The sun moved northward, and the dining table was gradually covered in shadow. A large cluster of purple-red flowers hung down from the second-floor window sill, a sight he had never imagined. After all, in the original world, his change of work clothes should be hanging there.
Uriel patted his forehead and blinked again.
Of course, let alone clothes, the hometown that was fine in the morning suddenly changed drastically, and clothes may be the part that deserves the least attention. The apprentice is currently in a restaurant and bar with a very period atmosphere. The floor and counter are made of wood, but it exudes the smell of fresh walnuts; A strong drink that I have never touched in my life. Alcohol, tobacco and sweat odor. He thought to himself, it looked like a dock at noon. In the four-leaf city of Eastman Southland, the bar looks like this.
This is 181 Fafrank South, a cramped tavern called the World, the cheap loft where I lived for three years. Uriel wanted to laugh ridiculously...
…until he realizes his life has to get back on track. The apprentice stopped laughing immediately.
Staying where he was didn't help, but when he escaped from the door, a street scene that was completely different from his memory came to him: the grocery store turned into a tailor shop, and the dye shop turned into a barber's small clinic. The coffin-like wooden rental houses on the gravel road have now been replaced by brick and wood buildings with scattered heights. It’s hard to imagine that the poorest civilian neighborhood in South City would see a new life one day. But is this still Fafrankstrasse?
The answer is obvious. Uriel licked his lips and felt a chill in the hot wind. This is not how it should be. What he encountered was not a trivial matter like being trafficked to another place, but something that spanned time and space...
World travel.
"You're not in good spirits, man." Someone asked from the side, "Why are you looking like that?"
The apprentice responded blankly: "I took the wrong bus."
"You even identified the wrong house, didn't you? Ha. I've done this before when I was hungover."
"But I didn't pay when I got on the bus - ouch!" Uriel said as he looked up and saw an orange face, and stood up from his chair in fright. I was actually talking to one of these weirdos! It really shouldn't be done. The last time I did this, I was dragged onto an inexplicable train by a ticket inspector.
"Did I scare you?" the orange-faced man asked with a smile on his face.
"No...no. It's just, it's just a little sudden."
"Forgive me. After all, when you wake up, things will probably become more serious."
"serious?"
"Like apologizing, being polite to each other... normal things like that. This is seriousness. You seem like such a serious person. Oh, are you not?"
"I...?" Uriel didn't know how to answer.
The person continued to ask: "Did you say that in other places? This is your home?"
"No—well, no. Not anywhere else. But this is my home!"
The orange-faced man stopped talking. He stared at Uriel with a smile on his face and straight eyes, an empty glass turning over in his hand. The apprentice waited for a long time before deciding that the guy was distracted. strangeness. too weird. Who would do this?
He quietly left the table and turned to the others for help. But as far as the eye could see, there was only one human-looking creature in this bar.
"Miss, may I ask...?"
"call……"
Uriel suspected that he was dazzled. The girl was still awake when he came from the table! For the sake of Gaia and all the good gods, should I wake her up? The apprentice is in trouble.
"Are you here to see someone? Ask a question?" asked the short man next to the waitress. He knocked on the bar, "According to the rules, you have to pay the bill." But when Uriel took out the banknotes, he refused. "I don't want your piece of paper, kid. What's going on?"
"That's exactly my problem!"
"It's not expensive." The other party muttered, "Okay, I'll treat you. Get up, Cecila! Give this poor little guy a glass of juice." He threw out a coin. Uriel could have sworn that he had never seen such a coin.
"Thank you," the apprentice whispered. "I'll bring it back, sir." If only I knew its denomination.
Hearing this, the other party glanced at him. "I am Painter of the Molten Iron Family."
"My name is Uriel. I remember it."
"Just remember this! Men from the Molten Iron family never drink juice, do you understand?"
Well, at least it can confirm that the other person is not older. Uriel swallowed. Although this is not the first time I have confirmed it.
It happened after he blurted out the heartfelt truth "This is my home." Obviously, if you understand this, you will understand that the conversation with the orange-faced man is not the most bizarre encounter of Uriel. But for our apprentice, after he has encountered as many strange people and strange things as stars, and experienced countless spying conspiracies, he will still recall his first encounter with these interesting people.
The dwarf Painter jumped off the bar, rushed across the aisle on two short legs, and then jumped so high in front of Uriel that he almost hit the apprentice's head. He reached out and grabbed Uriel's collar, causing him to bend over. Their noses were touching.
Then, a loud roar erupted from his body, overwhelming all the laughter in the bar:
"You annoying little bone! Black fly by the bellows! Damn it, who let you in?!"
"Then...should I go out now?"
"Bah! Are you going to go through this again? Just stay here." The short man glared at him so fiercely that Uriel quickly found a nearby chair to sit on, and did not dare to move for a long time. "Two troublesome little bastards. Humph! It's just right to share a table together."
Fortunately, although the men of the Molten Iron family did not drink juice, they did not care about the apprentice's unintentional offense. Uriel was very grateful for the help, but felt ashamed to ask for more.
Painter, unlike the orange-faced man, uses his wine glass for other purposes. He poured glass after glass, emptying every time until there was not a drop left. While pouring the wine, the man asked, "What are you here for?"
"I...I just want to go home."
"Are you having fun with me, kid?"
"No!"
"Then why are you here?"
"Here is... I mean, a train, that car! The Cloud Train - it pulled me here. I was still waiting for the train at the station!"
Painter didn't believe it. "If there were railroad tracks outside the door, the house would be running."
"What I said is true! That is, that is a transparent..." The apprentice tried to explain.
"I probably know something about the train." Painter's words silenced him. "But there is no doubt that the Eastman only had one train. That was the work of my companions, and of course it is in the past. Well, boy, the dwarves know better than anyone about the train, and no one can drive it out of Ange." Ma Tunnel. But just wait, we will not dwell on past failures, and there will be a new train in the Kingdom soon."
Completely two different things. Uriel was disappointed.
"You're too panicked, man. You didn't sleep last night, okay? You may have hallucinated. This is quite common. Cecila, where's the juice I ordered? I'll leave this to you, okay?"
Cecilia nodded sympathetically, tossed back her braid, and turned back to squeeze the juice. The strange little man who called himself a dwarf also jumped off the chair, leaving Uriel alone at the bar.
Although he had vague expectations before, when he heard with his own ears that the Kingdom Train and the Floating Cloud Train were not the same thing, his heart sank to the bottom. This means the facts are there. I'm afraid my journey home will not be as easy as it was when I arrived. The apprentice slowly covered his face.
…
"Are you crying?" the waitress asked.
Uriel raised his head hurriedly. "No." He touched his eyes and found that he did not shed tears. This isn't the first time I've been in trouble. After all, the reality is that everything goes wrong. This is true for everyone.
He cheered up: "I'm lost. Thank you for your help."
"But it didn't help to the end. You still haven't found your way home?"
Uriel stopped talking. The red-haired waitress has squeezed out the juice from the orange and is adding two spoons of sugar to it. He felt that his fate was as irreversible as sugar dissolved in water.
"Is there something urgent at home?" she asked without looking back.
Uriel suddenly realized that he was staring at the other person's back, so he quickly looked away. "No...no." He tried to calm down, "I don't have anyone at home."
"Then don't panic. You should take a rest." The waitress handed him the juice, "Try it?"
"I can……?"
"Mr. Painter insists on inviting you, but I originally planned to waive the order. No one has ordered the juice I made for a long time. They think it is too sour and sweet."
Uriel couldn't help but take a big sip. "I guess they prefer wine."
"I guess you are afraid of me and don't dare to drink."
"No. I mean, I misunderstood." Unlike the ticket collector, the girl in front of him was not the guy who tricked him into getting involved in weird incidents. At least Uriel hoped so. "I beg your pardon, miss."
"I'm Cecilia."
"Uril. I am an apprentice in Lady Emma's laundry."
"There are also male apprentices in the laundry?"
"It's not appropriate to say that." Uriel excused himself subconsciously, "I am only responsible for heavy tasks such as carrying the ironing kettle. Besides, not all clothes will be sent to the store for cleaning."
Cecilia blushed. "Maybe you don't have to explain it in so much detail." She stepped back to the cupboard. I really have a talent for pleasing girls, Uriel thought wryly. He didn't ask a lot of questions, but the key was that he didn't have any coins in his pocket to buy another glass of juice. What to do now?
The apprentice took another sip of juice. "The taste is very special." He was at a loss for words.
"I added spices. One Black City gold coin is actually not enough."
"Black City gold coins?" Uriel immediately grasped this unfamiliar term.
"Not this one." What Cecilia held in her hand was not the juice money Painter paid her, but another gold with a larger size and smoother edges. Eighty percent of it was the money spent on the wine previously. "This is an Abbey gold coin. Where do you come from, Uriel? You don't pay bills with paper in Yotsuba City." She polished the currency in her hand carefully with a rag.
"But I've always bought things like this before."
"Then you must have met a kind person."
Cecilia's attitude was so honest that it actually made Uriel doubt himself. No. wrong. If I really had the ability to use pieces of paper as gold, I wouldn’t be torn between winter cotton-padded jackets and bread. Sure enough, the problem still lies with them. I came to a new world...
"Praise the goddess." Uriel said dryly. At this time, what else can you say?
"What god do you believe in?"
"Gaia."
"Me too." Thankfully, not everything has changed. "Want to take a look?" She handed over the cleaned coin. "I have to show the Queen's face, otherwise my boss will scold me."
The shiny gold coin is cold and heavy, with a delicate female figure carved on the front. The silhouette of Eastman's Queen, Her Majesty Flavia, lowers her head slightly, as if looking down at her people. Uriel finally discovered familiar things in this strange world, and almost burst into tears.
"You seem to recognize it." The waitress noticed.
"Of course I recognize Her Majesty the Queen." Even if she looks different from the one on the banknote. "Does this mean I'm completely awake?"
"Still have to see. What else do you want to ask?"
Uriel picked out one question from the pile: "This is a bar, the Knox. It's in the exact same location as I remember my home, is that right?"
"You should think so. But we've never moved a store."
Well, this isn't the first reality I need to accept today. "Who does the store belong to now?"
"Mr. Eds Haynes. He's the owner of the Knox Bar. If you ask anyone in Four Leaf City, he'll tell you that."
"You don't understand it clearly." Uriel knew that compliments cost nothing. "Last question: If a person suddenly comes to a completely unfamiliar environment and cannot leave within a short period of time, what should he do?"
Cecilia blinked. "If it were me, I would be so panicked that I wouldn't be able to sleep."
Uriel forced himself to smile: "Sleep state is not my biggest worry."
"That's the truth. He has neither a place to live nor anything to eat. He has no choice but to beg on the streets."
"Why can't I get a job?"
"It is said that after the Year of the Burning Shadow, Four Leaf City rarely hired outsiders." Cecilia grabbed her hair and bit her lip. "But I guess there is an exception."
"Do you have any...requirements?"
"what can you do?"
Uli paused. He had worked many day jobs in his life, but none of his skills were competitive. And since a home can be turned into a pub, it would be unwise to expect Ms. Emma's laundry to remain the same. How was I chosen by her in the first place? "I can read," the apprentice said cautiously.
