This definitely seems like the outskirts...wait, is that another city, on wheels?

So, yeah, this is a Library of Ruina x Arknights fic, where the library's expulsion sent it to Terra instead of the outskirts. Concept somewhat inspired by NymphKohai's Library of Remnant, on fanfiction.net, you know, supposed-to-be yoinked to the outskirts, ended up in another world.

This is my, like, first actual fic, please go easy on me...?

Anyways, enough being a drama queen, let's start, shall we?

---

You see a group of 5 people, fighting on a crater-like platform seemingly in the middle of piles upon piles of books and bookshelves, 3 people are sided together, while the other two are opposing them. The 3 are color coded as Red, Black-with-some-yellow, and Just Black, you don't know who any of them are, so that's what you'll call them for now, by their colors. Red is wielding a massive and disgusting fleshy sword with eyes on it, wearing a long black trench coat with her left hand in her pocket.
Just Black is wearing a suit and a pair of gloves, they are covered in blood and black. Just Black has an exhausted feeling to him.
Black-with-some-yellow shares her clothing theme with one of the people on the other side, the black-with-some-yellow on the side of the three of them had an unreadable expression, but there is definitely confidence behind it.

The other two people, who you assume, are enemies against the previous three, show no sign of exhaustion at all, however.
You see that one of them is wearing a trench coat, and doesn't even look human, sure, his shape is somewhat humanlike, but his head and right arm are not human, at all, it's clearly made out of metal, and there are many syringes plunged into him. You'll call this guy "Trench Coat" For now, he's wearing one, after all.
The other person, the 'doppelganger' of the black-with-some-yellow was completely different, however, being much more expressive with her smug look, and her bangs are not on black-with-some-yellow. You'll call her "Smug", because goddammit, that smile is just not something you see in someone that's not egotistical.

Suddenly, the entire arena starts to shake, Just black exclaimed in some shock; "What the-, What's up with this tremor?"
Red is clearly tired of the two enemies she and her friends in black (You would've called them men-in-black, but black-with-some-yellow is a girl.)
had been fighting against, seems like this fight had been going on for quite a while now. But she still answered Just Black; "...Looks like they're going to press ahead with the damn plan."
Smug slowly starts saying something, something to which Black-with-some-of-yellow seems to have a bit of a response; "Garion...as much as it is a shame that we've failed to retrieve your once crumbled body...This place will be expelled as planned. Prepare to be sent to the outskirts, a truly great distance from the city."
Smug continued, goddammit, she's rambling! But, still, you've gotten a few hints as to what the hell's going on here, thanks to her ramblings, you continue listening to her, as she would probably say more about the situation; "Beget not fear, you are simply being relocated to where you belong...I only ask that you do not return, the city cannot leave room for beings such as you."
Her smile seems to fade just a little bit, as she continued on, and on, okay, let's stop here, and think about what you've gathered.
So, seems like this place is somewhere called 'The city', these two people are here to expel the trio and wherever this battlefield is to somewhere called 'The outskirts', and they've decided to go ahead with the plan, and this place apparently killed someone named Garion, and they were important enough for the invaders to count it as a secondary objective to retrieve their dead body...? Weird, but black-with-some-yellow seems to have something to do with this 'Garion' Character, considering she scoffed a bit at the mention of Garion. Whatever, smug is about to continue.
"For now, we shall kindly move you to the outskirts, but should you return to the city, We would consider it such as you have chosen to disregard our kindness. So mark my words well, and stay where you rightfully belong."
Just Black grunted, as Smug and Trench Coat disappears, only for the ceiling to collapse onto the arena.

---

Just Black woke up sometime later, but Red and Black-with-some-yellow had seemingly disappeared. Just Black was greeted by a blue-haired woman after he woke up. She carries a book, it seems, you'll call her Blue for now.

Blue Speaks to Just Black; "How are you feeling, Roland?"
Okay, so Just Black is Roland, helpful.
Roland responded to Blue; "Feeling just like how I felt after my meltdown, Angela...", rubbing his head, and loosening his tie.
So Blue is named Angela...revealed quicker than the rest, at least you can call Black-with-some-yellow 'Black' now...
Anyways, Both Red and Black are nowhere to be seen, Roland gets up from his bed, before going to check out the balcony.
"Yep, looks like the outskirts..." Roland spoke, meeting some confusion from Angela, "What do you mean? I mean, it does seem like it, but it's obvious, no?"
Roland answers a bit awkwardly; "I dunno, I just had a feeling that instead, it would've been a forest, and I'd look up, and the moon would be shattered...Yeah, weird, but this still feels a bit different from the outskirts, just not by that much..." Roland's answer would be met with a slightly confused look from Angela, but she shrugged it off.
"Well, We'll be better off here than in the City, or outskirts." Angela says, and Roland couldn't agree more.
"Anyways, how's the condition of this place? How's the light?" Roland asks, The light? You make a mental note to yourself about 'Light'.
"Well, the remaining light's just enough to keep all of the floors and Patreon librarians active. But most, if not all keypages disappeared, only the best ones are still here." Angela responds, well, that's other concepts for you to keep track of, Floors, Patreon Librarians, and Keypages. At least you got some answers, apparently 'Light' is what keeps this place functional, and keeps the 'Patreon Librarians' alive, whoever they are.

---

Later, many, many more people appeared in a meeting room-like area, just in front of a staircase, and a table that seems to belong to Angela. You don't know any of these people but Angela and Roland, you recognize Red and Black in the crowd, however. The crowd consists of; An excitable and expressive girl in bronze, a formal man in purple, a small bean girl in brown, and a pretty tired guy in a messy green, Bronze, Purple, Brown, and Green, you'll call them, are wearing the same outfit, just differing colors. There are more people than that, though, A kid in yellow, who looks a bit sassy, Red, you met her earlier, and a guy in blue, holding a mug of Coffee, Simple enough, Yellow, Red, Blue, they sort of share another uniform code in their respective color. And 3 more people not counting Angela, There's black, the black that was fighting Trenchcoat and Smug earlier. And an old man, dressed in entirely white, and Roland. Still pretty simple, Black, White, and Roland...Is this a yin-and-yang situation going on with these guys? Anyways, Black and white are wearing whatever they want, for Black, it's just a long body suit with a feathery coat, something tells you she has something to do with birds, and White seems to be wearing a white suit with a grey inner shirt and tie.

"So, what's the situation~?" Blue, who is holding a coffee mug asks in a relaxed tone.
"I would like to voice my opinion." Purple, being quite formal, requests to express his opinion.
"Go ahead, Yesod, ain't like someone's gonna stop ya." Red said, revealing Purple's name to be Yesod.
"This isn't the outskirts, at least, not the outskirts of our city. The air here is completely different. That is my opinion." Yesod spoke, before crossing his arms, and going back to being a silent observer.
"You know...I'm also getting that feeling...it's just instincts, but...I don't know..." Brown, pretty cute, you'd say, spoke up.
You're totally unbiased on this opinion, just trust me.
"Hm, hm~, you have a point there, dear friends, ~! Yes, I'd have to agree, this place feels different to the city~" Blue spoke up, does this man not need anything but coffee to be stressed about?
"Chesed, please treat this situation more seriously." Angela spoke in some frustration. So that's his name, Chesed, Sounds like cheese. No grease, though, this man's thing is coffee, not a grilled cheese.
"...Hold on, I think I'm hearing something from outside, I'll go check it out." Roland spoke and bolted to Angela's office, and to her balcony.
A shocked "What the..." was the only thing the crowd heard, White and Angela walked at their own paces to the balcony to check on Roland and sees...
A city seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"...Angela, was that there before?" Roland asked in disbelief.
"No...not to my knowledge, anyways." Angela responded, also in disbelief.

Now what should the librarians do?

---

Did I set up the voting right? Heh, only time will tell.
Edit; Turns out I didn't, Scheiß.
Anyways, I think this is how it actually works, oops
[x] - Write-in

Welp, got a random burst of "Fuck it we ball" energy, gonna just write it, but in the second person.

Yeah, got some advice that the old style probably just, doesn't work, oh well, experimenting never hurts someone that much

...nevermind.

---

Angela POV:
You're the director of the Library and your role's namesake.
You're not too sure why that thought had just shot up across your mind.
But that's for another time.

"Roland..." You turn to your assistant, who's standing next to you, also in shock, as a whole city seems to have moved itself into view.
"Y-yeah, I'm saying the same thing, Angela!" Roland responds, being as confused.
"...Perhaps this is how certain parts of the ruins operate..." Hokma, the white-themed old man, in charge of the floor of religion, spoke up.
"City on wheels, perhaps to avoid danger? No, Those buildings are far too well-lit to be a part of the ruins, and that city did move, meaning there are still people actively living inside of it." Hokma continued, you know this old man well to take his words for certain.

"...Very well, then. Maybe we should try to make contact? We would want friendliness, as to keep the peace..." You said, having no other options other than to check out the moving city...
"Alright, then, Angela, who's going?" Roland asks, you took some time to ponder and question your choices.
"I heavily doubt the inhabitants of that city would know what E.G.O. is, Gebura might terrify them with hers, so she's off the list. Maybe Chesed, he has the talking skills for meeting new people."
That was your thoughts, cross out Gebura, and put Chesed in the "Definitely" list.

"I suspect Binah would warrant the same reaction with how she is in general, so that's off the hook too. But you, Roland, you're just 'A washed up grade-9 fixer', you would look like an average passerby to the people living in that city."
You make a little remark back to you and Roland's first meeting. He chuckled a bit in return.
"...Although, just two people might not be enough, who else..."

---

Hod PoV:
You are Hod, officially the Patron Librarian of the floor of literature, Former Sepirah of the training team.
You probably thought about that to reassure yourself that everything's alright.

Anyways, you and Yesod are talking about what might be happening in Angela's office.
"Hm...Maybe something suddenly appeared that warranted their attention?" You suggested, sounding nervous as ever.
Yesod's still being so formal...You wonder how he keeps his cool even in situations like this.
"Possibly, but if it warranted that much attention, they would've at least come out to explain something to us by now." Yesod Answered.
Yesod was right, although, the possibility of some mysterious assailant appearing in their office and holding Angela, Roland, and Hokma hostage was still oddly real. Perhaps you've read too many of those tearjerker novels you've got.

To possibly no one's surprise Binah stepped up and approached the office. You're nervous, nervous about what she would see.
"I wonder. For what have the director, her servant, and the ever-faithful Hokma seen to trap them in their view for so long with no response?" Binah spoke to herself, in the manner she always had, what is it called, Cryptic?

---

Roland PoV:
You're Roland. Plain and simple.
You've got to wonder, though. Have the recent events left you so plain and simple anymore?
No matter, You're always you.

Back to the subject matter at hand, though, that moving city...Creepy, You don't think anything in the ruins is like this, if at all.
If the city had to move out of the way of whatever might come, the things that come to these...moving cities, M.C., as you started to call them in your head, how terrifying would those things be?

"I think...Uh, so, right now, It's just me and Chesed, right?" You ask, to which the director of the library, Angela, nodded in response.
"Yes. I am still calculating who else to send. Just in case you got into trouble and you can't handle it alone."
"Wait, can't Chesed help with one of the remaining keypages, or something?" You asked in return, which, to your surprise, Angela nodded.
"Good point, however, I still feel that having a three-man army in case anything goes awry is better than just two."
"...Alright, then." You answered a short and simple answer.

Other footsteps were heard, that of Binah, who just entered the office.

"May I question as to what left you in awe, to the point where you haven't returned for quite some time now?"

Binah asked, in the usual cryptic tone she always carries, seriously, can't she just lax off and talk casually for once? Goddammit. The head is a bunch of shady creeps if Binah is supposed to be one of them. Or, well, hold the memories of one of them, to be more correct.
Anyways, Hokma answered Binah before you could say a word.

"According to our director, This way here used to house nothing at all, but now, there seems to be a city that had erected itself in that direction" Hokma then pointed to the direction of that weird city.

"Interesting, what do you intend to do with it?" Binah questioned back.

You responded before Hokma could.

"Well...we plan to send some people to go check it out, Me and Chesed included, but we're still thinking of the 3rd person to go...Angela said 3 people are better than 2, or whatever. Also, Gebura and you are right out of the list, Angela's afraid you'll terrify the shit out of the people there."

Binah let out a soft chuckle, but no one in the room can tell the intent behind it.

"So be it, That is the decision you have made, and I shall respect it."

Binah waved, before taking her leave with Hokma.

Bloody hell, if Angela had to put up with someone like this for thousands upon thousands of years, you can kinda understand why she did White nights and dark days now.

Heh, Whitenight.

You only knew of this because you overheard the assistants of Hokma's floor speaking about it. The most revered Abnormality in Lobotomy Corp. The joke is that Angela synchronized with WhiteNight at some point, to be fair, there are some running around about "Magical Roland" as well, so you're both on equal bullying grounds.

Anyways, your mind's going offtopic, Let's just get back to who would go to that M.C. alongside Mister Roland "Boohoo My wife is dead" and Chesed "Coffee is my life".

---

Hod PoV:
You're Hod, again.
Weird thoughts you're having.
Either way, you've just gotten into the meat of the discussion you're having with Yesod when Binah and Hokma stepped outside of the office.

"What happened? Are Roland and Angela okay?" Were the first words that went out of your mouth, you sound incredibly concerned, as you usually do.
"Rest assured, nothing had happened to them, but it was the surroundings that had been altered." Hokma spoke, calm as always.
You let out a sigh of relief, but then, Tiphereth spoke up.
"What was that change then, old man?" The kid's sassy voice never changes, huh?
This time, it was Binah who answered for Hokma.
"Relax, My child-in-yellow. I will explain. As it would seem, A city had appeared and settled down near the library."
Confusion spread among everyone, you as well, obviously.
Yesod was forming a few hypotheses on how such a feat was possible.
Malkuth is excited to go there, as she always is, to be fair, you also wonder what the people are like there.
Netzach, though, just vanished, somehow, and reappeared with a canvas, a brush, and some paint, not even hiding the want to draw that city.
Tiphereth was questioning how it was even possible for a city to sort of just, show up. She's discussing this with Yesod, of course.

Gebura...well, you can't really tell, she's just smoking, it's probably just disbelief in her head.
Chesed was wondering how their coffee would be, the classic.

Binah decided to drop another bombshell of a decision from Angela.
"Our wise director had decided that we would attempt to make contact with it, and had chosen to send Roland and Chesed to initiate first contact, but she wishes for a third person to join them, although that decision has not been made yet."

Another discussion erupted, mainly just Chesed being surprised at this decision, and everybody, including you, is discussing who would've been sent.

"It's probably gonna be you, Hod! Angela does want to get first contact, you would be perfect for that!" Malkuth spoke while playing with your cheeks a little bit, you chuckle nervously but shook your head.

"No...I think she's gonna send someone that would prove helpful...Yesod to check out the tech in there, or maybe Tiphereth..."

---

Roland PoV:
Yep, just a regular washed-up grade 9 fixer.
If not an ex-grade one, of course.

Anyways, you and Angela take your leave from the office, having made the decision on who to send to explore the M.C.

"Attention, please?"

Angela then clears her throat, after asking for attention.
You chuckle a bit, before leaning down onto your boss, to correct her.

"Hey, Angela, not meaning to be rude to a person trying to learn 'How to Person 101', but a big word of advice, most of the time, you clear your throat before you ask for attention!"

That last bit was a bit exaggerated, but Angela still laughed along with you either way.

She clears her throat, before asking for attention again.

"Ahem, Attention?"

The discussions quieted down, everyone turning their gaze to Angela.

"As I believe Binah, or Hokma, would've already told you all, yes, there's a city that had just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, as well."
Angela spoke in her ever-robotic tone.

"I have decided to send some people to scout out the place, and whether we can move there or not, as I had hypothesized that the city moves, for a reason, and staying still seems to be a dangerous thing to do in this world, even for cities." Angela continued on.

...That was what you were thinking. As the Library had existed as Angela's E.G.O., and thus, she can probably put it in storage, maybe some light would return that way as well. Sure, there's the downside of the patron librarians disappearing, but they'll show up again once the library has successfully moved.

"And I have put some thought into who to send. Chesed, for his sociable nature, would be useful for establishing contacts and connections within that city."

Chesed looks happy and starts to brew some coffee as well. You signal to him to brew some for you too.
Angela did not stop there, however.

"And Roland, to act as a backup in the event Chesed fails at his task, or for whatever reason, anyone wants us dead. Keypages are still active, yes, but safety in numbers is a concept proven time and time again, as I believe you all have seen in the script."

Everyone nods in agreement, including you, and you know exactly why the third person is chosen.

"And the third person is Yesod. The reason for me specifically choosing him is rather simple. There is foreign technology that the moving city, as I'd like to call it, possess, and it would be best for Yesod to inspect them."

Everyone, including you, clapped for Yesod, who hides his own face in a bit of embarrassment, but somehow maintained the formal look, and eventually recovered, nodding.

"I understand the reason for your assessment, director."

And Angela waves everyone off.

"Meeting dismissed, Roland, Chesed, and Yesod, prepare to leave. We should take off ASAP, there's no saying when the city could just take off and move away again."

You nod and approach your soon-to-be exploration coworkers.

---

Yesod PoV:
You're Yesod.
Simple as that. Weird that your mind randomly brought it up, but you feel you'd just have to accept it.
You sigh, before crossing your arms, and speak to your special work coworkers.

"...I suppose we'll be working together on this exploration." You spoke, cold and formal as ever, it would kill you to be casual, literally.
"Mhm, that's right, Yesod~" Chesed teased you, again.
Well, That's just another thing to accept and move on from, isn't it? You could see yourself adapting into a more formal Roland with how often 'This is this, and that is that' would have to be used to...cope with the current situation.
"Well, I supposed we should get ready~, What will you use for your keypage~?" Chesed Asks, but you already know the answer, responding almost right away.
"Xiao's." One simple mention, and both Roland and Chesed slightly shiver, they still remember the fight they had against Liu Section 1's director in her rage.
"Of course, you would've used that one...Oh, well, I'll just use my own, how about you, Chesed?" Roland asks Chesed, Frankly, you don't really like how casual Roland is to go onto new land, but, each to their own, you'd guess.
"Oh, mine~? How curious~? Purple Tear, of course, I might not be able to hop dimensions with our version of her, but, well, it's still pretty strong~" Chesed said in the most teasy tone you've heard in a while, but, eh, this is this and that is that. Can't let him bother you to the point where you get annoyed that badly.
Well, would you look at that? Already had to use the phase.

---

The City's 3rd person PoV:
Chesed, Roland, and Yesod had finished up their preparations rather quickly. And, with their keypages, leaves the library after so, so long.

They stood there, just watching the view that this new place presented. It was beautiful, even though most of it is barren.
No matter, they're here for a purpose.
Surprisingly enough, there are not many people who had spotted the Library, despite being so close to that city, or M.C., as Roland calls it.
They approach what seems like the entrance to the city, after passing by some wheels, it was confirmed that the city does move around, on tracks, to be precise.
The entrance was not like what they would've thought, being a rather big metal gate with some guards standing by. The guards seem to have some animal features, but the night was too dark to see anything beyond that.

"..."

The guards say nothing, so Chesed decided to approach them.

"Hello? Can we head in?"

"Right, sorry, must've been bad trying to get away from that catastrophe, here, I'll offer some hospitality, head right in and find a hotel for yourselves...you people do look like Ægir's, must've been a long trip from Iberia, take a break. Just head inside and let the scanner check ya, and you people can get into the right areas."

The guards seem to rather quickly let all of them in, even though all of them are dressed in somewhat ridiculous clothing, and are clearly carrying weapons, seems carrying around weapons is a common thing, at least in this city.
And the guard had just given them a perfect alibi, a trio of Ægirians, whatever those are, who just came from 'Iberia', probably a faction that is far away, to visit this city, but almost gets caught in the 'Catastrophe', probably what caused this city to have to move here.

Either way, three of them move through the gate, through the scanner, which says they are 'non-infecteds', so there's evidently some kind of disease plaguing this city and the area surrounding it, maybe even this new world. The three get put in the non-infected area, which, the first thing they see is...

---

What is the first thing they see?
[]- A bunch of people dressed up in suits and carrying crossbows, looks like some syndicate members, yelling at each other, most of them possess some sort of animal ear. Those syndicate members seem deeply troubled. (Siracusa)
[]- Many brightly lit skyscrapers, this is clearly a very prosperous place, the people walking around seem incredibly drunk to not see the three. It's either that or they just mind their own business, they all have some animal features, ears, and tails. (Lungmen)
[]- An evidently old stone road, with many houses surrounding it, a poster hangs on one of the walls, and the trio can hear some music coming out of one of the houses. (Leithanien)
[]- An empty town hall, decorated by a food cart, street lights, and a singular statue, it somewhat reminds you of the crying children. (Victoria)

Welp, I wrote up a draft but apparently, the website is like "Nah, fuck all your progress lmao", which, fair enough, I should've been using google docs

I mean, as I said, I learn with time, haha

^coping hard

Anyways, on with the fic!

---

3rd person PoV:

Roland, Yesod, And Chesed seem to arrive in a fairly old-looking town, it is very, very deep into the night, so they decided to maybe find a place to rest first. The tunes coming out of one of the houses were calming, Roland could not help but compare it to his own experience with music, but his was more obviously...murder-y.

A hotel would probably be out of the option, seeing as they have no money, at all.

Yesod suggested that they could possibly last the night inside a public library, so they can both have something covering their heads and be able to research the world simultaneously.

The other patrons agree, finding a passerby who was probably out drinking.

Chesed approaches this man, who possesses antlers.

"Hello, sir~, Can I ask you, does this place have a library? And where might it be~?"
In that tone, again.
The passerby was kind enough to point in the general direction of the library in question, Chesed thanks him and walks off, motioning for Roland and Yesod to follow.
The passerby eyed them a bit weirdly but didn't think much of it.

---

Roland PoV:
Well, this place just screams 'District 9 but better', the musicians aren't looking to kill you to make an instrument out of you, or something.
God, this place is so much better already, you wonder what you could find out about this world in this town's library, as crazy as it might sound, the place looks a bit backwater, yes, but the tracks that move the entire city says otherwise.
You hope that there are going to be basics in the library.

You and your coworkers eventually arrived at the public library, the sign reads "Vyseheim Public Library", and you make a mental note that this is probably the town's name, Vyseheim. It's sort of surprising that this library is open 24/7, actually.
All of you get checked in, Yesod and Chesed using their old names in order to not draw too much attention.

Inside the smaller library, all of you split up to find the subjects of interest, you about the races of people in this place, "The many humans of Terra", to be precise. So, this entire world is called 'Terra'.
Chesed splits off to find books about general cultures, and Yesod, as expected, goes to look for books related to technology.
All of you decided to split off to sit by yourselves, to be a bit more secluded and focus on your studies.
You open up your book and decided that you'll look for information about the race you're disguising as, Ægir.
It definitely immediately gets into the chase.
Ægir has the traits of various aquatic animals such as fishes, cetaceans, cephalopods, echinoderms, cnidarians (Medusozoans and Anthozoans), crustaceans, and pinnipeds. However, most Ægir is entirely humanoid, making their animalistic traits barely noticeable.
All Ægir come from the oceans beyond the known world of Terra. On land, the Ægir has to face the issue of dry skin. If left untreated, they will face severe symptoms like allergic reactions and chafing. As a matter of fact, they always make sure that their skin is moist all the time, such as carrying a small bottle of water as a moisturizer. Even though they hail from the ocean, ironically, most of them lack amphibious traits (i.e., breathing underwater), hence the reason why many Aegir cities are built within domes.
That is what the book says, well, better keep that in mind, then.
Anyways, you go to read more about other races. This is the type of thing Tiphereth would enjoy the most.

---

3rd person PoV:
After the trio had finished their discoveries, they rendezvous at a table to discuss them. Roland going first, then Chesed, and lastly, Yesod.
"Okay, so, seems like the race we're passing as, Ægir, are basically fish people. They have barely noticeable animal traits, which everyone else seems to have...well, apart from Sankta and Liberi, the Sankta has halos and wings, while Liberi is bird people, but it only shows with their hair being slightly funny." Roland speaks.
"Interesting biology that this world has~" Chesed speaks before Yesod raises a question.
"Hold on, so if you say that Ægir is 'fish people', does that mean-", before being cut off by Roland with his answer.
"Yeah, if an Ægir's skin is dry for too long, they'll basically become really bloody itchy. So, keep our skin wet, and maybe carry around bottles of water. Makes the disguise work better."

After that little bombshell by Roland, Chesed starts with his own research.
"Okay, my turn~? So, there's this 'arts' thing that keeps coming up, and it's apparently the lifeline of this entire world alongside something else called 'originium'~"
That is the absolute summary of it, but Roland and Yesod were somewhat thankful, as there was only the information they needed.
"Are originium and arts, like, singularities, or something?" Roland asked, knowing the answer full well.
"Well~, no, not at all~, see, I've picked up some more books about those topics~. Turns out arts is basically magic, they are usually unique on a person-to-person basis~, but here, it's very inclined towards music~" Chesed answered gleefully, weirdly enough, he didn't even have any coffee to stimulate him like that, you know.
"...Interesting. We should keep that in mind for future encounters...music can be used in combat, and I expect it to be put in action here the most." Yesod spoke, keeping his formal nature completely intact.
"Reminds me of District 9." Roland said.
"And Originium, would you all want to learn about it~?" Chesed asks again.
"Would be helpful, as that term keeps coming up in the books I was researching." Yesod answered, surprisingly being positive with his answer.
"Well~, how do I put this~? See, it's equivalent to enkephalin for this world, the main energy source~"
"...There's gotta be a catch, like how you people have to throw guys at the abnos to actually make the stuff." Roland speaks with skepticism, and Chesed confirms it.
"Mhm~, see, for Originium, prolonged contact gives you an incurable disease called 'Oripathy', and it's 100% lethal~, apparently what causes that is the originium starts spreading and growing inside the body until you eventually turn into a piece of originium~ And apparently, oripathy patients are heavily discriminated against as well~" Chesed answers, surprisingly relaxedly.

Well, after that bombshell, Yesod spoke of his.
"As Chesed said, Originium is, indeed, the lifeblood of this world. Most pieces of technology are powered by this mineral." Cold and quick.
"...Formal and simple as always, Yesod. Man, I feel like it would actually kill you to be casual now..." Roland spoke up.
"This is how I am most comfortable, I must apologize if it brings you discomfort." Yesod retorted, meeting a scoff from Roland.

"Well, would you look at that...the sun's up." Roland spoke, having a ray of the sun straight up blind him for a few seconds, he quickly covered his face with his hands.

---

Yesod PoV:
"You know, you remember them saying that there's an 'infected quarter', maybe we could go check it out, you know, see how different they are?" Were the first words out of Chesed's mouth upon exiting the Vyseheim Public Library.

You thought for a moment, There are upsides and downsides to this.
If you do visit the infected quarantine district, 'Afterglow', as it was called, you might get to see what their equivalent of the backstreets is, and maybe some more interesting things, as the infected might be able to operate things differently, and Chesed would definitely want to check out how infected people are treated.
On the other hand, oripathy being a disease means there's a risk of it being infectious, and the trio would definitely get weird looks, it would almost like a nest feather suddenly walked into be backstreets.
Or you can stay in the equivalent of a nest, and like most nests, just wallow away in reading and other boring things, but safe.
Eventually, you have made your decision.

---

Well, that was a pretty short chapter compared to the previous's 2.8K words, I promise, though, I'll try to write longer...

Also, please do tell me if I sound manipulative with the voting...

---

What was your decision?
[]- Go visit the afterglow, what's the worst that could happen? (Starts the Lingering Echoes event with the trio being caught in the fighting.)
[]- Stay in the nest, it's too risky. (Ignores the Lingering Echoes event, and just hears about it by passing.)
[]- Write-in

Alright, I am pretty pumped up for this!

---

Yesod PoV:

"I'd agree with going to the infected zone, we already saw the nest equivalent, let's go see the backstreets of this place." You say, keeping the formality.

"Welp, looks like my vote wouldn't matter anyways." Roland says, and shrugged, before going back to the gate but diverting to the infected zone this time, it's just to the left of the nest-like area.

"Afterglow...does that have something to do with being infected to have your zone be called like that, Chesed?" Roland asked out of curiosity.

"Hm~? No, I find no correlation~" Chesed answers, that tone as per usual, maybe he's excited about the possibility of finding Coffee in the afterglow since he didn't find any in the non-infected zone.


You three eventually arrive at the infected quarantine zone, which looks surprisingly similar to the non-infected zone, everyone thought but has been reminded that other cities are probably worse. The reason that the two zones look similar for this town, Vyshiem, is probably because the architect didn't know how to design something that doesn't look like it's from a medieval fantasy movie.


You and the other two took a step in, it didn't feel all that different from the nest, surprisingly.

The people don't even look like patients. Hell, from what you've gathered listening in on their conversations (bar a few 'excuse me?'s and a few weird glances because of your choice of attire and non-infected randomly coming into the infected zone.), the infected seem to be making a miraculous recovery. Judging on your knowledge from reading the books about oripathy, specifically the fact that it's incurable brings you some skepticism. You saw in those books that alleviation is possible with medicine, sure, but none are as effective as this.


"...Something isn't right here. I'd half expect this place to look like the backstreets with some sad and sick people." Roland makes a comment.

You do recall some paragraphs about oripathy patients being able to channel their arts better, as the originium inside their blood makes it so that you don't even need a conduit to cast arts, which most other casters need. And also an excerpt about oripathy not really having symptoms until it...well, crystallized your skin and eventually kill you.

"Well...Maybe there's a festival that boosts their morale like this~? I wonder what it's like~?" Chesed questions.

But you, you read the parts about oripathy.

"No, Roland. Oripathy patients aren't actively that sick, the only symptoms are crystallization of your skin." You told Roland.

"Yeah, but still, this is the backstreets, I'd expect them to be more...depressed, about their conditions." Roland voices his thoughts, which, to be fair, you do agree with.

"Well, I've been hearing words about a 'miraculous recovery', and that has me questioning, does it just relieve them of their symptoms to an unseen degree, or is it an actual cure?" You say, voicing your discoveries from listening in on conversations.

"Jeez, Yesod, never took you for a peeping tom." Roland said, which, to be fair, was a part of your job back in information team as well.

---

Roland PoV:

Well, here's this new place's backstreets.

Weird, though, that the infected are just...recovering, and Yesod agrees, which doesn't help with the creeps.

Anyways, you turn around the corner, to the 'Afterglow Hall', maybe it's sort of like this place's town hall?



"Afterglow hall...maybe it's like, where people gather to listen to music, or something like that?" You voice out your thoughts.

"Probably~, hey, look, someone's performing!" Chesed pointed out and sees someone who is performing, probably sort of like the musicians back home, playing music in public, but this time, it was probably some genuine attempt at getting some money for themselves instead of being cultish maniacs.

And seems like it's working, as the people around start throwing some blue bank notes into the hat on the hat next to the performer.

Well, Afterglow is already so much kinder than their backstreets, it feels...refreshing.



You, Yesod, and Chesed approach the performer and hear about a concert that's going to take place soon to celebrate the farewell of a local pianist.

A pianist. That job title has never been proven to be a good deal, at least for you.

But this is a new world and a new hope.

Anyways, Yesod seems to accidentally run into a girl wearing a black coat, and a purple undershirt, who's carrying what seems to be a flute, you don't know. She's walking out of the afterglow hall. Seems like you all had just missed a concert, shame, but there'll be another one soon enough, as Yesod had said.

"I must apologize for my incompetency to not spot you, miss, it will not happen again." Yesod bows, and apologizes.

Huh, Yesod and the girl actually look sort of similar, pretty much the same color hair, just different gender, if Yesod isn't using Xiao's keypage and instead just his patron librarian suit, they would've looked a lot more similar.



"O-oh, no, it's fine! You don't need to apologize!" The girl says, extremely nervous, before sprinting off to do whatever she might need to.

"Hold on!" You shout. "Do you know anything about the recovery these infected people are making?"

"W-well, uh...I don't really know too much about it either..." The girl answers, being fairly nervous about you and your friends.
Can't blame her though, 2 of you are wearing suits that give off the "run away or be burnt to death" vibes, one of whom is carrying a massive guandao and a sword, meanwhile the other is wearing a purple dress with 3 swords.

---

Hibiscus PoV:
You're a Rhodes Island medic operator, and you just messed up big time.
You had just bumped into 3 fairly terrifying people, they are definitely some seriously insane Ægirs to want to come into the infected zone while being uninfected.
But they seem to be more bothered by the 'miraculous recovery' they've caught word of than the gazes they're getting.


Suddenly, the one in black spoke up.


"Would you mind if we help you out with investigating the miraculous recovery? We're...uh..."
Only to be interrupted by the one in purple.
"Excuse my colleague, ma'am. He gets nervous easily. We're a crew of scholars from Iberia, here to study this place's arts and their capabilities, we have the ability and resources to look into this."

...They do sound a bit odd, but Leithanien arts and how they blend into music so seamlessly would probably make some people curious, like these guys.
Do you trust them?

---

Man, I feel like I wrote Hibiscus so, SO wrong, haha...

I apologize to the 2 Hibiscus fans out there, I did your waifu dirty

But, eh, I learn with time

Also, short chapter moment ran out of motivation...

---

Do you trust the strangers?
-[] Sure, what's the harm?
-[] Sorry, Lava told me to not trust people like you guys.
-[] Write-in