"How long do you think it will take to reach the station?"
"Well, it'll take at least another 30 minutes..."
Sterling City's downtown area wasn't very large, and the hotel was relatively close to the station. Thirty minutes would be excessively long. Cordelia pushed Alastair aside and looked out the window.
"Good heavens."
Half the road was under traffic control, and the remaining half was a chaotic ss of steam carriages and regular carriages mixed together. On the densely blocked road, the carriage kept stopping and starting repeatedly.
"It wasn't this bad just a while ago!"
"This road normally has heavy traffic. The road control is probably due to so event. I don't know what event it is, but it's not uncommon."
Cordelia sat down, unable to hide her anxious expression.
"Should we go back instead?"
At the coachman's question, Alastair looked back at Cordelia. After a mont's deliberation, Cordelia nodded.
At the next intersection, the carriage turned onto a smaller road. The carriage the three were riding was a 6-seater steam carriage of considerable size, so it couldn't go on narrow roads. As they searched for wider roads, even while sitting still, they could feel the winding turns. At first they were satisfied that at least the carriage wasn't stopping, but gradually they beca dizzy.
"Does it normally go around like this?"
"Probably because of one-way traffic..."
Alastair said with an embarrassed face.
"One-way traffic? Don't tell
all those streets are like that?"
"The streets around here are generally like that."
"Then perhaps, haven't we co quite far?"
Cordelia, growing anxious, roughly threw open the carriage window. The carriage was racing down the road relentlessly as if trying to make up for lost ti. Buildings flashed by in an instant. It was an unfamiliar road with no buildings she recognized. Her head felt dizzy.
"Then where, where is this? Lord Sterling!"
"Stop the carriage for a mont!"
Though he didn't say it, Alastair had been gradually growing anxious too. Cordelia's question had ignited his anxiety. Though he thought he shouldn't show it, urgency seeped into his voice as he called the coachman.
The coachman, not knowing what was happening, drove out to a nearby main road and stopped the carriage. Steam escaped through the chimney as if deflating. The mont the carriage stopped, Alastair opened the door and jumped out. Cordelia and Annie, who followed him out, also looked around.
It was an unfamiliar scene. The buildings with dark walls characteristic of Dunbarton were sothing they had seen to the point of boredom throughout their stay in Sterling. But this wasn't a place they knew. Only the wide plaza visible beyond the road and the large cathedral building looked sowhat distinctive.
"I've never been to this place. Lord Sterling, where is this?"
"This is Marvin Plaza. That, right there is Saint Marvin Cathedral. So this place is..."
Alastair, at a loss for words, stuttered. He could feel the two becoming more anxious as his answer was delayed. However, words wouldn't co out as if his throat was blocked.
"The harbor."
As those words ended, he finally felt as if the fishy sll of the sea was lingering at his nose. Even though the harbor wasn't even visible. It was as if he had caught the scent of blood to co in advance.
Cordelia asked with forced composure in her voice:
"...What's going on?"
Alastair tried to take out a map from inside his jacket, then shook his head. Now wasn't the ti to explain reasons one by one.
"There's no ti to explain. Henson! Turn the carriage around imdiately!"
"Pardon?"
The coachman looked bewildered and roughly stubbed out the cigarette he had casually lit.
"Did I do sothing wrong? This road is the fastest. Since it's one-way, it'll take quite a while to turn the carriage around..."
It was a disaster. Alastair and Cordelia looked at each other and thought simultaneously. When the coachman said he would take a detour, they should have told him not to go near the harbor. If they had just said that one thing, this situation wouldn't have happened. But both of them failing to think of explaining the situation to the coachman was their mistake.
'If it were Esperanza, she wouldn't have made such a mistake.'
But even self-reproach was a waste of ti now. Annie, who had turned pale, quickly threw open the carriage door.
"Miss Cordelia, get in quickly!"
"Henson, hurry. We need to get out of here. It doesn't matter if we're late to the station, just go in the direction opposite the harbor!"
"Pardon?"
"Don't ask questions! Quickly!"
Alastair Renfrew was soone who rarely got angry. Even the coachman who had worked at Count Sterling's mansion for 10 years was seeing him shout like this for the first ti. The coachman climbed into the carriage with a bewildered face.
To turn around, they had to go around the main road. While the carriage ran parallel to the harbor on the main road, Annie, who had been sticking her head out the carriage window, scread.
"Outside, look at the sky...!"
The sky had darkened. It felt like being trapped. A transparent semicircular wall was descending over the distant sky.
If she had known this would happen, she would have just waited for Lord Avondale at the hotel. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have co to Sterling in the first place. If she had known this would happen... countless thoughts flashed through her mind. Alastair covered Cordelia's hand with his while urging the coachman.
"Faster, Henson, go faster!"
But the carriage was already rattling to the point where wheels might fall off. Just when she thought they might really tip over.
The carriages ahead began stopping one by one. Coachn got out of their carriages and were feeling around in the air. Shortly after, their carriage also reached that end.
Thunk.
It was a strange thing. The feeling of hitting sothing was this clear, yet there was no recoil. Instead of bouncing back, the carriage stopped firmly in place. Only the wheels spun uselessly.
"Count, the carriage is fine but strangely it won't move forward!"
Henson's voice, still not fully grasping the situation, delivered a cold verdict.
They were trapped inside a dungeon. But unlike before, Esperanza wasn't by their side.
Monsters climbed up from the deep sea, extending giant legs. Ships made of steel collapsed. Long tentacles pierced through vessels. Harbor workers scread and fled.
Monsters endlessly climbed onto land. So of them struggled in agony, unable to breathe outside water, and died on their own. However, before dying, corpses struck and pierced by giant legs writhing in the pain of suffocation covered the harbor.
And monsters that could breathe outside water began leaving the harbor to search for prey. Thump, thump, screams and monster roars could be faintly heard from afar. Though they sounded small, they were loud enough to hurt one's ears.
"Let's go into the cathedral. Base camp, we need a base camp, she said. Everyone, hurry!"
"Miss, do you know sothing?"
An elderly gentleman who had lowered his carriage window asked Cordelia. Cordelia hesitated, then shook her head.
"Well, I don't know. But since we can hear sounds of things collapsing, it seems better to gather in a sturdy building. We can't escape anyway. Would you like to co with us, sir?"
The elderly gentleman seed to relay the ssage to the lady in his carriage, then eventually nodded. Several other carriages followed Cordelia. If there had been more ti, they would have persuaded the carriages that didn't follow, but right now their lives were also in danger. Alastair looked back.
"Fortunately, we have luggage bags. The other people in the cathedral probably don't have much, so they won't kick us out. I wish we had so food."
Cordelia sighed. Everything was too different from the ti at Mabelwood.
Upon arriving at Saint Marvin Cathedral across the street, they knocked on the door. People who confird through the windows that they hadn't brought monsters behind them opened the door.
"Co in quickly, miss. You have luggage bags!"
"They're not very full though."
Alastair helped the elderly couple with their luggage bags. People who got off the shared carriage that had been following also unloaded their luggage.
Annie, who had grabbed Cordelia as she entered the cathedral with a determined face, whispered in her ear:
"Miss, don't ntion that you have a gun."
Cordelia, montarily surprised, nodded. Unlike Alastair, the two of them didn't even know how to use guns properly. If the fact that they had firearms beca known, they might face pressure to hand them over to soone who could use guns. But that gun was their only ans of self-defense.
Confirming the presence of the gun in her pocket as she entered the cathedral, Cordelia first t the bishop, who was in charge. While talking about which diocese bishop and which lady who donates a lot to the church, she quickly beca friends with the Sterling diocese bishop she was eting for the first ti, and soon obtained the bishop's permission to freely use the cathedral's facilities until the situation improved.
Cordelia Mabelwood cleverly used that situation. As if she were the bishop's representative, she went around asking people for favors.
"Mr. Miller, could you take your sons and other people to block the chimneys? Please close all the windows too. And please block any ventilation ducts you see as well."
"That's not difficult."
"Thank you! The bishop will pray for Mr. Miller and your family too."
Mr. Miller, who had co in leading a large family, went off with his sturdy sons and several other n. Unlike at Mabelwood, here Cordelia was just a young, wealthy lady, so she had to go around to people one by one and assign tasks under the pretense of the bishop's requests.
The people inside the cathedral were generally restaurant owners, staff, custors, and coachn who had been nearby. Later, there were also gentlen and ladies who had co in with carriages, but they weren't many in number.
Cordelia used a tone that was equally polite to everyone but not servile, and people generally complied with her requests. Deep down, in this chaotic situation, they hoped soone would step forward to take responsibility and serve as a representative. A teenage lady wasn't very trustworthy, but it was better than no one stepping forward. Of course, not everyone felt the sa way.
"I don't want to. Who are you, miss, to tell us what to do?"
"Please don't think of it as my request, but as sothing we're doing to help each other. We don't know when monsters might co near here."
"Whether they co or not, why should I listen to you, miss!"
A man whose face was red from drinking since broad daylight waved his pot-lid-sized hands. Alastair quickly stepped in front of him. Cordelia, whose courage doubled at tis like this, didn't bat an eye.
"Alastair Renfrew, put that arm down. Mister, think carefully while I'm being nice. How long do you think this place will be safe? Will those monsters disappear? If you're being this uncooperative, who will help you when you're in danger?"
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