Nathan Locksley, a sixteen-year old Danelandian teenager with blonde hair and aquamarine eyes was not someone that would easily surrender to confusion.

That was what the captain of the light cruiser that took him in had taught him to do ever the boy was disinherited and exiled from the Danelandian Empire. Times may have been rough aboard that warship but the young boy had learned many things about the ways of Caravonia. With the severing of ties with his old empire, he became Nathan Locksley from Nathan Bernsdorff.

And right now, he was beyond confused.

A few moments ago right after discussing the after action report with his officers, he was met by the supposed young Aoudan girl that the soldiers that fought in Shingleton Island talked about. Knowing that the people of the Aoudan continent were assumed to be wiped out after the Catastrophe two hundred years ago, Nathan knew that meeting one of them would bring interesting knowledge.

However, this girl named Jane Choi, upon seeing the map of Caravonia, fell into a shock and simply… collapsed. Of course, Nathan made sure to get the girl to the nearest hospital from the bank which the Free Islands League claimed it as their headquarters.

All of this sprouted so many question in the young commander of the Free Islands League’s mind. What was this girl? Why would she simply collapse from just seeing the map? Nathan glanced at the map of Caravonia he was so familiar with it and found nothing interesting about it.

Oh well, he will have to ask her later when she wakes up. For now, he would have to ask the guards that were inspecting the rucksack the girl was holding with her before entering his office.

“What can you tell me about what the Aoudan had with her?” Nathan asked the brunet soldier that had brought the girl in, Jonathan Ranbert in front of him, the strange looking rucksack in front of him. By looks, the object looked more advanced than what he would commonly see used, just by seeing zip-fasteners used to seal the contents inside. The texture of the bag didn’t feel like any leather or any material he was familiar with, rather it felt artificial.

“The rucksack contained books of some kind. Most of them had illustrations and what seems like notes.” The guard answered. Nathan glanced at the mentioned media of literature placed adjacent to the rucksack Just like its container, the books’ covers were made with material the young commander wasn’t familiar with. Without hesitating, he reached for the topmost book. Upon grabbing and bring it close to him, Nathan noticed how its black cover was hard and bendy and how strange the coil-like metal that bound the book was.

Upon opening the book, Nathan was greeted by an ocean of words, numbers and rough illustrations. Written in legible Danelandian and drawings resembling machinery, he was quick to notice that this book’s contents were handwritten notes of an engineer.

Strange. Was this girl an apprentice of an engineer?

Nathan put the book aside and picked up another from the pile. This one was bound like a normal book with a waxy hard cover. Unlike the previous one, the words on this one was printed in some sort of press. But what struck the commander the most were the illustrations of machinery. They were all pictures of machinery either illustrated in color or in photographs so detailed, Nathan had to check twice if he wasn’t hallucinating. Could this be some sort of encyclopedia from a lost era before the Catastrophe?

Except for being an Aoudan with quite revealing clothes, this girl seemed to be more interesting and strange than he thought.

“She could be a messenger sent by one of the Empires to give intelligence to her agents.” The guard suggested.

“That is a possibility.” Nathan nodded, looking through another book from the pile. “I’m certain that these are technical illustrations of prototype hardware. Even though I may have a few grains of knowledge of machinery, these books seem to have designs I have never seen before.”

“Should I hand these books over to the engineers? They might know what to do with them.”

“While that can be a good idea, I think we should question our Aoudan guest first.”

“...Then should I prepare the interrogation room?”

“No need to go far, Ranbert.” Nathan refused. “...Although she did collapse upon seeing a map, and the fact that she calls Aouda ‘Asia’ and our world of Mundus ‘Earth’... Could that be a way they call themselves? Why would she call the world after soil?” He pondered out loud as he continued to look through the books.

With his eyes locked into the words and illustrations of the piles of knowledge, time seemed to part through him like a sea parting for a shepherd guiding his god’s people to the promised land. Upon halfway towards the last book of the pile, a rather small book filled with a language he didn’t recognize, the large iron doors opened once again, revealing a guard alongside with a messenger.

“The hospital has just reported that the Aoudan girl has awoken!” The former reported in behalf of the latter.

“Very well.” Nathan nodded as he rose from his chair. “Ranbert, I want you to take a map of Caravonia with you. Oh, remember to put these books back into that rucksack and bring it with us.”

“Of course.” Ranbert replied before taking his ordered actions.

Finally, Nathan will have his answers on this mysterious girl.

---------------------------------

Even though the hospital was not so far away from the Banco de Los Perdidos, Nathan took an armored steamcar to reduce his chance on assassinations. Nevertheless, the vehicle jolted into a halt in just five minutes. Upon exiting the car, Nathan was greeted by the largest hospital of the Los Perdidos islands. With every one of his bodyguards out of the vehicle, Nathan opened the large doors and headed inside.

Passing through the whitewashed halls riddled with unfortunate patients on their stained beds and able-bodies soldiers saluting him, Nathan and his bodyguards continued on towards the young commander’s target: the bed with the girl from before.

Upon reaching the bedridden Aoudan, who stood motionless with her head tucked under her knees with a tray of bread and fish soup on a table next to the bed, Nathan cleared his throat and gave his all to prepare his calmest voice he could formulate.

“I see that you are awake.” Nathan began, but all he was given was silence and no motion. “Are you well?” Still no motion. The commander glanced at one of his bodyguards and noticed that her hand was moving towards her handgun holster. Shooting a glare at the brash soldier, he stopped the soon-to-be attempted show of force against the guest.

He was not willing to burn bridges today, especially when this girl may hold his answers on those strange books.

“...Go away…” The girl croaked.

“Can a man not ask question to a person in distress?” Nathan asked.

“...꺼지라고 (Piss off)...”

“Commander, I don’t think she’s willing to speak to any of us.” Ranbert whispered into the commander’s ear. “Perhaps we should use force to get your answers.”

“And burn a bridge that might be useful for the League? You have to think of the long term, Ranbert.” Nathan whispered back, then turned to the white robed nurse that stood by on the Aoudan girl’s bed. “Has she been like this since she came here?”

“Yes sir. She sat there not even a single inch moved. Her eyes were as void as the seas the last time I saw her head up.” The nurse sighed.

“I see.”

Nathan took his time to look around the hospital wing that he sat in. Just like any other place he would see in an establishment for health, it was whitewashed with sunlight pouring from the large windows. Nurses and doctors walked around, looking for any patients laid down on rows of beds searching for anything that could save their lives.

Then he turned to where the girl sat. Soldiers donning green bandanas on their arms, the crude symbol of the Free Islands League, stood firmly next to where Nathan sat like Rooks of the King. To a common folk, their firm glances could shatter the boldness of a wolf.

Perhaps that’s why the girl wouldn’t talk to him.

“Collins, Weber, Becker… you three are dismissed.” Nathan ordered his bodyguards that weren’t Johnathan Ranbert.

“Y-yes, sir.” One of the three gave him a hesitant salute before all three gave the same and walked away.

“What was that all about?” Nathan’s brunet bodyguard asked as the dismissed three closed the door behind them.

“Johnathan, imagine if you were to open a conversation to your father, not in a quiet sitting room of a house, but rather a prison cell with armed guards. How would you react?” Nathan asked back.

“...I would be afraid. Intimidated by the… faces of those with guns and swords.” Ranbert replied.

“Precisely.” The commander remarked. Hopefully, this would relieve some stress the girl was most likely had been facing from before.

However, the girl’s form was unmoving. Nathan gave a disappointed sigh. It seemed that the trick didn’t work. How was he going to…

“...Go away…” The girl groaned. Finally, a reaction. It may have not been much, but it was something.

“I would like to know why you cased such a ruckus back in the bank office.” Nathan pressed on.

“...꺼져 (Piss off).”

“There’s no need to-”

“I SAID FUCK OFF!”

It happened so suddenly. Everyone in the wing jumped at the explosive anger ruptured from the girl. She was now glaring daggers at Nathan with hands clenched into tight fists with aura of pure rage burning from her eyes. Ranbert was quick to his fingers to draw his revolver and aimed the barrel at the girl. Nathan was about to stop him before the girl began to spurt a charade of incomprehensible language.

“네가 뭔데 나한테 그렇게 들이대냐고?! 내가 동양인이라서 여기 데려온거면서 왜 착한척 하는데?! 말해봐, 이 개새끼야! 여긴 씨발 대체 어디야?! 나 기차에 맞아 뒤지기 전에 나 서울에 있었거든?! 왜 이젠 무슨 유럽같은 섬나라에 쳐박혀있냐고?! 씨발, 나 무슨 이세계에 갇혀있는건 아니지?! 말좀 해봐, 이 새끼야! 네가 모르는 곳에 쳐박히면 어쩔줄 모르는게 정상 아니야, 병신아?! (What do you think you are to nag me like this?! Why are you being so kind to me when you brought me here just because I’m Asian?! Talk, you son of a bitch! Where the fuck am I?! I was in Seoul before I got fucking murdered by a train! Why the hell am I stuck in some European Island Nation?! Fuck, am I stuck in some kind of Alternate World?! Answer me, you retard! Wouldn’t you be all depressed when you end up in somewhere you don’t know jack shit about?!)”

Nobody knew how to reply to this. In the case of Nathan, his time in the seas may have granted him knowledge of the languages of the Husk of Caravonia, be it Gaulian, Valkyrian and Svarogian. This? He could not understand a single word from it. She was indeed furious, but of what?

The situation changed for the worse when tears began to well from the girl’s eyes. Her head fell to her knees once again. Starting from sobs, the sadness bloomed into shameless weeps.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do…” The girl wailed between sobs. “I don’t know if this is any better than before…”

“J-Jane…” Nathan hesitated, taking a second to remember what this Aoudan girl called herself. “I don’t know what you’ve just said just now, but now I see that you’re troubled of something. Please, all I wanted to know is what had happened back in the bank office. With the bottom of my heart, I mean no harm.”

He turned to Ranbert to find his gun still pointed at the Jane. With a knowing glare, Nathan forced him to holster it back. Refocusing his attention back to the girl, he could only sigh for he had no idea what to do at this situation.

“...I don’t know where I am and… I’m in the middle of people that have no idea who I am…” Finally, something Nathan could understand. That was the key to the lock of his mind to churn up an idea.

If he could just find a way to break the ice that was the girl’s mind, he could find the answers he needed. Her identity. Her notes. He sat on the bed and placed his hand on the girl’s shoulders with an idea in his mind. It would seem that she had hit herself hard in the head back at Shingleton and result in some sort of amnesia. What better way to open a heart of a human being in what was left of civilization than warm food hospitality and in the case of this girl, reinstall the knowledge of the Husk?

“Jane, how about this? I will invite you to a personal dinner tonight where only the two of us can dine, where no one would be there to intimidate you or threaten you in any way that would hamper your thoughts. Not only will I return your rucksack, I’ll answer any question you are willing to throw at me, be it about the Husk or… anything that you need clarification. Isn’t that what you want?”

Even with those honey coated words, the sobbing continued. Nathan discreetly sighed in disappointment. Perhaps it didn’t work. Maybe he could wait for the girl to cry herself dry?

“...Everything?”

Oh, the words may have worked after all. Perhaps he didn’t have to wait. The young commander gave a small smile and a nod despite knowing that the girl’s eyes weren’t pointed at him.

“Anything you ask, I’ll answer.” He replied, just as an officer entered the wing and approached Nathan with a document on hand. Taking it from his hand and giving it a read, Nathan knew that it was time to end this conversation for he had work to do.

“Jane, my guards will take you to the office where we’ve first met this evening for I have pressing matters that must be dealt with. I hope we can resolve any troubles you may have then.” Giving a pat on Jane’s shoulders, Nathan rose from the bed and walked towards the door with Ranbert and the other officer on tow. “I’ll have my dinner in my office in the bank. Have a meal for two prepared by six in the afternoon and remember to get the Aoudan there.”

“Yes, commander.” Ranbert nodded.

“And remember, no force whatsoever.”

---------------------------------

Why was he so tense?

Yes, it was his idea to invite the girl, Jane, to his personal quarters for a dinner. It was his plan to use the dinner to truly break the ice and unravel the secrets of the books that were in her possession. Then why? What was the reason for all of this unnecessary tension that constricted his muscles, heart and mind as if he was drawing plans of battle like he does everyday?

Standing in front of the large iron doors of his office in the bank where he and his fellow officers discussed the fate of the Free Islands League, Nathan stood wearing a black suit with a bright green bandana wrapped around his arm like a band beside his brunet bodyguard Ranbert. The occasional officers and footmen walking around and providing each other salutes along with the green flag of the Free Islands League placed between the doors seemed to diminish the fact that this building was a bank in the first place.

Nathan stood, eyes glued on the entrance of the building. The after-action report documents laid on his hand yearning to be looked, but the young commander’s eyes had only gave them a small glance. They were nothing special, for all they reported were quantities of munitions, coal and manpower, although there was one significant report of the fate of the incompetent commodore that nearly cost two of the treasured Farmships to distract Danelandian artillery. Demotion to lieutenant.

“Nathan, are you sure you won’t stay in your office?” Ranbert whispered audible enough for the blonde commander to hear.

“Well, I would do that, but…” Nathan hesitated, not minding the fact that his bodyguard had not called him ‘sir’ or ‘commander’ but rather with his name.

“You’re normally the one to wait behind the banquet table until the guests arrive. What makes that girl so different?”

“Honestly, John? I have not an idea.” Nathan sighed. “Perhaps it’s because of those books and notes. Or could it be her eyes that painted the portrait of sadness? It’s not everyday that I see a person that looks as if they don’t belong in anywhere. Nevertheless, I can’t soothe this uneasiness that I am feeling now.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Or maybe it’s because she looks like an Aoudan and openly yelled at you like a drunk hobo.” Ranbert snickered. “Or perhaps… you don’t have to lie, Nathan. You’re in love, aren’t you?”

“Watch your tone, friend.” Nathan emptily threatened as he chuckled. “I’m not some fool to fall in love with a woman I’ve just met. In fact, I’ve never grew interest in women in my life.”

“Is that why you haven’t bedded one of the women that fight for our cause?”

“Oh, silence John.” Nathan laughed. “That being said, I would like to ask you...”

“Go on.” Ranbert ushered. Nathan looked around the corridor left and right and confirmed that there was no other soldier around, including the girl. He hesitated, then opened his mouth.

“...H-how do I look in my coat?”

“...That’s what you’re concerned about?” Ranbert, after a long pause that would have iced the blood of a man, asked in disbelief.

“As you know, perhaps I am standing outside to formally greet my guest. I… I just never had a woman as one before.”

“Is that it? Well, if that’s the case…” From the look of disbelief, Ranbert’s face slowly turned into a look of laughter. “You look like total shite! I you look like one of those fucking Valkyrian nobles wearing all fancy in Nolgrant when they occupied the island! Oh, by Machna, are you planning a fucking wedding?!”

Nathan sighed in humor at how Johnathan Ranbert, his bodyguard and a loyal soldier perform a sudden shift of personality from a formal man of duty to a vulgar man who knew a thing or two about humor with a howl of laughter.

This was how it felt to have secret friends, it would seem. Rescuing Ranbert from a Valkyrian execution was perhaps the greatest things that Nathan had done, for he had acquired not only a competent and loyal soldier and officer, but a friend Nathan could secretly laugh and drink with.

However, good times seemed to not last long as Nathan saw two women, one armed and donning the uniform of the Free Islands League militia and the other with the warm yellowish skin of an Aoudan with a short form. Unlike the last time they’ve met, her skin lacked filth and donned a white dress with the skirt that lowered down to her ankles. Jane had arrived.

“Ah, it’s good to see you again, Jane.” Nathan greeted after fastening his tie and clearing his throat. “I hope the entourage was comforting.”

“...It was fine.” Was all Jane replied with. By looking at her, she too housed the face of uneasiness just like Nathan.

“Perfect. Now let us enter.” Without an order from Nathan, Ranbert and another guard proceeded to open the large iron doors for the two teenagers, Nathan and Jane, made way into the office.

---------------------------------

The office was just as same as when it was used as a war council, with differences being that the room felt warmer thanks to the burning hearth and the bright glow the chandelier above graciously granted. On the massive desk were not maps and minifigures, but a banquet of warm creamy broth, breads round or long, meats of beef dressed in sauce, grilled pork, roasted chicken and fishes both intact and cut; bowls, dishes and plates of various delicacies that would entice even the abstinent of religious monks.

Nathan smiled when he turned to glance at Jane to find her eyes wide as plates. Things may work as planned for now.

“Now, please take a seat.” The commander suggested as the doors shut behind the two, leaving the teens alone. The Aoudan girl did as told and sat on a chair opposite of where Nathan would sit. With the blonde finding himself comfortable as well, he gave a warm smile and gestured the beginning of this petty feast. “Take what you want.”

“Are you sure?” Jant hesitated as her hand slowly reached for a piece of bread.

“No strings attached.” Nathan chuckled seeing that her body contradicted her mind as he placed two pieces of bread and a slice of baked cod onto his plate. The young commander stabbed his fork onto the fish and glanced at Jane, who had placed quite a number of foodstuffs onto her own plate. Upon finally seeing that the girl took her first bites, he moved his own fork into his mouth and began eating as well. When his first morsel fell into his stomach, he asked, “How is it?”

“It’s delicious, but do you like fish?” Jane asked.

“Once I tell you about the map, you’ll understand why there is so many here.” Nathan replied with a warm smile. “Speaking of maps, can we continue?”

“On the questioning?”

Nathan nodded in response.

“Allow me to introduce myself again: I am Nathan Locksley, the military commander of the Free Islands League. I was once Danelandian until I was… exiled.” The commander reintroduced with a sigh at the last word.

“...What happened?” Jane asked with concern-filled eyes.

“Before Locksley, I was Nathan Bernsdorff, exiled Prince of the Danelandian Empire. As you can tell, my father was the emperor, John VI. Before you ask, let me tell you that he was not only a terrible ruler, but also a terrible father. I remember seeing from the balconies of Albion Palace all those demonstrations against the new water taxes and unjust rationing of food. I wished to reason with my father, only for him to pleasure himself with beatings and attempting to indoctrinate me with his ways of madness.” Nathan explained as every piece of his memory leaked out of his tongue, his mind and heart stung by the thorns they carried.

“Why were you exiled?” Jane seemed to have carefully asked.

“My father fell victim to a coup by the new and current emperor Archibald of House Hawkmann. Archibald saw me as a threat against his new rule and exiled me from the Empire.” The commander sighed. “I was expected to be sent off to be sold as a slave would it not be thanks to the crew of a Light Cruiser that also felt disdain towards the empire like I did. For years we travelled around the Husk as the captain taught me the ways of the remaining world. The marines taught me how to fight. A former governor we’ve rescued taught me politics. With the empire giving me nothing but pain and corruption, I’ve decided to sever all ties with Daneland, including the Bernsdorff name.”

“I… I see.” Jane nodded. By now her hands were free from the cutlery, her eyes showing Nathan that her full attention was now his. He wished the story could have stopped there, but his story had no happy ending. Nothing in the Husk of Caravonia ends that way.

“Alas, we were constantly hunted by pirates and bounty hunters sent by the Danelandians. It would seem that the throne still considers me as a threat. We held them off for years until two years ago, our ship was almost overrun by a flotilla of pirates.” Nathan continued as his mind began to become clouded with dark memories he wished to have sealed away in the vaults of his head forever. “A flotilla of an alliance of islands rescued us in the end, but many of our crew had perished. I’ve lost the captain… an old friend.”

“Oh no…” Jane gasped.

“My dear captain’s fall was one of the catalysts to the foundation of the Free Islands League. Revenge alone cannot be the pillar of a nation, after all.” Nathan sighed. When his senses returned from his mind and into the reality of his office, silence had accompanied him for his story had stopped the clattering of silverware. Jane sat on her chair with a empathic look and her plate remained full of her first serving.

Oh by the gods, he made the situation awkward. He had to fix this situation. He lifted his cutlery and cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry about such a tragic story. The food awaits us.” Nathan apologized.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry for your loss.” Jane stammered.

“Now then. What’s your first question?”

“Wh-where am I? What was that map that I saw before?”

So it would seem that her whereabouts was the greatest concern. Normally Nathan would have replied that they stood in the Los Perdidos Islands in the southwest of the Husk of Caravonia, but something in his mind pushed in the idea that Jane may require more. Time to broaden the answer.

“You are in the Husk of Caravonia, the remnants of our continent. The island we are on is one of Los Perdidos, situated in the southwest end of the continent.” Nathan answered. “Now, allow me to-”

“시발, 뭐 (Fuck, what)?” Jane cut him off, her face filled with confusion.

“What’s the matter?” Nathan asked.

“Just what is the Husk of Caravonia? I’m pretty sure that I’m in this world called ‘Mundus’, but what the hell?!” Jane proceeded to release a charade of questions. Upon processing them, Nathan was about to mark the girl as delusional, but he was not a man to jump into conclusions. He would have to take things slowly.

“Mundus, is the world we reside in, as is the name of the God of Water. We have felt the wrath of him two centuries ago and hence why the world, including Caravonia, has turned into a watery hell.” Nathan calmly began, pulling out the scrolled map that Ranbert had provided earlier. “I would show you this map, but the food stands in its way.”

Within moments, Nathan found Jane right beside him, her plate full of food, utensils, drinking glass and chair on tow.

“I need to know.” Jane simply said.

“Clever.” Nathan smirked as he unscrolled the map, revealing its contents of a sorry mess of islands that represented the remnants of a massive continent in political form.

“The Husk of Caravonia is what we call what is left of the continent of the same name. As you can see by the cluster of islands inside the outline of the old continent, the entire world has been flooded. This…” Nathan explained as his finger circled around a cluster of tiny islands in the southwestern fringes of the map. “...is our territory. The Free Islands League.”

“Then what about these red, blue, purple, yellow and grey? I’ve never heard of any place called ‘Empire of Daneland’ or anything...” Jane asked, pointing at each colored landmass clusters.

“Each color represents the empires and nation that had survived the Cataclysm. Red symbolizes the Empire of Daneland, Blue symbolizing the Gaulian Republic…” Nathan tried to explain, but his words slowed to a halt as the gears of his mind began to churn. He remembered just after Jane had brought the first morsels of food onto her plate, she asked about Mundus, the world he stood in. Whenever someone would ask of Mundus, one would normally mean to question the knowledge and experience of travel around the world. However, the way Jane had inquired about the world, it was as if she had thought the concept of the dying world mankind stood in was an absurdity.

By the gods, just who was this girl?

“Wh-what’s wrong?” Jane asked, pulling Nathan back into reality.

“Jane… You’ve asked about the world of Mundus, yes?” Nathan received a nod from the girl. “You’ve said that you are ‘pretty sure’ that you are in Mundus. Why?”

“Because…” Jane hesitated as her fingers intertwined with each other. “Ugh, look. You aren’t gonna believe me if I say the truth. I feel like I’m gonna get tied up, put on a rowboat and be used as target practice.”

“Used as target practice?” Nathan burst into laughter.

“안 웃겨 (It’s not funny)!” Jane scolded at his reaction.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners. Go on.” Nathan sniffed, knowing that the foreign words held aggression. He awaiting this expected absurd answer.

“...I’m pretty sure I’m not from this world.”

Oh, absurd indeed. That answer was absurd enough to make him choke on his food. Not from this world? How?

“Ugh, I knew this will happen…” Jane sighed.

“Alright then.” Nathan cleared his throat. “Prove it to me then.”

“I… the world that I lived in is called Earth. It isn’t flooded like this place, has seven continents, around two hundred countries and has around seven billion people.” Jane began.

“Seven billion in two hundred nations?! That is such an unimaginable number compared to around four million of the Husk!” Nathan exclaimed against such an unbelievable claim, but held no plan to stop it. “Carry on. I would like to know more of your world. What sort of technology does your world possess? Conflicts? Anything that you know?”

“Well…” Jane hummed. “It’s hard to say, but the people of Earth is… how should I say this… very digitalized. A lot of things we do is automated like manufacturing, information keeping and so on. Everything’s more advanced than what I saw in this world so far.”

“An automated society…” Nathan wondered as he continued to eat. “I… see. Anything else?”

“I would be able to continue if I had my backpack and books.” Jane sighed. Ah, the books. It was Nathan’s idea to invite Jane here so that she could unveil their contents. He reached down from his chair and pulled the previously confiscated objects out.

“Speaking of books, I was going to ask you about them once our introductions are over.” Nathan remarked as Jane’s eyes grew wide at the sight of her belongings in his hands. Before the girl could glomp over at it, Nathan raised his palm to calm her down, then proceeded to hand the rucksack over. The commander observed as Jane rummaged through the sack’s contents like a pirate looking through a treasure chest until she removed a single wax-covered book from it with the unrecognizable language written as its title.

“The Weapons and Tactics of the World Wars by Peter Cutland, translated to Korean by Hyewon Kim.” Jane translated in behalf. Ah, so it was that encyclopedia of the machinery he skimmed through just after the girl had collapsed. “The encyclopedia focuses on pieces of military stuff of the previous century, but it does have a map of Earth with the modern one in comparison.” She explained as she opened the book and began flipping through the pages.

“Well, that explains what that book is.” Nathan commented, interest peaked when he heard that this book was a military encyclopedia.

---------------------------------

“...So let me get this clear.” Nathan began after he placed his glass of wine down. “You are a fifteen-year old girl from another world named Earth, born in a country called South Korea. Your family had travelled to two different nations named Bangladesh and America so that you can study, during which you’ve become an apprentice of a relative's engineering workshop. You then returned to Korea, became subjected to your peer’s abuse before they threw you in front of a moving train and ended up in Shingleton Island of Mundus?”

“You’ve just repeated what I’ve said for the past ten minutes.” Jane sighed nervously. “I would have shown you an example of our tech if only those bullies haven’t broken my smartphone. Ugh, 개새끼들 (Those bitches)...”

Everything to Nathan had sounded like a fairytale. However the evidence she had shown in the form of books and notes had been contradicting his thoughts. The details of them were fascinating. So far, Jane had revealed that the books in her possession were encyclopedias, her personal notes on advanced gasoline propulsion systems which was untested technology in the Husk and a schoolbock of the girl’s language called ‘Korean’. Apparently, this girl wasn’t so fluent in her mother tongue. Strange, as he would have expected her parents to educate her on that. All of this had happened in another world that sounded so utopian for him.

However, Nathan couldn’t help but be fascinated by the fact that Jane had experience on machinery in the first place. With such knowledge, the Free Islands League could perhaps use new technology to their advantage.

This girl was beginning to be more useful than he had thought.

Nevertheless, he had to continue the conversation. Jane had granted him knowledge of her world. It was time to return the favor.

“Alright, can I please get to know about what Mundus is? The Husk of Caravonia? What the fuck is up with the magic thing?” Jane asked. She had beaten him to it, it seemed.

“Ah, of course.” Nathan nodded as he unscrolled the map of the Husk again. “Now, allow me to start again about the Husk of Caravonia…”