CHAPTER 523: THE STRONGEST CARRIAGE

"The Kingslayer is back...the Kingslayer is back..."

Dr. Thornton paced around in a circle, blinking rapidly and swallowing nervously.

"How long ago was this?"

"Is she asking when it happened? Like... like a week ago? Two weeks?" Shima remarked, shrugging. "The entire Underground went BOOM! A crack that made your ears go numb. One of my carriages broke, but hey, it’s the king, what am I gonna do other than yell at him for a couple minutes?"

Dr. Thornton did not understand a lick of it and began biting her thumb nail. "That’s one of the Seven Great Mysteries: Where did the Kingslayer go? I always believed as a child that he was sealed in the Heavenly Tower, waiting for a gate to pick him up but if he’s here...why? Why are the nobles still alive?"

While the scholarly woman thought of repercussions of the King of Player’s existence, Shima marched up to Aya who was examining one of her docked carriages. Eight carriages fit per pen.

"Just to let you know, the name’s Shimabukuro. Call me Shima!"

"That’s your surname," Aya stated without looking at her. "What’s your first name?"

"No clue! I was cursed to forget it, so here I am."

Aya finally looked at her, puzzled. "I see."

"Your Japanese is weird!"

No response. Aya went back to checking the stuff over.

"Where are you from?"

"..."

"Your wife is very strange," Shima told Dasha, walking back over to him. "By the way, I didn’t expect you to be from the heavens. I assumed you were an Undergrounder."

"I am and I am not."

"Ohh, that sounds cool. What does it mean?"

"I am from neither."

"Neither? So...the Slums? O-or what, like from the Earth?" Shima burst into laughter. Apparently, that was an inside joke. "Sorry, sorry, just teasing. I don’t care where you come from as long as you can make me money. By the by, can I ask why you folks do that? The whole thing with taking multiple lovers? Not to say we don’t do that here either but you heavenly folks have the Caliph and the Eternal Emperor and the Kangxi Emperor. One lover is enough, don’t you think? Or am I too deep in the hole to get what your heavenly muses do?"

Shima was convinced he was from the heavens. That was fine by him.

"You have your culture, the heavens have their own. But if you wish for a logical answer, it is to consolidate money and power."

"Money and power..." Shima blinked, then grinned. "Ohhh, I get it! Heh, that red-lady has gotta be rich, ay?"

Dasha nodded. Shima’s grin grew by spades.

"Between you and me, is today going to be a good payday for me?"

"Indeed. Assuming you did what I asked for my carriage."

"Then be ready to tip, Professor!" Shima rolled her shoulders, almost demonic. "Don’t worry, it’s almost ready! Just need one more day!"

Aya decided enough was enough. She went to Dr. Thornton and tugged her by the sleeve. "Doctor, enough."

Her nail was threatening to bleed. "Don’t you realize what this means? It means we could at the advent of another—"

"Enough." Aya spoke firmly. "We have a job to do here."

Dr. Thornton ignored her and started pacing again. The fear was palpable on her. She was sweating and thinking and shaking. Aya was unimpressed and gave Dasha an apologetic look.

"Shim, please show me your progress so far."

"Got it!"

In between the pens and situated at the back was a counter where she talked to customers. Behind the counter was a door and a back area. A private area for Shima to sleep and for her to store her tools. Shima ran over, opened the door, and did something that only Dasha could see.

The engineer pressed a button under her bed.

With that button, gears started turning. From above, a huge fluttering silver covering fell with a size that shadowed everyone. The Professor pushed the oblivious Dr. Thornton in time to avoid it falling. Slowly, from above, the turning gears became louder and louder. The sound of chains and clanging metal screeched and grew in their obnoxiousness as it lowered.

The chains were carrying a specially devised carriage. Made of a rare red material and of a similar size to the other carriages, it was immediate that there was something different about it. Upon touching the cloth laid on the floor, it disappeared.

"Sorry about that!" Shima burst out of the backdoor. She jogged over to the carriage, dropped down, grabbed the cloth, and yanked it from its wheels.

"An...invisibility cloak?" Dr. Thornton questioned. "Where did you find one that huge?"

"What’s the what?" Shima asked.

"Where did you get it," Dasha translated.

"Oh! This ol’ thing? A gift from my mentor. She used to be a big shot back when steam carriages were being built. Whenever she had to build a secret one, she used this. Cool, right?"

"What is she blabbering about?"

"She says it was a gift from her mentor."

"Where did the mentor get it from then? The garbage?"

"What is she saying?" Shima squinted. "No offence, sounded kinda mean."

The role of translating between these two was getting exhausting. "Shima, tell me, what’s left for this thing? What is or isn’t operational?"

"Fire-resistant, check. Water-resistant, also check. Shadow and light, ninety-percent go. The climbing mechanism is exactly as you wanted it. That part was shockingly hard since I had to go over to the Great Wall to personally experiment. That place is busy what with the giant being dead. Oh, but the blueprints you gave were phenomenal. Are you sure you’re not an engineer?"

"I do my best."

"The only issue..." Shima let the shoulder straps snap down. "...is the damn rope. I can’t find something strong enough that works with the magic circles I’ve installed AND won’t bottleneck it."

"A climbable carriage," Aya murmured, intentionally speaking in English for the doctor to understand.

"Wait, wait...climbable? You..." Dr. Thornton put two and two together. "We’re going to be riding this filth-made carriage to get up the Great Wall? Who will be pushing it? Sorry to say, I doubt this woman has the sophistication for an autopilot system and I see no bloody horse, so how in the bloody hell are we moving?"

Shima cocked her head, getting the soft feeling the uppity doctor was insulting her.

"I will," Dasha replied.

"Excuse me—what!?"

It was louder than her previous excuses. Impressive.

"I will be moving it. I will adjust my Qi to flow perfectly with the carriage’s functions."

Knock, knock. Heads turned to the door.

"Let me—"

"Don’t." Dasha raised a hand. "Let me."