TDKB 26

Chapter 26

Scarlett and Andrei returned to the clock shop. However, when they arrived, several men were sitting in front of the shop, dozing off.

“Huh? Aren’t you the tram drivers?”

At Scarlett’s voice, the two children who had been dozing alongside them, Charlie and Susan, quickly woke up and ran over.

“Scarlett!”

“Some scary men tried to break the window yesterday!”

“So Susan told her dad?”

“Yeah! So everyone stayed here to guard the shop!”

“…Oh my goodness.”

It seemed that Evil Crimson had intended to cause trouble.

Scarlett hugged the two children tightly before looking at the tram drivers, who were getting up with a rustling sound.

“So you stayed here all night?”

“You risked your life to help us, Miss. We can certainly spend a few nights guarding your shop!”

“That’s right. But what kind of bastards would dare mess with your shop…? Ah, don’t cry again. It makes us uncomfortable.”

Scarlett’s eyes welled up with tears from gratitude, making the drivers look awkward.

So instead of crying, Scarlett gave them a bright smile.

“I’m not crying. It’s just morning, so I yawned. Anyway, thank you. Really.”

“We’ll take turns patrolling around here for a while, so don’t worry.”

The tram drivers said that and left. Charlie and Susan clung to Scarlett, refusing to go, but eventually their father physically dragged them away. Once they were gone, the shop became quiet.

As Andrei opened the shop door, he said,

“Please stop getting yourself into trouble, Boss.”

“What kind of trouble did I cause?”

At her question, Andrei looked at Scarlett with a completely serious expression.

Scarlett flinched and answered awkwardly.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

With that, she entered the shop.

Scarlett picked up the newspapers from downstairs and went up to the workshop. She had a routine of reading the newspaper before beginning work, and today there was an article about Crimson Watches.

[Crimson Watches Main Branch Temporarily Closed]

[Evil Crimson Faces Inevitable Tax Investigation]

“What?”

Scarlett’s eyes widened as she read the article. It said that a tax investigation into Crimson Watches had begun.

As she carefully read through the article, one sentence caught her attention.

[Customers’ complaints that Crimson Watches have recently become increasingly prone to malfunction are growing.]

“Ah, see? I told you there was something wrong with the watches.”

Scarlett muttered to herself, closed the newspaper, and immediately went downstairs. When she reached the first floor, Andrei, who had just opened the shop, asked,

“Why are you already coming back down? Are you hungry?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Do you know how many orders are backed up right now? We’re extremely busy.”

At Andrei’s urging, Scarlett gave an awkward smile.

“Um, I feel bad adding this after what you just said, but… I think I need to go to the South.”

“What?”

Andrei frowned sharply. Scarlett flinched but continued.

“I can’t help it. I need to find out whether there’s something wrong with the Crimson components.”

“Boss…”

“The number of broken watches has increased, hasn’t it? These are watches that shouldn’t be breaking. You want Crimson Watches to last and prosper too, don’t you?”

“Well, of course I do, but…”

“In the long run, this is something that absolutely needs to be done.”

At Scarlett’s words, Andrei sighed deeply, looking exhausted.

“Well… you’re not wrong. But if you go all the way to the South, it’ll take at least two weeks. What are you going to do about all the orders that pile up while you’re gone?”

“I’ll work through the nights before I leave.”

“Do you really have to push yourself that hard?”

“Yes. The quality of the products is at stake. If we’re going to run a clock shop, the quality of the clocks has to come first.”

As Scarlett said this with clear, determined eyes, Andrei sighed yet again. Then, instead of looking like he wanted a drink, he turned his gaze toward the blue sky outside the display window.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to go.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Andrei said that and eventually nodded.

“Yes. You’re right, Boss. I admit it.”

“Really?”

“To be honest, at first I intended to run this business however I wanted.”

“…Andrei, you already do.”

At Scarlett’s remark, Andrei cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Anyway. Even so, you’re much more devoted to your profession than I expected. I respect this grand journey for the sake of product quality.”

“It’s not exactly a grand journey, but… yes. Thank you. I’ll be back.”

“Then, first things first.”

Andrei clapped his hands.

“Go upstairs and get to work. Right now.”

Scarlett burst out laughing at his words and nodded. Then she hurried upstairs to finish as many orders as possible.

A little while later, a customer entered the shop, and Andrei greeted him politely.

“Good morning, sir. Welcome.”

However, the man ignored the greeting and tried to head straight upstairs.

Andrei stepped in front of him.

“I’m sorry, but customers aren’t allowed on the second floo—Oh. You’re not a customer.”

Andrei caught the fist flying toward his face with one hand. While the man stared in surprise at the strength of his grip, Andrei covered the man’s mouth with his other hand and forcibly pinned him against the fireplace.

A few sparks flew from the fireplace and landed on the man’s face, causing him to struggle.

“Strange people have been hanging around since early this morning. I wonder if our boss knows how much trouble she’s causing.”

Andrei then noticed two young men peering inside the shop, apparently wondering what was going on. He motioned for them to come in.

Once they entered, Andrei said,

“You were sent by Sir Dumfelt, weren’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“You’re really bad at your jobs. If it were up to me, I’d fire you.”

Since they couldn’t let Scarlett discover what was happening, there were limits to how closely they could guard her. Even so, the two young men looked embarrassed at Andrei’s criticism.

Andrei grabbed the intruder by the face and lifted him before tossing him toward them.

“Then I’ll leave him to you.”

“Um… What exactly do you do?”

At the question, Andrei frowned.

“Can’t you tell? I’m an employee at a clock shop.”

“But…”

“Ah, just go. Go. Or do you want me to call the boss?”

“N-No, sir!”

The two young men hurriedly dragged the intruder away. However, the intruder seemed to be quite well-trained, as even the two of them struggled to restrain him.

Andrei looked at the young men with pity before returning to his work.

Three days later, Scarlett had finished preparing for her trip to the South.

Because she had spent all three days working through the nights, Scarlett was so sleep-deprived that she could have collapsed and fallen asleep on the spot if someone merely nudged her. If Andrei hadn’t taken her to the train station, she might not even have gotten off the tram at the right stop.

While Scarlett had been completely absorbed in her work, Andrei had prepared her luggage perfectly.

“I packed mostly things you can throw away, so discard your clothes and other things after using them. You’ll have more luggage when you come back.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“I’m starting to feel like your nanny, but since I volunteered for this job, I suppose there’s nothing I can do.”

Scarlett laughed and nodded.

Andrei boarded the train with her and checked the first-class compartment he had personally purchased.

“Well, with this, you can sleep the whole way there.”

First-class had an attendant who handled luggage separately, so Andrei had handed her bags over beforehand. Then he placed a cushion on the seat and arranged a blanket so she would have a comfortable place to sleep.

Scarlett said,

“You really are like a nanny.”

“That’s what I am. I’m just oiling the finest machine in the clock shop.”

Scarlett playfully smacked his arm at the joke. Andrei laughed for once, and Scarlett laughed along with him.

“I’ll be back. Take good care of the shop.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Andrei said goodbye and got off the train. Scarlett once again felt proud that she had personally recruited Andrei, and she fell asleep almost as soon as she sat down.

The train, which departed at ten at night, traveled for eleven hours toward the South. At some point along the way, someone woke her.

“Miss.”

Scarlett opened her eyes at the voice, and the conductor looked relieved.

“I’m sorry. You’ve been asleep for such a long time that I was worried something might be wrong.”

“S-Sorry. I’m a very heavy sleeper.”

“Not at all. Have a pleasant journey.”

The conductor politely bowed and left. Scarlett’s face turned bright red from embarrassment, and she fanned herself with both hands to cool down.

When she looked outside, night had already passed and morning had dawned. She checked the clock.

It was already eight.

“I slept for ten hours on the train.”

Scarlett muttered to herself before looking out the window and smiling without realizing it.

An endless plain stretched out before her, something she could never see in the capital.

“Wow…”

Scarlett had been born and raised in the capital and had lived there her entire life, so the scenery was astonishing to her. She was glad the conductor had woken her, allowing her to see at least some of the landscape.

Not long afterward, the train arrived at its final station. From there, she had to travel by carriage.

Scarlett paid a considerable amount to hire a carriage driver. Fortunately, there was another group heading in roughly the same direction, so she managed to reach Kohan, one of the mountains in the Saliyan Mountain Range at the southernmost end.

The next part was the problem.

After getting out of the carriage, Scarlett looked up at the mountain while holding a large bag meant to carry the gravel she needed.

Climbing the mountain already seemed impossible. But finding Ryuse Waterfall, collecting the stones there, and then making her way back down the mountain seemed like an utterly impossible mission.

“…I must be crazy.”

Scarlett sighed deeply.

But this was the perfect opportunity.

She didn’t know when Victor might have her arrested because of the biplane issue, so she had to solve this as quickly as possible. As Scarlett thought about how obsessively she was pursuing the matter concerning the watches, she simultaneously felt pathetic and proud of herself.

“It runs in the family. It runs in the family.”

She might not know about anything else, but she was certain about this one thing.

She was exactly like her parents.

As she prepared to climb the mountain, she noticed that there was strangely no proper path. Eventually, she asked a Kohan resident who happened to be passing by.

“How do I get to Ryuse Waterfall from here?”

“Ryuse Waterfall? That’s on the border.”

“Yes. I know. I have something I need to find there.”

“Soldiers will stop you along the way… But if you still want to go, this is usually the route the soldiers take.”

The Kohan resident pointed out the direction.

Scarlett checked it carefully. There still didn’t seem to be a path, but fortunately, she remembered a map of this area that her parents had owned when she was young. The route matched the map she had drawn from memory.

Scarlett thanked the resident and set off.

The mountain was rugged, and she had to proceed nervously, never knowing when a snake or wild beast might suddenly appear.

As she climbed, she noticed the stones scattered along the path.

They were the same kind of stones that Evil had used in his watches.

“This is too much.”

For someone like Evil, sending people to collect the stones would have been effortless. So why had he done this himself?

Lost in thought, Scarlett continued walking. Then, while descending a slope, she lost her footing and slipped.

Just then, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.