A quiet little courtyard deep inside the Ancestral Temple.
The courtyard had clearly stood for many years. It carried an air of ancient elegance, yet the garden inside had been left untended for so long that weeds had overtaken the bare earth and autumn leaves lay thickly carpeted the ground. In the past, keeping the courtyard tidy had been the duty of the black-clad attendants who served the Witch clan leader. These women were the Shrine Attendants, sworn to serve the Witch clan across generations. However, under the Church’s influence, all seventeen of them had long forgotten their true responsibilities.
If Archbishop Xis had not still found Fiore useful, this courtyard would have been seized by them ages ago.
For Ye Chui’s group, the situation was perfect. None of the attendants would ever set foot here now, so the entire spacious courtyard belonged solely to Fiore. It made an ideal hiding place for them to hide.
Night had fallen. Fiore did her best to play host, but being essentially a prisoner herself, she could only offer simple, coarse provisions (things like the classic island-nation rice balls). In the end, Ye Chui and Green pulled a huge assortment of food from their [Storage Space].
Dried fish caught at sea, fresh fish that could be grilled straight away, chunks of sea-magical-beast meat… every kind of seafood imaginable. Whenever Ye Chui’s group crossed an ocean, if they didn’t plunder some goodies they felt they had let themselves down.
Fiore ate until tears of joy nearly spilled from her eyes.
The Witch clan had no dietary restrictions, but since the clan rarely left the Ancestral Temple they had naturally developed ascetic habits. Originally Fiore had little interest in meat dishes, yet after more than a month of nothing but dry rations, faced with the feast Ye Chui produced she lost every shred of resistance. Soon her little belly was perfectly round and her face glowed with happiness.
“You mentioned the Puppet Graveyard earlier. What exactly is it?” Ye Chui asked. Having satisfied his own hunger, he carried a mug of ale over to Fiore, who was lying back on the floor (there were no tables or chairs, only cushions, so everyone sat on the tatami). The room was lit by soft candlelight that made the little miko look even more adorable. Miko outfits really were something to behold.
Ye Chui suddenly found himself deeply interested. Fiore was cute, with long hair and snow-white skin. She looked exactly like those girls from his previous world who shattered the barrier between 2D and 3D. He could not help imagining how she would look in the sailor uniforms, school uniforms, nurse outfits, etc. that often appeared in anime…
Well, nobody here knew what those clothes symbolised anyway, so why not treat his eyes? It would practically be a private cosplay festival. With that thought, he began browsing the mall for similar outfits.
Fiore grew slightly nervous at the earlier question. “The Puppet Graveyard is a secret the Witch clan and the Ancestral God clan have guarded for generations. I… I’m not allowed to tell outsiders. I’m really sorry…”
“Oh, is that so? What a shame.” Debbie sauntered over, picking her teeth, and just happened to glimpse Ye Chui pulling garment after garment from the iPad mall. Because clothing was extremely cheap, he had soon produced a huge pile (every single piece unmistakably female).
Ye Chui gave Fiore a friendly smile. He wanted to learn the secret of the Puppet Graveyard. Normally he would simply invade her memory world, but for some reason her unique Witch-clan power prevented that. He would have to resort to other methods. Fortunately Fiore seemed incredibly innocent; tricking her should be easy.
He had not taken out all these clothes purely to feast his eyes. He intended to use the pretty garments to tempt her into talking.
Although Fiore had looked a little shy in the miko outfit, Ye Chui could tell she actually liked the unusual clothing. If he told her she could have all these clothes in exchange for the secret, she would surely spill everything… Thinking this, he began showing the garments off one by one.
“Fiore, look how pretty this one is. Wouldn’t you like to try it on? And this one; imagine how you’d look in it. Oh, and this one too…”
As Ye Chui displayed the clothes, Fiore’s face turned deathly pale. She felt an overwhelming threat: she was clearly a boy, yet Mr Ye Chui was forcing her to wear girls’ clothes she didn’t want, and now he had produced so many at once. If she didn’t reveal the Puppet Graveyard’s secret, he would definitely make her wear even more… How terrifying!
“You must really like them, right? Look, your eyes have gone completely round,” Debbie said with perfect understanding of Ye Chui’s plan. She shook a short skirt in front of Fiore. “You definitely want to wear these, don’t you?”
This was blatant intimidation!
Fiore’s small body trembled as she stared at the evil pair. She pressed her lips together tightly; tears were about to flood her eyes.
Ye Chui and Debbie exchanged a satisfied smile. She wanted these clothes so badly she was almost crying…
“Fiore, just tell us about the Puppet Graveyard quickly. Otherwise, all these lovely clothes…” Ye Chui said in a gently threatening tone. He had intended to say that if she refused, the clothes would not be hers.
“I… I’ll talk!” Fiore said with a wronged pout. She finally surrendered to the forces of evil. She was a boy! Her big sister had said he must grow up to be a real man. How could he casually wear girls’ clothes!? She took a moment to calm herself, then continued, “The Puppet Graveyard concerns an immensely powerful force…”
Fiore began her slow explanation. As Ye Chui, Debbie, Green, Resha and the others all revealed looks of utter astonishment.
Not long ago they had heard Celty mention the Puppet God Jarvis. The Puppet Graveyard appeared to be directly connected to him.
Over a thousand years earlier, when the Tidal Empire was still a barren, uninhabited archipelago, fishermen from the Castro continent accidentally discovered the islands and gradually settled there.
But the islands were filled with dangers that constantly threatened human survival.
It was then that the settlers discovered a secret hidden on the islands: the Puppet Graveyard. The Puppet God of the ancient era was buried here!
Through the Puppet God’s power, the islanders rapidly gained tremendous strength. The first to master that power became the Tidal Empire’s Ancestral God and Witch.
The location of the Puppet Graveyard was extraordinarily well hidden; it existed in a different dimension connected to the islands. The Ancestral God could open a passage to that dimension, while the Witch could assist the Ancestral God draw power from the Graveyard. The Ancestral God gained immense combat strength, while the Witch obtained formidable spiritual power.
In other words, the Ancestral God and the Witch were the [Gate] and the [Key] to the Puppet Graveyard!
The Church had tried countless times to enter the Tidal Empire to spread its faith, but its true goal had always been the Puppet Graveyard. As the largest power on the continent, the Church knew of its existence and coveted the remains of the Puppet God. Yet the islanders repelled invasion after invasion, eventually founding the Tidal Empire and creating the twelve guardian phantom beasts to protect their territory.
The Tidal Empire’s abundance of puppet masters and its unique puppet culture were also deeply tied to the Puppet Graveyard.
For over a thousand years the Tidal Empire had thwarted the Church’s schemes. The surrounding seas formed a natural barrier, and the twelve phantom beasts dealt severe blows to the Church’s reach.
Yet in just the past month, the Church had finally succeeded. They had taken control of both the Emperor, who possessed the Ancestral God phantom beast, and the Empress, who possessed the Witch phantom beast!
“My elder sister is this generation’s Witch successor and the Empress of the empire. When the rebellion broke out and Archbishop Xis led his missionaries to seize the Heavenly Apex Palace by force, my sister chose to renounce the Witch clan inheritance to prevent the Puppet Graveyard from being exposed…” Fiore continued. “She tried to take her own life, but at the final moment Archbishop Xis stopped her. Now both she and His Majesty are imprisoned. The Archbishop has been scheming to use them to open the gate to the Puppet Graveyard.”
“Because Archbishop Xis isn’t certain whether your sister can still serve as the [Key], he kept you alive as a backup, so that if she fails you can inherit the Witch power and become the new [Key],” Ye Chui concluded thoughtfully. Inwardly he realised that when Celty mentioned Jarvis’s puppet body might have been lost somewhere, the Puppet Graveyard must be where Jarvis’s body lay.
The Tidal Empire was connected to the [Guardian] program inside his own iPad to this extent…
After finishing her explanation, Fiore glanced nervously at the pile of girls’ clothes in Ye Chui and Debbie’s hands and let out a sigh of relief. “These girls’ clothes…”
“They’re all yours!” Debbie said with a warm, friendly smile, pressing the entire pile into Fiore’s arms. “Hurry and try them on!”
“Eh!?” Fiore’s innocent eyes widened in complete shock.
“Look how happy she is at the news,” Ye Chui laughed to Debbie, holding up more outfits against Fiore. “You’ll look super cute in these. My grimoire has loads more. I’ll get you dozens of sets later. You can wear a different one every day.”
“H-how can you do this!? I… I don’t…” Fiore said frantically, tears welling up again.
“She’s so happy she’s about to cry,” Debbie said with a grin, patting Fiore’s slender shoulder. “We’re just that kind of good people. You’ll find out soon enough. It’s not just clothes. Ye Chui can even magic up all sorts of pretty cosmetics made especially for girls. Everything will be yours from now on.”
Ye Chui nodded enthusiastically. “Yep, we’ll turn you into the prettiest girl ever.”
This time Fiore really did burst into tears.
You bullies…
