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Some time after they entered the city, Mira went out to the driver’s platform where Arlon was, looking at the scenery from there in amazement. Sentopolly had a more modern cityscape. In simple words, there were many tall buildings. Most of them were at least five stories high. The city itself was planned neatly, the large roads and smaller alleys giving easy access to most places without being superfluous. The central area of the city was filled with many stores, surrounded by a ring of inns, which were surrounded by a second ring of smaller stores.

Mira glanced at the map Arlon held, comparing it to the scenery in front of her. She was taken aback seeing how large and developed it was, while surprised at the mix of fantasy and modern styles.

「What happened, Mira? Did your senses get overloaded?」

Arlon readjusted his grip on the reins, leading them towards an inn with parking space, while he spoke to Mira who stayed with her mouth agape.

「Ah… not quite. I’m just surprised to see a city like this exists.」

As Arlon folded the map and stashed it in his bag, Mira’s mind began working again, letting her reply while she looked up towards the sky. Usually it looked blue, just like it did in either world. But at night, there was nothing similar in the stars, or the moon looking back at her.

「I was also surprised the first time I came here. From what I heard, they used Atlantis as reference when building this city.」
「Atlantis, you said?!」

That was an unexpected statement, but Mira could see what he meant. Mira was currently in the Earth continent. Crossing the sea to one side was the Ark continent, which was another giant mass of land. It housed many high level dungeons, as well as the biggest player-made countries, the Kingdom of Atlantis to the north, and the Nirvana Empire to the south. Atlantis was also a place housing many former players like Mira, so it made sense they would pursue a modern look familiar to her. And if Sentopolly was based on that, then in a way Mira was currently looking at a snippet of Atlantis here.

(It seems those guys over there are doing quite well.)

As fellow prominent players, Mira had many friendships in Atlantis. Reminiscing those days, she opened her friends list and checked the names there, making sure they were white before smiling and looking at the sky again. Artificial lights illuminated the structures built in the image of the place where Mira grew up, which created a thin veil of whiteness that washed off many stars. Seeing even small details like that replicated here, Mira forced a wry smile.

Sentopolly was a large city. The avenues crossing through the different districts were all one-way streets, their direction changing at every intersection. White arrows drawn on the flat stone in regular intervals showed the current direction. According to Arlon, having to turn at every crossing to not go against the traffic was annoying at first, but it made things easier once one got used to it.

Around half an hour later, they arrived at the inn Arlon suggested. It was an eight story building, shaped like a hotel out of the early to mid 20th century. But looking to the side, Mira saw what resembled a rococo palace. The center of the city was like that, littered with traces of different past cultures, with the only difference being that all buildings were lived in. There was almost a perfect fifty-fifty proportion between the number of modern buildings and those modelled after old ones.

Surrounded by what looked like a theme park built intermingled with a city, Mira ordered Ash to take the wagon to the underground parking lot. The inn had a rather bizarre name, The Gourmand’s Indulgence. Staying in separate rooms would interrupt the flow of information between the two, so they decided to rent a larger room and quickly discussed their plan. They decided to rest for the night and go visit Gregor’s workshop the next day. Visiting him at night would be too rude, and his workshop was more than likely already closed either way.

Their meeting was over in just a few minutes, after which Arlon went to the dining room on the second floor to get something to eat and drink. Meanwhile Mira headed straight to the large public bath, elated to enjoy a bath after days of not having one, while also being able to entertain her eyes. Once her body and mind were refreshed, Mira went to the second floor, taking a deep breath as she took a sweeping glance at the place.

「What an odd inn.」

Rather than a dining room, it was more like the restaurant section of a mall. There were many small shops serving food and drinks lined inside the inn, which was an odd and interesting sight for such a place. So far Mira had always taken an inn as a place offering bedding and food, but this place was more like a building renting different spaces, letting others in charge of providing the meals. At the same time, that gave them a second influx of revenue from the space rented to restaurants.

Anyone could pick whichever place piqued their interest, including some shops that resembled pubs and mainly served alcoholic drinks. That variety made the inn popular amongst all sorts of customers.

(Hmm, what do I feel like having today… Omelet rice sounds good, burgers too. Fried chicken or cutlet wouldn’t be bad either. Skewers and a drink, a pot of stew for one… there’s all sorts of things here. Oh, there’s even a boxed lunch store. There’s something for everyone here!)

Mira stepped into the crowd of clients swarming around the shops, glancing at the samples put forth at the entrance of each of them, consulting her stomach about each of them. After a while of strolling around, she finally decided on one shop and walked through the banners hung on its entrance.

「Welcome!」 One of the workers inside greeted her, and once she was in front of the counter she looked at the menu and made her order.

「Can I have a large set of this teriyaki double cheeseburger? And a melon soda for the drink. And oh right, also ketchup for the potatoes.」
「Certainly! Will you eat here or take out?」

The place Mira chose was the king of all junk food shops, a burger joint. It was obviously a place created by a former player, the inside of the shop awakening a slight sense of nostalgia in Mira. After taking a look around, Mira nodded and said 「Here」. Having paid for her meal, Mira was given a numbered ticket and she sat down at a window-side seat. The other customers’ gazes followed her, a beautiful girl that did not look at all like the type of person who would pick junk food.

More than half the clients were adventurers, their curious stares focused on the young girl who was about to fill her cheeks with a burger that seemed too big for her small lips, as well as her silver hair and upper chest with exposed white skin that would accentuate any drop of sauce that might fall.

But Mira was oblivious to all those stares, thinking only about the junk food she would have after so long. After a few minutes, a waitress came, holding a tray with Mira’s order. The presentation was slightly different from what she was used to seeing, the burger and potatoes on nice plates instead of being wrapped in paper bags, and even the drinks were served in actual glasses. It was something one would usually see in an expensive and fancy burger joint.

Mira quickly held the burger and bit into it. It was much larger than her lips, but that only helped to spread that nostalgic flavor throughout her mouth.

(This is it, this is the flavor!)

Mira had a blissful moment as she smiled satisfied, her legs instinctively lifting straight while she made a happy 「Mmm~」 sound. She bit into that flavor she was once used to, relieving the memory, paying no attention to the sauces sticking to her face around her lips. The sight of Mira enjoying the burger to its fullest was different to that of girls that looked like young princesses who had been there before, brimming with an innocent aura. That seemed to have an influence on the other clients passing by the window, leading to immensely increased sales for that day.