Chapter 4

The train headed west toward the sea before turning northwest. A portion of the city of Ariko stood outside the walls. Hakade could see the tall buildings that once made up the business district in the distance.

Somewhere behind those buildings was an enormous crater left behind by a missile. His mind still remembered the streak of lights traveling across the skies that night. Only by a miracle did he survive. Things had been different since. Things that shouldn’t be possible became possible. Things that didn’t previously exist now exist.

For the first time in history, the world became unrecognizable. It had turned into something so different that even the facts written in history books felt like fiction.

“We’re entering the walls,” Laurel called out.

In front of them, a section of the city that had been walled off appeared. Massive cannons sat on top of the walls, designed as defense weapons, along with smaller missile launchers and anti-air guns.

The wall spanned the northwest end of the city to the neighboring city of Idenkai and the artificial islands in Ariko Bay. It also protected an airport, which provided access to the outside world.

Hakade pulled the train to a stop. A group of drones flew forward, scanning his train, a normal procedure for entering walled cities. One drone carrying a screen provided information about the train. It floated in front of the locomotive, and Hakade made sure the information was correct.

Once finished, the drones flew away, and the signal light turned green. Hakade pushed the train forward, slowly entering the city. Civilization inside the walls had largely been kept intact.

People crowded the streets, and tall skyscrapers rose to the heavens. It looked like a bunch of boxes stacked on top of each other. Not as beautiful as prior to the war, but still a decent living space.

The train pulled into the platform.

“Mia, can you wake Ana up?” Hakade said, this time dialing the intercom to just Mia’s room.

“Wait.”

The New Ariko City Station had a ton of tracks, filled to the brim with trains. There were twelve lines in total, making it one of the largest stations in the region. The middle two lines were kept empty for trains moving by.

The remaining ten lines could have two trains each, and Hakade could see fifteen other trains. The station also had a loop system, which allowed trains to turn around without difficult procedures. Many of the train stations inside walled cities had this loop, as most rail runners' trains consisted of a mix of both passenger and cargo trains, which needed a certain arrangement. Sometimes parts of the loop went outside the walls, though.

“She’s up.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll get the route ready by the time you come back.”

“Thank you.”

Hakade got off the train, right as a different train passed by. This was the city’s commuter train. Ariko city used to have eight commuter lines, but now that number has been reduced to two.

“Chief,” Ana called out. Mia followed behind her.

“You need me to stock up on the usual, right?” Mia asked.

Hakade nodded.

“Leave it to me.” Mia waved and left the station. Hakade returned his attention to Ana.

“Did you have a good nap?”

“Yep. I’m a bit fresher now… I think.”

They headed to the guild building not far from the station. The rail runners’ guild provided rail runners with quests. Some of these quests involved regular transport missions, others involved hunting targets.

MARA continuously constructs robots and military units, while monsters could breed much like regular animals. By hunting them down, they kept their numbers to a minimum. For MARA, people were still looking for their factories. Until they could shut them down, people needed to go out and destroy convoys. Even one or two tanks destroyed could put a dent in their operation.

The guild building wasn’t large. It occupied an old office building, sharing the space with some other guilds and organizations. Once he entered, he pushed the button to floor number three, where he took a number to meet with a receptionist.

“I heard you went to a game store?” Ana asked.

“Yeah, Mia wanted to see it.”

“... I see… I want to go as well.”

“Maybe next time.”

A speaker called their number, and the screen hung on the roof showed which desk they were supposed to go to. Hakade and Ana went to desk number seven.

“Ahh, Lady Ana, welcome back.”

Ana nodded. The two sat in front of the receptionist.

“We wanted to claim the rewards for our quest.”

“Alright. Can you please send me the proof of completion?”

Hakade took out his smartphone. Scorpion had a recording device connected to his phone, automatically sending all data to it. The file had a large size, but Laurel had compressed it during their trip here. The transfer of data proceeded quickly.

“Please give me a moment.” The receptionist did some checking, then nodded her head.

“The completion of this quest had been confirmed. Your reward has been sent to you. Thank you very much.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Hakade and Ana returned to the lobby. Before he departed, he decided to check if there were any quests available, ones that headed the same way. Ann might be providing them with a lot of rewards, but even a tiny bit extra would be nice.

“That looks good-” Ana pointed toward one of the quests displayed on the screen, but before he could scan it, the quest disappeared. Someone must have taken it.

The guild had a booking system. Once someone took a quest, it would be unavailable for the time being. This rule didn’t apply to all quests, but most had it in place.

“Anything else?” Hakade asked.

Ana observed the remaining quests. If they found a good quest, they needed to pick it up quickly, before someone else could take it.

“Some of these had high insurance fees…”

Quest takers paid these upfront fees that would be used to reimburse the quest giver had they failed. It would be returned once the taker completed said quest. Some quests had no fees, others had fees below 10% of the reward. Some go as high as 50%, depending on the quest itself.

Hakade considered all quests with 10% or above to be on the high end. He might consider taking them if he had no other quest at the moment, but Ann was his priority.

“How about that one?” Ana pointed toward a quest that had just appeared.

The reward caught their eye. Hakade tapped on the screen, enlarging the quest. The quest called for the defeat of the eldest dragon. Dragons didn’t exist before the war. They only appeared after it, their origins mysterious. No one knew what they were. Were they monsters? Animals that changed into monsters? Some other thing that evolved into it?

Questions multiplied, but no one had an answer.

“A dragon? That’s one rare quest.”

Dragons lived high in the mountains. They liked the cold. They feast on the monsters directly below them. As a result, they don't go to low altitude often. In this country, one could find them only at the top of the tallest mountain in the country. On top of Mount Rajayama, at 3700 feet. They didn’t bother going down from there, hence why people didn’t bother them. Another factor was their unrivaled resistance to both magic and physical attacks. Any attempt would end in disaster.

True beasts, ruler of the skies. Had they bothered humans, then aviation wouldn’t exist, and people could only travel on the surface.

“... It’s going berserk…?”

Hakade read through the details. The details said that the eldest dragon had begun showing signs of uncontrollable behavior. It has already attacked a nearby aircraft. Luckily, the aircraft managed to escape, albeit it suffered some damage. All air traffic had been rerouted away from the mountain.

The eldest dragon, being the first dragon to appear, was also the strongest. If it went berserk, then there was a non-zero chance that all dragons would go berserk in the future. Considering their strength, a single dragon could ruin an entire city. Hakade didn’t want to imagine what such a future would look like.

“We can’t take this quest.”

The quest offered a very appealing reward. Any rail runner that had the means would surely take the quest, but not Hakade. As much as he wanted that money, he wouldn’t be able to deal with the dragon. He would be utterly destroyed.

Ana nodded. “So… We’re going?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.”

Ana left the lobby. Before going, Hakade took one last look at the quest. The route they took would bring them close to the mountain’s foot. There existed an underground route that went through the mountain, but he didn't like that one. The details mentioned the dragon doing things that it previously didn’t, but not that it went near the ground. Hakade could only hope it remained in the skies.

Hakade sighed and left the lobby.