The painfully loud noise made Annie jump up and run over.
"Oh, this thing makes noise? How do you use it?"
"It should be connected to the hotel managent office."
Cordelia also poked her head in. However, she was equally clueless about how to use it. Cordelia, who always traveled with maids and stayed at relatives' houses, had never used a hotel except when she was very young.
"There's an explanation next to it. So is this what you need to press?"
Cordelia, who had put her foot on the footboard, tilted her head.
"Ah, ah, don't press it! Wh-what if sothing happens?"
"What on earth are you all doing?"
Finally, Esperanza, who couldn't stand the bell sound any longer, approached. It was so noisy she couldn't continue her thoughts.
The machine that was still making a loud ringing sound was nothing less than a giant pager. It was connected to the first floor through pipelines, and it seed to make noise when so signal arrived. Esperanza pulled the lever without hesitation and picked up the receiver hanging nearby.
—Hello, custor in room 1201. This is the managent office contacting you. The matter is...
The staff inside the receiver spoke in a polite voice. Unfortunately, it was structured so that voices couldn't be transmitted from this side. Cordelia and Annie watched with sparkling eyes as Esperanza took the call. After a mont, Esperanza put down the receiver and returned the lever to its original position.
"Have you used sothing like this before? How are you so skilled?"
She couldn't have used it before. Though it was cutting-edge technology that was hard to see anywhere in the world in this era, even Osdern hotels thirteen years later used much more sophisticated machines than this. Even that technology from thirteen years later was in a much more complex and crude form than the intercoms or telephones used in the original world. It was inevitable due to the difference in era and technological capability. But anyway, if soone was familiar with using machines, they would guess this much even if they weren't a great expert. Even if they were just at the level of playing puzzle gas on a mobile phone.
Esperanza shrugged in response and put on the outer garnt that Annie had carefully hung up.
"I need to go downstairs."
"What's happening?"
Cordelia asked with round eyes.
"Millen is here."
"Mr. Millen? You're already in a bad mood, Miss, so why did he co? Miss, shall I go instead?"
"Thank you, but no. I'll go."
She didn't know the detailed reason why he ca back so soon after they had just t. But Millen was generally indifferent and didn't cross established lines. He wouldn't do anything he wasn't told to do. So there was only one possibility for him to bother coming all the way to a hotel that was quite far away.
Esperanza ran out to the corridor and, unable to wait for the elevator to co up, ran down the stairs. Annie, who had hesitated for a mont, followed her out of the room. Cordelia, who had been about to go out together, gave up when she saw Esperanza going down the stairs almost sliding. She didn't have the courage to follow down the stairs late like Annie, and by the ti she waited for the elevator and arrived at the first floor, Esperanza would probably have already finished her business and returned to the room.
Her hair flew up and settled down. The mont the elevator door that had been going down from the 7th floor opened, Esperanza stepped onto the first floor. In the hotel lobby stood Millen, neatly dressed like a young gentleman. Despite seeing him again after just a few hours, there was no awkwardness in his attitude at all.
"I see you again, Miss Esperanza."
"Is sothing wrong?"
At the question that popped out imdiately, ignoring his greeting, Millen frowned.
"What do you an, is sothing wrong?"
Esperanza crossed her arms with a face that said there's no way you'd co if nothing was wrong. Millen ended up committing the rude act of overlapping his long-served master with that appearance. Hiding his thoughts with effort, he took out an envelope from inside his jacket.
"His lordship told
to deliver this."
"...That residence or whatever place, it's at most 20 minutes by carriage from here."
Millen nodded with a face that looked like he had much to say. As naturally as if he knew nothing.
"That's right."
Right, what could she do by questioning a servant? Despite the distance being so short, it seed Cider Claiborne found Esperanza so disgusting that he would send his servant instead. Esperanza resigned herself and carefully opened the envelope that Cider had sent.
It was short to be called a letter.
Hide her whereabouts? Who from whom? This person seed to have his conscience evaporate whenever he wrote letters. Esperanza glared at Millen once in place of the absent Cider and lowered her gaze back to the letter.
The next sentence struck without any ntal preparation. Her hand tensed. Right. He had left because he was disgusted by the sight of her, so how bewildering it must be to face her at an unexpected mont. Esperanza pressed her lips together while harshly driving herself even more. Her eyes seed stuck on that sentence and wouldn't move. She forcibly pulled her gaze away.
It wasn't saying he'd never see her again. Though she knew he wouldn't, her inner anxiety settled a little.
Esperanza grimaced. A sound ca out that was impossible to tell whether it was crying or laughing.
"Oh my, Miss...?"
Annie, who had just co down to the first floor, covered her open mouth and called to Esperanza. Esperanza ran to the hotel managent office and borrowed a pen and paper. She roughly scrawled on a boring piece of paper with the hotel logo. While Cider Claiborne's letter was short but still maintained the form of a letter, Esperanza's was closer to a mo.
As soon as the ink dried, she ca out with the roughly folded paper.
In the anti, Millen, who had been whispering sothing with Annie, left without hesitation once he received the paper.
"What did you say to that person?"
"Just greetings. Normal, ordinary greetings."
"With Millen? Greetings?"
It seed like she had never exchanged normal, ordinary greetings with Esperanza. Was it different when she was with employees? Well, Millen's attitude wasn't very important anyway. Esperanza looked down at the letter remaining in her hand.
Wait a mont.
She hastily unfolded the letter again.
Could this commission be the reconnaissance automaton?
If so, she could reach a conclusion, albeit hastily. When Cider finished making the automaton, the warship would set sail. And when the warship t the Paolun pirates' ships, a dungeon would appear and swallow them all.
That ant they could determine when the dungeon would appear.
??????°??☆????°??????
Millen busily went back and forth between the hotel and Colonel Donovan's residence. He had offered heartfelt advice that it would be better for the two to just et, but the insufferably arrogant count didn't even pretend to listen to his servant's loyalty.
Cider Claiborne, who had made the dusty study in that residence his research lab, didn't co out of the research room except when receiving letters and writing replies. When Millen went to deliver letters, he instructed the maids to prepare als, and when he ca back with replies, he pushed the prepared als along with the replies. Since Cider didn't leave ti for als in his schedule, if he didn't do this, he would have imrsed himself in research all day drinking only water.
'It's better that he cos out of the research room this way at least.'
Millen accepted his duty with reluctant feelings.
"Again? There won't be any ti to rest."
Esperanza, who had briefly returned to the hotel after lunch, greeted Millen with a displeased face. However, despite her expression showing annoyance, her movent to snatch Cider's letter from Millen's hand was swift.
Cordelia, who had been following a few steps behind, shook her head at that sight. Cordelia's voice explaining to Alastair and the couple (Alastair's cousins whom he had brought as chaperones) what was happening was clearly deflated.
"That's how she is. Hmph, I don't know if she ca on a trip with
or with Lord Avondale. Without even eting, several tis a day, what kind of behavior is that!"
Alastair, who couldn't bring himself to agree, smiled awkwardly. That was a wise reaction. If Alastair had agreed with Cordelia's complaints and criticized Esperanza's behavior, it would have displeased Cordelia.
Regardless, Esperanza was busy tearing open the letter envelope. An envelope made of much better quality paper than the first letter envelope was torn open without hesitation.
Since exchanging the first letter, they had been constantly exchanging letters at a distance of only 20 minutes by steam carriage, using the poor servant as a mailman. They were practically notes. If they had a fax machine between them, paper would have been constantly coming out and piled up like mountains.
Is the research you're doing making reconnaissance automatons? When that's completed, the warship will depart imdiately. According to Cyrus, when that warship ets the Paolun pirates, a dungeon will open. A lot of people will die. I can't just leave that alone, so I'll have to handle the dungeon.
This might be the last ti we can utilize the future knowledge we have. So I need to expand the situation. I'll stop Daria from creating the dungeon and steal the Golden Claw. Combat is inevitable. The scale might beco larger than expected.
P.S.: Why did you co here when you obviously knew Sterling was dangerous?>
One line of postscript added carelessly. From here, petty quarreling continued.
If you knew it was dangerous, shouldn't you have left behind those little ones trailing after you?
P.S.: Did you et Cyrus?>
And, this is a different topic... I think we might be able to control the timing of the dungeon occurrence. If you delay the automaton completion by a few days and finish it unexpectedly, won't the warship departure timing differ from Daria's expectations?
P.S.: What about Duke Dunbarton's niece?>
The answer to that question was this current letter.
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