WDHTBT 6

Chapter 6

*Swish.*

The man who drew back the curtain muttered.

“…Not here either.”

“It seems they’ve already fled.”

At his companion’s words, the man scanned beyond the window and left the room.

“Right. Let’s go inform the knights. You take the front gate….”

The giving of instructions was drowned out by hurried footsteps.

I let out a sigh and slowly opened the window, climbing back inside.

Why “climbing back in,” you ask?

Because invisibility alone wasn’t enough to put me at ease, so I’d gone out the window and been hanging off the exterior wall.

‘My arms hurt.’

[Quest 1–1 Success (1/10)]

“Ha….”

Only when the success notification appeared did the tension finally drain out of me. I rested my hands on my knees for a moment, leaning there, then straightened up.

And then I saw the mascot wiping away sweat—though it hadn’t sweated at all.

—Phew~! That was tense and thrilling!

I grabbed the mascot and yanked it right up to my face.

—Eek! Again! Let go, you violent human!

‘What’s going on? You said there’s only one watcher per day.’

—Yaah! Does it make any sense that a watcher passes by exactly once, timed to when you show up?!

‘Look who’s talking about being unreasonable. And you’re lecturing me about common sense?’

When your very existence defies common sense.

I released the mascot, which was twisting its body this way and that trying to escape my grip.

It’s not like this thing stabbing me in the back is anything new—what’s the point of getting angry? Better to spend that time finding a place to hide.

As I turned to leave, a system window appeared again.

[No-Lose Surprise Roulette! 100% Win Guaranteed]

‘Hey. What’s this?’

—I don’t know! What did you do so well to deserve this, honestly!

The system window that reappeared had a round roulette wheel floating in it.

The pie-shaped sections were labeled with three Sneaky Steps trial tickets, 5 coins, 10 coins, outfits, and so on.

And there was one thing that stood out above all.

[Ainsworth Manor Blueprint (Not for Sale)]

‘That’s exactly what I need right now.’

It was probably given by whoever was whispering with the mascot. I suppose I should call it the system.

Whatever it was, I spun the roulette.

With no losing slots and no entry fee, there was no reason to refuse.

*Whirr, whirr.*

The wheel spun fast enough that the letters blurred.

‘The best one is obviously the blueprint.’

No sooner had I thought that than the roulette, gradually slowing, stopped precisely on the blueprint.

“……”

Rather than being pleased that I’d gotten what I wanted, I narrowed my eyes.

—This is rigged, isn’t it!

I agree.

But why? Unlike the Sneaky Steps tickets, why did it want to give me the blueprint for free?

Whatever the reason, thank you, generous rigger.

—You’ve never once said thank you to me!

‘Yeah, yeah.’

I replied half-heartedly and plopped down on the floor. It was so I could check the blueprint first before leaving.

The blueprint showed only the manor’s structure, literally—there was no way to tell what each room was used for.

—Ding

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mechanical sound rang out.

‘Was that you?’

—It’s not me, it’s the system. Guess it got excited being thanked. Hmph!

‘What the… You’re kind of acting out, aren’t you?’

—Kikiki!

The system window that appeared next to the blueprint had this written on it:

[Upgrade Blueprint — 10 coins]

‘Not buying.’

10 coins, not even 1? Now that’s a proper swindler.

I’ll just figure it out myself.

—It says it doesn’t need you~!

When the mascot kicked at it, the system window vanished.

Watching that, you’d think the mascot and the system don’t get along, but I mustn’t forget they’re in cahoots.

—Hey. Hurry up and look at this!

The mascot seemed eager to hear me say thanks, actively stepping forward.

‘Somewhere people don’t pass by often, with things to hide behind, and easy to slip out of even if I’m caught.’

—The storage room?

‘Storage room’s fine too.’

But not the one I went to before.

Since I got caught once—the room I was discovered in was different, but the rice chest was there—they’ll be consciously checking it for a while.

‘Even if it’s a storage room, it can’t be somewhere people go in and out of every day like a food storage or armory…. What else is there?’

I don’t know. There’s no way I’d have background knowledge about what kinds of rooms a noble’s manor has.

—Want a hint~? If you say thanks….

‘Thanks.’

—So insincere…!

‘There’s no one but you.’

—Heehee!

The mascot wriggled its body and tapped the system window.

[Main Building]

[Annex 1]

[Annex 2]

‘Why only tell me these three?’

There are several more buildings than that.

—Why do you think~?

‘So I should hide in one of these?’

Seeing it just grin, that seems to be the right answer.

‘Main building is out for now. The owner will be living there.’

—Then which are you going to, Annex 1 or 2?

“Hm….”

Somewhere to hide other than a storage room….

‘There’d be dormitories where the servants stay inside the manor, right? They’re probably all live-in servants.’

Assuming the annexes are used as servant quarters, if I were a noble, I wouldn’t give the servants Annex 1 when Annex 2 also exists.

No sooner had I thought that than a basement suddenly appeared on Annex 2’s blueprint.

—Oh my? Annex 2’s basement? The space is divided into lots of little rooms~?

I smirked. It keeps pretending not to help while blatantly dropping hints.

‘Right. If you mapped out the house I live in, it’d look exactly like that. Shall we go take a look?’

Descending to Annex 2’s basement, I saw doors lined up densely along both sides of a long corridor.

Through the thin, shabby doors, the sounds of snoring and teeth-grinding leaked out.

I deactivated the Invisible Human and closed the basement entrance door.

‘Servant quarters, all right.’

When I held out my palm, the mascot headbutted it.

Why had I tried so hard to find this place? Because I figured there’d be at least one empty room.

The way to check if a room is empty is simple.

Just open each door one by one.

*Creak, click.*

I tried the nearest door handle, but it was locked.

The other doors nearby were the same—none would open.

Not even having to go inside to know someone’s there is actually a plus.

I picked up the pace in my empty-room hunt.

I moved quietly, making only the bare minimum of noise, fast as I was.

“Who’s there?”

“……!”

—Kyaaah!

I immediately used Invisible Human and stepped away from the room the sound came from.

Only after hearing a muttered “Did I hear wrong?” a moment later could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Hey. Is the Quiet-Quiet thing actually working?’

—I’m scared, I’m scared!

‘Ugh.’

With only a few rooms left and having just had a scare, I hurried along while invisible.

And at last, the door at the very end opened.

‘Should’ve just started from this side.’

I entered the room, locked the door, and lit the mini lantern I’d brought.

Maybe it was one room per person—inside there was just one bed, one wardrobe, one drawer, and one desk.

The furniture looked old but showed no signs of life.

—Compared to the rice chest, this place is practically a hotel~!

If I had to name the downsides: being in the basement meant no windows, and being the innermost room made it hard to escape.

Also, a new maid could suddenly move in and take this room, there was no bathroom, and it was far from the main building—but this much was acceptable.

Especially the fact that it was a place where I could let my guard down. That was good.

Still, I couldn’t let my guard down completely, so I planned to stay in the wardrobe rather than the bed.

—Yes! The wardrobe is great! Because it’s scary!

Having decided on a place to rest, I rummaged through the bag I’d brought.

Unlike before, I’d brought a bag this time, packed with a lantern, matches, simple rations, and a weapon for self-defense.

If I’d brought any more, I might not have made it through the gap in the front gate earlier.

‘Sure wish I could put non-shop items in the inventory too.’

I laid a blanket inside the wardrobe so my body wouldn’t ache.

Then, only after checking several times that the wardrobe door opened properly, did I get in.

‘Rice chest trauma….’

I sat comfortably and summoned the system window.

‘I used about 40 minutes of Invisible Human.’

I need to carefully weigh ticket costs against quest rewards and use them efficiently—but earlier I’d wasted a bunch because I panicked too much.

—Then how many hours a day should you use it?

‘I don’t know either. Right now I just want to rest without thinking about anything.’

But contrary to my will, perhaps because I was in a maid’s room, related thoughts invaded my head.

‘Should I just get hired as a maid here? Work by day, do quests by night?’

—Oh! Undercover employment!

No. A great house like this would hire career maids or people with solid identities, even for servant positions.

At the very least, they wouldn’t hire an orphan like me.

‘Then what else could I do besides being a maid….’

* * *

Did I fall asleep without realizing it? I woke to the sound of many faint voices.

—So noisy! It’s 5 o’clock, you humans!

‘They’re heading to work now? Yeah, definitely not becoming a maid.’

I tried to go back to sleep, but the chatter lodged itself in my ears.

“I kept tossing and turning last night because someone seemed to be trying to open doors yesterday.”

‘Ah….’

Now I feel really guilty. It must have been scary. I hadn’t thought that far.

And on top of that, a conversation that piled on more guilt reached my ears.

“Again?”

“Who on earth is it this time?”

From what I could hear, someone who’d tried to break in here a while ago had been caught and fired, and now the same thing was happening again… because of me.

Even if I did sneak into someone else’s house, I don’t want to cause harm beyond the quest.

However, half a day later.

‘This is a disaster….’

I end up causing a major incident.