Work and Life

Xilian changed into the City Guard Bureau's gray uniform. A shield badge was pinned to his chest, engraved with three converging rivers—the bureau's emblem.

The City Guard Bureau provided standard-issue weapons, but its staff followed different Fated Paths and had very different fighting habits. Most preferred to use weapons they brought themselves.

Xilian was no exception.

As always, the Boiling Sword hung at Xilian's waist. Before leaving White Cliff Town, he had copied Nuen and wrapped the hilt in layer after layer of bandages to conceal the Sunflower Clan's crest.

A standard-issue pistol from the City Guard Bureau sat in the holster on his other side, and his ammunition pouch was full of brass-colored bullets.

"It's your first day on the job, so I'll show you how things generally work."

Dailin explained patiently, "The City Guard Bureau mainly handles dangerous supernatural incidents—investigating Chaos Followers hiding in the city, dealing with Chaos incursions from outside, even clearing out hordes of demons gathering in the Wilderness."

"But we don't face life-threatening work every day. Most of the time, all we need to do is patrol at night."

Dailin took Xilian aboard the City Guard Bureau's dedicated light-rail line. It ran straight to the high wall surrounding Her City.

"Different teams cover different districts, while we take turns patrolling the wall at night." Dailin gave a helpless shrug. "As luck would have it, it's our team's turn."

After passing the guards' inspection, they took an elevator to the top of the towering wall.

"No need to be so tense. Night patrol is safe most of the time—even pleasant. We just stroll around until dawn."

Xilian asked curiously, "What if something happens?"

"Well... then it's probably trouble. The kind that might get someone killed."

Dailin laughed, looking thoroughly at ease.

The top of the wall was remarkably broad. It even had a track laid along it so patrol officers could move quickly.

Numerous defensive installations lined the wall's outer edge. Heavy gun barrels pointed one after another toward the Wilderness beyond the vast darkness. They were automated weapons built by the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms and could fire without anyone operating them.

Xilian followed Dailin along the wall. Besides the two of them, he saw other City Guard Bureau employees in gray uniforms.

"Night patrol isn't just a walk around the wall. We also have to check how the Soul Marrow is burning."

Torches stood at intervals along the wall. The rate at which the Soul Marrow inside them burned indicated the strength of the Interstice Gray Domain each night.

"Who are they?"

Xilian had spotted several unfamiliar figures on the wall among the City Guard Bureau staff. Their black robes bore a chain of rings joined end to end.

"They're Spirit Artisans from the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms," Dailin explained. "They maintain the wall and come up now and then to inspect it."

The Court of a Thousand Mechanisms was divided into five Foundry Courts, and the ring-and-chain emblem belonged to the Ten Thousand Veins · Linkage Foundry Court.

"They have quite an interesting history, too."

Dailin began telling him about Her City's past. "Decades ago, there were hardly any Spirit Artisans here. Then one day, an enormous mobile fortress surfaced from the Spirit Realm right beside the city."

"What?"

Xilian was stunned.

"Each Foundry Court is based in a mobile fortress, a Miracle Creation produced by the Heavenly Craftsman Iron Father's Cosmic Furnace.

"Most Foundry Courts keep their mobile fortresses in one place for years at a time.

"But the Linkage Foundry Court was different. Back in the Renaissance Era, they drove the Linkage Flail across the Civilized World, providing technical support to countries and cities along the way.

"Then the Year of Rebellion began. The Civilized World's territory shrank drastically, nations and city-states fractured, and the routes they once traveled gave way to the Interstice Gray Domain and ruins. With their own supply problems on top of that, the Linkage Flail's whereabouts became unpredictable. No one had seen them for years."

Dailin continued his story.

"The mobile fortress that suddenly surfaced beside Her City decades ago was the Linkage Flail. They never explained where they'd traveled during all those missing years. After taking on a massive load of supplies in Her City, they sank back into the Spirit Realm and vanished again."

"Fortunately, many Spirit Artisans chose to stay in Her City when the Linkage Flail left. They established a branch of the Linkage Foundry Court here, trained students, and rebuilt the city."

Dailin stamped a foot, then looked toward the magnificent Torchlight Lighthouse inside the city.

"You could say everything in Her City today was built by the Spirit Artisans who stayed. That's why they hold several seats on the City-State Council and command a lot of respect here."

"Is that so?"

Xilian watched the figures disappear into the darkness and found himself recalling the night Bruce had arrived.

That rough rust-red shape and the sound of hammering... Perhaps they had come from a mobile fortress trying to surface into reality.

As Xilian pondered this, Dailin quietly studied him.

A few days earlier, Anya had been certain Xilian was not an enemy. She had also said that, as a Torchbearer, he possessed an extraordinarily noble and powerful bloodline.

Dailin couldn't help wondering whether Xilian came from some powerful Clan. If so, what had brought him to Her City?

But if Xilian's status really was so lofty, he ought to have at least a basic understanding of the world. Yet he had never seen a Soul Marrow potion and barely knew how the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms was organized.

They chatted as they checked the burning Soul Marrow. Every so often, a heavy cannon boomed. The automated turrets had detected approaching groups of demons and opened fire.

That happened often at night. Dailin told Xilian not to worry: several buffer zones lay beyond the high wall. They would only need to intervene if the demons crossed them.

Dailin tested the waters. "You're much more professional than I expected. Have you done this sort of work before?"

"More or less."

Xilian kept his answer casual and revealed nothing about his past.

Dailin did not press him.

Only when dawn began to brighten the horizon did they take the elevator down from the wall. Dailin invited Xilian for a drink, a pleasant end to their day's work, and Xilian accepted.

A new city and a new life called for new connections.

Xilian had no objection to making friends. Besides, these new friends might help him with his coming revenge.

"Her City lies on the Outer Flame Frontier, but it's close to the Dawn Corridor, so it's developed pretty well. It's safe, too. It won't vanish overnight like that city-state in the papers."

Dailin sighed. "Settling down here for the rest of my life doesn't sound so bad."

"You're not from Her City?"

"No." Dailin shook his head. "I was probably about your age when I came here."

Xilian asked, "Where's your hometown?"

"Nowhere worth mentioning. It had its glory days, but after several Chaos incursions, most of the city was left in ruins. Nobody wanted to stay. Everyone fought to get out."

Dailin went on, "I did go back once a few years ago. It hadn't fallen, but it was still a wreck. I don't know how much longer it can hold on."

Like Xilian, Dailin was holding back parts of his past.

"Well, let's call it a day."

Dailin was the first to say goodbye. "I have a date this afternoon. Need to get some sleep first."

Xilian joked, "With Anya?"

"Of course."

At the mention of Anya, Dailin broke into a broad smile. He waved and headed off.

Xilian's working life began. Each night, he simply patrolled the high wall. No blades, no battles. It was so peaceful that he found it unsettling.

Dailin often made strange jokes with Xilian and invited him for a drink after work at one bar or another.

With Dailin leading the way, Xilian had nearly visited every bar in the area.

Sometimes Xilian patrolled with Anya.

Anya might have had something against him. She rarely met his eyes. She was poised and gracious with everyone else, but a little stiff around him.

Their patrols were the dullest of all. Anya rarely spoke first, and Xilian felt awkward starting a conversation. Yet she would sometimes give him pastries she had made herself, leaving him thoroughly confused.

Of all his coworkers, Xilian got along best with Elton.

Dailin had said Elton was bad at socializing, but once the subject turned to Swift Swallow Communication Technology, Elton never ran out of things to say.

Their shared interest in Swift Swallow Communication Technology soon brought Xilian and Elton closer.

Meifuni was friendly to Xilian as well. She never put on airs as a young lady of privilege and often invited him and their other coworkers to gatherings under the pretext of giving them a better meal.

A month passed in a blur. On another day off, Xilian stood on a busy street, looking around.

According to the address Meifuni had given him, the gathering was somewhere nearby. But even after circling the area several times, Xilian could not find it.

"Hello. Are you Xilian?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar woman stepped out of the crowd and held out a hand to Xilian with a smile.

"I'm Valerie, Meifuni's friend. You're lost, aren't you?"