You're the Space Knights Order, Aren't You?! (33)

The cable car stopped at a semicircular station made of rock, apparently built later.

The boy noticed that outside the cable car entrance, suspended three hundred meters in the air, there were rows of landing platforms for flying vehicles and magical beasts like griffins. The massive warehouses in the distance were likely hangars for armored vehicles and Aether Armor. Clearly, most people who regularly traveled through the upper and middle districts of the Imperial Capital did not obediently take the cable car up like Ian did.

"This is it."

Under Teres's guidance, Ian stepped out of the cable car. Teres then led him into a passage beside the station. "This is the express entrance straight to the fifth level. I'm not very familiar with it myself. If we get the chance, we can explore the Imperial Capital together next time."

"If there's a chance."

Ian agreed, while communicating telepathically with Hua An in another cable car. (Miss Hua An, you've been to the Imperial Capital before, right?)

(How did you get in back then?)

(Flew.) The Fairy girl's answer was simple. (The Sertal Empire's Imperial Capital is certainly huge, but its internal structure is actually similar to Falling Star City and Fairyland. They're all shelter designs with their own ecological cycles... After all, they were all part of the Pre-Epoch Civilization and survived the Calamity of Falling Skies. It's only natural that they'd be similar.)

(Now that I think about it, so this is what a cable car feels like... Humans can see perspectives that us Fairies can't.)

(Is that so...) Ian had not expected the Fairies' Falling Star City and the various Fairylands to be much like the Imperial Capital. No wonder the Fairy girl had been interested along the way, but not nearly as astonished as he was.

That made sense... To the native inhabitants of Terra, born and raised on Terra, an Imperial Capital this vast was simply natural.

Or rather, if the Central Empire's Imperial Capital were not this large or this extraordinary, how could it deserve to be called the Divinely Blessed City?

And what was the essential difference between its various levels and the different districts of a city? In the end, they were the same thing.

After leaving the cable car, Ian and Teres followed Passage 5 for a while before arriving at the fifth level of the Imperial Capital's middle district.

It felt like entering the belly of a colossal beast.

Every level of the Imperial Capital's middle district was a hollow ring. Lone Mountain stood at the center—the main body of what Ian called the Planetary Shield Generator—while the urban districts were attached along the outer side. Each level covered roughly one or two hundred square kilometers.

That was not particularly large, merely the size of a medium-to-large town. But considering that it was located inside Lone Mountain, the scale was astonishing.

Upon entering the fifth level, Ian could not help freezing slightly. What appeared before him was an unexpectedly bustling urban district—town buildings no different from those outside, pedestrians walking along spacious avenues, shop lights, the clamor of passersby, and vendors hawking their wares. Even beneath their feet lay solid rock and soil.

Other than the silver-white metal dome overhead and the artificial sunlamps serving as light sources, everything was no different from the outside world. Mostly single-story or two- to three-story buildings stood in neat rows, forming a maze of intersecting streets.

It even seemed more rustic, because the middle district had height restrictions. There could not be countless skyscrapers over a hundred meters tall like those outside.

"This is no different from outside."

Taking a deep breath of the familiar smell of everyday life, Ian blinked. He even saw birds flying between the buildings.

There were actually wild animals here?

He found it hard to believe. "I thought the inside would be full of steel cabins and corridors... at the very least, much narrower."

"Teres, just how many people can the Imperial Capital accommodate? Every level is practically a small city..."

"Why would you think that?" Teres and the others turned around curiously to look at Ian instead. They glanced around at the surrounding scenery in puzzlement. "Isn't this normal? The Imperial Capital's interior was built by replicating the outside ecosystem. Forget prairie pigeons—even squirrels live here."

"As for how many people... in a crisis, the Imperial Capital can shelter all the residents of the Great Plains District. Over a long period, it's hard to say, but for a short time, tens of millions should not be a problem."

There's no explaining this to you Terra natives... Tens of millions? This place is far too spacious for that!

Ian clicked his tongue inwardly. How could he put it? The Imperial Capital he had imagined should have felt more technologically advanced. At the very least, it ought to have had the atmosphere of a shelter.

Who would have thought that after entering the middle district, while it was indeed a sealed shelter under managed conditions, it was less a shelter and more like... a space city simulating a surface ecosystem?

"Exactly!"

At that realization, Ian suddenly understood. He surveyed the entire fifth-level layout again, and everything became clear. "So that's how it is."

The overall structure of the middle district was not a shelter at all, but an independent "satellite colony"!

The Pre-Epoch Civilization must have used the unused space inside the Planetary Shield Generator as an experimental zone for simulating space-city environments. That was why they had deliberately built it to look exactly like the outside world.

Every level here was a different experimental space-city structure!

Thinking of it that way, it all made sense.

But to Terra natives like Teres and Hua An, all of this was perfectly natural. If one wanted to ask why, one could only ask the ancient people of the Pre-Epoch Civilization.

"A knights order stationed in a satellite colony... That does have quite the space-opera flavor." Ian shook his head slightly.

The Inspecting Knights Order headquarters held a very high status even within the Imperial Capital. It occupied a vast area in the eastern part of the fifth level, close to the inner edge of the ring.

The streets here were rather quiet. Pedestrians unconsciously lowered their voices as they passed, and quite a few knights wore standardized armor like Teres and the others. Of course, there were also people in ordinary uniforms rather than armor; they were the Order's clerical staff.

"Miss Hua An, I'll have to ask you to look after Frost Butterfly for a while. I see a juice shop over there. Here's some money—take Frost Butterfly and have something to drink!"

At the headquarters entrance, Ian removed some of the more sensitive items from his person. The Fairy girl turned to look at the juice shop nearby, then immediately nodded with delight. "No problem—but we can drink a lot, you know?"

Ian did not mind. "It's fine even if you spend it all."

In truth, he gave her the money because he wanted Hua An to spend it all. The Fairy girl had helped him immensely along the way. He would have felt bad if he kept asking for her help without compensation.

Especially since... the Fairy girl had always believed he was merely an ordinary genius Fairy Bloodline ascender. She had no idea how many secrets and watchers stood behind him... The boy felt that he needed to find an opportunity to come clean with her.

At the very least, he needed to explain his basic background.

After settling the two Fairy girls, he entered the headquarters with Teres.

The hierarchy of the Inspecting Knights Order was quite simple. First Energy Level apprentices, Second Energy Level squad captains, and Third Energy Level grand knights formed a stable pyramid structure. Above the grand knights stood important figures such as Marquis Barton, the commander of the Inspecting Knights Order, and its two deputy commanders.

Even apprentices generally had their own teams.

After all, quite a few great nobles sent their younger relatives here to build credentials. Naturally, those people could not go around completing missions like real Patrol Knights, so there were teams specifically assigned to do the work in their stead.

Teres was clearly not one of them. Yet he had still risen through the ranks and become a squad captain. He led Ian in through the main entrance and into a courtyard.

The brown-haired knight guided Ian toward a two-story building on the side of the courtyard, where many people were hard at work.

"The archives. I won't be going in."

Teres said, "You know, I was sent to pick you up..." He did not finish the sentence, but his meaning was already clear.

The important figure who had sent Teres to fetch Ian would probably arrive here soon... Teres was warning Ian to be careful.

Ian said nothing, but gave him a look of understanding.