Chapter 4: 4
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"Revolution, nanodesu!"
"UGGYAAAAAAA"
Arisa is scrambling her purple hair while Pochi sharply points at her in front of her .
"This is the cicada sound huge harvest nanodesu!" <TLN: She said ????????? read "Mimmin no Gokokuhoujou" . >
Pochi who's holding cards in one hand takes the shupin pose, but I don't know where to even begin to retort her mistakes .
Looks like Arisa is not good at playing Daifugou card game .
"That should be 『Social upheaval of the poors』 so I correct . " <TLN: This is the correct term, ?????? read "Hinmin no Gekokujou" . >
"As expected of Nana nanodesu! Pochi was also going to say that--it's true nanodesuyo?"
Pochi commends on Nana's correction .
The last of her words had some hesitation in it so it must not be the truth .
"Satou, are you going already?"
"Yeah, it looks like there's some movement at the emperor statue, I'll be going for a bit . "
Hikaru who noticed me carrying a weasel costume on my arm called out .
Apparently, Hikaru and the others are playing Concentration card game .
"Her Highness is really strong . "
"Since this game is just about memorizing things, it's simple . "
"Oh Tina you cleaned the house . "
"Yes, I might be stronger in card games, but I cannot win against Her Highness in Concentration . "
Hikaru is calling the princess using nickname . Zena-san is muttering alone, looks like she's trying to memorize the card positions .
Even Sera who's unparalleled in poker is weak in memorizing game like Concentration .
"Tama, take care okay . "
"Works hard for Pochi's share too nodesu . "
"Aye aye sir~?"
Once the beastkin girls finished their talk, I teleported to near the village from yesterday using Unit Arrangement, taking Tama along .
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"Fumwu, so the letter was telling the truth . . . . Gathering impurity this fast, aren't there too many hot-blooded people in this village?"
A weaselkin wearing official-like clothing who's watching over the exchange of the emperor statue mutters with his hand on his chin .
The ones who are doing the actual work are a man and a woman wearing magician-like clothes using force magic .
"Hokku-sama, we've finished the fixture . "
"The miasma rate of the emperor statue is normal for the period of its installation . It seems only the magic power that has been accumulated . "
It's probably because of the magic power leaked from our magic tools .
Those male and female magicians seem to be quite an analyst .
"Fumu, Maiazuma paper is blue, and the Mana paper is purple, the maximum huh . . . . It's just as you guys' analysis . However, we've already come out of our way here . Let's take this back . "
"You're right . I'd hate to end this in vain, and the military bunch would call the researchers salary thieves if they don't get to work once in a while . "
The magicians gave a tanzaku-sized litmus paper-like thing to the official .
Apparently, that's a tool to measure magic power and miasma levels .
Putting the magic power aside, I'd like to know the way to measure miasma .
I'll look for some researchers they mentioned and see if any of them is selling the thing in the back channel .
It looks like an expendable after all, I think I can buy it normally from a merchant if that's being produced outside the research institute .
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"Ticket for Magyuba is 30 swen for one, 20 swen for a child . "
"Tickets for two please . "
I purchase the smoke car tickets from the conductor of a temporary station .
Swen is the currency used in Weasel Empire, one blue copper coin is one swen .
Come to think of it, this might be the first country that has a name for its currency .
It might be translated to like '●● copper coins' by language skill because it's called the same .
I don't mind this since memorizing them would be a pain, but it does make the sense of exoticness decrease .
"Yes, thank you . If you're going from Magyuba city to your next destination, please buy the ticket from the ticket box or the conductor of the next train there . "
The weaselkin conductor told me so while giving the tickets .
It seems to be a fairly placid system .
I thank the conductor and then go toward the smoke car with Tama .
"Second class citizens can only ride on the general car, so don't make a mistake and enter the noble car that's immediately behind the smoke car . "
"Yea, understood . "
Assenting the conductor's warning, we board the general car .
Looks like this one is of unreserved seats . Villagers from the nearby villages heading to Magyuba town to peddle things are carrying huge luggages on their backs .
"There~"
"Quietly . "
"Aye . "
The officials carrying the emperor statue had finally arrived, we got here first since we used teleport magic .
The whistle signaling departure echoed the moment they got on board, apparently it was waiting for them .
It might be more efficient to just track them, wait for them to arrive at Magyuba City and then teleport there afterward, but for the sake of later on, I confirmed whether the forged citizenship ID could be used to buy tickets here .
There was not even a simple ID check at this station, so I'm planning to confirm it once we arrive at Magyuba city .
"Gatan goton~, gatan goton~"
Children really are fascinated by the unique rhythm of a train and the flowing scenery on the window .
Tama is rooted on the window since awhile ago .
"We will be entering a tunnel soon . Everyone, please close your window . "
The conductor showed himself from the window in car ahead and shouted .
The other passengers begin to close their windows .
Window?--Is it because the vibrating sound is noisy?
"You folks, it's tunnel soon, close yer' windows . "
When I was racking my brain to think of the reason, the ratkin aunty who was sitting next to us bent her body and closed our window .
All the windows here are fitted with glass .
"Yer faces would become pitch black from the soot if you don't close the window in a tunnel . "
"Is that so, thank you very much . "
"It's alriight, if one's open, everyone's face will become pitch black y'see . "
The aunty's anger dissipated once she knew that I was a beginner of smoke car .
Apparently, everyone does the same at first .
"Mountain~? There's a hole on it~"
"That's called a tunnel . "
Tama who's sticking her cheeks on the closed window says so while desperately looking at the front .
Don't put too much strength into it since the glass will break okay?
I secretly put force magic [Enchant Physical Protection] on the window .
"Pitch black~"
Looks like there's no illumination inside the tunnel .
The car in the front probably has headlights .
The wall of the tunnel isn't made of stone from earth magic's petrification, but from concrete-like thing .
"Did ya know? This tunnel is--"
According to the knowledgeable aunty, the tunnel itself was made by 100 earth magicians of the empire in one go .
Looks like they don't overemphasize the use of science, they do use magic when it's convenient, kind of hybrid .
To capitalize on the unexpected source of information, I offered some baked sweets made by Lulu to stimulate the aunty, thus I got to hear various things about the remote regions of the Weasel Empire .
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"We will be arriving~ at Magyuba City Station~ We will be arriving at~ Magyuba City Station . We will be arriving at Platform 3 of Magyuba City Station . As Platform 2 is for train arriving from Gajuma City, please be careful not to mistake the platform . "
The conductor who appeared from the car ahead informed the train arrival at the city with a peculiar tone .
After passing through two unmanned stations along the way, we arrived at the city after an hour .
Distribution of goods should be considerably quick with this .
"Town~?"
"It's in sight huh . "
After passing through a forest, we could see Magyuba City surrounded by a tall white wall .
The smoke car sounds its steam whistle twice to announce its arrival to the city .
"""KYUPOO"""
Tama and the surrounding children imitated the sound of the steam whistle .
Due to the noisy sound of the smoke car, there doesn't seem to be any adult who's annoyed by the children .
The smoke car heads toward Magyuba City while slowly turning to the left .
Thanks to that, I can see the state of the city .
Looks like there's an exclusive gate for smoke cars .
"Gaate Oopen~?"
The metal lattice rolls up, and then the massive door inside it opens to the side .
There's a lot of beastkin children watching the smoke car from atop the gate even while getting their fur black .
The smoke car is advancing slowly in the city and then it enters a traditional station .
The station looks like a downscaled version of the old tokyo station, it's more magnificent than I thought .
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"Crowd crowd~?"
"It's somewhat crowded isn't it . "
We were met with crowds after getting through the ticket gate .
The crowds reminds me of the nostalgic rush hour .
We walk in the crowd while hearing voice of boys and girls selling their goods .
Among them is-- .
"Newspaper~ This week's newspaper~"
--Someone selling newspapers .
I think 5 swen for a thin four page newspaper is a bit too expensive, but it doesn't seem like he's overcharging .
" . . . . It really uses printing . "
You're challenging them too much, Weasel Emperor .
Good grief, just how is all this not violating the God's taboo .
The content of the newspaper is mostly about the troop deployment at Makiwa Kingdom .
There's even an article of an interview with the special inspector Usan of Scientific Vehicle unit .
According to the articles, Makiwa Kingdom invaded Weasel Empire's remote region without warning, so this was a retribution war against Makiwa Kingdom that had done all kinds of atrocities .
These are fabricated news without a doubt .
Makiwa Kingdom has no national nor military power to cross through the monster dominion overflowed with many high level monsters .
It's impossible even for the four lords with the special elemental wands unless they resort to terrorism .
We have reduced the monsters in that dominion quite a bit, but we didn't completely wipe them out as there are those that act as deterrent on the circumference .
In one or two years, they should increase enough to stop military campaigns from happening .
Preparing for war should take time, and since they're aware that their army have been defeated by the dragon knights in one-sided battles, they will probably hesitate to march .
"Found it~"
Tama pulled my sleeve, I raise my face from the newspaper .
The officials came out of the station on a state car . The state car is a convertible type with thin wheels like the one you see in a film about the dawn of car .
Pursuing them by running would attract attention, so we went ahead of them by teleporting to their destination that I guessed, the government office at the center of the city .
I can just move to the right place if I got it wrong .
"Good view~"
"It is . "
The center of this city is on a slightly elevated ground, so you can see the city well from here .
Searching the map for a bit, there are seven temples in the back street, and there are only priests who can't use holy magic in the temples .
There's no priest who can use holy magic in the territory, not even one .
Of course, there's also no ordinary people with holy magic gift and skill . They were probably forcefully deported to the parishes .
Instead, there are several hospitals in the main street, they're packed with magicians who can use healing magic from earth magic, water magic and such .
Unlike in other places where orphanages are often found besides temples, there are only public orphanages here .
It seems that the emperor intends to make the citizens perceive that temples are unnecessary over time .
"Unifoorm~?"
Tama curiously moves her sight at a street while her ears are twitching .
There are children wearing school uniform-like uniforms roaming that street .
According to AR reading, it appears they're students of empire state childhood schools .
Looking at the map, this city has more school buildings than Shiga Kingdom's Capital .
Since the number is still too few compared to the population, it doesn't seem to be a compulsory education, but it feels like they're increasing the foundation little by little in order to support science and technology .
"Here come~"
Tama pulls my sleeve .
Looks like the car the officials ride on has arrived at the government building .
"Now then, let's go . "
"Aye!"
Tama transforms into her pink ninja costume with a white smoke .
Un, she looks like quite a ninja .
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc . . ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible .
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