"Sorry… I forgot about that…"
Seeing Yuna lying on top of her puppet, using her body to cover the important parts, Ron looked extremely awkward.
"You did that on purpose!" Yuna rarely blushed this hard, her whole body feeling hot as she snapped angrily, "Pervert! Jerk! Lolicon!"
"Hey, hey… don't throw false accusations around. I really didn't mean to…" Ron scratched his head and tried to explain.
"Stop talking! Turn your head! Don't look!"
Helpless, Ron turned around and even covered his eyes with his hand.
A rustling sound came from behind him, along with Yuna's complaints: "Putting clothes on this thing is such a hassle… what's the point of making a puppet like this? Don't tell me you plan to keep it around to do shady things?"
The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed and indignant she became, glaring at Ron as if she wanted to pierce right through him.
"What are you even thinking?" Ron said speechlessly, then quickly reminded her, "Do you feel any connection with the puppet? Try projecting your consciousness onto it—you'll be able to control its movements."
"Huh? Really?"
Yuna froze for a moment and subconsciously gave it a try.
Then, the puppet Yuna lying on the bed suddenly opened its eyes and sat up.
Puppet Yuna looked down at her hands in disbelief and exclaimed, "This is amazing."
Noticing the sound of dressing had stopped, Ron lowered his hand and turned back. "This kind of puppet—"
"Ah!" Puppet Yuna clutched her chest, while the real Yuna hurriedly blocked in front of it. Her face was as red as the evening glow, looking especially enchanting under the moonlight. "Turn around! Turn around! I'm not done yet!"
"Mmph—"
Ron's entire face was suddenly covered by Yuna's soft hands, instantly cutting off his vision.
To be fair, even under the hazy moonlight, he hadn't actually seen much clearly—just vague outlines at most.
More rustling sounds followed.
This time, Puppet Yuna quickly finished getting dressed, and Ron finally regained his sight.
"This kind of puppet can't inherit any of your abilities," Ron began explaining, "but it's immune to all damage below the Legendary level. Even if it's injured by a Legendary, as long as it's not a destructive injury, it can slowly repair itself."
Yuna's eyes sparkled as she listened while sensing the puppet's abilities herself.
With her strength as a sixth-tier assassin, having such an indestructible puppet double would more than double her overall combat capability.
Moreover, her missions mainly involved reconnaissance, tracking, and stealth.
With the puppet's assistance, many tactics she previously couldn't accomplish alone were now possible.
Most importantly, while controlling the puppet, her main body's thoughts and movements wouldn't be affected at all—both could operate simultaneously.
That greatly increased her flexibility.
"I really like this gift." Yuna pursed her lips into a smile, waved her hand to store the puppet in her storage space, then leaned closer teasingly. "So, what kind of reward does my dear nephew want?"
Ron leaned back helplessly. "Hold on—change into your loli form first."
"Hm?" Yuna sat upright and glared at him. "So you really are into that? Pervert!"
"What are you thinking…" Ron held his forehead in exasperation. "If you switch to your loli form, I'll give you another puppet. That way, you'll have a loli-version puppet double to keep in the shop."
"No need to rack your brain explaining things to Nora, and you can always know your own situation and whereabouts."
"Tch, so you just want to squeeze more labor out of me." Yuna pouted, but still obediently switched back into her loli form. "Fine, I'm ready."
The next second—
"Wait! Turn your head first!"
Ron paused, then quickly reacted and turned around. "Alright, alright…"
Once he turned away, he took out a second untransformed puppet from his [Backpack].
Having learned her lesson this time, Yuna immediately attached her consciousness to it and kept herself between the puppet and Ron, preventing any chance of peeking.
A minute later, the childish voice of Loli Yuna came: "All done."
Ron turned back.
Two Yunas were now kneeling neatly in front of him, leaning forward with big blinking eyes, their small faces showing an innocent smile. "So, how do you want me to reward you?"
"A reward, huh…" Ron looked the two lolis up and down, then said, "How about you go back to your room and let me rest?"
"What? You're so boring!"
"I'd rather not get stepped on and called a pervert," Ron said as he lay back on the bed and pulled up his blanket. "You've got what you came for. Since you have a mission, you might as well leave early."
"Hmph! Heartless!"
Yuna put away the puppet, then turned into a shadow and darted into the ceiling, disappearing.
…
The next morning.
The three of them got up and had breakfast as usual.
But through exchanging glances with Yuna, Ron already knew that the one in front of him was likely the loli-version puppet.
Later, while Nora was washing dishes in the kitchen and Ron had gone into the study to read, Yuna slipped in from outside. With a series of cracking sounds from her bones, she transformed back into her mature form and sat on Ron's desk, grinning at him.
"You still haven't left?" Ron asked in surprise.
"I already did."
"Where did you go? Aren't you still here?"
"With the two puppets you gave me, why would I need to go personally for the early stages of the mission?" Yuna said leisurely with a teasing smile. "I can just stay in the shop and control them."
"I'll only head over when real combat support is needed."
"After all, those two puppets aren't something ordinary people can destroy, right?"
Ron opened his mouth in surprise, then realized… that actually made perfect sense.
He'd fallen into habitual thinking and overlooked such a basic approach.
Of course, it also had to do with the nature of Yuna's mission.
If it required constant combat, she would still have to go in person.
After all, the puppet's defense might be maxed out, but its offensive capability was basically trash.
"Surprised? Unexpected?" Yuna crossed her legs, propped herself up with both hands on the desk, and looked extremely pleased with herself.
Ron looked up at her, then gave his conclusion: "It's… quite impressive."
Yuna didn't react at first, then quickly realized what he meant. Her face flushed slightly as she hugged her chest and spat, jumping down from the desk. "Pervert!"
"Whether your real body has left or not, go run the shop properly—bar or café, no slacking."
Ron casually commanded while controlling the Heartvine to flip the pages of his book.