F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 220: Weapons That Are Truly Weapons

"...Hey Esther, how about this?" Evelyn asks with a timid smile as she hands me a sword. After last night’s sex and her falling asleep, when she woke up she remembered everything and was utterly embarrassed, so she avoided talking about any of it.

So now she’s all shy about how she acted before, which is kind of funny, and since we’re taking life easy, she decided to show me what she’s been practicing lately.

Which apparently is creating puppets in the shape of objects, which is quite interesting, and I like how she’s sharing this with me.

"This sword... it’s very good..." I grip the hilt; it’s perfect for my hand, and the blade, though robust, isn’t heavy, having a good degree of balance. The sword’s guard is also good.

"I made this sword thinking about certain relics... want to test it?..."

"Evelyn, why did you use your scales?"

"..." She looks away, thinking I wouldn’t notice that the guard and hilt of the sword are made from the scales of her tail. By now, I’ve eaten Evelyn’s tail three times, since it’s an occasional thing, and with that, it’s obvious how sensitive and shy she is about the whole tail thing.

"D-Don’t worry about that, Esther! Test the sword!"

’So that’s why she brought me to the training area and even prepared the test dummy...’ I swing the sword lightly; the blade seems quite sharp. It doesn’t come close to the weapons I have, but it’s still a good weapon.

’This fit...’ I assume a basic stance, channeling magic into the sword’s blade, and then I swing it forcefully without even approaching the test dummy. The blade releases a large slash made of lightning that cleaves the dummy in two.

"Wow... impressive... Evelyn, how did you do that?" I ask, interested. The blade released a medium-level lightning spell; it could easily cut through any basic armor with that.

Basic spells tend to range from causing almost no structural damage to destroying a house. Medium magic goes from destroying a house to destroying dozens to hundreds of houses. And a high-level spell can easily vaporize entire villages.

"It’s... my scales... I noticed that if I make an object puppet using something that already conducts a specific type of magic, the item can gain a magic linked to that... Since... I’m a storm dragon, the scales gave the sword the ability to launch and store lightning..."

"Really very good, Evelyn." I approach, patting her head. Her tail wags, unable to hide her happiness at the praise.

’If she can do this using just the common workshop materials and her scale... then if she had very rare materials, she could create impressive weapons...’ Evelyn had already told me that the strength of her puppets depends on the material they’re made from, and she can increase that strength by using new materials.

It seems this also applies to her creating weapons; they turn out powerful and with abilities.

"What are you planning to do for now?" I question with a smile.

"I-I’m going to start mass-producing puppets... to make an army... I’ll use the golden apples that grow fast and there are many... I think I can make 60 to 100 per day..."

"Planning to kill me using numbers to try and take the throne?" I say as a joke.

"I-I never said I’d kill you... a-and besides, it’s not like you and I are going to fight; we could do something more peaceful..."

"Evelyn, stop creating puppets like Eve, Syl’Vyr, and Faye."

"..." She falls silent when I kill the mood by speaking coldly to her. Seeing this powerful sword showed me something problematic.

"B-But why?" she asks suspiciously, as if I’m trying to stop her from getting stronger.

"Because they are too alive to be mere weapons, yet too artificial to be living beings. And you know, Evelyn, that line between the two is dangerous. I don’t want you creating things like them anymore."

"Are you trying to control how I use my power?" She gives me a scornful smile.

"Yes, I am. And as your wife, I forbid it."

"...I won’t stop just because you want me to..."

"I figured you’d say that... but Evelyn, weapons are weapons. They are not people. If you treat a weapon like a person, the weapon starts to get confused about what it really is."

"..."

"Are you going to say you didn’t notice? That Syl’Vyr is living proof. Before, you treated her like a friend, practically like family. But now you’ve grown up. You matured and realized they are just weapons that you, out of loneliness, decided needed personalities."

"And now, that you’ve realized they are just beings created to fight, you’ve stopped treating them as family. And they feel that. You’ve caused a basic problem, but one that can’t be solved."

"..."

I know Evelyn knows. She knows my advice is to help her. I don’t need to stop her from getting strong; I’m just telling her what is healthiest for both of us.

"Eve..."

"Eve isn’t like that, is that what you were going to say, Evelyn?" I interrupt her.

"Yes, you’re right. I’ve been keeping an eye, and I can say Eve is some kind of strange anomaly. She practically doesn’t change. But she’s a rare case. While Eve hasn’t changed, Syl’Vyr and Faye have. Two against one. Which carries more weight, Evelyn?"

"...Esther, seriously, you’re such an asshole sometimes. What do you want me to say? That I don’t like Syl’Vyr the way she likes me? That I see her now as just a puppet?"

"That to me, Syl’Vyr is just a support mage for a team that doesn’t even exist anymore? You want me to say I see Faye only as something that conveniently heals people and nothing more? Let’s stop the drama, Esther. This doesn’t matter, right?"

"..." Evelyn says this with an ironic, almost malicious smile on her face. I wonder when Evelyn changed this way. Before, she would never say this even if it were true.

"Hahaha, such honesty, Evelyn. So that’s how you see your companions?"

"...I... I can’t feel the same way I felt before for beings I created myself... Everyone grows up someday... I’m not innocent enough anymore to treat toys as if they were real people..." She clasps her hands, interlocking her fingers and rubbing her thumbs together.

"They are puppets... they are beings I created... and they were personalities I made when I was still too immature to realize my mistakes, and too lonely to realize that a puppet’s love would never be as real as I wanted."

"Nothing comes with that love. No effort, no trying, no mistakes and improvements. It’s a love that comes empty. From the start, they already loved me as if we were best friends. Obviously, a love I created because I was lonely. And now, when I see it, I just feel how kind of pathetic I was in the past."

"Now, can we stop talking about this? I brought you here to be praised for my creation, not for you to throw in my face the fact that I was so pathetically lonely that I created something to love me and be my friends."

"Of course. And I praise your creation greatly. So much so that I ask, can I keep this sword for myself?" I change the subject, smiling at her.

"Yes... it’s not like I was going to give it to anyone else. It has my scales; it would be embarrassing to give it to anyone other than my wife."

"Besides, I’m getting much better at using magic! Thanks to the constant practice I’ve been doing, and the fact that I’ve finally seen my power for what it really is, I’ve reached a new state!"

"You seem to have a big hidden ace up your sleeve."

"And I do! And I can show you!! Want to see?" she says, all excited, while I wonder what she has hidden that makes her so confident.

"Whenever you want, cutie."

"Great! Then I’ll show you how amazing this thing I can do is!!" Her proud smile makes me smile. If she’s happy, then so am I.

...

...

...

"Syl’Vyr...? This..." Faye is speechless as she looks at me. I run my hands over my face, tears streaming.

"Faye... let’s... let’s go... I-I think we heard something we shouldn’t have..." I say, starting to quickly walk away from the training area. I had come here to talk to Evelyn about us trying to train together again.

With me, Eve, her, and Faye together, the four of us could have had a fun training session. But as soon as I arrived, she was already busy with Esther, and so as not to disturb them, Faye and I stood outside waiting.

"Whoa... take it easy, Syl’Vyr, what’s wrong? You’re crying?" I bump into Eve for not watching where I’m going; she steadies me so we don’t fall.

"Eve..." I snarl at her. She’s the only one who wasn’t treated as nothing by Evelyn, even after all my effort for our team.

"I’m fine. It’s none of your business," I say angrily, pushing her out of my way as I keep walking with Faye.

’This is so unfair to all my effort for the team. How can she treat me as if my love isn’t real? As if I’m just some old toy...’ I bite my lip hard, tasting the bitter flavor of disappointment.

I helped Evelyn when she was sad in the dungeons. I’ve saved her life once. I worked so hard to help her with everything she wanted. And I’ve even challenged dangerous things just so I could be by her side.

So why is all that effort now treated as if it’s nothing? I’m not just some object she can discard like that now that she has the "true love" that Esther provides for her.