Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Colette knew very well that she knew what her companion thought and how she understood herself, just as she understood her.

The benches on the street were not bathed in sunlight. Things that did not exist in the world today could not bring warmth to them. The winter wind made the painted wood look particularly cold, not to mention the water droplets from the drizzle. It was not reliable to wipe a clean spot with a handkerchief. The bench was still wet after being wiped dry, but Colette did not seem to care. She was far less restrained on the street than at home. She just sat down and adjusted the sunglasses on her nose.

Colette did not sit down next to her, but just leaned lightly against the back of the chair, supporting herself with both hands, and her tail inadvertently rested on Colette's shoulder.

Pouring out her heart and listening to her companions responding to her, like being brave and catching criminals, can bring her peace of mind. This peace cannot last, not because her companions cannot bring her long-term stability, nor because the sense of justice in fighting against evil and crime will be washed away by time, but because she herself does not allow it, she does not allow herself to indulge in the satisfaction she can get. Don't seek more, don't grab more, just do it now.

Even through the thick clothes, she could still feel a slight coolness on her back. The north wind blowing into her neck and the raindrops on her hands made her cheer herself up.

"Rose."

“Yes?”

"Could you buy me a newspaper? The Mountain City News would be fine... The Muirand Morning Post would also be fine."

She and Rose often came here to eat, so they were naturally familiar with the nearby shops. There was a newsstand at a nearby intersection where they could buy newspapers.

"Rose picked one up from the doorstep before she left this morning."

"They also subscribe to the Mountain City News? I thought they only read internal newspapers."

Colette looked a little surprised and took the newly printed newspaper from Rose's arms.

She skipped the headlines and the first few pages. To her, recent major events were just things she could hear at home, and she could even learn more inside information. There was no need to watch advertisements. Serious cases didn't seem to have happened recently. If there had been any, she wouldn't mind going straight to the criminals for trouble.

"Increasing lighting supply, further reducing the Muirand dark zone".

Colette's eyebrows jumped.

Just looking at the title, it seems that this is just a part of the infrastructure improvement of Muirand led by the Grand Council. It is not insignificant, nor does it seem that important, but the hidden information is enough to make people uneasy.

This means that the current lighting level in Muirand can no longer guarantee safety.

Minutes of the Reconstruction of the Northeast Region.

The "Northeast District Reconstruction Minutes" that had been absent from the newspapers recently, coupled with the news revealed in other pages, made Colette more and more anxious.

She went to the Northeast District almost every day, and she was very familiar with the situation there. If the situation continued to deteriorate, it would obviously be the first and fastest place to fall in the entire city.

As for other urban areas, no major cases did occur, because what happened could not even be called cases.

The most the police station and guards can do is to seal off the scene, collect the bodies, and inform the family members - sometimes they can even skip the middle and last two steps. The bodies may not necessarily still exist or be recovered, and the same goes for the family members.

"Do not leave the environment in a dark state", "Ensure lighting at dim light level or above", "Do not enter any area below dim light level without lighting" are now familiar warnings, and this city is no exception.

As long as you follow these rules in black and white, you can ensure basic safety - at least that was the case originally.

Only recently, various things have made it difficult to follow this rule. The lighting failure rate has increased, and some people have walked into the darkness due to carelessness. Deaths are occurring almost every day, like the sound of a bell approaching.

Something is happening, or will happen soon.

The knuckles of her hands holding the newspaper turned white from the force she exerted, and no one could see Colette's expression behind the newspaper.

Chapter 21: The Overlook

“It tastes okay?”

Patting her cheeks, letting the cool breeze blow across her face to wake up her mind which had been a little dazed by the warm room, Lunicia began to recall the lunch she had just eaten.

She looked at Ella and Ashlee, but both of them looked helpless.

After all, no matter what, one of them seemed to have no serious dining experience, and the other didn't even need to eat, so it was not very reliable to ask for their advice.

As far as Lunicia herself is concerned, the taste is okay, but the appearance is really unreliable - based on her chat with the restaurant owner, the conclusion of Muirand's eating style originated from the west of the Anda-Brun Mountains. Muirand's ancestors learned their food culture from the immigrants there, and the people there pay great attention to a principle, which is to use local materials and maximize the use of ingredients that can be found locally.

...That being said, judging from the local cuisine of Muirand, they may have learned it a little wrongly.

Although neither Ashlee nor Ella were particular about food, it did not mean that they would reject chatting about these topics with Lunicia. So, while walking to digest their food and chatting, they started to move towards the downtown business district.

Three days was neither short nor long. The city of Muirand was not small to them. It was also the first time for Lunicia to come to this big city, and she didn’t know if she would have the chance to come again in the future. Under this premise, they planned to visit all the scenic spots and places of interest in the city as completely as possible within three days.

But before that, there is one thing that must be done, which is shopping!

"What should I buy... souvenirs?"

"Ms. Luna, are you going to bring a present for anyone?"

"Um……"

After quickly going through her acquaintances in her mind, Lunisia sadly discovered that no one seemed to need her to bring gifts back. She didn't know where Sestine was now. Neither Sieli nor Evelyn liked to receive gifts. Sieli's only hobby was making sculptures by himself, and Evelyn simply had no special interests other than reading. Even if she wanted to bring them gifts, she couldn't think of any good options.

"It seems not."

"Then let's repair the armor first, and then go buy some..."

"Let's buy clothes."

While Ella was thinking for a moment, Ashlee's voice came over.

This made Ella and Lunicia slightly stunned. After all, they did not expect Ashlee to give advice on such an issue, which really surprised them.

Ashlee tilted her head to look at them, and then changed her posture in mid-air, again attracting a wave of attention from the people around her.

"According to the airport staff, there should be an important holiday in the next few days. I don't know what kind of activities will be held in this city, maybe there will be a celebration. I bought some more formal dresses so that they can be used when the time comes."

There is some truth to this statement.

National Day, according to Lunicia's guess, is probably one of the most important festivals in Muirand in a year. According to her understanding, its status is probably no less than Zerhal's annual ceremony.

Lunicia knew that although there would be no holidays during Zerhar's annual ceremony and the staff of the temple would be required to work overtime, after all, they were needed to receive foreign guests and arrange and preside over the ceremony, there would also be long holidays after the ceremony, such as the Myuland National Day. At the same time, various celebrations and banquets specifically for the believers in Zerhar would be held during the holidays.

Since the National Day is similar to the annual memorial ceremony, there will probably be similar activities.

Although Lunisia's luggage seemed to be quite a lot, in fact, most of them were necessary props for adventurers. There were also changes of clothes, of course, but they were basically just some light and durable clothes, and had little to do with beauty.

Of course, Lunicia herself had no objection to wearing such clothes. This did not mean that there was something wrong with her aesthetic taste. It was just that for people who spent all year outdoors and fighting with swords, the clothes they wore had many more important factors than appearance. The result of focusing on performance and reducing costs was that their appearance could only be described as average. And every adventurer had to learn how to get along with them.

But no matter how you look at it, it would be somewhat disrespectful to wear such clothes to a banquet.

No matter how poor a woman is, when she goes to a celebration, she will wear handmade accessories, using flowers and brightly colored strips of cloth to add some color to herself. This is not only for her own beauty, but also for the organizers of the celebration and for other people who are participating.

"I prefer skirts."

"Maybe there will be other styles that Luna likes better."

"It's hard to say—"

"Ms. Luna, would you like to buy some accessories?"

"Just hang the holy emblem, that should also be usable as an ornament."

“It’s quite formal for clergy.”

The golden holy emblem is the best decoration for clergy.

This fantastic trio can attract countless eyes just by walking on the street. People's eyes move along with their footsteps, as if they are seeing them off.

The group did not immediately head to the surrounding shops and shopping malls. In the city center that was brightly lit even during the day, Lunicia took Ella Hepper's hand and ran towards the tallest building she could see with the floating Ashlee.

Buildings suspended in mid-air were the first thing Lunicia had seen. The same was true for the escalators powered by dragon crystal. She touched the alloy frames and pressed the buttons for the corresponding floors. Near the panels were pipes made of the same metal, and a faint sound similar to flowing liquid could be heard. Opposite to them were huge glass windows that allowed her to see the outside world at a glance.

People living in this city are not surprised by this. Some like the scenery outside and look at it, while others have no interest and keep their heads down in silence. There is no one else like Lunicia, who almost puts her face against the glass to observe the scenery outside.

No one said much. It was a miracle in the eastern part of the continent that a big city like Muirand could be preserved so well. Many people had never seen such a large and prosperous city in their lives. If they came for the first time, they would inevitably be too excited and too curious. Lunisia was not originally included. In fact, Ambrisburg was no less big than Muirand, but she had never really seen the appearance of this glorious city, so she had no way to talk about it.

As for other residents living in remote areas, even if they do not have to live in danger and suffering all day long like those destroyed countries and cities in the northeast and north, they cannot imagine that there can be such a prosperous city in the world.

In the countryside of Marie, the tallest building is no more than three stories high; there won’t be such well-equipped and clean streets in Prosi; everything in Lanmen is dormant in the ice that never melts... It is natural that the residents of these places would be shocked by the scenery of Mulande. The people here are also accustomed to the kind of surprised looks and are not surprised.

The field of vision is getting higher, but there are real objects under your feet.

You are not flying, but you can see the scenery as if you are in the air.

Choosing the tallest building in sight is the feeling that Lunicia wants to experience.

Some people are born afraid of heights, while others are born to love such scenery. Lunicia is neither the former nor the latter. What she loves seems to be not just the vast view from a high altitude, but a feeling she can't even describe, called romance. Unseen scenery, magnificent scenery, her preferences are too broad and lack commonality.

But there was nothing she could do about it. After all, she was the canary leaving the cage for the first time.

She still has a lot to witness, and there are people who want her to witness more.

The elevator could only go to the top floor, not the real roof. No passengers came here like her. The top floor seemed to be temporarily unoccupied. There were only a few offices that were currently empty but still fully lit, and an equally bright utility room. Pushing open the door of the stairwell, the tiled steps reflected the sunlight, making the narrow corridor very bright - the horror of darkness is well known. In such a city with spare power, wherever there are people, it is probably guaranteed to be always bright.

I'm afraid the lights in the corridor will light up automatically at dusk.

This is a considerable expense in itself, but once the Grand Council thinks about the consequences of not wanting to pay this expense, there is no way that they can cut the budget for this place.

Going up the stairs, the deserted rooftop welcomed a rare guest.

“It’s not locked.”

"The administrator was a little careless."

"It's a good thing for us anyway, right...?"

Generally speaking, in order to prevent accidents, places like this should lock the door to the top floor and prohibit ordinary customers from entering and exiting the rooftop. However, the same measure was not taken here, probably because not many people would come to such a place.

I originally thought that there would be facilities like the Dragon Crystal Center here, but in fact it does not exist. There is only a huge mechanism with a fan operating, making a whirring sound.

"Ashe, what are those?"

Ashlee didn't answer immediately. Instead, she floated over slowly, circled in the air, looked around, and then floated back.

"It looks like a ventilation device, but it's actually a device that speeds up the replacement of prayer characters."

The operating principle of devices related to the prayer beads must revolve around the prayer beads.

For example, a light bulb that uses the magic power emitted by magic crystals as energy sources, its light-emitting principle is to let the magic power heat the filament, causing the filament to glow and generate heat for illumination. However, the principle of a light bulb that uses prayer letters as its core is quite different. In fact, it is through giving the prayer letters passing through the light bulb the property of "glowing" that it makes them emit light.

It is more complicated in principle and has higher production costs, but it can achieve effects that are difficult to achieve with many conventional facilities. This is the prayer mechanism.

The prayer beads that flow into the device are given the characteristics that the user wants by the mechanism, and their characteristics are eliminated by the mechanism when they flow out of the device. The prayer beads that have been stripped of their characteristics and are in an inert state cannot be reused immediately in a short period of time. Therefore, for facilities with large-scale use of the mechanism, it is also an indispensable part to speed up the replacement of active and inert prayer beads by using this device similar to an exhaust fan.

Ella focused on the interconnected pipes.

They don't seem to belong to the same system as the exhaust pipes of the replacement prayer, and this is indeed the case. The building itself does have a dragon crystal function system, but it is actually a backup energy source to prevent unexpected situations. As long as it is not put into use, the stored dragon crystal will not be lost. The main energy used now comes from the magic network connected to the entire city. The huge pipeline system buried underground continuously transports magic and pure water, existing as the lifeline of the city.

Only Lunicia quickly turned her eyes away from these things.

She ran quickly to the edge of the rooftop.

With her hands on the iron railings, these weathered structures under her leather-wrapped palms did not make any unnecessary sounds, which made Lunicia trust them more. She pressed her whole body on them and looked into the distance as best she could.

Can you see all of Muirand from here?

At least she couldn't. The towering buildings blocked her view, and the eyes of a mortal were no match for the eyes of an eagle. Even if she looked far away, she could only see part of the city on the top of the mountain, not to mention the scenery below.

Thin clouds are scattered on the edge of the city. This city carved out from the mountains and the sea of ​​clouds is like a chessboard in the endgame. There are densely packed high-rise buildings, busy traffic, flying carpets flying in the air, and the city center with more dense traffic. It looks like a sparsely populated edge. Some buildings are undoubtedly new creations, and some are intact, but you can feel the traces of history from the other side.

Here we are closer to the sky than anywhere else.

The imagined turbid air filled with strange smells does not exist. An invisible barrier shrouds this place. The wisdom of magicians for thousands of years has created a city that will not be corrupted by cruel winds and acid rains. This place is so close to the sky that even the air is extremely fresh.

The existence of this place itself is a miracle no less than the Wall of Erumu.

I wanted to sigh, but it felt like something was blocking my mouth.

It was a weird feeling.

There was something wrong with this chessboard-like city in front of her.

Is it a bad feeling?

Rather, it is - very familiar.

Chapter 22 Clothes Make the Man

Very familiar, this city in front of her, which she had never been to, was showing her a sense of familiarity that she herself did not even know what it was. She did not understand what it was, or even where that sense of familiarity came from, but when she looked at those buildings, those streets, those green belts and street lights, and the motor vehicles, flying carpets and pedestrians coming and going, she felt a sense of familiarity that she herself did not understand.

This feeling should be touching, just like returning home. Although she is not a long-term wanderer and does not know much about her hometown, at least this feeling should be universal - but now, under this situation, this feeling can bring her something other than warmth and nostalgia.

It was the exact opposite. All she could feel now was confusion and even horror.

"Mrs. Luna, what's wrong?"

"Um……"

A paladin cannot lie, at least she cannot let her words contradict the facts. Even if she wanted to say "nothing", she couldn't. So she had to calm her mind, think about what was going on, and try to organize her words again.

"I feel like this city looks familiar..."

Ella and Lunicia were standing in a similar position, so they could naturally see everything that Lunicia could see from her perspective. Ashethelin was even better, she simply floated outside the guardrail. For a flying construct like her, this was not a big deal. At most, the onlookers who did not know the truth would find this scene terrifying.

Ella Hepper did not feel the same sense of familiarity as Lunicia. In her opinion, this city was just a city and there was nothing special about it. But because of Lunicia's words, she perked herself up and looked around at the buildings and streets in front of her with a scrutinizing gaze.