And a little earlier than planned, Oswald of the Ash Hawk Knights comes to the Adventurer's Guild branch.

''Sir Luke. On behalf of the Knights, I would like to thank you. I never dreamed it would be finished so quickly.
'It's a little early to be happy. There's a chance they won't both pass the performance test.

　A prototype is only a prototype.
　I trust Noir and Alexia with all my heart, but I can't tell my client that it's okay before I try it.

　When I look at the back of the corridor, I see Alexia explaining the detailed procedure to the participants of the experiment.

　As a crafty engineer, she seems to be well accustomed to hiring outsiders for performance tests, and there is no hint of stagnation in her narrative.

　I'm sure there's no problem leaving that one to Alexia.

　Thinking about this, I returned my gaze to the front, and then Sir Oswald made an unexpected proposal to me.

'If you don't mind, would you like me to participate in the experiment?
To do an experiment?
'I want to test the prototype on myself. It's something my men are going to use.
One or two people can join us now, of course, and we'd be grateful to have someone who knows the local environment to try it out ......, you know, if it happens.
I know. I'll do it at my own risk.

　If you insist on that, there's no reason to refuse.

　I decided to accept Sir Oswald's proposal and have him participate in the performance testing of the prototype.

　--The time has come for us to begin the experiment after Alexia's explanation of the procedure and the cooling of the laboratory, and the time has come to begin the experiment.

　The plan is to have them enter the sufficiently cooled laboratory dressed as the knights of the Hailing Order's thermal protection equipment and gradually change the conditions to test the performance of the prototype.

　Some would spend long periods of time in the laboratory, others would warm up their fingers while doing detailed work, and so on.

　Meanwhile, the staff on the White Wolf shop side, such as myself, would listen to the situation through the glass panel from the next room and give instructions to the staff through the voice coil.

"Sir Oswald, how are you feeling?
I'm on a roll. They're both performing very well. Holding them like this, I feel like I have my hand on the fireplace.

　He put his face close to the mouth of the voice tube and checked the prototype with Sir Oswald to see how it felt.

　The client, Sir Oswald, had taken the initiative to participate in the longest hours of testing himself because he knew the northern climate better than anyone else.

　Also, from the responsibility of leading his subordinates in the knightly order, he also apparently wanted to see for himself the performance of the tools used to maintain the health of his subordinates.

''The amount I've planted inside my clothes is also doing a good job. It would be even better if it could be easily fixed.
I'll discuss it with my supervisor. Worst-case scenario, we might have to put a special pocket inside the equipment.

　I wrote down the progress I heard and took a breath, closing the lid of the mouth of the transmission tube.

　Just then, Sylvia came into the observation room with a tray of drinks on it.

''Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your hard work. I've brewed some hot tea for you.''

　Sylvia, with a familiar hand, hands me, Noir, Alexia and the branch staff the cups one after another.

　The Spring Wakaba Tei also rents a part of this Adventurer's Guild branch and runs an annex.

　Today, Sylvia is going down to the bottom of the Sundial Forest to help there, but she also provided food and drink for us and the other collaborators in the experiment.

'We're also preparing a warming soup, so if you've finished your experiment, please bring it to our dining room.
I'm sorry for all the help I've gotten.
Not at all. It's my job now that I've been paid. A job well done is the best way to be a Spring Wakabatei.

　Sylvia puts her hands on her hips and stretches her chest.

　Although he says this, in reality, he's been given a big discount for being a regular customer, and there should be no profit-like profit for the Spring Wakabatei.

　What we paid for was the cost of materials and labor ...... which is equivalent to zero deduction.

　As I was tipping my cup, thinking that I'll have to repay them again sometime, additional branch staff came to support me.

　When Alexia sees this, she rotates her body towards us from her chair and proceeds to take a break.

'Luke-kun, why don't you take a break soon? You haven't had a break since this morning. And it's enough to keep me and Noir here.
Well, I'll leave you to it.

　Since I'm going to be here, I'll have to take you up on your offer.

　I get up from my chair and straighten up gingerly and leave the lab to take a proper rest somewhere.

　I walk down the corridor, wondering where to rest, and as I come to a bend, I stop when I recognize a familiar back behind me across the corner.

　The back you can see over there is definitely Garnett - but the one facing her is Ambrose of the Order of the Suicidal Eye?

　It's hard to determine that it's the person in question from the looks of it, as there is no skin exposed and the face is also dressed in a hood and front hanging down to hide it.

(...... It doesn't sound like a moderate atmosphere. ......)

　The reason I stopped in my tracks and also imitated hiding my figure in a corner to ask what was going on is because the sign of Garnett I could sense from her back didn't seem very friendly.

　I'm sure it would be more accurate to say 'confronting' rather than 'facing' each other.

　I'm not sure if it's right to carelessly show up and interrupt them. ...... I couldn't make a decision right away.

I'm going to ask you again. Why are you here?
I'll tell you again. It just so happens. I headed to the First Maze ...... 'Millennium Corridor of the Abyss' to collect samples and overheard some interesting experiments being conducted. And there's nothing more behind it than that.

　Ambrose seems to have no concern for Garnett's caution and acts with an ease as if he is really just making small talk.

'Samples?　You can't collect mithril unless it's from a white wolf.
'There are plenty of other things to look into. In the first place, if it's Mithril, we can just ask Sir Luke to share the store's stock with us.
...... Don't do anything weird.
'Needless to say. But still, it's a bit puzzling that I wasn't approached. I took pride in my position as a leader in this field in the White Wolf Order.

　At Ambrose's words, which were not particularly filled with emotion, Garnett replied only calmly.

''This guy is a problem for the White Wolf Store. Using the personnel of the Knights of the Order is a public and private matter ...... that's what White Wolf's thinks.
'I see. Well, then.

　Well, that's not the point - and Ambrose dismissed the current topic as trivial and started to switch the conversation in a different direction.

'To tell you the truth, I'm not really interested in Sir Luke or the experiment right now.
Then why do you want to go to ......
'Lord Garnett. I understand that you wish to improve your fighting abilities. I'd like to hear a few words about that.