“On to Ancient Whittleton then!” Sparky cheers, ushering the group outside and setting a course southwest. “So Whittleton’s one of the oldest cities in New Hyrule, but it’s also grown a lot. Apparently it’s still considered a smallish city, but it’s way bigger than anything I’ve ever seen in my life! I think the population’s like 30,000 or something like that. Anyways, since it’s so old it has like these semi-circular bands of different architecture styles, getting older and older as you approach the old train station.”

Sparky pointed out the buildings as they walked, which had already shifted from the plaster covered modern types to stone bricks and wood siding, although the style was still modern enough to not feel out of place. 

“The old train station I used isn’t in use anymore- none of them are, actually. As New Hyrule developed, the people started building around the Spirit Tracks, and they even had to lay some new rails in some areas. Those ones aren’t magical, of course, so they have to maintain them. But anyways, eventually there was enough train traffic that using the old stations became dangerous. They’re right on the tracks and there isn’t a siding rail for other trains to go around them. Also they were small and intended for single passenger or freight cars, which was terribly inconvenient after a while.”

By now the buildings had gotten smaller and more rustic looking. Most of them were made of wood siding, although the occasional building used split logs instead. Vio had silently pointed out a sign earlier designating the area a historic neighborhood, and indeed most of the buildings were houses rather than businesses. The streets were also narrower, obviously a more recent edition, and there were no concrete sidewalks, but rather stone paved paths between the street and the fenced in yards, which had flowers and shrubs spilling outwards from them. 

“So to solve that problem, they built new train stations on the newer tracks, nice and big with siding rails and everything. I actually like them a lot, they’re very handsome looking. Aboda’s station is probably my favorite, but I might be biased because that’s my hometown…” Sparky chuckled, cheeks turning just a little bit pink. “Anyways, here we are! Whittleton as I knew it! These aren’t the original buildings, those rotted away ages ago, but they did a really good job reconstructing it!”

Sparky led them through a circle of trees into a clearing, and spread his arms wide to show off the village that was so dear to his heart. There were a handful of buildings that looked like enormous, hollowed out tree stumps with wooden porches and doorways and windows attached or carved into them. In the southwest corner of the village, secluded by a stand of cedar trees was a tent-like structure covered in canvas and painted with bright colors. Were the Repairman able to read the various signs in Ancient Hylian scattered about, he would have known that this building was the general store. Charming gardens overgrown with grass and wildflowers were scattered among the houses, and piles of timber were located near a wooden porch-like structure. Just beyond the structure the Spirit Tracks could be seen once again, which meant that it had to be the ancient train station. 

Sparky clasped his hands behind his back, rocking forward on his toes a little bit. 

“So, what do you think? New Hyrule’s come a long way huh?”

“It sure has,” the Repairman replied appreciatively. He gawked at the progression between modern Whittleton and Old Whittleton with the respect only a craftsman could have. The sight of all this architecture…!

He ambled around, in awe of the small, yet charming, replica of old Whittleton. The Repairman didn’t normally tour, mostly focusing on his job and immediate interactions, but this was truly fascinating!

He finally had a good look at the Spirit Tracks, now that they were mentioned. As his cart was currently in his hammerspace, the glow from before began to seep out from behind his back.

“So no one uses these trac–” he began to ask, before noticing the glow.

He pulled it out and finally looked inside his toolbox for what was causing it.

One of the magic-sensitive items he pulled out was an orange wand, with a simple ball at the end, labeled “Arcanometer.” It was glowing awfully bright.

“Apparently a pretty powerful set of tracks,” the Repairman remarked, before setting the wand back in and pulling out a small, cat-shaped slime. He figured the Cat Slime might want to look around, too.

As he set his pet to the side, stroking his little head, he closed the toolbox up again.

He stopped, staring at the lid for a moment.

“…Not usually this quiet…” he muttered, looking towards the top of his own head in mild concern. The Cat Slime squeaked questioningly.

He shook himself, and started to gawk again. While the Repairman had at least some experience with other languages (Spanish, Japanese, Webdings, Russian, etc.), he had little knowledge of Ancient Hylian. After a moment of looking at them, he turned to Sparky.

“…What was this place for?” he asked, curious.