Life is indeed pretty good. This damned court case has been paused for a very pleasing amount of time, and the locations were doing great. There was an ongoing investigation, but it had nothing to do with me. There is nothing else for the investigators to ask me anymore, and with how long it has been since the disappearance now… There wasn’t a snowball chance in hell that this would ever go anywhere.

  This put a smile on my face. I could spend my time tinkering with machines and pinching Mari’s face–Lately, in particular, I had taken a keen interest in computer-related tinkering. I had found a whole bunch of notes Leton had taken on the potential of computers. I used to think that they were all about controlling various systems installed within buildings… That they were basically a compressed control room that used a ‘keyboard’ instead of a whole bunch of levers and buttons.

  As it turned out, they could be capable of so much more. I frankly had no idea where or how Leton could even know about such things when he had clearly never actually put them together himself. It was like he had supernatural insight–Did he have some sort of ability that he never told me about? Why wouldn’t he tell me about it? Was he worried about mentioning it aloud in general? I suppose he might have been worried about people learning about his gift.

  …Still, I knew him. If he hadn’t told me, it was either because he had no such special ability or because he simply couldn’t tell anyone about it.

  Anyway… I had thrown myself into the creation of a special kind of MI by using what Leton had left behind. Rather than a Mechanical Intelligence installed within an automaton, it was one installed within a whole computer. The difference hadn’t seemed too great at a glance, but the more I progressed, the more obvious it became that those two kinds of MI might as well be called different things.

  The MI I was creating was intended to be an autonomous assistant capable of activating or deactivating certain functions of the building at will if necessary. I had already done great with the MIs of the clown gals, so in this more refined setting, I was able to really breathe a semblance of life and sapience into this one.

  Since I was at it, I also decided to give this MI a distinct, cute appearance. So she would appear on the screen and have a personality. It was completely unnecessary, but… Lots of golem crafters made their golems in the shape of pretty ladies. I was similar, but I made my creations into cute girls instead… So I made another clown gal. This time, with a predominantly dark green colouration.

  I didn’t name her in the same manner I named the robotic clown gals, and instead settled for something much simpler–Zlown. She communicated exclusively through text for now, but I was certainly going to figure out how to give her a proper voice and speech capabilities in the future…

  I couldn’t spend all my nights working on her, unfortunately. It had been a little while since Glown’s Wonderland had opened now, but I still didn’t have a night watcher. It was difficult to find someone who was both competent and trustworthy to do the job, so I had been the one keeping an eye on the location at night for a while, and as much as I trusted my security measures, having someone on the ground felt like a must. Which was why I had been conducting many interviews.

  One applicant who caught my eye was a thin, young man with a slightly twitchy behaviour. It felt like he was afraid of being here and had been forced to apply for the job at bladepoint… He didn’t catch my eye because he seemed competent. He seemed incapable of handling the job, actually. However… I had a certain suspicion. I could feel that his anxiety was that of a person afraid that they wouldn’t get the job.

  It had a tinge of guilt… A tinge of genuine worry for dire consequences… I could just taste it.

  “I have many applicants for this job, you know? I’ll give you an answer in a few days when I am done sorting through everything”

  That’s what I said aloud, but I usually decided whether someone was good enough or not on the spot. I just wanted some time to look into his background and see if I could confirm my suspicions… Finding out the truth was often trivially easy when you were looking for it, and this was no exception.

  The applicant was a young, recently married man–He didn’t look like it, but he had to be quite the robust fellow considering that despite only having been married for two years, he already had two kids and a third on the way. Despite having a rather good job, being in charge of tending to the horses of none other than the city lord, he was in a bit of a pinch.

  Whether it was pure chance or if he or his wife had something special was unclear, but his two children had both shown extraordinary magical capabilities–Unconsciously casting primitive spells… When it came to measuring talent, doing something like this when you could barely even be called sentient was the sort of stuff you would hear about the childhood of freaking arch-mages, or magus… Or whatever title they gave to mages who were a big deal.

  Thus, he was looking for extra funds to actually give his children a good education. He could surely hand them over to competent people, but I suppose neither he nor his wife was willing to just give away their children like that, which was… Commendable, I suppose.

  Anyway. Working with horses during the day and working as a watcher at night was a bizarre combination that definitely couldn’t be properly sustained for a long period of time. Not to mention that he had lied to my face about having a job, about his familial situation, and many other things. He had claimed to be a single man still living with his parents… He did look somewhat the part, but in truth, his father had passed away, and his mother had remarried and lived in another part of the city altogether.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  From there, I was able to connect the dots and figure out that he was probably being paid a fat sum of money by Eleanori to try and find something on me, or perhaps perform some sabotage as a way to get back at me–After all, she hated me to begin with, and she is now convinced that Saltina’s disappearance is my fault.

  I do not like being lied to, and I especially dislike anyone who associates themselves with Eleanori in an attempt to take me down… Well, I suppose he could also have been hired by Binibelle. The halfling had seemed rather suspicious of me, but I doubt the investigator would feel the need to resort to such cheap tactics.

  Without truly understanding why, I decided to call back the man and hire him for the worst night of his life.

  “You must understand that working here is not just about having a job. I do not just hire anyone off the street to work here. All employees are given much trust, and are considered to be a part of Glown’s Wonderland–Indeed, you are now an inhabitant of the Wonderland. You are a part of the gang!”

  I rose from my seat as I spoke, leaning over my desk and tapping my index finger against the young man’s chest.

  “You will start tomorrow, you have to be here as the location is closing down, alright? The day watcher won’t be too pleased if he has to stay for too long past the end of his shift–Oh, and the day guard will also be around when you show up. Be late, and she might just give you a few slaps in the head”

  “I… I understand, Miss Nebulo!”

  “Good. By the way, you might have heard a few bad rumours about me spread by a certain woman. Do not pay them any heed. The person spreading these rumours is deeply unwell… Basically unstable”

  “I see…”

  “Anyway! Welcome to the family! I’ll show you how to properly operate the S.C”

  “S.C?”

  “The Security Computer. It will be your main tool as the night watcher–Come with me”

  I took him to the office where he would be staying at night. It was a rather standard place, situated on the second floor. The first floor was mostly dedicated to the clients, and the second floor was purely made up of employee-only areas.

  The day and night watchers had a direct view of the entrance and main dining area through a wide window in the office, and with the S.C, they could control many things about the buildings, the lights, the alarms, the CS, the VS, and much more. Watchers, and especially the night watcher, who was all by themself inside the location, needed to be completely trustworthy with the amount of power they were given.

  “You already know this, but allow me to reiterate: Your mission is to ensure the complete safety of this location. This included the building as a whole and everything within. Check on the cameras constantly, and if anything or anyone tries to get in, or somehow ends up already being inside past closure–Then you need to do something about it. Scare off those outside using the CS, and make sure those inside are escorted to the exit”

  “Do you understand everything? Yes? Very well, then. If you find yourself having any questions during your shift, just ask Zlown. She is the mechanical assistant within the Security Computer. She knows everything about the location and can give you guidance to do pretty much anything you could need to do”

  The young man nodded strongly as I looked him in his eyes… This poor fool had no idea what he had gotten himself into. He should have thought about who he was accepting money from before coming here.

  I slapped him on the shoulder and accompanied him to the exit, bidding him goodbye until tomorrow evening–I didn’t know why, but I felt especially excited for what was to come.

  “Mara, was this the night watcher? Was he hired?”

  As I returned to my office, I found Mari waiting for me with a paper in her arms. I walked past my assistant and sat behind my desk.

  “I have the feeling he won’t last for long, but I suppose we will see… Why don’t you come over here, Mari?”

  I tapped on my thigh, beckoning her to sit in my lap, an invitation, she basically jumped to take it like it was only available for a few handful of seconds.

  “Aherm… W-Why do you think he won’t last for long?”

  Definitely a bit embarrassed about her impulsiveness, she tried to continue the conversation like nothing had happened, even as I put my arm around her waist.

  “Did you not get a good look at him? He looks all feeble and weak. I doubt he’ll be able to handle working the night shift without collapsing from exhaustion for very long, but perhaps he can surprise me–In any case, why do you have for me in this paper, exactly?”

  “Oh, this is just today's report. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today. There were no notable events. The customer count was higher than our objective, and several more people came to enrol their children in the daycare”

  “Weissecilia is really a big talk amongst parents, it seems. They really like how well she takes care of kids”

  I rubbed my chin.

  “That’s great to hear! Since this report has nothing of importance…”

  I grabbed the paper and placed it on the desk.

  “...Then I can spare some time for you. Since we’ll be having a night watcher starting tomorrow, what do you say about spending some more time at my place, heh?”

  “I-It would be my honour…!”

  Oh, Mari… Love really makes you blind, doesn’t it?