Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 6: The Light of Eshilia
Marlon’s mind was full of questions. He had the chance to call out to Bernard Yebler, yet though his lips parted slightly, in the end he said nothing. He just watched as Bernard walked farther and farther away, accompanied by the adorable blue-haired little fox girl, Amy.
Marlon—he was no longer the original Marlon Lister. He was destined for a brand-new life.
So even if he asked that question and got an answer, what real meaning would it have?
“Ester,,,, let’s go back.”
Marlon turned his gaze away.
“Back? Back where?” Although he had just lost five rants, Ester’s mood adjusted quickly. He was back to his cheerful self in an instant. “Now is clearly the perfect time to find a place to celebrate my brother becoming a great writer! Hmm, I know an amazing restaurant…”
Hearing Ester’s words, Marlon thought for a moment and then nodded—indeed, at a time like this, it would be unreasonable not to treat Ester, who had helped him so much.
After all, what it meant to be considerate often came down to these little things.
“Alright, let’s go to this restaurant you mentioned. My treat!” Marlon smiled warmly. “But first, you need to take me to the nearest Sols Bank.”
The one thousand rants that Ivna had prepaid were still on a check issued by Sols Bank.
“Aha! Brother, you’ve got the check from the red-haired Queen Ivna? That makes things easy. I was going to go home and get some money anyway.” Ester was clearly used to a wealthy lifestyle; he understood Marlon’s half-sentence immediately. But after a moment, he frowned in frustration. “Damn, that little fox-headed guy is so heartless. He just fiddled around a bit, and the repair fee comes to five rants! Why doesn’t he just go rob…”
Marlon chuckled and casually told Ester a little story:
“Once, an important piece of machinery in a factory broke down. Many repairmen tried and failed to fix it.”
“A skilled repair technician heard the news and came over. He leaned beside the machine, drew a horizontal line on it, and said that removing a coil inside would restore it. Then he asked for a thousand rants as his labor fee.”
“The factory owner thought the price was too high. The repairman pointed to the white line he had drawn and said slowly: ‘True, drawing this line may only be worth one cent; but knowing why it is drawn here—its value… is 9,999 rants.’”
After the story, Ester blinked his big round bull-like eyes. “Brother, I don’t get it. What’s the point of this story?”
To know what you know, and admit what you don’t—a good habit.
“It’s simple. That Bernard fellow just now is probably a very skilled repair technician.”
Steam-armored soldiers of the wartime era—could their repair skills really be poor?
At least, Marlon didn’t think so.
“Oh, now I get it.” Ester rubbed the back of his head, then leaped back onto his steam locomotive. “Ah, that feels so much better!”
Marlon shook his head with a smile and settled behind the now cheerful young minotaur boy.
Fifteen minutes later, Marlon’s steam locomotive stopped in front of Sols Bank, a building that looked cold and metallic from the outside, yet hung a pink sign that made it feel oddly whimsical.
Inside, the bank lobby wasn’t crowded. Only one figure stood ahead in line, completely wrapped in black cloth, radiating a ‘keep away’ aura.
Probably an undead lich, Marlon thought, noticing the thin, mummified hand reaching for the bank counter.
Honestly, the thought of a walking, talking skeleton in front of him made Marlon slightly queasy.
Fortunately, the lich finished its business quickly and left with stiff steps.
When Marlon’s turn came, his one-thousand-rant check caused a minor stir. The halfling teller eyed him suspiciously, subtly asked a few questions, and finally released the money.
One thousand rants—a not too small, not too large sum. Comparing it to Earth’s world, it was at least fifty thousand yuan. Marlon could understand the teller’s caution.
After all, Marlon looked no older than fourteen or fifteen.
On Earth, no teller would hand over fifty or sixty thousand to a teenage boy at once—at least not in China.
…
The “amazing” restaurant Ester mentioned was called Light of Eshilia, not far from Sols Bank, on the edge of the city’s most bustling district.
Its name came from the elvish language, originally referring to the courtyard of the Elven goddess of hunting and celebration, Eshilia. The courtyard was said to be breathtakingly beautiful, as if crafted by nature itself.
Unfortunately, during the divine war millennia ago that felled many gods, Goddess Eshilia perished. Now, she and her courtyard existed only in the archives of the Elven kingdom of Kalantu and in the ballads of wandering bards.
The Light of Eshilia in White Sand City, of course, wasn’t the goddess’s courtyard. It was simply an elf-themed restaurant borrowing the legendary name.
To show its distinctive style, the restaurant was built on an enormous oak tree, thick enough for thirty people to encircle. Small treehouse-like rooms were scattered among the lush branches.
Surrounded by steel-and-concrete buildings and steam-spewing chimneys, the natural charm of Light of Eshilia stood out—strange, yet delightful to the eye.
Ester, clearly a regular, waved to a green-tailedcoat waiter to park the locomotive, then dragged Marlon up the spiral staircase winding around the giant oak.
Soon, the two of them reached the lowest treehouse level.
Inside, about ten elf-style tables were arranged. As they sat by a window, a flower-fairy waitress with dragonfly wings appeared and handed them menus.
“Brother, you order. Don’t be too light! You know I can’t survive without meat,” Ester said, placing the menu in front of Marlon.
Just as Marlon opened his mouth to reply, a thunderous roar rolled through the treehouse—like a bomb exploding.
Instinctively, he looked outside—and saw Sols Bank, from which he had just withdrawn money, collapsing in a massive cloud of debris.
Moments later, five agile men in black cloth masks, armed with hefty steam guns, shielded a female orc in a large backpack as she dashed out of the ruins.
“Damn, even for a bank robbery, these guys are making way too much noise!”
No doubt, that was Ester speaking. Marlon was busy witnessing this bank heist—something he had never seen in the Earth world.
As if confirming Ester’s words, shrill alarms blared from all directions, followed by blue-and-white police steam vehicles from White Sand City, appearing at every intersection in quick succession…
Marlon was puzzled—aren’t police supposed to arrive after the criminals flee? How were these otherworldly cops reacting so fast?