Upon entering in, I couldn't help but notice that the station was full of people bustling about, excitedly talking to each other as they went about their business. Amongst them were a few select people who wore casual clothes like the rest but had a pin of a mechanical sun on their shirt or jacket, checking up on how things were going and answering some people's questions. From the pins, I guess they're members of the Machina of Dawn, huh? They're not wearing any uniforms though so it's hard to tell at first glance. I thought with a frown. Wonder why they decided to do it like that instead...

With a sigh, I just shrugged it off and checked out my surroundings, seeing no point in me thinking about it any further. The station was incredibly large and seemed to give off a steampunkish kind of vibe. Way high up in the ceiling, you could see a giant yellow mechanical sun hanging off the ceiling with several rings floating around it covered in magical energy, serving as a lamp for this one vast room. Everything else around it was a multitude of black cogs of varying sizes that spanned the entire ceiling, constantly moving as they emitted energy and sparks. The edge of the ceiling was also ornate and colored white, to contrast with the cogs.

The white walls, on the other hand, were left relatively simple. However, it was because the windows themselves were quite adorned. All the window frames were colored brown and had numerous fancy patterns and gear-like decorations, which all involved having the sun motif. The windows were also quite large, almost to the point that I couldn't help but wonder if it was a little excessive.

Looking down at the floor, it seemed to be made of some black smooth material that I wasn't familiar with. There seemed to be bits of scattered mana that were barely visible inside them, giving the almost translucent material a subtle texture. ...I wonder if this came from another kingdom...? I don't recall ever seeing anything like this, especially since it has magical energy in it. After all, the Academy made sure to drill it into our heads about materials from this kingdom... I quickly shook my head, not keen on remembering what I went through in that class. I turn my attention to the middle of the room, where there was a circle made out of reinforced glass as the floor. It was quite far so I had no idea what you could see through it.

Judging from the sheer amount of people in here, this seemed to be the waiting room. After all, there's also benches, plants, vending machines, food stalls, receptions, and such here too. Though, as far as I could see, I saw no teleporters in the room, leading me to think that they were in another room.

Leo let out a whistle, clearly impressed. "Wow, this place looks pretty cool. Though, this is quite the stark contrast from, well, everything else in the town."

"Can't be helped. Some of the members tend to make their work take on either a steampunkish look or a futuristic look, both reflecting the aesthetics of the Kingdom Chalybes. It goes hand-in-hand with the setups that they need to do, anyway, so it's the perfect excuse for them," Vin explained, then lets out a sigh. "By the way, I don't recognize any of the members here so don't expect much help from me. Then again, maybe it's for the best...?" He mumbled out that last part, piquing my curiosity.

"Hm? What was that last part...?" the blonde teased as he sent a smirk at the archangel. "Is there something you want to hide from us~?"

He glared at the angel, then looked away with a huff. "Tch, you're one of those types that like to mess with others and tease them, aren't you?" Vin grumbled out, annoyed. "I don't want to deal with the constant pestering so I'll just say. ...you know how I come across as the stern, serious type most of the time, right? Well, I'm also a very competitive, fiery person that's constantly striving to get better. In the past, I've been known to pick fights with some people, especially towards those arrogant kinds. ...you can see what I'm getting at, right?"

"...I guess that makes sense, especially with what you said when we first met..." I said with a small smile. "They definitely felt like fighting words."

"Right, so we gotta be prepared for that to happen eventually. Stella, you'll rein him in, right?" Leo asked, glancing at me with expectant eyes.

I kept quiet for a bit and then eventually looked away, letting out a nervous laugh. "I can't promise anything if it involves the latter. I'm not fond of annoying, arrogant types either so..."

"Ah, if it's that, then I don't mind him going ham! In fact, I'll cheer him on!" the angel exclaimed, chuckling. "Maybe get some popcorn too! It would make a great spectacle to watch!"

"Nice to know we all agree on something," Vin commented, grinning at us but it quickly changed to his usual serious expression. "Anyways, enough fooling around. We're kind of in the way. People are walking around us to get past and some of them gave us an annoyed look."

Both Leo and I suddenly remember where we are and quickly nod our heads, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. The two of us trailed behind Vin as he led us to a nearby line that was waiting to go up to one of the receptionists for whatever it was they wanted to do. Curious, I open my mouth to ask the male in front of me a question but he spoke up before I could.

"This is the line for registration. It's for both security and safety reasons," he explained, causing me to close my mouth and nod my head in response. "We won't have to deal with the troublesome stuff because I have a VIP card reserved for certain people. They'll let us go pretty quickly."

"Good. I don't want to really deal with more paperwork since I had enough of that in you know where," Leo admitted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm here for an adventure and saving the world, not that."

I couldn't help but laugh at that while Vin let out an amused "hah". After that, it went back to silence between us as we slowly got closer to the front of the line. Slightly bored of waiting, I decided to check out my surroundings once more. As far as I could see, hardly anything changed and there was nothing unusual.

However, all of a sudden, I felt a strange sensation of magic. Frowning, I decided to check again to see what caused that. This time, I eventually spotted a hooded figure wearing a black cloak, who wasn't there before. I enhanced my eyes with magic and was immediately caught off-guard when I saw who it was. It was barely noticeable even with my magically-strengthened eyes because of the distance but I could tell it was the prince since he was giving off his magical signature. Though his hood covered his face pretty well, due to the spell I'm using, I could see his black hair and dark blue eyes hidden underneath it.

He sent a smile at me and then tossed something up into the air. Making a finger gun gesture that was pointing straight at me, he immediately fired once whatever he threw was right in front of his hand. What the hell is he—?! Quickly fortifying my arm and hand by using a spell as fast as I can, I frantically caught the thing he shot at me before it managed to hit me. Confused, I opened my hand and looked to see what it is. ...a jewelry box? I turned my attention back to the male but noticed he was no longer there anymore. Frowning, I looked around and saw no trace of him. ...he just appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared. That sensation from before is gone too.

"What's up, Stella? You look confused. ...also, why do you have a jewelry box?! Oi, don't tell me you sneakily bought something without telling me when we were out shopping for food! That's no fair! I was refraining myself from buying unnecessary stuff, you know!"

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With a sigh, I undid all the enhancements, then glanced at the upset blonde. "No, I didn't do something like that," I replied with a huff. "...it's more like someone just gave it to me but..."

Vin turned to look at me, unfazed. "Ah, it's probably from him, right? This entire city has been temporarily converted into his territory so he can pull off something like this," he explained quietly, making sure only Leo and I heard him. "He probably left a remnant of magic on you while we were in that garden so he used it to connect to you and send something. I'm sure you can guess what's it for."

It's probably for long-distance communication, huh? I thought as I nodded my head. He enchanted something unassuming so no one would suspect it would be important. ...I can't see any other reason why he would randomly give something out of the blue. Curious about what he actually sent, I opened the box. Inside the jewelry box was a silver necklace with a large ornate moon that had a lucent star attached to it, unharmed and unperturbed from its wild handling. The prince used magic to keep it safe, didn't he? ...but still, isn't this a popular accessory? Yet, that's probably what makes it the perfect candidate to use, huh. I feel a little guilty receiving this since it's hard to get but it's important so I have no other choice.

Taking it with my free hand, I put away the box into my bag, then reluctantly put the necklace on. I turn my attention back to the others and noticed that they were waiting for me, standing near the female receptionist. Crap. I hurriedly caught up to them and mumbled out an apology, feeling my cheeks burn red from the sheer embarrassment of it all.

Leo laughed as he pats me on the head. "It's fine, it's fine. For me, it's pretty amusing so I don't mind," he commented, causing me to pout and swat his hand away in annoyance.

"Yeah, it's fine. I already told her our names and where we want to go," Vin remarked as he got out the VIP card from his pocket. "After inputting the necessary details, the card will be enchanted to serve as a key for the teleporter."

I nodded my head as he handed his card to the receptionist. She looked at it in surprise for some reason but took the card after quickly recovering. After putting the card into the slot of a strange machine nearby, the woman hastily types away. Though, I noticed that she sneakily glanced at him for some reason. She quickly looked away in panic upon noticing he was still looking at her and had one eyebrow raised at her in question. I heard the lady mumble something about him, which were statements like "so this is the guy our higher-ups like to keep talking about" and "no one told me he's hot".

I got useful info from that first sentence but could only quietly chuckle at the one she muttered right after. I mean, I do agree he's good-looking. She's not wrong there. The receptionist lets out a cough, suddenly breaking my train of thought. She got the card out from the machine, then handed it back to Vin.

"S-sorry for the wait! A-anyways, I'm done registering the three of you!" she exclaimed as Vin got the card and put it away in his pocket. "I wish you guys safe travels!" The lady added in, giving us a slight bow.

The three of us thanked her, then walked away. As Leo and I followed Vin, I noticed that the male was deep in thought, clearly thinking about the higher-ups the woman mentioned.

"Hah, so they're higher up in the ranks now, huh?" he mused with a smirk, amused. "How ironic, pretty sure some of the people I knew didn't want to be promoted. Bet they're complaining while drinking right now, grumbling about how dealing with people is such a pain. Hell, those bastards even might be doing that while working for all I know. They've got the balls to do that, that's for sure."

...they certainly do give off that troublesome but lax and wayward vibe the more he talks about them, huh? I thought as I continued walking with them, while Leo makes a remark about it being alright for them to do that. That causes Vin to tell us more about his comrades, with me listening and the angel asking lots of questions. It goes on for a bit until Vin finally stops near a tall, wooden double entry door, decorated just like the windows in the waiting room.

"The teleporter in this room is used for going outside of the kingdoms. Admittedly, it's one that's hardly used, save for people like adventurers and the like."

"Understandable why it's like that. It's dangerous for common folk to go out there alone," I said, sighing. "Merchants and the like that need to travel between kingdoms have always asked for help from the Academy or some other group."

Leo nodded his head, frowning. "Yeah, whenever traveling merchants came over to my hometown, there were usually mages alongside them. ...which meant it's also time for me to hide so I never really got to buy any of their goods personally but still..."

Must've been really annoying, having to deal with mages constantly pestering about the Artifact he has. I thought with a frown. At the very least, it didn't seem to negatively affect his views on mages that much, thankfully. ...I hope. I mean, he seems fine with me but that's probably because I saw him as a person first rather than laser focusing on his weapon obsessively. All of a sudden, I hear the blonde cough awkwardly, snapping me away from my thoughts.

"A-anyways, let's get going, yeah?" Leo said as he gestured towards the door. "...the silence was killing me so..."

...and this is why I should talk more than think. I nodded my head, nervously laughing, while Vin let out a grunt of affirmation as he looked away in guilt. The archangel opens the door and the two of us follow behind him as he enters in. I slowly come to stop upon noticing the huge teleporter right in front of us. At the current moment, all I could see was a huge circular platform on the ground, three large rings embed into it while there's a written magical circle in the middle of it.

Leo apparently did the same as me and stared at it in surprise, checking it out. Vin, on the other hand, went onto the platform, then glanced at us with a raised eyebrow when he noticed we didn't get on. Rather than asking us what's wrong, he instead opted to get out the card from his pocket, then wait 'til we're done looking at the teleporter. Once both of us got onto the platform eventually, he muttered out the words "activate", causing the item in his hand to suddenly radiate with magic.

"System, release restraints, and start protocol."

"Yes, sir. Commencing identification scan," a mechanical voice replied, catching both Leo and me off-guard. "Scan complete. Acknowledging orders of Vincent Sagitta, Code Number 000. Starting teleport."

Code number 000? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to think about it any further because the rings suddenly rose out of the platform. One ring stopped at the middle, another at a higher position, and the last at a lower position. The runes on them and the magical circle underneath us started to glow, causing the rings to rapidly spin around us scarily fast. I kept my hands to myself, worried that I'll hurt myself pretty badly if I come into contact with them.

"Ah, by the way, you might want to cover your eyes right about now," Vin said, which the two of us quickly did.

Immediately after that, I felt the sensation of being sent somewhere.