A foreigner's journey

Whenever the light of the magic furnace rises into the sky, it will always bring up little bits of crystal light all over the sky.

Experts say that those bright green light spots are the unique phenomenon that occurs when the 'Mago' is refined, and the people are convinced of it.

Because that is the explanation put forward by [HRE] experts, and no one can refute it.

[Shinra], whose real name is [Shinra Electric Power Company], decades ago [Shinra] invented a method to extract a new energy source, 'Mako', and expanded at lightning speed to become an extremely wealthy country with private interests. Bing's super enterprise.

This company that controls the lifeblood of the world even built a huge steel city - the aerial city 'Midgar', and used it as the headquarters of the Shinra Company.

The huge steel disk, which is three hundred meters high above the ground, carries the prosperous city and the headquarters of Shinra Corporation, and lifts the hustle and bustle of entertainment into the sky.

But under the disk, there are slums that are not favored by the 'upper class'.

A gathering place for cheap labor, a garbage dump, a home for wild animals, dirty and smelly... slums are despised by the upper class, but they also have their own way of survival.

At this moment, a train was traveling along the spiral track from the upper floors of Midgar to the lower slums.

Because it was not a rush hour, there were not many passengers on the train. In a certain empty carriage, two people were sitting side by side. Apart from them, there was no one else in the carriage.

This is a wonderful combination. Sitting on the left side by the car door is a muscular man with a calm and confident expression. He has a full beard and brown-black hair tied into a short ponytail. He is wearing a black shirt. He wears a red coat with sleeves, his clothes and pants look a little shabby, and the boots on his feet are also very old.

Sitting next to the strong man was a black-haired girl. She had long hair that reached her waist. She seemed to be recovering from a serious illness, and the paleness that had not yet completely faded remained on her pretty face. She was simply wearing a cheap coat and short skirt, and her red sneakers were rubbing boringly on the floor of the carriage.

"Tifa, are you okay?" The strong man turned his head and asked with concern.

The girl nodded: "I have fully recovered, Master, thank you."

If he hadn't been rescued by his master, he might have really died in the fire, right? Thinking of the overwhelming fire and the miserable screams, the girl named Tifa couldn't help but turn pale and clenched her fists tightly.

The strong man glanced at the girl and let out a long sigh in his heart. How could such a tragic experience be smoothed over in just a few weeks?

His name is Zangan, and he is a world-renowned martial arts instructor. His hobby is traveling around the world, and he will also select some children with outstanding qualifications to teach martial arts along the way.

About half a year ago, Zangan traveled to a village called Nibelheim. Because the Mako Mountain near the village was a good training place, Zangan stayed in Nibelheim temporarily.

During this period, he discovered that there was a little girl named Tifa in the village who was naturally very strong and had excellent body bones. She was a good candidate for practicing martial arts. With the consent of Tifa and her father, Zangan began to teach Tifa martial arts.

The people in the village are very kind, and Tifa is also a genius among the apprentices he has taught, and Mohu Mountain is a rare training ground. Zangan originally planned to stay here for about a year and teach Tifa all his skills before leaving.

But that morning half a month ago, everything changed.

Zangan originally set out to practice on the Sunshine Coast a month ago, but he just returned today. But as soon as he entered the vicinity of Nibelheim, he discovered that there were flames reaching into the sky in the direction of the village below. He hurriedly ran towards the village. Bodies were everywhere along the way. The village was swept by blazing fires, and miserable screams of despair could be heard from time to time.

What happened! Zangan was furious. The corpses he found along the way were either burnt or neatly beheaded. That kind of sword skill... was definitely a master!

At this time, Zangan found a dying man. He was a blacksmith in the village. It seemed that because of his strong muscles, he was not killed immediately. Zangan rushed over to help the man up and asked what happened.

"Sephiroth...it's Sephiroth! He killed people on sight, set fire to the village...everything is over, it's all over..."

Sephiroth, of course Zangan has heard of this name. The strongest 1st warrior of the Shinra Company, the unrivaled swordsman Sephiroth. What was he doing in Nibelheim? There is nothing here except the magic furnace.

Tap tap tap... the sound of rapid footsteps came, and Tifa ran over and shouted in surprise: "Master? Are you back? What on earth... happened here?"

"It was Sephiroth who did it. Why did the strongest warrior of the Shinra Company come to Nibelheim... Tifa, what's wrong with you?" Zangan suddenly noticed that Tifa's face was pale.

Tifa murmured: "Sephiroth...no, my father is still on Mako Mountain!"

After saying that, the girl ran away in a hurry.

Despite Zangan's efforts to treat him, the blacksmith soon succumbed to his injuries. After gathering his mood, Zangan rushed to Mohu Mountain, where there was a Mohuo furnace built by Shinra Company.

When he arrived, he found Tifa lying in a pool of blood, with a deep stab wound on her chest. An ordinary person would have died long ago. But thanks to Tifa's daily practice of martial arts, she can still be saved.

Zangan picked up Tifa and looked aside. On the metal steps of the Mako Reactor, there were two young men lying on their backs. One looked like a 1st Shinra soldier and the other an ordinary Shinra soldier. Blood continued to flow from underneath them, and the metal steps were almost stained red.

The injuries of these two people... are hopeless. Zangan made his judgment after just one look.

As for Sephiroth, Zangan didn't think he was sure he could defeat him, not to mention Tifa's situation was urgent. He gave up the idea of ​​revenge for the villagers of Nibelheim, picked up Tifa and ran quickly towards the distance.

He went to the nearest village to find a doctor and gave Tifa simple treatment, but the doctor admitted that even rare 'healing' magic stones were useless for such a serious injury, and he could only temporarily help Tifa hang on to her life. Only the steel city of Midgar has the best doctor who can treat Tifa.

So, Zangan took Tifa to Midgar, the sky city where Shinra Corporation is headquartered. As expected of the world's economic and cultural center, the hospital in Midgar can really handle Tifa's injuries, and the medical level is indeed top-notch.

Of course, the fees are also top-notch.

Zangan, whose pockets were already empty, borrowed money from almost all of Midgar's friends in order to raise money for Tifa's treatment. Fortunately, he finally found a big banker and finally raised the money.

After nearly half a month of treatment and recuperation, Tifa was discharged from the hospital. On the day she was discharged from the hospital, Zangan took her on the city train and headed towards the slums of the lower Midgar area.

"...Master, Master!"

The girl's shout woke Zangan out of his memories. He then looked at the angry Tifa beside him and touched the back of his head: "Sorry for being distracted. What did you say just now, Tifa?"

"I'm asking, why are we going to Xiacheng District?" The girl is only fifteen years old. Even if she loses all her relatives, friends and hometown at once, she will not be immersed in depression for too long. Even if she didn't let her master worry about her, Tifa decided to become strong.

Zangan stroked the thick beard on his chin and said with a smile: "We went to the Lower City to visit some old friends."

"Old friend?"

"Well, I borrowed money from all these old friends to pay for the treatment. But how much money can they have if they live in the slums? Fortunately, I finally found a wealthy family..."

Zangan looked at Tifa and said seriously: "Tifa, do you really want to stay here? Stay in Midgar, where the Shinra Company is headquartered?"

"……Um."

Tifa was silent for a while, then nodded: "Even if my father is gone, I must learn to live independently and strongly. Midgar is so big, there will always be a place for me...right?"

She knew that if she opened her mouth, the master would definitely take her away from here and continue to wander around the world. But that powerful master kept begging people to borrow money for her sake... Tifa would not let herself continue to be a burden to her master. No matter how difficult it is, she will work hard to survive in Midgar.

However, when his master left him, he no longer had his family by his side...

For a moment, the girl became sentimental and her eyes almost turned red.

Zangan was frightened and hurriedly said: "Don't, don't, don't cry! Pretend I didn't ask and change the subject! Hmm... let me think about it... do you know how many Mako reactors there are in Midgar?"

"...How much?" The girl calmed down and asked cooperatively.

"Eight." Zangan made an [eight] gesture: "Think about it, there are eight of those things on Mako Mountain standing and surrounding Midgar. A large number of Mako have been extracted and converted into nearly infinite Endless electric energy, this is the means by which Shinra Corporation dominates the world - an energy technology that only they can master."

Ding dong! At this time, the train sounded an announcement - [Qifan Street Xiacheng District has arrived, thank you for taking this train].

The door automatically opened to the side, and Zangan took Tifa out of the carriage. What came into view was the old open-air station.

Debris was piled up in the corner of the station, and wooden benches were placed side by side on the edge. Most of the chair backs were cracked. It was night, and the streetlights were dimly lit, and they were connected into the distance. At least in Midgar, even the slums could enjoy ample electricity.

Tifa looked up and saw an extremely huge steel disk that almost covered the entire sky. The huge black shadow cast downwards. The densely packed steel pipes and lights on the disk facilities were dotted in the darkness like stars. in, like the night sky.

Full of industrial beauty and magnificence, Tifa was not moved at all, only unspeakable anger.

It would be nice if [Shinra] didn't exist in this world.

Such thoughts suddenly appeared in the girl's mind.

PS: I feel that the beginning of this volume is particularly difficult to write. I deleted and revised it many times, but I finally have a somewhat pleasing beginning.

PS: The 750-page FF7 settings collection, all in Japanese, is so big that it makes my head gnaw. But at least there won’t be any problems with the settings...right?