Chapter 18
“How did you know I’m someone who pursues amusement?”
How could I not? Even in the original novel, Knox was often described as having a disposition that sought out fun.
However, instead of telling him that, I simply gave him a playful smile.
“It’s written all over your face, Mr. Rudfercher.”
“Oh dear, I’ve been seen through.”
“Seen through? It didn’t look like you were trying to hide it at all.”
“Hahaha.”
Knox laughed slyly. He looked genuinely entertained.
However, I knew that Knox was a man even harder to read than Eden.
‘The ones who always wear a smiling face are usually the ones with the darkest insides.’
For now, I managed to get a promise from Knox to definitely catch bugs together at Happy House tomorrow.
If the Elpinus herb issue could be resolved, honestly, eighty percent of the doomsday preparations could be considered complete.
‘It’s basically a vaccine, after all.’
Anyway, after seeing Knox off, I returned to my room and flopped onto the old bed.
‘Ugh. I’m exhausted.’
It was the first time I’d ever thought that I’d rather the world just end already.
Preparing for it is somehow even harder than the actual event…!
The Sinclair townhouse in the capital.
Harrison sat in his office, quietly reading a letter. The sender was Cherry Sinclair. The recipient was Harrison Howard.
The postman, who had gone missing, had been found as a cold corpse, and the letters found in his bag were delivered late.
The urgent message written below the brief greeting was as follows:
[Harrison, when I asked you to send weapons, you didn’t actually prepare something like firearms, did you?]
Harrison looked at the letter with a troubled expression. The weapons he had prepared were indeed firearms. Illegally smuggled in from the Kingdom of Briwood.
‘I thought she’d be happy since she said there was someone she wanted to shoot dead.’
In the past, she would have been delighted without a second thought. For some reason, Cherry’s reaction was unusual.
It wasn’t just this time. Lately, she had changed a great deal.
Cherry had lived listlessly ever since the Sinclairs passed away in a car accident. Like someone with no goals in life.
Her only interests were parties and splurging her inherited wealth. That was all.
But a while ago, she changed.
Her eyes were bright and full of motivation, like someone who had found a purpose in life. And she showered Harrison with requests she had never made before. It wasn’t like Cherry at all.
It was almost as if she had become a different person.
As her eccentric behavior continued to exceed any predictable range, he grew quite suspicious, but Harrison decided to watch her quietly for the time being.
At any rate, the fortunate thing was that he hadn’t sent the firearms to Brunel yet.
‘Has that fellow Hose not arrived yet?’
He had sent an instructor to Brunel to teach Cherry how to use weapons, but there was no mention of it in her letter.
[If that’s really the case, don’t use an intermediary; you should bring them yourself, Harrison.]
He continued reading further down the letter.
[Eden Duncan Lancaster is here. He said he was stationed at the Brunel Police Station. He seems to know something about the smuggled firearms and suspects I’m behind it. It looks like he wants to dig up some corruption within the Sinclair family. Is there no way to send this man back to the capital?]
Eden Duncan Lancaster? Harrison’s sharp eyebrows furrowed slightly.
‘The Mad Dog of Benton?’
Come to think of it, he had recently received information that Eden was digging into Harrison’s background.
He didn’t care about being followed, but if that pursuit turned toward Cherry, the story changed.
Cherry was precious family to him.
Around the time Harrison turned fifteen, he couldn’t apply to the Royal Academy despite his brilliant mind because he had no money.
The ones who sponsored and raised him were none other than the Sinclairs.
On the day the sponsorship was decided, Harrison met Cherry for the first time.
A child as small and cute as a star candy, peeking out from behind Mrs. Sinclair’s legs to look up at him.
“Then are we family now?”
The five-year-old child asked Harrison in a sweet voice.
Family. It was a word he was hearing for the first time in his life.
“Cherry needs a big brother.”
Loneliness lingered in the child’s golden eyes as she looked up while clutching his trouser leg.
He recalled then that the Sinclairs were incredibly busy with their business.
“Since Oppa is handsome, you’re qualified to be Cherry’s family.”
“Oh my, look at her. Cherry, didn’t Mommy tell you not to look only at faces? A person’s inner self is more important.”
“But Mommy told Cherry. You said you live with Daddy because he’s handsome. A man’s face is important.”
“Oh, oh my, dear. While that’s true…”
Mrs. Sinclair turned red, seemingly embarrassed. Then, looking troubled, she tried to soothe Cherry while glancing at Harrison’s reaction.
Although the Sinclairs sponsored Harrison, they had not adopted him. And there were many children other than Harrison receiving sponsorship under the Sinclair name.
Ultimately, he had no choice but to keep his distance from Cherry while being mindful of the Sinclairs.
However, Harrison made a vow as he listened to Cherry’s words. Even if they weren’t related by blood, Cherry was his sister. A sister tied to him by a bond thicker than blood.
Recalling the memories of the past, Harrison let out a weary sigh.
‘I’ll have to bring the firearms myself.’
Originally, he had planned to head down to Brunel tomorrow as she wished, but according to Cherry’s letter, the situation had changed.
If he were to move with the weapons himself, he had to be even more thorough with security.
‘It’ll be delayed by a few more days.’
Time remaining until the end of the world: 16 days.
‘Susanna said she’s coming tomorrow.’
I marked the date on the calendar and sank back into my worries.
It was because Harrison still hadn’t told me the exact date he would be coming down to Brunel.
‘He needs to get here quickly.’
Setting the calendar down on the desk, I peered out the window. I saw a man walking into the garden with a log slung over his shoulder.
It was Eden, who had tossed off his uniform jacket.
He had his white shirt sleeves rolled up for the manual labor, which left his firm forearms fully exposed.
On top of that, his navy uniform trousers fit him perfectly. And a revolver was tucked into the holster strapped to his thigh.
Eden, having lightly dropped the log onto the dirt, brushed back his well-groomed blond hair. I stared at his sharp jawline and prominent Adam’s apple as if possessed.
‘Seriously, his looks are totally my style.’
I straightened myself up and went outside.
“You’re here.”
When I greeted him, he pointed to the log.
“Where would you like me to move this?”
“It would be best to turn it into firewood first before moving it. We’ll keep some inside and some outside.”
At my words, Eden’s gaze turned toward one side of the garden. A massive pile of firewood was already stacked there.
He let out a hollow laugh, planted his hands on his hips, and asked me again.
“Just how much firewood are you planning to make? With this amount, you could set the whole village on fire.”
“Oh, come on. That’s an exaggeration.”
When I nudged his side with my elbow, he stared at me intently. Since his expression alone was practically shouting profanities, I went ‘oops’ and stepped back a bit from him.
Eden crossed his arms and took an uncooperative stance.
“Ah. Perhaps Miss Cherry wanted to see me exhausted?”
“Pardon?”
“If not, doing this much doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why doesn’t it make sense?”
“This isn’t nearly enough. I don’t tire easily.”
Huh? What is he talking about all of a sudden? It seemed Eden thought I was making him do useless labor just to punish him. I looked at him quietly and said,
“Just get to making the firewood.”
Undeterred, Eden swung the axe skillfully and gripped it in his hand as if to show this was nothing.
CRACK.
Soon, I watched in admiration as the log split cleanly. Oh, look at those muscles.
I watched Eden chop wood for a moment, clapping a few times, when I suddenly snapped out of it.
‘This is no time for this. There’s still so much to do to turn this mansion into a fortress.’
Just then, the contractors who were helping repair the walls opened the gate and walked in. I greeted them and then went up to the second floor of the mansion.
‘The way to the roof was somewhere around here…’
Then, I found a dangling rope in the ceiling of the left hallway where the nursery was.
‘That’s it!’
I jumped lightly and pulled the rope.
Rattle—
A ladder descended from the ceiling. I climbed the ladder and went up onto the roof of the mansion.
The sloped roof was a bit dangerous, but the view was excellent. Since Happy House was on a hill, the entire village was visible at a glance.
‘This will be a good spot to monitor the monsters’ movements.’
I made an additional request to the wall repair contractor to install a railing on the roof so that I could keep watch safely.
‘And I need to build a catapult.’
It was better to build this kind of weapon before the end of the world. Since it was something I couldn’t easily build on my own.
I planned to install the catapult on the roof as well.
There were many types of catapults. The more complex the construction, the safer it would be, but that would take just as much time.
Everyone has made a chopstick catapult at least once in elementary school science class, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Of course, this would be on a larger scale, so I’d have to secure the pillars and rubber bands more firmly to keep it balanced.
Actually, it was closer to a lever.
I drew a simple blueprint for a catapult using the principle of a lever and handed it to the wall repairman.
“You want me to install a catapult here? I’m not someone who deals in weapons, though?”
The repairman asked once more.
“You can build it, right?”
At my question, the repairman narrowed his eyes and looked at the blueprint again.
“Well, I can build it, but…”
“I’ll give you four times the amount I mentioned for the repairs.”
“Please wait just a moment. I’ll have it whipped up in no time.”
The man thumped his chest, telling me to trust him.
Right. I took out a loan of 100 million gold; I should use it at times like this. Where else would I spend all that money?
