Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Alchemist's Daughter
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Ars Count's estate.
The mansion of the Ars family, closer to alchemists than lords, was always bustling with visitors. Alchemy was a money pit, so the Ars family desperately needed patrons, and those who required alchemical services found it safer to commission the Ars Count, who had earned a title from the kingdom, rather than entrusting it to just anyone.
Among the countless visitors, Eve Claudia was undoubtedly in the top tier of patrons. It wasn't for nothing that the Count bowed and scraped to her, using honorifics despite her not yet properly inheriting her family.
VIP patrons deserved commensurate treatment.
Serving tea he had personally brewed, the Ars Count beamed with a wide smile as he spoke.
"You've truly waited a long time, Lady."
"It did take quite a while. Long enough that I wondered if even the Ars family couldn't make it."
"Ahaha! No such thing! With the incredibly detailed blueprints you provided, Lady, failing to produce it would be a matter of will, not ability!"
The Ars Count spoke as if the blueprints Eve Claudia had presented were eminently practical. One might even wonder where on earth she had obtained such designs.
With a perfect set of blueprints that anyone could follow to success, claiming failure due to lack of skill would wound any alchemist's pride.
"Shall we go see it right away?"
"Yes, let's."
"Excellent. Given the nature of the item, it's being securely stored underground."
With those words, the Ars Count led Eve to the basement. Inside was indeed a massive machine worthy of an early steam engine.
Even Enri, who let out an exclamation at its imposing grandeur, pondered how they would transport such a colossal device back to the duchy.
Eve nodded lightly at the steam engine, then turned to the Count.
"I can see it in operation, right?"
"Of course. Hey, you lot!"
At the Count's casual shout, the alchemists handling the steam engine hurriedly tinkered with something. As they waited for the device to activate, the Count began recounting the hardships of building it.
"Goodness, you have no idea how much trouble this thing caused... Every time it wouldn't work properly, we'd start over from scratch because we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Uhaha!"
"I see."
Overhearing the conversation, Enri caught a whiff of something fishy—indescribable, but unmistakable. Not a literal smell from the Count, but the telltale signs of someone lying.
Why?
He couldn't fathom the reason. Surely they wouldn't have summoned Eve without completing the item properly.
As he tilted his head in confusion at the inexplicable phenomenon, a commotion arose among the alchemists preparing to operate the machine.
-Hey, what are you doing...
-No, it's not that...
-Don't you know who's here!? Hurry up...
The disturbance reached even the distant Count. His face darkened by the moment, then flushed bright red.
"Please wait just a moment."
While the Count was away, Enri whispered to Eve.
"Lady, something's off."
"What is?"
"The Count seems to be lying."
"Ah—that? I know."
"Pardon? You know?"
Her words were so shocking that Enri's voice rose unwittingly. She knew he was lying? That meant she knew what the lie was about.
As he tilted his head repeatedly in bewilderment, the Count returned from afar, bringing someone with him—a woman Enri had glimpsed through the window upon entering the mansion.
'...That smell.'
Enri sniffed at the familiar scent as the Count, who had brought his daughter, gave her some instructions.
She nodded lightly and disappeared into the machinery. Only then did the relieved Count return, bowing apologetically to Eve and Enri.
"My deepest apologies. It seems my daughter was meddling with the machine on her own."
"The Lady must be quite skilled."
"Yes, well, she is an Ars daughter, after all. She has some grounding in alchemy. However..."
The way the Count trailed off, clearly reluctant to continue, would lead most to assume the Lady lacked any remarkable talent—nothing worthy of acclaim for the Ars name.
But Eve and Enri were different. The boy who instinctively sensed the Count's lie, and the girl who knew what the Ars Lady would become in the near future.
'So that's it.'
Enri finally realized the lie Eve had known about. Anyone watching the Count try to hide his daughter's presence would see it plainly.
The Count hadn't built that machine.
—Chiiiiiik!
Intense steam burst fiercely from the steam engine, and the pistons moved back and forth, generating power.
The Ars Count's Lady, who had activated the machine, carefully stepped down from it.
"...My apologies for the intrusion."
Without a trace of emotion, she merely nodded lightly and left the spot. Then, as if remembering something, she paused and looked at the two.
More precisely, she turned to Eve Claudia and spoke.
"Duke Claudia's Lady."
"What is it?"
"I have one thing I'd like to ask."
"—You there! Makina! What are you doing? Get back inside...!"
"No, Count. Let's hear her out."
Stopping the Count who bellowed to send his daughter away, Eve gestured lightly for her to speak.
Makina Ars quietly expressed her gratitude for the consideration and opened her mouth.
"A thief deserves to die."
"...Pardon?"
"That's all."
She had said she had a question, but what she uttered was no question—just a statement of her own belief.
Eve watched Makina leave after saying her piece with a puzzled look, but the gaze didn't last. The Count stepped between them.
"S-Sorry, Lady. I haven't raised my daughter properly. I'll speak to her later."
"No. More importantly, Count—do you understand what she meant?"
"Eh? No. I have no idea what she intended by that..."
As even the Count blinked in confusion, Eve smiled amusedly. She alone in the room grasped the intent behind those words.
Indeed, the master recognizes her own possession.
Even if it didn't yet exist in her warehouse.
Eve showed strong interest in Makina, who recognized the item stolen from a distant future.
But that lasted only a moment.
"More importantly, Lady Eve, about transporting that item..."
"Ah, right. We should disassemble it completely—"
"We're of the same mind. But then we'll need laborers to reassemble it, won't we? Conveniently, our family has—"
She became so engrossed in debating how to transport the steam engine to the duchy that she completely forgot about Makina.
In the end, they decided to disassemble the steam engine completely for transport to the duchy. After finalizing the payment negotiations, Eve leaned back in her seat with a sigh of relief.
"Whew—that man is fine in every way, but sometimes I can't tell if he's a noble or a merchant..."
"He didn't seem much like a noble to me either."
"Well, that's how he keeps his territory afloat."
Saying that, Eve leaned against the window and gazed outside. The scenery of the Alchemists' City Ars stretched into the distance.
It was a musty city she never wanted to visit again. Enri recalled the myriad chemical odors from the city and grimaced slightly.
"—By the way, didn't you earn that Lady's grudge?"
"What?"
"The thing about thieves."
Recalling what Makina Ars, the Ars Count's Lady, had said, Enri looked at Eve worriedly. But she shrugged indifferently, as if it were nothing.
It was true that she had stolen Makina's creation from a distant future, but she felt no guilt whatsoever. She was the villainess Lady, after all. A natural sadist who could relish others' suffering for her own gain without a second thought.
"—It's fine. What can she do? Whine to her father at worst..."
That was when it happened.
Enri spotted something glinting from the distant Alchemists' City and swiftly tackled Eve.
As he grabbed her and rolled to the floor, something shattered the window and embedded itself in the train car.
Enri shielded Eve from the falling glass shards, then cautiously asked.
"...Are you alright, Lady?"
"I'm fine... Enri, your arm."
"I'm okay."
Eve looked worriedly at Enri, whose shoulder wound gushed blood. He had clenched his muscles to staunch it, shook off the blood nonchalantly, stood, and immediately left the spot.
Out of the sniper's line of fire, Enri examined the bullet that had pierced his shoulder and lodged in the train floor. Though the tip was mangled, it was unmistakably a bullet.
Not the common round lead balls of this world, but one with an elliptical, pointed tip. The kind that wouldn't appear for another century.
'So that's the familiar smell...'
Enri belatedly realized what the scent from Makina had been. In a world filled with black powder, the aroma of cordite.
Yes.
The smell wafting from her body was smokeless powder.
A fragrance he had thought he'd never smell again—a dearly missed one.