60 ~ Substitute Doll

“That’s Teresa’s Divine Child? Heh, what a pathetic look. Like he hasn’t even woken up yet.”

Upon seeing Dylin, Irene sneered. “Well, I guess given her circumstances, it’s no wonder. Couldn’t get a better Divine Child, so she had to settle for a blind one.”

But despite her words, her team members dared not agree aloud. In fact, even the Divine Child in Irene’s own team flashed a glimmer of envy when he looked at Dylin.

And he wasn’t the only one. Many Divine Children in the crowd cast varying gazes at the black-haired boy who seemed so plain—mostly tinged with jealousy, and occasionally with admiration.

“He’s that blind Divine Child?”

“There’s no mistake. He’s definitely the blind one,” Irene said with conviction. This intel had come from Frand, and she trusted it completely.

The Divine Child was supposed to be a team’s brain and eyes. If he couldn’t fulfill his role, the team would be as good as blind.

“All right—quiet!”

The grey-robed instructor barked. At once, the venue fell into silence.

“Save your idle chatter for after you’ve entered the realm—or if you come back victorious. The time has come. The Freshman Crown Tournament is officially beginning. We’ll now distribute identity tokens to each team. Anyone who continues talking will be disqualified.”

“Take care of your tokens. If you lose them, not only will the Academy be unable to record your performance, it may also be unable to guarantee your safety.”

This warning effectively calmed the students, who turned their focus from Teresa back to the imminent tournament.

Before the secret realm opened, the instructor had students line up by teams, standing in neat formation. Each team’s Divine Child stepped forward to receive their identity tokens.

As the instructor neared their team, Teresa gently brushed aside the golden strands draped in front of her chest and gave the “Dylin” behind her an imperceptible glance.

The latter stepped forward and positioned himself before her.

“Dylin and Teresa,” the instructor confirmed. Tokens were distributed on-site in random order to prevent any tampering. Once the names were verified, he handed the token over.

Dylin accepted it wordlessly.

But the instructor found this Divine Child strange.

He seemed… vacant. After receiving the token, he didn’t speak, didn’t even look at the instructor. His gaze was unfocused, as if his mind weren’t even there.

“You’re about to enter the realm—snap out of it, boy.”

The instructor frowned and gave Dylin a light pat on the shoulder.

“………”

Still no reaction.

“My apologies, Instructor.” Teresa stepped forward quickly, bowed slightly, and took the token from Dylin’s hand. “I believe my Divine Child meant to express his understanding.”

“I’m terribly sorry. He stayed up late preparing for the tournament and is probably still out of sorts. Please forgive the lapse.”

Her tone was graceful, each word respectful. The sweet lilt of her voice was like birdsong in a secluded valley, calming the mood instantly.

“I-I see.” To avoid further awkwardness, the instructor turned his gaze, gave a polite nod, and muttered a quick “good luck” before hastily moving on.

Teresa’s delicate fingers played lightly with the token. Outwardly composed, she was secretly sweating with tension.

Whew… that worked.

She glanced sideways at “Dylin,” who stood silently beside her, clutching his token, gaze lowered, utterly motionless. If not for his breathing, he’d seem like a corpse.

With the crowd’s size and the fact that all were freshmen, it was unlikely anyone would notice anything odd.

And indeed—this “Dylin” wasn’t the real one. If he were, there’d now be two Dylins in the world.

In the background, where no one could see, Teresa had been giving the doll commands. First in follow mode, then manual control, prompting him to take that step forward.

Last night, after completing her Divine Awakening, Teresa realized a major problem:

Dylin and Teresa couldn’t appear at the same time.

That was trouble. The Crown Tournament wouldn’t start unless every team member was accounted for. You couldn’t be short even one.

But instead of panicking, Teresa kept her cool.

She remembered something that might be the solution. She opened the Golden Chalice Gacha’s shard exchange page and selected the cheapest available item.

That’s right. The same item she’d seen a month ago when she first browsed the exchange page—A Low-grade Substitute Doll.

Its function was to mimic someone’s appearance and grant them basic movement abilities.

The prerequisite? The user had to know the target well enough for the doll to accurately simulate them based on the user’s mental image.

Afterward, the user could issue commands via spiritual suggestion and mental control.

Of course, it was just a low-grade doll. In automatic mode, it could only replicate basic behavior.

A skilled Divine Child could easily spot the flaws. And it could only mimic a non-Divine individual, someone without Divine Authority.

Luckily, Dylin fit that profile perfectly. So Teresa created the doll, shaped it to Dylin’s appearance, and put it in follow mode.

That solved the issue of having both present.

But another problem remained—What happens when the doll-Dylin gets eliminated and is teleported out of the secret realm? Would someone discover the truth if Teresa wasn’t around?

She’d anticipated this, too. After investigating, she learned that eliminated students were teleported to a sealed room within the Academy—out of sight and out of mind.

So before the tournament began, she had made all the necessary preparations and contingencies.

If the doll-Dylin got eliminated, it didn’t matter.

As long as she won the tournament, the team would be considered victorious.

This rule was practically designed to let someone carry their entire team.

Most importantly, the loss of doll-Dylin had no impact on combat.

While other teams split responsibilities—Divine Appraisal from the Divine Child, Divine Authority from the Divine Princess—Teresa handled both. She was both Appraiser and Warrior.

Doll-Dylin, if anything, only held her back.

No one should notice.

Teresa swept a glance around and quickly looked away.

By now, the instructor had finished distributing all the identity tokens.

She checked hers.

Team 30.

The secret realm activated. A surge of strange energy pulsed outward, twisting space itself as the numbers on each token lit up.

Every student instinctively looked up. A glowing number now hovered above each of their heads.

Knowing they’d been identified, everyone quickly scanned their surroundings, trying to memorize as many team numbers as possible.

Teresa felt multiple gazes land on her. She looked back and saw Irene smirking at her, eyes fixed on the glowing number above Teresa’s head.

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