Episode 365 In the land of mystery (1)
Ludger boarded the first class of the steam train.
Compared to regular rooms, the ship was equipped with a sofa and even a bed where you could lie down and sleep.
On the other side, all kinds of bottles and drinks were displayed, and if you press the bell, the staff will come out and bring you what you want.
As such, the price of first-class tickets is beyond imagination.
But Rudger didn’t care.
‘It’s not going with my money anyway.’
The first class ticket price was all supported by Heyback Kadatushan.
It was the one who gave the request, so they paid all the cost in this part.
“and. Is this first class?”
At that time, the person sitting on the sofa across from Ludger looked around the inside curiously.
“Arfa. Is this your first time in first class?”
“yes. When I came to Leatherbelk with Mr. Pantos, I had to use a small room.”
Arfa.
He decided to participate in 「The Night of Mystery」 with Rudger this time.
“But can I really go? I thought only wizards could go to the mysterious night, but I’m not a wizard, am I?”
“You can go to the mysterious night without being a wizard as long as you are invited. I decided to take you with me, so it’s okay.”
“yes. Then I will try my best.”
In particular, the Cassar Basin, which we are heading to this time, is a place where all sorts of strange phenomena take place.
Among them, there are things that dazzle the human eye and mind, and it would definitely be helpful to bring the automaton, Arpa, in this area.
“It seems like it’s been a long time since we first opened our eyes to move together like this.”
“….Right.”
Ludgar realized anew that quite a bit of time had passed after recalling the events of the Delica Kingdom.
The train departed with the sound of a whistle.
The scenery outside began to flow slowly, and white steam dispersed in a long tail following the train.
“Where is this train going?”
“Felix City. That is where it ends.”
“ah. Are you there?”
“Do you know where it is?”
“yes. Felix City. It was a small and medium-sized village until a few decades ago. However, after the possibility of the Kassar Basin was discovered, it is a place that has completely changed.”
Felix City was a city near the Cassar Basin where 「Mysterious Night」 was held.
A mediocre town with no special products or economic advantages.
However, after the mysterious night, it became a must-go place and its position became enormous.
The village developed into a city, and now Felix City has become known as one of the best tourist destinations on the continent.
“I know you well.”
“yes. I read it in a book.”
Arfa never forgets what he has seen.
Unlike human memory, the information processing ability of automatons did not exist.
So Arfa read many books and acquired all the countless knowledge.
As long as he saw and heard, there was nothing Arfa didn’t know.
“ah! I want to try that drink!”
It’s just that common sense in everyday parts is lacking.
Rudgar can the automaton drink the drink? I thought about it, but I decided it was okay because it was special.
‘I’m fine even if I go into the water, but what?’
Moreover, it is said that Arpa had secretly put food in her mouth before.
In his own words, he said he was curious about the taste, but aside from feeling the taste, it might be a big deal if a foreign substance got inside.
Surprisingly, however, Arpa decomposed the food he ingested into energy and turned it into power for the mechanical clockwork heart.
A doll that knows how to eat.
It wasn’t for nothing that I pretended to be a human and infiltrated it to use it in a war.
“Drink in moderation.”
“yes.”
Arpa took out the drinks he had been curious about from a while ago from the display case and sipped them one by one.
Rudger looked at Arfa, wondering if it was going to stop.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen, so Ludger looked at the scenery outside the window with a sense of relief.
Ledervelk had gone far away, and I could see the wheat fields.
It didn’t take long for even that to enter a new city and disappear completely.
The train bound for Felix City picked up many customers every time it stopped at a stop in the middle.
The train, which had not even filled 10% of the seats when it departed from Lederbelk, was already full.
And another peculiar thing was that most of the passengers on the train were wizards.
‘They all seem to be people who want to participate in the mysterious night.’
The main purpose is to explore the mysteries that exist in the Cassar Basin.
However, not all wizards had such a common purpose.
Rather, there were not a few people who were aiming for the fact that all kinds of wizards were gathering.
It is to make friends with other wizards and increase the value of their name.
Like the current situation, for example.
“uh? Aren’t you Mr. Ludgar Celish!”
Because it was first class, even though they couldn’t come in without permission, the wizards came in easily.
Pretending it was a mistake, of course.
They already knew Rudger was here, but they pretended to know, acting as if they had bumped into each other.
“Is Rudger Celish also participating in this Mystic Night? In case someone invited you…”
“I don’t know who you are, but this is my private seat. Could you please leave?”
“Oh no. I just…”
“I would like you to leave. Arfa. Let the guest go.”
“yes.”
Arfa lightly shoved the wizard, who did not know how many times this was, and kicked him out of the first place.
The wizard somehow tried to make a kite with Ludger, but he couldn’t overcome Arfa’s terrifying power.
“You are very popular. leader.”
“This kind of popularity is a specification no matter how much you give it.”
“It’s the 32nd from a while ago. If it’s bothersome to deal with it, shall I guard the entrance and send them back?”
Rudger shook his head at those words.
“It happened. There’s no need to bother me that much.”
“I don’t really care.”
“On the contrary, if I don’t meet anyone and leave you alone, it will harm my reputation. If you don’t want to do that, just stay still.”
“yes. Then I will.”
Fortunately, no guests came later.
The train, which continued to run, eventually stopped at the last stop, Felix City.
The door opened and wizards came pouring in.
Most of them were wearing robes with patterns indicating their affiliation.
Among them, there were a few wizards dressed in individual outfits without robes, but most of them were wandering or independent wizards.
Other races were also seen, but it was only occasionally elves.
It was only natural that beastmen and dwarves had few wizards.
It was packed with people from the train station, but I didn’t feel that something came alive.
Rather, there was only a tense atmosphere where they were wary of or amazed at each other.
“Ugh. Something is heavy in the air.”
“Be patient.”
To the extent that even Arpa felt the stuffy atmosphere unique to wizards.
Ludger calmed Arfa lightly with a word and left the train station.
Some of them recognized Rudger, but were prevented from approaching because of the crowd.
Rudger immediately got into a carriage waiting outside the train station.
“Where would you like to go?”
“Land River Hotel.”
“Land River. You must have been quite wealthy.”
The coachman smiled and grabbed the reins and swung them around.
Surprisingly, there were no horses in the carriage. The same was true of the steam golems that Ledervelk mainly operated.
Instead, two horses made of translucent magic appeared and began to pull the carriage.
“Are you summoning a familiar with the magic imprinted on the wagon?”
“Hoo. Maybe it’s because I’m a wizard, so I’m trying to find out at a glance. That’s right. Because so many wizards come here, even these mounts are enchanted.”
Rudger glanced at the horses leading the carriage.
what should i say about that a ghost? spirit horse?
Since it was made of pure mana, it was okay to call it a magical beast.
Instead, unlike magic beasts, all they have is physical power to drive a wagon.
It was literally nothing more than an imitation of a magical beast.
“Even so, you will need quite a bit of magical power to enchant. Just looking at the efficacy, it seems to last forever.”
“It lasts forever. In the first place, mana is supplied endlessly in the vicinity.”
“Ah, that was it.”
Felix City is a town close to Kasar Basin.
Leylines flowed under the ground, so the concentration of magic here was also full.
The supply of mana wasn’t enough, so it overflowed.
On the well-paved road of the street, there were also wagons led by other ghost horses.
It was practically a specialty of the city, seeing that passers-by were not too surprised.
“I think there are many strange things in the world.”
Arpa also muttered as if he felt new when he actually saw what he had read in the book.
The two arrived at the inn where they would be staying for the night.
Land River Hotel.
It was a high-rise hotel standing tall in the center of Felix City’s biggest downtown area, where only wealthy people could stay.
The room Ludger was assigned was the VIP room.
Of course, the money was paid by Duke Heyback Kadatushan.
From first class on trains to VIP rooms in hotels.
While receiving support, Rudger was thinking of sucking it to the very marrow.
So, I fully booked all the services of the hotel that I would not be able to fully enjoy anyway.
Of course, Hayback asked if that was too much, but Rudger ignored it.
Anyway, in this situation, Gap was Rudger.
If you don’t like it, you should have picked someone else.
‘It’s rather cheap if you listen to the old man’s grumbling and stay in a place like this.’
It was Ludger’s small revenge on Heyback who kept playing pranks on him.
Rudger headed to the hotel lobby with Arfa.
Befitting the most famous hotel in Felix City, the lobby was filled with dazzling light.
Even if you simply look inside the first floor, you can tell how much money was poured into it.
If I had to compare it, it was similar to a Kunst auction house and hotel, but as a hotel it was much better than that.
“This is Mr. Rudger Celish. Could you please wait a moment?”
The lobby staff vacated for a while.
Even though he recognized Rudger, there was no reaction to make a fuss.
That’s probably because there are a lot of celebrities who are similar to him in this hotel.
Rudger looked at the people passing by in the large lobby.
Most of the guests had to be wizards, but since it was a high-end hotel, there were quite a few non-magicians.
‘Wealthy businessmen, wealthy people who came to tour, and even people who want to participate in the mysterious night as guests.’
Everyone passing by seemed wealthy.
In the case of wizards, they radiated quite powerful mana.
Rudger took the monocle out of his pocket and put it on his eyes.
It was the [Eye of Possibilities] taken from the imperial family’s remarks.
When I put it on and looked at it, I was able to distinguish the mage more clearly and easily.
‘As they are wizards who come to places like this, they all have considerable potential and mana.’
It was around the time when I analyzed the size of the power shown by the [Eye of Possibilities] and judged roughly what level the opponent was.
A muffled sound came from the entrance of the hotel lobby.
Rudger’s gaze naturally headed there.
And the [Eye of Possibilities] captured the huge amount of mana overflowing from beyond the crowd.
Arfa stared at the entrance as if he felt something.
“leader. Someone must have come.”
“Looks like it.”
“Who the hell is it that is so noisy? Everyone who comes here must be a celebrity.”
“Okay.”
Most of the guests staying at this Land River Hotel are people who can give their neck a break wherever they go.
Those who are not in awe of anyone but are in awe.
Even if you look at the same crane, the crane only exists firmly.
The only thing in awe of such a crane is the chicken in the chicken coop.
But now the cranes were agitated.
To say no, the atmosphere from the entrance was different.
‘Did a phoenix appear?’
It was when Rudger was staring at the entrance.
The crowd split and a series of groups emerged.
“…!”
Rudger’s eyes widened when he recognized the man at the head of the group.
