By the time the factory city was in sight, the sun had long set.
It was still as bright as dusk thanks to the city’s many gas-powered street lamps. You didn’t need a lantern to walk the streets. With an Iceburst Stone extraction site nearby, the city was prone to reaping the mineral’s benefits. Even Shiganshina District, with its full array of facilities, was shuttered at night by darkness. The difference was stark.
The city’s scale was also far beyond what Kuklo had imagined. He’d pictured small, compact factories, but the place’s size put it on par with Shiganshina District. Not only were there businesses to address workers’ daily necessities, the area was even home to amusement facilities. The city appeared to be its own independent country, the result of having gathered the gamut of resources, human and otherwise, needed to let it stand on its own. Of course, security was strict. While not fifty meters tall, there was a defensive wall, and countless guards kept watchful eyes on the factory city. No run-of-the-mill attack would ever bring it down.
A large blast furnace loomed like a landmark in the center. The giant furnace, which was fifty meters tall, clearly generated copious amounts of heat. Refining Iron Bamboo demanded as much, and it was no wonder that weapons made of the material were astoundingly sharp and durable.
The workshop, the trio’s destination, stood at the foot of the furnace. Even now, countless craftsmen seemed to be toiling away, and the shrill, intermittent sounds of metal being forged rang from within it.
Kuklo, Cardina, and Jorge left the carriage and headed straight to the workshop chief’s room. The chief seemed to be a well-organized man, as his room was neat and tidy. What appeared to be weapons and gear developed by the workshop lined the walls. It was practically a showroom. In particular, a mannequin stood out. A machine resembling the Equipment was attached to it.
Is that the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment? At first glance, it seemed no different from the Equipment.
Be that as it may, it wasn’t the prized invention that compelled their attention, but rather a craftsman type who lay sound asleep and snoring on a sofa.
Is he Xenophon, the workshop chief?! Compared to the elegant room, the slumbering man gave a vastly different impression. His disheveled hair seemed to have not once met a comb, and his mouth hung open. His aloofness was evident from his filthy work clothes, stained as they were by some mysterious liquid. He certainly didn’t look like someone who oversaw all the craftsmen. A sleepwalking underling accidentally napping in the chief’s room was more like it.
When Kuklo looked at Jorge questioningly, the instructor replied with a nod and a wry smile.
So he is the workshop chief. Looks could certainly be misleading, but it was still baffling to Kuklo. “So─” he began, hoping to bring up an important topic.
That was when Xenophon, apparently sensing that he had visitors, opened his eyes.
“You’ve finally decided to arrive,” the workshop chief greeted, quickly sitting up. He took a deep yawn and stretched. “I was worried you might have been eaten by Titans.”
“So worried you fell asleep.”
“I hope you’ll excuse me, but all the waiting tired me out. I was asleep before I knew it,” Xenophon confessed without a trace of guilt, turning towards Kuklo. “Allow me, then: Welcome, my challenger!”
“Challenger?” Kuklo parroted.
Xenophon grinned. “You’re the daredevil who’s going to try to learn how to master the thing. I believe challenger is an appropriate title.”
Kuklo sighed. “It wasn’t my idea.”
“Controlling the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment will be a truly difficult task, but I would love to see you dancing in the skies like an angel.”
“An angel?”
“You’ll understand soon enough. More than you might care to.” Smiling like a mischievous child, the workshop chief ran an assessing pair of eyes over Kuklo.
I’m getting a bad feeling about this. There should have been nothing to fear about wearing and operating a machine, but Kuklo’s anxiety was growing with each word Xenophon spoke. Something like a sixth sense was detecting danger and sounding an alarm.
“By the way, what’s this guy for? Is he a spare?” Xenophon asked, turning to Cardina with unabashed curiosity.
“I think he’s confusing me for a machine part…”
Cardina’s complaint wasn’t far off the mark. Xenophon was a man who walked many fine lines as a mad engineer of sorts. At the same time, he had managed to climb his way up to workshop chief, so he was clearly somebody─even if he seemed to have traded something in for his talent.
“I’m going to be taking care of them,” Jorge warned.
“Hmph. So you’re going to work them like dogs as recruits? I’d be tempted to pity them…but I’m sure they can handle it.”
“Why do you say that?” Kuklo inquired.
“You were able to return alive despite being chased by Titans. That’s more than enough experience under your belt.”
“The greenhorns don’t even compare.”
Neither Jorge nor Xenophon’s faith in him assuaged Kuklo.
I was just lucky… It would be one thing if he’d exercised his wits, hatched a plan, and relied on his physical capabilities to escape from the Titans. Overcoming the situation and returning to the interior on his own would have been extremely difficult. Or rather, impossible.
If Sharle had not entreated Carlo, and if Carlo had not spoken to Jorge, Kuklo would have ended up in a Titan’s stomach alongside Cardina.
“By the way, what about the training equipment I requested?”
“Oh, that? It will arrive soon enough. Learning to manage it promises to be next to impossible, though.”
Jorge and Xenophon continued their conversation, but what interested Kuklo was neither the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment nor his own potential as a recruit. Just as he was getting impatient that the two weren’t turning to the main issue at hand, his ears picked up a slight sound.
That’s…
He knew this sound that approached him with a steady rhythm. They were footsteps. Before the image of the person making them could even form in his mind, the door to the workshop chief’s office burst open. Everyone’s eyes turned to settle on the girl who stood at the entrance.
“Kuklo!” With that lively cry, she leapt into his chest. Then she clung to him, and that was how anxious she’d been. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” breathed Sharle.
Kuklo felt shocked at his own recklessness, rather belatedly, and relieved from the bottom of his heart that he’d made it back.
I’m lucky just to be alive. No sooner than he let out a sigh, a wave of fatigue came crashing down on him. He was hardly to blame. Tossed out of the walls before sunrise, he’d danced with a Titan. If anything, he deserved a pat on the shoulder for not keeling over.
“Oh dear. We’d planned out such a moving reunion, but you couldn’t wait and just had to jump the gun…” Xenophon grimaced and scratched his head. “I suppose you could say this is moving in its own way.”
“I know it seems like everyone wants to leave the young couple to themselves, but do you think you could introduce us first?” Cardina asked Kuklo, grinning. He seemed to be enjoying the situation.
He’s acting like he’s a stranger… In truth, Cardina had a connection to Sharle. As the heads of the Inocencio family and the Baumeister family were now departed, their engagement had to be moot; it seemed unlikely that Cardina would be interested in courting her, certainly not at this stage, but this was delicate stuff.
“You don’t need to be introduced,” Kuklo stated.
“Not for my sake. But, you know, because the young lady doesn’t know who I am?”
Sharle had regained her composure while Kuklo and Cardina chatted. She stood up straight, turned to Cardina, and bowed her head. “My name is Sharle Inocencio.”
“How polite of you. I’m Cardina Baumeister. Nice to meet you,” Cardina replied innocently, glancing at Sharle to catch her reaction.