Does a Doll Deserve to Live a Happy Life? (Patreon)

Chapter 32: The Final Lesson Begins

Six Months Later

The sounds of battle echoed across the beach as two figures clashed over and over again, each impact sending a shockwave rippling through sand and sea, spraying saltwater high into the air.

Once more their weapons met, locking in a contest of strength. For a brief moment their figures became visible, one a tall, handsome teen with brown hair, fair skin, and crimson eyes narrowed in focus, sword held steady in his grip.

Opposite him stood an impossibly beautiful woman with long purple hair, matching red eyes, and a curvaceous form, wielding a crimson spear with effortless precision.

“Huhuhu, let’s call it here for today, student. If we keep going at this rate, we’ll end up destroying this personal world of ours.” Scáthach said, her small grin softening into a serene smile as she fluidly disengaged. Her spear dissolved into motes of red light moments later.

Nodding, I willed Balmung away in the same manner, after six months of hellish training under Scáthach, I could now freely use every one of Siegfried’s abilities without needing to transform.

“Will you be joining us for dinner today, or will you be busy again?” I asked, wiping the sweat beading on my forehead after our now routine spars after a long day of being tor/trained under her.

“I’ll be skipping today as well. Don’t wait up for me. I can get myself something to eat if I’m hungry.” she replied simply before disappearing in a burst of speed, leaving the air quivering in her wake.

I frowned slightly.

It had been several days now since Scáthach stopped joining us for dinner, which I found strange since she loved when I cooked even if she never said anything. When I asked where she disappeared to, since she spent hours away, only to return late into the night, she simply smiled in that teasing way of hers and told me not to worry.

She wasn’t leaving the Demiplane either; I would’ve sensed it instantly. Instead she slipped off to some distant corner of our expanded realm, spending hours on something she clearly didn’t want to share yet. And while I technically could look into her mind with our Master-Servant bond, I respected her privacy too much to cross that line.

Walking back toward the house, I mulled over everything that had happened in the last six months of training under her.

The first major change had been to the Demiplane itself. After buying the first purchase of Sweet Home Expansion, our home doubled in size, something Teacher insisted on once I explained how my perks worked. Her logic was sound: if we didn’t expand, training would eventually level our home by accident.

The second big purchase came more recently, but was just as important. Finally reaching the six-month mark since my new life began meant I could Buyback an Intensity setting, so I immediately got rid of Delayed Response. Not having to wait a whole extra day for perk purchases to take effect was a relief beyond words.

Next, I had bought the Lure Don’t Stand So Close to Me since it would make training sessions more personal and allow me to really get to know those teaching me or those I taught. And finally, I had bought Talent Sharing (Soul, Martial), Science Talent, Engineering Talent, and Performance Talent to cover all my bases and allow the others to also grow stronger a bit easier.

But the real core of my life these past months?

Training. Endless training.

If I wasn’t on a date with Tamamo every other week, I was fighting, bleeding, sweating, and more than once wondering if I had made the right decision to have Scáthach as my teacher. My enhanced Dragon body and Campione durability kept me alive, but she still pushed me to the brink enough times that an ordinary human would’ve died a dozen times over.

Artoria definitely didn’t help matters; being as competitive as she was, she also took to training with me from time to time, never holding back in our spars.

Not that my half-hearted complaints fooled anyone, least of all me. I knew full well how much stronger I’d become under their combined tutelage. It’s the reason I may or may not have been sneakily making their favorite foods whenever I had the chance. Scáthach was definitely onto me if those amused glances she sent my way every time her preferred meal hit the table meant anything.

Under her guidance, I finally mastered all the abilities I’d inherited from Siegfried and Frankenstein, no longer relying on instinct the way I used to or having to transform. Then we moved on to my Campione abilities, and I was relieved to note that my body had finally reached the standards of a regular Campione. At this point, I was basically a walking tank, and an absolute terror for any mortal mage dumb enough to try something thanks to my immense magic resistance.

As for my Authorities, I’d managed to unlock all ten of Verethragna’s Avatars, though I could only use them once a day at my current level. I still had a long way to go before fully mastering Godou’s template. The dude had at least seven Authorities from what I could feel and remember, and I’d only unlocked one so far.

When we weren’t drilling my existing powers, Scáthach taught me the secrets of leaping and her runic magecraft. Normally, I wouldn’t have progressed so quickly in fields like those with my attention split amongst everything else I trained. But thanks to the Company and, my truly ridiculous learning rate, I managed to keep up. Being trained by someone so overwhelmingly stronger than me definitely didn’t hurt either.

Thanks to that, I could now wield a spear — nothing fancy, just something taken from the Armory in the Mansion that I had to replace often — with a skill comparable to my swordsmanship. I also learned a decent amount of runic magecraft, though it was still my weakest craft by far.

Over time, I even managed to form a close bond with Scáthach, something Tamamo was not thrilled about. Any time they were in the same room, Tamamo would immediately try to stake her claim, much to everyone else’s amusement.

Speaking of Tamamo, with all the dates we’d gone on, none of them in Japan, because neither of us wanted to deal with the inevitable headaches waiting for us there, she’d been getting a bit bold lately. Kiara, Artoria, and even Scáthach taking an interest in me recently certainly wasn’t helping matters.

The only reason we hadn’t taken our relationship to the next step was at my request. I told Tamamo that I wanted to wait until I saw Jeanne again. After telling Jeanne everything I’d gone through, explaining my feelings for Tamamo, and possibly the other girls, I wanted to hear what she thought. Whether she accepted me or not, I wanted to be honest with her before moving forward, with no guilt twisting in the back of my mind.

As mentioned, both Kiara and Artoria had been getting a lot closer to me lately. Whether that was due to the Stamp or my own charm, everyone definitely noticed. Which meant I’d been finding myself in more compromising situations than I’d like, sometimes from bad luck, sometimes very much on purpose. Especially in Scáthach’s case.

Thankfully, Lancelot and I had maintained our old Master-and-Servant dynamic from before. Aside from a few quiet conversations, nothing between us had really changed.

The biggest change, however, was little Eri. She’d become our shared bundle of joy, someone who could instantly brighten a room just by entering it. Her presence alone brought out smiles, warmth, and a sense of peace none of us realized we’d been missing. She’d come a long way from the trembling little girl who once flinched at the slightest touch, desperate for anyone to save her.

I’d continued our music lessons, and Eri could now play several simple songs on the ukulele. I’d picked up a few on the piano myself. We even put on a little show one night, playing Christmas songs together when December rolled in.

Hearing my name being called, I was pulled from my thoughts and looked up, only to smile as I saw Eri making a beeline for me, sprinting down the sidewalk at full speed.

“Sieg-san~! Are you finished with your training?” she yelled at the top of her lungs, a huge grin lighting up her whole face.

I opened my mouth to answer… and then my eyes widened as she suddenly tripped. I appeared beside her in an instant, catching her before she could hit the ground and pulling her gently into my arms, one hand cradling her head against my chest.

“Hehe, careful, princess. It’s been raining the past few days, so the path is still a little slippery,” I warned softly, booping her nose with a smile.

Eri giggled, covered her nose with both hands, then threw her arms around my neck.

“Hihihi, it’s okay though! Because I know that if I’m ever in any danger, Sieg-san—or my Aunties and Uncles—will rescue me~!” she declared with an impish grin.

“Of course we will. Nobody hurts our unicorn princess,” I replied playfully, though completely serious, as I started tickling her sides.

“Noo! No tickles, hihihi!” Eri squealed, wriggling helplessly while trying to push my hands away with her tiny arms.

“Hurry up, you two, before dinner gets cold,” an amused voice called out, making both of us blink at the same time. We turned to see Kiara standing by the entrance, a soft smile on her face.

“We better hurry then,” I nodded.

Eri shuffled in my arms before climbing up to my shoulders, grabbing onto my head while I held her legs steady so she wouldn’t fall.

“Forward, mighty dragon!” Eri proclaimed, pointing dramatically toward the house as if commanding her noble steed.

“Aye, aye, princess,” I said, marching forward obediently.

“I’m assuming Miss Scáthach won’t be joining us today either?” Kiara asked softly as she fell into step beside me.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “She told us to go ahead without her.”

“Very well.” Kiara accepted this with a nod, then slipped her hand around my right arm and pressed it into her ample cleavage, one of the many small changes in her behavior over the past six months. Heat rushed to my face instantly.

And of course, she noticed. And of course, she smirked, which only made it worse.

It only took us a few moments to reach the kitchen, where I was greeted by the familiar faces of the people I’d been living with for the past half-year.

Tamamo immediately looked up with a bright smile, only for her eye to twitch slightly when she noticed Kiara still holding onto me.

“Sieg-kun, we’ve been waiting for you~ I saved you a seat,” she said, pointing to the chair right beside her and very obviously ignoring Kiara’s existence.

“Thanks,” I smiled, and as soon as Kiara let go of my arm, I took my seat. Eri plopped into the chair on my other side, and Tamamo instantly latched onto my arm possessively, shooting Kiara a smug little look. Kiara ignored it with the grace of someone long accustomed to Tamamo’s antics.

I glanced at Artoria, who was watching the exchange with the deadpan boredom of someone who’d witnessed this exact scene roughly four hundred times already.

“Did you enjoy your visit to your former home, Artoria?” I asked. Earlier this morning, she, Tamamo, Kiara, Lancelot, and Eri had taken a trip to the UK since Artoria had been curious about seeing her homeland again.

Her posture straightened a little, and a soft smile grew on her face. She no longer looked like the fifteen-year-old girl she’d once resembled; she’d finally managed to age properly and now looked closer to seventeen. Bit by bit, she was growing into a young woman. I had no doubt she’d eventually look nearly identical to her Lancer self.

“It was certainly a surprise to see how far my home country has come since my time,” she said, lifting her glass for a sip of juice just as Kiara began placing dishes on the table. “There were many things I wasn’t expecting… but I enjoyed myself. If we have the time, I would like to show you where I grew up.”

“Of course. I’d love to see where you spent your childhood,” I said, genuinely curious.

Artoria blushed faintly and looked away, absently twirling a strand of hair.

“I… I’ll look forward to it. W-While some things are different because this is a different world, many things are still close enough to my memories.”

“Mou, all of you are getting too close to my Sieg-kun lately,” Tamamo pouted, snuggling closer to me. “Just remember: this fox already has a claim on all of Sieg-kun’s firsts.” She ended with a smug smirk that instantly turned Artoria and Kiara red as they sat down.

“S-Stop saying such shameless things in front of Eri, Caster!” Artoria scolded with a flustered scowl, glancing nervously at the girl in question.

Fortunately for everyone’s sanity, Eri was too busy staring starry-eyed at her food, drool and all, to notice a single word of what was being said.

“By the way, Sieg,” Kiara began as she helped serve Eri’s plate, prompting the rest of us to start serving ourselves, “how much longer are we staying in this world?”

Everyone perked up a little at that, even Lancelot, who’d been quietly eating at the end of the table.

“Well…” I leaned back slightly, thinking it over. “The whole reason we came here was to take a bit of a vacation, find someplace where Tamamo wouldn’t get stared at every time we went on a date, and, of course, to train my powers. I don’t ever want to experience almost losing a loved one again.”

My voice dropped near the end, and I glanced toward Tamamo from the corner of my eye. Her expression softened, and she squeezed my hand beneath the table.

Artoria looked down in faint shame, still feeling guilty about having pointed her blade at me back then, even after we’d talked it out.

I gave both her and Tamamo a reassuring smile before continuing, “Anyway… I guess we’ll leave when Teacher decides my training is good enough.”

“Where is she, anyway? Is she still going off on her own?” Artoria asked, glancing around as if expecting purple hair to materialize from the shadows.

“Yes,” I said with a nod, having complete confidence in my teacher by this point. “I’m sure there is a reason for her actions, and she’ll explain when she believes is right.”

“I see. If that is what you believe, then I have no further comments,” Artoria replied politely.

“Aunty Sca– Sca– Scaffy is really nice~!” Eri chimed in proudly after swallowing her mouthful of food, completely butchering Scáthach’s name.

“Hmhm, she sure is,” I said, wiping her mouth gently and earning a bright grin in return.

From there, the chatter resumed, drifting into lighter topics as dinner continued, just another peaceful evening in our strange little family inside our personal world.

=====

Following Day

Standing before Scáthach at the dawn of a new day, I blinked the moment I noticed something… different about her.

For one, her familiar red spear wasn’t in her hands like it almost always was. Second, there was a strange expression on her face, something like pride, but mixed with something I couldn’t quite place.

But the most telling thing was what she was holding.

A red spear. One similar to her own… yet undeniably different.

Surprised, I stared at her with a confused, yet unmistakably hopeful expression. “…Teacher, is that—?”

“Hmhmhm. Yes.” She smiled, twirling the spear with her usual effortless mastery. “As you’ve likely guessed, this spear I hold is not mine.”

My breath hitched.

“I spent the last couple of days crafting this for you,” she continued, tone calm but eyes gleaming. “Using several Ash Tree branches and the remains of a sea monster I kept in the Land of Shadows. However…” Her smile shifted into a sharp, bloodthirsty smirk, “it is not yours yet, my student.”

She suddenly hurled the spear toward me.

Caught off guard, I still reacted on instinct, snatching it out of the air with one hand. I gave it a few testing spins, feeling its weight, balance, and flow. It was perfect, perfectly suited to my current frame.

I looked back at Scáthach, only to find she now held two of her spears.

Something she had never done against me before.

My eyes widened as realization hit me like a bolt.

“That’s right,” she said, voice firm and unyielding as she slid into her stance. “If you want that spear, prove to me that you are capable of wielding it properly. Attack me with everything you have. Hold nothing back.”

There was no dissuading her. There never was.

So I took a steady breath, tightened my grip around the spear, and stepped into my stance to mirror hers.

“Very well,” I answered, my voice steady, while an excited smile I hadn’t intended crept onto my lips.

Her smirk widened, filled with pride and lethal intent.

“Prepare yourself, my student. I won’t be holding back today.” A beat. “Try not to die, will you?”

And without another word, we launched ourselves at each other.

‘I will prove that you never wasted your time on me,’ I thought fiercely—

—just before our spears clashed and the world exploded into motion.