I gulped and leaned my head out over the railing. The view of the first floor came into sight.
Although it was night, the first floor still retained its luxurious yet stable atmosphere, even with an eerie touch to it.
In the middle of it, something out of place stood tall and alone.
Covered in synthetic skin, at first glance, it could be mistaken for an ordinary girl. But its movements were far from human.
It was the maid AI automaton roaming around the first floor alone!
‘That’s strange.’
Princess Angela had clearly ordered it to be stored in the warehouse. It didn’t seem like she would suddenly change her mind and decide to use the maid automaton.
So, I decided to hold my breath and continue observing the automaton.
Soon, I noticed something odd.
‘That thing… It looks dangerous…’
The automaton’s actions were as follows:
“Checking tapestry.”
First, it identified the item in front of it.
“Worthless. Inefficient space usage.”
Second, it evaluated the value of the item based on its own criteria.
“Dispose.”
Third, it shoved the item into the bag it was holding.
This was more than just a simple case of the automaton carelessly disposing of items.
This automaton was acting on its own without any orders from its master!
‘I have to inform someone…!’
Just as I realized this and raised my head, I found myself making direct eye contact with the automaton.
“Intruder detected.”
“………!”
No, I’m not an intruder!
“I’m a guest!”
I muttered without thinking, but unfortunately, it seemed that the automaton didn’t recognize my words.
“Scheduled for disposal.”
After saying this, the automaton began moving toward the direction of the stairs!
“Eeeek!”
If it caught me, there was no telling what it would do!
On reflex, I flung open the door in front of me and rushed inside.
“W-who is it?!”
Inside, I was met with Arkhangelo, who had been sleeping gracefully on the bed. He blinked his eyes open in surprise.
What the heck, Arkhangelo is wearing more elegant pajamas than I am? No, wait, that’s not important right now…
“Damn it, you’re no help at all!”
Arkhangelo was clearly not going to be any help in dealing with the automaton. If anything, it felt like I would have to protect him.
“Arkhangelo, wake up! We have an emergency!”
“Is this… a dream?”
“No, it’s not, so get up now!”
As Arkhangelo sluggishly crawled out of bed, I urgently grabbed him and dragged him out of the room.
But as soon as we exited, we locked eyes with the automaton, which had already reached the top of the stairs.
“Eeeeek!”
I clung to Arkhangelo and opened the door to the room next to us.
Fortunately, this time, the person I encountered was Ghieuspe, who was sitting at his desk with a calm expression, as if he hadn’t gone to sleep yet.
“What’s going on…?”
“The automaton is malfunctioning!”
I quickly locked the door and shouted.
“The maid automaton that was gifted to the Lithman Duke’s mansion is malfunctioning. It’s making decisions and moving on its own. It seems to have identified me as an intruder and tried to deal with me, so I ran in here.”
Before I could even finish my sentence, the automaton’s voice could be heard from outside the door.
“Three intruders detected. Preparing for disposal.”
“No, I’m a guest, you stupid automaton! Can’t it understand plain words?! This thing seriously needs a Luddite rebellion to get some sense into it!”
While I complained, the automaton seemed determined to break down the door. The loud thuds of it pounding on the door echoed through the room.
“Phyro, is it okay if I use magic to deal with that automaton? Destroying the host’s property as a guest is impolite, but this situation is unavoidable. Besides, the Duchess of Lithman didn’t seem to like the automaton anyway.”
“There shouldn’t be a problem. However…”
Ghieuspe’s face turned serious, as if he were lost in thought. To be fair, his face always looked serious. But this time, there was an added intensity to it.
“Although it’s rare, some automatons have artifacts embedded in them to nullify magic in order to protect their masters.”
“What did you just say?”
“That applies to high-end automatons created by Princess Eva.”
“Since it was gifted to the Lithman Duke’s mansion, it’s probably one of those high-end automatons, isn’t it…”
In other words, magic wouldn’t work on this automaton. This was getting seriously troublesome.
“Would Raffaelo’s gun or physical weapons work?”
“They would.”
“Then we need to call Raffaelo right away.”
While we were talking, Arkhangelo, who seemed to have finally come to his senses, squinted his eyes and spoke up.
“But is the maid automaton really a dangerous entity? It’s not a combat automaton, so it shouldn’t be able to harm us.”
“Well, that may be true, but…”
I recalled the scene I had witnessed earlier and a subtle smile crossed my face.
“Just a while ago on the first floor, it was recklessly disposing of items, and it was holding a hammer in its hand to break them.”
“……..…”
“Wait, are you saying…!”
Just as Arkhangelo’s face twisted in shock, a loud noise echoed from the door.
BANG, BANG—!
The automaton was attempting to break down the door with its hammer.
“Since defensive magic should work, how about I try to block it with spatial magic?”
Just as I said that, a scream echoed from outside.
“Kyahhh!”
A woman’s scream.
If it’s a woman’s scream and it’s not me, then it must be…
‘Princess Angela?’
Of course, it could be one of the maids, but somehow, the voice sounded like hers.
“Intruder detected. Preparing for disposal.”
It seemed the automaton had changed its target, as it backed away from our door. The mechanical sound of its movements gradually grew more distant.
I exchanged glances with Ghieuspe and nodded.
“We have to save the Duchess!”
She held an important key to Princess Eva, so we couldn’t just leave her to be harmed by the automaton.
Without a moment of hesitation, I flung the door open and ran outside.
“Kyahhh!”
The scene that unfolded before me was Princess Angela running away in a panic. The maid automaton, holding a hammer, was chasing her.
“Raffaelo! Simone! Get out here now! It’s an emergency!”
I ran after the automaton, shouting their names at the top of my lungs.
At that moment, the automaton turned its head and stared at me. It seemed to be confused about whether to target me or Princess Angela first, causing it to pause for a moment.
“Ghieuspe…!”
“Got it.”
Taking advantage of that moment, Ghieuspe swiftly leaped down the stairs and moved toward Princess Angela. As expected of the male lead, at least he had the minimum skills of martial arts.
“What’s going on here?”
“The automaton is malfunctioning.”
Ghieuspe gave a brief explanation as he shielded Princess Angela behind him.
To draw the automaton’s attention, I shouted as loudly as I could.
“We should stage a coup against the Vivaldi Royal Family!”
“…Disloyal statement regarding the royal family detected. Target priority updated.”
Finally, it seemed to have clearly set its target as me.
Alright, if I just slowly retreat and wait for Simone or Raffaelo to arrive, everything should be fine… But why are they taking so long?!
“S-Seraphina, are you really going to be okay?”
Arkhangelo, who was notoriously timid, asked nervously from behind me.
“No, I’m not! Arkhangelo, I’ll buy us some time, so you go get Raffaelo right now. We need Raffaelo’s gun!”
“Understood!”
Arkhangelo dashed off toward Raffaelo’s room.
Now, I was left alone to confront the automaton head-on.
