"I've only stayed at noble mansions, but this is my first ti seeing a kitchen."
Creaking sounds of pipes turning and thick steam. If it hadn't been for the sll of food, she might have thought it was a laboratory. Inside the brass oven, plump chicken dishes were rotating, and a wound-up automatic chopper was slicing potatoes. The cook occasionally wiped around the cutting board with a dishcloth.
"Count Avondale, I said I'd bring the broken machine up to your room!"
The elderly cook was at a loss about having brought the precious count to the dirty kitchen.
"I don't have ti, so I'll look at it right now and go. Where's the broken machine?"
"It's this range here."
While Cider asked the cook several questions, Esperanza watched the mansion's machines cooking. The cooks had to adjust the details and the machines only did what they were told, but the sight of chanical arms and clockwork creaking as they made food was fascinating.
"It just stopped because the magic ran out. Put in a new magic stone."
"Ah... Is that really all?"
"That's all."
Cider got up from his seat matter-of-factly.
"Really?"
"When you look at machines that are said to be broken, quite often it's just that the magic stone has reached the end of its lifespan. The next most common case is when the magic stone is inserted incorrectly."
Like beating on dozens of computers that won't turn on only to find the plug was unplugged...? Soone with experience had nothing to say.
"Since machines are smarter than people, when there's a problem, it's better to suspect human error rather than the machine."
Is this what it feels like to be hit right on target? Esperanza grumbled lightly.
"Esperanzaaa!"
They had only been doing sothing else briefly, but Cordelia ca running to find Esperanza. What about chess? Esperanza was thinking when she saw Cordelia's bright red face and unconsciously stepped back.
Cordelia snatched Esperanza's hand while glaring at Cider. Cider smiled triumphantly, pulling at his lips.
"Lord Avondale, so this is how you're going to be?"
"I don't know what you're saying I did."
Cider shrugged.
Did they fight? Did he really fight with an eighteen-year-old, not acting his age?
Esperanza looked up at Cider with disbelieving eyes. However, she soon judged that that man wouldn't give her a proper answer anyway, and naturally turned her gaze toward Cordelia.
"What did you two talk about?"
"Talk about what? More importantly, do you know what Lord Sterling said? He said Nine Holder's etiquette is too focused on social pleasantries and lacks sincerity!"
"When did I say that? I said there was too much empty ceremony...!"
"That's the sa thing! You're saying all the invitations my friends sent are empty ceremony?"
"Isn't sending invitations to parties the other person can't even attend empty ceremony? And they're not even friends. Maybe friends' mothers at most."
"Friends' mothers are friends too!"
It seed like Cordelia had fought with Alastair, not Cider. Alastair, who had chased after them stomping without dignity, spoke with an equally heated face.
"You seed to want to go to parties, so I only said that because you were looking at invitations you couldn't even accept."
When a cold response ca back to what he had said trying to comfort her in his own way, perhaps feeling quite embarrassed, Alastair's voice, which had been gentle until now, had strength in it.
"Who said I was acting pitiful like that?"
Cordelia retorted indignantly, but both Esperanza and Cider guessed that this ti Alastair was right. Since she had co to Mabelwood as if fleeing when she should have been attending various parties and working on socializing in Nine Holder, it was understandable.
"Fine, I did. But whose fault is that?"
"Are you saying it's because of ? Why..."
Alastair's words trailed off. Cordelia glared at him sharply, then whirled around and disappeared. Alastair asked Esperanza with a pale face.
"Miss Hunter, did Lady Cordelia return to Mabelwood during social season because of ?"
Esperanza didn't answer, but there were things you could know without hearing. Alastair buried his face in his large hands.
"I never thought about it. I wish we had just encountered each other in Nine Holder instead..."
"It would have beco a spectacle, wouldn't it?"
"...That's right."
Briefly becoming a spectacle can happen to anyone. Especially in Nine Holder's social circles where people love to gossip. But who gets hurt more? Who finds it harder to endure?
Hundreds of years after the age of knights, now between Dunbarton, which has no influence in Nine Holder, and Mabelwood, one of the highest celebrities in social circles. Yet Cordelia was the one who had to flee. Alastair who knew nothing.
That was power. An intangible sword hidden behind the fancy nas of duke and count, a weapon the wielder doesn't even know they possess.
"I understand well. Miss Hunter, thank you for sharing your insight."
Alastair wobbled on his crutches and followed in the direction Cordelia had disappeared.
Though he felt guilty about sothing he hadn't done, it was sothing that needed to be known eventually. Esperanza shrugged. Still, seeing the hurt Cordelia and the bewildered Alastair didn't feel very good.
"Looks like you need a change of mood."
Cider spoke as if reading her mind. When Esperanza tilted her head sideways, he showed a picture-perfect smile.
"My work is all finished too, and you must have had quite a hard ti doing nanny work right after graduating from crayons."
Cider, speaking deliberately more lightly, asked coaxingly.
"Didn't you say you wanted to try using the gun?"
"...So you're saying we should leave those two like that and go out by ourselves?"
'By ourselves.' Cider rolled those words around in his mouth several tis, then smiled brightly.
"Actually, when Mrs. Wellesley asked
to repair machinery yesterday, I received sothing in return."
"...You got compensation for just repairing a range while freeloading?"
"When you put it that way, I sound like a really bad person."
"Because you are a bad person. Why do research? Just do business."
"Business lacks dignity."
Cider, who had solemnly replied to what was ant as a joke, continued.
"It's not as great as you think—I just got permission to use the hunting grounds."
In Mabelwood mansion, which had no shooting range, the hunting grounds were the only place to try shooting.
"Anyway, don't those two need to decide whether to resolve their feelings or never see each other's faces again? There's no need to watch from the sidelines while they reach a conclusion."
"That's true, but I was going to the forest alone to avoid dispersing our fighting force in the first place. If we both go out together..."
Esperanza, who had been hesitating, nodded.
"It should be fine as long as we don't stay long, right?"
What could happen? Her heart, dulled by the peace that had lasted over a week, whispered so.
But that was what she shouldn't have done.
"What, what is that?"
"Everyone run!"
The sky opened. Both Esperanza, who had raised her gun toward a flying bird, and Cider, who was watching quietly while mounted on his horse, looked up at the sky. A black crack appeared in the cloudless clear sky. The dark and ominous energy visible through the opened gap. Fluctuating magic power.
Like scooping up the world with a giant spoon, they could feel they had been cut off from the outside world.
"Esperanza."
Cider whispered. It was only her na, but it contained a near-certain guess. Esperanza moved her pale cheeks and barely made a sound. Unfortunately, his guess was correct.
"It's a dungeon."
Her throat felt completely blocked. She had known. Even though she had known, the disaster that had co to this peaceful world, this world where only humans preyed on each other, seed unfamiliar as if she was seeing it for the first ti.
However, the body of a skilled Hunter already knew what to do.
"We have to return to the mansion!"
The first rule when caught in a dungeon. Secure a base camp.
??????°??☆????°??????
At the sa ti, Mabelwood mansion was also engulfed in chaos. The sky darkened with a sensation as if the ground was shaking.
"What is that?"
"The sky is opening...!"
Everyone from the employees to Cordelia and Mrs. Wellesley was stuck to the windows, just watching that sight.
"Why, why do these things only happen to our Mabelwood? Are we really cursed?"
Cordelia's voice trembled. Mixed with anger and resentnt, it sounded like crying.
"That can't be."
Alastair said quietly.
"There's no such thing as a curse. Doesn't Lady Cordelia know that better?"
While slowly unclenching her fist that had been clenched until her nails dug into her palm, Cordelia looked up at Alastair. Surprisingly, those condescending words helped a little.
"Lord Sterling seems to have different opinions from his father."
The cold words she deliberately spat out more firmly grasped Cordelia's reason.
"First, bring everyone visible into the mansion. Hurry, open the mansion doors!"
When Cordelia, who had instinctively realized what needed to be done, gave orders, the employees opened the doors while still keeping their eyes fixed on the windows.
The territory residents who had been flocking to the mansion, not knowing what to do in this unprecedented situation, quickly filled the hall. By rough estimate, there were about fifty people. Even if only the nearest village had been swept up, it ant there were still hundreds of people left outside.
"Where's Esperanza? Co to think of it, Lord Avondale too!"
"Has anyone seen Miss Hunter and Lord Avondale?"
Alastair called out loudly to the bustling employees. The answer ca unexpectedly from the territory residents.
"We saw them riding horses into the forest earlier. Of all days..."
Really, 'of all days.' Alastair thought as he stared blankly at the sky spitting out monsters. At any other ti, he could have been helpful too, but with a broken leg and using crutches, he'd be fortunate not to be a burden, let alone a fighting force.
How many people could fight?
"Twenty years old and above, under sixty. Counting only the people currently inside, that's thirty people. Excluding Mrs. Letter and Mrs. Finn who are pregnant, and George who has back problems, that's a total of twenty-seven people. That's our current fighting force."
Cordelia muttered quickly. Alastair stared blankly at Cordelia's eyes sparkling as she organized information. It was a sight he had only seen from his father.
Her interest in the territory and her calm search for solutions in dangerous situations made 'Lady Cordelia' look like a lord.
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