I arrived at Mizuno-san’s house.
As always, it was an impressive mansion, but I felt like the home garden had expanded, the number of chickens had increased, and there were more aquariums than before.
Kuro seemed to be playing in the yard with Shiro.
「Oh, here’s a souvenir. Dungeon chestnuts and dungeon matsutake mushrooms from Wakakusa Mountain Dungeon. And some regular seedless persimmons.」
「Wow, thanks! But there’s no way I can finish all these chestnuts.」
Well, that Treant chestnut tree dropped an insane amount of them.
「Why not share some with your part-timer? Speaking of which, isn’t she coming today? Wasn’t it Karen-chan?」
「Yeah, she’s off today. After working full-time for a total of sixteen hours over the weekend, she needs a proper break.」
A break? What about school?
If she’s been working nonstop, maybe schoolwork feels more like a change of pace?
Yeah, I get it.
There was a time when I was diving into PDs nonstop, and school classes became my way of taking a breather.
But that’s a dangerous habit. She really should take proper breaks.
Should we make Sundays a day off? But then, would that mess up the deadlines?
No, that would be pushing the limits of what a student should be doing.
I’ll ask Hime to reduce the number of deliveries.
No good?
The work has already expanded beyond just Mizuno-san’s place—other companies are involved in making the parts, so if Mizuno-san cuts back, it’ll affect their workload too?
And since some nearby companies have already made equipment investments for business expansion, it would be a huge inconvenience?
You understand because you’re also a small business?
Sorry, I was just trying to look out for you, but if that’s the case… yeah.
「Besides, once the puppet is complete, it can help with the work, so things should get easier.」
「But it doesn’t have any skills, right? Can it even assist with magic tool crafting?」
「Nope. But work doesn’t end with just making magic tools. Carrying supplies is part of the job too. Even just helping with daily chores would be a huge relief.」
「It can do that?」
「Probably. I think it’d be easier than trying to develop a household robot using advanced AI technology.」
The latest cutting-edge technology rendered powerless against an outrageous civilization of magic… huh.
Now that I think about it, I remember hearing on the news that semiconductor-related stock prices dropped after dungeons appeared.
Did they already foresee that this would happen?
「Alright, I’ll give it a try. I’ll start by making it from a regular Elder Treant log.」
With that, Mizuno-san took out a knife and began working on the Elder Treant log.
Oh, so this part isn’t done using a skill?
I thought they’d carve it into the shape of a doll, but instead, it’s being divided into smaller components.
Even a single finger consists of about four separate parts.
They’re drilling holes, probably to thread strings through them.
「That’s impressive. You can craft something this intricate with a skill?」
「No, I haven’t used a skill yet.」
「What!? You haven’t!?」
「Nope. I’ll only use skill at the very end. I’ve always been good at delicate work, but since blacksmith Awakeners gain DEX stats more easily, I’ve gotten even faster.」
「My DEX stat is over 2000 too, but I don’t think I could pull this off.」
「You need practice.」
Practice—so it really comes down to practice after all.
Mizuno-san connected the parts with multiple strings.
The result was a short and stout, rather cute-looking puppet, but in this state, it couldn’t even stand on its own.
Finally, they activated the skill.
The puppet suddenly stood upright on its own.
「Alright, success! Puppet-kun, take one step forward!」
The puppet stepped forward.
「Step back. Right turn! Left turn! About-face!」
The puppet followed each command precisely.
「Grab the pencil on that desk and bring it back.」
Without nodding or hesitating, the puppet walked over to the desk, jumped up, caught the pencil, and returned with it.
Whoa, that’s pretty nimble.
It should have a lot of strength, but it can control its grip well enough not to crush the pencil.
「Well done. Good job.」
Mizuno-san patted the puppet on the head.
「That’s seriously impressive. You’re not going to end up swamped with puppet-making now, are you?」
「No need to worry about that. Puppets only obey their creator’s commands, and I can only control a few at a time, so they’re not something I can mass-produce and sell.」
「Hmm. Then, I wonder how much they can actually do. Think they could do my homework?」
I showed the puppet today’s assigned homework.
「No, Ichino-kun. You need to do your own homework.」
「It’s just an experiment. Besides, it probably can’t do it anyway.」
「I guess so. Alright, Puppet-kun, try solving this problem.」
I placed a notebook in front of the puppet and showed it the problem.
It was an inequality involving square roots.
Even I would need some time to solve this—wait, what?
The pencil moved smoothly across the page, and in no time, the puppet had finished the problem.
Did it actually get it right?
I compared the notebook with the answer key at the back of the textbook.
Correct. Correct. Correct… Oh, this one’s wrong.
A simple calculation mistake.
「Weirdly human-like, huh?」
「Ehto, I think this little guy can do whatever I can. It even makes the same kinds of mistakes I do… like those little calculation errors.」
「I see… So the puppet’s intelligence is on the same level as its creator’s.」
If I had made the puppet, it probably wouldn’t have made it past the first problem.
But something else caught my attention.
「This puppet seems pretty strong. Must be because it’s made from Elder Treant wood.」
「Yeah. But I designed this one as a helper. If I modified it for combat, it would be even stronger.」
Huh, it can get even stronger?
「If that puppet defeats a monster, would it count toward leveling you up, Mizuno-san?」
「Huh? Hold on a sec.」
Mizuno-san pulled out their phone and started searching.
「Oh… Yeah, it looks like I do gain experience from it. Wait, Ichino-kun, don’t tell me—」
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