Chapter 86
Chapter 86
Ch. 86 .｡.:✧ Kin (1) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Hello.
I am Linda, a clockwork doll for household chores.
My morning started early.
First, I opened all the curtains in the mansion to let in sunlight.
The morning sun would warm up the rooms that had gotten cold overnight.
When sunlight rushed in, it also made dust particles visible.
I opened the windows for ventilation and dusted off the dust that had accumulated overnight.
Though unused, I also shook out the bedding once and neatly folded it again.
I swept up the dust on the floor with a broom as the first step.
As a second step, I thoroughly mopped the floor, then wiped down the furniture with a damp cloth to make them shine.
A considerable amount of dust also accumulated on the dishes.
Though the mansion was empty and there was no need to serve meals, I never knew when master or guests might come.
I took out all the dishes from the cupboard and wiped each one with a soft cloth.
Finally, I maintained appropriate humidity through humidifiers and the fireplace.
[Hmm. Perfect.]
With this, the morning cleaning was finished.
But there was still much to do.
As everyone knows, clockwork dolls have poor fuel efficiency, they need frequent refueling.
Purchasing and replenishing insufficient fuel is also part of my routine, there’s no need to worry even without people around.
Master had prepaid for a year’s worth of fuel before leaving.
All I had to do was fill up the charging station with the fuel delivered every morning.
There was also laundry and garden maintenance in the morning routine, but… It seemed there was no need for either today.
Since no one had visited at all, now it seemed I could enter power-saving mode.
If I stayed awake continuously, time would only pass slowly.
I wanted to turn off completely until Master returned.
[Presence detected…]
Just as I sat down in my dedicated chair, I heard the sound of someone walking on the grass outside.
It was a person.
Judging by the footsteps, it was a woman with low weight and bone density.
I heard faint jingling sounds, suggesting it was a noblewoman.
Knock knock.
“Old man! Come out and see me!”
It was a clear female voice.
Judging by the accent, she was from the northern continent, specifically the northernmost region, and the prolonged resonance compared to humans suggested she was a beast-folk.
Was she royalty from Palana?
Cern was no longer here, having already left this place, but I couldn’t tell her that.
When others saw me, I had to act like a clockwork doll shell with its logic circuits torn out.
The development of the artificial soul was still a secret.
“Has he gone senile again… I’m sure I woke him up that time.”
Bang!
I heard the sound of the door opening with a harsh noise.
It seemed she had broken down the door and entered on her own when no one came out!
“Old man! I just came to ask one thing!”
This was bad.
If she was a beast-folk, she had an incredibly keen sense of smell.
I had finished cleaning inside the mansion, but not the garage yet.
I had to turn her away quickly before she barged into the garage.
I hurriedly got up from my chair and headed towards where the footsteps were coming from.
“Who’s there! Ah…”
[Impact detected.]
The moment I turned the corner, a blade flew at my neck but stopped just before hitting.
I almost flinched in surprise, but… thankfully, I was in power-saving mode.
In this state, my ability to show emotions was greatly restricted.
By the way, she was a truly beautiful beast-folk woman.
Blue fur and wolf ears.
I was certain.
She was from the Frost family of Palana.
[Mr. Cern. Is currently absent. Please visit again at another time.]
“What? Really…”
Ignoring my guidance, the woman flung open the bedroom door and looked disappointed.
He really wasn’t here…
It seemed she didn’t take my words seriously at all.
“When will he be back?”
[I’m sorry. That is an unrecognized command. Please try again…]
“Ah, right. This thing. It was the tin can with its logic circuits torn out. I saw it last time I came, but I forgot.”
The woman strode towards the door, losing her temper.
Why was she picking a fight with others when she had barged in herself?
I decided not to provoke her, as activating defense mode might get me cut in half.
Fortunately, it seemed she was about to leave willingly.
“Sorry about breaking the door. I’ll call a repair technician to fix it. But, hm? Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff sniff…”
Just before crossing the threshold, the woman seemed to smell something and started sniffing around.
She sniffed the door, and the smell of the walls,
“Is it here?”
She stopped in front of me, who had been standing still.
At that moment, I realized my mistake.
It wasn’t just the garage that was dangerous.
I remembered I hadn’t cleaned myself yet.
“Sniff sniff. What’s this smell?”
[…]
She looked me up and down once, then started sniffing my hand.
The one fortunate thing was that my hands were now mixed with all sorts of smells.
I had touched dozens of cleaning tools just this morning.
Even a beast-folk with a sensitive nose would have trouble distinguishing which smell was which.
“Damn. It seems right, but I can’t be sure.”
Just as I was about to feel relieved, a chilling thought suddenly occurred to me.
My head.
Especially my crown, it was extremely rare for objects to touch it.
There was only one recent moment where something touched it.
Master’s touch.
“Strange. I thought I smelled Yoo-jin. Where is it?”
This was bad.
Master had told me not to let anyone discover anything related to him, no matter who broke in.
At this rate, I was about to be found out.
Should I pretend to make a mistake and turn the oil valve to cover up the smell?
Just as such an extreme measure crossed my mind,
“Maybe it’s just my imagination… I’ve been so lonely lately that I keep thinking I smell Yoo-jin everywhere. It was the same in Elvenguard.”
Fortunately, the woman soon shook her head and stepped away from me.
It seemed she hadn’t thought to smell my crown.
I secretly let out a sigh of relief in my central processing unit.
“Hmm…”
As the woman was leaving, she slightly lifted my sleeve.
Then she made an ambiguous expression, and left, closing the door behind her.
Crunch crunch crunch.
As the sound of footsteps on the grass faded away, I checked under the sleeve she had lifted.
[Oh.]
There, there were clear teeth marks left on the silicone.
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Though there had been some unexpected situations, I successfully completed my schedule in the Clockwork City, and boarded a carriage heading to Basel.
Although I was now moving my contact address and base to the Clockwork City, I still needed to check the letters that had already arrived at Tay’s workshop.
Moreover, I had to tell Tay that she no longer needed to receive letters for me.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t have any mana stones to process this time.’
Though I was returning to Basel after a while, I didn’t have any mana stones for her to process.
The mana stone I obtained from this dungeon had been put into Longinus’ Spear.
‘Mana stone upgrades have been stagnant lately.’
I was still using the mana stone I had obtained from Belphegor’s contractor, Lawrence, long ago.
Of course, I had never felt that the mana stone’s performance was lacking.
It still boasted the highest performance among existing mana stones.
It’s just that I didn’t feel an urgent need to upgrade right away.
If possible, I wanted to obtain an even higher grade mana stone.
‘If this is what I get from defeating Belphegor’s contracted body, what kind of strength would I get from defeating the main body?’
My target was Belphegor’s main body.
In the past, I used to cower, thinking I couldn’t win when facing the Four Heavenly Kings.
But now I knew.
With the experience of 12 rounds, various traits, and hidden items accumulated, I could overwhelm the Four Heavenly Kings.
The Four Heavenly Kings were also not in their final form but in a growth stage.
At this early point, they couldn’t help but be outmatched by me, who had consumed all sorts of miracles, but conversely, this meant that the Four Heavenly Kings would grow stronger over time.
My sweeping up of miracles was essentially obtaining power in advance that I would have gotten later.
In other words, the gap between the Four Heavenly Kings and me would narrow as time passed.
This meant I had to finish things as quickly as possible.
Unless a miracle happened where I suddenly awakened talent as a great magician, or suddenly realized the secret of swordsmanship, being overtaken by the Four Heavenly Kings in the late game was a predetermined future.
‘It would be good if information about the Four Heavenly Kings came down through the World Tree’s prophecy.’
Still, the information network I had spread out in Cologne, Elvenguard, Clockwork City, Palana, Basel, and so on was quite extensive.
If any unusual signs were detected, they would be reported immediately, and if those were signs of activity from the Four Heavenly Kings, I would be able to notice right away.
All I could do was wait for them to fall into my net as soon as possible.
“But what’s taking you so long?”
“…Slurp. Suck.”
I had been feeling like my energy was being drained for a while, and when I lifted the blanket, Undecided was still sucking blood from my arm.
It seemed like it had been an hour already… In the past, she used to suck blood quickly and finish within 10 minutes.
Lately, it seemed she was sucking slowly and the time for blood-sucking was getting longer.
Was she savoring the taste?
She had become quite the gourmet.
“…Slurp. Suck, sip. Mmm.”
The problem was, this was a carriage crowded with several people.
That was why I had covered us with a blanket.
We couldn’t show her sucking my blood to others.
I hoped she would finish quickly, but Undecided still had her head buried under the blanket, diligently sucking on my arm.
“Excuse me… That’s not what I think it is, right?”
“Turn your head away. Shoo shoo.”
People seemed to be glancing this way.
I was worried she might be discovered as a blood ghoul at this rate.
‘Was it around here? When we were attacked by bandits.’
The scenery outside looked somehow familiar, it was a road we had passed before.
On the way to Basel before, we had been attacked by bandits here once.
I had shown off my swordsmanship then… Thinking back, I should have held back.
There was nothing good about drawing unnecessary attention.
[Fame Window]
› Yoo-jin: 7.75%
› Known to a small number of people. Has a small presence. Someone harbors very strong emotions. Someone harbors complex emotions. Someone harbors intense possessiveness. Someone harbors feelings of admiration.
› Heavenly Michael Jackson: 1.23%
› Known to a small number of people: Respected.
› ???: 3.5%
› ???: Starting to gain notoriety: Being forgotten.
The fame [???] that had arisen from slaughtering the bandits back then.
The value of [???] had decreased significantly.
Judging by the description that it was being forgotten, it seemed to be continuously decreasing.
At this rate, it might disappear soon.
“Stop! Stop! Everyone get off!”
At that moment, the carriage came to a screeching halt.
Could we be under attack by bandits again?
I tensed up and was about to draw the sword disguised as a bag at my waist, but then I noticed the heavily armed soldiers outside.
It seemed to be a routine inspection by the Basel guards.
Of course, even routine inspections never went smoothly for us.
I had no means to prove my identity, and Undecided was a blood ghoul.
Wherever we were caught, we would be interrogated for at least an hour before being released.
“This is such a pain.”
“…Ah.”
I pulled my hand out from under the blanket and wrapped a bandage around it.
Undecided made a slightly disappointed expression, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Everyone show us your belongings. If any prohibited items are found, you’ll have to turn back or have them confiscated.”
This would be over soon.
The suspicious wireless communicator and Longinus’ Spear had long been disguised as an ordinary wooden box and pocket watch.
Since they were disguised using traits, not magic, there was no need to worry about being discovered.
“Hmm… What’s this?”
But one of the guards rummaged through my belongings and picked up a silver metal object he found in the corner.
A silver identification tag.
That was certainly…
When we were attacked here and I killed the bandit leader, it must have been the one I had taken from around his neck just in case.
“Captain! We’ve found the identification tag of the notorious bandit leader!”
“What did you say?!”
“Ah, shit.”
We were screwed.
What should have been a 1-hour inspection looked like it was about to turn into a 10-hour ordeal.
Detecting that we were screwed, I squeezed my eyes shut.
The murmuring around us gradually subsided.
Finding it strange, I opened my eyes, to see all of the guards who had been rushing towards me kneeling on one knee and bowing their heads while looking in one direction.
“It’s a royal knight…!”
The people waiting in line for inspection trembled and shouted.
Slowly approaching along the mountain road was a fully armored knight on horseback.
Where there should have been a family crest, the flag of the Kingdom of Gallia was painted instead.
They slowly rode their horse closer, and stopped right in front of us.
“What’s all this commotion?”
“Sir Knight. It’s just that this person was found with the identification tag of the bandit leader we’ve been chasing-”
“Ah. I just asked out of courtesy, so there’s no need to answer. I merely needed an excuse to speak to this person.”
The knight’s gaze was fixed steadily on Undecided.
Then they lifted their helmet, revealing their face.
“What a pleasant surprise to see a familiar face.”
Skin so white it was pale.
Red eyes.
The knight who smiled and offered a handshake was clearly…
“To think I’d meet one of my kin here.”
A blood ghoul.
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[oh shit yerina is getting fucking close yanderes be scary af lol linda gotta unfuck this situation]
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