thing was about was acting. When it asked her to choose an arm it wouldn't use, it subtly suggested that Alexandra should choose the right one by using it a lot more than the left. Yet, by its swift move now, it was obvious that this doll was left handed. A drop of sweat rolled down her temp – that Shogo thing wasn't your run of the mill lower ring filth.
Shogo made her second knife disappear in her sleeve again. She then stood close Alexandra's bed, hands joined and slightly bowing.
"I was joking. About her orders, I mean. She didn't ask me to keep you inside this room. However, you have to stay in the house until she comes back."
"... Huh? What? Are you saying that you killed me for nothing?"
"That's correct."
Alexandra glared at Shogo again. Definitely, she would kill this thing as soon as she could.
"You can try. I will just kill you again and turn back. You can keep my knife if you think it can help."
Shogo turned around and opened the room's door, "I made dinner. It's not poisoned. Come down if you are interested."
On those words, the girl closed the door behind her, leaving Alexandra alone.
"As if I could be interested…" she mumbled.
There was no way she could eat something cooked by her killer – Well, future killer? Past killer? – poisoned or not…
Yet… her belly growled. She never spent a whole day without eating anything. She hardly knew what hunger was, but this sensation was horrible. Her strand of hair seemed down too, trembling from hunger. What could she do? Was it prudent to go down? Wouldn't that thing kill her again? Or wasn't that exactly the excuse it was waiting for? She could easily picture it telling her that she had to die since she didn't accept its invitation. It did kill her just to prove its point earlier.
But, it could also kill her just because she fell into such a simple trap. It could be waiting behind the door to stab her as soon as she got out. This was a possibility she couldn't ignore.
The door suddenly opened again. It was Shogo peeking at Alexandra in a really ominous manner. The latter almost jumped out of bed from panic while her strand stood straight up like an exclamation mark.
"You think too much. Come down to eat, or next time, I will cut your belly open to put the food into it."
Without another word, she closed the door.
Alexandra gulped her saliva again. Now she was clearly threatened.
In a situation like this, there wasn't much she could do. She was an upper ringer and bibliomancer, but against this puppet, she was powerless. It hurt her pride, but all long as she didn't understand how that thing's powers worked, she had no choice but to lay low.
But she swore to her name one thing…
Once she would be in position of force again, she would kill this thing!
The wolf would break the doll!