Alice's emotions were all tangled up inside.
She wanted to connect with humans—was deeply curious about them, really.
But at the same time, she felt a thread of fear running through that desire.
Deep down, Alice never really wanted to sell the dolls she made. But life had its demands, and to keep hunger at bay, she had no choice but to offer up her lovingly crafted creations.
So, to perfectly fulfill Alice's wishes…
Her little shop had something very peculiar about it.
The path to her cottage couldn't have been more than fifty meters long, yet it took over ten minutes to walk there.
Without even realizing it, Alice had begun to passively grasp a power known as [Boundaries].
But now, having opened a Gap and become aware of this magical ability, Alice found she couldn't wield it with the same mastery as the Gap Youkai from her memories.
The only boundary she could manipulate for now…
Was the one between 'Illusion and Reality'.
It seemed that place called [Gensokyo] was created using this very power.
The boundary of illusion and reality isolated Alice's home from the outside world. Only those she truly wished to allow in could find their way to her door.
In this world, though, there was another exception: gods could also enter. Why that was, she didn't know—probably something to do with the unique nature of divinity.
Still, when Alice realized she could use this boundary, she was overjoyed.
After weaving the boundary around her little cottage, she nodded in satisfaction.
'The house is ready. Now it's time to get to work.'
With a casual wave of her hand—though to any onlooker, not that there were any, nothing seemed to happen—Alice tucked her cottage away.
Then she set off straight toward the market district of Orario.
'It's already noon. If all goes well, I'll probably spend the next few days in the Dungeon. I wonder if what I have left is enough to stock up on supplies…'
She frowned, looking down at her pitifully light purse.
Her last commission had been crafting a Freya doll for Hermes. All she got out of it was a 30,000 valis down payment and some meaningless promise of promotion.
'I should've asked that guy for more money,' she sighed helplessly, staring at the mere 5,000 valis left.
She made up her mind.
'I'll buy some vegetables and meat and store them in my room. That way, when I'm hungry in the Dungeon, I can cook right there.'
Eating at a tavern or restaurant in Orario cost at least a few hundred valis per dish. Even a skilled adventurer would only earn a few thousand valis a day in the Dungeon.
So, buying ingredients and cooking herself was definitely the smarter choice.
Besides, Alice had always cooked for herself, and she was quite confident in her skills.
Like the Night Sparrow Grill in the forest of Gensokyo—in her memory, their Grilled Lamprey was incredibly popular.
And the dual-sword-wielding chef at Hakugyokurou, who cooked to satisfy the bottomless appetite of a certain ghost, was also remarkably skilled.
The maid at the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the shrine maidens at Moriya Shrine were all excellent cooks, too.
As for the black-and-white magician's mushroom stew and the… miscellaneous soup that often appeared near the Eternal Palace… as good as they might be in her memory, Alice always found those two dishes rather unsettling.
So she never tried making them herself.
--+--
After spending all her money at the Orario market on about a week's worth of ingredients, Alice headed into the Dungeon.
Generally, adventurers had huge appetites.
But Alice was different. Her appetite was about the same as an ordinary person's, maybe even smaller. So the 5,000 valis worth of food was more than enough to last her a week.
The early floors of Orario's Dungeon were relatively safe.
Though monsters still spawned here, both the rate and numbers were nothing compared to the lower floors. The monsters were weaker, too—perfect for rookie adventurers to get a feel for things.
But starting from the third floor, the number of adventurers began to thin out, while monster spawn rates and numbers gradually increased.
Alice had now reached the fourth floor.
Each level of Orario's Dungeon was unique, and all of them were vast.
Some floors were practically miniature worlds, with enormous internal spaces.
But those were only found in the deeper levels.
The fourth floor, where Alice now was, consisted entirely of corridors and rooms—large square chambers connected by arched passageways.
It was easy to get lost here, especially if you weren't familiar with the layout.
Like Alice, who hadn't spent much time in the Dungeon, and was now completely lost on the sprawling fourth floor.
'This really lives up to the name "labyrinth"... all these twisting paths...' she mused, moving slowly but gracefully through the passages.
Floating in front of her were five Shanghai dolls—two holding small shields, the other three armed with bows, arrows at the ready, formed from Alice's own magic.
[Little Legion – Combat Unit]
That's what she called these five Shanghais. The original Shanghai doll, who always stayed by Alice's side, served as the central command for all the Shanghai dolls. The entire Combat Unit was under her direction.
Right now, that Shanghai was floating above Alice's head, holding a knight's lance.
Behind Alice were three Hourai dolls, led by the original Hourai.
[Little Legion – Mage Unit]
Just like with Shanghai, the Mage Unit was commanded by Hourai.
Although all the dolls in the Little Legion were modeled after Shanghai and Hourai, it was clear at a glance that they lacked the spark of life that made the originals so special.
Shanghai and Hourai were one of a kind.
Suddenly, the two shield dolls raised their defenses—just as two spiders dropped from the ceiling. The shield-bearers smacked them away.
In that instant, the archer dolls fired magical arrows, pinning the large spiders to the wall. Once the targets were immobilized, the three Hourai dolls of the Mage Unit launched two volleys of fireballs.
Six fireballs struck the two spiders directly.
They were burned to ashes.
The whole encounter, from ambush to annihilation, took less than a second or two.
And at their current power level, handling mere spiders was well within the dolls' capabilities.
--+--
T/N: Don't mind the inaccurate Dungeon Monsters. There's no equivalent but no other monster can come from above so it's the author's oversight, and I only translate and remove nationalistic and racist stuff.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.