A vast water canal in the middle of the building combined with humongous pillars by the side. The width of the central water canal was approximately as broad as twelve boats. The water itself seems deep even though the bottom still can be seen. At some point, the water road consists of a few intersections leading further to the deep of Town Hall. One point that Angga noticed was that the interior of this building was somehow more expansive compared to the overall building seen from outside, as if the comparison of the interior’s area with the building’s size itself wasn’t matched.
“Woah…”
It was a sight to behold for Angga as he paid attention to how the boat worked. Also, a few medium-sized bubbles with a creature inside being busy arranging some of the documents on the wall can be seen along with other bubbles that seemed to be discussing each other. All of this showed him how the Town Hall operates.
His instincts kicked in, so he picked up the mirrorless camera to capture all of this scene.
“This place is beautiful, isn’t it? I remember how impressed I was the first time I came here.” Clara let out tiny giggles.
“But how do you explain the size of the interior that doesn’t match the building viewed from outside?” Angga asked, still in awe.
“But of course, that’s the effect of Interior Expansion Magic.”
A single big bubble appeared from the water before Angga. Someone wearing a neat uniform with half of his body made of fishtail made his entrance. Even though he is inside the water bubble, he seems unmotivated and looks like he will fall asleep at any second. His Recording Orb swam inside the bubble lazily, too.
The merman opened his eyes with his fingers as if trying to zoom in so he could have a good grasp of who the Town Hall guest was this time.
“Welcome, welcome. I sense a familiar face here. But what about this one?”
The merman pointed at the human’s face as his voice could be heard even though he was inside the water bubble. Angga could even see that he had a fin between his fingers.
“Never seen you before. Is this your first time here?”
“Y-Yes, it’s my first. I saw this amazing architecture only a few steps from the door.”
“Indeed, indeed. This building has been designed so people who come here will be in awe the second they enter. My name is Kai, and I am someone in charge of the Canau Town Hall.”
“My name is Angga. Nice to meet you.”
While Kai introduced himself, he didn’t ask for a handshake. So Angga didn’t bother to do that since putting his hands inside the water bubble would be a hassle.
“What kind of business do you seek here, Angga? You’re here along with Clara, a member of the Resources Guild. Perhaps it got something to do to accumulate more Support from the Watchers?”
“Nah, actually, Angga is looking for a way back to his world.” Clara butt in.
Kai’s eyes widen in response to Clara’s statement. “A way back to his world… so Angga there isn’t the native of this world?”
The human nodded in agreement while Kai was observing the figure before him. Ultimately, the merman can’t find the Recording Orb everyone should possess and believes that Angga is someone from another world.
“Indeed, indeed. I found no Recording Orb. So that’s answered my doubts. So, a way back to another world, humm…” Kai looked in another direction, remembering something. “The Town Hall also possessed a nice collection of books and records, so it’s smart for you to look for clues in this place.”
“So, can you confirm if that information is available in this place?” Angga asked with strong hope.
“Yes. I think we got that kind of information, yet I still have to check it to know where it is exactly located.”
A sudden motivation spiked inside Angga. So, the way back to his world is possible after all!
“Then let’s go there!” Angga exclaimed.
“Not that fast, young boy. You’re from another world, correct? Surely, you must have something special within you, so you are stranded here somehow.”
What Kai has said wasn’t partially wrong. Angga could travel and materialize his mirrorless camera was a proof. Another one was he could access other’s engagement statistics, which gave him the information that most of the videos here didn’t have that much exposure to the Watchers.
“I… dunno if I got something special or not,” Angga was skeptical.
“You are that special. Because if you want to know how to get back to your own world, you must do something first for me. You know, I have to use my magic to pinpoint exactly the information’s location within this Town Hall, so it’s fair if I ask you a favor before I release my magic, right?”
Of course, the merman won’t give it for free. Somehow, Angga could predict it when Kai assumed he had an extraordinary power or something. But a request in exchange for important information is a fair game. Even yet, can Angga handle it as an average human who can only use magic to materialize his camera back?
That doubt quickly motivated Angga somehow. If there were so much hassle in the way, then what he has to do is keep going, right? He had no other option but to find another way to return to his world, so he had to take the challenge.
“....let’s listen to your request, Kai. How can I be of assistance?” Angga smiled in confidence.
“This is great. Alright, we will discuss the matter soon.”
Clara was watching the two with sparkling eyes. She recorded everything that unfolded before her as long as Angga was there. The lion girl still held her opinion that Angga would give her a lot of views and Support altogether. One thing was certain: Angga wasn’t aware of Clara’s quirk.
But, when Clara tried to position her orb, she noticed one thing–to show Angga the Receiver's central control room in Town Hall.
“Wait a minute, Kai! I forgot that we’re here also because I want to show him the control interface of this town’s Receiver. Can you show us the way?”
The merman looked at the lion girl and nodded slightly. “Of course, of course. Since Angga was from another world, he had never seen one. Alright, people, follow my lead.”
A boat magically approached where Angga and Clara were standing. Kai moved from the floor to the boat while floating above it. The human guy thought it was the norm to go by boat since he didn’t see any other way to lead inside the place.
“Hu–p.”
“Be careful Angga.”
The three of them board the boat as it starts moving by itself. Angga was amazed by how the magic was implemented in people’s lives, just as in his world using technology.
When the boat was moving at its pace to bring the passengers to the control room, Angga thoroughly looked at the Town Hall’s architecture, which gave a solid European-style vibe to each of the pillar’s carvings. His hands moved in reflex to capture everything here. Since he had never really gone abroad all in his life, this was the first time he had found that kind of architecture.
“As a Town Hall staff, we also appreciate any labor attempt to produce amazing videos to encourage the Watchers to give us their blessings. Before the Overseer came to this world, they said Town Hall only helped govern the town, such as managing the infrastructure or developing any potential source of income for the sake of Canau town. Now that we can’t kill each other, we are also tasked to help anyone involved to make a video,” Kai explained while they were on the way to the control room.
“Such as?” Angga asked.
“You will know when you see it yourself later. So, with that in consideration, I want you to help me gather guests for the town’s inn.”
“The town’s inn?”
“Yeah. Its name is The Repose Lodging. It prospered once a long time ago. Yet, nowadays, the place is in a state of pity. It can’t sustain itself, so Town Hall has to support it until now.”
When Angga wanted to inquire more about it, they arrived at another room big enough to contain four big horizontal screens made from water. One of them was located above the three others, and it was the biggest while displaying the exact view of one of the three smaller screens. In the center of the room, a transparent cube with a square frame moves on its every rotation can be seen, floating inside a square-shaped green magic wall.
The three mermaids and merman staff there are busy looking at their own water screen to browse potential interesting videos and sometimes change the display of their screen into the big water-screen.
“As you can see, these three screens can receive any broadcast from anywhere in this world. But due to our policy to boost our regional income, we put the setting so the Receiver would only receive videos from our town.” The merman explained further.
“And the Receiver you’re talking about is the cube in the middle of the room?” Angga guessed.
“That’s correct,” Clara replied.
He made sure that his camera also caught what the Receiver looked like. It moves slowly, mesmerizing Angga for a few solid minutes.
“Do you need a practical sample?” Kai offered, and Angga nodded.
The half-fish guy activated his orb and shined as a sign that Kai started a broadcasted live stream. After a few settings, his broadcast appeared on one of the screens, showing a display of him, Angga, and Clara.
“Basically, that’s it.” Clara was satisfied when Angga finally saw how the Recording of the Town Halls worked.
“Alright, so when you can start to help?” The merman looked at the human with a small strain of hope.
“About that… let me think for a bit.”
Pretty much, Angga already has an idea of what he would do to help Kai increase the number of guests. Of course, as a video content creator, he will advertise and broadcast it to the Watchers and another place in this kingdom with the Receiver in their possession.
The thing is, he can do all that if he were in his original world, where he got a workstation personal computer in his boarding house. When he only got his mirrorless camera, Angga wondered if he could do the usual video editing.
Those stares from the natives of the Union Kingdom put Angga under weird pressure. Yet, he had already accepted Kai's request at the door of the Town Hall, and he didn’t want to retract his words.
“... I need to find some inspiration,” Angga said in a relatively low tone.
The human used his camera again and took some recordings in this place aimlessly. Nothing really out of place than anything that he found out previously. Rotating Receiver, busy staff with Kai’s supervision, Clara gazed at Angga while having no idea what the human was thinking and the water screen; it was recorded just as usual inside Angga’s camera. He also can access Clara, Kai, and other staff’s engagement statistics and found no vital information there.
Until he found a new symbol on his camera screen when he shot a vast area, it showed a personal computer symbol that disappeared when he shot in a not-so-big-areas or non-flat environment. Since Angga found something new with his camera, he touched the computer symbol.
A sparkling, tiny dot appeared in the air out of nowhere. Even though it was small, it was totally visible to all.
“Woah, Angga! What did you do?” Clara didn’t expect that but quickly became interested in the tiny dot.
“I-I don’t know! Really! It’s just the same when I’m exploring my ability at the inn yesterday.”
The floating dot didn’t do a thing. As he saw that, Angga mustered his courage to touch the said dot with his bare hands–
–to find that he had transferred into his own room.
“Huh?”
Angga checked his surroundings. His room in a boarding house had no windows, so he couldn’t ensure the environment outside. Hence, he can’t confirm whether he is already back in his own world. Everything was just the same as when Angga left his room to work. His shoe rack, workout set, bed, rest room, and personal computer for his workstation.
As he turned around, a wall of light appeared on the wall instead of a door.
“So… it’s not that I’m actually coming back to my world, but I have another magic to manifest my room…”
Angga checked his workstation to investigate further about this power. His personal computer booted up just fine. Everything was still the same except for the part where he couldn’t access the internet. However, his video editing software wasn’t affected at all since it provides any assets that Angga needs without being connected to the web. Even his camera can connect just fine to his workstation.
Around twenty minutes, Angga came out from the portal of light with a smile of confidence.
“Angga! Are you okay? You disappeared again, but the tiny dot stays!” Clara approached him, can’t help but be concerned about his well-being.
“I’m alright, Clara. Never been better. So, Kai,” the human called the merman who was confused because Angga reappeared again, “I can do something about the town’s lodging starting tomorrow.”
