Chương 21: Enginheim
Phew, I'm glad I managed to survive a whole week without talking much to either Dad or Kars. That was a rough ride after that awful last conversation we had. Nonetheless, we finally arrived at our precious destination, "Enginheim," the closest big city to our remote town, which is also apparently the dam capital. Yeah, no kidding! This city is, well, freaking huge! Not only was it huge, it was also fantastic! Just at the door, the guards weren't people but machines! No fricking way! Robot guards? in this medieval age? That absolutely blew my mind right away, and we weren't even inside the city yet, which also had a massive dome-like shield covering it. Yeah, this place was utterly high-tech, no doubt about it at all. The even weirder part of the shield was that it only let humans and other friendly species in. You heard that right, "species." is this world crazy or what? There were literally elves, beast people, what I presume were demons, little tiny fairies, dwarfs, and even some gosh darn demi-humans; you heard that right, there was actually a breed of humanoids that had features of beast people, except that they didn't have any fur, and just looked more like humans with tails and animal ears. Still, no more similarities with animals. Unlike their counterparts, the beast people actually resembled walking and talking animals more than people.
As we were waiting in line, we just saw how the robot guards scanned everyone. They seemed to be unbiased and alright, perfect, treating everyone with the same level of respect, not causing any beef within the different species, and just overall professional. Woah, I have to give credit to whoever came up with these things because they did a dam good job. Can you picture it? Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I still struggled to believe it. Not even back in my world did we have such a thing. AI was a thing when I died, but even that wasn't human enough, at least not like these machines, you know? Let me explain further why I say this. Back in my world, machines and even AI really only followed programming. Well, you could always tell it was just a machine talking to you since they lacked their own will or feelings in general. Still, these robots, even though they're one hundred and ten percent just computers, they have some sort of human understanding. How do I know? I saw a clear example of this when a foreigner had his documents stolen along with all his money. Obviously, the situation called my attention since I assumed the robots were just going to deny them entry because machines can't really make their own decisions, I thought to myself, yet to my surprise, the robot guards just scanned the crying elf, and after some seconds, they just printed her an ID, then proceeded to send her to the council section on her marry way, there was no way, the robots really just do that? I mean, it could be just their standard protocol, but still, I couldn't help but think they made that decision based on facts and the apparent distress of the crying elf.
Of course, we eventually reached the door, to which my dad and I got an easy pass since we were registered citizens of this kingdom with Kars. However, the guards didn't know what to do with him since he didn't pop from any world records they mentioned. Woah, they have those here? Oh! So that's why they scanned the elf's face and fingerprints; they just searched for her registered identification. Oh man, but now, what will they do to Kars? he doesn't have an ID from this kingdom, of course, but not even from where he is from? What the heck? This may be why he wanted to come here. Since the bots had an international registry, he assumed they would prove he really was royalty. Still, the fact that not even the bots could find his identity made me feel sick to my stomach; I had a bad feeling about what had really happened. Could those men who threw Kars into the river do so because some higher-up of their government ordered it? Man, that is really messed up. Therefore, I couldn't just abandon him in his moment of need. Sensing this, my father also followed me back to where the guards were about to deny Kar's entry and just send him back.
- Stop! Please let him in.
- We are sorry, but he is delaying the line and has no global registration. No records of him pop up anywhere in the system. We cannot allow him in.
- Sir, is there any way I could take responsibility for this matter once he is in? After all, I'm a town's sheriff, and I testify, with goodwill, that Kars is neither a criminal nor a bad person.
- Sorry, but we can't do that. Ever since the last terrorist attack, security measures have been way more strict.
- Yui, Mr. Galileo, it'll be fine, I promise, I-I- I promise It'll be fine, I'll just wait outside the city until you come back, please go ahead, I can wait for another chance...
Clearly ashamed and in distress, Kars just started acting weird. I had never seen him like that. He looked utterly shocked and, at the same time, somewhat sad. It seems like being told by some of the most advanced unbiased machines that he basically no longer even existed really broke his heart; I could see it in his eyes; a type of disappointment in his look just made me feel even worse, which just made me fight for him ever harder, which is why I just got down into my knees, then just proceed to assume a dogeza stance.
- Please, let him in. I beg you, he's my beloved boyfriend, please. I can't let him risk his life outside the city walls.
For a brief moment, the shame and everyone else's glances were just killing me. Still, I persisted, making everyone in the line kind of uncomfortable, to the point that some just started pleading with me to let the boy in. Eventually, the guards just called Kars back, scanned him, printed him a "temporary" ID, and let him through. They instructed us to immediately seek counsel at the offices where the elf was sent, so we complied.
None managed to speak after that, specially me, I just walked next to my dad and Kars in silence all the way to the council office, were Kars was deemed as a special case, since they couldn't trace him either, they just proceeded to start his registry as a new citizen of this kingdom, as per how, well I got to thank dad for that, since he is a town's sheriff, his testimony of him being a good law abiding member of society, granted him enough points for a registry, claiming he just didn't have a good family that ever registered him as citizen, which is apparently normal for parents to do, the ladies at the council could sense that the story was all BS, but since they were so lovely, they just went along with dad's and Kars crazy story, geez their acting was so terrible, it really made cringe, nonetheless, they did complete the process, relatively fast, he was of course, conflicted with keeping his name, since he seemed to have felt betrayed by his nation, he was struggling to say yes to keeping his "nickname", yeah they said Kars was just a nickname, still that isn't the point, the point was that he was clearly struggling to say yes, to which I decided to approach.
- Hey Kars, it's okay.
- Yui, please, no longer call me that.
He seemed sad and disappointed, and I could only imagine his pain. I mean, could you imagine? That your own nation denies you? It must be rough on his spirit, which is wholly hurt. Not really knowing what to do after he coldly rejects me, I just freeze. Thankfully, Dad comes to the rescue.
- Come on, boy, I will give you a new name if you allow me.
- Mr. Galileo...
- Well, what name should I give you? Uhmmm, well, I got it. Since you're fantastic with the sword, why not call you "Magnus"?
- Magnus, aye? Mph, I like it, relatively simple, but I like the sound of it, then Magnus it is!
- right, Mr. Magnus, here you go, here are your new documents. Please check that all information is correct. If not, please speak now.
The lady behind the counter just handed him over his ID card just like that. That didn't even take hours, just a handful of minutes, and boom, the registration was that fast, puff if only we had this type of service back in my world, ahaha, even just back in my land, transacting even a license would take a few hours of waiting, let along more days for it to get approved and verified. Yet, in this medieval-like world, it was basically instantaneous. They registered him just like that, in a goddam flash. I guess that's why, even though many people seem to be sent here quite often, the office always looks almost empty. That is just efficiency on a whole 'nother level.
Ah, still though, after he got his new ID and we got into the actual city, both my dad and now "Magnus," formerly Kars, they, well, couldn't help but mock me and tease me for what I did back at the city entrance, which, just made me blush again, making me uncomfortable again, I just resisted their teasing, trying to keep my shame to myself, until Magnus did something unprecedented to me, he just grabbed my hand, got into one knee and kissed it, then put it in his forehead, saying what I never ever expect him to say, a genuine.
- Thank you, Yui. You saved this idiot's butt back there, I'm deeply in debt with you, and I do not deserve your forgiveness, but please, forgive me. I know I was harsh on you when we first met, and still, you convinced your dad to bring us here and humiliated yourself for me. I will never be able to repay you; please accept my apology instead.
- I- I
I froze up. What the heck? Why does this happen to me? Every time, I just froze up in panic. I didn't know how to respond. I stood there for a while, looking down at a now crying Magnus. He meant his words clearly, and while I genuinely believed him, I couldn't muster the words out of my mouth for a while longer. While pushing myself to my limit, I just gathered enough courage to finally piece up a response.
- Apology accepted, come here.
Since he was still in such distress, I couldn't help but get down just to hug him because he seemed like he needed it. Seeing this, Father just picked us up for a group hug, declaring that Magnus is now basically family.
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