Towering near the center of the city, was a tall structure of glass, metal, and iron. It was home to the most wealthy, and renowned sorceress of the current time. However, it served as a spire for those who would sacrifice everything for learning.
A spiraling dorm, a university contained within itself with only one master to teach them all, it was the home of the demi-girl Shamisha as well as her profane laboratory.
And today; that spire was echoing with the voices of her students, watching the very first Mono-doll making her way up through the many floors.
'They stare at me like I'm some curiosity.' Her eyes squinted with contempt for the students, Grace struggled to keep her lips sealed. Walking up the stairs was a struggle enough, but pairing it with the glaring eyes of lab-coat-wearing runts? Well, that was really testing her patience.
"Will you stop following me?" She said to a button-nosed mouse girl walking beside her. Her eyes dazzling with wonder, she was in utter awe of the mono-doll's peculiarity.
"D-do you feel pain? Is your knee hurting?" The girl squeaked, her hands squeezing the notes in her arms tight from the excitement. "We have a lift for that!"
"Oh…" Finding out that the girl's intentions were quite innocent, the anger on Grace washed away quickly. "Thank you, can you take me to this lift, little girl?"
"YE-YEP!" Jumping on the spot beaming, the girl guided the mono-doll to the lift that connected every floor in the spire.
Squeezing her tall body inside, Grace's mechanical parts slightly slipped from under her long skirt and so did the area around her chest–something every student kept glaring at until the lift closed up and started moving.
"A steam power mechanism, I thought Master Mono fueled her dolls with aerial mana?" Asked the girl, thinking of much later models than Grace.
"I'm old, sweetheart, Maker Mono made me but the design belonged to her master," Grace explained, her eyes twitching from being pressed against the lift's ceiling.
"Master Mono had a teacher?!" A bit surprised by the revelation, the girl's eyes went wide as a hawk. Squeezing her fists in excitement she squeezed them against her chest and continued. "Can you tell me more about them?"
But to her misfortune, the lift's door dinged open. Even so, Grace didn't leave her completely hanging.
"We all stand on the shoulders of giants, your master on Maker Mono's, and Maker Mono on top of her teacher," walking out with those words, Grace kept walking without looking back. "Now then, I should continue moving. Who knows when these old bones will give in?"
Parting with that girl, Grace continued to chart her way until finally, she found a closed lab with Shamisha and a handful of her students working on something behind a glass door. Pushing her way open, she stood towering over them all, which drew everyone's attention to her in a matter of a few seconds.
"Shamisha, I have news from the Princesses," not wasting a moment, she walked up closer to the sorceress who was still sitting on a blueprinting table. The plan for the doll commissioned by the princesses was lying in front of her, however, what Grace said next would turn it useless entirely. "They want you to drop the project.
Wipe it from your memory both the commission and the meeting you had with them."
Seeing a mono-doll inside her establishment, especially one who was so demanding, a foul grimace took over Shamisha's lips and her reply reflected how she felt about it.
"Mono-dolls are banned inside the spire, you can kick your own ass until you reach the outside," letting her sketching pen down, Shamisha picked herself up and stomped her way toward the doll. Staring up into its eyes with a deep frown, she wanted to drag Grace out herself but refrained from doing anything stupid. "As for dropping the project, I wanna hear that from the princesses themselves."
"They suspect you've poisoned them, hence there would be no more deals," Grace's words were followed by a ripple of gasps from Shamisha's students, but the sorceress herself? She was more offended about the accusation than anything.
"I poisoned them?" Taking a step back while bobbing her head, Shamisha couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the accusation. "Okay, so tell me miss all-fucking-knowing, why the hell would I do that?"
Showing no emotions at all, Grace shot her a response without a moment's delay.
"Monopoly over the city, that's what King Zeil suspects. You're the second wealthiest after the King, and the nobles will easily side with you in case of a coup, so it's no surprise that you tried to poison the entire royal family on your visit. If anything you should be thankful that the princess is being so merciful as to only drop this commission instead of publicly executing you."
Utterly stunned by the accusations, Shamisha stood there frozen in a state of shock. She didn't know what to do about the situation. Should she be angry? Afraid? Or just baffled at the incompetence and the lack of true foresight of the new king?
"Fuck me…" Recognizing the potential effects of resisting further, the demi-human girl simply rolled her eyes and looked back at Grace. "Fine, I'll drop the project. Now get the fuck out of here before I have you disassembled by far more competent dolls than you!"
Quickly turning back, she walked over to her desk and shredded the blueprint to bits. Watching her destroy Shamisha's first attempt at a true battle model doll, a faint smile appeared on Grace's face.
'Everything progressed as planned.' Giving a bow to the sorceress, the mono-doll turned around and made her way back towards the lift. 'Now as long as the princesses don't contact her for a while, there's nothing I need to worry about.'
Planting her lies in the spire, it was time for Grace to disappear from the public eye, at least for a while longer, until a more competent leader was finally revived.