The notification sound rang out steadily, signaling that the spatial gate was fully charged. Calling it a gate was just a formality; in reality, the very tea room where we were sitting was a large-scale, perfectly camouflaged teleportation array.
Hearing the notification, Lady Arghena gently set her teacup down on the table. She looked at me, her demeanor retaining its aristocratic, tranquil air:
"It seems our conversation must end here."
I gave a slight nod, replying in a measured, polite tone:
"Yes, My Lady."
The very next moment, the surrounding space began to twist. My vision gradually blurred; the outlines of the room distorted like a phase-jammed signal band. Although the feeling of weightlessness was quite pronounced, I tried to maintain my balance and glanced over at Kanade. Contrary to my expectations, she didn't seem too affected. Her eyes remained wide open, the feline ears on her head only twitching slightly in observation. It seemed that mages possessing a large mana core had a better ability to resist the disruption of spatial teleportation arts than ordinary people.
Very soon after, stability returned. My vision cleared completely as the coordinate positioning system finished its synchronization process.
Lady Arghena stood up, lightly lifting the hem of her dress, and elegantly smiled in farewell to me using the standard noble etiquette—an elegant gesture, keeping a perfect distance, exactly like how she had initially greeted me:
"See you later, Zero. I wish you an interesting experience in our territory."
"Thank you very much for My Lady's warm reception." I bowed in return.
Arghena turned and left first, her haughty silhouette gradually disappearing down the marble corridor. Kanade and I also quickly stepped out to leave the teleportation station right after.
Upon stepping through the main gate, the outside scene immediately struck our eyes. Vastly different from the tranquility of the Shirakawa estate or the classical features usually seen in magical cities, the capital of the Count Aximous family appeared with an incredibly grandiose scale under the blazing midday sun.
Massive buildings stood close together, their surfaces covered in shiny, reinforced materials reflecting the brilliant sunlight, looking no different from giant optical heat sinks. Bustling crowds moved below transparent sunshade domes—seemingly woven from magical spectral filters to block the harsh radiation. The bustling, thriving atmosphere and the hurried pace of life under the midday heat here were so vivid that it unconsciously reminded me of the jam-packed commercial centers during rush hour in my past life.
"Sir Zero... are we heading straight to that ruin right away?"
Kanade's somewhat hesitant voice pulled me out of my urban structural analysis. She looked up at me, her feline ears twitching amidst the noisy, bustling sounds of the city. Although she tried to hide it, I could still read the tension in those eyes. Having to face an unfamiliar environment and the pressure from a mission with unclear variables was clearly creating significant psychological pressure on her.
I shook my head slightly, casting my eyes to pinpoint areas that were likely inns or trading posts on the other side of the square.
"Not yet, Kanade. Entering an area with unsurveyed topographical data without a logistical foothold is a poorly calculated decision." I explained gently, keeping my tone calm to help her feel more reassured. "First, we need to find a place to stay to rest and re-establish a state of equilibrium. More importantly, I need a quiet space to sketch out backup plans, aiming to optimize the safety probability for both of us throughout the exploration process."
Speaking of this, I couldn't hide a slight, intrigued smile as I looked up at the spectral filter domes and the massive mana distribution system of the city.
"Furthermore, a development center of this level will surely have many things worth researching. I want to spend some time walking around to gather more data on how they operate. Who knows, we might find a few useful items that can act as upgrade components for the upcoming trip."
Hearing me lay out a clear, systematic roadmap, Kanade's tense shoulders seemed to relax significantly. Her level of vigilance dropped. She gave a slight nod, her initial unease gradually replaced by agreement:
"I understand. Then we will follow your arrangement."
We followed a main road, turning into the most bustling commercial street. While I was absorbed in analyzing how the public lighting system distributed mana, my eardrums suddenly caught an anomalous sound wave. Ahead, a rather large crowd was gathering. From the center, an unfamiliar voice rang out, but the style of communication brought a chillingly familiar feeling.
As Kanade and I stepped near the edge of the crowd, that sound rang out crystal clear:
"OH MY GOD, you monkey, who do you think you are? Stupid strategy, dumping products, who do you think you're fooling? Now you're losing customers, kid, ô bê đê tô."
Immediately, whispers and chatter erupted from the surrounding layer of people.
"What language is that guy speaking?" A merchant frowned.
"Beats me, sounds like the Western barbarians lisping."
Standing next to me, Kanade also tilted her head slightly. Her feline ears perked up then drooped in total bewilderment. She lightly tugged on my sleeve, whispering:
"Sir Zero... do you understand what that person is saying? The grammatical structure is a complete mess, and he's using vocabulary that doesn't exist in any linguistic records of the continent."
My feet unconsciously stopped. My pupils contracted for a split second. My heartbeat skipped a beat before my rationality forced it back into a stable state.
Kanade didn't understand; the people around didn't understand, because in this world they didn't know English—I was quite certain of that now. Not to mention the pacing, the inflection, this ragebait-style intonation... it was identical. Or rather, it was a perfect replica of how Fraud spoke—one of my closest friends in my past life.
But that was impossible. How could my best friend simultaneously isekai into the same world, drop into the same kingdom, and now be standing at the exact same coordinates as me here? According to normal logic, the probability of this happening was practically zero.
My gaze locked onto the back of the young man standing in the middle of the crowd. I stood still; a fierce ideological struggle erupted in my head. Should I call out to that young man or not? Was it worth gambling my current safe cover in exchange for a variable from the past?
After a few tense seconds, I finally made a decision.
I turned slightly to my companion, lowering my voice:
"Kanade, shortly I might have to use a vocabulary system... slightly outside the normal dictionary. Just treat it as a specific cipher language for communication. Please understand and don't be too surprised."
Kanade blinked, her feline ears twitching slightly to express her confusion at my strange instruction. Even though she clearly didn't understand what was happening, based on the trust established between the two of us, she obediently nodded:
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you."
I replied, then took a deep breath. The air filled my lungs, forcing my erratically beating heart to obey the control of rationality. Temporarily setting aside the elegant, calm, and standard shell I had painstakingly maintained all this time, I strode through the crowd, approaching the center.
Stopping at a sufficient distance so the sound waves wouldn't be jammed by the surrounding whispers, I looked straight at the back of that young man, drew a breath, and yelled in a harsh voice:
"HEY YOU MONKEY!"
As soon as the sound wave was emitted, the person immediately stopped talking. The person turned around sharply, directing their gaze toward the source of the call. Across the distance of a few footsteps, I immediately registered a look of extreme surprise flash through the depths of that young man's eyes, before it was quickly replaced by a look of guardedness.
That person parted the crowd and stepped close to me, jutting his chin and saying:
"You monkey, what's your problem?"
I didn't answer that question. Instead of reacting to the hostile attitude, my brain immediately shifted to the next step of the verification process. To be absolutely certain this was Fraud and not a simulated product or a system glitch of this world, I needed a security query—a cipher that only my close friends from my past life could answer.
Looking straight into the opposite person's eyes, I lowered my voice, dropping each word distinctly:
"Do you know Lang?"
The expression of the person in front of me suddenly froze. Confusion clearly showed on his facial muscles, like a machine that abruptly short-circuited upon receiving a command line that didn't exist in the system. Exploiting that moment of cognitive disconnect, I took a half-step forward, closing the distance, and fired off one final sequence of queries to lock onto the target:
"Do you know who Lang's dad is, and do you know the top 1 Lightning DPS, Jing Yuan?"
End of Chapter 25.