Chapter Ten

It turned out to be only a short distance away, at least as our craft flew. An hour, maybe two. I don’t know how much distance we covered, but it is safe to say that it was a fair bit since we passed a town and three villages along the way. The villages were actually sort of what you’d expect. A central core of homes clustered close together and made of metal or wood, sloped rooftops to keep rain damage at bay, and small streams of water that went through an irrigated field.

Their work animals weren’t cattle or horses, but rather oversized boars who were lashed at the tusks rather than their shoulders. I also noticed that there were small water wheels at the outskirts of every village where the water bent towards the fields. At the center of each village was a lamp the size of two or three people, it wasn’t hard to conclude that the lamp was powered by the energy captured by the wheel. Probably stored in some primitive battery.

I could have forgotten that there was magic involved at all, except there was a fairly obvious little bit of blue rock embedded in the back of the fan with a dim pulsing glow, whatever it was, it was clearly the power source for this ship thingy.

More than that, I could feel my own magic power in my body whenever I focused. I still wanted to see how far I could push that skill, ‘And damn it, if it’s depriving me of mech use, it had better be straight to the bloody moon!’ I thought and cracked my knuckles.

Much like the last one, this one had its buildings very close together, practically built on top of each other, with winding bridges and rails full of active miniature trains. Gliders came in and out from a central point in the city, and from here I got my first look at how they worked. I watched a man land on a roof, his feet jogging gently along the rooftop, then, I didn’t see what he did, but the glider began to shrink and fold up. Before he walked toward a set of stairs leading down into the building, I noticed that he was holding a small blue crystal in hand which he stowed in his pocket. ‘Okay, so that’s definitely magic.’ I wanted to know more, to descend and yank it out of his pocket and inspect it.

My heart was racing at the prospect of exploring not just the world itself, but all its curious devices.

I gripped the side of our ride hard enough that I made it rock just a little, my tails wagged with excitement as I saw the arena ahead. It positively towered over the buildings around it, like, those that were opposite the sun were shrouded in a long shadow.

I decided to try something. I focused my body’s internal mana on my eyes and tried to boost my vision. I wouldn’t say the result was ‘scope like’ but I definitely got a better visual, and saw that there were many small establishments on the side of the arena I could see.

It was a large, round structure with stands that went hundreds of feet into the sky with many arches of a grayish stone or… perhaps metal? I wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t lost on me that there were what appeared to be inns and eating establishments there, along with a rail system that led from multiple points to that single one.

The closer we got, the more fliers, wyverns, gliders, and airships I saw descending toward a single point. ‘Alright, so they’re well organized, this isn’t some ramshackle kingdom with everything thrown together, even if it looks that way from the street.’

“We should get a place to stay as soon as we land.” Loysa said when the descent began. “Otherwise there’s a good chance we’ll be stuck outside for the night.”

“Is it possible to go see the mechs up close before they fight?” I asked, and I swear I did not mean to flutter my eyes and sound like a child asking to see Santa despite the four hour line to do so.

But?

Mechs.

Need I say more?

“I really don’t want to do that. I’ll end up sleeping in an alley or buying a damn tent and sleeping outside with wild animals. Yes, I know, I’m supposed to be an adventurer, but that doesn’t mean I have to like every part of it! Will you give me a break for once? Oh. You won’t? Well, aren’t I the lucky one? Can’t she just go on her own? I can show her there and then try to get a place.” I first thought that Loysa was talking to me, but within a sentence or two I realized she was conversing with her yet to be named Goddess. It didn’t make it less weird, but at least I knew she wasn’t crazy.

I settled in to wait while she had her little internal debate, before she finally sighed, “Alright, I’ll show you where to go, briefly. Just meet me back up where I drop you off and then I’ll show you where we’re staying tonight.” Loysa’s instructions were as brusque and direct as ever, but I was at least starting to get used to that.

I wasn’t too fond of just being ‘told’ what to do, but I also knew I needed to depend on her while I learned the way this world worked, so it couldn’t really be helped. What else could I do? Especially since her instructions made sense? What other options did I have? Wander aimlessly in an unfamiliar city whose laws and customs I was clueless about? She hadn’t told me to stand on my head and wait for her, just to meet her where she drops me off. I can live with following sensible directions, at least.

So I nodded. “I can do that, thank you.”

The craft drifted to a slow stop behind a long line of others like it, and while Loysa threw down the rope ladder she inclined her head towards our pilot. “Pay the man.” She ordered, and I approached, a mite bit cross as she hadn’t even offered to chip in on a quest we were both on… but I wasn’t given a chance to argue as she was already over the side and scrambling down.

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The cost was only a hundred creds, which wasn’t much, but the way he twirled his mustache with one finger and smiled at me while I paid it, I suspected I’d been had.

“Thanks.” I said, and cursed myself for thanking him for ripping me off, then descended the ladder, which Loysa was good enough to steady for me down at the bottom.

As I dropped off, she let go and we left the craft behind.

“If you want to see the mechs, you can usually pay a fee for it, but these are the professionals, not the amateurs with their first design. So you won’t get to see too much. Probably just looking while the maintenance crew does what they do best. But, if it’s that important to you?” She sighed and rolled her eyes as I inhaled deeply, on the very verge of giving a long drawn out lecture on how cool mechs are.

“Then this way.” Loysa cut my speech off before it could begin and began to push her way through the mob. I deflated from within and followed after her as best I could. My shoulders bumped into countless people and I made a point of keeping my tails up to avoid perverts. The noise was much louder than before, and I reached up to adjust the volume on my ear devices, turning the surrounding noise down just enough to be manageable.

Loysa didn’t say anything on the way there, not really explaining what things were. I saw a few ‘rickshaw’ like wagons, but instead of a person pulling them, it was just a light blue glow at the handles. ‘Ghosts? Or magic power or what? Are ghosts real here?’ There was a… well, it was a thought. It might be nothing or bad or scary or who knows?

Reaching the arena, bumps and pushing aside, wasn’t that bad. I knew we were getting close when the smells went from oil and sweat to food and beer. Even in this world it seemed that sports and dining were a match made in heaven.

We crossed a busy street with a small cluster mob… that seemed to be a thing here. People didn’t cross streets individually, but in small groups as if that would protect them from unwary people on horseback or in other conveyances.

And then I had to crane my neck to look up at the top of the arena. Loysa pointed off to the left. “Follow that path around until it curves right, there’ll be a wide open arch, pass through that and you’ll see where the mechs are. Remember to come back here.”

“I know.” I snipped, “Thanks.” I added, I figured I should sound at least somewhat grateful even if I was annoyed about her treating me like a child. Then I took off, there weren’t as many heading in this direction, most people seemed more interested in the main entrance, that was probably why Loysa harbored hopes of getting a place to stay, people wanted seats before rooms.

‘Does she just not like mechs?’ I wondered, but shook that off, who could not like mechs after all.

The wide entrance was right where she said it was, and true to her words, the crowd within was fairly small. A wiry elf stood at the entrance and held out a slate. “Five hundred to see the mechs! That’s all just a measly five hundred creds! Sell your wife and children if you have to because you can replace those, but seeing these up close is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” He was dressed in stripes and wore a large top hat, shiny black shoes and gestured wildly around with his hands, offering out his slate to anyone passing by.

“You can eat tomorrow, but only see these mechs up close today. Come one come all!” He wiggled his long pale ears and smiled bright as the sun when I came closer.

“What about you young kitsune? You want a look up close at the finest mechs ever made?!” He asked, giving me a double up and down motion of his blonde eyebrows.

“Yes.” I held out my slate to him and tapped the accept option while staring eagerly at the mechs that were so tantalizingly close.

“Right that way! Here’s your ticket.” He reached into his pocket and held out a little slip of paper.

I accepted it in return and ventured through the gate to join the crowd. The mechs were roped off with a green velvet fabric beyond which a security guard wearing scalemail armor and holding a pair of pistols on a belt stood with his arms crossed and eyes scanning the little mob.

I didn’t want to tempt fate by getting too close, so… I waited.

I wasn’t waiting long before a human male approached from within the arena, dressed much like the one at the gate, he called out, “Alright folks, we now begin our mech tour and lecture, if you’ll all just present your slates I’ll bill you and then we can begin.”

‘Wait, what?’ I frowned and raised my hand. “Excuse me.” I said, and the human pointed to me as I pushed my way through the crowd.

“I paid at the gate, do I need to pay again here?” I asked, and held out my ticket.

He frowned and accepted the paper from me.

“Did you look at this ticket?” He asked.

“No. The guy at the gate gave it to me after I paid him.” I answered.

He flipped it around to me. “This is a receipt for a mail stamp. And we don’t charge at the gate.” He said.

My jaw dropped, I spun around to point at the entrance, “But he-” I stopped, I looked where I pointed, the elf was gone.

I quickly went to my slate and brought up my finances, I looked at my recent transactions. ‘Five thousand creds?!’ I wanted to howl internally.

“How much is it?” I mumbled.

“Fifty creds.” He said and I could see pity etched on his face with his sad smile.

‘I was ready to pay five hundred! He charged me five thousand?! And all I got was his literal garbage for the trouble?!’ I blushed bright red as I understood how badly I’d been scammed. ‘If Loysa had come with me, this wouldn’t have happened.’ I wanted to blame her, but I knew that wasn’t fair.

“Oh. Um, I’ll go ahead and pay then… sorry for the dumb question.” I mumbled and while the rest of the two dozen people lined up, I got in the very back. I knew by the way they looked at me, they realized I’d been scammed.

But I didn’t want anyone to know how badly.

I consoled myself with the knowledge that at last I’d be able to see the mechs, and when it came for my turn to pay, I meekly checked my screen to make sure it was the correct amount, and suffered that pitying look again.

To avoid it, I looked over my shoulder and stared daggers at the place the elf had stood, then swallowed the lump in my throat and followed when I felt the crowd begin to move.

‘Finally. The chance of a lifetime.’ I thought, and felt my mood perk up a bit.