She was in the industrial district where she had been attacked before. Along the way, she did not get lost and was able to reach her destination without a problem. Her name and face had already spread in the isolated town and people kindly told her how to get there.

Before her was the studies looking building around. It was made from black metal which was clearly on a whole different level of technology in this town from the smooth and symmetrical shape. It stood there among many tall buildings with a distinctive even shape from all angle. Perhaps, rather than a building, it was more like a box.

There was no apparent door as far she could see. She had no idea on how she could enter it. After going around the building twice, she noticed a red button next to a circle of small holes.

She figured out that must have something to do on how she could get in. She wanted to push the button right at this moment, but her instinct warned her not to. It just felt suspicious to her.

A red button that was clearly out of place on a black building with no opening. But, as much as it was suspicious, she also felt a strange urge to push it. It was alluring.

Well, she had no choice but to do it, right? If she did not, it would mean she came for nothing. Furthermore, there was no way something dangerous would happen even if she pressed it.

After, convincing herself that, she took a step and fearfully extended her finger and pressed it. A ping pong sound went out from the speaker, and her vision blurred.

The world suddenly became dark. Strong cold wind assaulted her from below, making her hair and clothes facing upward. She tried to reach her feet and arms. But, no matter how much she tried, she could not feel the ground or grab anything. Hopeless and scared, she could only let out a scream as she fell for god knows how long.

She finally reached the end of the tunnel and the world became bright again. She went down a slide at the exit and made a beautiful arc before she landed into a soft mattress with a light, puff sound.

She froze on the spot with hands still straighten up. Her hair and clothes were a mess. But, she did not have enough leisure to mind those. With wobbling legs, she went down from the mattress. Her legs touched the ground. It gave her a peace of mind and after a few steps, she was back to normal.

Finally, she took notice of her appearance and tidied herself. She did not bring a brush but she managed to make it look proper again. Then, from above she heard laughter.

“Hahahaha, look who’s here!”

From the ceiling, a hole appeared with a long pole. Followed after was a girl in a white coat. She descended with one thigh and a hand on the pole while going around it. What she did was similar to pole dancers, but she only looked like a child playing around. Once it was close enough to the ground, she let go and dived into the mattress.

“Phuah! This soft sensation is just too good. Hey there, Nely! Have you come because you miss your mother?” Astral said, still laying on the mattress.

Astral, the genius inventor, her mother, and someone who knew Selv. She was the person Nely wanted to meet. She hadn’t gone to this place in the last month, but Gilbert had told her about this location before he departed.

Truthfully, she had no plan on going here. She did not think of her as a mother and had thought she would not have any business here. But, the number one reason was,

“Hehe, Nely~!”

This kind of thing. She went and hugged her tight. Stroking their cheeks together and occasionally rubbed her body and sniffed on her.

She won’t say as far as disgusting, but it was utterly annoying to her. So, she tried to push her away. It took some time before Astral reluctantly freed her once she clearly got angry.

“It’s normal for skinship between family to be this far, you know.”

Or so the person said.

Nely was clueless about other family, but at least Gilbert did not demand that much skinship. That was enough of a reason to doubt her words.

“It’s true! Don’t look at your mother that suspiciously! Oh, By the way, what are you doing here?”

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As if suddenly remembered, she asked. That was too obvious even for Nely. People revered her as the genius inventor, but to her, she was just a strange person. She sighed, thinking this kind of thing would increase in frequency while she stays in this town.

Nevertheless, she was someone she needed to rely on this occasion. She explained her situation as if eaten a bitter bug.

“Hmm, hmm, I see. A way to make that Selv say uncle. Okay! It was right for you to come to my laboratory. I just have the right thing for the job!”

After saying that, she ran toward the stairs and went back a few minutes later with a box. She continued and picked up one item from within.

“Ta-da! The stomach faucet pill!”

What she introduced was a jar of indigo colored pill. Just from looking and hearing its name, Nely could only tilt her head.

“Let me explain! People who drink this pill will have a severe stomach-ache enough to keep them stay in the toilet for a whole day! From how the inside of the stomach keeps coming out like water out of the faucet, I named it the stomach faucet pill!”

That was a horrible invention, Nelt thought.

“As for how it works, the pill once dissolved will trigger a reaction that tricks the brain to keep sending things out from the stomach. Making the effect itself was not hard, but maintaining it for a whole day was quite a challenge. If it was not me, no one would be able to make it. As expected of me!”

Astral gave her a proud look as she boasted herself. Nely, on the other hand, was fed-up by how useless that was. She could use it on Selv, but that was not the kind she hoped to do.

“You don’t seem impressed. Then, what about this. The Babel tower card! This one is an exclusive card for making a tower. Well, not exactly making it, though. There’s a certain gimmick hidden in these cards. Once the maker only needs to put the last pair, it will let out a small vibrate upon contact and break all the hard work he made. Failing one step before the target. I’ll bet this one would crush anyone’s spirit!”

By the way, the name came from the story I heard from Selv, she added.

By this point, she, in contrast, was impressed that she made those strange things. She was slightly interested and asked why she made those.

“Why? Of course to play a trick on someone!”

It seemed her level of playing trick was to driving someone’s mentality to the edge. After that, she was showed few others of her mischief inventions, but there was no decent thing as expected.

“Hmm, this’s not the kind of thing you want? An opinion is enough? Let’s see.”

Astral crossed her arms and thought.

“What about a jumping kick from behind? With your strength he should be barely hanging on the edge of the cliff- Wait, I’m joking! Don’t silently try to leave your mother like that! I got it! Just give me one more chance!”

She clung to Nely’s waist, using her whole body weight to prevent her from leaving.

Nely had had enough of her. Not only she had to bear with her extreme skin-ship, but she was also dropped from the entrance. At first, she decided to not mind it, but it was too much for her. She thought going to the next person will be much fruitful than staying here any longer.

She struggled to escape from her but failed. Her stamina ran out first and was forced to give her another chance. Despite her lack of expectation, however, what Astral brought this time was something proper. Nely was instead surprised by her choice this time.

“Ta-da, adventure’s clothes!”

From her previous choices, this was the most decent thing, if not the only. It was simple clothes with leather armors to guard vital parts, a belt, boots that seemed easy to walk in, and a twin sword. She thought the clothes were a little old-fashioned, but convenient. But, she wondered how this could do anything to Selv. More like, she could not do anything to him even if she has a sword.

While she still in thought, Astral urged her to change so she did. The size had no problem, or rather, it was her size. Everything fitted her perfectly like a glove.

“Yeah. That suits you, Nely! You look pretty.”

Astral sang praise of her. Meanwhile, she tried to look at her new form. Her thought was, strange.

It was not the kind of clothes she used to wear, but there was this feeling as if she had worn it before. At least, that was not true as far she could remember. It furthered confused her.

Leaving that aside, for now, she asked Astral about the clothes.

“It’s my secret weapon. In the past, people used to wear that kind of clothing and hunt monsters like dragons. By now, no one wears it and it went out of production. I bet he won’t expect there’s still left. Well, I made it myself, though.”

The clothes for fighting monsters. Compared to now, where people fight other human or Deaths, the concept behind it was different. Light and durable clothes were favorable. That was why nowadays they made clothes with such materials. People only use armor for formality.

Depend on the quality, Nely’s clothes might be more durable than a random armor out of nowhere. And because she knew about that, she found it strange for people to hunt monsters with this kind of equipment. It was too dangerous.

“Try unsheathing those swords.”

Nely did just that. It glinted from being exposed to the light, letting out a sharp noise at the same time. She tried swinging it as a test. It gave out a dull noise Her stance was poor and she did not strength in the right place, so it was no wonder. Her swing was far from Selv, Scond, or the people who kidnapped her. She looked at her own reflection on the blade’s surface and thought,

If she was strong, that event might not have happened. She would not have gotten kidnapped and Edmund’s plan would not start to begin with. Then, they would not die.

It was wishful thinking. But, she went here looking for the being that grants wishes. Wishful thinking or two would do no harm.

In the end, she was given that set. She refused at first, but Astral insisted her to take it because she still has more. So, she changed again and took it with her. As expected, she would stand out if she wore those.

Her business was done here. Her next stop was the entertainment district.