Alex sighed as he glanced at the wreckage ahead. "That should take quite some time to fix."
Just as he was pondering ways to deal with the unexpected situation, Nadia’s voice came from behind.
Alex turned to meet her bewildered gaze.
She had recovered from her terrible state though slight traces of fatigue and nausea still lingered.
With no response from Alex, Nadia asked again. "What was that?"
"The Ability you used to defeat that monstrosity... what was it?"
"... An Ability?" Alex replied, still unsure why she was asking.
"No," Nadia remarked while shaking her head. "Abilities are created after one has had an understanding of their Domain. If I remember, your domain is meant to be related to shadows."
"So what was that?... That hole... how did you understand that?" She seemed to be torn between curiosity, fear, and utter disbelief at the black hole Alex had created, prompting him to wonder why that was.
However, considering what she had said, the answer soon came.
’Black holes... don’t exist in Eventide.’ he realized as he glanced at the night sky.
There were no stars and if he widened that scope a bit, he could guess that whatever was out there, wasn’t the same cosmos he was familiar with back on Earth.
So concepts like black holes, collapsing suns and the like would obviously be nonexistent in Eventide.
Which was why Nadia was so curious and also terrified about it.
Pursing his lips, Alex knew that an attempt to explain what a black hole meant would result in Nadia’s death, so he quickly decided against it.
Sighing helplessly, he replied. "It’s just a hole that connects to a dark realm."
"... Like a passageway?" Nadia didn’t seem convinced as she looked at the night sky.
Alex didn’t say more, as he wanted to see if Nadia would conclude by herself.
Thankfully, his wait was not in vain as she spoke up after a few seconds of silence.
"Does that mean the shadow domain is connected to another dimension like the Afterlife?"
Alex inwardly sighed in relief as he nodded. "I think so."
"Amazing," Nadia remarked. "How did you figure that out?"
"I’ll explain another time, let’s deal with the issue we have now." Alex quickly replied, trying his best to change the topic.
"Oh, yeah... the rail ahead is messed up and the only other two ways to go would be by air or using a carriage."
"Carriage is out of the question since we’d spend more than 70 days getting to our destination and that’s if bandits don’t catch us midway," Nadia explained before adding. "Sure we can handle them but that would potentially increase the time needed to reach our destination."
"I guess we also have to expect that few carriages would be willing to take the risk."
"Except merchant groups, no other would take it and since Popolis is a rather boring market, few merchants take the time to go there."
"Mn, the Labyrinth of Dread is close by and it’s been said that due to being in proximity, a strange virus normally infects newcomers that stay in Popolis for too long."
"And it’s still populated?"
"Those born in Popolis are strangely unaffected so they say it’s fine."
"I see." Alex nodded. "So, what about Airships?"
"Same situation only difference is the reduced time it would take to reach."
"So basically the same as the train?"
"More or less," Nadia replied.
"Alright fine, are there any cities close by?"
Nadia shook her head. "I wouldn’t know."
"I can get you one." A voice suddenly said from behind.
"Hmm?" Alex looked behind Nadia to find the female Enforcer from earlier, standing in the boxcar with the door open.
Her skin was still pale but compared to earlier, she was at least able to hold an intelligent conversation now.
"Are you feeling better now?" Alex inquired.
The female Enforcer nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"That’s good." While replying, he looked toward the side of the train to find that people had begun to come down from the train, varying expressions of fear written on their faces.
’I guess they remained in their boxcars for fear that it was an attack.’ Alex thought inwardly before turning his attention back to the female Enforcer who was being helped by Nadia.
"Thank you for helping me." She said with a slight bow.
Alex smiled. "No need to thank me. I apologize for not being able to save your superior. You have to understand that except completely necessary, rogue Mystics like me won’t want to reveal their Power to an Enforcer."
"...I understand." The girl nodded in response.
Alex reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "That’s good. Also, I hope what I did will be kept between us."
"I... can’t do that." The girl regretfully replied.
"... I see," Alex muttered. "What about hiding my identity?"
"Thanks," Alex said before Nadia spoke up.
"You said something about helping us with an airship."
The young female Enforcer nodded before she explained. "There’s a city not too far from here. They aren’t exactly a big and well-known city but they have an airstrip."
"Just happen to have one?" Alex raised a brow at the wording.
Nadia quickly explained. "Not all imperial cities own airstrips. It’s quite expensive to build so unless it’s a major city, the empire wouldn’t care about building an airstrip."
Alex nodded in understanding before he inquired. "Yet this no-name city happens to have one?"
"Certain inhabitants in the city pooled money together to build it."
"Vampires." The girl replied.
Nadia seemed to understand as she said. "Most Vampires are stinking rich so it won’t be surprising if a few can build an airstrip."
"So if we can get their permission, we’d be able to use the airstrip?"
"Yes." The female Enforcer replied. "Well, either that or you pay quite a lump sum."
"I understand. Thanks for letting us know." Alex remarked before adding. "Oh yes, what’s the name of this city, anyways?"