“Um, what’s this ‘identification slate’ thing?” Was this perhaps the reason people living in the same area didn’t need a travel permit and stuff?

“Let’s come inside first.” Jonas, the middle-aged guard, motioned for me to follow him and said, “Don, guard the gate in my stead,” to the other guard before walking past the city gate.

“Roger, sir!” The other guard saluted with a straight posture. It was obvious that Jonas held quite a high status as a gatekeeper.

“Vincent, I’ll be waiting for you inside. See ya!” Cornelia waved at me and quickly pushed the steam kite inside.

I followed Jonas to the huge door next to the gate which led to a side tower. The room inside was rather dim and small and housed the necessities for soldiers: weapons, armors, as well as rations — a place akin to a small troop barrack.

“Normally we never had a foreign visitor from the northern gate, but besides that, just take a seat over there and wait for a moment as I fetch the slate,” The middle-aged guard informed, walking to another room.

After waiting for a while, Jonas came back with a small, dusty slate in his hand. He blew the dust with a heavy breath and placed the stone slate, whose surface was covered with a formation of lines, on the table and instructed, “Been a while since the last time it’s been used… Just put your hand over the slate. This will confirm whether you have a criminal record or not. If you’re not clean. Hmph!”

I gulped. Would it be able to detect my involvement in killing the invaders in my dungeon? If so, that would blow up my cover…

“Hahaha. I’m just joking. You don’t look like someone that would do felonious activities.” Yeah sure.

With a slight trembling, I put my hand over the stone slate while my other hand was fidgeting. Please, please, please… For one reason or another, I felt like a gambler waiting for a lottery ticket announcement…

Moments later, the lines embellishing the slate shone all blue before vanishing altogether.

“Does that… mean anything?”

“Blue color means that you are clean, no record,” Jonas assured.

“I see.” Whew. “Anyhow, how does this thing work exactly?” I mean, how could it know whether someone has a criminal record or not?

“It was an ancient artifact — a relic of the past. By putting a part of someone, be it hair, spit, or simply putting your hand, or what have you, this thing will record the person in question. Of course, it can also be inputted manually through other means. And it shares information with all the other identification slates, and thus the name.”

So it works through DNA and fingertips, huh. Neat. Would want one myself. However, it was important to take note that this was a thing used in the past; therefore, it must have been made by an ancient civilization, either through scientific or magical means.

I continued asking several more questions regarding the device, but he didn’t know much more. And later, he asked a few more simple questions in turn before letting me into the city. Sure, for someone that didn’t have a travel permit nor any guild cards, there was an entrance fee to pay, but…

“No need to pay. Miss Cornelia has it covered.” Jonas coughed. “Welcome to Xenonia, the northernmost city of the Vatenxia Kingdom, traveler.”

After thanking the kind, middle-aged guard, Jonas, I entered the city and soon located Cornelia waiting nearby with the steam kite, frantically waving her hand. “Here, Vincent!”

I rushed to her and asked, “You paid for the city’s entrance fee?”

“Hehe. Don’t mind it, don’t mind it. Now push!”

That’s her “aim” all along, huh... Shaking my head with a bitter smile, I helped her with pushing the steam kite. Fortunately, she told me that her workplace was close to the northern gate.

Now that I was inside the city, I wanted to imprint the scenery deep within me, and I couldn’t be more surprised. A wide street that could fit two cars side by side… Lamps lining up the street shone brightly through some kind of shining stone… The people were hustling and bustling, going about their own business; it felt like the day had yet to end and just getting started.

On the surface, the city gave a rather picturesque scenery and even a fantasy vibe to it — with how the buildings had a blend of classical and medieval architecture. My hands sweated from the intense sublime feelings raging within me. Even if I were to die the next second, I wouldn’t have any complaint whatsoever.

The air is so fresh! What a fantasy world…

“First time? This isn’t the main plaza, you know, so don’t be so surprised yet.”

Right. No need to act all rustic when I came from a more advanced world… Though from where we were heading, it seemed to be the eastern part of the city or the eastern district. Now…

“Say, this may be sudden, but does this kingdom have trains?”

“Tra-ins? Come again?”

“Uh, oh… I mean steam engines. Yeah, the kind of machine that works through steam power.”

“Ah! Yes! Machines like that were popular to use in the mines. It goes without saying that this city is the inventor and main producer of such machinery. But you sure know a lot, huh?”

“I-Indeed.” It appeared that they had yet to invent trains... And the use of steam engines was still limited to mines only and wasn’t yet economically viable outside that, so their technological level should be right before the Steam Age.

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Soon, we finally reached our destination, in spite of the awkward feeling caused by curious glances given by the pedestrians along the way. Her workshop was about a ten-minute walk from the gate while pushing the steam kite, which should have taken less than five minutes otherwise.

“Ngh… My back!” I thought I was stronger now, but reality did hit hard in the face… or back. The aching pain would definitely last for two days to come…

“Come on in! Betcha has never seen any places like this.” Cornelia invited me into her workshop while also activating the magic lamps inside with some kind of a switch — looked expensive.

Inside was a workplace similar to a blacksmith workshop, but what caught my attention the minute I set foot was—

“That’s one heck of a furnace!” I gazed upon the towering seven-meter-tall furnace that could easily fit a dozen of me inside.

She exclaimed, her chin high and hands on hips, “I know, right?! It’s a charcoal blast furnace! Even mithril would melt under the heat of this thing.”

“Awesome!” But shortly, I calmed myself a little since I was being a bit childish. “So, Cornie, how did you even come up with the idea of making a flying machine?”

“…Once, I saw a wyvern soaring through the sky… Wish I could fly alongside them.” With her gaze distant, she squatted down and examined the steam kite.

“Ooh. Being alone to run this place must come with a big responsibility, huh…” It was highly likely that she invented the steam machine that powered the aircraft.

“No, my pops is currently out of town, so I’m left to take care of the workshop.”

“I see... Huh, what’s this?” I turned to one secluded side of the place and stumbled across a large construct with the shape of a brown-painted metallic robot. “Wow! Is that a robot?!”

It had stacked rings-like hands and legs, a large star-shaped face that adjoined its body, and even two protruding pipes at its back.

“Ro… what? This is an automaton — a kind of mechanical construct.”

“So a mechanical golem, huh.”

I wasn’t a fan of steampunk but seeing a mechanical construct in front of me tickled my curiosity as an avid sci-fi fan. Just how did she manage to construct such a thing? Magic, or was there more to it? Either way, she was truly a genius ahead of her time.

“No, no!” She waved her hands in denial. “I don’t dare call this a golem. Golems are autonomous and require little maintenance, as for this one, it still requires someone to operate it remotely through a set of levers and buttons.”

For starters, I wasn’t well aware of golems outside the one summoned through the dungeon, but from what she said, there appeared to be many types of golems out there. Nonetheless, she was a real genius to make something like this with very limited knowledge and material.

“Alas, I only have meager achievements in the realm of magic…”

“Hey, don’t belittle yourself. I think you did great!”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh, certainly! The best there is in this kingdom!” No jokes, if there were more people like her, this world would have progressed further.

“Surely you jest.” She hurled a punch at my stomach while giggling.

“Guh!” What power. “…I’m not… I want to purchase this thing if you’re willing to part with it.” With my [Programming] and a monster core, I could bring it to life. In fact, I’d even considered stealing the thing, but that would be no smart move but idiotic.

“Seriously? It’s the first time someone ever considered purchasing my invention. You sure are a weird one, Vincent.” She clapped her cheeks and said, “Alrighty, I’ll consider it, though only if you help me test a few things.”

“Hey! I’m not here to help with your kinky desire.” Good grief. I don’t wanna do another hard labor; it’s too much for a programmer like me…

“Why not?” Cornelia didn’t even hide her enthusiasm.

Bolt from the blue, a sound of stomach rumbling appeared. It didn’t come from me obviously, I’d eaten the roasted rabbit back in the forest, so I was far from hungry. Hence, I looked at the only remaining person in the room — Cornelia — only to find her cheeks beet red.

“Geez…! How embarrassing. I haven’t had dinner yet…” Her face sluggish, she held her stomach.

“But will there be any open eateries at this time?”

“For sure there is! Let’s go! Anchors aweigh!” She beckoned and waltzed toward the city.

----------------------------------------

We walked the same street for about ten minutes and ended up at the opposite end of the city, probably on the western side this time. I was still not that familiar with how the city was divided, but if the previous place felt like an industrial complex, then this place looked like a small market with lots of stalls.

Not surprisingly, many of the stalls were vacant of sellers and closed down, but some were still opened up for business, and Cornelia brought me to a meat stall that sold all varieties of roasted meat — mostly kebabs as heard by the owner’s advertisement.

“Roasted meat! Roasted meat! Come and get this tasty roasted meat! Kebabs, meat sticks, you name it, I got it! Only five Zernial each!” shouted a brown-haired middle-aged man from behind a stall.

“Owner Igor!” Cornelia was frantically waving while rushing at the stall owner.

“Oh! Miss Lia. Come, come. I still got yer usuals here.” The stall owner, Igor, gestured.

“Yippee!”

Aware of me, the stall owner, Igor, grinned with glee. “Hrm? What’s this, missy? You finally found yourself a good man? That’s a step up.”

“No, no! I-It’s nothing like that!” For some reason, she got all flustered after that.

“Um, mister, what are you selling here?”

“Oi, oi, don’t call me ‘mister.’ Just call me Igor. I may look old, but I’m just a 29-year-old stall owner, y’know.”

“Got it, my bad. So about your war—”

“Gahaha! ‘Course I’ve got anythin’ ya want. You can even make a special request!” He guaranteed with a confident tone, “All the rabbit meat I use is of the highest quality!”

“Then two kebabs, please.”

“Comin’ right up!”

Before long, two hot kebabs were finished being roasted and given to me.

“Ten Zernial, right?” I took out a fat coin pouch that I gained after robbing Rowan and his henchmen clean. “How much was it again?”

“Huh? You don’t even know how money works? Just what kind of backwater place have ya crawled out from? Um, excuse my affront.” Igor coughed.

“Ahaha.” Cornelia explained, “He’s not from here, but that’s a surprising fact even for me. Here, let me pay for you. Just consider the payment for your help before.”

Left with no other choice, I let her pay for my food. Then, we went off to the previous street while eating our food. Salty… but tender. At least better than the rabbit meat that I carelessly roasted a few hours ago.

The moon was already high at this time, so I sneaked a peek at the time on my phone and found that it was past ten.

On a sudden realization, Cornelia exclaimed, “Oh, right! You have yet to decide a place to stay for the night, hmm?”

“Indeed. Do you have a recommendation for a good ho— I mean an inn that offers good lodging and food?”

“Sure am. Come on! Let me get you to the inn, dude.”

“Wait, shouldn’t it be the other way round?” What would people say if I had a girl to accompany me this late at night? And I figured that sending her to her house first would be more appropriate here.

“It’s fine! Don’t ya worry about it. No thugs in this town would be able to beat me. Ha-ha! I’m still a Bronze-ranked adventurer, y’know?” She thumbed at herself with a wide smile while showing a slim metal card made out of bronze she took from her small left bag.

“That’s true… Well, whatever then.” I relaxed my posture.

As a result, we walked the street and turned toward a big road akin to a highway that could even fit four carriages side by side, whereupon we turned left once we arrived at the second intersection.

After strolling some more, she suddenly stopped and pointed at a large three-story house. “That’s the inn — the best one I know in town. Anyway, let’s meet here tomorrow morning then, to get you registered. Catch ya soon! Off I go!”

Before I could even say a single word, she left as absurd as she came. Uh…