Struggle in the Steam Age

After satisfying Lawrence's wish to sign, the young priest named Ivan looked more lively and less restrained than before. So when they walked out of the basement, he enthusiastically introduced the situation of this place to Lawrence.

"The place we are now is called New Gdynia Freeport, which is located on the largest island of the New Hansa Islands. And this church is called St. Sklodowska Cathedral, and it is also the main church of our Church of Knowledge in the Star Sea Diocese .”

Lawrence nodded after listening to the introduction, which means that this church is at the same level as St. Gutenberg Cathedral. The St. Gutenberg Cathedral in Eagle Fort is different in thickness, and the buildings here look a lot lighter.

Although the design style of the entire church is still the simple Bauhaus style architecture common in the Church of Knowledge, all the buildings in this church seem to have undergone some structural modifications to suit the local climate. For example, the windows are bigger, the walls are thinner, and it also has a steeple for drainage. At the same time, the ingenious interior design allows a gust of cool wind to blow through the room all the time, taking away the sweltering feeling unique to tropical regions.

When they left the main hall of the church and walked along the covered corridor to the three-storey residence behind the church, with beige walls and red spires, Lawrence finally saw the outside scenery through the window of the dormitory corridor. .

"It's really beautiful." Lawrence walked to the window and leaned on the window sill and let out a soft sigh. What appeared before him through the window was a scene of extremely beautiful tropical island scenery.

St. Sklodowska Cathedral is located on a high ground by the sea of ​​this small island, and below is a city hidden in green plants. Unlike modern cities like Eagle Fort, this city is full of colonial style. Most of the buildings are two or three-story buildings with red tiles and white walls, and a few magnificent buildings are dotted in various locations in the city.

And farther away is an excellent deep-water port surrounded by a peninsula, which is full of large and small ships, including sailboats with white sails, and steam engine sailboats with a chimney in the center of the hull. However, the steamships entering the port area did not light their boilers, but small steam barges emitting black smoke helped them to dock.

On the edge of the city are farms and plantations neatly planted with various plants, and further away are the lush tropical rainforest, the sparkling blue sea and the white sandy beach by the sea. The whole scenery looked like those promotional photos of the Caribbean island countries that Lawrence had seen in his previous life.

It’s just that it’s different from those promotional photos that were taken with selected angles or even refined in those tourist spots in the previous life. The island where Lawrence is now can be said to be beautiful in all directions 360° without dead ends.

"It's really beautiful." Priest Ivan, who was following Lawrence, said after hearing his words. "I'm a new immigrant from the Kingdom of Rurik. At that time, my parents and I planned to go north to the White Eagle Federation, but when we stopped here, we were attracted by the bright sunshine here, so we stayed."

"After all, my hometown is very far north even in the Kingdom of Rurik. The snow in that place never melts all year round, and the sun shines only half a year in a year. Nothing attracts us more than sunshine."

After sighing with emotion, Lawrence was led into a room on the second floor. The structure of this house is very consistent with the structure of his previous dormitory in St. Gutenberg Cathedral. Lawrence even wondered whether the dormitories of the Church of Knowledge have a unified internal structure.

However, this does not mean that the dormitory here is a replica of the dormitory in St. Gutenberg Cathedral. For example, the dormitory here has a small balcony. In addition, there is a snow-white mosquito net on the bed.

In addition to these common things, Lawrence also saw some obviously strange things in this room, such as the bamboo mat on the chair and on the bed.

"Ah, that's a summer mat." When it came to the word mat, Priest Iwan specifically chose the Sindan language. "This is a very good cooling device, which was passed down from Zhendan in the Far East of the Old Continent. Because it is very suitable for the climate here, and it is easy to clean up after use, it is very popular in the Sea of ​​Stars. "

"There are still people from Cathay here? Are there many of them?" Lawrence was a little surprised, because in his impression, those Easterners were basically only active in the west of the New World and would not come to the east.

"Not only are there, but there are quite a few." Priest Ivan nodded, "Their Xinzhou Federation has an enclave at the southernmost isthmus of the New Continent, and there are also several islands in the south of the Sea of ​​Stars that belong to Xinzhou Commonwealth of Continents. And it is through these islands and enclaves that they trade with us."

After Priest Ivan left, Lawrence began to organize his luggage. After tidying up, he went directly to church to relax and have lunch.

Out of the idea of ​​doing as the Romans do, Lawrence did not wear his crisp woolen black dress, which would be hot in the sun here. Instead, like the locals, he was wearing a pair of light-colored trousers on the lower body, a white shirt on the upper body, and a low straw hat on his head.

Just as he was getting dressed and walking out of the dormitory door, the door next door opened at the same time. A man who looked like a child but with a slightly bigger head came out wearing printed shorts and a white vest. Behind him was a mana steam robot that looked like a burly man. From the robot The stabbing blade on his body can tell that this iron guy is not easy to mess with.

"Hey, big man, are you also here to participate in the New World Contest?" The man raised his head after seeing Lawrence and asked enthusiastically. Looking at the goatee and big eyes on his chin, Lawrence immediately realized Now this should be a dwarf, and a mechanic among dwarves.

Dwarves, dwarves, and ratmen are all intelligent creatures that are closer to humans. They are much more flexible than dwarves in character, and they are more human-like in their behavior. The most important thing is that they are quite good at mechanical manufacturing and technological research, and most of the extraordinary professions related to machinery come from them.

These occupations that combine science and magic are not weak. For example, there is a heroic dwarf mechanic in the Republic of New Island. When manipulating his man-made Titan robot named Gundam, it can even be stronger than the general legendary combat power.

"Yes, I'm here to participate in the competition, and I was assigned to the black iron group." Lawrence also replied politely, but before he finished speaking, he saw the dwarf stretching out his right hand to him.

"Ha, are you from the Black Iron Group? I am also from the Black Iron Group. I think we will fight side by side this time." After shaking Lawrence's hand, the dwarf was very familiar He introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, my real name is too long for you humans. So you can call me Kog Gear, or just call me Kog."

"Lawrence August, you can just call me Lawrence." Lawrence also introduced himself. As for the dwarves, it is normal not to introduce their full names. After all, their names are too long and complicated compared with other intelligent creatures. up. So when interacting with other intelligent creatures, they will choose to use a short name.

"Lawrence, can I call you that?" Cog continued after seeing Lawrence nodded. "Did you just come here today too? I think we could go out for a couple of laps and then have lunch."

"This is a good idea. After all, New Gdynia is one of the best vacation spots in the entire New World. It would be a pity if we don't go around after we come here. But we have to come back quickly after we go around twice and have lunch." Lawrence He nodded, and then took out a notice that Priest Ivan handed him just now from his body. "Because starting this afternoon, our federal participants will go to the competition venue to sign up, and then get together for a little break-in, so we must not be late."

"You're right, we really need to go and go back quickly, so let's go now!" After speaking, Cog and Lawrence walked downstairs to the dormitory.