Struggle in the Steam Age

Leaning on the table and watching the ships coming and going in the harbor from the window on the second floor of the cafe, Lawrence began to recall things from his childhood. As long as he can remember, he has been living with his adoptive father in that small town called Fir Town.

The town got its name from a large beautiful fir forest around it. At the beginning, the town was just a simple water station on the railway to replenish boiler water for steam trains. But then the local environment attracted many people. Among them was the father of Lawrence's playmate Safir Coburg.

The Coburg family was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Coburg in the Old Continent, but such a large family often had many branches. Among them, some branches that are not directly descended will choose to leave their motherland and go out to make a living. And Safir Coburg's father was from a branch of this family that left Emden very early and came to the New World.

As the second son, Mr. Coburg took a sponsorship money given by his family as an adult to look for opportunities along the transcontinental railway that had just been built for less than ten years. As a result, he met Lawrence's adoptive father who was going to preach on the railway. Mr. August. The two chatted more and more speculatively in the car, and finally chose to settle down in Firshan Town together.

More than 20 years have passed, and Lengshan Town has changed from a small town of 400 people to a large town of 1,200 people. Lawrence's adoptive father and Mr. Coburg also owned their own church and farm respectively.

Later, Mr. August adopted Lawrence, who was a premature baby at the time, at the train station, and Mr. Coburg also had a wife and child of his own. Because of the similar age, both the adoptive father and Mr. Coburg were very busy when Lawrence was young. So he and Safir often read books and games together in church or on the farm, so the relationship between the two is very good.

In Lawrence's impression, Safir was a tomboy. Not only did he habitually wear boy's clothes such as suspender jeans and plaid shirts when he was a child, but he also behaved like a boy. What Lawrence especially didn't want to admit was that she was better than herself whether she was riding a horse, fighting or shooting a gun.

"I don't know how that crazy girl is doing now. I heard that the girls' school on the Old Continent is a place to cultivate ladies." Lawrence shook his head thinking of this. Those who graduated from aristocratic girls' schools.

Just as he was drinking tea and recalling things from his childhood, a siren sounded in the distance. A three-masted steamship as noble and elegant as a white swan sailed out of the thin rain and fog, and then drove towards the trestle in front of the customs building along the gap exposed by other ships.

There is a clear magical aura on this ship, and there is a circle of golden decorations on the side of the ship. A beautifully carved gilded mermaid head is placed at the root of the bow mast. The whole ship reveals a kind of elegance from the inside out. and gorgeous.

"It seems that the Mermaid Princess has arrived." Looking at the name written on the ship's side, Lawrence drank the last sip of tea in the teacup. Then hurried downstairs.

Downstairs, he tossed a two-cent coin and asked the waiter at the cafe to give him a piece of cardboard and a pen, then leaned against the bar counter of the cafe and wrote on both sides of the cardboard in bold letters: It was written to take over Sefiel Coburg.

After all, Lawrence knew that after the awakening of his blood, his appearance had changed too much from the past, and he and Safir hadn't seen each other for four years. So in order to prevent the other party from finding him, Lawrence felt that it would be better for him to prepare a stop sign.

By the time he finished all his preparations and rushed to the waiting hall of the customs building, the place was already crowded with people. The passengers on the Mermaid Princess had already disembarked at this time, and many people who passed the customs inspection were coming out of several passages, and the relatives and friends who came to greet them made the waiting hall of the customs a little messy and crowded.

Lawrence looked at the messy situation in front of him, and simply found a place to hold up the stop sign he had just made, and then stared at the main exit. However, he didn't see Safiel's figure until the end of the tourist time on the mermaid princess.

"Where are the people?" Seeing that the people coming in from the entrance gradually became sparse, Lawrence became a little anxious. He couldn't possibly pick up someone but lose them.

"Ha, nerd." Just as Lawrence began to look around, a petite figure sneaked up to him and looked at his face. Then he stretched out his tender little hand and patted Lawrence's shoulder, and at the same time greeted Lawrence in surprise. "How did you become like this?"

"Safeel," Lawrence shuddered when he heard the already unfamiliar nickname, and then turned his head to look where the voice came from, only to see a girl dragging a big black leather suitcase standing beside him. Looking behind him with a smile on his face.

Safiel's appearance has not changed much from Lawrence's impression. Even if she wears a pair of high-heeled shoes, she is only as tall as Lawrence's chin, which has grown to about 1.78 meters after awakening Bai Ze's blood. high. She has short, disheveled hair on her head, the gray hair is slightly upturned at the tip, and the blue eyes under the oblique bangs are full of smiles.

Same as four years ago, Saifeier's face still looks small and delicate like a doll, and it looks as if the facial features have not grown, full of youthful feeling.

What surprised Lawrence was that Safir was now wearing a dress that was very popular recently, and a straw hat with a large brim decorated with silk flowers on his head.

"I just had a little adventure recently, which awakened a certain blood in my body." Lawrence shrugged lightly. In his impression, Uncle Coburg himself was an extraordinary warrior, so Safiel could understand what he said mean.

While explaining, Lawrence kept looking at Safir, because he hadn't seen Safir in such a feminine dress in such a long time before.

"You——why do you keep looking at me like this?" Maybe it was because Lawrence kept looking at Safir's face, so Safir seemed a little nervous, "Is there something wrong with my attire?"

"No, no. Your outfit is very fashionable and suits you very well." Lawrence smiled and praised, "It's just... It's just that I haven't seen you dressed like this before, so I'm a little surprised."

"Do you think this outfit is beautiful?" Safir put his hands behind his back and stretched out his right foot, tapping the ground lightly. "Me, I actually don't like to wear this kind of clothes. It's just that I was flying first class when I came here, and it would be very indecent not to wear this."

"It's okay, you can wear what you like. As long as it's not a formal occasion, it doesn't matter what you wear. After all, this is the New World, and there are not as many rules as the Old World." At this point, Lawrence quickly changed the subject. "By the way, what are you going to do next when you come back now?"

"I'm going to find a job in Eagle Fort." Safir thought for a while and said. "Like you, I have had some special adventures in the past four years, so now I plan to be a detective."

"Detective?" Lawrence felt a little strange. "Why do you have such an idea?"

"Well, because I found that not only men, but also many women have needs for detectives. Now the detectives outside are mainly male detectives, which is not convenient for many things."

"Sounds good," Lawrence nodded and helped Safir lift her suitcase. In this era, the city is developing rapidly but the number of police officers is seriously insufficient. So this also gives the detectives a lot of living space. "By the way, have you contacted the place where you live now, do you need me to help you?"

"Already contacted." Sai Feier smiled. "I will temporarily live in my grandfather's house, and I will move out after a while after deciding on the location of the detective agency."