I could feel the Regressor's piercing gaze. Calm down, will you? It's just a simulation.

Regardless, Azi answered honestly, without the slightest sense of danger.

"Woof? You're going to play with me? Fetch! Let's play!"

Oh, no. That would just mean more work for me. I quickly changed tack.

"No, no. I'm just kind, weak, good-hearted Mr. Puppetto. Aren't you a cute one?"

"Woof! Thanks! You look, um, not tasty!"

"Do you like tasty things?"

"Yeah! I like tasty things!"

"Really? Cute children deserve candy. Would you like some candy from me?"

"Candy? Woof? Is it food?"

"Of course. You eat it. It's a magical little ball with a refreshing scent and a fruity flavor that gets sweeter the longer you eat it. Every lick of your tongue adds another layer of bliss, filling your mouth."

Azi's salivary glands burst into action. Excited just imagining it, she spun in circles on the spot and cried out.

"Woof! I want some! I want some!"

"Now, shall we go somewhere secluded over there, where no one can see us? Follow me, and I'll give you candy."

"Woof! Let's go!"

"Heh-heh-heh. Come along. I'll show you something that feels good..."

"Woof, woof! Something good! I like good things!"

As I moved Mr. Puppetto, Azi followed excitedly, circling around him. Without a trace of suspicion, she seemed ready to go wherever he went.

The Regressor, who had been quietly watching, gripped Sky Cherry Blossom.

"Heavenly Sword Art, Carving Wind."

A wind blew. Compressed into a thin edge, it flew at Mr. Puppetto like a blade. I read the Regressor's thoughts and hastily moved my hands, but suspended from strings, Mr. Puppetto was bound to lag a beat behind.

The sword energy struck the golem. Mr. Puppetto, who had been about to lead Azi away, had every joint shattered by the Regressor's merciless attack and broke into pieces. His severed limbs swayed pitifully from their strings.

"Aah! Mr. Puppettoooo!"

"W-woof! Candy!"

My marionette! I'd barely managed to put it together by tying strings to a broken golem! Did she have any idea how much work I'd put into every painstaking detail?

"Candy..."

Azi looked down at Mr. Puppetto as though her world had ended. The sight of her gently poking him, hoping he might get back up, was unbearably pitiful.

My face twisted into a fierce scowl as I whipped my head around.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Despite committing property damage and obstruction of official duties, the Regressor answered with a perfectly composed expression.

"What does it look like? I executed a criminal trying to lure a child away with candy."

"Don't get so carried away! This is just a simulation! I was only trying to use Azi as an example of what not to do!"

"Then don't make it so creepy! When you laugh like that, how am I supposed to stop myself?!"

"What's wrong with Mr. Puppetto's laugh? Where would you ever find a more good-natured laugh?!"

Enraged, I flung Mr. Puppetto aside and shouted.

"Mr. Puppetto was simply a kindhearted man who lost his child while she was still young, and lived for the joy of handing out candy to children! He only offered Azi candy because she reminded him of his daughter, and he acted without thinking!"

"You said it was a simulation! Don't give your simulation a weird backstory!"

"You murderer! First the child, and now you've sent her father to join her! Have you no blood or tears? Did a vampire really suck every drop of blood out of you?!"

The vampire, who had been listening quietly, added a soft comment.

"I have never drunk Shei's blood. Though I have taken a little of what she spilled during training."

"Then she was born this violent! Such savagery, unable to tolerate even a mere simulation! I've seen enough!"

I raised a piece of chalk, wrote Shei's name on the blackboard, and drew a huge X over it. Under reasons, I wrote: excessive savagery and aggression, insufficient patience.

"You..."

"Oh? Are you angry? Are you having trouble controlling your rage? Do you feel like resorting to violence despite the stern rule of law and the continued existence of morality? Then you fail!"

Having put her in a no-win situation, I roughly cleared away the shattered puppet. I tossed one of Mr. Puppetto's ribs to Azi, who still hadn't given up on the candy.

Then I turned back and continued my explanation.

"On the other hand, even if the person means no harm, you mustn't follow them in a situation like this. You're not mind readers, so you can't know their intentions, can you? Following them might put you in physical danger, so you must never agree to such requests. Though immediately cutting them down like Trainee Shei is a bit much."

CRUNCH

As I spoke, I heard the sound of a metal strut being crushed off to one side. Azi had chomped down on Mr. Puppetto's steel frame. I wasn't sure why such a light bite had made that crunching noise, though.

When I glanced her way, she was just realizing her mistake and spitting out the mangled strut with a disappointed expression.

I turned back.

"Of course, if you have the physical strength to chew through steel, you're welcome to follow them. That's also why I'm not scolding Azi."

The Regressor sat with her arms crossed, looking defiant.

'Now that the stupid puppet's broken, he'll wrap this up, right?'

Not a chance. I immediately stepped out into the hallway and returned with the prop I'd brought along. It was a mannequin made from the framework of the military armament the Regressor had smashed the other day.

On the visor where its face should have been was a human face I'd drawn. I rapped on the mannequin, with its line-drawn eyes and thick lips, and spoke.

"Anyway, since Mr. Puppetto is out of commission, let's use Mr. Manny the mannequin, whom I brought in case something like this happened. Mr. Manny is a young man with charming dimples in both cheeks."

'Is he actually insane...?'

"Now, Trainee Shei will have a turn! Will Mr. Manny manage to keep his right arm against Trainee Shei?!"

'Does he think I'm some kind of actual psycho? Fine, I'll show him!'

The Regressor stomped up to me, huffing. What a positive attitude.

I waved the mannequin's hand to greet her.

"You have such good energy. Have you heard of the Way?"

"The Way? What nonsense are you talking about?"

"My goodness, nonsense? Are you saying you truly do not know the Way?!"

'Go on. Keep running your mouth.'

The Regressor crossed her arms and glared past the mannequin at me. Ignoring her, I spread the mannequin's arms with all the exaggeration of a cheap puppet show and spoke.

"All things have their own Way. It is both the path we ought to walk and a sign pointing toward the goal we must reach. Nor is this limited to humans. Since ancient times, it has been said that heaven, earth, and humanity exist in harmony. Our mother, Mother Earth, is endlessly merciful to humanity, carving away her own flesh to bestow all manner of gifts upon us. We drink her milk, gather her fruits, and carve her flesh to make all manner of things. This has led us to prosperity. Yet our father, the Sky God, will not tolerate our daring to aspire to divinity, and takes those things away with rain and wind, floods and lightning."

Normally, the longer someone talks, the less the listener pays attention. Yet the Regressor suddenly grew serious and listened intently.

Hey, I'm just stringing together whatever comes to mind. Why are you paying so much attention?

'Why is he suddenly saying this? Is there some hidden meaning in his words? I'd better hear him out, just in case.'

She had a screw loose in her own peculiar way, too. After all that complaining a moment ago, now she wanted to hear me out?

She was more changeable than summer weather. Even I, a mind reader, couldn't hope to predict her.

Sighing inwardly, I continued.

"And so humanity came to love its mother and fear its father. Put another way, we take our mother lightly and respect our father. This is the Way of heaven, earth, and humanity. Heaven and earth, and the path of humanity caught between them."

"And?"

"O you with open ears, you who dissolve all things like water. Surely it is heaven's will that I met you. Yet this world is full of lies and deception, and everyone regards everyone else as prey. I resent myself for being unable to trust you without first putting you to the test. To establish that trust, would you give me a gold coin?"

The Regressor took an alchemical gold coin out of her Pocket and readily handed it over. I moved the mannequin's right hand to snatch it, then immediately turned its body around.

"Heh-heh! Fool! You fell for that slick talk! I'll put this gold coin to good use! Consider it tuition for a lesson in life!"

The steel mannequin waddled away.

The Regressor swung Sky Cherry Blossom without the slightest emotion. In that instant, the arm of the mannequin, about five paces away, was sliced clean off, and the gold coin tumbled out. I hastily caught the falling coin, then scolded her.

"Really, Trainee Shei. You can't just cut someone's arm off without warning."

"What's the problem? It's fake."

"Lately, I've been worried you'd just cut off their arm even if they were a real person. And why the right arm, specifically? Did a right arm wrong you in a past life?"

"Enough. Put your hand back where it was. Give me the coin."

"Tch."

Caught trying to slip the gold coin into my pocket, I had no choice but to return it to the Regressor. It hurt as though she were tearing out my heart.

Watching regretfully as she put the coin into her Pocket, I continued my explanation.

"Well, despite what I just said, Trainee Shei's response wasn't wrong. Cutting off an arm was a bit excessive, though."

"I only cut it off because it was a model. I wouldn't do it for real."

"That's a lie, and both heaven and earth know it. If you want to argue, say that in front of me, whose arm you nearly cut off, and Finlay, whose arm you actually did cut off."

Having refuted her with empirical evidence, I turned toward the vampire and spoke.

"Anyway, some people approach you with good intentions, like Mr. Puppetto, while others want to swindle you, like Mr. Manny. Genuine goodwill and con artists cloaked in goodwill come at you so cleverly intermingled that people have always struggled to tell them apart."

"Indeed. Those who lack experience are always bound to fear others."

The vampire's reply was relaxed. Reading the sense of superiority beneath it, I stopped speaking and fixed her with a cold stare.

"So you're saying that you, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka, have enough experience to distinguish goodwill from malice disguised as goodwill?"

"Perhaps not in every case, but well enough."

"... Pardon?"

"Over my long years, I have seen countless people and experienced even more. If I could not even judge character, what would all that experience have amounted to?"

No, hold on. Something was off about her self-assessment.

Taking my silence as agreement, the vampire continued with a hint of smugness.

"The puppet asked for company, and the mannequin asked for money. Even if I do not know their intentions, an evil person will try to take something from me. If one understands that central point, one need not be swayed by others."

She wasn't wrong, but sometimes the messenger undermines the credibility of the message.

No matter how I looked at it, the vampire was nothing but a lucky sucker. Yet this was how she saw herself? Who did she think I'd arranged today's lesson for?

This wouldn't do.

"Then would you like to put that to the test?"

"A test, you say. I am hardly in a position to be tested by anyone, but I am curious. How do you intend to test me?"

"We'll continue what Azi and Trainee Shei were doing earlier. Let's see how well you respond."

"You seem to have no puppets left. What will you use?"

"I still have the one puppet I handle best. One that doesn't even need strings."

I slowly walked over to the vampire. Curious about what I was up to, she simply stared at me. Moving naturally to her side, I bowed my head and gently took the edge of her parasol, lifting it. Beneath it, I could see red eyes contrasting with snow-white skin.

I let out a soft exclamation of pure admiration.

"How can this be? My God."

The vampire frowned as I invoked God right in front of her. Just before displeasure could sweep through her, I immediately dropped to one knee before her.

"Only upon seeing you today did I understand why jewels are so rare in this world. God used them all to fashion the doll that is you. Of course there could be none left."

"... What?"

"Your skin is fashioned from white jade, your hair woven entirely from platinum. It is as though every white jewel in the world has been gathered here. Ah, such splendor that I fear I might go blind. Yet is it not the nature of those who seek beauty to be bewitched by light and enter the flames of their own accord? I dare to ask: would you permit me to remain by your side and breathe in the lingering fragrance of beauty?"

The Regressor's jaw dropped.