What is the better way to describe after disembarking in such land. I don’t know if I am in Inglovia or whatsoever. The captain tells us that we are, indeed, in Inglovia. Weird. Even Maison, herself, seems confused when we are in this soil as she never do try to remember something about this area. Pretty much, all of the people here are Inglovians. No argument with that. However, as I persist. This is not Inglovia. I refuse to be convinced!

“Are you certain of that?” trying to confirm, I ask Maison once again.

She nods, replying: “Cross on my heart, Lord Guan. I don’t remember stepping a foot in this land, milord. Never.” where she, indeed, motions her finger through the chest in the region of the heart - doing a sign of the cross.

“I see,” I believe in Maison’s honesty. I trust her guts, “Well, let’s seek some leads. Are you up for this, Maison?” recruiting her in my search.

"Sure, why not milord? Since we have been deported here in this shithole in the first place. Mind as well, searching some information elsewhere about this place, anyways.” replying, Maison fortifies with my sentiment earlier, where she expresses her own thoughts.

“Great idea!” I agree with Maison - the leader of Verlassenes.

It is great that Maison chooses to keep me accompanied or stays with me. Or the other way around. Vice-versa. Who cares, whatever. A plethora of the dudes and their counterparts are trying to avoid us somehow as Maison and I are making a move on how to interact with the folks here in this town. ‘Excuse me, sire… ?’, ‘Mister?’, ‘Hello, madam…’, and all of the initiatives one can think of; they are just passing us by like a ghost. Sometimes, it makes me feel powerless and frustrated because of how they treat us. The townsfolks are leering at us with disdain for that I could not explain. I am an Inglovian. Well, an Inglovian from another reality - that is. At least, they should show some respect towards me. As for my usher - Maison, I could not protect her on my stead since I do not fully know her whole personality and identity. If she’s part-Inglovian or not.

“Mister, could I ask some questions?” I politely approach a gentleman who’s doing lumberjacking.

“No.” the guy outright refuses to talk to me.

“Sire, how about me? Can I ask a question?” Maison is next and hopefully, the man will answer; right after I’ve been declined from getting what we want.

The dude looks at the leader of Verlassenes, he chuckles in a soft tune, saying: “Did I already say: ‘no’, right? Stop harrying me, will you? Now, get out of here!“ chasing us off from his backyard.

“Well, that was rude. And yes, I agree with them since this is their land. They have ‘the every right’ to fend us off away from their expanse.” sighing, she complains while we are moving away from the landowner.

She then follows with another rant: “I would never expect the Inglovian are these astringent to the foreigners. All in all, they have no hospitality towards the likes of us, Lord Guan… What can you say about that?” asking if my stance being as well an Inglovian too. Though, from another dimension - I am an Inglovian, that’s for sure.

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“I don’t know, Maison. I can’t say a representation towards the entirety of the Inglovian community. Well, it is just sad that we are witnessing this first handedly. If this is Inglovia, her people should at least give us some decorum to us - foreigners. And if this is Inglovia, then ‘welcome to Inglovia’, I guess?” I joke around.

“Oh, you fool Lord Guan…” where she laughs at my joke.

We head to a so-called center where we want to somehow reach the plaza. Maison keeps up with my pace so far. Varying to the distance to where we are going, there are signs to each destination. If we go forward, it would be the town hall and frontiers’ guild. I ask Maison what does: frontiers’ guild, mean - she answers with the same definition of adventurers’ hall. But that’s not where we are supposed to go. From our left direction, the plaza. The place we are going to. However, there are no roads to walk through… only several two-storey houses and in each cavity, there’s an alley.

“This way?” I point my finger towards the direction of the plaza, asking Maison’s confirmation.

“Lead the way, Lord Guan. Your call.” she then gives me the instruction to be the tracer of this expedition.

The pathway is narrow and somewhat dangerous because at first glance, there are some suspicious activities within the alleys that we fail to assess. I look at Maison. She returns back my stare. My heart is thumping so hard that I could hear the beating very audibly. Maison promises me to follow suit when I make the step inside the lurking danger of this alleyway. After minutes of thinking and breathing, I muster up all my strength to conquer the dark and shady pathway. When Maison read the signs a while ago, she does stated that this place is the shortcut. About a hundred and fifty-three (153) steps, so she claims.

“Here goes nothing…” I breathe underneath my voice, praying that only just a speck of warning will spawn up before us.

Meanwhile, as of now, we trek around fifty steps (50) inside - without switching direction, only straight ahead. I bump into something or someone during when I am talking to Maison to vouch for her confirmation. It’s so dark and the rays of the sun don’t seem to reach these gaps. I stumble on my feet where Maison successfully catches me from falling on the ground. Then that someone whom I am referring to is a man dressed in a lifeless hue cloak. Maison takes her stance when that threat is arising, as her hand is preparing to reach for the blade on her sheath.

“Fancy seeing you here… Lady Maison, Lord Guan.” then the figure calls us by our name!

“Who are you?” Maison exclaims. As the fear signals through her hand, she can’t stop trembling.

“Mister, we mean no offense. We would like to go to the plaza but we think that this path that we are trying to explore takes for a short amount of time. I suppose.” calmly deescalating the situation between those two - Maison and the stranger in front of us.

“Lord Guan, Lady Maison…” the concealed individual then reveals himself, “It is my astonishment meeting you here.” as it turns out to be Lord Ameniah is behind the facade!

“Lord Ameniah?! You’re alive! Thank heavens!” I express my elation at seeing Lord Ameniah.

“We thought you were dead.” Maison also shares the same.

“Likewise, Lord Guan…” Lord Ameniah casts a meager smile on his face.

“What are you doing here, Lord Ameniah?”

“Long story short, it is classified.” he replies, where I scoff lightly at his answer for refusing to retort to my question.

“Milord, where are we? What place is this? Are we in Inglovia?” Maison asks Lord Ameniah.

“Technically, yes. We are in Inglovia.” Lord Ameniah answers in a surmised and brief response.

“Inglovia? Then, where are we? Are we on the University campus now?” I follow, referring to the University of Inglovian Occidental to where I am enlisted to.

“We are on Fort Quogsagihaxee’e.” he answers in a deadpan mood.

“Fort-what, milord?” Maison fails to understand as so am I.

“Fort Quogsagihaxee’e.”