Chapter 132: Does Lord [Marionette] have that function? (Patreon)

But after Piers and Sandrone had walked off some distance, the two Electro Cicin Mages guarding the door exchanged a glance and suddenly felt like kindred spirits who'd found each other — bonding, fittingly, over gutter water rather than lofty mountain streams.

"Huh, did you time it or not?"

The Electro Cicin Mage standing on the right poked the one on the left.

"Of course I timed it. A full twelve hours, from morning straight through to night — incredible."

The Electro Cicin Mage on the left was already too excited to keep the corners of her mouth from twitching upward.

"But Lady Marionette is a puppet. Does she really even have that function?"

"Are you dumb? Lady Marionette is a bionic puppet — even if she doesn't have it built in, couldn't she just install it herself?"

Having walked all the way out of the Experimental Design Bureau without a word passing between them, the two of them were now clearly a little awkward.

"Since nothing happened to you after Dottore ambushed you, why fake your death and go into hiding?"

Sandrone spoke up, trying to find something to talk about.

"Because—" Piers started, then suddenly sensed something was off.

"Wait, how did you know I faked my death? You've been spying on me with that little device again, haven't you? That explains why you went straight after Dottore to fight him — you thought I was actually dead."

"N-no! I was just bored, that's all!" Caught out, Sandrone panicked at once.

"It's all right, Nellie. I'm touched you were willing to die for revenge on my behalf."

"I already said no!!"

"I went into hiding because I was waiting for the right moment to kill Dottore. If he'd deliberately laid low, he really would have been hard to find." Piers kept quiet about the System — it wasn't something easy to explain, so he simply didn't bother.

"Still... I didn't expect killing him to be quite that easy. It feels almost unreal. There shouldn't be any problem, should there?"

"Hmph, you think that little of my work? It should be obvious he was already gravely wounded by the time you got there."

There was some truth to that, so Piers let himself believe it for the time being.

"So... what did you come here for this time?" Sandrone asked, taking the initiative to ask.

"I found a little sister in Nod-Krai I'd been separated from for years. I'm not entirely sure why I was the one abandoned in Snezhnaya while she was left in Nod-Krai, but I am certain she's really my sister."

"A sister?!"

"Yeah. Why so surprised, Lady Marionette? You've always known I'm an orphan, haven't you?"

"Is she a blood sister?"

For a moment Piers wondered whether Sandrone had stayed up so late her processor had fried itself.

"Honestly, Lady Marionette, do I look like the type who'd have a cousin instead?"

Sandrone hadn't actually been asking about cousins, but hearing him put it that way, she relaxed anyway.

The distance was simply too far, so after walking for just over ten minutes, Piers gave up and flew the rest of the way to Nasha Town with Sandrone in tow. On foot, it would have taken several hours at the very least.

And that was even assuming they took the road the Fatui had built for convenient access to Nasha Town — without it, a full day's walk might not have gotten them there.

"One krumkake, boss, extra sugar." Piers walked up to the stall.

"Since when do you like this stuff?"

"It's not for me — I'm bringing it back for my sister. She loves it." He answered easily enough, though Sandrone didn't look at all pleased hearing it.

"If you're buying it as a gift, why get just one? Boss, give me three more jin."

"Coming right up." Once all the krumkake was packed up, Piers led the way. The two of them walked out of Nasha Town toward the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop; the little cube-shaped robots inside recognized him and let them pass without stopping them.

"This workshop... your sister wouldn't happen to be the owner, would she? I heard the owner here is just a child."

"Yep. That's her — she owns the place."

Talking as they walked, they could already make out a light glowing on a small clearing up ahead. As they drew closer, Aino and Ineffa came into view, standing face to face out in the open.

"Aino, it's past your bedtime."

"No. Big brother's not back yet — I'm not sleeping until he is." Aino stomped her foot, sulking.

"Aino." Piers waved and called out. At the sound of his voice, Aino spun around, and the instant she spotted him, she came running and threw herself straight into him.

"Where did you run off to?! Not even a word beforehand — a whole day, another whole day! You're supposed to come home once it gets dark!!"

"Well, I'm back now, aren't I?" He patted her head and set her back down.

Just then, Aino noticed a figure trailing behind Piers. "Huh? Who are you?"

"I... I'm Piers's superior." Sandrone hesitated a moment before falling back on the same cover story as before.

"Superior?"

"This is a gift for our first meeting — call it me paying my respects to my subordinate's family." She held out the wrapped krumkake with feigned indifference.

"Wow! Is that—" Aino nearly shrieked in delight, then abruptly clamped her mouth shut, cradling the krumkake carefully as she snuck a sidelong glance at Ineffa in the distance.

But just as she turned her head, she found Ineffa already standing right beside her. "Aino."

"I-Ineffa... our guests brought this. We're all going to share it."

Ineffa glanced at Piers and Sandrone, then, in the end, left the krumkake in Aino's arms and turned to go back to her cleaning. Watching her walk off, Aino let out a sigh of relief.

"That scared me half to death. I almost lost it."

"Aino, actually, part of why I came back this time is to give you a heads-up. I can't stay at the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop indefinitely. Once I've finished the work I have here, I'll have to go back..." Piers's tone wavered — they'd only just recognized each other as siblings, and saying this now felt somehow wrong.

"I know." Aino cut him off.

"Ineffa already told me. Big brother has his own work — you've probably been out these past few days because of it. I understand."

"Aino..."

"Hmph. Honestly, as long as you're safe and happy, that's enough for me. You must have a home of your own out there too — it wouldn't be fair to ask you to give that up just to stay with me. And if someone tried to make me give up the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop, I wouldn't do that either. Besides, Snezhnaya and Nod-Krai aren't even that far apart. It's fine if you just come visit me now and then."

Piers hadn't expected Aino to take it so well — he'd assumed someone with her temperament would cry and fuss for a good while.

"Oh, right — it's so late, you two should just stay at the workshop tonight. Ineffa happens to have cleared out a spare room recently." Aino glanced at Sandrone.

"One room..."

"Don't worry, big brother always sleeps in my room, so the whole spare room can go to you, big sister."

Sandrone felt a flicker of disappointment at that — but the next instant, something about the sentence struck her as off, and she whipped her head around toward Piers.

"Wait, did she just say... you always sleep in her room...?"

Piers simply ignored the way Sandrone's teeth were practically grinding.

"There wasn't a spare room before, that's all. Come on, Nellie, don't tell me you're actually jealous of my little sister."

"Hah, I'm not. She's your actual sister — that's perfectly normal." Sandrone did her best to keep up a veneer of elegance, but her hand quietly crept toward his and gave it a vicious pinch.

"Oh, right — your brother still has a mission. Now that the krumkake's delivered, I'll be taking him off to see to it." She said this looking at Aino. Piers had just opened his mouth to ask what mission that was, when Sandrone pinched him again the very next second — not that he was about to let it slide, of course, and pinched her right back.

"?! You have a mission this late?! That sounds so rough. Is there anything I can help with? The Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop is really capable, you know!"

"No need, it's nothing much." Sandrone declined politely, hauling Piers by the hand out toward the workshop entrance.

Only once they were well clear of the workshop did Piers finally ask.

"Nellie, it's this late — what mission could we possibly have?"

"Dinner!" Sandrone snapped back, fuming.

"The kitchen's definitely kept my food warm. If I don't go back and eat it, wouldn't that be a waste?"

"Then why drag me along too?"

"I'm afraid of the dark, all right? As my subordinate, is it so wrong for you to look out for your superior's safety?"

Piers gave her a strange look, plainly not buying it for a second. Sandrone might get flustered, but afraid of the dark? Never — she was the type who'd punch a ghost in the face if she ran into one walking home at night.

In the dead of night, Sandrone dragged Piers back to the Fatui's Experimental Design Bureau.

After stepping inside, she rattled off a few instructions, and a few minutes later two Fatui soldiers brought in two meals — both Harbinger. At this hour, the kitchen only kept Harbinger meals warm anyway.

Sandrone sat down on the sofa; the coffee table in front of it had been swapped out for a new one. Piers sat by the window, showing little interest in the food set before him.

Cocoa hopped up from the floor onto the hem of Sandrone's skirt.

"Lady Marionette, so it really was just dinner. I thought maybe there was something else you didn't want to say outright."

"Actually, there is one thing."

Sandrone didn't seem especially interested in her own meal either. She stroked Cocoa with one hand while lifting a still-steaming cup of black tea with the other and taking a sip.

"I'm planning to hold a tea party. I want to send you back to Snezhnaya to let Rosalyn and Arlecchino know."

"You could just send any random robot to deliver that, or relay it through Katheryne — that'd be a lot simpler."

"Am I the superior here, or are you? I told you to go, so go. What's with all the backtalk?"

Piers could tell Sandrone was trying to get rid of him — and at an hour like this, that could only mean the Moon Hunter.

"Lady Marionette, you already know the Moon Hunter is in Nod-Krai, don't you?" His words left Sandrone visibly annoyed.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Come on, Nellie, have you forgotten who normally handles all the Adventurers' Guild business? If even you know the Moon Hunter's in Nod-Krai, how could I not?"

Try to send me off? Not a chance — I still need to collect my System rewards.

There was nothing technically wrong with what Piers said, but Sandrone couldn't shake the feeling he was somehow insulting her under his breath.

"I just didn't want you involved, that's all. A pathetic little Moon Hunter — I could handle him in my sleep."

"Well, since you've said yourself it's just a pathetic little Moon Hunter, then there's nothing to worry about. The moment he shows his face, you can just handle him on the spot, Lady Marionette — he hasn't even recovered his strength yet, after all."

"Tch, whatever you say. Oh, right — open that adeptal weapon of yours back up, the one you store things in. If you seal it shut on me again, I won't let you off easy." Sandrone said the fierce words with an utterly adorable expression.

But hearing that, Piers's face abruptly went pale with dread.

"W-what's wrong? Was I too scary?" she asked timidly, thinking she'd frightened him with how fierce she'd just sounded.

"It's nothing. I just suddenly remembered something — I've had my master sealed inside there this whole time, and I completely forgot to let her out..."

Piers could already picture exactly what tone Guizhong was going to take the moment she stepped out of the cavern realm.

"Huh? Heh~ Good luck with that. As your superior, I'll be merciful and skip watching you get scolded." Sandrone wore a look of pure schadenfreude. Piers no longer had any appetite for dinner — or even for the view — so he simply got up and went back to his own room.

Once inside with the door shut, and to make sure no one would see him getting scolded by Guizhong, Piers sealed the room off from the outside with a barrier of adept power. After bracing himself several times over, he finally released the seal on the cavern realm.

But maybe Guizhong inside hadn't yet noticed the seal had been lifted, because nothing happened.

"Sister Guizhong?" Piers called out, testing the waters.

The next instant, Guizhong dropped from above, plummeting straight toward him — but right then, Piers stepped neatly aside, and Guizhong landed squarely on the sheet-metal floor instead.

"Ow!"

"Sister Guizhong, it's not like this is your first time coming out of the cavern realm — how do you still not have control over your landing? And... why have you gotten so big?"

Guizhong sat barefoot on the floor, rubbing the small of her back where she'd just hit the metal. She was no longer in her earlier, much smaller state — she'd regained her full shape, though she still wasn't very big.

"What do you mean, 'so big'? What kind of measurement is that supposed to be? Once my adept power recovered a little, of course I changed back! And Little Piers, have you no chivalry at all? The moment I came falling toward you, the first thing you did was dodge?! I'm your master! Would it kill you to catch me?!"

Piers offered an apologetic smile and stepped forward to help Guizhong up.

"Sister Guizhong, don't tell me you deliberately aimed to land on my head just to bash me one..." It suddenly occurred to him — Guizhong was an Archon. There was no way she couldn't control her landing point coming out of the cavern realm. And if she'd already regained enough shape to grow this big, then surely her adept power had recovered somewhat too.

"I was just testing your reflexes." Guizhong crossed her arms, stubbornly refusing to back down.

"That's a pretty low-level test, don't you think? Even plenty of well-trained Fatui soldiers could've reacted to that. Before I went into clerical work, I was a Fatui soldier myself, you know."