## Chapter 282 – The Queen’s Fall (3)
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“Shhh!! Get inside quickly!!”
“Uh-huh!! This way, this way!!”
Mademoiselle, a high-end brothel offering comprehensive services, naturally had most facilities within its walls.
From elegant restaurants befitting its clientele to aristocratic pubs for nobles to meet, and a second floor housing a casino for entertainment.
The Mademoiselle brothel, encompassing these numerous facilities, was undeniably vast by any standard.
Moreover, the rooms were spacious and grand, reminiscent of the nobles’ own mansion chambers.
Given its prime location on the top floor, the third floor offered stunning views, explaining why the guest rooms were concentrated there. Mademoiselle was as expansive as a large department store.
Consequently, the number of prostitutes working there was almost 200, evoking images of decadent luxury.
And with the employees bustling about preparing and serving food, and the maintenance staff managing the facilities, the number of people working inside already exceeded 300 or 400.
Unfortunately, it was into this immense space that a group of ill-fated young individuals had infiltrated.
Carla and her companions (?) were stealthily moving, trying to avoid attention, opening a door and hurriedly pulling each other inside.
Soon after, gruff voices echoed from outside the door they had entered, causing Carla and her group to quietly hold their breath and listen for any signs of movement.
“This way!! Move it!!”
“Damn it… those crazy bitches…!!
Do they have rabies or something…!!”
“Shut up!! Move your legs instead of your mouth!!”
As the sound of the men rushing away gradually faded, Carla and Yui, who had been pressing their ears against the door, finally sighed in relief and stepped away from it.
“It might be obvious…
But it doesn’t seem like they’re here.”
Lukas, who had been searching the room behind them, spoke up, and the girls nodded calmly, gesturing towards the door.
“Then let’s move on to the next room…”
“Uh-huh…!!”
The three of them were non-combatants.
One was a medical student with no connection to fighting, and another was a reckless alchemist who had come this far relying solely on her inventions.
And the last one was a hybrid of a swordsman and alchemist, so green that even calling him a novice swordsman would be too generous, having only dabbled in swordsmanship as a hobby.
Even if they weren’t easy to defeat, directly confronting their opponents was too risky for them. Therefore, it was crucial for them to explore Mademoiselle as cautiously as possible.
“This room doesn’t seem to be it either.”
“Doesn’t look like they’re in that room, right?”
“Maybe they already escaped…?”
“Kyaaaaah!! Sleep!! Just sleep!!”
“Glubgerblurn!!”
They hid from or avoided the men who occasionally emerged from various directions.
And sometimes, they encountered men face-to-face and smashed their heads with a hammer, resetting their memories (?) of seeing them.
When they felt they had checked about 20% of the space, a voice emerged from among them.
“Ah…!!”
“Kyaaaaah!! Slee…!! Yui?”
“You were trying to make me sleep forever…?”
Carla turned around at Yui’s surprised exclamation, raising her beloved hammer.
Fortunately, Lukas grabbed the hammer, preventing it from striking, and Yui managed to protect her head.
Anyway, that didn’t seem to be the important thing right now. Carla and Lukas turned their attention to Yui as she continued to speak.
“Those people, now that I think about it, they’re alchemists, right?
Wouldn’t a place where such people might be found be a workshop?
Doesn’t Carla practically live in her workshop?”
Yui’s reasonable deduction brightened the expressions of Carla and Lukas, and they began to add their own explanations, marking a new phase in their search operation.
“Ah… a workshop… that’s right…!!
Even if you want to do research, you need to have the facilities…!!”
“This is a brothel… and all the upper floors are like that anyway, right?
They’d want to avoid running into customers if possible…
If there’s anything… it would be in a place where only employees work…”
“The basement… isn’t it the basement…!!
That’s where the kitchen and…
Warehouses are located!!”
“Wow!! Why didn’t we think of that?
Yuiiiiiii!! You’re the best!!”
Yui, swaying as Carla rushed to hug her, returned the embrace, patting her back and enjoying her small animal-like warmth.
“Then, let’s head to the basement.
We’ll search there first, and if they’re not there, we can go somewhere else…!!”
Although their efforts had been somewhat futile, the thought that they had gained something brightened their expressions, and their steps became lighter.
However, they failed to notice the sharp eyes gleaming ominously as they watched the group from a hidden corner, diligently moving their feet.
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Meanwhile, Antonio and Eloise, the two men and women who had split off in the opposite direction from Carla’s group.
This pair, consisting of a teaching assistant and a professor who would make any graduate student cry just by looking at them, were putting on a spectacular show as they had initially declared.
“Eadra.”
With a single low incantation, one of the Laratina’s thugs was swept away by the wind and sent flying.
“Kuaaaaaaack!!”
“It’s a mage!! If we rush him all at once, he can’t do anything!! Take him down!!”
Just as the remaining ten or so thugs were about to turn their attention to him, a massive armored soldier appeared, blocking their path.
“If you want to, you’ll have to get through me first.
I won’t let you pass!!”
Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming pressure, as if facing a massive heavy knight.
The others decided that dealing with him first was the priority, and they charged at him all at once with their comrades.
“Hmph!! Hmph!! Haaah!!”
With short, sharp breaths, he nimbly swung his fists, amplifying the impact more than twice with the power of hydraulic pistons and energy-conserving drive shafts, instantly sending several men flying.
“Cough!! Gack!!”
“What the hell is he!!”
“Don’t just stand there, shoot him with arrows!!”
“Not a chance…!!”
As Antonio reached out, the armor plates that made up his arm unfolded with a clattering sound.
The iron plate, shaped like an ice shield, easily blocked the arrows flying towards Eloise, deflecting them away.
“Didn’t I tell you? I won’t let anything pass behind me.
Then Carla will praise this big brother for his hard work…
Hahahahahaha!! Try to get through!! I
Will definitely stop you!!”
Before Antonio, who was laughing gleefully, could do anything else, Eloise’s magic, which had quickly cooled down, erupted once again.
“Eadra… La Squisa!!”
This time, her magic compressed the air around the men, creating a powerful wind pressure like an explosion with a loud bang.
“Uwaaaaaaaack!!”
“Guh!!”
“Squeak!!”
The thugs, sent flying in all directions and colliding with various objects, groaned as if their entire bodies were injured, and eventually collapsed on the spot.
The two demonstrated a perfect coordination between a mage and a bodyguard.
With their clean combination, they were able to defeat a group of about a dozen thugs, and they exchanged glances of respect, nodding to each other.
Then, Antonio’s voice, filled with provocation, echoed loudly throughout the Mademoiselle brothel.
“Carla’s faith and love flows through my veins!!
Hahahaha!! Come on!! Come!!
I’ll take down any number of you!!”
“What is that…nya?”
“I don’t know… he’s kind of weird…”
“From the looks of his fighting, he doesn’t seem to be our enemy…
S-should we just avoid him for now…nya…?”
“But… isn’t he your boyfriend…nya?”
“Do you want to die?”
Thus, the image of the talented elite alchemist and blacksmith from a respectable family became known among the Henias, who were hiding nearby waiting for prey, as ‘a strange guy you don’t want to associate with,’ without him even knowing.
Anyway, Eloise and Antonio, who were somehow doing their jobs properly, were focused on causing as much chaos as possible.
