Volume 3 - CH 14

–The guild master Rowe’s angry voice echoed in the craftsmen’s guild.

“What the hell have you done!”

Rowe called Koh to the guildmaster’s office to accuse him.

“You said you were confident you could do it, so I put you in charge, you know!? Then what!? It only takes three days to break down? Such a dumb job, you’re less than that incompetent Cyclo!”

“T-That’s not true, Dad! There is no way I am less than that Cyclo!”

Koh hurriedly refutes.

“That old clock was all messed up because of Cyclo’s sloppy repairs! And I fixed it like I was cleaning up his mess!”

“Then how the hell did this happen!?”

“It was …… probably rattled by Cyclo! And just like that, it broke just after I had, unluckily, fixed it!”

Rowe reconsidered Koh’s objection to a point, and thought for a moment.

“……, but it is true that our guild has lost credibility as a result. Besides, if it was rattled, you should have repaired it as well.”

“No, no matter how I looked at it, it seemed okay, so that’s absurd.”

“Shut up! For now, you’re suspended for a week!”

“Kuh ……”

Thus, Koh was sentenced to a week’s house arrest by Rowe.

Rowe then devises a plan to reconnect with the royal court.

However …… he could not think of any way to restore the already broken relationship.

Meanwhile, at the royal palace.

“Oh, this is terrible.”

Checking the inside of an old clock — a man who runs a blacksmith shop in the Royal Capital blurted out.

This man, who had been taking orders for various parts before Cyclo was laid off, was also in charge of making parts for the old clock at the royal palace.

As a result, he was called by the royal palace to see if he could repair the broken old clock.

“How is it?”

“Do you want to see it, Madam Olivia? …… Well, it’s in pretty shocking condition, so I’d advise against it.”

“No. Let me check.”

Then Olivia checked inside the old clock, and it was a terrible mess.

“This is ……”

Olivia lets out an unintentional gasp.

It was a natural reaction. After all, the interior of the old clock was littered with countless gears, and was in such disarray that it was no longer possible to tell which parts were attached to which.

“The cause is probably here.”

The blacksmith points to a spot – the area where Koh first replaced the oddly shaped gear with a missing tooth.

“Originally, there was supposed to be a special type of gear called a cavity wheel stuck in here. But I can’t find any parts that look like that. Perhaps the person who repaired it replaced it with an ordinary gear.”

“…… Then, it resulted in this mess?”

The blacksmith nods to Olivia and replies.

“If you insert a normal gear, it will move at first, but soon it will bite and stop. And …… this clock is pretty big. There is a lot of power coming out of the mainspring. Originally, all the parts are made of orichalcum to withstand this force ……The replaced parts are ordinary steel. They probably couldn’t withstand the output of the spring after it was chewed and cracked. Then, the power that had built up would have exploded, and the contents would have popped out.”

“So that’s what happened …… I still don’t trust those craftsmen’s guild members.”

In Olivia’s mind, the Craftsmen’s Guild’s reputation is further diminished.

“So …… can you repair it?”

“…… I’m sorry, Madam Olivia. If it was just a matter of replacing a few parts, I might have been able to do it based on what I heard from Cyclo. But if it’s this messed up, I don’t know what to do or where or how to fix it.”

“I see–I understand. Thank you this time.”

“No, I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

Thus, the blacksmith left the royal palace with a sense of regret.

After that, Olivia calls her lady attendant and gives her instructions.

“–Find the clocksmith named Cyclo, who was the previous technician, immediately. By any means necessary.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The lady attendant obediently follows Olivia’s instructions.

(…… I wonder what the Craftsmen’s Guild is thinking with the sudden change of the person in charge. –Well, whatever it is, only Mr. Cyclo would be able to repair this clock.)

Thus – with Olivia on the move, the fate surrounding Cyclo also begins to move significantly.