Chapter 8: Rolling Chaos

Thud. Thud.

The turtle bulldozed its way forward, demolishing nearby buildings with its overwhelming mass.

The drugged-up people scattered in panic like a frightened flock of sheep.

The buildings crumbled completely, leaving the surroundings clean and clear.

‘Ah, what a refreshing sight for a fine morning.’

The doll offered a cup of tea toward me.

I accepted it, taking a sip and savoring the aroma.

‘Maybe I’ll let it roll around a bit this time.’

Sensing my intent, the turtle flipped onto its back.

One roll, two rolls—buildings collapsed like brittle cookies.

I felt a surge of relief, as if all my accumulated stress was washing away.

‘This is pure happiness. This is life.’

The turtle kept rolling, efficiently clearing out an area of about 1 kilometer.

On that barren expanse, my shop stood tall, alone and unscathed.

Watching this spectacle from the rooftop, I felt deeply satisfied.

‘I’d been thinking about this since I decided to set up my shop here—flattening everything around it.’

But I lacked the magic and strength to make it happen.

Then my dear turtle understood my wish and took care of it all.

‘Ah, I’m so moved. Truly, this father is proud of you.’

Of course, I was controlling it the whole time.

The turtle roared.

Two months had passed since I’d created it.

The sense of unity I felt during its creation had been fleeting.

Over time, my connection with it had weakened, and now only a faint link remained.

Yet, it was enough to control the turtle.

My sapling inside my chest seemed especially fond of the turtle.

Whenever I controlled the turtle, the sapling would meld into the connection, acting as a sort of auxiliary control system.

Thanks to that, I could pilot the turtle as effortlessly as if I were operating a drone in a past life.

During this process, I felt the sapling forging a new magical bond.

‘I don’t know when it will bloom, but when it does, it’ll likely become a new unique magic of its own.’

I gleefully maneuvered the turtle.

Unlike my other dolls, which had their own magic cores and didn’t require direct control, this was a rare hands-on experience.

While I’d considered it inefficient, it turned out to be quite different.

There was a certain satisfaction in directly controlling it.

‘Maybe that’s why my dormant memories from my past life feel clearer as I do this.’

Once the turtle had finished its task, I summoned it back and stored it in my spatial pocket.

What had once seemed like an endlessly vast space now felt cramped for the turtle.

The spatial pocket, stretched to its limits, became incredibly heavy with its presence.

I sipped my tea while gazing at the wide-open landscape.

‘Ah, this leisure—this is the happiness I seek.’

***

“Hey, there!”

A voice suddenly rang out from above.

Simultaneously, something plummeted down beside me.

The metallic scent of iron wafted sharply into the air.

Frowning, I covered my nose.

It was the sword maniac.

“I came by about a month ago, but you weren’t here. Then I heard you were up to something fun, so I came back to check it out!”

A middle-aged man with a muscular build, carrying five swords strapped to his waist, stood before me.

He was the leader of the sword maniacs gathered in the slums.

“What do you want, sword maniac?”

“Come on now, stop calling me that. Call me Evan, will you? Hahaha!”

He tried to slap me on the back, but the doll pouring my tea extended a hand to block it.

His hand smashed right through the doll’s arm like it was nothing and struck my back directly, making me stumble.

‘This muscular pig.’

I released a swarm of flying bugs.

The bugs darted toward his chest, but before they could explode, his hand snatched them out of the air and crushed them effortlessly.

Laughing, he tossed the mangled bugs back to me.

I called the bugs back into my arms before they could attack again.

‘Damn it. There’s not a single way to win against this guy.’

‘This is why fighting isn’t my specialty. What good are grand attack spells when a guy like that can swing a sword and erase everything? I hate swords. Damn sword maniacs.’

“So, why are you here?” I asked.

“Well, the doll I bought a while back broke.”

Evan dumped a massive four-legged carrier doll onto the ground.

It was a simple transport model.

‘When did he buy that? A year ago, maybe?’ He had also taken some processed mana stones to use as batteries. It shouldn’t have broken down so soon.

“Broke, you say?” I glanced at it. It had several clean cut marks. ‘This bastard definitely slashed it.’

“You jerk. How many times did you slash this thing?”

“What are you talking about? It just collapsed on its own!”

I used magic to lift the doll into the air and shoved it in his face, pointing at the cut marks.

“See these? These are clearly from your sword.”

“Are they? I don’t see anything…”

“Huh?”

“Well, maybe I got a little carried away while fighting monsters and hit it a few times.”

I frowned.

‘That’s impossible. The doll is programmed to flee during combat.’

After persistent questioning, he finally confessed.

“Well, you see, riding on its back was incredibly comfortable. I used it during fights, and… well… I may have gotten a bit too enthusiastic. Hahaha!”

‘This beast of a man.’ I suppressed my anger.

‘Talking sense to him is pointless.’

Activating my magic, I summoned several dolls from inside the shop.

They climbed to the rooftop and carried the damaged carrier doll to the workshop for repairs.

“Mana stones. Ten.”

“What? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Fifteen.”

“How can you just raise the price like that?”

“Twenty…”

“Fine! Fifteen, it is! Fifteen is perfect. Here you go!”

He tossed me a pouch.

I opened it and checked its contents.

‘Hmm, this condensed mana scent. It’s genuine.’

“Come back tomorrow.”

Fixing the doll wasn’t actually a big deal.

Its magic core was intact, so I just needed to build a new body for it.

But this sword maniac annoyed me, so I overcharged him.

“Got it. By the way, I’ve got some interesting news.”

Evan smirked slyly.

‘This can’t be good.’

“You ran into my daughter during the last trial, didn’t you?”

Pfft. I spat out my tea.

He chuckled wickedly.

‘Daughter? This guy has a daughter? No, wait—it must be one of his subordinates. Like that father on the island, he probably calls all his underlings sons and daughters.’

“My daughter got into college recently. First time in thirty years that someone from our sword clan made it to college. All my brothers got together to celebrate. And, well, your name came up.”

My ominous feeling intensified.

I tried to block my ears with magic, but it was too late.

His words drilled into my head.

“She said it was thanks to you! Apparently, during the trial, she gained enlightenment while slicing through all those dolls you threw at her. After that, the rest of the exam felt like a breeze. Hahaha!”

‘Shit. So that sword maniac girl was his daughter?!’

Furious, I hurled my teacup.

Evan dodged it easily, still laughing.

The world is so unfair.

Some people lose everything they have and still fail, while others swing a sword a few times and succeed.

Damn it, I ended up being a sacrificial offering for someone else’s success.

“As soon as I heard about the dolls, I knew it was you. She wanted to come and thank you in person before leaving for college, but you weren’t around. She was disappointed. Haha, you’ve got talent, you know, charming someone twenty years younger than you already.”

His mouth was the problem.

I glared at it as he continued to spout nonsense.

But there was no way to shut him up.

No matter what I did, he’d just laugh it off.

He must’ve come here with the sole purpose of mocking me.

Using magic, I blocked my ears.

Somehow, though, his voice still seeped through, breaking past my barrier. Damn it.

“But you know,” he continued, “I was thinking. Isn’t this your tenth failure now? You’ve entered the double digits, so I thought I’d drop by with some encouraging words. Of course, my daughter passed on her first try, but hey! The moment I saw her, I realized it—she doesn’t belong in a place like this.”

My mind started to reel.

‘Is he taking revenge because I overcharged him for the mana stones?’

“Of course, I’m not saying you belong here either. I was just talking about my daughter. Hahaha!”

His thunderous laughter echoed in my ears.

“Just leave already!” I shouted, ready to leap off the rooftop.

But in an instant, he was upon me, grabbing me before I could escape.

His speed was so fast that even my dolls couldn’t react.

I struggled and thrashed, but I couldn’t break free from his iron grip.

“Now, now, listen to the end, my friend. Sure, it took me three tries to get into college, but isn’t it true that most of the wizards in this area are crawling around trying to get into one? You’re quite exceptional among them. It’s just… your magic feels a bit stale.”

Dangling helplessly in his grasp, I was forced to listen to his endless drivel.

I couldn’t even pass out—his magic kept me alert, preventing me from escaping the torment.

For over thirty minutes, I endured his lecture.

My ears felt like they were bleeding, my eyes were bloodshot, and my head pounded with pain.

‘Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.’

I hate sword maniacs.

Sword maniacs should all disappear.

Finally, satisfied, he stopped talking.

I collapsed on the spot, too drained to protest.

‘This is why strength is everything for a wizard. If I were stronger, I could treat people like him like ants under my feet. Damn it, I’ll become stronger than you, even out of spite.’

I glared at him as he laughed heartily, seeming to notice my resentment.

He laughed even harder.

After a while, his laughter died down, and he scanned the area, lowering his voice.

“All that was just a joke. But I do have some real news to share.”

‘A joke? Nearly killing me was a joke?’ I was about to retort, but what he said next made me hold my breath.

***

“The Explorer is back.”

That terrifying person was back? My body trembled instinctively.

Originally, this slum was divided between two factions—the sword maniacs, led by him, and the drug lords, who enslaved most of the people here.

For nearly fifty years, the drug lords had ruled.

Then, three years ago, they suddenly disappeared overnight without a trace.

Everyone was terrified, trying to uncover what had happened.

I knew the truth before anyone else.

The person responsible came directly to my shop and told me.

“They attacked me out of nowhere, so I killed them all. My doll got damaged in the process,” she had grumbled.

She had been a regular at my shop, buying dolls frequently. I knew she was powerful, but I hadn’t realized she was that powerful.

According to the scattered information that surfaced later, the drug lords had coveted a treasure the Explorer possessed.

They ambushed her—and vanished. That was all.

Such incidents were common in the world of magic.

Entire organizations, villages, or castles disappearing overnight wasn’t unusual.

But when it happened near me, it became personal.

Since then, everyone in the slum had kept a close eye on her movements.

Fortunately, she left as if nothing had happened, and everyone sighed in relief.

But now, she was coming back.

“Ahem. Since she seems to like your dolls, I thought I’d warn you just in case you make a mistake. She’ll be here soon.”

I realized why he was telling me this.

They were too afraid to host her themselves, so they wanted me to handle it.

I couldn’t argue—it was true.

Every two or three years, she came to the slum and bought a bunch of my dolls.

Wait a minute.

Why was I worried? There was no reason to be.

She was a valued customer.

She always purchased a lot, and thanks to her, the drug lords who used to extort me were gone.

“Fine. If she comes looking for you, send her to me. I’ll take care of her.”

I spoke as if I were doing him a favor, feeling all my tension dissipate.

I even found myself grinning.

Evan gave me a strange look, but I didn’t care.

I needed to get back to the shop and tidy up.

I had to make a good impression on such an important customer! Without hesitation, I leaped down to my shop.

Evan called something out after me, but I ignored him.

‘Hmm, what will she buy this time? I’d better polish all the dolls before she arrives. They should look perfect. This is a chance to make some serious money!’

Excitement bubbled as I prepared for her arrival.