The priest looked at him, and for the first time something like a smile appeared on his face. “It’s okay. Just relax, you can take this one step at a time. First, though, you need to rest. Frankly, those wizard carriages were so terribly uncomfortable that I was tempted to strangle each and every one of the drivers myself.”
The city’s residents treated Jiji to a warm meal, then he had a hot bath in a tub made of ice and was given a fresh change of clothes. Everyone in the free district seemed to be dressed in a similar way. As he accepted the clothes, Jiji felt a strange trembling sensation well up from deep within him. Unable to understand the source of the feeling, he let himself be shown into a room that he was told was his. He lay down on a fluffy bed in a frame made of ice, and, his head still swimming with excited thoughts of exploring the city, fell into a deep, deep sleep.
+++
The city of ice had been built just off the coast, and boasted a harbor that housed several ships. While it was intended as a fortress for use in the war with the New World, it was also created with livability uppermost in mind.
Firstly, the whole city was outfitted with plumbing, and turning on the faucet in any building produced pure water. The water was initially drawn from the ocean, then rendered drinkable through sorcery. Collected in cisterns located at higher elevations, it ran through pipes to every corner of the city below.
All sewage was released into the ocean, but after Hort raised a big stink and absolutely refused to eat fish that had been “swim-ming around in our potty water,” it was decided that the waste-water would be purified by sorcery before being pumped out to sea.
At night the city’s streetlamps came on automatically, and anyone could cook themselves a hot meal simply by uttering the words “Flames, come forth!” to activate the sorcery with which their kitchens had been imbued.
Having spent several years living alongside humans, Zero knew well what they needed, what might be convenient for them, what would make them happy─not to mention that she herself was a true lazybones at heart.
“I have created a city that will allow me to relax,” she boasted. “But, as the place has little in the way of distinguishing color, I feared it might be difficult to get one’s bearings, and easy to lose one’s way. Which is why I created a large building to serve as a landmark─a ‘tower’ for the free district, you might say.”
This tower, which housed a bell whose clear, resonant tones pealed across the city, lacked the daunting presence of the tower of the Keybinder but nonetheless served to help the residents know where they were at any given time. Attached to the bell tower was a grand mansion that functioned as a kind of town hall, and it was here that the members of the delegation from the Forbidden Land had their rooms.
Once Saybil, Lily, and the priest finally made it back to the mansion, Hort practically flew out and tackled Saybil in an embrace.
“Sayb! Welcome back! Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt? Was it super dangerous? Did the priest bully you?!”
“I’m fine. I’m fine, so just gimme a little space, okay? You’re suffocating me.” Saybil’s desperate pleas were somewhat muffled by Hort’s bosom, in which he was completely engulfed.
“He just got back safe and sound, what’re ya try’na kill him for?” Kudo peeled Hort away, then gave the three returnees a quick once over. “Yep, you all look fine,” he muttered, before plodding off.
Many of the Nurabehn who escaped to the free district were sick or injured, so as a mage medic, Kudo was kept constantly busy. He didn’t have time to worry about minor injuries like the priest’s split lip.
“Here, Father,” Lily said, offering him a Chordia potion she had retrieved from a corner of the room.
The priest refused it, however. “We used them as guinea pigs, to see whether their lives would truly be threatened. This pain is a result of the fear and anger they experienced. It is possible that to heal the injury so easily might result in further backlash.”
“Then I should let them hit me, too. I mean, I acted like I was one of them. I guess I’ll go and get it over with…”
“There’s no need. That is a job for adults.”
“Oh, is that the deal…?” asked Saybil, cocking his head.
“It is,” the priest replied curtly, departing for his own room. Lily hurried after him, leaving Saybil and Hort alone.
“So, do you want to take a bath?”
“Huh? Oh… Do I smell?”
“I-I was going out of my way not to mention it!”
With that, Hort hustled Saybil to the bath.
He had joined the group of Nurabehn just before they boarded the wizard carriages bound for the harvesting facility, and the ride had been a nightmare. Rushing into the changing room, he threw off his clothes and entered the spacious bathhouse. It was open to the public, and anyone could enter at any time. The water was also kept constantly at the perfect temperature─Zero had been very particular about this. Saybil hurriedly washed his hair, scrubbed himself all over, then plunged into the hot water. He felt all the muscles in his body begin to relax, and finally realized just how tense he’d been.
It had been a long job. Just about a month ago, Lily’s “friends” all over the New World had brought word that the Exinov were spreading rumors of a false free district, and that they intended to harvest all the Nurabehn who gathered there. In preparing to bring the Nurabehn to the true free district, the members of the delegation had been troubled by the question of how to guide them there, and had hit on the idea of using the Exinov’s false rumors to their advantage.
“It’s actually quite convenient for us that they have chosen to publicly proclaim the existence of the free district,” the priest had said, moving quickly to put their plan into action. After locating the source of the rumors, he had offered to “deceive the foolish and rebellious Nurabehn and bring them to you” in exchange for a reward. Then all that remained was to gather Nurabehn from across the country with the support of the Exinov, create a witch’s path near the harvesting facility, and everything was in place.
They had assessed the mana drawing capacity of the harvesting facility ahead of time, and knew that with Saybil among the crowd of Nurabehn, he could overload and disable the mechanism with a simple sprinkle of his concentrated mana potions.
“What was the harvesting facility like?”
“Hmm… Smaller than I expected, I guess,” Saybil replied without turning around. He had of course noticed upon entering the baths that the Dragon Conqueror King Ghoda, leader of their delegation, was already soaking in the tub.
“Apparently the harvesting facilities and farms are kept separate,” Ghoda said. “I expect the farms are bigger.”
“And that’s where they breed people?”
“The new group you brought in should be able to give us more details. The intel Lily’s friends bring is useful, but it’s a little flat… Hm? The priest isn’t with you?”
“He just kinda went back to his room… Maybe he doesn’t like baths.”
“Or maybe he’s just not the kind of guy who wants to expose himself to who knows how many people in some huge bathhouse when he’s bone-tired.”
“Aha… Is that the deal?”
“Yes it is.” Ghoda stood up from the bath. His muscular back, clearly the result of endless training, was covered in scars. His was unmistakably the body of a warrior.
Saybil found himself looking down at his own body. I wonder if Professor Los prefers a build like that? But he also knew that even if he had time for physical training, his desire to spend that time on his experiments would be too strong.
“Focus on resting up for today. Tomorrow we’ll be gathering information from the new arrivals once their names have been recorded in the free district register.”