Bastion City's Mysterious Visitor

February 4, Year 1 of the New Calendar

Bastion City

In the half-ruined city, artisans hammered away, repairing its facilities, while workers hurried to move supplies.

The bugs who had been taught agriculture by the Sunfire God tilled the soil. They needed to restore the city's ability to produce goods as quickly as possible.

As the first fortress established after the launch of the Sunrise Expedition, Bastion City also held tremendous symbolic significance.

So even though the artisans were already as busy as they could be, they still made a point of setting aside time to create decorations befitting the god they worshipped.

As for the style of those decorations, it was, quite simply, flames, flames, and flames, along with flames, and, of course, more flames.

Orange-red flames, the Sunfire God's most distinctive feature, symbolizing hope and warmth.

From simple torches and bonfires to murals and tapestries depicting flames.

The stone bricks, gray as ash, served as canvases covered in traces of orange-red fire.

And all of this came from the Black Shell beasts that had once lived here. Their meat had been smoked into marching rations, and their shells crushed for use as paving material.

Their hides and skeletons had also been put to full use. They might have vanished entirely from this land, but their likenesses would endure forever.

Yet no one mourned them. The bugs were too busy building, developing, and opening up new territory.

Clang!

With a thunderous crash, two Walkers assigned specifically to guard this place pulled open the massive, heavy gates with their bare hands.

It certainly looked rather primitive, but before the seeds of technology had sprouted, this was the best method available.

Outside stood the second supply convoy, which would also be the last.

According to Gron's calculations, two shipments of supplies would be enough to restore Bastion City's productive capacity and allow it to fulfill its role as a staging fortress.

These supplies of iron tools, food, cloth, and precious seeds would become the foundation of a great undertaking.

The bugs transporting the cargo were all exceedingly careful, afraid their own mistakes might damage the precious supplies.

Among them, a suspicious figure wrapped entirely in a black robe entered the city with the advancing convoy.

Since some bugs had yet to adapt to the dry environment of the Black Shell Plains, she was not the only one wearing a black robe.

The bug cautiously evaded the city guards' harsh scrutiny, and at the corner of an alley, the suspicious figure immediately vanished without a trace.

"Phew, finally made it in."

After removing the black robe she had used as a disguise, the yellow bug spoke with relief.

On her way to Bastion City, she had realized how badly she stood out.

After all, bugs with "distinctive features" like hers were quite rare.

As luck would have it, a new supply convoy arrived just then, so she took advantage of a laborer's carelessness during a break to secretly take a black robe.

And just as she had expected, she successfully slipped into the city.

This yellow bug was named Raily. She was an observer with a low degree of modification, responsible for monitoring ecological encroachment between the Black River Plains and the Pitch-Black Nest.

That was how it was supposed to be, anyway. Unfortunately, Raily had never been able to stay in one place for long. She disliked it.

If she had not only recently discovered the unusual developments here, Raily would probably have arrived long ago.

Before long, this extraordinary city caught her eye.

"It's hardly intricate, but the overall style is grand and magnificent. It's practically the opposite of our territory."

Raily assessed it earnestly. In the territory where she had been born, shortages meant cutting costs on every facility wherever possible. Naturally, she never saw buildings this lavish.

"They call it meticulous attention to detail, but really, they're just stingy. Even death has to be carefully budgeted..."

Shaking her head, Raily looked toward the bugs walking along the street and continued.

"There have been flame decorations everywhere along the way. Do all these bugs worship fire?"

Collecting herself, the yellow bug felt her powerful curiosity stir again. She could hardly wait to explore this place unlike anything she had ever seen.

With that thought, she covered herself with the black robe again. "There are all sorts of bugs in the city, but my mechanically modified hands still stand out too much."

She quietly left the alley and slipped into the stream of bugs, pulling her hood low. Only after confirming that none of them had noticed her did Raily relax a little and turn her attention to her surroundings.

Bastion City spread outward in roughly three concentric rings around the tower at its center.

The outermost ring held warehouses and barracks. The warehouses handled the storage and distribution of supplies, while the barracks protected the entire city and served as its first line of defense against outside attacks.

The middle ring contained residential and commercial districts. The currency the bugs used here was also peculiar: flat, round pieces of metal heated until they were pure throughout.

Different materials seemed to signify different values, because Raily had indeed seen two bugs exchange different numbers of coins for the same kind of goods.

Raily found this novel. Residents could choose what they wanted themselves, rather than receive fixed allotments through a rationing system. It offered considerable freedom.

How those highly uniform coins of pure metal were created was another intriguing question.

Raily began imagining how the coins were manufactured. What did the process look like? What types of machines did it use?

She could never have guessed.

Naturally, this was Lin Jin's work. The Sunfire God had made these coins in passing while practicing and developing his abilities.

They were merely ordinary ore smelted at extremely high temperatures until it reached the desired state, then pressed into coins.

But they looked somewhat familiar, and Lin Jin soon thought of Geo. Realizing that these coins were well suited for use as currency, he immediately introduced them on a broad scale.

Since most bugs had their own work to do, the task fell to Aemon, the director of the Great Library, who had remained in the rear writing books.

After understanding the concept of currency, the Glow Tribe Chief naturally gave his wholehearted approval. He did raise the possibility of counterfeiting, but Lin Jin had already anticipated that.

He could make as many as he wanted, whenever he wanted, and counterfeiting them was impossible.

Mortal bugs lacked the technology to smelt pure metal, let alone the machinery to compress it into standardized shapes.

In fact, a large chest filled to the brim with coins had arrived with the second shipment of supplies.

With the Sunfire God's personal backing, this currency would never depreciate.

Naturally, Raily had no idea that a single little coin could have so much behind it.

Soon putting the matter out of her mind, she continued forward until she reached the tower at the very center, enclosed by a second wall. This was the heart of the entire city.

Raily stood in a vast square.

The tower before her was so tall that she could scarcely take it all in with a single glance. She soon realized that something unusual seemed to be at its summit.

This was probably also the reason for the sudden abnormalities in the Black Shell Plains lately.

As an observer, she should have reported the anomaly immediately, but the thought never even entered Raily's mind.

At that moment, her vision was entirely consumed by that radiance. In a daze, she kept moving forward. Only when two alert soldiers stopped her did she come back to her senses.

"Stand back! Who are you? What are you trying to do?"

"Uh, no, I... sorry!"

Snapping out of her trance, Raily fled in a panic. She did not even understand what had just happened to her.

Leaning against a wall, the ladybug panted heavily. As she recalled everything that had just happened, she could not help trembling all over.

"It was as though I instantly lost my mind, becoming a bug moving toward a light source on nothing but its most primal instincts. This..."

It was terrifying, and in a way she could not comprehend.

Now she found it increasingly difficult to determine just what was atop that tower.

It was something she had never understood or even imagined before, a monumental development that might overturn the entire world.

"Interesting."

Once the fear faded, an intense desire to investigate took its place.

Raily felt an overwhelming curiosity about the truth atop the tower, one that surpassed even her concern for her own life.

The Gear Council had been right to worry about her. Even now, her mind was filled with nothing but uncovering the truth, and she had forgotten everything else.

Just like that miner who had once touched the forbidden door.