Thankfully, my prediction had been spot on.
Within the ducal estate, there was a shop belonging to an outstanding plush doll artisan, one that even nobles patronized.
The interior was decorated quite charmingly, presumably for children, but from deeper inside the shop wafted the damp yet cozy scent of cotton thoroughly dried in the sun.
The smell, mingled with the crisp fragrance of starched new fabric, tickled my nose like the aroma of freshly baked bread, and Riliet, standing beside me, also sniffed the air with little snuffles.
Just like a puppy.
She’s cute, so it’s fine.
“Welcome. Is there something you are looking for?”
“Yes. I am looking for a plush doll to gift to this child.”
If I hadn’t possessed the memories of my past life, I probably would have spoken down to him naturally.
But perhaps because memories of my days in a Confucian society surfaced, or because I saw the white hair of his advanced years, honorifics slipped out before I realized it.
That said, it wasn’t particularly awkward or uncomfortable.
I had always believed that an old man who had devoted his years to a single craft deserved respect and a demeanor befitting that dedication.
“Uncle, wasn’t it a doll for yourself that you needed to buy, rather than one to give to me?”
“…Ah.”
The problem was that I had overlooked Riliet listening quietly to our conversation.
That’s right.
That had been the pretext for bringing Riliet along.
The shopkeeper’s customer service was so natural that my true thoughts slipped out without me realizing.
“Ahem! Y-yes, that’s right. Truthfully, I like dolls in a way unbefitting my age, so since I had the chance, I came to receive my niece’s recommendation. And since I was here, I thought I’d buy one for this child as well.”
“Heh heh, I see. Then shall I show the dolls to your niece here?”
“Please do.”
Perhaps because the old man had the keen intuition accumulated from long years in this business.
He quickly grasped my intentions, came out from behind the counter, and guided Riliet.
With a bewildered expression, casting glances at me, Riliet nonetheless scurried after the old man.
“These are the children most loved by our customers. What do you think of them, my lady?”
“Th-they’re cute.”
“I am grateful for your kind assessment. Then please take your time looking around.”
The old man knew exactly when to step back.
Worried that Riliet would find it difficult to choose if he stood by watching silently, after giving just the right amount of guidance, he excused himself as if something had caught his attention.
Hmm, the quality is certainly good on all of them.
Even I, ignorant about dolls, could clearly tell that an incredible amount of effort had gone into making them.
“Are you not going to choose one, Uncle?”
“Since I came today to receive my niece’s recommendation, I shall leave it to my niece.”
“Uuung….”
Perhaps feeling a considerable sense of responsibility from my words, Riliet let out a soft hum and stared at the display stand.
Her gaze was so fierce that she looked ready to drill screw holes into the display stand herself.
“Then I think I like that child.”
“By that child, do you mean the white teddy bear at the end?”
“Yes!”
A safe choice.
It was exactly the kind of appearance one would first imagine upon thinking of a plush doll.
But because it was so ordinary, it looked quite suitable to place in my room.
It was also fairly large, so on days when my head wasn’t working properly, I could use it as a punching bag… No, I can’t do that.
Still, it’s something our Riliet chose for me.
Let’s try to cherish it as much as possible.
“Then, following my niece’s recommendation, shall I take that child?”
“Is it really alright? With just my recommendation….”
“Truth be told, I also had my eye on that child the most. Our hearts have connected.”
When I nodded with a smile, Riliet smiled shyly.
It seemed she truly hadn’t expected me to buy the doll she recommended.
“Then I should give a gift to my niece in return. Which child do you like?”
“I’m fine….”
“Oh dear, if you don’t choose one, this friend will have to leave home all alone, won’t he? Wouldn’t that be too lonely?”
“T-that can’t happen!”
When I grabbed the doll’s arm and pretended to cry, a startled Riliet urgently looked around.
Then, as if she had quickly found something to her liking.
She opened her eyes wide and pointed somewhere.
“Then I’ll take that child….”
“Hmm?”
Confirming the rabbit doll Riliet pointed at, I opened my eyes wide.
Since they were all handmade, the craftsmanship was not lacking.
How should I put it, the color was a bit murky for a little girl to choose.
It had an ashen fur color, like my own hair but half-done, giving it a somewhat soot-stained feel.
She likes that?
A bit unexpected.
“Do you really like that one?”
“Does it not look good to you, Uncle?”
“No, it’s not that it’s bad. I just thought the color was a bit murky, not quite the taste my niece would usually like.”
“Ah, no! It’s a very beautiful color.”
It was the first time I had heard Riliet speak in such a loud voice, so I was surprised.
Somehow, a sense of urgency even seemed to seep through.
“I-I’m sorry. To raise my voice before you, Uncle….”
When I looked at her with a blank expression, Riliet flinched and bowed her head.
It wasn’t as if I was in a bad mood, so it was fine.
Rather, I was delighted to see such a refreshing side of her.
“No. It’s this uncle’s fault for saying unnecessary things. Anyway, shall we go with that one?”
“Yes.”
For some reason, Riliet twisted her body back and forth.
It seemed she had no intention of explaining why she had chosen that particular one.
Well, one doesn’t need a reason to like something.
She simply likes it herself, that’s all.
As soon as the payment was completed, the old man handed over the large doll and said,
“This child is also a precious friend to this old man, so please cherish it dearly, little lady.”
“Yes!”
Riliet responding with an energetic nod was so adorable.
The slightly old-soul-like demeanor was completely erased, and it was nice to catch glimpses of a childish innocence befitting her age.
“Nng….”
Straining as she lifted a rabbit doll as large as her own upper body, Riliet toddled along.
Her waddling figure from behind was just like a baby penguin.
Pfft. I shouldn’t laugh, but a smile keeps slipping out.
“Give the doll here, and Uncle will keep it safe.”
“It’s alright. You don’t have enough hands either, Uncle.”
I readily reached out my hand, but sure enough, Riliet was Riliet.
Perhaps uncomfortable with inconveniencing others, she stubbornly insisted on carrying it herself somehow.
But there was something Riliet hadn’t thought of.
That I was a mage.
And not just any mage, but a 7th Circle mage, of which there were barely ten in the entire empire.
“Uh, uhh…!?”
As the doll she had been hugging tightly floated up gently, Riliet opened her eyes wide like a rabbit shot by an arrow.
As if showcasing a marvelous feat, I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of having become a performer.
I quickly stored both Riliet’s doll and mine into subspace together.
“Woaaah…!”
Clap, clap!
Admiration burst naturally from Riliet’s mouth, and hearty applause erupted from her hands simultaneously.
If magicians performed with only such audience members, how happy would they be?
There was something about unfiltered reactions born of innocence that always made one’s heart swell with pride.
“How’s that? This way, you won’t be inconveniencing me, right?”
“Yes. As expected of my uncle. But what was that just now? The doll suddenly looked like it was being sucked away.”
Riliet poured out questions like rapid fire, quite unlike her usual self.
Much like children curious about the secrets of magic, Riliet was no different.
“It’s a kind of invisible warehouse, you could say.”
“Amazing. How much can fit inside?”
“It depends on the mage’s level. In my case… let’s see, it could probably fit about the doll shop we just saw.”
“Really!? Wow…!”
Truthfully, even this was shabby compared to the title of 7th Circle.
After all, spatial magic wasn’t my specialty.
For instance, my master could store an entire decent-sized mansion.
During the days when I wandered about training, he even showed insane utility by storing an entire cabin and taking it out when needed.
But I wasn’t such a fool as to lower my niece’s respect for her uncle by unnecessarily revealing that fact.
As an uncle, I should be allowed to receive looks of respect from my niece.
Well, it’s not like I’m asking for much.
“Uncle, now that your business is finished, are we returning?”
Riliet asked, repeatedly lifting and lowering her heels as if bouncing in place.
Her tone suggested she assumed we would be going back.
But her strangely flushed face clearly revealed her true feelings.
She still wants to play more.
It was only natural.
For Riliet, who was forbidden from even going outside, a stroll through the village wasn’t something she could easily experience.
“My apologies. There are still places left to look around. If it’s alright, won’t you keep this uncle company a little longer?”
So I deliberately offered my hand in a pleading manner, and Riliet looked back and forth between my face and my hand with surprised eyes.
“…Yes!”
She quietly placed her hand on mine and smiled softly.
I couldn’t tell whether she had realized my true intentions or not.
In any case, I thought it fortunate enough that Riliet had smiled.
***
Having finished our stroll, we returned to the mansion.
The entire way back, Riliet’s eyes sparkled as she was busy listing everything she had seen today.
“Uncle, how did they perform that feat earlier? Fire burst out of people’s mouths. Is it magic after all?”
“It’s probably not magic. In a sense, it’s a skill even greater than magic.”
“I know! It was amazing. Especially the person spinning five little beanbags—their hands were so fast…!”
We had stopped to watch a circus-like performance happening in the village.
It seemed to have been a good decision after all.
From juggling to fire-breathing shows, acrobatics of contorting bodies into small boxes, and so on.
There was also a shadow play that children might enjoy.
As if trying to imitate it, even after arriving in front of the mansion, Riliet squatted in place and wriggled her hands about, grunting.
Oh my, how cute.
“If the chance arises later, I’ll show you another performance. Look forward to it.”
“Really? Thank yo… ah.”
Riliet, about to bow her head with a flushed face, made an ‘oops’ expression.
Where had the excitement from just moments ago gone?
She quickly wilted and hugged the doll she had bought earlier with force.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”
Nothing, my foot.
She was clearly thinking about that stepmother.
She had been able to go out today thanks to me.
It was obvious she was thinking that there was no guarantee such luck would come again.
Perhaps she wasn’t worried about the distant future, but about the situation that would confront her the moment she returned to the mansion today.
“Are you worried about being scolded by Mother?”
“Yes? H-how did you…?”
“It’s obvious at a glance. Your uncle has eyes that can see everything about his niece.”
“Really!?”
Just how pure must she be to believe such words?
Given that, it was funny that she hadn’t believed me when I told her she was pretty.
“Don’t worry. I’ll speak well to your mother. You won’t be scolded for a brief outing.”
“But my mother is very strict, will it be alright? Actually, this doll too….”
Hugging the doll tightly as if afraid of losing it, she looked so wretched, so fragile that she seemed like she might shatter at the slightest touch.
To give such a Riliet reassurance.
And also, in part, to implant a small safety measure.
I reached out and temporarily took the doll from Riliet’s embrace.
“Niece, would you watch this?”
“Yes.”
Woooong.
Then, before Riliet’s eyes, I placed my hand on the doll’s stomach and infused it with mana.
When Riliet saw that and tilted her head as if asking what I was doing.
I smiled, handed the doll back, and instead of patting Riliet’s head, I patted the doll’s head.
“There, this child will protect our niece in my place.”
“What? The doll?”
“Yes.”
Perhaps the word ‘merely’ should have preceded Riliet’s question.
Riliet looked the doll over this way and that with eyes full of doubt, enough to make one think so.
For a fleeting instant, she might have thought, ‘Has this uncle finally gone mad?’
But I was neither mad nor drunk.
“So cherish this doll and think of it as your uncle. Alright?”
“Yes! I will treasure it more than my own life.”
“No, there’s no need to go that far….”
I don’t know what to do with such excessive love.
Still, since it seemed Riliet liked the doll that much, I decided to consider it a relief.
“Then shall we go in… hmm?”
The moment I took the prepared Riliet’s hand and tried to enter the mansion.
“Riliet.”
“…Mother.”
With arms crossed as if she had been waiting, we encountered a woman standing at the entrance.
Riliet’s stepmother and my second sister-in-law, Casdia Argent.
“We have matters to discuss, so follow this mother for a moment.”
With eyes filled with blatant displeasure, she swept her gaze over her daughter, then made as if to lead her away like some criminal—at which my eyebrows twitched involuntarily.
“Understood. Uncle, I’m sorry, but I must go to Mother for a moment….”
But Riliet showed not even a hint of resistance, already knowing what words awaited her yet intending to follow anyway.
Grab.
“What matter could it be? Is it something that cannot be said before me?”
I grabbed Riliet’s right hand to stop her from leaving and asked Casdia with a sneer.