It was storming that day.
Rain struck the ground as if trying to wash it away, and enormous bolts of lightning fell towards the earth.
The light from these strikes illuminated the inside of a certain house.
A single house, standing in a barren plain.
In that house, two Mad Scientists laughed.
“Hahaha!! MUWAHAHAHAHAH!! FINALLY! IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!”
“YES! AFTER ALL THIS TIME! IT’S FINALLY COMPLETE!”
The two Mad Scientists danced around the room hand in hand.
“To have come this far, it’s all due to Shishou’s peerless techniques.”
“No, no. It’s all due to your boundless knowledge and design. Without that we would never have completed it, Zanoba.”
The two were Rudeus and Zanoba.
The two praised each other and stopped dancing.
In the room with the two of them, a dais was set.
It was a stone dais emitting a strange light.
On that dais, a lone girl lay there sleeping completely bare.
“It truly took a long time to make it this far.”
Rudeus thought about all their continuous failures.
The first time they tried to activate it ended in failure.
To complete Prototype Unit No.01 many tens of versions and minor changes were necessary.
As a result, what they got after activation was a golem that could comply with simple commands.
This in itself was something which would be in great demand, but what the two strived for was something much different.
For Prototype Unit No.02 an Artificially Intelligent core and a body closer to a human’s were to be developed.
Of course, the failures continued.
The body gradually became more human-like, but to make its movements more human, changing the flesh was very difficult but but tampering with the core to the same end could cause it to fail to activate.
To make it as human as possible they had to achieve the perfect balance.
Failures led to more failures.
They re-examined the memoirs of the Eccentric Dragon King Chaos many times over.
They even asked the Armoured Dragon King Pergius for advice and gained insights into magic formations and spirit summoning.
The Dragon God Orsted gave them rare magic stones and knowledge of many materials.
But despite that, the failures continued.
The unreachable domain of the Mad Dragon King. They shed tears at the thought of never touching it.
They failed, shed tears, tried once more, and failed once again.
But each time they failed, they learned something new, slowly making progress.
And finally, one month later.
At last, they had succeeded.
They had succeeded in activating a doll of temporary composition.
The Prototype Unit No.03.
It had no face but without a doubt, it activated.
They were overjoyed at the success.
After taking the Data from the Prototype Unit No.03 they immediately began work on the next unit.
The Prototype Unit No.04
The Prototype Unit No.04 had specs quite close to the finished product.
The body and face of a human, lips that moved when it talked and it made full use of its limbs to move freely.
But in actual fact, the two of them hadn’t completed all the experiments on the Prototype Unit No.03.
They hadn’t examined for all possible flaws.
In their pursuit of their ideal doll and perfect form, they did not have the patience.
And so, they brushed the process aside and began work on the almost complete Prototype Unit No.04.
But that in itself was a good thing.
Everything Prototype Unit No.03 could do Prototype Unit No.04 could too.
They still had to perform the system check on the Prototype Unit No.04 and test its compatibility with the tasks that they would have the finished product undergo.
That was fine, they thought.
This is the next step, they thought.
What we want to see it beyond this, they thought.
This is the Automaton that we want to see, they thought.
“Now then! I’m activating it~!”
“Yeah!”
Zanoba reached out to the magic stone on the girl’s modest chest with an excited expression.
Within that magic stone, in the chest of the girl was the core.
The tiny complicated magic formation in the Core was the girl’s heart.
After the Core activates, the Doll would stand on it’s own feet, learn, make it’s own decisions, and absorb mana with it’s own power allowing for semi-permanent activity.
It’s was perfect autonomous doll.
Of course if that happens it’s possible that it could collapse from mana exhaustion.
But if that happens it would just need to be rested on the platform until all it’s magic recovered.
But when Rudeus first proposed that, Zanoba had said:
“If it needs a human to restart it, doesn’t that make it incomplete?”
But Rudeus replied to him:
“Of course not, that in itself is perfection.
When people fall and can’t get up by themselves, it’s by borrowing the hands of others that they can stand once more.”
“…”
Zanoba’s hand began to hesitate.
Would even he hesitate at having to touch the chest of a small girl?
No, he wasn’t someone to have doubts over something like that.
“…Shishou why don’t you do it?”
“No, the reason we made it this far was your hard work, you do it.”
Zanoba was frightened.
They were about to realise their ideal.
The thing they had been dreaming about for more than 10 years.
But he wasn’t originally a timid man.
He was someone unrelated to indecision.
“I understand… Then, I will activate it!”
“Yeah!”
Zanoba’s hand slowly reached towards the girl’s chest.
Slowly and carefully as if touching something fragile his hand crept along the girl’s skin towards the magic stone.
The mana needed for activation wasn’t that large.
It was an amount anyone could provide.
“…『Awaken, my beloved daughter』”
The moment Zanoba said the activation incantation, his mana was sucked through his finger.
The red light on the platform began to turn blue.
the second he confirmed that, he removed his hand.
“…”
Several seconds passed in silence.
The two men held their breath and watched the girl activate.
The post activation process was automatic.
After the chant and input of the initial mana, all that was left to do was watch.
“…”
The girl, silently opened her eyes.
She had dark black pupils.
And at the same time, the physical connection to the platform was severed.
After the connection was severed, the girl slowly sat up.
She had pure white hair.
She was so slender, you would think she didn’t have the slightest trace of muscle.
Her breasts were small but the shape was perfect and her figure was so beautiful you wouldn’t think it belonged to a young girl.
This was the crystallisation of Zanoba and Rudeus’s many years of experience in doll creation and art.
Her body was made of artificial flesh and her bones were of the same strength as the Magic Armour.
The artificial flesh used Rudeus’s earth magic clay as a base, mixed with the scales of Red Dragons and Phantom Butterflies that have high magic power and finally, the sap of an Elder Treant and Immortal Race blood.
This was the compound that was completed after continuous trial and error with high class materials. While possessing exceptional durability, it also had a feel extremely close to human skin.
What made the body move were magic formations carved into the bones.
These formations cause the artificial flesh to solidify and move like muscle.
The principle was the same as the Magic Armour.
“But still, what should we teach it?”
“Since we’ve already confirmed that it can complete simple tasks, we should see just how adaptable it is and test the extent of its independent thought.”
“There’s a whole heap of things to look into. Let’s just get through whatever we can.”
The two were discussing their future plans while drinking.
After it had successfully activated they didn’t make it do anything considerable.
But it did manage to skillfully interpret a vague order
She had the fundamental knowledge of the earlier models and would continue learning by herself.
But they still didn’t know just how far it’s intellect would stretch.
Like the extent of what it could learn or things it couldn’t do.
Or how far it could think for itself and make it’s own decisions.
“Leave it to me. I’ll take responsibility and teach it all kinds of things.”
“Don’t go teaching it anything you shouldn’t.”
“I would return those words right back at you.”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“Hahahahaha.”
The two were drinking merrily and thinking about what to do next.
But then Zanoba changed the conversation topic.
“Right, the『byproducts』that you made have been selling well too.”
“We did end up making all kinds of other things in the middle of research. Have you been selling them at the store?”
“The frog bag is particularly popular.”
“Oh really…”
To get the proper consistency of human skin, Rudeus tried all different kinds of combinations.
Among them was the cheek pouch of the Rain Force Frog. It was extremely long and thin but also very durable.
He had originally thought to use that to make the skin.
In the end they decided to look for something different to use and made something else from it.
That was…
“The contraceptiveCondom3 is it.”
“Luke-dono is especially pleased with it. He created a factory to produce them in Asura.”
“Asuran nobles really do like that kind of thing…”
“Although you say that, you use it too don''t you?”
“Well yeah.”
Yes, Rudeus used them too.
Almost every night.
After his third and fourth daughters Lily and Christina were born there was a silent agreement that the next child to be born would be Sylphy’s.
Sylphy became the centre, so the nights he spent with Eris and Roxy decreased.
But because the Elves weren’t very fertile, she wasn’t able to conceive a third time.
The fact that Sieg and Lucy were able to be born might simply have been good timing or maybe god was bullying them…
They didn’t know, but when their turns began to decrease Eris and Roxy got restless.
Compared to before, Eris’s desire had settled down but she was still quite lascivious.
The gleam in her eyes was like a wild beast.
But if Rudeus would accompany her, she might end up pregnant.
And that’s where the condom comes in.
If it was used, the wild Eris could be satisfied and there would be no child.
Seeing Eris who was currently bearing her third child, Sylphy didn’t look upset, nor was the atmosphere of the house strained.
It was somewhat of a godsend.
“…Well, you know, it’s not too good for the amount of children to increase if the number of people to look after them doesn’t as well.”
“You could just employ a maid.”
“If I hired a maid, she wouldn’t look after me too. Six people is just too many.”
“Hahaha… That’s just like you Shishou.”
Zanoba laughed.
Seeing that Rudeus suddenly thought of something.
The question everyone was always thinking of asking.
“Right, what do you think of Julie?”
“In what way?”
“Like, as a second wife?”
“With Julie?”
“Well there is her age, and her status is quite low… But you don’t consider yourself royalty anymore right? It’s not a bad idea right? Being surrounded by kids, praising them, sometimes having to scold them.”
Zanoba listened and then firmly shook his head.
“I won''t get married to her.”
“…Right.”
Hearing his firm reply Rudeus decided to let it go.
Everybody had a line that couldn’t be crossed.
It didn’t seem like he was saying that simply because he didn’t want to marry her.
There were plenty of reasons like his status as royalty, the fact that he was already married or the younger brother that he had killed, or Pax.
“Uugh… My head hurts.”
The next day.
Rudeus began to detox the pain in his head and got up.
Looking outside the window, the storm had blown over and a cloudless sky opened up before him.
“It’s already noon… I must have drank too much.”
But, for some reason, drinking together as men was too good.
Celebratory drinks especially.
Yesterday they were bewildered at the dolls shamelessness, but that was another thing.
Now that the Prototype was complete, the next step would be the fun part.
The dream before them. Their overflowing hope. Their bursting love.
Thinking those kinds of things, Rudeus looked towards the doll’s face and…
“…Wha?”
It wasn’t there.
The doll wasn’t on the dais.
All he could see was an empty platform.
“Wait a second, huh? What? Umm, Zanoba~? What’d you do with the doll~?”
Zanoba had probably woken up before him and gone to teach it.
Thinking that, he began to look around.
He then saw wrapped in a blanket in the corner of the room, Zanoba just waking up.
“Hmm~… Shishou, the doll is still suspended on the dais isn’t it.”
“Suspended?”
Rudeus suddenly remembered.
After they had put clothes on it they had definitely put it to sleep on the dais.
There was no doubt that they had put it asleep.
“……Did we suspend it?”
But to properly suspend it, it was necessary to give it the order to shut down.
You had to place your hand on the magic stone and recite the chant.
They hadn’t done that.
“S-Search!”
“U-Understood!”
The two began to search for the doll in a panic.
But they couldn’t find it anywhere.
Not in the lab or anywhere else.
The doll had disappeared.
―○●○―
1. This line made me feel weird translating it.
2. This it a term for hyper-reaslistic sex dolls, but with the context it''s used in here ''sex doll'' isn''t an appropriate term. See This for details. Original term: ダッチワイフ
3. Kanji says contraceptive but is read "Condom"