Chapter 761: The Tale of the Mechanized God ③ (1/2)

<Author's Notes>

”If it's an insert, people might not notice the post.”

Then, I thought  ”I think I should update it at the same time as the latest chapter”, so I'm updating Anima arc as well. Please note that Anima arc would be an insert……

It was still early in the morning in a big city lined with tall buildings, and a girl was walking through that city that was unnaturally silent.

The girl with wavy semi-short blonde hair, blue eyes, casually dressed with navy blue jeans, white shirt and brown jacket, stopped in the middle of the road, and approached a large machine set up on the side of the road.

After pressing a few buttons to operate the machine, the girl held up a palm-sized card and a freshly made hotdog came out of the machine.

As she took a bite of it and started walking again, she muttered to herself.

[……Hmmm, if asked if it's convenient, it sure is convenient. Everywhere is unmanned, payment is made with electronic money, and few people carry cash nowadays…… I wonder why though? Technology is undoubtedly developing day by day, but I couldn't help but feel like civilization is on decline instead. In the 20th and 21st century, I saw the expectations for the future by the people everywhere, but arriving in that future, all of it just ended up like this……]

After muttering, the girl stopped and let out a small sigh. In the next moment, the girl's figure blurred and disappeared from the scene. Even though it was early in the morning, there were still, more or less, people around. But strangely enough…… No one noticed that the girl had disappeared.

Before one knew it, the girl was standing on the roof of one of the largest buildings in the metropolis, looking out at the cityscape tinged with the morning glow, and as if she were talking to someone, she spoke.

[……Iris, it's been a long time since then. The world forgot about magic, and the era we lived in became a fairy tale…… And yet, I still haven't fulfilled Iris' last wish. Love is such a difficult thing to find…… Well, I'll carefully search for that right person. It's going to take me a while to get to where you are, Iris, but I'll have lots of stories to bring you as souvenirs……so wait for me over there, okay?]

Alicia, the Hero of Hope who once saved the world from the Great Evil God, still travels the world to fulfill her best friend's final wish.

Traveling through a changing world, weaving many bonds and losing them…… Still, she continued to walk forward. Little by little, she tried to escape from the feeling of resignation that was budding within her heart……

[Now then, I've been in this city for about five years, haven't I? I think it's about time to change my base…… I wonder which place I should go next?]

Muttering like so, Alicia took out a card-shaped mobile terminal and activated it. Thereupon, a display appeared in the air, showing a map of the world.

[Come to think of it, I haven't been to Asia in a long time. Let's visit a place somewhere around there…… I traveled by plane last time, so why don't I try riding a ship this time?]

On the deck of a luxury cruise ship, Alice looked out at the sea.

[It's good to have a clear sky on the first day of a several days boat trip~~. I can even see the horizon clearly, so it seems like this is going to be a fun trip.]

Muttering to herself, she leisurely gazed out at the sea glistening brightly in the sunlight. It's been several hours since the ship departed, so not a single land can be seen, and all she could see is the ocean.

After squinting comfortably at the sea breeze caressing her cheeks, Alice thought about having a meal in the ship's restaurant and was about to look away from the sea…… when her gaze suddenly turned sharp.

[Unnn? What is that…… an island?]

Alicia's eyesight is on a different level from that of normal people. She can easily see distances that a normal person wouldn't be able to see even with binoculars.

What her eyesight caught was a small island far in the distance…… and if that's all there is to it, it wouldn't have been particularly unusual.

[……What is that, I'm kinda curious.]

She had been traveling the world for so many years, and her intuition told her that there was something about that island. She could have dismissed it as just her imagination, but Alicia decided to trust her senses, and pulling her mobile terminal out of her pocket, she activated the map.

[……That's strange. That island isn't on the map. Putting aside if it was a map a few hundred years ago, it's an island that's not on the latest map of this era…… I feel like I'm smelling that nostalgic scent of an interesting adventure.]