Gulp, gulp, gulp.
“Ahhh! Amazing! It... it worked! It worked!”
Rumi shouted, her face showing genuine surprise that she had actually succeeded.
The doll finished its meal, eagerly drinking the curse essence from the bottle. Its eyes began to sparkle like those of a living person.
“You... you guys finally finished the curse essence?”
Eve, wrapped in a blanket, cautiously approached and chimed in belatedly.
“Not ‘you guys.’ I made it alone.”
“...”
Medina looked utterly defeated, her ghostly face filled with disbelief.
A tense silence fell over the room.
Rumi, Medina, and Eve all quietly watched to see what the doll would do next.
The doll made a creaking sound and sat down as if sitting in an invisible chair in mid-air.
It then placed its hands in the air, as if resting on an invisible desk, and began to write as though holding a pen.
“It’s... moving? It looks like it’s trying to write something. Medina, what’s it doing?”
Rumi glanced at Medina, hoping for some insight, but Medina deliberately looked away, avoiding eye contact.
Rumi shot her a glare and began searching for a wooden box to use as a desk.
“Eve, find me some paper and a pen.”
Eve, looking slightly confused, silently picked up a pen and paper from Niel’s desk.
Meanwhile, Rumi grabbed a box to serve as a makeshift desk.
"This should work, right?"
Rumi hastily placed the pen and paper in the doll’s hands.
The doll began to write with smooth, almost mechanical movements, as if it were truly alive.
Scratch, scratch, scratch...
What was particularly impressive was how its eyes and head moved as it wrote, even blinking occasionally.
Rumi and Eve watched the fascinating automaton for a moment.
When the doll stopped moving, Rumi picked up the paper to read what it had written.
On the paper were a short message and drawings of four people that looked like they were drawn by a child.
Rumi read the words aloud.
''...Hello, I am Lucy, the doll of L, N, V, and E. I have no vocal organs so I cannot speak. Instead, I can answer everything I know through writing and drawings. Ask me any question.''
Rumi smirked as she held the paper.
“Hmm... a know-it-all doll, huh? Pretty impressive.”
Rumi deliberately spoke loud enough for Medina to hear.
“So, the doll will answer any question in writing?”
Rumi shot Medina a pointed look as she asked.
“...”
Medina grimaced at Rumi.
“Medina, just admit defeat already.”
“Sigh... how did I end up like this? My child has become someone else’s...”
“You died, so I adopted it.”
Rumi wore a triumphant expression.
Finally, Medina reluctantly answered.
“Yes, that’s right... Lucy will answer anything you ask. But you have to call her Lucy when you ask, and you can also write your questions on paper...”
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“You can write questions too...?”
At that moment, Rumi remembered how Medina had given perfect answers during Principal Pierre’s class.
“Wait, did you use the doll to answer during the Principal’s first class?”
“Bingo. Did you really think I cared about Saint Angelicus’ doctrine? I’m a potion expert.”
"As expected of stupid Medina. But can this doll really give such complex answers? That''s amazing..."
Rumi stood in front of the doll, ready to ask her first question.
Just then, Eve poked Rumi’s arm from behind.
“Rumi, shouldn’t you wake Niel up before asking questions?”
Eve spoke with a mix of nervousness and excitement.
Rumi realized she had completely forgotten about Niel, who slept like the dead every night.
“Oh, right. Niel’s here too...”
“Hey, Niel, wake up! The potion’s finally done.”
“Wake up!!”
“What... what’s done?”
“Just wake up already.”
Rumi untied Niel and brought her to the doll.
Niel, barely awake, squinted and tried to make sense of the situation.
“So... you finally completed the potion?”
"Yeah. Hehehe now watch carefully, I''m going to ask the first question."
Rumi thought carefully about her first question.
This was the first question to a doll that claimed it could answer anything.
“Lucy, some unknown ghost killed Medina to take you. Why do you think they wanted to take you?”
Rumi threw out a fundamental question. After all, It was the reason they''d been searching for the doll in the first place.
The doll immediately began writing.
It was still a fascinating sight to behold.
“...!”
Niel’s eyes widened as she watched the bizarre scene.
After a moment, the doll finished writing, and Rumi pulled out the paper to read aloud.
“Not a very impressive first question... I hold many important secrets. It’s hard to pinpoint which secret they were after. And if you want to know those secrets, you’ll have to pay the price. But since the curse essence you just gave me was particularly delicious, I’ll tell you one possible reason. Give me another sheet of paper.”
Rumi, her eyes gleaming, handed the doll another sheet of paper.
The doll immediately began writing again, this time much faster.
Rumi waited for the right moment to pull out the paper.
When it seemed like the doll was done, Rumi reached for the paper, but the doll suddenly grabbed her arm, preventing her from taking it.
It then turned its head and stared at Rumi expressionlessly.
Startled, Rumi let go of the paper, and the doll continued writing as if it still had more to say.
When it finally stopped, Rumi nervously pulled out the paper.
“‘The ones who would killed Medina to take me were likely the witch cult. Their clothes and rituals were steeped in black magic...’”
“I knew it. It’s definitely the witch cult.”
Medina interjected.
"What? Did this doll actually see those cult members?"
Rumi continued reading.
“‘The witch cult is a heretical group that worships the God of Death and the Six Witches. They desire for everyone to return to death through the witches.
25 years ago, a witch was sealed beneath this school... I am the only one in this world who knows how to break that seal.
That’s why they seemed like the witch cult, and they likely wanted to take me to free the witch.’”
“Wh-what does that mean? A witch from 25 years ago? And a witch sealed beneath the school? What the...?”
Just then, Eve rushed over and read the paper again.
“A witch sealed 25 years ago...?”
At the mention of witches, Rumi immediately thought of the blue witch''s face that had swallowed Bertin.
Then she recalled the Principal’s story about witches, but the idea of a witch being sealed beneath the school and someone trying to free her didn’t quite sink in.
“What does this even mean?”
Niel, like Rumi, didn’t seem to fully grasp what was being said.
"The only witch from 25 years ago was the one who disappeared far beyond the village... how could they seal a witch who disappeared...? No, more than that, I''ve never even heard of sealing a witch in the first place. A witch is the curse itself. How could you seal the curse?“
Eve looked like she was about to lose her mind.
“You can’t seal a witch?”
Rumi asked Eve.
"Of course not. A witch itself is the largest vessel containing countless other sealed souls. How could you seal the largest vessel?"
“Is that so...?”
Even Rumi had to admit Eve had a point. Just thinking about the blue witch, who was over 100 meters tall, it seemed physically impossible for a witch of that size to be sealed beneath the school.
“But which witch are they talking about? What happened 25 years ago?”
Rumi asked Eve.
“...”
Eve looked extremely uncomfortable and tilted her head.
"Wait... before I tell you what I know, ask one more question. About which witch is supposedly buried under the school..."
Eve’s voice trembled slightly.
Rumi took a deep breath and calmly asked the question.
"Lucy, what is the identity of the witch that was sealed 25 years ago?"
“Sigh... she finally asked...”
At that moment, Medina muttered under her breath.
Niel, meanwhile, had gone completely expressionless.
The doll immediately began writing.
Rumi picked up the paper and read it.
“‘The answer to that question depends on how much essence milk you give me. If you want to uncover as many secrets as possible, I hope you’ll give me plenty to drink.’”
Rumi was so dumbfounded she almost swore out loud.
“What the...?”
“What... does it say?”
Eve asked anxiously.
“It says if I want to know the secrets, I need to give it as much potion as possible.”
“What...? So it needs more curse essence to reveal important information?”
“Hey, Medina? Is this normal?”
"Well... you could say that."
“...”
Rumi stared at the doll for a moment, then finally opened the bottle and filled it to the brim with curse essence.
“Rumi, are you really going to fill the whole bottle? Is that okay? You worked so hard to make the curse essence...”
Niel suddenly approached, looking anxious, and grabbed Rumi’s arm.
“I don’t know... if it runs out, I’ll just make more.”
Rumi shook the bottle and stuck it into the doll’s mouth.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
The doll finished the entire bottle in an instant. It was unclear where all that curse essence went, but after finishing the bottle, the doll’s expressionless eyes seemed to change subtly as it began writing again.
This time, it wrote a very short message and stopped immediately.
“What? It drank a whole bottle and that’s all it wrote?”
Rumi skeptically pulled out the paper and read it.
“‘The witch who appeared in the village 57 years ago, and the witch sealed beneath this school 25 years ago... is the White Witch... For now, this is all I can say with one bottle.’”
As Rumi read the words, a heavy silence fell over the room.
“...”
“The White Witch...? You mean... the witch who killed 3 billion people?”