She had barely slept at all. Esperanza blinked her dry eyes and got up from bed. An unfamiliar sleeping place, weather that had suddenly turned cold. There were too many reasons to be tired to count on her fingers.
"Are you still sleeping... why does your face look like that?"
Cordelia, wearing a dark green hat, poked her head through the door crack and asked. Esperanza rubbed her cheeks with both hands and looked at the mirror on the vanity. She couldn't find any signs of fatigue in her reflection. She could only feel that her cheeks were a bit rough to the touch. There was no sign at all that she had stayed up all night.
But how did she know?
"Your expression is bad."
Cordelia grinned and pretended to lift the corners of her mouth with both fingers. Esperanza looked at the mirror again. Was that so?
"You look like you're in a bad mood. Did sothing happen?"
"...No."
Nothing had happened. Esperanza answered with a bitter smile.
"It's nothing."
"Hmm."
She didn't seem to believe it, but Cordelia didn't ask further and settled down in front of Esperanza.
"Then, could you take a look at this for a mont?"
"What is this?"
It was an ordinary notebook. The first page was a map of Mabelwood mansion and the nearby village, with written above the mansion. And around it, stars were scattered all over.
"It's a manual. What other reason would I have to interact with Alastair Renfrew besides this? We put our heads together and thought about it. There's no law saying such things won't happen again."
Cordelia had written down various things with insight that was hard to believe from soone who had experienced a dungeon only once.
Form teams to divide people and assign each person a little bit of work.
Regular weapons don't work, so rather use magical devices that are household items.
You can't exit outside the dungeon, but you can enter from outside. Use this for food procurent.>
"...What would happen if sothing like what happened at Mabelwood occurred in a big city like this?"
Fear flickered in Cordelia's eyes, who had probably predicted the dungeon just from the words 'going to do dangerous work.' Esperanza gave a bitter smile. At tis, such things really had happened. Very many tis.
"Basically, it's impossible to save everyone."
The incident at Mabelwood had been really lucky. There were few people, and the scale was small. Cider had almost done the work of one hunter, and Alastair had done roughly half a hunter's worth. That was enough for a defensive battle. There were many weapons compared to people, and Cordelia had quickly gathered people and skillfully led them. It was a rare case where everything fell into place magically.
From nurous experiences, Esperanza knew well that such cases didn't happen even once in a hundred tis. Even in the dungeon that occurred at Pinent House, dozens of people had died. Even in Nine Holder thirteen years later, where dungeons were known to exist and nurous hunters were stationed, such lucky cases were almost non-existent.
"What about saving as many as possible?"
"You're not thinking of jumping into the dungeon, are you? This dungeon will occur at sea. Cordelia, know that you can't go near the harbor, let alone the sea."
Trembling could be felt in Cordelia's gaze. She must have guessed, and probably the reason she showed this manual was to confirm that guess, but directly receiving confirmation that a dungeon would occur was another matter. Fear emanated from her trembling lips and hands that kept readjusting their grip.
Was she thinking of jumping in despite being so scared? When Esperanza widened her eyes, Cordelia smiled sheepishly and made excuses.
"...I could give advice so Lord Sterling could respond."
"Lord Sterling can't go either."
Even if Alastair were at that sea when the dungeon occurred, what could he do? Sterling City had an elected mayor and a stationed army. Warships had captains and officers.
If Cider Claiborne, five years older, was a 'verified' person with a doctoral degree and even dals, Alastair had nothing proven except having received military training. In an urgent disaster situation, no one would listen to his words.
But if giving a few words of advice would make Cordelia feel better, that wouldn't be bad either.
"Annie, don't lurk there and co in and listen too."
Annie, who had been pacing around pretending otherwise in front of the threshold, quickly ca in and took a seat. Esperanza hugged a cushion that was leaning against the sofa.
This reception room, where dazzling sunlight poured in, was spacious and charming. Not a single decorative item was carelessly placed. It was an excellent environnt, but she didn't feel the sense of stability she had felt in libraries surrounded by books or research labs slling of tal. While gripping the cushion tightly, she opened her mouth while ignoring the sense of deficiency that gradually crept in.
"When a dungeon occurs nearby and you can't avoid it, unconditionally go underground. And block the door leading to the surface. You just need to block that."
Of course, if special terrain was involved like at Pinent House, there was no answer. But in ordinary dungeons, staying underground with the door locked was the safest. Monsters appeared from the sky, after all.
"If there's no underground, large and sturdy stone buildings are best..."
Cordelia enthusiastically took notes of the explanation. Annie also listened with sparkling eyes. Even past the ti to leave. Esperanza checked the ti and got Cordelia up.
"Have a good trip."
"Esperanza, do you have sothing to do today too?"
"Well, I wonder."
Originally she had no special schedule, but since there was also the story she heard yesterday, she thought she'd go check on the warships. It would be good to confirm how long that reconnaissance automaton would take too. Since they said it was modification, it probably wouldn't take long.
Three days? Four days?
...No, wait. Esperanza realized that the standard of the magical engineer in her head was set to Cider and shook her head. That officer had said about a week then. For modifications at the level of extending the recognition range of reconnaissance automatons, it would take exactly about that long.
"Nothing's decided."
"Then why don't you co out with
instead? To change your mood too! Do you know there's a famous jeweler in Sterling? Originally he was a magic stone refiner. You can look forward to it. How about it?"
"Uh, I'm not really into jewelry..."
No, wait. If he was a magic stone refiner, there might be sothing to entrust to him. A vague shape flitted through her mind. Soon Esperanza's gaze turned to Annie. And then to Cordelia.
"Is there a bank nearby? I want to set up a trust for Jack."
Money was overflowing anyway. No, wait. Esperanza pondered for a mont and changed her mind. What she had on hand wasn't money but highly liquid goods.
"It would be good to stop by a jewelry store too. But would they accept sothing like this?"
She took out an appropriate gem from her inventory.
That's how gas are. The value of goods is lower than reality, and becoming rich is easy. Once you reach a certain level, you can easily obtain items that are supposed to be rare. The auction items at auction houses for hunters were mainly rare items or weapons rather than gems, but occasionally you could obtain things like gems from fallen royal families.
'There are royal families that really fell. Around a few years before the ga started.'
In turbulent tis, such changes weren't particularly remarkable. The important thing was that thanks to that, even Esperanza, who had no interest in gems, had co to possess several decent pieces.
"Wow, I've never seen anything like this! It seems more precious than grandmother's jewelry."
A gorgeous necklace with five large rubies crafted in teardrop shapes. The dazzlingly splendid necklace was clearly no ordinary item at first glance.
"Do you want it?"
"Is it okay to give
sothing like this?"
"I have no use for it anyway."
Cordelia protested, asking why she had no use for it and threatening to hold balls every day for a week when the season started, while obediently accepting the necklace Esperanza offered.
"Annie, do you want one too?"
"Even ?"
Annie waved her hands frantically in refusal. To Annie, who firmly declined saying she had no use for it anyway, she pressed a smaller and more modest necklace. Annie couldn't even touch the necklace, worried about what would happen if she lost such a precious thing. In the end, they decided that Esperanza would keep it for her until they returned to Nine Holder.
"And this is sothing to entrust to the jeweler..."
Finally, Esperanza took out from a corner of her inventory the item that had co to mind as soon as she heard about the refiner. Annie's mouth slowly opened as she focused on the hand erging from the inventory. Even the jewelry box was dizzying in its splendor. Cordelia stared stiffly at the jewelry box opening.
"Good heavens."
That country's royal family hadn't fallen yet, so there would probably be the sa item there now, but anyway, it was a royal treasure.
"I've never seen this gem before."
Dozens of small diamonds surrounded a large gem. Diamonds that would draw soft curves along the collarbone when worn around the neck, and deep blue light that would sparkle vividly against the skin.
"Because it's not a gem."
"Not a gem? But it's so pretty."
Annie tilted her head as if she couldn't understand. Cordelia on the opposite side had the sa expression, so Esperanza couldn't help but smile a little.
"It's already so pretty in this state, and it seems like it would suit you well, so is there really a need to entrust it sowhere?"
"There's soone specific I'm giving this to."
Both Cordelia and Annie seed to be waiting for the next answer, but Esperanza stood up, replacing the answer with a smile.
"We've already delayed this much. Lord Sterling must be waiting. Annie, don't forget to wear your hat."
After lightly preparing and going downstairs, Alastair, who had been waiting in the first-floor lobby, removed his hat in greeting.
"Lord Sterling, there's one thing I'd like to ask of you."
Esperanza quickly recited her morning greeting and imdiately got to the point.
"Yes, please tell . I'll help as much as possible."
"I'd like you to find soone. You just need to confirm their location."
"It's not sothing I'm good at, but... I have a police officer acquaintance, so I'll try contacting them."
Alastair emphasized several tis that there was a greater possibility of not finding them, then accepted the photograph Esperanza offered. His eyes widened.
"The photograph has color?"
A golden head suddenly popped in between the two people.
"It's new technology. I saw it at the grocery shop in spring. Oh my, but who is this man that you took a photo together?"
Cordelia was sharp. Esperanza deflected with laughter.
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