In the royal castle of the Shirone Kingdom, the 3rd Prince Zanoba Shirone, also known as the Head Ripping Prince, looked at the parcel that he received with an expressionless face.
He had just received a package and a letter supposedly from one of the Princes of the Kingdragon Kingdom.
But even though it was from a Prince of a great nation like Kingdragon, it failed to arouse any emotions in Zanoba.
And that is because the only thing in this world that interests him is dolls and figurines! Other humans are nothing but dolls made of flesh.
'A Prince from the Kingdragon Kingdom, why would he write to me?' Zanoba opened the letter.
He then looked down on the contents with his usual snobbish look on his face, beginning to read with indifference:
"Zanoba Shirone, my name is Mordred Kingdragon, I'm the 16th Prince of Kingdragon."
'The 16th Prince? Isn't this the Miko of Magic Power who managed Saint rank Magic at the age of 5?' Zanoba thought expressionlessly.
In a way, the two were the opposites. While the 16th Prince of Kingdragon had great Magic Power, Zanoba had great physical strength.
Perhaps because of this similarity the 16th Prince had messaged him, for some reason…
"But my status is not important. I heard of your fascination with dolls and the appreciation of fine arts. For this reason I sent you some of my... creations?"
Zanoba stopped reading for a moment and blinked. Send him some of his creations? But just what kind of creations could a little kid make?
Wouldn't the 16th Prince be… About 7 years old right now?
Zanoba had no expectations and only thought that this little Prince was wasting his time with some low-class figurines he casually made from clay while playing.
But he was still curious and wanted to see these 'creations'. After all, even an ugly doll had its value. Without ugly dolls there would be no beautiful dolls!
Before continuing reading, Zanoba began to slowly unpack the package to inspect it. The wooden box he received was tied up with ropes, but instead of cutting it, he simply snapped it with his bare hands.
He then slowly opened the lid. Afterwards, he peeled off the pieces of paper and cloth that wrapped up the items inside.
It was at that moment that the contents of the box became visible.
"Oh…" Zanoba's previously snobby expression froze. His eyes gradually widened.
As he looked at the three dolls inside the box, he became dazed for a few good seconds.
After that, his hands began to shake and his breath quickened. His heartbeat shot up. He breathed quickly through his nostrils like a wild beast in heat.
His hands itched to immediately pick up the dolls and look at them from all angles, but he forcefully held himself back because he knew that if he acted on impulse here he might break the dolls due to his inhuman strength.
"Your Highness? Are you alright?" His attendant and bodyguard Ginger asked him out of worry, but he ignored her completely.
Zanoba stayed like this for several seconds, breathing heavily as he tried to regain his composure.
After that, with shaking hands, he carefully and gently picked up the first doll.
It was a doll of a young girl in a dress sitting on a bench and reading a book with a contemplative look.
"Oooh! Ooooh! Oooooooooh!!!" Zanoba began to wail in amazement as he took a closer look at the doll.
He began to observe the doll from all angles with wide-opened eyes, careful to not miss any details.
While observing, he commented, "Such incredible level of detail! Such superb craftsmanship!... The realism of her expression as she contemplates the contents of the book, the way each strand of hair beautifully flows in the wind, the detail of how her sleeve folds as she touches her chin… This… It is impossible! How could such a doll be made?!!!"
"Hm?" Ginger looked over, glancing at the doll. Was this doll special? It did look good.
Zanoba looked at her and explained, "It is clearly a doll created by shaving down a stone, but it's heavier and harder than what the skilled Dwarves can make with their stone craftsmanship! In order to shave down such a solid and hard stone, such carving techniques don't exist right now… For example... look at these strands of hair. They are seperated from the rest, bend as they flow in the wind and are thinner than a needle, yet they still stay attached and in one piece! It's impossible for even the most skilled Dwarves to shave down such a hard stone this thin and with this level of detail!!!"
Zanoba once again began to breathe deeply.
For a doll to be created so wonderfully, so meticulously, it seemed like an impossible feat! It was the pinnacle of doll-making! It was the most beautiful doll he had ever laid his eyes on!
After a while, Zanoba suddenly said as he recalled, "And what was it said in the letter? That this Prince had made these himself?"
Following that, he frowned. How could a young child be the creator of these dolls that were perfection incarnate?
Wearing a solemn face, Zanoba returned to carefully reading the letter.
"... I heard of your fascination with dolls and the appreciation of fine arts. For this reason I sent you some of my creations. You can do whatever you want with them. You can keep them, give them to someone or even sell them. My only wish is for my work to end up in the good hands of someone who'd appreciate it rather than gather dust on my shelf. I heard that you like dolls, so I sent you some of mine on a whim."
Zanoba paused reading for a moment. This 16th Prince truly claimed to be the creator of these dolls!
'At the bottom of the figurine there are the initials MK and the year of creation… However, just how was this doll made?'
Thinking this, he returned to reading.
Surprisingly, the next paragraph answered his question:
"I made these in the name of Magic practice and I'm still inexperienced, so in the aesthetic aspect I might still be lacking in the eyes of an expert, but I'm still quite proud of my craftsmanship. That's all that I have to say. Mordred Kingdragon."
Zanoba finished the letter. He blinked his eyes a few times. 'In the name of Magic practice? So this doll was made using Magic?!... How?'
…
Around 4 months later.
"Your Highness, you have a package and a letter. It came from the 3rd Prince of Shirone." Julius came into Mordred's room with the news.
"Oh, yeah. It's about time I should get a reply," Mordred said as he first picked up the letter.
In his free time, he would use Earth Magic to create figurines while basing them off the people around him, imitating Rudeus. It was a good way to practice his 'shaping' skill with Mana.
Although he could create dolls and sculptures by relying on just his imagination and memory, it would take too much effort readjusting it again and again. His goal with practicing Earth Magic like this was just to improve his control of Magic Power, not to become an artist.
Perfectly replicating the way the hair flows, the way the clothes form folds in various poses and so on was not easy, so he preferred to use a model during his practice. Sometimes it was Benedicte, sometimes Julius, sometimes Sofia or someone else.
A few months ago, around the time of his 7th birthday, he sent a letter and a few of his best dolls to Zanoba Shirone.
The reason for this was to begin gaining Zanoba's loyalties for the future before the latter had a chance to witness Rudesus's dolls.
Zanoba was not only a Miko with great physical strength and resilience that surpassed God rank, but was most importantly a highly intelligent man who in the novel became exceptionally knowledgeable in the area of Magic Circles and how to use them to create magical armor and automatic dolls.
He was also a loyal and devoted man.
But he was only loyal to someone skilled in doll-making.
Mordred had plans of creating his own nation at one point in the future, so he definitely wanted to pull Zanoba to his side. Rather than to Rudeus, he'd prefer him to be fully loyal to him.
He felt that it was his last chance now because he did not plan to continue making dolls in the future while Rudeus might surpass him in the aesthetic aspect because he did have interest in figurines in his first life while Mordred simply carved what he saw.
Mordred broke off the seal and opened the letter on the spot. He read:
"Your Dear Holy Highness! This is Zanoba Shirone. In the beginning please allow this little prince to express his heartfelt admiration for your work! You mentioned that you might be lacking in the aesthetic aspect, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Your dolls…"
What followed was a dozen paragraphs that complimented Mordred's work in superlatives without end.
Mordred smiled in satisfaction. It seemed that Zanoba had gone crazy over his dolls.
That's the effect he wanted!
As he continued reading, he eventually saw that Zanoba was curious about the details of how the dolls were made.
Then, at the end of it, he said that he's sending him 500 gold coins to thank him for the dolls he received, even worrying that it might not be enough for an aspiring grandmaster's first works.
Mordred smiled.
500 gold? Nice!
In the last 2 years of receiving an allowance he had only saved up a little over 500 gold coins.
To make Benedicte's hair so dense that it would not break even though separated, he had to consume so much Magic Power that it took him more than a week just to finish the hair alone. He did put a ton of effort and Mana into these three dolls. It's good it paid off!
After getting through the letter, Mordred pulled out a piece of paper, his self-filling quill and began to write a reply.
Apart from answering his question, it would also be good if he set Zaonba on the right path ahead of time, making him begin studying Magic Circles early on…
…
A few months later.
Zanoba Shirone was incredibly excited as he received a letter from the 16th Prince once again along with a package.
The first thing that he did was to rip open the package and then carefully and slowly open the box.
What he saw inside, as he hoped, was a doll. It was a doll of an elderly knight resting his hand at the pommel of his sword, his expression serious and cold like steel.
"Oooooh! Oooooooooooooh!!!" Zanoba picked up the doll and then raised it up high to look at it from below while letting out an excited shriek, "Yiiiiiiiiii! Wonderful, how wonderful! The detail of this armor is incredible! It feels more real than the real thing! And the cloak, oooh!!!"
After looking up the doll of the knight from all angles, Zanoba turned to reading the letter with a burning gaze. He felt nothing but absolute admiration toward someone who could create such beautiful dolls!
While reading the letter Zanoba soon discovered that his previous question was answered. 'So these dolls were made using Earth Magic cast silently? The 16th Prince shaped them with his own mind? Incredible! No wonder these dolls can have such a level of detail and minute parts! They were simply not carved from stone, but shaped from the beginning to look the way they do!... What a wonderful method! What incredible skill!'
Zanoba continued reading:
"I noticed that you are more enthusiastic about dolls than I thought. Truth be told, I have a small wish of one day creating an automatic doll, a doll that would move by itself like a real human."
Zanoba paused his reading. He gasped.
A doll that could move by itself?! He had never thought of such a thing, but just how incredible would such a doll be!!!
However, how would one go about making one? Was this naught by a dream?
"The way to make the doll move would naturally be through the use of Magic Circles. It is possible to create Magic Tools that perform an action in response to a command, so why would it not be possible with more work to program a doll to move?"
Programming a doll to move using Magic Circles!!!
Zanoba stopped reading, his eyes wide open and face of shock. What a revolutionary and brilliant idea!
A moving doll! Not a human, but a doll that moves like a human! What a sight it would be!!!
Zanoba continued reading with reverend attention: "Of course, this kind of project would require a tremendous amount of work and research. I don't think I could complete it by myself, not with the many other projects on my mind. That's why I would want to one day gather like-minded individuals to work on the ideas I envisioned. The people that I would need the most are engineers skilled in the programming language of Magic Circles. Just on the small chance that you would be interested in this project, I thought I might let you know."
Zanoba paused. Working together on a moving doll with Master?! He never thought he would have a chance to participate in such a grand and wonderful project in his life! He absolutely wanted to do it!!!
'Magic Circles! From now on I must put my all into the study of Magic Circles, so I can be useful to Master!!!'
Zanoba immediately began writing a reply.
Unfortunately, his next letter was destined to not be delivered because by then Mordred would have already left Wyvern.
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Name: Zanoba Shirone
Title/nickname: 3rd Prince of Shirone, Head Ripping Prince, Miko
Age: 15
Strength: EX
Endurance: EX (F-)
Agility: F-
Mana: E-