Chapter 21
HIS ROLE COMPLETE, Suleiman returned to his decoding work.
“Okaaay, so it’s the Celestial Ruins next. Given the distance, this’ll be a long one.” Solomon had returned to his casual tone.
A question crossed Mira’s mind. “I noticed that you changed your diction with Suleiman to sound more authoritative. He’s a longstanding friend of yours, right? Do you actually need to do that?”
Just as Cleos and Mariana remembered everything that had happened in-game, Suleiman probably did as well. It was unnecessary—perhaps even too late—for Solomon to act imposing now.
The king heaved a deep sigh and began, “You’d think not, right?”
According to Solomon, he hadn’t paid his tone much mind when he first came to this world. But when Luminaria appeared, she’d said he lacked authority. She told him that, now that he had an important role, being laidback would only lead to trouble. If he wanted respect as the king, he needed to sound like a king.
When Solomon had discussed this with Suleiman, the aide was surprisingly pleased to hear it. Suleiman even coached Solomon on how to sound more regal, correcting him when he slipped up.
“He still gets me sometimes,” Solomon chuckled.
“What a loyal vassal.” Mira smiled; that was very like Suleiman.
Solomon shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Anyway, back on topic… The Celestial Ruins are going to be a hike,” Mira said.
She recalled her journeys by sky up to this point. The sights were wonderful, and she wasn’t cold as long as she wore her fur coat. It was also far faster than going by carriage. But riding Pegasus for hours was exhausting…and chafing.
“How is the wagon coming along? Will it be ready soon?” Her hopes and dreams balanced on Solomon’s reply.
He simply shook his head. “We miiight’ve gotten a little ahead of ourselves and loaded too many new features into the request. It’ll be a while longer.”
“Hrmm. I see.”
It seemed Mira was stuck riding Pegasus for a while yet. The celestial horse enjoyed flying with her, so that wasn’t an issue. Pegasus just lacked certain…comforts. Napping in a field midway certainly hadn’t been ideal. Mira lay on the sofa face-up and fantasized—if only the sofa could fly.
“You seem disappointed. What’s the problem?” Solomon asked, noticing that something was wrong.
Mira remained supine and only turned her head to answer. “I’ve been traveling on Pegasus’s back. Clinging to it for hours at a time is…tiring. If I’m off to the Celestial Ruins, it’s going to be a rough trip. Try sympathizing with your elders every now and then.” Despair emanated from her.
“Ah, I getcha,” Solomon sympathized. “Fast or not, riding on horseback is definitely tiring. It’s been a long time since I heard that ‘elders’ joke, by the way. I got that reference. Anyway…” He spread a map on his desk.
Mira stood and approached to get a closer look. “It’s…a map, but different. What are those lines?”
The regional map of the eastern portion of the continent centered on the Holy Kingdom Alisfarius. Apart from simple place names, lines cut through the map, occasionally dotted with city names.
Solomon pointed at a location beyond the mountains north of Alcait. “This is a map of the continental railway. If you’re tired of traveling by air, why not go by rail? The closest station city to Lunatic Lake is Silverside here. If you take the train from there to Alisfarius, then take Pegasus…” He traced a finger along the map with his explanation, lifting it when he reached Alisfarius and tapping the mountain range where the Celestial Ruins were located. “That should reduce the time you’re stuck on Pegasus’s back. I think it’ll take you three or four days to reach Alisfarius, but there are plenty of inns along the way, so you’ll have places to sleep.”
Mira gazed at the railroad map in shock, following the city names. Once she recovered, she looked back up at Solomon. “We’ve got trains?!”
This method of transportation hadn’t existed before. Players had traveled by floating island, while natives could only go by carriage or boat. Though Solomon’s lust for technology often exasperated her, Mira giggled to herself, smacking the desk in excitement.
“Good, good. Stupendous!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea there were railroads here. But I suppose, if there are airships, why wouldn’t there be trains?!”
“Oh! You already know about airships, huh? There goes one surprise.” Solomon groaned in slight disappointment that he wasn’t the first to break the news.
After she’d had her fill of victorious shouting, Mira looked at Solomon in search of details about the railroads. He assented and gave a quick explanation.
The continental railroad was another gift of technomancy; it had originally been laid out to connect the Three Great Kingdoms. Station cities managed the railway, immigration, and customs matters; the Three Great Kingdoms gave those locations free rein as sovereign territories. Today, they were flourishing towns and villages near the railroad.
“You’ve all adapted well,” Mira mused. “So, I’ll go by rail to Alisfarius… Ah. I did have one more destination.” Recalling the people she ran into in the Forest of the Devout, Mira tamped down her enthusiasm and put her own map atop the rail map.
Now it was Solomon’s turn to ask questions. “What’s going on here? I see you marked the Forest of Seasons.” The center of the continent, where the mountain ranges met, was marked red. The king looked at Mira, totally confused.
“We spoke about Chimera Clausen once, right? I ran into them two days ago.” Mira explained what had transpired after she left the Devils’ Labyrinth. “Thanks to that medal you gave me, I was able to prove my identity. The Isuzu even told me where their headquarters are!” She chuckled.
Solomon continued to stare at the red mark, surprise evident on his face. “Those people really called themselves the Isuzu Alliance?” He furrowed his brow in deep thought. The name seemingly caught him off guard.
“Yes, they did. Why do you ask?” Mira questioned.
In response, Solomon pulled a booklet from his drawer and laid it atop the maps. The cover read Protect the Environment of Spirits.
“Protect spirits’ environment, hrmm? Is this an environmentalist pamphlet? What of it?”
Mira picked up the booklet and flipped through. It did indeed advocate for environmental-protection efforts, and it included a donation address, with little else. However, the organization name on the address drew Mira’s attention: it was listed as the Isuzu Alliance.
“Well… What do we have here?”
“Exactly what it looks like. The Isuzu Alliance is a famous goodwill organization founded to protect nature. They’re hard at work too—the forest north of Grimdart, which had almost all its spirits abducted, is now under their protection. They’re preparing it for the spirits’ return. They plant spirit trees and the like as well. Their work extends to other places, however. The group has made real headway, and they have good hearts and organizational power to boot. We’ve got a few Isuzu delegates here in Lunatic Lake, in fact. All of what I’ve told you is their public image, though. If what you saw and heard was true, the people you met might be their shadow organization.”
“Hrmm…” Mira thought that over. “I didn’t know they had such a reputation.”
Through this discussion, Solomon had learned about the private side of the Isuzu Alliance, and Mira had learned of their public side. Both realized one thing: no matter the protection efforts, spirits would not return to stabilize the environment unless they tackled the root cause of the problem. No doubt the people Mira met in the forest belonged to a group formed to do just that.
“I can’t say for sure, since I haven’t done the research,” Mira continued. “But based on what you said, that sounds likely. Now that I think about it, such a large-scale environmentalist organization would resist Chimera Clausen most of all. Guess it isn’t weird that they have a paramilitary side to fight them head-on, huh? That might put some countries on guard, though. I think the environmentalist facade is good cover.”
The Isuzu Alliance apparently put up an environmental-protection front to work across the continent. Like Solomon said, even if they had good reason to stop Chimera Clausen’s spirit-pilfering evil, no military organization so far had worked across such a wide area. Mira agreed with him. She closed the booklet and tossed it onto the desk.
“Incidentally, about those spirit disappearances…” Mira began.
She told Solomon what had happened in the Forest of the Devout—specifically, the unusual monsters and fiend sightings. She then described the disrupted flow of mana due to the spirit’s disappearance and the resulting anomaly.
“Interesting,” Solomon mused. “You’ve seen a lot, huh? If spirit disappearances result in the ecosystem collapsing, that’s a real problem. Hmm. I’ll send an expedition team to make sure there aren’t any more dangerous monsters there.” He wrote a reminder in the corner of his notes.
Although the anomaly had ended, it had wrought havoc on the surrounding area. Monsters might have fled into the woods before Mira and the others arrived.
“Still, the Isuzu Alliance, huh?” Solomon repeated. “I wonder which is their true face: the one protecting spirits’ environments, or the one that wants to annihilate Chimera Clausen?”
“Good question,” Mira agreed. “They don’t seem bad, as far as I can tell.” No matter the exact state of things in the Isuzu Alliance, they still worked to save spirits. Mira only knew their secretive side, but she didn’t sense danger from it.
“True enough. I don’t see them doing any harm, so in that case, maybe I should up my donations a teensy bit.” A gleeful smile spread across Solomon’s face.
He may be strange, but he’s good at heart, Mira thought. “Oho. Already sent a donation, eh?”
“Of course. Protecting the environment is protecting spirits, and spirits are a summoner’s best friend. How could the Kingdom of Alcait not help them out?”
“Very true.”
Alcait was famously a country of mages. There was no doubt that they would look better if they supported the Isuzu Alliance—Good-Samaritan types who extolled the protection of spirits. In fact, not supporting them would be unacceptable.
“Besides, you showing them the medal means they know I’m involved,” Solomon added. “They gave us their HQ’s location, so they must be after my—or rather, Alcait’s—support. If we send a donation now, and whenever this is settled, it bolsters our reputation.”
A calculating move, but now that Solomon knew of the Isuzu Alliance’s militant side, he had to consider a future in which they beat Chimera Clausen. When they did succeed, being the backer of those who’d defeated evil would be ideal.
Mira’s turning out to be a fine ambassador as well. Solomon chuckled to himself as he looked down at the map marked with the Isuzu Alliance’s headquarters.
“What? Does this medal have your signature or something?” Mira pulled it out and stared at the markings, trying to interpret them.
“It just shows that I awarded it to you,” Solomon said, leaning back in his chair as he evaded the question. “Take care of it, though.”
Mira decided that was probably close enough to the truth and gave up on further questioning, refolding her map and throwing herself onto the sofa again.
“Anyway, the Isuzu Alliance locating their HQ in the Forest of Seasons makes sense,” Solomon said, moving things along. “It’s not somewhere you can just walk into, and it’s got plenty of spirits. With enough power, you could use it as a base and protect spirits at the same time. Add in the right transportation, and it’s the perfect place.”
“Right. Without an Isuzu base there, the Forest of Seasons would be Chimera Clausen’s favorite hunting ground.”
The Forest of Seasons was practically a holy land for spirits—many inhabited the place. So, naturally, it was paradise to those who hunted them as well. Because the Isuzu Alliance built a base there, however, Chimera Clausen couldn’t carelessly intrude. Even if getting there was difficult, it was the perfect place for the Isuzu to be.
Mira thought things over. Her two destinations were both north of Alcait, but there was quite a distance between the east and the center of the continent. They weren’t exactly close enough to detour, like she did to reach the Devils’ Labyrinth.
“So, which would you like me to deal with first? The Celestial Ruins, or the Forest of Seasons?” Mira would have preferred heading to the latter until the wagon was complete, but she decided to sound out Solomon’s opinion.
He spun his chair around once and proposed with a smile, “Wanna start with the Celestial Ruins? Dating any scraps you recover will take a while, after all. You could use that time to hop over to the Forest of Seasons.”
That would lead to a lot of waiting time, wouldn’t it? Mira thought, before realizing something and glaring at Solomon. “How hard do you plan to work me, exactly?”
Although Solomon’s proposal meant giving Mira less time to rest, he responded with a stilted, “Now, now. Either way, I know you’re not the kind to just sit around. Think of it as a nice railroad trip. It’s not all that bad. Each station has its own quirks, so I’d say you’ll enjoy it. Picture it—a delicious regional specialty to sample at every station.”
“Hrmm, well, I suppose that does sound nice.” Mira imagined chowing down on a perfect meal, gazing out the window at the perfect view. It seemed lovely. “Very well. I’ll play along this time,” she assented, trying to sound reluctant, but fighting a smile creeping onto her face.
“Get a feeling for how vast this world is while you’re at it.” Solomon looked at Mira like a kid going on her first field trip. He cleared off his desk. “I’d say that’s enough of a report. It’s about time for lunch. Wanna eat together?”
“Ah, is it already that time? Actually, I have lunch with me.” Mira pulled the basket from her Item Box, wearing the smuggest of grins. With a victorious flourish, she placed the basket ostentatiously on Solomon’s desk.
His eyes widened as he gazed upon it. “Did a girl make that for you?!”
“Indeed!” Mira answered haughtily, though she was a bit embarrassed. She shot Solomon a challenging glance and opened the basket in front of him.
“She put a lot of effort into this, huh?” Solomon admired the contents. Inside the basket was a well-balanced, beautifully colorful meal full of love.
“Gorgeous, isn’t it? And you can’t have any.” Mira promptly monopolized the love contained within.
Disappointed, Solomon shrugged and called a maid. He informed her that he’d like lunch in his office. Before long, she brought his food, and he and Mira enjoyed a relaxing meal and chat.
***
With lunch done, the pair enjoyed a cup of the finest tea fit for a king.
Solomon checked the time. “By the way, I think Silverside’s train leaves for Alisfarius at some point in the afternoon,” he noted. He got up to rummage through his shelves.
Mira watched him as she opened her bangle’s menu. The time displayed was 2:30 p.m. It was already afternoon. Judging by the rail map, Mira wouldn’t reach Silverside until evening if she left now. Getting there in time was out of the question.
“The train only comes once a day?” she asked in disbelief. “What kind of amateur operation is this?”
“You joke, but we’ve made huge strides. Once upon a time, trains only came through once a week.”
“Hrmm. Well, it’s better than nothing. What time exactly should I expect the train, though? ‘Afternoon’ isn’t precise.”
“Mm, I dunno. The times are pretty vague… Aha! Found it.” Solomon pulled a booklet from the shelf and tossed it to Mira; it landed directly in her lap.
She flipped through the pages. “Is this…a timetable?”
“Of sorts. It’s a railway schedule with the times they try to keep.”
Mira checked the Silverside departure time. A few pages in, she found a table that said, Eastern loop, 8:00 a.m. Western loop, noon to 3:00 p.m.
“Very imprecise,” she complained.
“They do the best they can. Again, it’s a world of difference compared to not having it.”
“Either way, it doesn’t seem as though I can catch the train today.” Mira closed the booklet, downed the rest of her fancy tea, and kicked back on the sofa.
“You’ll have to ride tomorrow’s train, then. If you leave now, you can stay overnight in Silverside. Like I said, station towns have inns as far as the eye can see. You’ll be able to spend a night in luxury. You’re free to stay here too, of course,” Solomon said, placing three gold coins atop Mira’s chest and winking. “Here’re your war funds. I look forward to your success.”
“Hrmm. I suppose I could at least try to meet your expectations.” Mira shot him a glare, palmed the coins and dropped them into her waist pouch. “I might as well get going soon. I need to see what these inns are like.”
She sat up and patted her clothes flat, setting her heart on one goal: getting to a nice inn early to unwind over a lovely meal.
“Good idea,” said Solomon. “Silverside is pretty far from here, after all. The inns should be close to the station, so head that way once you get there.”
“Hrmm, right. See you again.”
“Yep, see ya.”
Mira opened the door and waved without turning back. Solomon remained seated as he watched the door close, then arranged his many documents and resumed his kingly work.
The young summoner left Alcait Castle quickly, ready to check into an inn as soon as possible. She summoned Pegasus in the plaza out front and lifted off, beginning her flight to Silverside.
Mira wouldn’t be back for more than a week. She stared sadly at the Five Elements shrinking in the distance behind her, knowing that she would not get to check them out for some time yet.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login