A number of Mechcoaches were parked outside of Front-Edge City Central Station.
They looked like normal carriages pulled by a single horse, but upon closer inspection, the Mechcoaches were led by neckless horses, making for an unsettling appearance. The men didn’t seem particularly bothered and called out to their coachman, who was waiting nearby.
“To the city center.”
The coachman nodded as the men took their seats in the gaping opening where the horse’s neck should’ve been.
With the coachman’s upper body sticking out of the horse’s frame, he looked just like a centaur. This odd vehicle was also a type of Mechsteel, in a broad sense, and used as a means of transportation throughout the city.
With the men on board, the Mechcoach dashed off. While they were a frequent sight near the capital, there weren’t that many passengers taking them in this city. The well-maintained main roads were dominated by the freight handlers. The Mechcoach pulled past a group of Mild Bulls struggling as they walked along with massive shipping crates in their arms.
“Tsk. Compared to the capital, this city suffers from a terrible lack of refinement.”
“Presumptuous to be comparing them in the first place, don’t you think?”
They arrived at the city center not long thereafter. Disembarking from the Mechcoach, the men set out walking. Looking around their surroundings, they strolled into a restaurant-and-bar they’d noticed. It was still a bit too early for lunch, so the restaurant was deserted—the majority of the city’s inhabitants’ work revolved around Socom Co., and with it, the routines of their daily lives were more or less set.
The men called the owner over, who was zealously preparing food in the rear of the kitchen.
“Hey, we wanna order. Get over here already.”
“Customers? At this hour? Just a moment, please.”
The owner made no attempts to conceal that the men were inconveniencing her. She stared at the men, sizing them up. Despite the sizes of their attitudes, they were far from crude—rather, they carried themselves so tightly it was a wonder they didn’t snap. She surmised that they weren’t from the city, but from somewhere near the Centre.
“Unfortunately, I’m in the middle of preparing, so there’s not too much I can offer menu-wise,” she said.
“That’s fine. Just bring us a few bottles of booze.”
Just when the owner was about to pull back after taking the men’s order, they stopped her in her tracks.
“And we’re looking for someone. Have you ever seen this girl around?”
The owner sighed. “Let me take a look.”
She looked at the sketch the men had presented her with and squinted. Right away, she bluntly shook her head.
“What a pretty young lady,” the owner remarked. “I can’t say I know her, but as you can see, it’s rough around these parts. If she were here, I’m sure you’d find her right away.”
“Hmph! Obviously. Now c’mon—hurry up with our order.”
“Okay, okay...”
After swallowing down their spirits in a single gulp, the men immediately left the restaurant. Once they’d made their way out, the owner called her assistant over.
“Run to the station and get Watt,” she ordered. “Tell him it looks like there are folks going around looking for Anna.”
Watching her assistant nod before dashing off, the owner couldn’t help but pray that nothing unsavory came of all this.