Machinist of Mana Chapter 134 Making it Ashore

Deep blue water lapped at the sides of the ship like a happy puppy as we slowly sailed into the port. The water was blue, the sun was shining high in the sky, a near perfect day, perhaps a bit bright, but nothing too bad. As our ship cut through the water towards the dock I saw a number of people around, all here and there, looking at the various boats as each was loaded and unloaded. There weren't people just observing, at least not mostly, but workers, sailors, and other deck hands, busy about their work like ants in their hive.

All around there was action as men pulled sea life of surprising size off of fishing boats, or rolled heavy barrels from ship to shore. The place we were coming had people too, assistants, friends of the passengers, and men to help us remove the human cargo, so that the next batch could be brought on.

Luckily for me I'd traveled light, and could carry my own luggage. Of course I could carry quite a lot were I in a mind to, but for now only a couple of cases were with me, black with silver latches and locks. It was enough for my purposes, with various books and extra things having been whittled down before I got here. At this point I didn't plan to do much more studying of the language other than through direct interaction, so having too many tomes on reference would be a bit of a pain.

The gangplank was an easy cross over the lapping water, and once more the brilliant blue of it struck me. I couldn't help but envy that the people here got such a lovely shore while the one back home had been rather lackluster, gray, and cold. There would be time for the musing on that, and the heat later though, for it was far warmer than I'd anticipated.

There was a form of immigration checkpoint here, apparently the people of this region took their security quite seriously, but the worker seemed pleased enough with my papers. I was also told in no uncertain terms that I needed to keep those with me at all times. While it seemed unlikely that anyone would overly question my presence the authorities could, and I could be detained if I was found without them. That had already been covered in my briefings, so I was more than happy to accept.

As I left I began to encounter problems though. The Ergen Empire ran on a rather different system than I was used to, with various forms of transport all of which were new to me. There were small carts pulled by men or beasts, as well as trams of all things. I wasn't sure how the latter worked, but I suspected the answer was magic, it generally was.

I tried, and failed, to make sense of the tram schedule, and since they were packed to the brim with people I wasn't too disappointed in that. Instead I hired a cart to take me to my hotel. I just had to give the man the name and hope for the best, because I had only the vaguest idea of where exactly it was.

“First time here?” the man asked, looking back at me shrewdly.

“That obvious?”

“You're looking at everything around you, locals don't. And the accent of course.”

“Fair enough, I'm a bit struck with how the city is laid out.”

That was true too, as it was denser than lead. My thinking of an anthill at the docks would probably be better thought of as a beehive instead. The buildings were tall, taller than any back home in Exion, and there were people everywhere. It was all controlled chaos, with probably many hundreds of thousands in what was not even the largest city in this region.

“What about it?” he asked.

“It's all so dense, people living almost on top of one another. Are all cities here like this?” I inquired.

“Pretty much. You have to keep the city shields up to protect from monsters, a real problem on the rare occasions that they appear. Every now and then villages are completely wiped out, so people like to live in the cities, much safer.”

“Oh I see, while we have monsters on Hediza I don't know of many that could kill a village.” I'd used the local word for my home continent, and spoken the truth too. There were few monsters there, dangerous, but it would seem there were more here. “Do they shield the whole city?”

“Out to the walls. There's a few places that like to build outside them, but those are mostly the poor or merchants trying to save a little on money. Nobody thinks that's smart, but you can't stop some people. Believe me, if I told you how many I've told not to do this or that who went and did it you'd be here all day, and we're nearly at your destination.”

He pulled into the driveway of the hotel as he spoke, going up a winding incline to a large double door. There was a garden outside, small and simple but well lain out, with a few small statues and various benches arranged throughout, and above it stood a several story tall building, light and inviting. I bid him a good day and headed in, surprised at what I saw.

The inside was almost modern. There was a fan overhead, and a quick look told me it was powered by magic, and around the entry desk, fish tanks. This place could have found itself in any city on Earth, and aside from the pointed ears of the staff would have fit right in. A uniformed greeter spoke to me kindly, taking my reservations and leading me up a grand staircase. Large windows dominated, with another small sitting room near the top.

As we approached what was to be my room a maid darted into the hall, standing aside after having clearly heard us coming.

“Is everything ready? You know the boss will be quite unhappy if he find you slacking,” the receptionist spoke, condescending and hard at the girl.

“Yes ma'am, everything is in order.”

“Humph.” With a wave she dismissed the girl, who scurried off in a hurry.

“Apologies for her, she's... thin and still trying to figure things out.” I recognized the word, a derision against those with little elven blood, and one that I, as a clear foreigner and wealthy man was being overlooked for.

“It's fine I'm sure,” I responded.

“If anything isn't up to standard let me know and I'll see to it that she's disciplined,” the receptionist offered.

“I shall,” I lied in response, keeping my voice level with no small effort.

I'd been around servants and staff for most of this life, and had gotten quite good at reading them. In this case however it wasn't in the least bit hard, it was in fact painfully obvious. She was scared, terrified that she'd be found wanting. I'd seen it before in other people's maids, and my own family's staff when mother did her inspections, but it grated. Seeing people mistreated like that just pushed me the wrong way, perhaps because it reminded me of my own dear sister.

The room was again, quite modern looking. Bed in the side room with large opening windows and a sizable fan. No fireplace, which in Exion would've been a terrible overlook, but here with the heat mattered little. There was even a small bathtub with hot and cold taps, all run by magic. It seemed that that would become a whole new thing to get used to.

After settling in I waited until twilight and went to the bar I was supposed to meet my contact at. It was easy at least to find, I just asked the woman at the front desk, a different one from the first, but no less happy to aid me.

The bar was clearly more local. Homey in comparison to where I might find myself back home, but I liked it, with a number of drinks up, mostly ciders of berries I'd never heard of, and a cheerful staff. I got looks of course, as I stood out like a sore thumb in clothes that were clearly not from this region, but that was part of the whole charade.

“My my a foreign man here? How new,” a sultry voice said from near me. Its owner was a woman just slightly below my own height, not stand out beautiful, but very pretty. I knew the words at once, and smiled.

“And here I've not seen a woman with such wondrous assets in some time, a surprise to me as well.” It was the password I'd been given and one I would never have said myself in either world. “Care to join me?”