Ruri and I woke up at a similar time in the morning. We knew exactly what to do at that moment. Packing up our stuff I fixed my clothes on, while she grabbed her equipment and the money sack. The cost of the one night stay merely dented the nearly thousand mon we had. Soon we headed downstairs and bidded farewell to the tired clerk.
The busy street greeted us as a bustling port, and I could now see the ocean compared to the dark last night. It glistened in the daybreak as endless ships moved in and out from the docks. Roads were winding, as the elevation dipped down to sea level. I’d barely noticed the details when we arrived in Port Kohwan last night. But just like the awakening sun, Ruri and I both looked at each other and smiled.
We didn’t know where we could possibly go. But Sorah’s family wasn’t here after they fled Itogutshi. Our intuition told us that, and if we were wrong, then we would start over again. There was no use worrying about it. Although just in case, we made a search around the port for any traces of the family.
Ruri wore her hood, while I had to purchase some covering to hide my face. Who knew whether someone connected to the Royal Marshal recognized us. After doing one trip around, we concluded that they simply weren’t here. We didn’t spot them in Han’ei nor any of the hamlets. Eliminating Itogutshi and Han’ei, there was only one thing next to do in this tiny island country: Hop onto the next nation.
Great Zhou, the kingdom a sea away. We made our way to one of the piers, where passenger ships moored to pick up those with poor financial statuses. Walking down a large flight of wooden stairs I took in the panoramic view of the eastern sea. Across the blue horizon was an entire country. Luckily not many impoverished people from Waqwaq traveled to Great Zhou, meaning documents and cost didn’t matter. The captains gladly took us in with the amount of money we had.
“Sir, have you seen a group of Wawaqi with the family name ‘Totshigui’?” I asked one of the sailors who ushered us along the gangplank.
“I don’t count names, only heads!” He shook his head, speaking with a foreign accent. I kept my hair from flying out of control in the wind.
“Any white-haired people came recently?”
“A few. But that can be anyone in Waqwaq, kid. Now get on board!”
I smiled before thanking him. So there was a chance that they had escaped. ‘A few’ could mean anything. The Royal Marshal should’ve issued an alert to all major settlements in the country, scrutinizing those who fit the characteristics of a wanted rebel. To think that a policing force from Aquitaine held immense power within a nation a world away. If Great Zhou also had branches housing the Royal Marshal, then that could spell trouble our way.
The ship resembled an oriental galleon, one that I only imagined as museum replicas. Once everyone was on, one yell from a man above and the crew hustled about like clockwork. Massive sails opened up like a butterfly. Passengers flocked to the edges of the railing while some went down into the hold.
Ocean gales picked up and raced against the boat’s strut across the waves. Before long, Waqwaq slowly disappeared behind us. I sauntered over to Ruri, whose longer hair became a bit tangled in the sea breeze.
“Seems like you might need a brush later.” I tried to initiate a conversation. My old self would’ve never done it months back. She glanced back at me before staring out the horizon. “I know there’s going to be a lot of problems when we arrive in Port Lungchiang.”
“Obviously. The language barrier, lodging, financial stability, confidentiality… It’s endless.” She threw up her arms and yawned. “But everything will be okay. Isn’t that what you and your dad would say, Kawari?”
For a moment I felt as if my heart jumped, hearing a phrase I thought was unique to my father and I. I still couldn’t adjust to how casual she was with me now. Not like Sorah’s level, although it sure appeared to be. I nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Um… There’s also something I want to ask.” She faced me as I couldn’t tell where her gaze went. “Could you care to speak your language to me?”
“My language?” I myself became confused. My rapid development in speaking Wawaqi had been abnormal. What would take me years in English took half a year here. “Are you insulting me? Though I can’t say I’m fluent in Wawaqi…”
“Not Wawaqi! Your language, when we went through that door. That one.” Ruri’s eyes glistened with the ocean’s waters. Even I could read the adamant look and determination in that face alone. “Maybe if I’ll understand you better, if I learn how to.”
My mother tongue… She’d been reluctant based on that incident with Sorah and the group of ladies in Hakone, so I never thought she would want to learn. I scoffed. “There’s no benefit, Ruri. It’s better to talk in the language you’re most comfortable with.”
“I don’t care. This is different. So I won’t respond to you unless you speak to me in that language.”
This girl… was super proactive. I sighed before uttering a few words in my own tongue. To be honest, I’d gotten rusty.
⁂
[System Announcement]
Lingual Cognizance UP
1525 >>> 1590
+65
We continued our journey across the sea. After almost a week of traveling, I gradually became used to the gentle and rough swing of the boat. The food served was fine; I could stomach fish all day long, but the mundane view of the ocean sickened me. By the time I could see the whole continent rise in the horizon, relief hit me like a truck.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
[https://i.imgur.com/5HxPkth.jpg]
As the ship steadily approached Port Lungchiang, details of the land spilt out like an open canvas. The harbor unfolded into a mass of leaning towers. A giant river flowed into the ocean from the inlands while the port situated itself on the delta. I asked Ruri if she knew the geographical names of these places, but she didn’t. I guessed we’d learn by ourselves.
An oriental gate greeted us at the dock alongside many other ships. The gangplank lowered once again and floods of people walked over the creaking pier. I set my first footsteps in a country I’d never been to before. Great Zhou.
Everything that I saw could be a photo. Even though this was the port I could see high-rises for hundreds of li ahead, the sun reflecting shadows of the gabled roofs and stone pathways. Oval red lanterns decorated the spaces in between buildings while they flew high above the rooftops. A new language flowed into my ears with harmony, unique sounds that I would think exist overseas. Foreign signs presented themselves in various languages, until I found the translation in Wawaqi. That way, we figured out how to exit the dock.
“We’re taking a little detour for our first stop in Great Zhou.” I looked back at Ruri while I carried a bigger sack of belongings. I stopped for a moment and fixed my hair. It had grown quite long, so tying it into a bun would work.
“Let me help.” She rushed to my back and fixed it up quickly into a manbun before I could even say anything. “The Guild, right? I unlocked the Masking skill while we were on the ship.”
“Sorry for wasting your SP…” I scratched the back of my head. She shook hers. SP weren’t that common. They could only be obtained when leveling up, and unlocking new skills required vast amounts of it. Branch Classes cost even more. “I’ll ask around for the nearest Guild.”
I’d acquired some new words for this nation’s language on the boat ride. By bothering the sailors a bit at sea, I should be able to ask simple questions. I randomly picked a person walking on the street, while Ruri pulled her hood up.
“Ch’ingwen, Maohsienchia Hsiehhui tsai nali?Excuse me, where is the Adventurers' Guild?”
Zhouhua was the national language of Great Zhou. Home to the Zhouhua Branch Class. The person I called out to stopped briefly, and pointed ahead to the right. “Maohsienchia? Ah, ninmen yao ch'ï ts’ung cheli tao luk’ou de yupien.”
He pointed right, so I assumed that we needed to walk down the street to the right. I could pick up words like ‘cheli’ for ‘here’, ‘yupien’ for ‘right side’, so I thanked him soon after. It would take a while, but I was sure that I could learn Zhouhua. For now the basics suited best.
Sure enough, down the street was an Adventurers’ Guild in Zhounese architecture. Gabled roofs and oriental tiles, it was just as packed as the one in Itogutshi. If this was Port Lungchiang, then I couldn’t imagine how big of a city the capital and neighboring cities were. Various adventurers flocked in and out of the towering double doors, while Ruri casted her new skill on us.
Laughter erupted from the wide hall filled with long tables and seats. Conversations happened in unfamiliar languages, mainly Aweda and Zhouhua. I searched for any sort of announcement board. Ruri and I came over to something similar, however I never understood a word of it. In the sea of papers nailed to the wall, a faint depiction of three people stood clearly from the rest.
A man with short black hair, another with silver hair and a scarf, and a woman with long blonde hair. Pretty much fitted our description. So even Ruri’s name was added to the wanted list alongside Sorah and I…
“Is there a Wawaqi translation?” I turned to Ruri, who set her finger on one of the posters.
“‘Kaizenji Kawari, Totshigui Sorah, Qawasumi Ruri. If anyone else is discovered with the family name Kaizenji or Totshigui, please investigate and report them to the nearest Royal Marshal branch’,” she read aloud, as her finger drew across the text. “‘Reward for capture: one hundred yuan-taels’.”
“I don’t know how much that is, but...” I shook my head in disbelief. So we were wanted on this continent. If our names were here, that meant it had spread to neighboring countries as well. “Did you come up with an alias?”
“Saquragui Onna. You?”
“Hm… Quirisaqui Saqui.”
“...That’s kinda redundant.”
“Shut it.”
I turned my eyes back to the poster, while Ruri stared at the other people in the hall. Saquragui Onna and Quirisaqui Saqui. Aliases that couldn't be traced to our real one. We were not that cliché to think of something remotely connected to our original names. After all, if someone knew our real names, then we were as good as dead.
I stretched my arms before feeling my hairbun. Then I gave out a grin. "Alright. Let's start searching for Sorah's family here in Lungchiang later today. Is there anything you want to eat?"
"Nothing in particular. I've never been to Great Zhou until now." She stared at me with a deadpan face. I guessed we better find some shop. I was tired of eating fish anyway.
As we exited the Guild, my mind was already going places. It also wouldn't hurt to buy a map like I did in Hakone. It was just a matter of how much money we had left. We'd have to wait and see. The nearly thousand mon we had left could mostly afford us a month at some lodge, enough time for us to start grinding this country's currency.
If we did encounter Officer Guiral or others of the same faction, how would I be able to fight? It was another problem. I wielded no weapons, so purchasing one would benefit in the long term. The list kept on getting longer.
"Ah, a Kokmin that got caught? Pretty rare to see one here." A man stood next to us while he let out a sigh. Ruri and I turned to him with narrowed eyes. He had his hood on as well, which didn't make me feel too comfortable. How did this random guy follow us out? He spoke Wawaqi?
"Excuse me sir, who might you be exactly?"
He faced us directly, before rolling up his sleeve. A red charm slipped out by a metal chain. Then he let out a gritty smile. "Well looks like you folks don't know do ya? Ya took a long hard stare at Totshigui Sorah's poster, eh? Ya guys ain't part of the Kokmin but know him."
"And?"
"The Kokmin are here in Great Zhou, idiots. We've received word that Totshigui Sorah's nowhere to be seen, but his family came by the area just a few days back. So we're on the lookout."
Ruri and I exchanged glances. Did we have a lead? I'd never met any stranger in Han'ei that knew Sorah. My eyes blinked. "You really are a member of the Kokmin, sir?"
"Sure am." He laughed loudly before covering his mouth. "Whoops. The Royal Marshal might hear that. If y'all want to contact us, go to Xanton and hang around their Guild. But for now, get lost. It's pretty risky for you."
We couldn't do anything but stare blankly at him, as if almost all of our goals had been laid out bare bone by this one man. I stood there with a tightened fist. There had to be more reasons why the Kokmin were waiting in the Guild in Port Lungchiang. There had to be. And to think that this guy didn't recognize us yet because of Ruri's Masking skill.
I turned to Ruri. "Deactivate it."
"Hey, what?"
"Deactivate your skill."
She held her hands to her chest and looked around. "Kawari, that's—"
"Do it."
Ruri hesitantly summoned her chart, and clicked a few buttons. Soon enough the skill turned off as I called out to the man.