Keron
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Chapter 149 - Warm Welcome
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 18:00:06 +0000 UTCColette steps forward and opens the door, leading Emily in. The room they enter is almost empty, with two leather sofas facing each other to the right of the door in the light of the only window. There’s a small coffee table between them, and two crossed battle axes hanging on the wall above it, proudly displayed as the only point of interest in the room.
Colette doesn’t stop in the bare reception room and instead leads Emily into a connected corridor with steep stairs at the end. They climb the stairs in silence and soon arrive in front of an imposing wooden door with no visible runes, but an enchantment so potent Emily can feel it without having to touch it.
Colette knocks on the door with three firm thuds before stepping back and standing to attention.
“Enter,” a deep voice booms from behind the door.
Without missing a beat, Colette pushes the door open and walks in with Emily close behind. She steps aside and salutes, giving Emily a clear view of the Vice Commander.
He’s sitting behind a desk, but she can still tell how tall he is, and his broad shoulders give him a strong, reliable impression. His uniform is surprisingly plain, almost identical to that of the normal soldiers other than the four lines on his emblem, and his short blonde hair and beard are both neatly trimmed.
He meets Emily’s gaze with his piercing blue eyes and silently rises to his feet, towering three heads over her.
“I take it you’re Emily Coldstone?” he asks with a surprisingly melodious voice, placing his palm to his chest and lightly nodding at her. “It’s a pleasure to have you in our country. Please, take a seat.”
Colette’s eyes widen in surprise at the friendly greeting, but Emily barely bats an eye, walking forward and dropping into a plush seat before the Vice Commander’s desk.
He knows who I am. How? Spies or friends?
“From what I’ve seen so far it’s a fascinating place, Sir…” she responds.
“Fourth circle, Maximilien Carnot,” he says, sitting back down and gesturing for Colette to take a seat as well. “But you can call me Max, no need for any sir.”
“Well, it’s a fascinating place then, Max. So, do you need to confirm I’m telling the truth now?”
She asks the question, but the tone of her voice suggests they both already know the answer.
“No, not at all. I’ve heard enough about you from young Oscar to last a lifetime, so I think we can skip all that.”
Emily raises a brow, surprised by the familiar name.
“You know Oscar?”
“Haha, I didn’t,” Max chuckles. “But his father brewed me the elixir I used to break through to the fourth circle, and we still keep in touch. The moment he heard about your conflict with the Mandragos, he put the young lad on to warn me in case you fled here.”
“To warn you?” Emily asks, already expecting where it’s going.
“He assured me you would be a valuable ally as well, but the boy is terrified of you,” he replies with a calm tone. “I have to say though. I’d quite like to see you fight. He said it was like watching art.”
“We could spar if you’d like?”
“I’ll have to decline,” Max says, shaking his head. “I’m not one for a magicless bout, and I’m a defence-focused earth mage. It would be a dull fight for you I’m sure”
Emily raises a brow at his calm confidence but doesn’t push it.
“Anyway, I hear you have an interest in helping us on the battlefield, so I’m sure I’ll get to see you in action.”
“Probably.” She shrugs. “Speaking of, is there an official channel for becoming a mercenary?”
“Yes, just head to one of the mercenary companies south of this compound and they’ll welcome you with open arms and explain the process to you,” he says dismissively. “Is there anything else I can help you with while you’re here? I can assign someone to guide you around the city if that would help?”
“I was interested in your engineering endeavours. The mixture of magic and mechanics in your airships is fascinating and right up my alley,” she says, pulling the Spitter from the holster on her leg and presenting it to Max.
He takes the offered gun and turns it over in his hands with a curious expression.
“How does it work? What do the enchantments do?” he asks, handing it back.
“Can I cast magic and shoot in here?”
“One second,” the Vice Commander pulls a silver orb from a drawer beside him and sets it on the desk, feeding it a small burst of mana.
Emily feels the air in the room shudder for a moment before settling.
A sound barrier?
“There we go, go ahead.”
Emily nods and drops the magazine from the pistol.
“The bullets are held in magazines like this for easy reloading.”
She slams the mag home again and flicks the gun into burst. Silver mana flows from her skin, forming the glistening magic circle of guardian.
“And the enchantment creates a burst of air to rapidly rechamber each shot.”
She squeezes the trigger, pointing the barrel at the floating blob of metal beside her. Three rounds fly out in quick succession, sinking into guardian and losing all of their momentum.
Emily drops the gun’s magazine, tucking it into a pouch on her belt and pulling out a fresh one. She reloads the gun and holsters it.
“Impressive. Are you saying you’re willing to share ideas like this with our weaponsmiths?” Max questions with a look of doubt.
“To a certain extent. I don’t intend to give away any of my blueprints, but I’m perfectly willing to exchange ideas if I benefit as well. I see no reason to withhold technology like this which you’ll easily figure out on your own after seeing it.”
“Well, we look forward to cooperating with you then,” he says with a warm smile. “One of the core beliefs in our country is the spread of knowledge. Go to the Wellspring Palace when you have time and ask to see Minerva. She’s the Elder in charge of technological development. I’ll let her know to expect you.”
“Perfect,” Emily says, forming a small, polite smile. “Thank you. I look forward to our cooperation.”
“It was a pleasure to meet you. Captain Colette, please escort Emily here out of the compound and see to her needs in the city for today.”
“Understood, Sir,” Colette says, standing up and saluting him.
Emily stands up and gives a small bow with her fist across her chest before turning and following Colette out. They leave the building in a silence that’s only broken as they slide back into the same car as before.
“So, where would you like to go first? Do you want to check on your ship?”
“Not today,” Emily says dismissively. “First, could you show me where the mercenary companies are set up?”
“Of course.” Colette turns to the driver. “You heard the woman, take us to conscription street.”
“Are you planning to sign up now,” she asks, turning back to face Emily as they start moving. “Or have you got another destination in mind afterwards?”
“Honestly, I’d quite like to meet this Earnie.”
If I’m going to reset today, I may as well make the most of it.
“Oh,” Colette says with clear displeasure.
“Once you show me to his workshop you can leave. I won’t ask you to interact with him.”
“Okay, I’ll take you to him.”
“Thank you.”
Emily settles back and gazes out of the window, watching the approaching wall and scanning over the massive, fortified gate. It’s hanging open and they drive through without any problems, and Emily looks back to see four mounted chain guns pointing down at them.
I wonder what their fire rates are like.
The military car rolls through the streets, passing white stone buildings and an increasing number of pedestrians as they move away from the military base. They drive through the city in silence for ten minutes before they come across a street lined with several massive buildings where Emily can feel dozens of mana signatures and hundreds of powerful enchantments.
“Woah,” Emily mutters quietly.
“They’re quite hard to miss,” Colette comments, opening the door and stepping out as the car comes to a halt. “Would you like to go in, or shall we move on?”
“Knowing where they are is enough for now.”
“Alright, we’ll take the train from here then.”
“Wait, you have a train too?” Emily asks, following her out of the car and glancing up at the clear sky. “Where?”
“Underground of course,” Colette answers with a confused expression. “Where else would we put it?”
Emily raises an amused brow and follows the soldier towards a large metal and glass construct with the words ‘Merc Street Station’ formed from metal above a set of large, rotating glass doors.
Emily looks down as they step into the rotating doors and sees a metal grate with a large spinning fan below, spinning in time with the doors as steam blows past.
They exit the door onto a staircase descending into the earth, lit by the same light strips as the military’s airships. They move quickly, passing through the sparse crowd on the wide staircase with ease and arriving in an open chamber at the bottom with dozens of unmanned doorways ahead blocking an empty train platform.
Emily observes the doors with interest. They’re made from bars of metal mounted to a rotating pole, with a strange terminal attached to them from which Emily can feel mana. She watches an unawakened pedestrian walk up to one of the doors and tap the terminal with a small metal card, and the metal bars unlock, letting her walk through unimpeded.
“What are the cards?” Emily asks as Colette leads her towards the platform.
“They’re called Signature Cards: one of the greatest ideas of our unawakened scholars. You’ll be given one when you sign up as a mercenary, and it will have information like your name, mercenary profile, and contribution points. You can also put money on them and use them to pay for things. However,” she says, stopping before one of the doorway’s terminals and placing her hand against it. “Most of our amenities, like the train, are free for mages. Just give it some mana and it will open.”
A small pulse of glistening blue mana leaves Colette’s hand and lights up the lines carved into the grey metal box. Colette passes through the door and turns to wait for Emily.
She steps up to the terminal and places her palm against it, flooding it with both mana and machina. Glistening blue lighting flickers across the metal surface, lightly shocking another nearby pedestrian and making them flinch in surprise.
Instantly, Emily activates full assistive processing and burns the image of the terminal’s inner workings into her mind, from the steam valves controlling the door’s rotation to the runes sending signals to a mother node elsewhere in the capital.
Slipping back into a normal perception of time, Emily steps through the door with barely a pause in her step to mark her little stunt, pretending nothing happened. Colette narrows her eyes, glancing at the man standing with his hair stood on end, but she doesn’t say anything and leads Emily to the far end of the platform.
“The front two compartments are reserved for military personnel, including mercenaries, and the next two for any other mages,” Colette informs her. “We’re going to head to the production sector in the east of the city. That’s where you’ll find Earnie’s workshop and factories.”
“Factories?” Emily asks with a little surprise.
“Yes. Earnie is the largest single weapons manufacturer in the country and a private contractor for the Defence Force. He owns multiple factories to keep up with the demand.”
Emily feels a faint tremor through the ground, and moments later she hears the distant hum of wheels on the track. It doesn’t take long for a sleek train to come rolling into the station. Surprisingly though, the machine slides to a stop with only a small hiss of steam instead of the harsh screech of grinding metal Emily is used to.
The door slides open, and Colette leads her into the carriage lined with plush seats. They settle down and wait for the train to depart.
“It will take us about an hour to reach Earnie’s, but we don’t need to switch trains until we’re almost there, so I would recommend taking this time to meditate,” Colette says, getting comfortable in her seat and preparing to take her own advice.
Emily nods and leans back in her seat, staring out of the window at the smooth stone wall beside them.
I think I prefer the sky railway. The view was much better.
The train rolls out of the platform with a sharp hiss, quickly gaining speed. Emily shuts her eyes and opens a blueprint to work on designing weapons for Calypso.
