"What on earth is going on!"
Commodore Rustin's angry voice echoed thunderously through the harbor. A soldier hurriedly ran over and saluted.
"An error occurred during automaton installation. The junction burst, so urgent inspection seems necessary."
"What? The automaton exploded?"
"No, the part that burst was the junction, but it seems there was a problem during the installation process..."
The soldier explained with all his might, but the Commodore didn't seem to be listening at all.
"Avondale!"
Cider, who had been trying to board his carriage while the Commodore wasn't looking, sighed. This was ruined.
"You act so superior, but what the hell is this? Those medals on your chest should be ashamed!"
There were no medals on Cider's chest. However, everyone knew that Cider Claiborne was a recipient of the 'Order of the Rusted Sword.' Even without wearing the medal, its weight always pressed down on his left chest. Cider twisted his lips upward.
Why had the Commodore suddenly mentioned medals at this point? It was obvious. Because it was a medal that the Commodore's proud magical engineer son didn't have.
Ah, other people's inferiority complexes were truly irritating beyond measure.
As if reading that thought, the red-faced Commodore stamped his feet.
"Since you caused this mess, you'll clean it up!"
All around were armed naval forces, and across was the sea. The Commodore's flashing eyes looked ready to draw a gun at any moment. Cider slowly headed inside the ship with reluctant steps.
Suddenly his spine felt cold. Cider turned his head. The Commodore, who had been following him onto the ship, glared at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Cider headed to the control room with his lips pressed together. Since things had come to this, he had no choice but to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and get off the ship.
There was no way his automaton was wrong. Those stupid soldiers must have made a mistake during installation. At other times, he would have vented his anger by mocking Commodore Rustin in front of his subordinates, but there was no time for that. Cider checked his pocket watch once more and quickened his pace.
Reaching the middle of the control room in a few steps, he checked the junction with a stimulator he took from inside his jacket.
"As expected. Do soldiers have gunpowder in their brains too?"
"If you're so great...!"
One officer who flared up was held back by another officer. Cider didn't even glance at them.
"Tools?"
"H-here they are."
Cider, who received the toolbox offered by a young soldier, finished his diagnosis and removed the burst section.
Placing the burst component on his gloved hand, Cider looked back and forth between the machine and the component before letting out a hollow laugh.
"You forced in a pipe that doesn't even fit and blamed me for it?"
"What did you just say?"
"It's an explosion accident due to magic power leakage. The cause is a pipe of different size... as you can see."
The face of the officer who confirmed the fallen component turned bright red.
"Phillips!"
At the officer's shout, a bewildered-looking soldier ran over and bowed repeatedly.
"Anyone can see the diameter is different!"
"Well, when I tried fitting it, it went in, so I thought it was just tight and wouldn't go in..."
"Magic power leakage, you know we could have all died if something went wrong. Do you understand?"
Cider dusted off ash with a rag he found. Punishment for incidents within the military was for the soldiers to handle themselves, and he just needed to fix a few components damaged by the earlier explosion to make the machine work.
While concentrating on parts so small they hurt his eyes, the sounds of people coming and going in the control room and preparing for departure faded from his ears. He checked the components that had been disconnected to prevent internal explosions, opened them up, and reactivated them.
The automaton reaching up to Cider's shoulders and the mechanical devices connected to it began to operate. Steam filled the room, and the vibration underfoot grew stronger. The sound of machines all around receiving magic power rang in his ears.
He folded his arms and watched the light bulbs attached to the machine blink for a while. A palm-sized screen crackled and stuttered before finally displaying a clear map.
"It's working!"
An officer who had exclaimed without realizing it covered his mouth. Cider, who had been organizing his tools to leave, suddenly stopped.
The shaking underfoot hadn't ceased.
He knew machine vibrations better than anyone. Once booting was complete, vibrations also stabilized. As proof, no more operational vibrations could be felt from the machines in the control room.
Then what was the source of this shaking? There was only one answer. It felt like all the blood was draining from his body.
Cider, who had rushed out of the control room, climbed the stairs with large strides. White sunlight slid like a silk road over the deep blue sea. The quiet harbor had already moved too far away to reach.
"What the hell is this supposed to mean?"
Finding Commodore Rustin, he confronted him with the momentum to grab the old general's collar right away.
"Lord Avondale, what are you doing to the Commodore?"
Officers rushed to pull him away. Commodore Rustin pressed his wrinkled forehead under his cap and answered leisurely.
"What's the problem? Since you were late, we departed first. It's just a reconnaissance ship. It won't take even two hours to arrive."
"Are you calling that an explanation right now...!"
"Wasn't the departure delayed due to your mistake in the first place? I don't know what schedule you had, but we can't postpone military affairs because of your personal appointments. Your servant remains at the harbor, so won't that side be properly notified?"
That wasn't important. Even now, Esperanza probably thought Cider had safely met up with Cordelia's group. And this ship...
Cider looked down at the calm waves as if completely unaware of what was about to happen. He wanted to demand a lifeboat, but such a request wouldn't work on that stiff old man.
Cider, who had struggled to suppress the harsh words that had reached the tip of his tongue, re-gripped his cane. In an emergency, this was all he could rely on. Their plan was to safely rescue even this warship, but things couldn't flow so easily.
Everything had gone completely wrong. Cider, gritting his teeth, glared senselessly at the clear sky. The sky that would soon open its maw and pour out monsters.
"Commodore, prepare the cannons."
Right now, he had no choice but to do what he could.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
On a rock jutting up a little away from the coast.
The woman in a black hood over tight leather pants looked like part of the rugged rock. She held a long rifle while gazing at the endless horizon. A monocle over one eye pulled her vision closer.
"This doesn't fit..."
She ended up returning to the telescope. Wings hidden inside her hood pressed against her back. Esperanza adjusted her uncomfortable position while operating the brass-colored telescope. Through the lens that became clear after focusing, she could see a ship spanning the edge of the horizon.
For a ship patrolling waters close to the mainland, its scale was considerable. Given the situation, it wasn't an ordinary reconnaissance ship but a large warship for patrolling distant seas that had been deployed.
'At least it won't sink immediately after taking one hit.'
Esperanza thought indifferently while drawing up magic power. Listening to the sound of components turning inside the gun seemed to calm her pounding heartbeat.
The ship already far out at sea was difficult to locate precisely. She guessed it was roughly halfway between the harbor and the Paolun pirates' base. If so, soon...
Sure enough, several small ships quickly formed ranks approaching the reconnaissance ship from beyond the horizon. Esperanza watched this scene quietly.
Steam bursting from above the ship and explosion sounds that somehow seemed audible even from the great distance. For some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off it. Somehow her attention seemed drawn there.
Focus.
She repeated to herself while strengthening her grip on the gun. Short midday shadows pooled at her feet. The beating sun was hot. Esperanza wiped her slippery hands on her pants and put her eye to the scope.
A moment of silence as if all noise had been sucked in. And the next moment, the dungeon detector connected to the harbor began ringing a beat late.
A short-haired woman appeared high in the air. The woman looking arrogantly down at the sea had cloud-white hair, and light clothing draped over her body. Sunlight pouring over the sea created sparkling rings on her white hair, and fake gem-like sharp eyes briefly swept over what lay beneath her feet.
The massive warship below and the smaller ships surrounding it. Exchanged gunfire, smoke and ship horns. Daria looked down at all of this contemplatively before twisting up the corners of her lips.
The hand gripping the curved golden blade slowly cut through the air. The moment space was torn following that movement.
"Argh!"
A sharp gunshot came in precisely targeting her hand. Daria hastily swung her arm to dodge. What grazed her wrist wasn't a mere bullet. It was definitely magic power. Tremendous magic power that had pierced straight through an enormous distance in one stroke. If it had hit properly, Daria's hand would be floating on the sea by now.
'It's that woman.'
Magician. Hunter. Whatever name you called her by. It was that woman. Daria grimaced. The next moment, bright blue magic power once again, this time grazing her cheek.
"Where are you! Come out!"
Daria, who had confirmed the direction of the magic power, dove toward the sea like a bird of prey. Esperanza, who had thrown off her hood, also leaped up to meet her. Taut magic power collided and pushed against each other while scraping, then unable to endure, scattered with a loud rupturing sound.
Magic power heated the gun barrel red-hot. Magic power extending in a straight line this time struck down from above toward Daria. Daria gritted her teeth and asked savagely:
"Why are you interfering! Do you have a grudge against us?"
"You don't need to know."
There were plenty of grudges. But Esperanza, who couldn't say that, answered sharply while firing repeatedly at Daria. There was no way to dodge. Her wrist was in tatters. Not losing the Golden Claw was truly heaven's luck.
"Hey, what are you doing? Shoot!"
Daria screamed while striking away Esperanza's magic power. She gasped while clutching her wrist seared by magic power. She wasn't confident she could strike away the next one.
"Wings, shoot those damn wings first!"
The moment those words fell, Esperanza dodged her head to the side. Magic power flew past her earlobe. It was Cyrus. A Cyrus slightly more immature and more arrogant than the one Esperanza knew. Daria fell back, and Cyrus intended to face Esperanza.
'His marksmanship was mediocre then and now.'
Along with that cold assessment, she gained distance in the air. That man right now wasn't even a former colleague. He was just an enemy with plans to kill Cider.
There was no hesitation in the hand pulling the trigger. Bang! Cyrus dodged the surging magic power and deflected it with his shield while approaching close range in an instant. Screech, the shield scratched by the magic bullet made a sharp sound like metal blades clashing. The great sword in his hand opposite the shield flew toward Esperanza's shoulder.
It was an unfavorable 2-on-1 situation, but it wouldn't be difficult. The opponent was Cyrus. Cyrus, who Esperanza had fought alongside countless times for about 7 years. She knew his patterns by heart even with her eyes closed.
The moment sword pressure more lethal than a real blade approached as if to tear through her shoulder, Esperanza dove into his embrace, avoiding his sword. The bright blue gun barrel struck up at Cyrus's stomach.
"Urgh!"
As Cyrus, struck by the gun barrel filled with magic power ready to burst at any moment, collapsed, Esperanza passed him and immediately fired magic bullets in bursts at Daria.