Kingdom of humans - morning

Entering the kingdom was like entering into a different realm. People populated the streets with joyful looks on their faces, kids were running around with no care in the world. I can see a castle up a large set of steps down the street. It gives off the look of a modern building. Now that I noticed it, everything I'm seeing is giving off that look while retaining a medieval aesthetic.

"So this is the Kingdom," Richard asked himself in amazement.

"Indeed it is," Alex

While we were taking in the sights Marie clapped her hands loudly.

"Guys, focus. We came here to buy supplies for the camp, not to sightsee. Since we're tight on money, we'll need to buy only the essentials."

She was making this whole trip just one giant chore. Speaking of money...

"Can we get money with these?"

"Hm?"

Marie gazed at the small objects in my hands. She grabbed one of them.

"Proxy, where did you get these gems from?"

"From the mine, these gems have been in my bag for a while now. I forgot about them and only just remembered them since we were coming here."

"Proxy... Good job!"

She gave me a high-five.

"I'll let you have these but only if you allow us to split the money. I want to buy some stuff for myself. I'm sure Richard would agree, right?"

I turned my head to him and winked.

"Yeah, I think I would want to buy something that catches my eye." Marie sighed to herself. She already knew this was a losing battle.

"I guess you earned the right to. All right, change of plans then..."

...

We took the time to sell the gems to a shady buyer for some money. Judging by the sibling's reactions, we had racked in a lot of money. Marie gave Richard, Nunnalé, and me a sum of money.

"Remember, don't get into trouble, and don't spend on what you won't use," Marie sternly ordered us.

"Yeah mom," I replied.

"Seriously, don't get into trouble at all, I don't need any of you going to jail (again). Also, we'll be meeting up at dawn, near the crossroads. You got that Proxy?"

"Yeah, yeah, why are you singling me out?"

"Because you're the type to ignore other people."

It wasn't that, I just felt like I didn't need to listen if I already knew what someone was going to say.

"Welp, I want to explore this place to my heart's content, so I'm going off by myself."

I heard Richard calling me back but I was dead set on flying solo. Besides, I think it might do me good since I can unwind by myself. Along the way down the streets of the kingdom, I got lost in the more shady parts of it via alleyways. I saw someone going into a basement door. Due to my natural-born curiosity, I went to check it out. I opened the door into the inside of the basement. When I reached a certain point in the basement I saw a bunch of tables set apart from each other. There was a bar inside here as well. The people here were playing cards with money on the table.

"Hey kid, wanna play a game?"

"Sorry, I don't know how to play."

"Oh really, in that case, it'll be an easy win."

I thought he was going to tell me to piss off, but now that he said that, I needed to challenge him. "You know what, why not. Might as well get some easy money…

“Come on then, old man. Show me how easy it’ll be.”

...

"Where did he go off to?"

"Master Richard, are you worried about Proxy?"

"Not really, I just wanted to explore with him, but I guess he just wanted to be on his own for a bit."

Even if Proxy ran into trouble I'd be inclined to feel sorry for the guys who messed with him. Nunnalé and I are walking down the crowded streets. The city gave off a positive feeling so far, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Master Richard, there."

Nunnalé pointed to a store. Upon closer inspection, there were books in there. This was it! We went into the store, it was pretty small but had plenty of books filling in the shelves. There was no clear indication of which aisle was for which type of books. I went up to the clerk's desk to get more information.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to find some geography and history books."

"The second aisle left row."

I went to where the store owner said to go. Nunnalé and I pulled books out randomly and flipped through them for a book on maps for the local area, as well as a whole map of the continent.

"Master Richard, why are we doing this," Nunnalé inquired.

"Well, there are many things I still don't know about this world and if I were to continue like that it would be dangerous, right? So I decided to collect books that relate to this world's geography and history. That way I'll be able to keep Proxy and myself informed on this world."

"I see. An excellent reason."

"O-oh, it's nothing, really. I only thought of it when we arrived in town."

"Still, it is a more than logical precaution to take. I am glad to have a master that would research his new surroundings than to have one that ignores collecting data on it."

I couldn't help myself from being a bit embarrassed. I hadn't had anyone compliment me on my smarts that didn't associate with my academics. Though, the way she said it was pretty plain . . .

"Master Richard, here."

Nunnalé handed me a book full of maps on the surrounding areas. As I flipped to the first page I found one of a wider area.

"Is this the map of the world," I asked Nunnalé

"I believe so."

I was surprised by just how small the world is. It was like the entirety of Russia. It seemed like a nation more so than a whole country.

"Master Richard, may I infer on something?"

"Sure."

"There are supposed to be four other continents here." She put her finger to the right side of the map. It was blank.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, from what little memory I have before waking up, there were other continents."

"From what little memory you have?"

"I forgot to mention that."

She closed the book and continued searching for more to add to her pile.

"We dolls are made to simulate human bodies, which would include fake organs and fake blood. This also extends to us even being able to simulate death."

"What does that mean?"

"When we take damage, our vessels take it as well. If enough damage is done, or we suffer a fatal injury, it will shatter. When that happens we enter a comatose state that would make us appear dead to others."

"Could I heal you if that were to happen?"

"No, even if you were to heal me at your maximum potential it wouldn’t help. The case I awoke from was the only means of repairing it, from what I know."

She explained all this without breaking out of her deadpan expression. Understanding the stakes for her, I feel even worse. She was about to risk falling back into a coma, for god knows how long, just for someone like me . . .

"Nunnalé, I'm-"

"Master Richard, I have collected all the materials for information gathering for this world," she reported as she cut me off.

"...All right, let's check out then."

I placed all the books on the checkout table. While the clerk checked the books I noticed Nunnalé was reading something. She was curiously looking at the book. It was the first time I saw her expression change.

"Nunnalé, what are you reading?"

"A book on flowers."

"Do you like flowers?"

"I have a strange affinity with them."

"Do you want it?"

"It is not important to our current objective."

"It's not like it'll be a big deal, we have more than enough money.."

I added the book to our collection. We left the store after checking out, Nunnalé insisted on carrying them. Checking how much money we had left, we still had more leftover. It was still the afternoon, so we had more than enough time to do some exploring. On the way down the street, outside vendors were selling whatever was on their shelves or hanging off of it. There was some selling from an open view store. There was a vendor who seemed to be selling what seemed like candy. While I didn't have a sweet tooth I did enjoy candy somewhat. We went over to the vendor.

"Welcome," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"These are sweets, right?"

"Yes, they are."

"In that case, can I get . . . those puffy round ones on a skewer?"

"Sure."

He took out two skewered sticks that were stabbed through three round things.

"That'll be 5,000 RELS.”

I gave him 5 bills that equated to 5,000 RELS. Examining the balls on the stick, it seemed to be squishy, filled with something on the inside.

"Master Richard, I do not know if this is edible or not, so please, let me taste them."

Nunnalé grabbed one of the balls off the stick and put it into her mouth. Honestly, she takes protecting me way too seriously. She tasted the ball before swallowing it.

"Nunnalé, how are you doing, is it okay?"

"..."

"Are you okay?"

She was beginning to worry me, I don't know if it's from the food or it's because of something else, but she wasn't responding. Then, unexpectedly, her face was flushed pink.

"Hey, are you . . ."

Her face said it all, she was confused by what she was eating, however, she was enjoying it.

"This, this is delicious, this is delectable!"

Her voice was filled with excitement. I was surprised that she could take on another tone in her voice other than the robotic one. It made me glad that she could.

"Why are you smiling master?"

"It's nothing. Do you want more?"

"Yes!"

She didn't even try to stop me from getting more, it made me chuckle a bit from how differently she's acting.

"Excuse me, we'll take a couple of those to go?"

“Sure thing!”

...

"Is that the kid that came into the kingdom with 'them'?“

Two shady men are spying on Richard and Nunnalé. They had received a message from their comrades that Marie and Alexander were spotted heading into the Kingdom along with three other people; they were specific with the details of the other three.

"All right then, let's do this."

They both got on their bike to kidnap either Richard or Nunnalé.