A Ticket to Adventure

Even as the Age of Miracles came and went, the world continued to change. The time of gods and heroes became stories to tell, spoken by the residents that dwelled upon the lands.

All eyes on Leguardia turned next to the ‘Great Expansion’ – where borders were constantly redrawn due to new discoveries. Explorers settled in various sites that dotted the world, finding much to restore and understand. And occasionally, they even found sites with a thriving community, much different than their own.

With so much to uncover, the common man learned a great deal through new encounters. And with that, enthusiasm spread far and wide.

“Oy, June! Get over here! Ain’t this place neat as hell?!”

A pair of explorers were the first to step into this site, any signs of previous life having been long gone. It was dark aside from the light that filtered in from the gate, the interior shrouded in mystery.

Only a few years ago, the pair had been working construction jobs in an ever-expanding city. But now, they had set their sights on exploring the wide world that had opened up. No strangers to fast-paced changes in their lives, the two had gone quite far from their home in Faulkner.

Fortunately, there were always gates set up for them to return home by the end of the workday. Not to mention, this job paid just as well without the constant manual labor.

“Couldn’t you have waited for the others, Rory? What if it’s dangerous?”

“Nah, we would’ve received reports from HQ if that was the case. The fact that the scouts came and moved on already implies that nothing dangerous was found.”

June, the ever cautious one, thought of many more reasons to play it safe. After all, he had a wife and child to go home to every night. He couldn’t let himself be caught in peril. He wasn’t foolhardy like his buddy, Rory, who was still eager to impress the ladies. Neither was he one of the former heroes that could take care of any monsters along the way.

“What if there’s a cave in? What if there’s hidden traps? Don’t tell me that you forgot that one time when we encountered a site that had no life signs, only for robots to come to life?!”

“Ah… er… well, at least they weren’t hostile. Though, it seemed like they were in the middle of a ‘strange’ ritual. As long as we left them be, they didn’t get mad.”

June balked at the memory of it. It had been a close call as he heard a report later of someone punching one of the robots in annoyance, only for all of them to get pissed off and combine into one giant being out for revenge.

“Don’t remind me. I had to write a report of that. It was even worse when I had to elaborate on ‘humping robots’. Imagine what I had to tell the wife. The kid just laughed in ignorance.”

“She’s like what, three?”

“Almost four now. It’s been a few years since the Great Expansion started. Her birthday is actually coming up in a month. I should figure out some kind of present.”

Rory walked up to June and patted him on the shoulders, looking smug as hell.

“Then, you’re in luck. I have such a good surprise for you. And don’t worry, I already came here and cleared it with the boss. We were just keeping the place a secret from you until now.”

“Huh? When did you have the time to do that? And what are you hiding?”

June’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, enough to make out an outline of oddly-shaped buildings in the distance. Still, that wasn’t much to go by. It would take many months to find and catalogue what existed in a given site, and they had only just arrived. June couldn’t think of what could have been found on such short notice.

But then, Rory pulled out a communication device.

“Alright, Chief. I brought him here. Are we ready?”

A lady’s voice replied.

“Just a moment. The ‘genius’ needs time to verify all the connections are good. He has to have a good first impression with all that he does. Ah, there we go.”

At that moment, the lights all came on, illuminating the entire site. A mixture of colorful ornaments stretched across where June and Rory could see. A joyful tune echoed through the area, and flickering lights blanketed the space with a welcoming glow.

Instantly, June knew what this was.

“An amusement park?!”

In the midst of his surprise, a giant jellyfish waddled from the entrance right up to him.

“Welcome to Snazzyland!”

June and Rory stood there, shellshocked by the weird creature. It took them a moment to realize that it was probably a person in costume.

“I said, ‘WELCOME TO SNAZZYLAND!’ or did you not hear me?!”

Rory, with his jaw hanging, took a step forward and asked.

“Is that you, Chief? What are you doing in that getup?”

Two long tentacles reached up and pulled the jellyfish headpiece off, revealing a blond-haired woman that was very charming.

“I see that you don’t appreciate my efforts to appease you! After all that you two have done, I thought it would be a special treat to show you all of this! We must maintain good morale, particularly among enthusiastic explorers such as yourselves.”

“Chief Olivia, did Researcher Lamps put you up to this task?”

Olivia answered with a blank stare. “Yes, he mentioned that it was quite normal for a young girl to don such an outfit for the purpose of bringing joy and entertainment to the masses. Especially, if such people have young children that can be brought along.”

June chuckled and bowed. Appearances aside, he was grateful. Bringing his kid here would be fun, regardless.

“Well, thank you for personally giving out your appreciation. I’m honored, but I’m surprised that you couldn’t find anyone else to wear that.”

“Miss Saki and Miss Rika strangely backed away when I offered. And Miss Ludmila said she had other business and sped off. I tried to get other female explorers to wear it, but they gave me difficult looks. Is this costume that undesirable to wear?”

“It certainly… leaves an impression,” Rory said hesitantly. “I imagine that not many girls would enjoy cosplaying as a tentacle being.”

“I don’t mind it much. It’s preferable to riding in giant metal robots or being crammed into tight rubber suits. The costume is quite breathable.”

June and Rory had a chuckle, forgetting that their superior was once the Mad Queen of Purnesia. Certainly, she didn’t give off the image of a tyrant ruler, but everyone had changed so much, especially the heroes in this world.

While they encountered some of them in their explorations, it was hard to imagine that they were responsible for taking down a god that was trying to bring doom upon this world. Heroes seemed to operate on a different scale in stories, but those that they met were just normal people trying to get by.

“By the way, the former king and queen of Sistina were the ones that found this site first. We had no idea what to do with a site devoted to entirely entertainment, but they insisted that it was just as important to have fun as it was to continue our progress.”

That was a certain pair that rarely came into public view. All they stumbled upon were remnants of monsters that were decimated; from the stories told about them, they seemed rather ‘invincible’. What they were looking for was anyone’s guess, but it kept them ahead of everyone else.

“Even without the throne, it’s like their actions still dictate the world itself. Do you happen to know where they are? I’d like to thank them.”

Olivia stared upward silently for a moment. Even if she knew, there was no reason for her to spill.

“Well, wherever they are, they are fine. Let’s forget that for a moment and return to the matter at hand. Do you really think this costume is atrocious?”

June and Rory were silent.

“Maybe… the kid will like it?” June squeaked.

“Kids will like anything though…,” Rory added. “As long as you can make a plush toy out of it. Speaking of which, shouldn’t there be some around?”

“I don’t think any survived the test of time. We’ll have to see if the site can recreate them,” Olivia said.

“Hopefully so. Can’t have the kids going around, saying ‘No Snazzys?!’ once we have the place up for public attendance. Still, I have to wonder if there aren’t any other ‘more appropriate’ mascots….”

Olivia turned the headpiece around and started at the beady eyes. She sighed in resignation at Rory’s comment as she let it drop to the ground.

“Alright, fine! I’ll see if there’s anything else! I don’t get it. Why would you name an amusement park based on a character that no one likes?! Were people’s tastes from ancient times that different?!”

June and Rory could only stiffly laugh at that.

And somewhere on a different world, a jellyfish with a witch hat sneezed.