"Can't you hear ? I'm telling you what just happened was your doing. Listen here, Lord Avondale."
Even as she spoke while gently pushing his back with her palms, unable to push him away forcefully lest he get hurt, she couldn't compete against soone who heard unfavorable words in one ear and let them flow out the other.
'Is it that good?'
It was arrogant enough to make her face burn just thinking about it, but she couldn't help having such thoughts. While receiving nothing in return, while suffering all kinds of hardships because of Esperanza. What was so good that he was giving so generously?
Esperanza leaned her chin against Cider's body and looked up. Their eyes t.
She felt like she might be entranced. When eyes full of affection looked down without a trace of laughter from such close distance, it felt like lightning piercing through her entire body. Cider had said it was just because they were too close for focus, but there was no way she could look away from those eyes.
Her breathing felt stifled. There were words boiling inside her, but until she spoke them, she couldn't know what those words were or what would change after saying them. However, this relationship was too precious to sacrifice to gambling. She slowly straightened her body that had been leaning at an angle.
Cider's mouth moved slightly. It seed like he was about to say sothing. But the next mont, they both spun around simultaneously.
Bang, bang bang!
Loud gunshots disturbed the quiet forest.
"Intruders?"
In a forest with an owner?
"No way."
Cider, who had already pressed down the muzzle of the rifle Esperanza had raised the mont he turned his head, sighed. His displeasure at having his selfish ti interrupted was obvious. He added while checking for intruders beyond the window.
"They're probably lost hunters. From their clothes and attitude, they're not professional hunters, but gentry young masters who ca to play and got lost."
Bang bang bang bang. Frantic gunshots mixed with shouting. And it was getting closer. Esperanza approached the window where Cider was standing and opened it about two finger-widths.
The previously incomprehensible voices beca a bit clearer.
"There's sothing like a house here?"
"What house in the middle of a forest?"
A man's voice with a slurred tongue as if he'd been drinking heavily.
"Oh my. They seem to have discovered this place."
"Won't they go back if we don't open the door?"
"Security isn't a concern. The stable is more of a problem."
Ah, right. The over-technology wasn't only installed in the main building. It was small welfare for the horse that stayed lonely in the stable all day without another horse because of its owner who wouldn't return ho. Moreover, by now would be the ti when gardener automatons far more advanced than comrcial lawn mowers were roaming outside.
"I'll close what I can remotely for now."
"Then shall I deal with those people?"
Cider lightly tapped the gun barrel pointing toward the floor as he spoke.
"Don't go out, but watch and shoot if it seems like there'll be trouble."
Kill them?
Wasn't she going through all this trouble trying to finish things without killing people?
"...Ah. Just arms and legs?"
If that's what it was. Esperanza drastically reduced the amount of magical power she was circulating inside the firearm. Cider clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Not that, use tranquilizer darts. And in your ear."
Esperanza, who quickly grasped the aning of his gesture pointing to his ear, rummaged through her inventory. Cider smiled.
After a brief strategy eting, Cider headed to the underground control room while Esperanza went to a third-floor room at the western end with a good view outside.
Running to the end of the western corridor and climbing the stairs, shutters ca down with sharp, sharp sounds matching her steps. As if completely calculating Esperanza's walking speed. It felt good when even small things fell into rhythm. Esperanza increased her speed even more. A black cloak that fell from her inventory covered her body. The gun on her shoulder was sucked into the inventory, and instead a rifle-type tranquilizer gun was grasped in her hand.
Entering the empty room at the end of the third floor and sitting on the windowsill, Esperanza loaded the dart and looked down below.
Two drunk n were wandering around holding hunting shotguns. Though not particularly threatening, there was an ominous feeling that they might fire their guns at any ti due to being heavily intoxicated. It seed they had been firing randomly into the air just monts ago. But seeing how quiet they were now.
'Did they use up all their bullets? ...No fundantals.'
"I can see them. Approaching. Disard state."
When she muttered quietly, an answer ca from the other side. 'Take them out.' Esperanza aid her gun barrel and waited for the mont like a bird of prey stalking its quarry.
"What is this place? It's late, should we just sleep here and go?"
"It's closed though?"
Bang bang bang. Two pairs of fists frantically pounded on the closed door. They didn't seem to notice the door lock right next to it. Though what would they have done even if they had seen it. Fortunately, they didn't wave their guns around after failing to knock on the door.
"Hey! Open the door! We're lost!"
"Damn, no one seems to be here."
"If it wasn't for that downpour earlier, we'd be ho by now. What a ss!"
Was there a downpour? Esperanza tilted her head and aid her gun at the backs of the necks of the two people turning toward the eastern stable.
"Where is this place? They said not to go past the signpost... why did we do that?"
"I don't know! All our hunting was fruitless, we got lost, nothing's going right!"
They were stomping their feet. They just won't stay still. Irritation crept into Esperanza's hand holding the gun. The magical power inside the tranquilizer gun responded by spinning smoothly.
"Hey, look here."
Even if they closed the research facility, they couldn't hide animal sounds. The wandering n also heard the sound and headed toward the stable.
"It's a horse. A horse."
"I'm starving to death, should we roast so horse at?"
"Ride one and roast just one."
"But who lives here? Why is there a horse? And isn't it kind of cool just around here?"
"Probably just confused from being drunk."
It was the air purification system. It maintained the stable at a reasonably comfortable temperature. It was fortunate the n ca in the evening—if they had discovered this mansion during the day, they couldn't have hidden it because of steam rising from the chimney.
The mont they stopped in front of the stable, Esperanza quickly pulled the trigger twice. The tranquilizer shots that went out soundlessly accurately hit the backs of both n's necks. Esperanza, who put the gun into her inventory, jumped straight out the window. Her body that landed after two rotations bounced out lightly like a spring.
She used her toes to flip over the bodies of the n who had collapsed beside the stable. They were properly asleep. After retrieving the tranquilizer darts, Esperanza looked at the two who lay motionless like corpses, then spoke into the device at her ear.
"Took care of them. They're by the stable. They didn't touch the door."
—I'll go there.
Shortly after, Cider, who ca out opening the door of the darkened mansion, clicked his tongue seeing the collapsed n.
"Do you know these people?"
"How could I? I'm too busy to know and associate with trash like this."
Cider laughed irritably. Then he kicked the n's bodies with his foot as if touching corpses, dragging their legs to put them on the horse.
"...To avoid having the research facility discovered, we'll have to go back too. This has beco troubleso."
Esperanza also thought belatedly. It had beco troubleso. But on the other hand, she also thought it was fortunate. If they continued to be alone together, she would really be swept away before she knew it.
Still, what a sha to have to return without even trying that good training ground once.
??????°??☆????°??????
Jas Boyle and Darwin Egerton were college classmates who, because their families got along well, often visited each other's hos during vacations even after entering university. The Boyle family had a small estate in Riton Province, so they spent the sumr with the Boyle family at a country house near Avondale.
The reason the two, who had no particular talent for hunting, ended up entering the forest alone without a guide was because of words from Jas Boyle's cousin, Simon Boyle, who happened to be at the mansion.
'Do you know what I caught at this hunting ground yesterday? Wolves ca out in this forest. So I went straight there and, wham! This hunting ground's owner, whoever they are, really isn't managing it well. That's probably why not just boring deer co out, but so pretty fearso creatures.'
To crush the spirits of the two who remained uninterested despite his lengthy explanation, Simon Boyle threw a sowhat reckless move.
'As soon as I caught it, I gifted it to Miss Wilcott and she was very moved.'
Miss Lavinia Wilcott was the only daughter of quite wealthy gentry in Riton Province, a lady that both Jas Boyle and Simon Boyle were courting while watching each other's moves. Jas Boyle, easily provoked, imdiately got heated.
'I heard gentlen skilled at hunting look cool. Jas, you can't even get near Miss Wilcott?'
'...I can do everything you do. Just watch.'
In fact, Miss Wilcott had never said such things. Rather, she clearly showed distaste for dead ga, so Simon figured he might as well use the sa thod to reduce his competitor cousin's score. Adding a bit of spite, he even boasted that though it was his first ti, he didn't need a guide.
Sure enough, Jas Boyle, who had excessive competitiveness compared to his poor judgnt, promptly set out to the hunting ground with just one friend.
If he went and ca back with a broken leg or sothing, that would also reduce his score in its own way, so that was fine. Hunting novices wouldn't be able to catch anything proper anyway, so it would be good even if his spirit was broken.
Jas Boyle also had his own calculations. Though this was his first ti hunting, his shooting scores were quite good. If he was lucky enough to catch sothing, he could humble Simon's arrogance, and even if he failed, there wouldn't be much loss.
The actual person in question, Miss Lavinia Wilcott, didn't consider either of the Boyle gentlen as potential husband material, but the two who didn't know this just got heated toward each other.
However, the day wasn't good. For them, who had only experienced fox hunting with dogs released in well-maintained hunting grounds, directly holding shotguns and riding horses to catch animals in forests with tall grass was not work they could do well just because they got an A in shooting class.
Moreover, wandering around here and there to avoid sudden downpours, they ended up straying far from the path they had known in advance.
As misfortune piled upon misfortune for the two n who had no skill but plenty of pride, the situation reached its worst.
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