Chapter 171. Joining (1)

As I exited the hotel, the middle of the main street in the outsourcing district was bustling. Bright sunlight poured down on the old beige stone pavement.

Come to think of it, I had been here before.

Enoch looked at the surrounding scenery for a long time.

A vast street lined with old and quaint Victorian-style buildings and iron streetlights.

A quaintly designed car passed by on the road, and customers could be seen here and there passing in front of a clothing store with mannequins on display.

Seeing the people with the same atmosphere as usual, it didn't seem like the ruin of the 19th outsourcing district was less than two days away, no matter how I looked at it.

“This place is strange.”

Suddenly, Sirocco muttered as she walked beside me.

“The number of people seems to be less than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is such a big area, but the number of people walking around is less than in our village.”

As Sirocco said, if you looked closely, the outsourcing district road was quite deserted compared to last time.

From Enoch's perspective, it was convenient for coming and going, so it was a good thing, but it was certainly strange that it was a little less crowded than last time.

Why was the train station crowded ahead of the magical beasts' attack, while the floating population in the city was small?

Sirocco looked around and squeezed my sleeve.

“So, what are we going to do from now on?”

“We're going to join the people who will be with us in this operation.”

“Hmph, isn't one of me enough?”

Sirocco looked back at me and asked seriously.

“Is it because I haven't grown yet? Is that it?”

Enoch slowly shook his head.

“No. You are of course an excellent fighting force now, but in a large-scale battle, it's better to have more than one person.”

“……Ah, right.”

Sirocco twitched her ears once as if she was slightly displeased and then shut her mouth.

Following the path I had taken once before, I went near the tram platform, and as expected, it was deserted today as there were few tram users.

After taking Sirocco, who was looking around distractedly and following me closely, and changing trams, Enoch got off at the same stop as last time, came out of the station, and walked along the sign.

And when he reached the 5-way intersection, Enoch stopped.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

“Huh?”

“There's something I need to buy before we go.”

Enoch stopped by the shopping district and entered the same sandwich chain store with the distinctive green sign as last time.

Then, he picked out a lot of sandwich ingredients displayed in the long display case and had them wrapped.

Sirocco, with her ears perked up, stuck to the display case window and watched.

When Enoch put a sandwich in Sirocco's mouth, she mumbled it and then smiled brightly.

“Hmm, this is delicious! But why did you buy so many when you're not even going to eat them now?”

Enoch replied simply.

“There’s a reason.”

***

After passing the familiar hill, the place that appeared was a huge high-rise building with rusty outdoor units sticking out of the exterior walls.

The paint was peeling off all over, giving it a dilapidated impression.

Sirocco, who was looking up at it, glanced at me and asked.

“So, where is this?”

“It's the meeting place.”

Enoch pulled the uniquely shaped rusty doorbell once and rang it. Then, an electronic notification sound was heard from inside, and someone came running with a clatter.

Then the door was flung open, and a pretty girl with bright pink hair poked her upper body out. It was April.

“Ah!!”

The moment their eyes met right in front of him, her pink eyes shone with anticipation.

But soon, after looking at Enoch more closely, April sighed with a slightly disappointed expression.

“Ah, what is this.”

“…?”

“For a moment, I thought it was him because of the similar height and the backlight. I got my hopes up for nothing.”

April muttered with a slight pout.

Enoch nonchalantly looked down at her and replied.

“I'm sorry to disappoint you.”

“No! It was just a thought. In the first place, I like you too, Lord Enoch. It's not often I see such a handsome man, right?”

April shrugged her shoulders, which were exposed over her half-worn-down jumper, and skillfully made an excuse.

Just then, from behind her, long white-gold hair billowed, and soon, a clear and refreshing female voice came from inside the workshop.

“Ah! You're Lord Enoch, the direct lineage! Hello!!”

An engineer in a T-shirt tied up to reveal her slender and slim stomach, and leggings that seemed to emphasize her long, shapely legs. It was Nano.

She was in the middle of working, and she wiped the soot off her white nose with a swipe and smiled refreshingly.

“I've already heard a lot of rumors about you, direct lineage!! Welcome to the [Bolt & Spanner] workshop!!”

Enoch nodded.

The small but incredibly potential-filled workshop run by Ronto and Nano was chosen as the temporary meeting place before heading to the field.

This was the most efficient in many ways.

Grumble─

In that moment, Nano, who was facing Enoch, realized that her stomach was rumbling, and she rubbed her stomach awkwardly and smiled.

“Ah, ahaha. I was so engrossed in my work…”

Enoch held out the sandwich bag.

“I've heard about you. You're a brilliant engineer. Thank you for providing a meeting place.”

“Ahaha! On the contrary, it's an honor for me! It seems the rumor that I skip meals has spread, but anyway, I'll enjoy the sandwich!”

She took the sandwich bag and smiled cheerfully, and then, as if she had just remembered, she pointed to a corner of the workshop with her finger.

“Oh, and there's a package for you, Lord Enoch!”

Nano said, pointing to a package box at the entrance. It was a pure white and large box with the emblem of the Holy Séjour printed on it. Enoch nodded.

It seemed the ampoules he had requested from Amelia had arrived. He would have to take care of it later.

“Oh?! Wait!!”

Just then, Nano spotted Sirocco standing next to Enoch, and she approached with her bright blue eyes sparkling.

“Wow! Those ears and tail are so cool!!”

“Hmph, you recognize how cool these ears are, huh?”

“Yes! What's the principle behind them?”

“…Huh? Principle?”

Nano’s eyes sparkled, and she eagerly poked her head in and asked.

“Yes!! Are they artifacts? Or mechanical devices?”

“No, mechanical, what are you talking about! Don't you watch the news or anything these days?”

April, who was chiding her from the side, approached Sirocco with sparkling eyes.

“They're real ears, right? Those? Wolf ears! I saw them in an article when the news about Lord Enoch was hot. Can I just touch them once?”

“No, I'll never let you touch them.”

Sirocco crossed her arms and lifted her head.

“Wolf ears and tails are very sensitive parts, so I don't let anyone touch them. If you want to touch them, be prepared.”

Enoch tilted his head.

Come to think of it, was this the first time Sirocco, a formal Follower Family, had met April and Nano? They didn't have any particular connection in the original work either.

Just then, Sirocco walked forward and sniffed the two of them, and then tossed out a comment.

“…Hmph, so it was you guys?”

“Huh? What was?”

At April's words, Sirocco looked at her with coy eyes for a moment and then glanced away. Then she exclaimed triumphantly.

“You know! This is the den of females you've been increasing…!”

Thud.

Enoch casually covered Sirocco's mouth from behind as she was about to make a bombshell statement.

“Ugh!”

As he was hugged from behind, Sirocco, as if she was frustrated, perked up her ears and then wagged her tail vigorously.

Fortunately, he had managed to stop her before she could say anything more.

“Ah, females……? Huh? Did I just mishear……?”

“Huh? Did something go wrong?”

He replied as nonchalantly as possible to Nano and April, who were showing different reactions.

“Ah. She says strange things sometimes because she's a beast-kin, so please understand.”

“……”

“……”

He probably managed to cover it up well. Maybe.

Enoch nonchalantly looked outside and changed the subject.

“But there don't seem to be as many people on the road as I thought. What's going on? Did they evacuate or something?”

“Ah, that. It's for the festival preparations!”

“Festival?”

As Nano answered, Ronto appeared right next to her. He nodded in agreement as he wiped his hands with a towel.

“That's right, a festival. It's not a big deal. It's just a tradition in the outsourcing district where they make and fly sky lanterns with magic.”

“Sky lanterns, like those hot air balloon things?”

When April asked with a puzzled look, Ronto nodded.

“That's right. Around this time, people set up street stalls and stuff in the central square where they fly those sky lanterns, so people flock there.”

“Hmm, is that a characteristic of the 19th outsourcing district? There are no such festivals in our outsourcing district. It's strange.”

“I don't know. They say there's some history involved, but I'm not interested. I guess this garbage city needs a change of pace too. Anyway, Nano-nuna! Please finish the work you were doing! I'll greet the guests!”

Ronto glanced at me and turned his back.

“And freelancer-nuna and direct lineage-nim, just a moment.”

Then he went into the depths of the workshop. April and Enoch exchanged glances and followed Ronto.

In a corner shaded by the workshop's large iron cabinet, Ronto stopped abruptly.

Then he looked back at Enoch and April and opened his mouth with an expression that tried to maintain composure as much as possible.

“I heard about the direct lineage from the freelancer who had his face covered with a visor before. Are you going to issue a citizenship to my sister?”

When Enoch nodded, Ronto clutched his chest and clenched his fist.

“Phew, good! That's great!”

“Yeah, but there's one problem.”

“Problem?”

Enoch replied to Ronto, who had a dumbfounded expression.

“Even if a direct lineage applies for it, the procedure for issuing a citizenship to the Elsyde Domain takes at least a week.”

“A week…!”

Ronto’s eyes widened at those words. Then he dropped his head and muttered.

“I expected it, but…. In the end, like this…”

“What. What's wrong?”

April, who was next to him, tilted her head and asked.

“You said the magical beasts would attack this time. So, I thought if things went well, I could at least get Nano-nuna to evacuate to another place first.”

Ronto added gloomily.

“Because the residents of the outsourcing district in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain can't easily move their residence to another outsourcing district due to the system.”

In other words, as long as they were residents of the outsourcing district, there was no way to escape from this place.

If the defensive line of the outsourcing district that would face the magical beasts was breached, everyone might die. That was probably why Ronto had a despairing expression.

“Ah! What do you mean by that!”

Just then, Nano poked her head out from behind Enoch. Her white-gold hair billowed in the air.

Ronto exclaimed in surprise.

“What, what. Nuna. How much did you hear?”

“Huh? I just heard you say you were going to evacuate me!”

Nano slung an electric drill over her shoulder and laughed.

“I was working. The sound of the electric drill is so loud!”

“R-right? Did you finish your work?”

“Of course! Punctuality is life for a genius engineer!”

Nano smiled refreshingly and then pounded her gently swollen chest with her fist.

“In the first place, I'm going to help this time too!”

“Help?”

“That's right! If the Victoria army's defensive line is breached, we'll be in danger too, so it's better to fight back!!”

April's gaze became skeptical as she asked.

“But how? Do you have any aptitude for combat?”

“Of course, I might not be as helpful as the others in a frontal battle! But there's a way that even I can help!!”

Nano said, snapping her fingers.

However, from behind her back in the air, a cross-shaped something that emitted a bright blue light from its center floated and flew over.

A cross-shaped metal panel with a mechanical design that gave off a strong sci-fi vibe. It was a kind of drone.

“It's still a prototype with no data for combat use, but it's my own masterpiece artifact!”

Nano gently stroked the drone that had flown up to her eyes, and then proudly spread her arms and introduced it.

“Multi-purpose combat drone! Bzz-Bzz No. 1!”

Seeing that, Enoch’s eyes widened slightly.

The [Multi-Purpose Drone], an artifact that had been floating around Nano in the original work. To think that it was first created here and now and was being deployed in a real battle.

Enoch had expected it to some extent, but it was still quite surprising to see it in person.

And of course, since Nano was also a [Support] type position who could fight directly in the original work, he could expect her help in her own way.

Just then, April, with her eyes half-closed, poked the hovering drone and asked.

“I-it's amazing, but you named this drone yourself, right? Why the name…”

“Of course, because it goes bzz-bzz when it flies!”

“Wow. That naming sense is really…”

As April made a fed-up expression, Sirocco poked her head in from the side and said.

“Hmph, you made this yourself? I don't know what it is, but you made it really well.”

“Ahaha, it's an honor!!”

Watching the three girls actively talking to each other in the light, Enoch smiled faintly in the shade of the iron cabinet.

They were the powerful chess pieces that he could prepare. With this, the core fighting force for this operation was roughly in place.

There was only one piece left to obtain in this operation.

Enoch turned on his terminal and checked Aslin's contact information that had been added there. There was no contact yet.

Just then, April clapped her hands and said.

“Anyway, we have to leave for the outer border of the outsourcing district tonight, so until then, if it's okay with you, client-nim, shall we look around the festival? It looks fun!”

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