The three o'clock train to Mapleline bound for Avondale had departed. In the first-class cabin of the train roughly racing down the railway tracks, a lady sat with an anxious face, tapping the desk with her fingertips.
"Are you that worried?"
"Still, it's Mabelwood Mansion, so surely nothing will happen."
"At most, it's an information broker from Alter District. Even if he's connected to the duke, he's not the duke himself. Moreover, even if it were the duke himself, he's not in a position to go against your wishes right now. Calm down."
Cider leaned forward and pulled the pink ribbon tied under Esperanza's chin. As the ribbon ca undone, he lifted the slightly tilted hat from her head and placed it on the cabin chair. Her face, which had been hidden by the hat brim, was revealed. Her cheeks flushed with worry looked, at a glance, as if she were embarrassed.
"So why did Jack do such a dangerous thing..."
"He must have liked you."
"That's why I feel sorry."
When Cider, Jack, or anyone offered kindness that Esperanza couldn't take responsibility for, she didn't know what to do.
"If you're sorry, just be good to them, right?"
Cider smiled warmly as if he had seen right through her.
The story goes back to one day before the train departed.
Esperanza, who felt sorry for not contacting Jack when going to Mabelwood, went to see Jack before leaving. Jack's face brightened when he spotted the woman in the long hooded outfit standing in front of the bakery. Jack, who had wiped the soot from his cheeks with his worn sleeves, approached with his lips twitching as if pretending not to care.
'Why did you suddenly call ? I discovered sothing really amazing, want
to show you?'
There was a reason for his excitent. The background investigation on Luke Havenly was aningless now, but... Esperanza postponed what she had to say and nodded.
'What did you see?'
Jack dragged Esperanza to the back of the building and gestured. When Esperanza lowered her head, he whispered in her ear.
'Did you know 'Teacher' and the quack doctor are close?'
'Quack doctor?'
'You know, that doctor we took the kid to before. The one with the frizzy hair.'
'Ah. That person.'
How did he look? She couldn't rember well.
'That quack doctor doesn't pay rent in exchange for treating Peter's gang. But that doctor, he's not just a doctor.'
'Not just a doctor?'
'Hmm, hmm. I rember exactly. When Teacher and the quack doctor were eting, I secretly went in.'
'Why did you do such a dangerous thing!'
'It wasn't dangerous at all. Anyway, listen.'
He was a forr assassin and an information broker backed by the duke. Esperanza bit the inside of her lips. Jack, completely oblivious to such signs, chattered excitedly.
'That doctor reinstalled that, that gun that was broken last ti. I saw it clearly! And he said sothing about circuits and gears, but his voice was quiet so I couldn't hear well.'
From his tone, it seed he couldn't rember not because of the voice but because the words were difficult. But he wouldn't have understood the details even if he heard them, so it didn't matter.
'So he was a magical engineer.'
She thought he was just a quack doctor, but he was a magical engineer. But a magical engineer living in back alleys?
'I found out his na too. Alfred. Alfred Sullivan. He said strange people ca looking for him and threatened him, asking if the promise was different from what they said about protecting him.'
Alfred Sullivan. That doctor was Dr. Sullivan? Even seeing him, she couldn't guess. Was it because his hair was sparse brown instead of the white hair of Dr. Sullivan she knew? Or maybe it was prejudice about quack doctors in slums.
A magical engineer hiding in slums—unless he committed a cri, why on earth?
'Cyrus, what kind of guy did you introduce
to?'
In the past, she would have thought he introduced him without knowing, but now she thought he at least wouldn't have been unaware. Maybe Dr. Sullivan was also an accomplice of Cyrus and Daria. Would it be too much speculation to think that those people who ca looking for Dr. Sullivan, avoiding Luke Havenly's protection, were Daria and Cyrus?
'And, that doctor asked Teacher sothing else. He asked if he knew about a space-ti machine.'
'What did Teacher say?'
'He said he didn't know.'
Her energy deflated. Right, no matter how much of an information broker he was, he wouldn't know such things.
'Space-ti machine.'
Just hearing the na gave her a premonition that it would be related to the Golden Claw. It matched her guess that she thought was speculation. Esperanza, who stored that na in one corner of her mind, suddenly looked down at Jack.
'You, you were listening to all this? You weren't caught?'
'I wasn't caught. Do you think I'm an idiot? I have ways for that kind of thing. I've eavesdropped on Peter's gang's drug deals without ever being caught.'
Esperanza grabbed Jack's nose tightly and twisted it.
'Ow, ow, it hurts!'
He's different from those thug bastards. There's no way a forr assassin information broker wouldn't notice a child's presence. Maybe he deliberately leaked the information.
But the fact that the information safely reached Esperanza ant Jack had betrayed the information broker's trust. The information broker would no longer protect Jack. How would they handle a slum child who knew too much? It was a problem that didn't need consideration.
'Why did you eavesdrop on all this dangerous talk?'
'It wasn't that difficult.'
At the child's characteristic boastful voice, Esperanza sighed. This kid had really beco dangerous. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have made the request from the beginning.
'I can't take responsibility for you.'
Jack blinked his round eyes. The child wasn't very clever but was quick-witted. His worn shoes tapped the ground. The child knew he had to put up defenses before getting hurt. But Esperanza was faster.
'But I can't let you be in danger because of
either... Jack, you said you wanted to live sowhere else?'
'Everyone wants that.'
'Pack your things.'
'Where are we going?'
Esperanza, pretending not to see the expectation in his eyes, said.
'I have other business so I can't keep you with . I have sowhere to go. So I'm going to entrust you to my friend. Follow that kid to Mabelwood.'
Jack couldn't hide his disappointnt.
'Learn to read and work there. When you learn to read, you can write letters too.'
'Will you write back?'
'Of course.'
Though she didn't know how long she could do that.
Thanks to giving advance notice, Cordelia readily agreed to bringing a slum kid dripping with gri into the house. Baron Mabelwood looked at him with a stubborn gaze, but knowing that Esperanza was the benefactor of Mabelwood and his family, he said nothing.
'Please take care of him.'
'Don't worry. I'll have Du teach him various things.'
'Thank you.'
'Esperanza, compared to what you've done for us, this is nothing. Kid, what was your na again?'
'Jack.'
The boy who answered while tightly gripping Esperanza's skirt hem glanced around the unfamiliar space with an anxious face.
'Right, Jack. If you listen well and study hard, I'll let you co along when we visit Esperanza.'
Cordelia beca friends with Jack so easily that Esperanza felt sowhat hurt.
Everything seed resolved, but Esperanza continued to worry about Jack and Cordelia's safety. Hearing that she had sent Jack to Cordelia, Cider spoke soothingly.
"Given the duke's character, he wouldn't send assassins to Baron Mabelwood's mansion, a faithful subject of His Majesty, just to kill one kid. Especially not while making an enemy of you."
"Right?"
"Of course. Now, look over there instead."
Cider directed Esperanza's attention outside the window. The train, which had passed beyond the city lined with pointed buildings and run along the long mountain range, crossed a high, long bridge while puffing white steam.
"Once we cross this bridge, it's Avondale."
Cider said, pointing to the center of the map spread on the table. Riton Province, Avondale City. It was a city of considerable size.
Esperanza looked outside the window. The mountain range hanging like a folding screen to the west and the bustling city below it.
"There are many mountains."
"That's right. Didn't I ntion there are mines too?"
"Ah, magic stone mines! Will we visit there too?"
"No."
Ah. Never mind then.
"We won't have ti for that. As busy as they are moving, we have a lot to do too."
Just then, a conductor passed through the corridor, noisily ringing a bell.
"Next station is Avondale, Avondale Station!"
The train gradually slowed down and entered the city. The downtown area with buildings densely packed and a spacious intersection around a tall clock tower, though not as large as Nine Holder. The station was in a sowhat quieter location. The locomotive let out steam with a trumpet-like sound. Clank, clank, the large wheels ca to a stop.
Cider pulled his hat down low and also tied the string under Esperanza's hat. Because of this, Esperanza could only see his firm lips.
"When we get off, brace yourself. Don't lose
no matter what."
"What do you an?"
"You'll see."
Most of their luggage was stored in inventory, so their hands were light. Millen and Annie ca carrying two light decoy bags each.
"Count, Tait and I will go look for the coachman."
Millen and Annie with the luggage got off first, and Cider and Esperanza got off the train last among the first-class passengers who were slowly disembarking. Since it was sunset ti, yellow gas lamps were lit in rows. The large clock in the center of the station made ticking sounds.
"Six o'clock train to Mapleline, six o'clock train!"
A uniford station worker guided with a loud voice while ringing a bell.
Unlike Mabelwood Station, which was desolate to the point of being dreary, Avondale Station was reasonably crowded. Most of those many people glanced at Cider Claiborne at least once, and everyone who looked well-dressed approached to talk to him.
"Lord Avondale! Returning without any notice!"
"I understand the Nine Holder social season hasn't ended yet, is there perhaps so matter?"
"May I ask which family the lady beside you is from?"
"Lord Avondale, tomorrow at our house's dinner..."
"Permission to use the hunting grounds..."
"Lord Avondale!"
Ah, this was the preparation.
The city's most influential aristocrat, a mber of the upper house, and a popular genius magical engineer even in Nine Holder. And above all, the youth and beauty that high society loved.
Looking at the surface alone, it couldn't be more perfect. The inside... actually the inside wasn't that bad either. Reasonable yet flexible, mischievous yet kind.
Of course, whether the outside was fine or the inside was fine, that was Cider's situation, and there was no reason for Esperanza to be involved in this chaos.
Cider was surrounded by people who ca in family units, each saying a word before starting to chatter among themselves, and was thinking for the twentieth ti that 'next ti I should go straight to the mansion by steam carriage even if it takes longer.' Esperanza tapped Cider's arm.
"I'll go look for a steam carriage."
"...You, just try leaving."
"I'll contact you when I find one. With this."
Esperanza said, tapping her ear. Her will was full of determination to never return to this place again.
"Are you going to abandon ?"
Esperanza, who was about to quietly lower her hand from Cider's arm, was startled by the low rumbling voice and looked up at him. Cider smiled with his eyes slightly narrowed. Without touching Esperanza's body with even a fingertip, he only made eye contact.
"...Who said anything about abandoning."
Why say it like that. Esperanza sighed deeply. Right, being a bit late, so what.
In the end, they arrived at the mansion, a 20-minute steam carriage ride away, an hour later.
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