Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
The sharp ringing of a bicycle bell echoed through the streets.
A boy's loud voice followed immediately after.
"Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Bell—the Supreme Commander of the Robotic Revolutionary Army has escaped Nephilim!"
Out at the sea, the kingdom of Scotland is at war with the Sun pirates!
And Avalon's greatest mech pilot Marco Rubik has been arrested. Come and read all of it now!
The announcements rippled through Crane City, drawing the attention of pedestrians who had been busy with their daily routines.
Be it merchants, vendors and beggars, they all stopped to see the paper boy most fishing out a copper from their pockets eager to buy the newspaper.
Among the crowd stood a boy who listened more attentively than the rest.
His name was Sam.
He was sixteen years old, of average height, with messy black hair and curious dark eyes that seemed to constantly search the world around him.
His clothes revealed his status immediately.
A worn-out brown shirt clung loosely to his thin frame, while a pair of ragged blue work trousers, stained with grease and oil, hung from his waist.
Sam stood beside a small market stall, quietly watching as the newspaper boy rode past, shouting headlines while tossing papers to eager buyers.
This was always his favorite part, the moment when he get to glimpse the situation of the outside through reading newspaper.
As Crane city was only a Iron rated city, it was by far the least when it came to progression of science.
Here things like cellphones, internet and motorcars were a myth that were told to exist in the Capital Cities.
And the only way for the people here to be able to know the news of what was happening around them, was through the networking information of newspaper brought on by the global information broker and underworld kingpin Adam Silvertooth..
Sam saw the newspaper boy distribute the papers to eager buyers and was tempted to join in but eventually decided against it.
Newspaper were not that expensive and only costed a copper coin. But Sam was currently in a tight pickle where he needed all the money he got.
So buying a newspaper would be a waste of copper coins, which he needed every single he could get.
And besides he knew that by the time he reached the workshop, Bob would already have one in his hand.
So he reluctantly and slowly turned away from the market stall and continued walking down the crowded street.
The noise of the city gradually faded into the background as his thoughts drifted back to the past.
It has been nearly five decades since the war against machines ended.
After centuries of oppression, mankind had finally managed to defeat the robots. The turning point had been the introduction of Combat Mechs, the massive mechanized suits that allowed humans to finally fight machines on equal footing.
The war that followed had been brutal and resulted in the destruction of cities and irreversible global damage on the planet.
Oceans were poisoned by the wreckage of countless mechanical corpses while cities had been redirected into nothing more than wastelands.
But even so.....
Humanity had won.
After their defeat, most of the surviving robots were captured and sealed away in Nephilim.
Others, however, had managed to escape before the final battles ended.
Those machines vanished without a trace.
Some said they hid in the wastelands, while others believed they fled beyond the stars.
No one knew for certain.
What everyone did know was that the war had left the world irreparably scarred.
After reclaiming their freedom, humanity began the slow and painful task of rebuilding civilization.
The planet had once been divided into four great continents.
And humanity attempted to restore control over all of them.
But they succeeded in reclaiming only three.
The fourth continent turned out to be something beyond reclaiming.
It was the very place where the final and most catastrophic battles between humans and robots had taken place, meaning that it had received the full brunt of the intensity of the war.
The devastation there was beyond imagination.
Entire regions had been reduced to twisted metal and radioactive wastelands and ruined cities stretched endlessly across the horizon like the skeletons of a dead world.
Even decades after the war, the land remained poisoned by toxic air, radiation, rogue machines, and abandoned war weapons that still roamed without commands.
No nation dared to settle there.
People simply called it the Wastelands.
Or more ominously— The Netherlands.
Sam had heard countless stories about that place growing up.
How it was home to rogue robots who had avoided imprisonment from humanity.
How it was the, the base for all those infamous pirates who terrorized the seas.
And how it nestled all the kingdoms' most notorious criminals.
Every story had painted the Netherlands as a very dangerous place in Sam's mind.
Even though this picture did not deter him from dreaming of one day exploring that place.
As Sam walked along the dusty road, he couldn't help but think back to the headline he had just heard.
Bell…
The legendary commander of the Robotic Revolutionary Army.
A machine powerful enough to threaten humanity even during the final war.
And now the newspapers were claiming that he had escaped from the Seal of Nephilim.
Sam frowned slightly.
If that news was true…
Then things around the world were about to get very interesting.
The streets gradually became narrower as Sam continued walking.
The crowded market stalls gave way to rows of old industrial buildings, their brick walls stained black from decades of smoke and soot. The air here smelled different being thicker and heavier.
It carried the mixed scent of burning coal, hot iron, and engine oil, all of the toxic substances being generated by the various industrial factories here.
Soon Sam stopped in front of a large rusted sign that hung above a wide metal door.
"Bob's Smithing & Pawn Shop."
The wooden sign creaked gently in the wind.
Without hesitation, Sam pushed the door open.
The moment he stepped inside, a wave of heat rushed over him.
The shop was loud.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
The sharp rhythm of hammer striking metal echoed throughout the workshop.
At the center of the room stood a massive forge glowing with intense orange light. Sparks flew every few seconds as molten metal was shaped beneath heavy hammers.
Several large worktables were scattered across the room, each cluttered with tools, scrap parts, broken machine components, and pieces of old weaponry waiting to be dismantled or repaired.
A group of rough-looking men worked inside.
Some hammered glowing metal on anvils.
Others sorted through piles of scrap brought in from the city.
These men were Bob's regular workers consisting of folks who were once old mechanics, scavengers or even former soldiers who had survived the war years.
At the far end of the shop stood Bob himself.
Bob was a huge man with a thick beard and arms like steel cables. His leather apron was covered in soot and burn marks, and sweat glistened across his bald head as he leaned against a workbench.
But at the moment…
Bob wasn't working.
Instead, he was holding a newspaper.
A few of the workers had gathered around him, listening while he read the headlines aloud.
Sam quietly walked toward the counter, dropping a small cloth sack onto the wooden surface.
The sound made Bob glance up.
"Back already, kid?" Bob said, lowering the newspaper slightly.
Sam scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah. l ended up managing to get the supplies from old man Nicko."
Bob at this moment laughed.
"Wait Nicko is into hardware supplements now, wow looks like someone is moving up in business. "
A click came from Sam's mouth.
"You could learn from him and expand your business too."
Bob rolled his eyes.
"Would love to if it wasn't for how freaking expensive it is to expand business here in Crane city. It would be okay if it would be a guarantee success. But the probability of losses is way higher than success. "
Sam could only shake his head when he heard this farmiliar excuse.
He knew all to well how Bob was when it came to money.
For the past few years he had been trying to advice Bob on moving up in the business, expanding and investing in several industrial areas of the city.
And given by how Crane city was known as the most industrial based place in the world, this was bound to be a profitable business strategy.
Yet...Bob remained hesitant on the tiny chance possibility that he would incur a loss.
As Sam thought of this, he couldn't help but sigh.
"Honestly, it's a miracle that this workshop had even managed to survive long under your hopeless cheapskating mind view."
Bob retorted casually.
"Well it's because of that cheapskate mind view, that this business managed to live this long"
Sam tiredly shook his head, not bothering on continuing the hopeless conversation.
When Bob saw his resigned face, he smiled and quickly changed the topic.
"Anyways, have you read the papers today, there has been some interesting and trending news in the seas and that cursed land of Netherlands."
Sam shook his head.
"Nope l haven't had the chance to read into them in detail yet."
Bob laughed boisterously before saying.
"Well you are going to love the news. This time there are multiple big news occurring around the world"
At the moment he then handed Sam the papers.
When Sam received the papers, he eyes caught on to the key headlines that were typed in bold letters at the headline section of the newspaper.
Supreme Commander of the Robotic Army, Commander Bell has escaped Nephilim.
Earth's Greatest Mech Pilot Marco Rubik arrested over a scandal involving the notorious rookie criminal Austin Reed.
Out at the sea, the kingdom of Scotland is at war with the Sun pirates!
In the Mediterranean continent, rumors are circulating of the continuing mad project of the crazy scientist, Luke Sedword.