Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 184: Shamisha, The Apprentice

Her hair ripe and gray, her eyes a lifeless look, Shamisha was of a joyous clan of demi-humans, and yet clad in her lab coat and a pair of glasses, she looked like she was barely hanging on to life. Her indifference to any and all was vastly apparent, and the only time that continuity of nothingness broke was when she was being commissioned for new, more challenging works.

”A battle model?” Pressing a pen to her flaky lips, she puckered them in with her eyes gazing at the ceiling. ”Hmm…”

”We donʼt have all day for you to mull it over,” Amelia warned, her patience running low already.

”Well you canʼt be effective without thought, just give me a moment,” reminded Shamisha. For a moment, the mature bunny woman looked down at the two princesses. Neither of them was ever assigned a personal guard, but perhaps, it was time they wanted one for themselves just as Zeil had had for as long as heʼd lived. ”If you donʼt mind, can you share what use case you want me to build a doll for?

Depending on your needs I might have to add extra features and speciality protocols that arenʼt as readily available on the shelf-models.”

”We want a killer,” Nessa spat with the pop of a popsicle from her mouth.

Turning her head to her sister, Amelia glared at her for a moment, before she heard Shamisha humming in musement to herself.

”A killer…A killer, hmmm,” obviously considering how to make one, she shocked both princesses, although Amelia was the most baffled.

”Youʼre not gonna ask why?” Asked the centaur princess, her eyebrows pressed in worry. MVLeMpYr-hosted

”People come to me with stranger requests, from a replacement for their dead parent, their wife, to a slave to their desires that acts as a maid in front of their friends and family,” clicking the back of her pen, Shamisha began noting something on her notepad as she continued.

”A killer is often the case for criminals, and as long as I get paid, the late king has granted me the autonomy to run my operations however I want.”

”I…didnʼt know,” Amelia muttered, the tension in her brows slowly loosening up.

Lifting her eyes from the notepad, Shamisha glanced between the sisters and warned.

”Although any criminal use of the model will be the ownerʼs fault not mine as the builder, much like you donʼt hang the knife maker for a random stabbing murder,” making sure to clear her bases, she began drawing more general information about the use case for the doll, which eventually led to a conversation that made Shamisha slightly uncomfortable.

”You think this doll youʼre gonna make can take on that monstrosity your teacher made?” Asked Nessa, and without even specifying to whom she was referring, Shamisha already had a pretty good guess.

ʼTheyʼre planning to kill her?ʼ Crossing her legs, and adjusting her golden glass frame, she faked a smile to appear professional in front of the princess.

”Master Mono…” Just saying the name forced her hand closer to her aching chest. Squeezing the bowtie hanging from her neck, she took a deep breath. ”She was a creative, and her methods focused more on pushing boundaries rather than efficiency. My dolls are much different. They can last longer, require less fuel, and are more precise in their movement.

In a word, theyʼre ʼEfficientʼ, as opposed to my masterʼs inefficient fuel-hungry models.”

”I didnʼt ask you to lecture me Sorceress,” throwing her candy on Shamishaʼs coat, Nessa stared at her face with a smile. Not wanting to offend the princess, the demi-girl wiped it off her body with a handkerchief and turned her gaze back to the spider-girl. ”Can you make a doll that can kill her, yes or no?”

Shifting her eyes between the two, Shamisha gave it some thought, calculating how she could create a doll to defeat Avarice. There were ways for sure, but doing so would require far too much time and calculation from the look of things, and the impatience of both sisters, she knew that even a month would be too much time to ask.

”Itʼs hard to say,” with a defeated sigh, she decided to just try and explain to the idiots why it was such a difficult task. ”Avarice, from what I remember, has three protocols specially designed for her–and try as I may, thereʼs no way to replicate them on a one-to-one basis.”

Letting down her pen and paper, she reached for her gloved right hand and took it off. Revealed underneath it was an iron prosthetic with an ivory glaze and numerous seams for free movement. Pulling her sleeves further back, Shamisha presented a projector built into the prosthetic arm.

”Thereʼs a total of three protocols sheʼd designed to actuate to get to her...well, ultimate stance,” followed by her words, an image of Avariceʼs internals flickered at the top of her palm. ”One is kaleidoscope, second, Aegis, and last…protocol Mono.”

”Mono, your masterʼs name? Why?” Amelia asked with her eyes squinted with curiosity.

Pointing at the very middle, Shamisha brought the sisterʼs attention to the Ironcore isolator.

”Thereʼs mono, inside that iron box. She wanted to live forever so she made a vessel that would grow eventually mature to immortalize her,” closing her fist, Shamisha began putting the glove back on her hand. ”Butttt ... .Whether that works or not?

That remains to be seen, however, in case it already has, then that means master Mono is either pretending to be a lowly maid or her calculations for revival were as good as her dating skills.”

”What?” The last part went right over the sisters, although to Shamisha herself, it was a reminder of how often her master would advise her to get a boyfriend while having never had one herself.

”Nothing,” packing her stuff quickly, the demi-human girl got up on her feet to leave. ”Iʼll figure out a way to handle Avarice, just give me a few days to chart a blueprint for a doll that can go toe to toe with her.”

Not even waiting for the sisterʼs response, Shamisha grabbed her stuff and began walking towards the exit.

ʼSteel dragon bones for the frame, inexhaustible magical capabilities of an undead, multi-thought processings allowing for twice as fast situational awareness and reaction time than the most capable humans…ʼ Listing just a few of Avariceʼs features inside her head, Shamisha knew that if she failed to bring that doll down, she as well as the princesses were as good as dead.

And as it so happened, one such sister among the three was already in mortal peril.