CHAPTER 61: 61. A MASOCHIST

The questions kept coming for the next few hours. Seraphine wanted to know what kind of magic worked to make the doll come alive just like that.

There’s Lylia, who wanted to make sure that Donetta was mentally stable. Elwen wanted to know how things were made. And then, there’s Bork, who just wanted to know if this meant Greg could make an army of living dolls, but Greg firmly said fuck no.

Donetta was worn out from all the questions and attention by the end of the day. Felix said he would show her to one of the new guest rooms, and they went upstairs together. Donetta was still amazed by the idea of stairs.

"Well," Greg said after they left. "That was quite a day, as usual. Not a normal day, of course."

"You have a gift for making peaceful fishing trips into life-changing events," Lylia said, but she was smiling. "I’m starting to think you can’t have a normal day."

"I tried," Greg said. "I really did. We were only fishing."

"The snake or serpent... whatever it is called wasn’t supposed to be there."

"The snake never is," Seraphine said quietly as she wrote in her notebook.

...

The next few weeks fell into a new pattern. Donetta fit into the family surprisingly well, even though she had a lot to learn about living. Felix was eager to be the teacher and taught her everything from how to use eating utensils to the idea of sleeping.

It was during one of these lessons that they found out about Donetta’s strange habit.

"Ouch!" Felix yelled when he accidentally hit Donetta’s arm while showing her how to hammer properly at Bork’s forge.

"Oh no, did I hurt you?" Donetta asked, but her face looked strange. Not worried, but something else.

Felix said, "I’m fine," and rubbed his arm. "Just caught me off guard."

"Do it again," Donetta said out of the blue.

"What?"

"Push my arm again. This time, harder."

Felix, who was confused, had to do it. Donetta’s eyes got big, and her cheeks turned a little pink. "Oh. That has an intriguing feeling in it..."

Greg didn’t figure it out until three more things happened. Donetta liked to hurt herself, but not in a very bad way because she liked how her body felt when it hurt.

She laughed when she stubbed her toe, and she sighed happily when she touched a hot pan. When she cut herself by mistake while learning to cook, she was fascinated by the small wound and seemed to enjoy it in a way that was disturbing.

Greg said, "This is going to be a fucking problem, isn’t it?" when Felix came to him in a hurry.

"Sensei, what should I do? She asked me to pinch her!"

""Just pinch her for no reason, and the weird part is that she likes how it feels!"

"Did you do it?"

"Of course not! Just because she asks doesn’t mean I’m going to hurt her. But she looked so sad about it!"

Greg rubbed the sides of his head. "Your girlfriend likes to hurt herself. Not gonna lie, that’s pretty funny, actually."

"It’s not funny! How can I show her I care without making things weird on accident?"

"Felix, she’s only been alive for two weeks. Let her take her time to figure out what’s normal and what’s just her being curious about how things feel."

"This is a pretty tame quirk, though, compared to some of the other crazy things that happen in this house."

"I guess you’re right," Felix said with a sigh. "At least she’s not using magical resonance to change everything around like Mira."

"Hey!" From somewhere in the workshop, Mira’s voice floated. "That way of organizing things is great!"

...

Life went on, and Donetta learned something. Felix was worried, even though there were more people than usual, the workshop was buzzing with activity and the comfortable chaos of too many people in too little space.

"So, how was it so far?" Greg asked Felix, who was listening to music with Bork.

Felix took off his headset, and then his face looked miserable. "It’s worse, but... I start to get used to it because she wanted me to do it."

"What the fuck does that even mean?!"

"So... I’ve read so many comics about girls who loved pain. They’re called a masochist, and it’s fine for me because at least she loves me."

"Just like that...?"

"Yeah! And it’s one of my fetishes as well to have a masochist girl!!!"

"You fucking need help..."

...

Three weeks after Donetta was made, Marina came back. Greg was outside testing a new kind of nail that hammered itself when he heard the voices he knew. He looked up and saw the Crimson Falcons walking up the path with their armor, which looked like it had been used a lot recently.

"Marina!" Greg called, so he stopped what he was doing and ran over. "You’ve come back! How did the mission go?"

Marina’s smile was warm, yet it also showed signs of fatigue. "Successful, but tiring."

"We cleaned out a dungeon that was making it hard for merchant caravans to get through. We barely made it out alive in two weeks."

"Dungeon?" Greg got more interested. "I didn’t know those were a thing here."

"Oh, they’re very much a thing," Kael said as he stretched his arms. "Old magical buildings full of monsters, traps, and sometimes treasure. Except this one was awful."

"That’s why we’re here," Marina said, her face getting serious.

"We need your help, Greg."

"Next month, the Adventurers Guild is going on a big dungeon trip. Many people, including high-ranked adventurers, are involved."

"We want you to make tools for us. I know you won’t make us weapons, but at least make us tools that could help us live down there."

Greg’s body started to ping with interest, which was never a good sign. "What kinds of tools are we talking about?"

Denna stepped up. "Anything that could help us stay alive."

"Let’s see the list here... We require light sources that never run out. We also need ropes that are resistant to breaking. The list also includes tools for identifying potential traps. Additionally, we need containers to safely store dangerous items."

Ryn said, "We’re not asking for free."

"The Guild is ready to pay well. They’ve heard about your work and asked you to be a part of it."

Greg looked at Marina and saw the hope and tiredness in her eyes. This was important to her and to all of them. And it was the kind of challenge that his messy system would love.

"Okay," he finally said. "Let’s talk specifics."

"How much time do I have, and exactly how many tools are we talking about?"

Marina’s smile returned, bright and relieved. "One month. And we need equipment for at least twenty adventurers."

Greg’s system practically vibrated with excitement. Twenty sets of dungeon-survival tools, and one month to create them. He had absolutely no idea what chaos would result.

"Challenge accepted," Greg said, ignoring the small voice in his head screaming that this was a terrible idea.

Behind him, he could hear Lylia sighing. "Here we go again."