Was there a smell of dust haze in the air?
"What did you mean?" Wine Cup did not quite understand Pinocchio's meaning. She even instinctively took several quicker breaths, as though she were truly trying to sniff out the scent in the air.
Yet aside from the rich bitterness of chocolate, there was no other strange smell in the air.
Pinocchio naturally noticed Wine Cup's little movement. It chuckled. "Yoro yoro, the 'smell of dust haze' does not refer to actual dust haze."
"Then you mean...?"
"I cannot give you an exact answer, because finding the cause is also one of the reasons I hired you." Pinocchio turned around and gazed distantly toward the door. "I can only say that whenever I am in the Shaping Workshop, I can vaguely smell an aura of unease."
"And whether this aura comes from the employees or the workshop itself, I cannot determine that at present."
"I do not even know what this unease is pointing toward... Is it pointing toward my demise? Or is it an omen before some great event?"
"Everything is unknown, and those unknowns make me even more uneasy."
As Pinocchio spoke, solemnity brimmed in its eyes. It turned to look at Wine Cup. "Under such circumstances, I cannot trust anything in the Shaping Workshop right now, including any employee."
"I feel that every one of them could be the source of my unease, capable of bringing me endless harm."
A flicker passed through Wine Cup's eyes as she said blandly, "...You have persecution paranoia."
Pinocchio shook its head. "No. Every manager's vessel is very special. This body of mine is an innate spiritual entity, extremely sensitive to premonitions."
"It has even reached the point of foreseeing things through what I see and hear. You may understand it as