Chương 41: Five days
The evening streets of Xeonodan were lively. Young people walked around the commercial sectors, vodka in one hand and cigars in the other. Dozens poured in and out of the saloons and taverns at every corner, with live music reverberating in the surrounding air.
At every other intersection was a different theater group performing their plays. Some musicals, some traditional. Hawkers and vendors slyly set their stalls around the gathered crowds, going about their business with unusual pomp. Were the people indulging in their happiness, or were they running from their grief? Every night was a festival in the capital.
I passed by the bustling streets alongside Nea. Soon, we reached the enormous dome-shaped cultural museum of Zakall.
"Over here, Nea. We have to a get a pass first."
We walked over to the desk placed right at the entrance to get our passes. The employees tried to lure us into a weird scheme, but we got our passes.
The gigantic building housed an equally large exhibition. Even with no walls or partitions in the single room, there wasn't any hint of disorganization. Not because they managed it amazingly, no. It was because only wannabe high-class folks visited museums at night.
"I should have asked this yesterday but, how do you know if the artifact is nearby?" Nea asked. "Apparently, the artifacts by themselves can't 'spread' their magic. So, if the rainbow stone is nearby, there should be some reaction," I explained.
We stuck to the edges of the room at first. The walls of the museum were adorned with paintings of ages-old, depicting a distinct part of Zakall's history, arranged in a semi-circle with the oldest one on the leftmost end and the latest ones on the right.
Nea looked bored from the paintings. "Don't we need to search for the artifact? Why bother with paintings?" she asked. I scrutinized each piece of art as I replied to her, "I am looking for potential places we could miss. The stone might just be in one ruin of someplace that was quite popular before the democracy."
"You can always look after checking the physical items, right?"
"Probably not. I only opened the pocket-watch slightly at the Lightning Palace and still set off a couple of alarms."
"You did what? How come no one noticed?"
"I crushed them before they could annoy anyone," I stuck out my tongue. Nea shook her head and joined me in checking the paintings.
After the paintings, we looked at the various relics and items of the past. Since this was the biggest museum in Xeonodan, things like the crown and the throne of the king were stored here. I cracked open the pocket watch in hopes to find a reaction from the things in here but had no luck. It was Nea's first time even slightly feeling the magical energy of the rainbow stone. Being a Grade-6 mage, she easily understood just how powerful the object I had was.
After visiting 2 more museums, that were more like galleries. We ended our excursion with nothing to show for it. I checked out the courthouse at night without Nea.
The next day, we visited the industrial sector. Smog covered the early skies of the industrial sectors and various chemicals seeped into the air from the chimneys of the factories. Men and women, young and old, came to and from the factories. Their conditions were much better than the workers back at Kifestein, yet they looked impoverished. We went to various administrative agencies and even some private ones with no luck.
On the third day, Orina came over and showed us around the residential part of the city. I stayed on the lookout for the artifact during the entire tour but found nothing. There was no need to distract Orina since she was busy fawning all over Nea.
Orina had left word that Jane and Artelick want to hang out with us, which we did on the fourth day of entering Xeonodan. They showed us around their workplaces, and even to the Lightning Palace. Maneuvering around was difficult, but I still searched everywhere I could.
We spent that night drinking together in the hotel, playing some games, and chatting away. We had a peaceful time together. There wasn't any mention of meeting the president, though. I didn't sleep that night, taking the chance to go to any place I could, almost getting caught multiple times in my hastiness.
It had been five whole days since we came to Xeonodan. There was still no sign of the lightning artifact...
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