Reunion
Reunion
"Did she invent something?" Ed crossed his arms and tilted his head. Based on the Buddha's original expression, he had been expecting bad news. But Flair inventing something was more likely good news if anything.
"It'll be easier to just show you." He turned around and began walking back towards the temple. "Over the past ten years, she's traded quite a bit with other foreigners. To my understanding, she's gotten her hands on quite a lot of different tech from all over the world. She also runs a business where she can trade her inventions for the supplies she needed for her inventions."
"You seem to be quite well informed." Ed replied, finding it odd that the Buddha had taken such an interest in Flair.
"Well, when someone creates something like that, it's hard not to think about it." He chuckled in reply.
The duo soon exited the back of the temple and returned to the entrance. However, the Buddha did not reenter the temple, instead opting to continue forward into the city of Bodh Gaya. They passed through crowds of Buddhist monks, ordinary citizens, foreign espers, and other interesting characters. The architecture of the various buildings followed a consistent theme of colorful walls and tile roofs. A person appreciative of the arts could easily spend dozens of hours admiring them.
As they got closer towards the center of the city, a shiny metallic object slowly came into sight. It seemed to be a building, however, it was far taller than anything surrounding it. Additionally, its shiny metal exterior made it clear that this building did not follow the city theme, and it looked extremely out of place as a result. Soon, the building was fully visible. It was decorated like a human face. It had a visor in place of eyes, an uncountable number of exhaust pipes for a nose, and a grate-like mouth.
"Did Flair make this?" Ed questioned curiously. The building was tacky and ugly, both of which were things he did not associate with Flair. She may be obsessed with inventions, but nothing he had seen her make in the past had been so unaesthetic. 'Well, ten years have passed. Maybe she doesn't care much for the looks of her inventions anymore?'
"Mm." The Buddha nodded. "This was made by your friend. It's her shop headquarters."
The crowd grew denser as the duo continued forward. Foreigners crowded outside the building, apparently eager to enter inside and do business. Some carried various pieces of equipment or technology, and others held valuable materials such as manullium.
As the Buddha walked forward, the surrounding crowd unconsciously created a path for him. This was done by neither force nor power, but merely by the Buddha's aura. Even after learning control over golden faith energy, Ed didn't understand how the Buddha did it.
The duo arrived at the grate-like mouth and entered through a door. The inside had the appearance of a fairly large shop. Various inventions were stacked against the walls and placed upon tables. Other than that, the shop was relatively barren, not even having decorative signs or tapestry. The metallic sheen from the walls was displeasing to the eyes. Perhaps Flair wished to discourage customers from overstaying their welcome, and this was her method of encouraging them to leave.
"Respected Buddha." A young man standing behind a counter bowed. "It's rare for you to visit us. How can I help you today?"
Buddha gestured towards Ed. "The shop owner's boss woke up. I'm just here to drop him off."
The store clerk glanced at Ed in confusion. He had never heard of his boss having a boss before. However, he knew the Buddha wouldn't lie, so it could only be true. "Hello." He respectfully bowed. "Would you like me to take you to her?"
"Mm." Ed nodded. He turned towards the Buddha. "Thanks for all the help."
"Any time." Buddha smiled as he took his leave.
"This way, please." The store clerk led Ed towards a spiral staircase that led underground.
Ed's curiosity about the building continued to grow as he followed. The Buddha wouldn't have been so mysterious about it if it was just a building. 'Could it be a type of mech?' Ed guessed. The outside had looked like a face, so he figured the theory made sense. 'But with the size of just the head... if it was a mech then the whole thing would have to be the size of a nightmare.' He shook his head. 'There's no way it could move around and still support that much weight...'
The store clerk quickly led Ed down the stairs. It only took half a minute before they reached the bottom, and what awaited them was a set of steel doors. The store clerk pulled a lever, causing a blast of steam to shoot out from the doors. "It's an elevator." He explained while gesturing towards it. "I have to return to the shop, but you should find my boss if you take it down."
"Got it." Ed nodded and stepped inside. Looking around the metallic box, he spotted another lever. He grabbed ahold of it and pushed up, causing the metallic doors to close. 'Seems like an excessive use of steam tech...' He thought to himself.
Whistling bellowed throughout the compartment as a steam engine moved the elevator down. Ed waited patiently for several minutes. Either the elevator was extremely slow, or the hidden lair beneath the building was extremely large. Ed's guess was of course the latter.
Ding! A bell rang as the doors opened. Ed stepped out of the elevator into a room that looked like it belonged in a factory. The floor and walls were still made of metal. Several large metallic tables were scattered throughout the room, many of which had supplies lying atop them. A steam engine in the corner of the room seemed to both operate the elevator and heat up the cold building.
Looking around, Ed saw numbered metallic doors in every direction. There had to be at least several dozen of them. 'I'll probably get lost if I just randomly explore...'
Suddenly, Ed spotted who he was looking for. Flair sat at a smaller table near the steam engine. Her head rested on her arms which rested on the table. It seemed she had fallen asleep due to exhaustion.
Ed sighed in relief when he saw that Flair's looks hadn't changed much. Her blond hair had turned slightly darker, transitioning into a more dirty-blond color. She still looked as young as ever, and it was likely she could still pass for a high school student if she tried.
'Well, espers do age pretty slow.' Ed nodded to himself as he made his way towards the table. He sat down across from her and waited patiently. For once, he wasn't in a hurry. Ten years had passed, and a few extra hours likely wouldn't make much of a difference at this point. Besides, he could use some time to readjust to the normal world after having spent so long within the void.
Ed sat quietly for several minutes while thinking about the various things that may have changed. It would likely take him a while to get up to speed on world affairs unless he managed to find one of Dupe's clones to obtain a report. Soon growing bored, he spotted some blueprints stuffed under Flair's arms, He reached forward to grab them and gently pulled them out from underneath her.
'Let's see.' He stared at the document with interest. 'Eh, so it really isn't a mech?' Disappointment swelled within his heart. With ten years of time and Flair's genius, in addition to the strange head for a building he saw above ground, he had gotten his hopes up by just a bit. 'Still, this is pretty amazing anyways. How'd she even think of making something so absurd?'
"Mm." Flair suddenly groaned as she woke up. She looked up towards Ed with her hazel eyes and stared at him. Ed looked towards her, and an awkward moment of silence followed as the two continued staring at each other.
"Finally!" She sighed while slumping back down on the table. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you here?! Ten years! I could have gotten married and had children by now!"
"Eh, then why didn't you?" Ed blurted out in reply. This wasn't the direction he had expected their conversation to go in after such a long period of time, but if she had wanted to start a family, it's not like he would have been capable of stopping her.
"Humph." She snorted. "As if I wanted to get married and have kids. Do you think I have time to waste on stupid things like that?" She smiled while glancing down at the blueprints Ed had taken from her. "So, what do you think of my greatest invention?"