As Kent was staring at some documents in his office, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." He said in a tired tone.
As the head of the family as well as the territory, he had to do a lot of things and they have been getting harder. More specifically, it's more like he was getting tired.
Getting his permission, a butler walked into the room– looking slightly uneasy for some reason.
Noticing the uneasiness, Kent asked. "What happened?"
"Uhm. My lord. I think the young lady is trying to stir some trouble again." The butler said, clearly nervous.
Letting out a sigh, Kent rested his head on his hand as he spoke in a tired voice. "What is she doing this time?"
"Uh… not long ago, I, along with some other servants, saw her head into the storage room."
Hearing it, Kent became a bit more serious as he asked. "Wait, you mean the family one? The one where the most beloved items of each member are placed after their death?"
After a slight pause, the butler spoke. "... Yes. And when she did come out, she had the ring of her late father on her index finger."
Facepalming himself, Kent let out a groan of frustration. "Since you literally saw her wearing it in her index finger, then why not tell me which hand she wore it on."
"That? It was on her left hand."
"Ugh… I didn't ask that for–... Just forget it." Just as Kent stood up, another person started knocking on the door.
Hearing it, both Kent and the butler looked right at the door as a maid peeked into the room finding it open.
Seeing the lord staring at her, she quickly entered the room as she bowed lightly.
"Why are you–... What did she do again?" Kent said as he massaged his forehead.
"Um, my lord. I, along with some other maids, saw the young lady sneak into the dressing room. Although her sneaking in didn't really work because of her size."
"And? What was missing there?"
"Y-Your… do you remember that one time when the young lady bought a dress for you as a gift? The dark coat and shirt, pants along with the hat? The one that turned out too big for you."
Realizing what just happened, all Kent could do was sigh. But it seemed like fate didn't want to give him even the time to sigh properly as another person started knocking on the door as all three of them looked in the direction.
As a guard came into the room, all he could see was the lord along with a butler and a maid staring at him.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he stated the reason he came here. "My lord! The young lady entered the armory not long ago. So I thought that I should report this incident."
This time, not waiting another moment, Kent rushed out of the door as he started heading towards Ash's room.
Even as other servants asked him as to why he was in such a hurry, he could not answer them at that moment. Just as he barged through the already open door of Ash's room, all he could see was an empty room without her.
As he felt a breeze of wind coming into the room, he looked at the direction where the breeze was coming from. Which only shocked him. "Why… is the window open?"
———————————————————
"Walking past the ocean~ I'm still following you~
Why don't you look back at me?~ Are you still chasing that dream?~
I will keep waiting for you~ Even if it take a million different lifetimes~"
Ash started humming by herself after singing the lyrics out loud. The song was indeed good enough, but the problem was that these were the only lyrics in the entire song and the rest was just music.
As she leaned back on the railing of the bridge she was standing on top of. Not knowing what to do, she stared at the sky.
The sky was clear that day and there was a full moon, making everything clear. Looking at the watch on her wrist, she realized that only an hour has passed since she escaped.
If she wanted to, she could have just lazed around at home just like she always does. Lazing around by herself, while also working out from time to time by herself.
Well, her daily life could not really be called lazing around. Since it would usually go as her waking up from those dreams, which are basically nightmares at some points. Then brush her teeth and wash up.
Eat breakfast, then practice etiquette. Her uncle is especially serious about it because of the way she acts. Then do this and that and the day passes.
To put it simply, the days are not really her lazing around. Unlike what she calls them. Even though she knows it, she almost naturally calls even tiring times as lazy times purely because that was how Ethan was like.
Staring at her reflection in the river water, she raked through her hair. Muttering to herself. "I need a better disguise… just wearing a man's clothes doesn't solve everything."
— Hello! Ashley. Can you hear me?
Ash's entire body shook up– startled from the sudden call. Hurriedly searching through the pockets in her coat, she took out a small box-like thing.
As she received the call from MR, mobile radio in short, she said. "Uhm. I can. You really scared me with the sudden call."
If Ash had to explain what it was, it was almost like a button phone in the modern era. Although those phones died down after the mobile phone came, the closest thing resembling this thing was these.
But all it really could do was call and receive calls from another MR it is connected to. Even the connection limit is only up to one.
— Oh, haha… Why the hell did you have to escape from your home right now?! Your uncle just contacted us, saying that you fled all of a sudden and was asking us to inform him if you ever came to us! Why did you…
Even as the caller was scolding her, all she did was crouch down and block her ears with her fingers. Although it didn't block all the sound, at least it was doing a decent job.
— Huff… Huff… Huff…
"Have you finally calmed down? You should take deep breaths now." Ash said as she leaned back on the railing while crouching down.
— No! That's not the point! What are you even doing?! If you were to be running all over the place like a madman, what are we going to do? Have you thought of–
"Oh. Yeah. I was just on my way to your manor. I need the gun, as well as a place to stay for a while. You know.
And you guys won't get in any trouble except the fact that you guys might be exposed making a mini artillery. Which has little to no chance of happening anyway."
— … I do understand what you mean. But–
Without giving the caller any more time to speak, she hung up. Although another call came almost instantly.
Without even looking, she tossed the radio on her side only for it to vanish mid-air. Which was not surprising for her, as she was the one to do it.
"Why is that guy panicking so much anyway? Like it is some serious problem." Ash muttered to herself in annoyance.
Looking at the sky while leaning back on the railing, all Ash could do was sigh because of them.
'He just panics too much. Not like we are mass producing some dangerous weapon!'
He was panicking so much to the point that he couldn't even convey what he wanted to say properly. Instead, he was going on about why she fled from her home and how it could expose them.
But that really just doesn't make sense. Which is why she came to a conclusion. After she fled, she was obviously going to go to them, which she is. And her intent for going would also be the gun they were making, and by her trying to get it, they could somehow get exposed.
But here's the problem they didn't consider. "Do they think I am preparing the disguise for no reason, or what?"
Standing up, she shook away the dust that got onto her coat before starting to walk again only for her to suddenly stop midway through. "Ah~ Right, why didn't I think about it before?"
When she came back to the bridge and stared at her reflection on the water under the bright moonlight, a light grin formed on her lips as a dagger suddenly appeared on his hand.
———————————————————
As Ash sat down on the couch with her legs crossed, she looked at the man seated in front of her.
He looked to be in his early to mid twenties at best. Long hair tied up in a loose ponytail. White hair devoid of any colour, amber like eyes, a light skin that looked almost pale. Just by looking at his wavering eyes, anyone could tell that he really wasn't the type of person to socialize much.
Two cups of tea had been served in front of them. Picking up the cup in front of her, Ash took a sip from it– breaking the silence.
"Well, brother Ozwell, you do know why I fled, since me venturing out is quite literally the main part of my plan."
Taking another sip, she stared directly at Ozwell with her bright blue eyes. "And you along with brother Allen agreed to help me in return for being the ones to make the gun."
When she looked at his hand, she saw Ozwell scratching the thumb of his left hand with right while he looked like he was hesitating to say anything.
After much time of waiting, he finally replied to her. "I-I k-know what I agreed to, b-but this is w-way more dangerous than I t-thought!
I-If even one bullet is sh-shot at… suppose a s-sasquatch, if it were to h-hit the head, it would immediately k-kill it. A-And that's not considering a-all the enchantments!"
Finishing the cup of tea and placing the cup back on the table, Ash said. "That's precisely what this gun is supposed to do.
By the way, brother Allen seems to be really upset about me venturing out two months before I was supposed to."
Picking the cup of tea with shaking hands, Ozwell replied. "Y-Yes, he is really a-angry about it."
"Even more so because I was not picking up the call. Right?"
"You are r-right."
After that, all that was left was utter silence. Except the sound of the cup from Ozwell's hand shaking.
Having nothing to do, Ash leaned back on the couch and rested both her arms by spreading them and resting on the back-top of the couch and staring at the ceiling.
Seemingly waiting for something to happen, or more like, waiting for someone to appear.
Even as she stared at the ceiling, she felt that her back kind of felt empty as there was no longer any resistance to her hair on her back. While she also felt that the weight placed on her neck slightly decreased.
Just then, Ash suddenly stood upright– stretching her back. As she started wandering around the room while Ozwell was still grabbing the cup of tea with a shaking hand. It was surprising that the tea still hasn't spilled at all.
Suddenly Ash stopped and looked towards Ozwell while saying something. "Hey, where am I supposed to–"
But when she saw Ozwell's hand not shaking anymore– she immediately looked at his amber like eyes, which didn't waver anymore.
"So~ brother Allen, are you still upset?" She said with a hint of sarcasm.
Staying quiet for a while, Ozwell let out a long sigh. Glaring at her direction, Ozwell replied. "Do I look like I am happy with you?"