The current King of the Klein Kingdom was reportedly named Merikalance I.
"As far as I know, he has a reasonably good reputation. They say he’s a direct descendant of the royal line," Lordtoss explained.
If he was indeed a direct descendant, Jin mused, his lineage likely stretched back through an unbroken succession from the era of Alois III.
"I’d like to learn more about things like that. Shall we take a walk through the city?"
"A good idea."
With that decided, the group prepared to head out. They left their room key at the front desk and stepped out into the street. The sky was lightly overcast, and the air was pleasant.
"Where should we head first?"
"Let me see..."
Lordtoss consulted the map stored in his mind. As a side note, Lordtoss possessed an exceptional memory—a trait inherited from the All-Creation Clan. Sion often remarked that he was invaluable on journeys because he could memorize the layout of a map after a single glance.
"If we start somewhere nearby, there is a luxury shopping district just ahead."
"We might as well walk through it, then."
While Jin was more interested in seeing shops rooted in everyday life, he decided to take the high-end route since it was on the way.
The street was fully paved with stone and featured a complete sewage system.
"Even for a high-end district, this is remarkably well-maintained," Jin noted.
In this regard, he felt that the world had certainly progressed over the last four hundred years. He recalled that even the toilets in Toka Village were clean and equipped with proper waste treatment.
"Public hygiene seems to have become a priority," Jin remarked.
"Indeed. I believe these standards have permeated even into the rural regions," Lordtoss confirmed.
That was likely one of the factors that had extended the average lifespan in this world, and Jin felt a small spark of pride in the contributions of his past self.
Passing east through the shopping district brought them to a residential area.
"If I remember correctly, this was the district where the knights and baronets once lived."
Jin guessed this was the neighborhood where Lishia Fahlheit and Gloria Allstatt had once resided. However, the houses had clearly been rebuilt, and the entire area seemed to have undergone urban redevelopment. No trace of the former landscape remained.
They continued through the area without stopping until they reached the Central Thoroughfare. A large sundial was visible a short distance ahead.
Ah, that hasn’t changed a bit.
Though it had surely undergone repairs, the sundial in the Central Plaza looked exactly as Jin remembered it.
"From the Central Plaza, you can easily reach any part of the city," Lordtoss explained.
"I see. Now then, where to next?"
Their goal was to gather information—or, more accurately, to re-acclimatize to the world—so they had no specific itinerary. Just then, a loud crash followed by screams echoed through the air.
"What happened?"
Jin looked toward the source of the noise. A carriage and a Golem automobile had overturned; it looked like a collision.
They’re reaching the stage where they need to establish proper traffic lanes, Jin thought as he walked toward the scene.
"Whoa..."
It appeared to have been a head-on collision. The front end of the Golem automobile was completely mangled, its original shape lost in the wreckage. From the force of the impact, it had been thrown into the wall of a roadside mansion, scattering masonry everywhere.
As for the carriage, it had been drawn by a Golem horse. The golem had apparently taken the brunt of the impact, leaving the carriage itself merely overturned.
"Make way, please!"
A woman and a golem parted the crowd of onlookers. The woman wore the uniform of a knight, and the golem accompanying her was built in a ritter style.
"Sleet, right the carriage and the automobile."
"Understood."
At the female knight’s command, the golem called Sleet slowly pulled the overturned carriage upright.
"Impressive."
Jin watched with interest, noting that it possessed a fair amount of power for a humanoid model. Sleet then moved to the automobile and managed to right it as well.
The female knight proceeded to rescue the passengers from both vehicles. Roadside residents brought out blankets to lay by the street, where six people were placed. Two appeared to be seriously injured, while the other four had sustained only minor wounds.
"A relief ritter will be here shortly," the female knight said, offering a word of encouragement to the victims.
A moment later, another female knight arrived at a run, accompanied by two automata.
"These two are the most critical," the first knight said, before turning her attention to the collapsed rubble nearby. "Are you all right in there?"
Apparently, someone was pinned beneath the fallen wall. The wall was a heavy construction of masonry reinforced with iron bars, and it looked quite formidable.
A Golem automobile weighed roughly 500 kilograms, and a carriage about 800. Since Sleet had righted those, the golem was certainly strong, but this fallen wall was another matter. With its iron-reinforced stone core, it likely weighed between two and three tons.
The ritter golem exerted its full power, but the heavy wreckage didn't budge. A human can lift a maximum of about 250 kilograms. By that metric, a ritter golem had the strength of about four or five men. Under normal circumstances, that was more than enough, but it was insufficient here.
It has the power to lift roughly one ton, I’d say, Jin estimated. He looked at Hope. "Hope, give them a hand."
"Yes, Master."
To keep Jin's identity a secret during their travels, they had adjusted Hope’s settings so he would only address Jin as "Master."
"I will assist," Hope announced.
"Ah—yes, thank you!"
Though startled by the sudden appearance of the golem, the female knight immediately accepted the help.
"Now, once more!"
This time, the two golems worked together.
"Heave!"
At Hope’s signal, both golems strained against the weight. Slowly, the fallen wall began to rise.
"We did it!"
"Yeah!"
The female knight cheered, and the crowd of onlookers joined in. As the wall rose inch by inch, a man who looked like a gardener crawled out from beneath it. Fortunately, a large garden stone had propped up part of the wall, preventing him from being crushed flat.
Once the man was clear, the two golems let go. With a heavy thud that kicked up a cloud of dust, the wreckage settled back onto the ground.
"Are you all right?"
By then, the relief ritter had finished treating the other six victims and came over to help.
"He'll be fine. Just bruises and abrasions; nothing is broken. 'Condense'."
The relief ritter first used magic to create water to wash the wounds.
"'Healing'."
She then cast a mid-level surgical healing magic to close the injuries. Watching her efficient work, Jin realized that the medical standards of this era had also advanced significantly.