At first glance, the Relic charging station is not an impressive piece of equipment. It is just a box with a lightning bolt symbol placed on what looks like a counter.
âWhen, you put, a Relic, inside the box, it will, recharge it-no. When it finishes recharging, it will glow blue-no.â (Lulu)
Lulu tells me that while still not having calmed down. Her face is pale and it looks like it will take some time for her to return to normal. Her physical abilities are impressive, but it doesnât seem like she has dived into as much hell as a Hunter.
The other boys who have hurriedly chased after us also have pale expressions on their faces.
âSe-Seriously, I thought it was the end. I never thought that such a strong wind would blowââEven though this has never happened before.â (Boy)
âYou are being too reckless too, Cry-san. There was a chance that the mechanized soldier wouldnât make it in time, yet you still decided to jump down to save Luluâ¦â¦â¦â¦
It is not like I jumped off to save her. In fact, it is even possible that I was the one who fell first. As I take the rings off my fingers and place them in the box on the recharging station one after another, I say.
âHe-Here, here, I am glad everyone is safe in the end.â (Cry)
If that isnât something that usually happens, then instead of me saving Lulu, it is possible that she fell because of me. I am more brilliant than usual this time, but no matter how brilliant I am, there is nothing I can do against my bad luck. Lulu *mojimoji* fidgets as she picks at the hem of her dress and says.
âI know itâs late, butâ¦â¦ Thank you so much for saving me, Onii-chanâ¦â¦ I nearly died before I could become Nora-samaâs knight.â (Lulu)
âItâs fine, itâs fine. Really, it wasnât that big of a dealâ¦â¦â (Cry)
No, I am really sorryâ¦â¦ It is my fault, you know. All of it is my fault. So please donât look at me with that grateful look. In the first place, we were only saved thanks to the mechanized soldier that Ohii-sama lent me, and the only thing I really did was just to grab Lulu. Being thanked for something I havenât done. No matter how many times I experience this, it always makes me uncomfortable.
In order to change the atmosphere, I say while pointing at the box filled with Relics.
âHow long will it take to recharge these?â (Cry)
ââ¦â¦â¦â¦ That is strange. It should be over in no timeâ¦â¦ Cry-san, what did you put in there? Heck, there is a lot of it!â (Zaza)
If Mimic-kun was here, there would be even more. All I have now is the Relics that I always wear on me. But it is true that recharging 16 Barrier Rings is a number that only Lucia can recharge. Maybe it is a bad idea to try to recharge them all at onceâ¦â¦
As I reflect for a moment, the box flashes red for a moment, then is immediately followed by a blue light. I donât know what it is, but when I pick up the Barrier Rings, they are indeed fully charged. Codeâs technology is incredible! If I lived in this city, I would be able to use all the Relics I wantâ¦â¦â¦â¦ This is fascinating.
And since there is such a thing as a charging station, there may be other facilities unique to this city. I would like to get a souvenir for Ohii-sama who lent me my escorts.
âThat is strangeâ¦â¦ Why did it flash red for a moment? The recharging seems to be complete, thoughâ¦â¦â (Zaza)
I ask the children, who look somewhat unsettled.
âNeee, if you have time, could you show me around the area? I have come all the way to this country, so I would like to see as much as I can.â (Cry)
The best way to find out about the city is to ask the people who live there. The time I can spend sightseeing is limited, and I donât have time to have fun. I have to hurry up and have fun (Contradicting myself). When I make that suggestion, the children look at each other for a moment, then look straight at me and say.
âWell, you have saved Lulu, so of course it is fineâ¦â¦â (Zaza)
âThatâs right! In return, can you tell us about the outside world? Onii-chan, youâre from outside, right? There have been a lot of people coming from outside recently, so I was a bit curious-no!â (Lulu)
Luluâs eyes sparkle. Whether it is the people of this city or Ohii-sama, they are full of curiosity. Of course, it is no big deal to talk about the outside world. The things I can tell you arenât that great, thoâ. I collect all the Relics I have placed in the charging station and say with a badass smile. R
âYosh, I am on board with that idea. Letâs get straight to the point, is there any way to obtain a Relic in this city?â (Cry)
§ § §
People from outside are really strange. This is the honest expression that we, Class 2 citizens living in Nora-ojouâs areaââZaza and my friends had when we saw Cry Andrich, who has an overall rating of 4 points according to the system.
Recently, a large number of immigrants have been pouring in Code from the outside. Most of them are heading to Angus-oujiâs territory, but some have also come to Nora-ojouâs area, where we live. Since their purpose is to replenish their forces, most of these people are intimidating and exude an air of violence, in short, they are bad-tempered people.
The influx of new immigrants has some impacts on our lives. Their attitude as they walked through the middle of the city as if they owned the place was unpleasant, and some of them broke the rules soon after entering the city and ended up being sent to prison.
Currently, there are almost no such immigrants in Nora-ojouâs territory because they have incurred her wrath. This is a natural outcome for us, who dream and have been working hard to become Nora-ojouâs Royal Guards.
However, Cry Andrich, someone whom I, Zaza, happen to find on the street, is completely different from those people. His appearance is completely devoid of any intimidating presence and he occasionally flashes a smile without any motivation in it. An overall rating of 4 points by the system is something we have never seen before, but perhaps what is most surprising is that he is a Class 6 despite only having such a low rating.
Class 6. It is a number that is completely out of reach for citizens like me. Noâ¦â¦ Even among the other immigrants who came in droves, there is probably no one who has reached Class 6.
Class 6 is minor nobility. It is the highest rank a commoner can realistically aspire to.
It requires considerable contribution and trust to become a noble in this city. This is because only Nora-ojou and the other members of the Royal Family who are also Class 8 can appoint lower-ranking nobles, and the number of Class 6s that the Royal Family can appoint is strictly limited. Only the great King of Code can ignore that principle. That is why Royalty is reluctant to appoint nobles unless there is a very good reason.
I had told Cry earlier that some of the enhanced knights became nobles, but if it is Nora-ojou who made them noble, then they would need to raise their rank and become at least a knight commander. Cry serves Alisha-ojou, not Nora-ojou, so the selection criteria are likely to be different, but there is no doubt that it is a great achievement.
The reason why Lulu, one of our companions, spoke to Cry Andrich while she was going around was probably because the impression she got of him was so far removed from the status displayed in the information.
Normally, it would be unthinkable to casually talk to a noble unless you were extremely close with them, but that young man is so unlike a noble to the extent that you would think that it doesnât matter if he is one.
And the impression I got when I first saw him didnât change much even after we spent time together.
Certainly, there are some impressive things about him. Even if he has high-performance mechanized soldiers with him, it is not an easy thing to jump off a building without hesitation to save Lulu, who was blown off the building by the wind and fell off. With an overall rating of 4, he would definitely die if he fellââIf that is why he was appointed as a Royal Guard, then in a way, it makes sense.
However, other than that, the young man is ordinary. Ordinary, or rather, absent-minded, or hard to understand what he is thinkingâ¦â¦ There had been many immigrants to Nora-ojouâs area at one time, but not a single one of them had asked us to show them around the city. In the first place, immigrants are supposed to be here as mercenaries, so wanting to look around the city for interesting things can only make me think of him as a worry-free man.
However, this is also a good way for us to kill time. Training to become an enhanced knight isnât something we have to do all day long. The citizens of Code generally never go outside for the rest of their lives. For those like us who were born and raised in Code, the outside world is a source of curiosity. It is also a fun pastime to show our proud city to outsiders who know nothing about the city system.
Thanks for reading! Hereâs the extra chapter thanks to Valis1911 and hazaelgutierrez! Did Cry overload the charging station? Well yeah if you want to charge 16 Barrier Rings, of course there will be an alert. And lol at Zaza impression on Cry. Just an ordinary and inoffensive man. Ah Zaza, if only you know Cryâs real power!