Ausia had visited Steel City long ago, and compared to her memories, it had now undergone changes that were nothing short of earth-shattering.
Towering buildings rose from the ground, roads crisscrossed in every direction, alchemical towers operated day and night, and the city itself was gradually expanding outward, as though it would never end.
Beneath the ground, beyond the reach of sight, the city was even more vast than it was aboveground.
For hundreds and thousands of years, the dwarves had expanded the underground world without pause. Perhaps not even the oldest dwarf knew exactly how vast it had become.
Everything had changed.
What surprised Ausia most was that it was not merely the things visible to the eye; even Steel City's customs and habits seemed to have undergone some subtle change.
These people actually started worshipping characters from novels. Can you believe it?!
Yes, worshipping.
Ausia did not think she was describing it incorrectly.
Just now, in the jewelry shop where she had bought accessories, two young female clerks had been discussing Sherlock Holmes. Their expressions could only be described as fanatical.
For an instant, Ausia had even felt as if she had encountered devout zealots from a church.
She simply could not understand it.
"Yes, a character from a novel. The novel is also named after him, called 'Sherlock Holmes.'" Koya explained Sherlock Holmes's origins to Ausia.
"Detective stories?" Ausia's interest was piqued. Her curiosity had always been strong. "Is it a detective story?"
"Yes." Koya nodded.
There was no doubt about it. The main content of Sherlock Holmes was Sherlock Holmes relying on his own wisdom to solve one complicated and ever-changing case after another, reasoning out the final truth hidden in the deepest places—the truth most difficult to imagine—from angles that others could easily overlook.
"Where