The guard is approaching us and looking at us with a suspicious look. Of course, there is no way we can easily get into the city freely. The guard is full of armor, but not just normal armor. It has black mask and black gloves covering his hands, a dark grey chestplate covering his body and attached with the leggings. He has a long red cape on his back, it's almost like the figure we just fought a few moments ago, but smaller and… weaker than him. He looks so thin even with the armor.
"Erhm… Do you have any problem with me, young lady?" He said after he coughed a bit to catch our attention.
I quickly shake my head in panic to tell him if I have no problem with him. My body moves by itself and hides myself behind Lunette's to avoid his gaze. He's so scary. I can't help but take a quick glance at him from Lunette's back as I keep hiding myself.
Selene laughs at us and speaks in excitement, "This young lady is really funny. And you don't need to scare her, right? This young lady is quite shy." She glances at me with an amused look in her eyes.
Now I start to think again, I usually this shy, but why when I was in Euler I didn't need to hide myself behind Lunette? Is it because I feel comfortable because Big Sister Wave and Lunette always accompany me everywhere I go?
The guard scoffs and speaks to Selene again with a neutral tone, "Fine then. So, what do you want now, Selene? Everyone in this city is talking about your clumsiness with your quest, you know?" Then he chuckles a bit at Selene in a teasing manner.
I can tell if this guard probably has a crush on her judging by his tone. I don't know for sure, but it feels like that. Selene is just giggling along with him and exchanging some jokes like they were close friends. Meanwhile, I'm just standing in place and waiting for them to finish their conversation. It doesn't feel like it will end soon anyway, maybe I should take a look from here.
My eyes are scanning around the place and I notice something weird. We just passed through the Teryu Forest, but I'm still curious about why the whole city's paths are made of sand. It's so very opposite when the forest is full of life and green but the city is so yellow and… almost empty? I can see a few plants that suit the desert's biome and the resident doesn't look like they see it as a problem as well. I wonder if I'm currently in the desert or in the middle of the forest. The building is so futuristic with metal and glass materials, some of the residents are using high technology properties to help their daily lives. The whole city is so peaceful and everyone looks so dignified as if they're nobles.
After a while, Selene grabs my and Lunette's hands with her hands then speaks with her usual cheerful tone, "Now, ladies, let's get inside the city. Are you ready? It might shock you both a bit."
I nodded at her and let her guide us before she asked us a question, "By the way, do you have devices? You both will need it though."
Me and Lunette looked at each other then she said with an innocent tone, "Devices, huh? The one that you put on your ear? No, we don't have it." She tilted her head aside with her innocent face.
The guard facepalmed his face and spoke to us, "I never knew if someone lacks information like this. This city is very famous so you must have heard about some tools that are made from here, have you?" The guard looked at us with a confused face.
I bravely spoke and finally let out a soft voice, "Actually, I never heard of it. I only heard that the first hero once came here so we want to know about it. And our big sister is the one who handled all of those things and about giro." I continued speaking from Lunette's back with a neutral yet slightly shy tone.
Right, I never used giro before. Big Sister Wave is the one who handled the currencies so I never bought anything with myself. I heard that giro is an international currency so we can use it without any problem. The first hero is the one who made the currency system and copied the system from his world. We can use giro as a transaction in every country, so I think we shouldn't have to worry about our currencies. The Guild Master gave us a lot of giros after we finished the first quest and a bonus from staying alive from the tragedy. I can't help but see a fatherly figure on him. Big Sister Wave gave us some pocket money as well to help us on our journey.
The guard sighed as if he already gave up on us, "Wait here, it's my duty to give a newcomer a device." The guard walks into the guardhouse, leaving us in silence.
"Very well, now I will tell you the usage of the device." Said Selene in excitement before she continued, "The device is a tool that allows you to access many features easily. Like if you want to pay for your things you don't need to bring your money in your pocket anymore. You can pay with your device in an easier and more efficient way. This method makes you barely get stolen."
Me and Lunette nodded in understanding as we continued to listen to her explanation. This is just a beginning, but I can see the benefits are coming a lot from her explanation. This tool is really handy and so efficient. To be honest, this tool is probably the best tool I ever know after all of this.
She continued her explanation, "Well, you can access any information with the device and you can view the map, track your destination, or translate a language from another country. But you have to be careful since someone can still be able to steal or disrupt your device so you need to stay cautious."
After a while, the guard came out with two devices in each hand then handed it to us. Lunette took it without any hesitation like usual, how rude of her. Sometimes her nature is really maddening and reckless. Meanwhile, I took another device from his hand with a slight wary. My hand trembles a bit as I feel nervous, I never take anything from a stranger, but if I don't take this we probably will have a difficult time in the city.
The guard spoke to me with a firm, yet curious tone, "What's wrong? Just take it already, it's not like this is dangerous." He stretched his arm further to me.
Ugh… My heart was beating so fast until I reached the point where I could hear my own heartbeat. I stretched my arm even further but slowly, reaching towards the device to take it. I can see the guard was curious and started to lose his patience. Well, can you blame me? He's so scary with his armor. I closed my eyes and quickly took it from his arm then ran away behind Lunette.
The guard sighed and spoke with a slightly annoyed tone to us, "Finally, now just go enter Nexus and have fun." Then, the guard looked towards Selene and spoke with a soft tone, "And Selene, welcome back. Don't put yourself in danger anymore, okay?"
Selene smiled at him and waved her hand at him before walking with us into the city. I put the device on my ear and suddenly a message appeared in front of my eyes out of nowhere. My eyes widened and I stopped walking for a while. I don't know what to do or what happened.
The message says, "Welcome to Nexus, the city where we write our own future."
Woah, it's so weird, even there is the voice from the message too. My mouth opened by itself and I bit my lower lip. I don't know why but this thing is kind of scary in its own way.
Selene chuckled at me and spoke with a teasing tone, "Don't worry about that. It can't harm you or do anything at you, instead it will assist you. But I know it might be a bit scary for a first timer."
A voice spoke right into my brain with a robotic tone, "That's right, Luna. Don't worry, I'm just your assistant. Let me know if you need me to help you with anything." Then the message disappeared out of my sight and my vision turned back to normal.
I can't help but be surprised again by the sudden voice that spoke through my mind. This feeling is weird, but I need to get used to it. Selene laughed at me along with Lunette, she doesn't seem like she found it weird. A blush appeared on my cheeks, it's really embarrassing that I was surprised by only a message.
In a short time, I stopped while they were laughing a bit at me to inspect anything about this device. There are some icons in my sight on my top left, but when I tried to press it with my hand, nothing seemed to happen. Despite my effort, it only felt like pressing air. In fact, I really am pressing air. I don't understand how this thing works. I looked at Lunette and found herself struggling as well. Her face showed confusion and curiosity about this tool.
Selene spoke to us like a guide to a customer, very informative, "You don't need to press it with your hands. Just use your mind and imagine it." She tapped her head repeatedly.
Imagine… Imagine… What should I imagine? I tried anything to imagine, something to move it like pressing a button. But everything didn't work for me. I tilted my head in curiosity since I can't do it.
Selene chuckled again and spoke, "Seems like you can't do it yet, huh? Fine the-"
Lunette shouted and spoke in excitement, "I can do it!! I never thought we could even search some information about monsters with this too!! We don't need to read a book anymore as long as we have this!!" She jumped in excitement and tapped her feet on the ground many times like a kid.
I shook my head in embarrassment after seeing her act like this. We're 15 years old already, and she is still acting like a kid. Everyone around us was watching us and some of them were laughing due to her childish behavior. Meanwhile, Lunette just smiled with her carefree nature like she didn't do anything embarrassing. Selene couldn't hold her laugh anymore and started laughing madly. I bit my lip to hold my own embarrassment, but looking at Lunette who started laughing as well as Selene, I couldn't help but giggled as well along with them. The firm expression from my face faltered and changed with a shy smile that kept widening on my face.
Selene spoke at me with a slight joking tone, "Well, you're finally laughing, eh? Maybe you should smile a bit more often, you know?"
I stopped laughing and made a surprised face before speaking, "R-right. Maybe I'll try next time." I looked away as the embarrassment was taking over me.
Selene shook her head and tried to change the subject, "Luna, I'll try to make it easier than you to use this device. There are some features in it, but there are three important features in this device that you should remember."
I nodded my head and waited for her to continue her explanation as my face showed a slight hint of curiosity.
She nodded and spoke with a gentle tone, "Then, the first one is pocket." She pointed at my top left side as I quickly pulled my gaze at it, then she continued, "If you say 'pocket' it will automatically open that window and it will show your money. You can buy something from that window as well if you have enough money. And if you say 'close' it will close the window in front of you."
I tried to open my mouth and said "pocket", then the window that she mentioned before appeared right in front of me. My sight was covered by the window and made me hardly see my surroundings. Though, it was slightly transparent so I can still be able to see, but not clearly. My eyes moved, scanning it and she's true, there are some photos from the items that are kind of weird and strange in front of me. There prizes are written under the items' name as well. Once my eyes reached the last item, the window scrolled by itself and showed more items again. My head started feeling a little ache because I never saw something like this.
Selene spoke again with a soft and gentle tone again, "If you're done, there is a currency on the top right too. You can see it if you want to know how many giro you have right now."
I took my time to peek at the top of my right due to my curiosity. After my eyes saw the currency, I couldn't help but be surprised by the amount. It feels like thunder just struck me as I saw the amount. It's ten thousand giros! Can you believe this?! Even five thousand giros are enough for you to live for a year. Did I just get it from the previous quest? I don't know, but I need to compose myself and not let anyone know about this with my flat face.
I opened my mouth and spoke with a neutral tone, "C-close. Then, Selene, please continue."
Selene looked a bit curious, but she didn't want to intervene and spoke with the same gentle tone, "Well then, there is a map and information. You can access it the same way you access your pocket. Now, let's have a walk, shall we?"
Lunette and I nodded together and began to walk along with her. The path is covered by sand and there is a slight, small stone in the path. The air is surprisingly cooler than I thought. Before we entered this city, we were in the forest and I understood if the air was cold. But we're now in a city that is almost all covered by sand, so I never thought a desert would be so cold. It's not exaggerating if I say we really are in a desert. I mean, the trees only need a little water and so do the animals.