A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 81

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 81.
The next place they headed was the Armory.
“Oh.”
Caroline opened her eyes wide and pushed the side-sliding door all the way open. What she saw was a large cabinet.
She opened the cabinet with a heart that beat a little faster, and with a sound of something rolling, a spacious interior appeared filled with rather menacing objects.
The first thing that caught her eye was a firearm that someone appeared to have used for hunting. It looked rather old.
Aiden apparently had never actually used it, for dust lay thickly upon it.
And…….
“Gasp!”
Caroline stepped back in surprise.
More sinister things were visible in the lower interior of the cabinet. Being close to the Underground Prison, it seemed they had stored items used there as well. Handcuffs, shackles, spiked balls, and a whip.
“Oh…….”
Though these clearly hadn’t been used in ages, Caroline felt her hair stand on end and retreated as far as she could.
Whether from looking at those things or from the basement itself, a chill seemed to run through her body. Just as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered,
‘!’
the bag began to move.
‘Of course there’s something else.’
By now, she would have been disappointed if the bag didn’t move each time she entered a new place.
She barely suppressed an oncoming sneeze and drew closer to the menacing objects.
Inside the cabinet and on the walls on either side hung numerous firearms. Which one of these would it be calling for?
As she squinted her eyes, Caroline noticed that one of them appeared distinctly larger than the rest.
‘It’s a bit bigger than the others, isn’t it?’
Like something magnified.
And when she carefully opened the glass display case and grasped the long gun with a hand darkened by dust,
“Oh!”
the firearm shrank to a size similar to the others.
‘How curious.’
She carefully lifted this dangerous object she was touching for the first time. Blowing away the accumulated dust, the shape finally became clear.
[Bang Bang Colorful Gun]
[When fired, this gun shoots colorful paint. The target hit is immobilized for 3 seconds and stands in place. However, it can only be fired 3 times per day. Regardless of firing count, a 2-day rest period is required after the day of firing.
※Charging is mandatory before use! Even if unused, recharging is required after 2 days have passed since the initial charging.]
Charging is mandatory?
“How do you even charge it?”
Caroline couldn’t tell which part to pull to fire and which to pull to charge.
If she touched the wrong thing now and it fired, wouldn’t she be unable to use it for two days? She pouted her lips indignantly before placing it in the bag.
But the bag didn’t stop its rhythmic shifting.
‘There’s more?’
But there were no other large firearms. She turned her body toward where the relatively smaller objects were.
A drawer at the lower part of the cabinet containing a short sword, a jackknife, a whistle, and a simple trumpet.
This truly was an ancient aristocratic mansion, filled with elegantly engraved objects.
‘A trumpet? How old is this…….’
As she thought this and rummaged through the drawer, Caroline discovered something that didn’t belong there.
“Hmm?”
A long black hair pin.
Its size was so large, almost beetle-like, that it looked truly strange. And when she grasped it, the pin instantly shrank.
“Wow, so this was it?”
[Universal Hair Pin]
[A universal hair pin that performs all functions of a hair pin at the highest level.]
“Oh…….”
Even acquiring the finest hair pin as a game item—what a world this was.
Caroline let out a spiritless exclamation and placed it in the bag. Like a toy, the bag promptly fell silent.
Was everything Caroline needed to find in the Armory?
As she turned to leave, she stopped mid-step.
‘Just to be safe.’
She remembered that the bag had been quiet until she opened the glass case at the Swimming Pool, but as soon as she opened it and saw the Velvet Diary inside, it had started to dance.
Even though it was quiet now, it might start moving again if she drew near to something.
So there was a need to search the Armory a little more thoroughly.
She pulled open every drawer and checked both the upper shelves and behind closed doors in the cabinet. And while she was carefully handling the handcuffs and spiked balls and shackles just in case…….
“Huh?”
Caroline realized that the blue cloth covering the prison items was resting on a box, not on the floor itself.
She’d thought it was the floor, but a box had been placed to fit the width precisely. And when she lifted the cloth, it turned out to be a Travel Bag, complete with handles and decorative trim.
She carefully extracted the bag.
“It doesn’t belong here.”
Unlike the dim Armory, the bright camel-colored Travel Bag stood out. It showed wear, yet remained sturdy.
And unfortunately, the lock on its head was equally durable.
“……What a shame.”
She’d need a key to open it. Like most locks, Caroline had none.
‘This bag feels like it holds something.’
She’d tried fitting it into the Doll House in her field of vision, but that wouldn’t work.
Should she just leave it as is? The thought had barely crossed her mind when—
‘Wait.’
Caroline remembered the Universal Hair Pin she carried—the one supposedly capable of anything.
She pulled it from the bag and, keeping it bent as it was, began working it into the lock, twisting and pushing and pulling in turn.
Click.
“!”
The bag’s mouth fell open limply.
“Got it!”
Caroline had cried out triumphantly, then clapped her hand over her mouth as her voice echoed through the cellar. Surely the servants nearby hadn’t heard.
Reminding herself they were only four meters above, in the Garden, she opened the Travel Bag fully.
And at once it began to move on its own.
There was no need to wonder why. Caroline saw it with her own eyes: Ephros’s Diary, bound in yellow velvet, lay nestled carefully inside.
‘Found it!’
Now she realized the bag itself must have belonged to Ephros.
Of course, in the script he never carried such a thing, but the contents suggested a traveler’s practical needs—various implements for handling mechanisms were tucked inside.
A Mirror for checking one’s appearance, a Pocket Watch still keeping time as though the spring hadn’t run down, emergency rations, and two Chain Rings whose purpose she couldn’t guess.
‘But what would Ephros even be doing here?’
Caroline tilted her head in puzzlement.
An Armory. Perhaps Will belonged in such a place, but not Ephros. His world was so ruined that people fought with dull blades, didn’t they?
‘It doesn’t fit, but…… that’s not what matters.’
Caroline clutched Ephros’s Diary to her chest with joy.
‘I’ve found four now. All I need is Friedman’s Diary!’
There would be much to tell Aiden when she saw him at three in the morning. What expression would he wear?
Would he look pleased with her?
‘If the Universal Hair Pin really can do anything, can it open this too?’
Caroline took out the Hair Pin again and held it to the Diary’s lock.
The bent pin was too thick, so she narrowed it further before inserting it. But the keyhole proved smaller than she’d expected, and sliding it in wasn’t easy.
‘…….’
She turned it to the opposite side and began poking at the inside with the tip rather than the loop.
Clink. Clink.
It was then that the sound grew loud.
[▲]
“!”
After so long, the triangle appeared again.
[The item may be damaged.]
“Oh no.”
At those words, Caroline quickly withdrew the Hair Pin. The black tip showed slight damage.
‘Universal, perhaps—but not for Diaries.’
Caroline nodded to herself and placed Ephros’s Diary and the Hair Pin back into the bag.
Then, careful that no one would notice, she closed the Travel Bag and hid it beneath the blue cloth again—exactly as she’d found it.
The Pocket Watch inside confirmed it was now close to one o’clock.
She closed the Armory wall cabinet and checked the Doll House in the bag. Someone was still on the Second Floor. She’d been waiting for the moment when they all came down to the Garden.
And she’d dozed off.
When she woke, there was a face before her eyes.
A man with long features and dark lashes fluttering like butterfly wings, lips gleaming pink.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————