After hearing something that seemed unlike what a magic doll would say, Qualia once again looked into Ace’s blank eyes.
“Request explanation. It is understood that magic dolls do not originally need to eat.”
“There is no need, but I want it.”
“Request explanation. Do you desire ‘tasty’?”
“I don’t know. But it does not run against the orders given by my master, so there is no issue.”
“Request accepted.”
There was no reason in particular for Qualia to say no, so he handed over what remained of the diced steaks.
Ace chewed carefully, as though it was not her first time.
She was savoring it.
“Request explanation. Is it tasty?”
“Yes, tasty. Request more.”
“Request denied. Qualia does not have the money. To acquire more food, the appropriate amount of money is necessary.”
“How is it possible to acquire money?”
“It is possible through rewards established in your duties.”
“There is a contradiction. My master does not reward me for my duties.”
“That is because Ddos perceives you to be a tool.”
It was not just Ddos. Most humans who knew about them saw magic dolls as tools who did not need to be rewarded.
They were scrap that could be worked until they could no longer function, and no one would bat an eye if they were destroyed or could not move anymore.
None of this was acceptable treatment for people.
“Qualia will hack your magic stone, and remove the records of Ddos’ instructions.
But Ddos’ orders were in the way, if they were to escape from the classification of tools.
Qualia reached over to Ace’s chest again. Carelessly touching a girl’s torso was registered as a prohibited action, but the situation left him with no choice.
Ace looked younger and shorter than Lobelia and Spirito, and her budding chest did not produce any particular errors in Qualia as he reached out.
“Do you have anything in mind towards my magic stone?”
“Qualia will hack your magic stone. Touching it is necessary.”
“Understood.”
Ace, not knowing the meaning of the word hack, pulled up her clothes, trying to expose her upper body.
Qualia stopped her when she reached her bellybutton.
“That action is wrong… Error. For the sake of Ace, disposing of visual information acquisition… Failed.”
Her young but nearing completion waist and the bottom of the chest that was beginning to swell would not leave Qualia’s memory. Even if he closed his eyes, a malfunction began to occur in his thought circuits.
As for Ace, as she exposed her body, she seemed to not care about being seen by Qualia, or by the eyes of people around her, who looked at her as though she was odd.
“Is there an issue?”
“Request explanation. Why are you removing your clothes? That is perceived to be a harmful action for a girl like you.”
“I have to remove my clothes for you to touch the magic stone.”
“There is no need. It can be done through the material of your clothes.”
“Also, my imitation body is shaped like a female’s, but I am not equipped with any particular shame function. Therefore, there is no reluctance in me to show my body.”
“There is in Qualia.”
“I am not a brothel magic doll, so there is no erotic appeal. If erotic behavior is what you want, it is recommended that you order a magic doll made for brothels.”
“Negative. Qualia won’t take ‘not tasty’ actions towards you.”
Even if he was told to enter a bath and open his heart, or to open his eyes in a bathing area, or if someone told him it was all right to see her naked, Qualia would not take action to see or touch a female naked body.
Although a boy like Qualia did find them appealing.
It was simply ‘not tasty’.
This was a conclusion that resulted from an odd basis, but he followed through with his intentions.
“…!”
At the same time, Qualia detected something.
Ace stood as though there was a question mark on top of her head, as the radar system working in tandem with the contact lens to detect ancient magic stones showed a reaction.
“Detecting the signal of a black hole.”
“Detecting neutralized magic dolls nearby.”
They said at almost the same time.
Ace detected irregularities with her fellow magic dolls. Magic dolls had the ability to know where other magic dolls were, even at long distances.
As a result, both looked in the same direction, as they detected different irregularities.
“There is a possibility that magic dolls are being neutralized by beast people from Azure Skies. I will head there.”
Ace took off running, without waiting for a response.
She followed Ddos’ will implanted in her through her role as a magic doll, and moved as if being pulled by strings.
But Qualia saw both beast people and magic dolls as targets to be saved.
He wanted to see both smile. That meant he could not let the escaped beast people be killed, but also wanted to prevent the magic dolls from being taken down in return.
But he received information of a task that superseded that. In the direction where Ace was running, he detected the reaction of an ancient magic stone.
Not only that, but it appeared suddenly, despite being constantly active.
“Ace, request that you stop… No response. Qualia will also hurry.”
It was an emergency.
He could not let Ace go alone, so he also ran as fast as he could.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
Unlike the shill from before, the townspeople running in the opposite direction screamed with real fear.
They passed by both Ace and Qualia, as they finally reached the source of the stream of people.
“Stealth.”
They had not noticed yet that the leader of Azure Skies, Liebe, was present, but had completely disappeared from their perception.
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I just realized the merchant’s name is a pun. Ddos. Like D-dos, which I think is hacking servers to prevent them from working properly…