Jose sat atop the observation deck of Happy House, absentmindedly gazing at the village below.
This house is anything but ordinary.
At first, he had been struck by the sheer luxury of such a comfortable mansion in these apocalyptic times.
But the moment he discovered the underground passageway hidden behind the fireplace, he realized something felt off.
This wasn’t just a quaint countryside home.
And naturally, the owner of this mansion wasn’t ordinary either—Cherry Sinclair.
The infamous Cherry Sinclair was nothing like what the rumors claimed.
When Harrison had first suggested that Cherry teach him how to use weapons, Jose had considered declining outright. The Cherry Sinclair he knew of was an irresponsible, spoiled brat.
She’s completely different from what people say. Damn, you really can’t trust anything you read in the papers. It’s all bullshit.
It didn’t take much time to realize the truth. Just a brief encounter was enough for Jose to see that Cherry was nothing like the girl the world thought she was.
And she’s incredibly cute.
Her round face was endearing, and Jose had to admit, Cherry had an irresistibly charming appearance.
Sure, he’d seen her photos in the newspaper, but those black-and-white images didn’t do her justice. In person, she was far more beautiful.
If I’d known she looked like this, I wouldn’t have hesitated to come to Brunel sooner. Damn it, stupid Jose Camburn.
Sighing, Jose picked up the opera binoculars Nox had handed him, claiming they belonged to Cherry.
Just then, a strange sight caught his attention. The monsters roaming the streets of Brunel began moving rapidly, as though drawn to something.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots echoed from the village.
“What the hell? What’s going on?”
Hearing the gunfire, Harrison and Nox climbed up to the observation deck. Jose shrugged and passed the binoculars to them.
“No idea, but it looks like the kingdom’s soldiers and a civilian militia are in a shootout. Thanks to them, the monsters are being wiped out.”
Of course, there was a downside: the sound of gunfire was attracting monsters from outside the village, drawing them toward the commotion.
“They’re wearing Graydon Royal Army uniforms, but there’s no way to confirm if they’re actual soldiers,” Harrison muttered as he observed through the binoculars.
Nox took the binoculars from Harrison and scanned the scene below.
“Hmm. What a mess. Where on earth did they come from? And how do they have so many guns? They can’t be from Brunel.”
The villagers of Brunel didn’t own firearms. Even if they did, they couldn’t possibly possess such a large stockpile.
Jose furrowed his brows at Nox’s words. If heavily armed outsiders had stormed the village and started a shootout, there could only be one goal.
“They’re here to loot Brunel’s food supplies,” Jose said.
Nox and Harrison remained silent, a tacit agreement.
Their actions weren’t incomprehensible. In a world reduced to ruins, scavenging for food was a matter of survival.
The problem, however, was that Brunel wasn’t just any village—it was home to Happy House. The food supplies in Brunel were theirs to secure first.
At that moment, Amy peeked her head out from beneath the second-floor roof.
“Sugar Star’s back!”
Leaving Jose to keep watch, Nox and Harrison hurriedly climbed down from the roof.
I wish I could talk to Cherry too, Jose thought with a sigh, left alone atop the observation deck.
*****
A distant light appeared, revealing a sunlit room at the end of the passage. Amy, who had peeked into the tunnel to confirm we were coming, quickly scampered off somewhere.
As the surroundings brightened, I was finally able to step down from Ethan’s arms.
Just as we reached the entrance by the fireplace, I noticed something faintly pale near Ethan’s feet.
“Sir Ethan, hold on a moment.”
Crouching near the entrance, I began digging into the dirt. Something was buried there—a worn-out canteen.
This must be what Susanna had mentioned.
Upon closer inspection, the canteen was made of brass. I brushed off the caked dirt, revealing a delicate floral pattern etched into it. It seemed like something a noble might have used.
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Could it have belonged to Baron Ruskin? Or perhaps someone who lived here before him?
Examining it closely, I turned to Ethan and asked, “Do you think it belonged to the previous owner?”
“Well, if we’re looking for explanations, that’s the most likely one...”
Ethan looked at the canteen with a puzzled expression, as if it held some secret he couldn’t decipher. Meanwhile, Amy, Nox, and Harrison entered the room from the passageway.
Outside the fireplace, we found Susanna awake and smiling faintly at me.
“Susanna, are you feeling okay?”
“I’m recovering well, Miss. Please don’t worry,” she replied with a gentle, angelic smile. Oh, such a kind soul.
“Sugar Star, why did it take you so long?” Amy whined, clinging to my arm and blinking her curious eyes. She was probably eager to hear about the underground passage.
“For now, let’s gather in the banquet hall and hold a quick meeting,” I said.
Everyone nodded in agreement. I patted Susanna’s head lightly.
“Can you rest on your own for a little while?”
“Miss, I’m not a child,” she replied, her tone slightly pouty. I chuckled. She truly seemed better, and I felt relieved. I nodded toward Emma, who had been tending to Susanna, and she got up to join us in the banquet hall.
Once everyone was seated at the table, Ethan and I stood before them to recount what had happened.
I explained how the underground passage connected to the police station and how the Kint survivors and the impostors dressed as the kingdom’s soldiers were engaged in a firefight in the village.
Sitting with his arms crossed, Nox flashed a sly smile and asked me, “So, are you planning to drive them all out of the village?”
“Yes. There won’t be any negotiations. Brunel is our village. We need to protect what’s ours.”
As I clenched my fist with determination, Brunel natives like Emma, Victor, and Amy looked at me with a touch of admiration, making me feel slightly embarrassed.
The truth was, if we wanted to secure our resources, violent suppression was our only option.
Telling them to leave our village wouldn’t work—these people had already resorted to violence and a full-blown firefight. There was no reasoning with them, and they vastly outnumbered us.
If we could seize this opportunity to take full control of Brunel, we would do so.
Everyone agreed with my proposal.