Inside the car, speeding toward Revendale.
Beyond the window, the sun had set over the sky and night had come.
Unlike Edith's estimate of about two days, the car was heading toward Revendale at considerable speed.
Just from the fact that the roads were neatly paved and the car no longer jolted, I could tell we'd nearly reached Revendale.
'At this rate, it's practically like driving from Seoul to Busan.'
In any era, the latest technology is bound to be relatively convenient, I suppose.
It looked like I'd have plenty more time than I'd planned.
Except for one uncomfortable thing.
Seated opposite Deputy Commissioner Kalian in the back seat, I quietly looked out the window in the awkward silence.
Unlike me, Deputy Commissioner Kalian had her head turned toward the opposite window as if this were an everyday thing.
'This is like being locked in a moving prison.'
The plush seat, and the fact that she didn't say anything even if I kept quiet, should have been enough, though.
An inexplicable tension kept my body on edge.
Judging by her behavior, in the game or in reality, Deputy Commissioner Kalian wasn't someone who made small talk.
Outside of official business, she wasn't someone who broadened her personal relationships or created a space like this at all.
At least, according to the information I knew from the game.
So the kindness she'd shown me like this couldn't be simple goodwill.
"We'll arrive in Revendale shortly."
Sure enough, Deputy Commissioner Kalian opened the conversation first.
"I heard it would take about two days, but it looks like we'll arrive sooner than expected."
"It's because I have many duties in the city, so I travel separately from my agents. We're absurdly short-handed for managing the entire city."
Overseeing Revendale's massive districts was precisely the job of the Revendale Police Bureau's deputy commissioner.
So it was a position so busy that even travel time had to be saved.
"Let me ask you something. What is your purpose in heading to Revendale?"
"I have some business to take care of related to Miss Edith's work."
"I hear you've become the new boss of the Iron Factory. Is it business related to that?"
"You could say so."
Then Deputy Commissioner Kalian, who'd been talking while looking out the window the whole time, turned her head slightly toward me and spoke.
"Then what's your other, real purpose?"
Facing Deputy Commissioner Kalian's profile as she questioned me, I fell silent for a moment.
"So the interrogation wasn't over yet."
"Clever, and quick on the uptake. Then I'll get straight to the point. Enon, are you of some race other than human?"
At the question that hit the nail on the head, I was sure this situation wasn't a simple interrogation.
"...What made you judge that I'm not human?"
"While investigating this incident, I sorted out most of it, but there was one part that didn't add up."
"And that part is me, you mean."
At my answer, Deputy Commissioner Kalian gave a small nod.
Probably no one had directly testified that I was a doll.
Not my Resistance comrades, of course, and even the dolls would have been given a word from Edith or the others beforehand.
"That one person resolved almost all of this incident isn't something easily believed. As the person in question, you'd know that better than anyone. Wouldn't you?"
At her words, I went back over what had happened.
Reviving a crumbling Resistance organization and finding the traitor within.
Not content with finding the infiltration route into the Iron Factory that they'd struggled to find, I'd destroyed the factory's core and even saved the dolls.
And not only that, I'd fought Gloren single-handedly and won.
Someone else might have let it slide, but not in Deputy Commissioner Kalian's eyes.
'She already knows I'm a doll.'
Which meant the answer I had to give to that question was already set.
"Only I and my subordinate up front know who you really are, so you don't need to worry. You're not the only one living with a hidden identity."
"Have you seen a being like me before?"
"That's a Police Bureau security secret, so I can't say more."
At that meaningful remark, I thought back over the game's story, but there was no information to infer from.
I couldn't recall Deputy Commissioner Kalian ever encountering a being like me, a doll.
Without meaning to, I'd been found out by Deputy Commissioner Kalian, but there was nothing I could do.
At least I should be grateful that she was tight-lipped enough not to carelessly spill information to others.
"So, how do you plan to deal with me?"
"As I said in the earlier interrogation, I have no plans to take action. I only had you ride in the car to confirm the facts; it means nothing else."
With that, Deputy Commissioner Kalian took out a cigar with her gloved hand and lit it.
"Care for one?"
"I'll pass."
"There's no concern about it affecting your respiratory organs, then."
"No. I'm not that outdated a model. Please, go ahead and smoke."
"I see. I apologize for needlessly making things uncomfortable. Even when I try to speak gently on purpose, the mood always turns heavy."
So all that atmosphere she'd been setting just now wasn't even on purpose.
Still, seeing her say that, she seemed to at least know that she came across as very heavy.
I'd never seen this side of her in the game, so it felt rather novel.
'She's more amusing than I thought.'
Right on time, the view of Revendale began to appear ahead of the car.
Through the window the deputy commissioner had opened, a stuffy smell of fuel reached my nose through the gaps in the cigar smoke.
Clunk.
As we drove onto the bridge built over the river surrounding Revendale, all sorts of carriages began to pass by the window.
Cutting across the carriages, the car drove straight past the checkpoint in front of the city.
"We've finally arrived."
Even though it was night, Revendale's city entrance was full of bright lights.
After quickly passing through several districts in the city, the car soon stopped at the entrance of a hotel.
"Take this."
In Deputy Commissioner Kalian's hand, held out toward me, was a business card bearing the emblem of the Revendale Police Bureau.
"Show it to the hotel staff and they'll give you a room free of charge. I've imposed on you all day, so end it by resting somewhere comfortable."
"Thank you for your consideration."
Since I'd been treated well the whole time anyway, I didn't refuse and took her business card.
And as I opened the car door and headed for the hotel, Deputy Commissioner Kalian gave me one last word.
"Well then, I hope you have a good time in Revendale."
***
The Hotel Bella Vita, which Deputy Commissioner Kalian had introduced to me, was a very pleasant and comfortable place, true to its name.
My body didn't accumulate fatigue, yet I passed out the moment I lay on the bed; that says it all.
It was such a shame I could only stay here for one day.
Just in case, I checked the price, but as expected, I gave up right away.
'200,000 gold a night is too much.'
It was a good thing Deputy Commissioner Kalian had paid for the night's stay for me; if I'd walked in not knowing, my spending plan would've been ruined.
Getting up early in the morning and getting ready to leave the hotel, I took the business card out of my coat.
As I remembered, the deputy commissioner's business card didn't have many meanings in the game.
It simply meant that you had the Police Bureau's trust.
Just showing that you had this card got you excluded from investigations first, and changed how citizens treated you.
'To think she'd hand something like that to me.'
A connection I never saw coming. But.
Having actually received the card, I felt like I was sitting on a bed of thorns.
Most of my reasons for coming to Revendale weren't exactly clean in the first place.
I didn't just plan to get my weapon repaired; I planned to go around here and there in the city to get new parts.
And that here and there included places full of illegal things.
'Don't tell me it means "don't do anything weird."'
Handing over a business card meant simple trust, but it was a warning as well.
If the one who received the card betrayed that trust, the punishment would be that much heavier.
I couldn't tell whether I should be happy about this or see it as a sign that things were going to go wrong.
...I can't just throw it away somewhere anyway, so I'll just hold on to it for now.
I put the card in my pocket, gathered the case holding the weapon and my luggage, and left the hotel.
Vroom.
When I stepped out of the entrance, cars passed by now and then, and people in refined clothes walked the streets.
Where I was now was Revendale's District 3.
Where mostly high-income investors and successful businessmen lived.
In a word, a district similar to Beverly Hills.
A few people on the street glanced sidelong at my outfit as they passed.
Naturally, my ordinary outfit wasn't ordinary in District 3.
'First, I'll head to the Agriche Repair Shop.'
I had no intention of staying here any longer anyway.
My goal right now wasn't to get rich, but to get strong and survive my pursuers.
Conveniently, the Agriche Repair Shop was right next door in District 4.
Walking on foot, I arrived in District 4 before long.
From here on, it was a place I knew well too.
Because District 4 was where the shops, weapon enhancement stores, and other NPCs of Revendale were located in the game.
The Agriche Repair Shop in District 4 was a place I'd often visited in the game, too.
'The quest EXP rewards were big, so I always went there whenever I raised a new character.'
Tracing my memories of those days, I entered District 4's alleys.
From District 4 on, steampunk-styled streets befitting the nickname of engineering city spread out.
After passing through the alleys between buildings with smoke leaking from their roofs, the footsteps of people abruptly stopped.
From here on was a place people rarely came.
A road with no reason to come to unless you had a clear purpose.
Passing familiarly through the alleys tangled like a maze, I soon reached my destination.
On the building at the very end of the alley, a small sign bore some words.
-Out at the moment.
Of all the times to come by, they weren't here.
Just in case, I tried the doorknob beside the sign.
Then the knob turned smoothly, and the door slid open just like that.
'Did they forget to lock the door when they went out?'
In Revendale, where thieves and crime were rampant, a mistake that went beyond careless to downright stupid.
What were they going to do if I hadn't been the first to find it unlocked?
...Wait, what if it wasn't that, and someone else had opened the door on purpose?
At that thought, I immediately flung the door open.
Inside, the lights were off, and shadows hung thick.
Among the tools and disassembled parts messily scattered around, I saw someone sitting with their back turned.
Absorbed in something, they belatedly turned their head, and when they saw me, they jumped in surprise and shrank back.
"Wh-Who are you? Nobody should be coming at this hour."
"Isn't it stranger to be stealing in broad daylight like this?"
"Stealing? What are you talking about?"
"Then what's that in your hand right now?"
"This? It's the door-lock device over there; I broke it, so I was fixing it again."
The other person showed me the part and the welder in their hands.
When I looked back at the door, just as they'd said, there was a mark beside the doorframe where something had been removed.
"Fixing what you broke... wait, are you really a thief?"
At my question, they pushed up the large goggles protecting their eyes and showed their face.
At that truly familiar face, I knew who it was.
"Of course not. I'm the owner here."
It was Dorothy, the one I'd been looking for.
***
"Customers are really rare at this hour. So since there wasn't anything to do, I stepped out for a bit, but...."
"So you happened to forget your keys and just picked the door open to come in?"
"Exactly! I've fixed it so many times that now I can fix it without even looking."
How often must this have happened for it to get to that point?
Well, she'd often done offbeat things like that in the game too.
Swishing her light beige, medium-length hair, Dorothy clapped both hands together as she spoke.
"Oh, right, so what brings you to me, customer?"
"Nothing much. I came here on an introduction from a friend of yours."
"A friend of mine?"
Rather than saying the name directly, I handed Dorothy the letter and letter of recommendation Edith had given me.
"This emblem... could it be Edith?"
As expected, the moment she saw the gear drawn on the letter paper, a bright smile bloomed on Dorothy's face.
"You're Edith's friend! How's Edith doing these days? Is she doing well in Adeban?"
"A lot happened, but after it all wrapped up, she's doing well."
"I see. Does she still curse out our master all the time these days?"
"Well... she says she usually just forgets about it."
"Ahaha! Really? She's mellowed out a lot. When we studied together, she had curses for our master on her lips every single day."
To me, Edith's personality didn't look like it had particularly changed.
All her attention had been poured into the Iron Factory, so it made sense.
Still, there was no doubt she'd matured compared to before.
"Hmm, I'd heard something big happened in Adeban recently, but I didn't know she'd become the factory's vice president. And the boss is... huh?"
As Dorothy read the letter she'd torn open from Edith, her pupils suddenly widened, and she began looking back and forth between me and the letter.
"So... you're the new Iron Factory's...."
"Boss."
Then Dorothy covered her mouth with her hand, genuinely surprised.
"Gasp, I didn't know you were someone that important. Your clothes are so plain, I thought you were just an employee Edith sent."
It was only natural that it'd be hard to think I was the factory's boss from my outfit.
I'd just come from feeling, with my whole body, the District 3 people looking at me oddly.
When it seemed Dorothy had more or less finished reading the letter, I decided to get to the point.
"Then please check the letter of recommendation next to it too."
"Letter of recommendation? Oh, the one you gave me with the letter? Hold on, let me read it."
"The content is simple. I'd like to offer you a contract, Miss Dorothy."
"An offer? What kind?"
"I'd like you to become my exclusive mechanic."
As expected, Dorothy's reaction to my offer was lukewarm.
That was only natural.
It wasn't that the Iron Factory was an unattractive workplace.
It was just that my offer meant asking her to leave behind everything she'd built so far and come somewhere new.
Few people would rashly bet their life on an uncertain future.
I'd expected that anyway, so I had no intention of persuading her right away.
If I stayed in Revendale and slowly built up her trust....
"Sounds good to me? Can I?"
"...Are you sure you've thought it all through before answering?"
"Yes. I thought really hard before answering. Did you suddenly change your mind? Don't. I like your offer, I'm telling you."
I knew well that Dorothy was a really spacey, offbeat person.
Even so, I hadn't expected her to snap up the offer like this.
If she'd accept the offer, there'd be no greater gain for me, though.
"Then since the answer's positive, let's talk about the terms of the contract—"
"Wait, before we finish the contract, there are a few things I want to ask of you first."
"Things you want to ask?"
"Yes. It's nothing much, just a really simple favor, but...."
That line was what she always said first whenever she gave out a quest.
"If you do a few favors for me, I'll sign right away!"
I knew it.
There was no way she'd sign a contract this easily.