I was leaning forward, elbows resting on my knees, as I thought deeply…

  Nightmare Trial… Nightmare Trial… Nightmare Trial… There was something about these two words put together that did not sit right with me. I couldn’t help but feel like there was something important that I was missing–Did it have something to do with the other weird things I often thought about without clear rhyme or reason?

  Usually, when I would think or say something odd, I would just ignore it and move on, but this time… This ‘Nightmare Trial’ thing was not exiting my mind. It felt of much greater importance than normal.

  I straightened my back, looking down at my hands–It felt as though just thinking about these two words in unison was causing something to happen within me… It feels similar to when I would enter a deep state of focus when assembling machines. I clenched and unclenched my fists.

  Mmh… Something isn’t right–Oh, it seems like he is here.

  In front of me was the computer in the basement of my home. Using it, I could remotely access the CS and other systems of any business I owned. I had been watching Medurio struggle to live every night like a show, using this–It was actually surprising that he had managed to survive. Perhaps I had been too nice with the way I had instructed my dear clown gals to attack.

  In appearance, they could easily sync up, but in truth, since this was all supposed to be a game, I had made it so they couldn’t actually coordinate in a manner that made it so they were guaranteed to actually get the drop on their target…

  A game like this one was funnier when the victim could actually struggle and had a shot at victory… But perhaps I had been too kind about it. Maybe I should change how some of the clown gals attack? Their timings, perhaps? I suppose I could make it so that more of them have more than one method of attack…

  Of course, Purpurnita hadn’t shown what she could do at all, but that was because I knew very well that Medurio was unlikely to be able to handle her on top of the others at the peak of their aggression. The main reason I felt that I had been light-handed was that Medurio, despite having figured out a few things, was rather inefficient and simply not very good.

  Yet, he had survived despite that. It was a good thing for my plan, but for the Nightmare Trial–Here I go again, what is with this Nightmare Trial thing? I feel like I really need to refine this little game…

  Anyway. I could see on the outside camera pointed at the emergency exit’s stairs that Joffi was here. Of course, he was the one who had been talking with Medurio, doing Eleanori’s dirty work for her–Just what sort of spell did she have this man under for him to agree to do so much for her? She was good-looking, but not so attractive as to compel such obedience, especially not beautiful enough for her noxious personality to be in any way ignorable.

  Yet, this city guard had gone along with all of her madness without pushback, even going as far as to be the one to personally hire someone to be hired as night watcher and attempt to find incriminating evidence on me… Which was stupid, by the way. Why would I ever keep any evidence of wrongdoing? And in particular, why would I keep it inside my office, which was a far less secure place than my own home?

  I could just taste how desperate a plan that was. How lovely.

  In any case, the show was going to be great… Joffi naturally had his head covered up to prevent identification, thanks to the cameras, but it didn’t matter. Soon after being let in by Medurio. The two men found their paths blocked by my lovely clown girls–Joffi attempted to fight, but a mere, pathetic little city guard, wielding a most mundane sword, couldn’t do anything against my marvels of machinery. They were herded exactly where I wanted them to go.

  The place I wanted them was a little secret only I knew about. I opened up the secret passage remotely, allowing them to get inside what appeared to be a small room, but actually was a machine-powered elevator. I had heard of elevators from a story about a king who wanted a discreet way to let his lovers into his room, and the concept had been one that I had found most intriguing.

  Therefore, I had made my own elevator–Which I could naturally control remotely as well, allowing me to bring Joffi and Medurio underground. Into my little lair…

  I left them locked inside the elevator for a while as I headed for an elevator of my own. One of the main aspects of this underground space was that it connected my house to Glown’s Wonderland.

  I was going to meet them face-to-face…

  ___

  “Damn it! I should have known this raving lunatic of a woman would have made her freaking automatons killing machines!”

  Joffi kicked at the elevator doors, trying to get them open, but they were made out of tough steel. He was more likely to hurt himself than to leave even a dent in it… Nonetheless, he kept on looking for a way to get the doors opened–He tried pressing the buttons, but they did absolutely nothing. It was like they had been locked in place.

  “Do you have any idea where we are?”

  The city guard turned to the night watcher for answers, but Medurio was just as unknowing. He had had no knowledge of an underground space beneath Glown’s Wonderland. He had hoped that he would be let go, but he had been forced into the elevator alongside the guard.

  Eventually, the elevator did open up on its own, revealing a vast expanse of darkness, only illuminated by faint, electrical lights hanging from the ceiling, leaving most of the surroundings outside the elevator flooded with absolute darkness.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Joffi hesitated for a few moments and then stepped out of the elevator with Medurio in tow. The two men progressed slowly and carefully, at the edges of the light, they could spot the shrouded silhouettes of automatons without outer shells. Skeletons of steel standing in utter stillness and silence.

  They could feel the empty, mechanical stares as they moved deeper and deeper into the underground… Until they suddenly stopped. There were footsteps echoing ahead of them, and soon, another silhouette came into view.

  “Well, well, well… I didn’t think you would actually be brave enough to step out of the elevator”

  Hands on her hips, Mara Nebulo wore her typical long, black mantle. She spoke in a mocking tone as she resembled nought but a shadow given life.

  Joffi unsheathed his sword, pointing at her.

  “You bitch! Where is Saltina?!”

  Medurio took a step back as Mara Nebulo threw her hands up in the air, shaking her head.

  “Now isn’t the best time to antagonise me, you know? A little city guard with a feeble sword isn’t going to scare me. Might I remind you that I am a knight? A genuine one? I don’t want to brag, but amongst knights, I am sort of a big deal. Your sword will probably bounce off of me”

  “Shut up and answer the question! We know it’s you!”

  “On what grounds? Baseless accusations are very, very naughty stuff, you know? Regardless…”

  She clapped her hands, causing the underground to be flooded by light, blinding the two guests for a few moments as they finally got to see the room for what it was–It wasn’t actually as large as it had seemed, it was elongated like a hallway, and was filled with different areas separated by lines drawn on the ground… Each of these spaces was home to a different kind of machine, some of which were… Concerning, to say the least.

  Automatons were all over the place, of all shapes and sizes, costumes of various sorts hanging in lines, and even automatons whose outer shell was actually directly fused with their steel skeletons.

  “What the hell…”

  “How can one person do all of this…?”

  “I’ll admit, I spent a little bit too much time working… But it was worth it! Did you see my beautiful clown girls? They are marvels of machinery! I dare say… They are mechanical life!”

  Joffi pulled something out of his pocket.

  “Eleanori and I bought this magical item–It tracks and relays my position on a special map! Let me go, or else you are finished, people will know that I was here, and will discover everything!”

  “Everything? Everything what? That I dug out space, and that I am building a bunch of stuff? Apologies, Joffi, but you’re the one who–With the aid of Medurio–Broke into my business, was rightfully chased by my lovely creations, and then ended up here. This isn’t Aesther. I am allowed to tear you limb from limb for trespassing”

  “You’re delusional if you think you can get away from all consequences”

  Mara shrugged.

  “Dealing with problems is my speciality–Right after dealing with pest… Check this out”

  With a sudden arm motion, something odd seemed to spread through the entire room, moving right through the two men like a pulse of abnormal coldness. The inactive automatons, many without even the bare minimum to function, suddenly sprang to life, forming an inescapable circle around all three of the humans.

  Some of the aforementioned automatons, whose skeletons and outer shells were inseparable, moved through the crowd, positioning themselves beside their creator.

  She scratched her face.

  “Did you hear about the curse of wearable automatons? Many believe that simpler automatons that can perform a handful of motions on stage, and be worn by performers to roam, are the way to go–I only disagree with them because I actually know how to build robots worth something, but in the grand scheme of things, they are not wrong to believe so”

  “Alas, it seems like those particular kinds of automatons are doomed to turn into death traps. There is always at least a little something about them that makes it so they have the ability to kill the person wearing them… Quite something, isn’t it? I can definitely make some that are safe to wear, but I thought to myself: Why not make them to be genuine murder tools? Wouldn’t it be funny?”

  She gestured to the automatons by her side. They were rather cliche-looking clowns with exaggerated bodily proportions, and whose appearance was obviously robotic, much different from her beloved clown gals. These were still wonders and would be very impressive for the public to witness, if their purpose wasn’t to perform brutal executions.

  …Actually, they might make a killing for public executions…

  “I didn’t give them names, but each of these will kill their wearer in a different way… This one is the classic, the skeleton sort of expands to let a person fit inside of it. Just hop in, and you’ll become mush”

  “This one can spin its body parts independently from one another. If it were actually made for entertainment, it could definitely be impressive, but it isn’t, so if you’re inside, it will absolutely twist you up like a towel”

  “Right there is my favourite one. It works with an engine–The kind that gets really hot. You’ll get cooked alive inside of it… Amusing, isn’t it?”

  “Something is deeply wrong with you”

  “Come on. I made them for the sake of it at first, you’re the one who insisted on actually trying them out by putting your nose in my business! So come on! Which one do you want to hop into? Do you want me to explain some more of them? This one punctures you with hundreds of small needles!”

  “M-Miss Nebulo… I beg of you! Please let me go, I have a family! I won’t say anything! I did what you asked of me! Please!”

  “You did what…?!”

  Joffi turned to look at Medurio–A grave mistake, before he could realise it, Mara had closed the distance between them, and he was struck directly in the stomach, hard enough to make him keel over and puke uncontrollably.

  He was wearing his guard armour, but even that wasn’t enough to protect him.

  Mara stepped down on his right arm, preventing him from swinging his sword.

  She looked over at the night watcher.

  “Sure. Do keep in mind that I know the city lord’s wife personally. I’ll get you fired from your job there if you can’t keep your mouth shut–And trust me, I’ll know if you speak… Go back to the elevator and wait”

  “T-Thank you, Miss Nebulo!”

  Her attention fell back on Joffi.

  “Now. Take your pick, which of those suits would you like as your grave?”