Volume 3 - CH 13

The new ace of the Craftsmen’s Guild, Koh Shortock, is currently on his way to repair a clock at the royal palace to fill the void left by Cyclo.

“Welcome.”

A lady attendant welcomes Koh and leads him to the clock.

When he arrived at the place, he found a huge mechanical clock, more than two meters long.

And with the clock, an elderly woman was waiting for him.

From her clothes and atmosphere, Koh guessed that this old woman was the client of this request – Olivia Lutecia Heinburg, the 17th Queen of the Kingdom of Heinburg and the grandmother of the current 19th King.

“Madam Olivia. I have brought the Clocksmith to you.”

(T/N: I changed the watchmaker profession to clocksmith. I think this one suits the name of the profession more.)

“Oh my. I see that it’s not the usual technician today?”

When Olivia asked him about it, Koh took the opportunity to insist.

“Yes, but please don’t worry! I am the best technician in the Craftsmen’s Guild and have a thorough knowledge of clock repair. I promise you that I will repair your clock with no problem, or even better quality than ever before!”

“I see. Well, I’ll leave it to you then.”

Olivia smiled gently, without showing her displeasure at Koh’s attitude, which was strange for an ordinary technician.

“–Well, let’s get to it. What is the nature of your request this time?”

“The request, sir?”

Olivia tilted her head at Koh’s suggestion.

“You haven’t heard anything from your predecessor?”

“Yes?”

“Due to the special nature of the parts required for the repair, so we were told that until they are completed, you will be able to provide emergency treatment. This is supposed to be another day for a routine inspection of the emergency treatment.”

Olivia told him – and Koh felt his gut churn.

(Cyclo! …… So you’ve been deceiving the royalty by saying such random things!! I knew he was incompetent, but I had no idea he was such a scum that he deceived his client out of his desire for the job!)

Koh thought.

A mere mechanical clock should not require parts that take so long to produce that they need to be repetitively repaired.

Therefore, Koh thought that the periodic inspection must have been a lie by Cyclo, who wanted a job from the royal palace.

However, he was a former guild member. It was not good for such a person’s lies and blunders to be exposed.

Thinking this, Koh decided to follow up by saying something appropriate.

“I see. …… But don’t worry! I think my predecessor said that because he was inexperienced, but I am not! I will complete the repair right here, right now, today!”

“Oh, that’s very encouraging. I’ll be counting on you then.”

Thus begins Koh’s repair of the royal palace’s old clock.

First, Koh removes the decorative parts to check the mechanical parts of the clock.

Once the gears are exposed, he checks to see what is wrong with them.

(Hm…… I see, there are traces of it being treated.)

He finds traces of Cyclo’s first aid treatment and takes a closer look at the area.

To his surprise, there was a strangely shaped gear with a tooth missing. It was very old and faded, but there were traces of having been sharpened to correct the distortion.

(That piece of shit …… he left the distorted gears as they were!? He shaved it off and thought he was doing a first aid treatment …… He’s really a complete and utterly despicable piece of shit!)

Koh removes the gear with the chipped tooth and fits in a gear that meshes with the gear from the ready-made gear he brought this time.

There were various other repair marks on the gears, which Koh replaced with the gears he had on hand.

“–Good, it should work now!”

“Wow, you’re very quick.”

Olivia was surprised, and Koh turned up his nose at her.

After putting the decorations and other exterior parts back in place, the old clock was put back into operation. The clock began to run without any problems.

“Thank you very much for your help this time. I will transfer your reward to the craftsmen’s guild.”

“Yes. Then please continue to contact the Craftsmen’s Guild if you need anything in the future.”

After the repairs were completed, Koh returned to the craftsmen’s guild in a good mood.

And then – just three days later. A messenger was sent from the royal palace to the Craftsmen’s Guild.

To his surprise, they claimed that they would never ask the Craftsmen’s Guild to do any more work for them because the old clock was broken immediately.

(T/N: It looks like something is about to happen so I’ll add one more chapter. Thanks for reading.)