“Given what the Old Man told us, we should be nearing the ship any minute now.” Shaid explained.

“Yeah, I think I see the dock, actually.”

Obviously, since we were here previously, we really weren’t at all blown away by the sheer proportions of the dock. Don’t get me wrong, it was grand and amazing, but a dock’s a dock. Ain’t nothing special, which is just perfect for us, because it minimizes the chances of us getting sidetracked.

“Ah.” I realized something.

“What is it?”

“Should we… load up Lina and Linda on the ship as well?”

“Ah.” He noticed the same issue that I did, “Now that you mention it, we can’t really leave them here, since they are bound to get stolen. Havana does not have that many things going for it, so I would imagine that losing two camels would cost them a lot.”

“So what, do we load them up or not?”

“Yeah, what harm could they possibly do?” He replied sarcastically.

Little did we know, though, that Lina and Linda had never actually seemed to have sailed on a ship before, as they were pretty uneasy, so they kept tossing and turning, not to mention gnawing on all the ropes that were used to help us move the sails.

“Hey! Stop that!” Shaid hurriedly yanked the rope from the large animals mouth, “Oh, not you too! We need those!”

“Shaid, how’s it going?”

“Pretty bad, amigo!” He yelled back, “They’re chomping away like there’s no tomorrow! Before long we won’t even have a ship to travel on!”

“We can’t have that!” I yelled back, “Here, switch with me! You steer the ship while I figure out what to do with these two!”

Doing as I had instructed him to do, we had quickly exchanged roles as I got down to the main deck, where the camels were standing awfully close to the edge of the ship. I really didn’t want to have them jump off after all the trouble we had to go through to get them on the ship in the first place, so I had to think of a way to calmly grab their attention and guide them to a safer place. That’s when I recalled the one thing they most like to consume.

“Oi! You two, lookie here!” I drew their attention to me, “You must be thirsty as hell after spending so much time in the desert, right? That must be why you’re so antsy, surrounded by the sea, right? Well then, I’m gonna get you two some water, so sit tight!”

Grabbing a nearby empty barrel and taking it to the edge of the ship, I had tied the barrel up firmly with some extra rope we had on deck before tossing it overboard. Shaid saw this and asked me what I was doing, but I just told him to trust me as I yanked the now full barrel back up onto the ship with the rope in my hands. Sure enough, the camels were intrigued by my efforts, so they came rushing in to where I was. Now all I had to do was take the barrel to the center of the ship and we’re done!

“Yikes!” Shaid hit a nasty wave head on, making the entire ship swing about, “Sorry about that, amigo! You doing alright?”

“Dammit…” I groaned after getting completely soaked from the spilled barrel, “Now I have to get another barrel because of you.”

“Wait, were you trying to feed the camels seawater?” He asked, “Amigo, don’t do that. Seawater is salty as fuck, man. It will only make them more thirsty.”

“How the hell’s that work, dumbasss? Water is wet, as in it quenches thirst.”

“I don’t care, just don’t do it.” He sounded a bit more stern this time, “These two camels are the only thing Havana has going for it. Besides, even if we run into some trouble during this journey, we could sell or eat them, which would definitely be better than just having them die on us for an easily avoidable reason.”

What this guy’s saying just isn’t making any sense – Uh, hello~? There’s water all around us, what the hell does he mean they’ll only get thirstier? And besides, even if what he said was actually true, it’s not like they have any other choice, since they’ll die of thirst anyways if they don’t drink it. Seriously, Shaid has a problem of listing off all the reasons why my ideas are bad, but very rarely does he actually go above and beyond and present a fix for them.

“That being said…” He had me take the wheel, “The Sun’s pretty hot right now. This is bad because of the heat, but otherwise it represents a pretty lucky opportunity for us.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“A water filter.” He explained as he whipped a rather large contraption up, “Now I’m no expert, but I think I saw someone make one like this out of some fabric, a weight and a barrel. By using this barrel you just filled up with seawater and putting a couple of layers of fabric over the open part of the barrel, it will allow for easy water droplet collection from the vapor. The weight, in this case this piece of metal from the deck, will help gravity point all the accumulated water droplets to the center of the barrel.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“And what would that do?” I inquired, “Hey genius, even though that’d separate all the salt from the water, the now filtered water will just fall back down into the seawater in the barrel. You’re not doing anything here.”

“Well yes.” He shot back, “But if I add another container inside the barrel wherein the waterdroplets will fall however…!”

Ahh~! I get it now! I know I was being sarcastic and snarky just now, but I fully take it all back! Shaid’s a genius, though there never really was any doubt in the first place. Since it’s so hot out, the Sun will make the seawater in the barrel evaporate and rise up, hitting the fabric filters. Those will serve to pick up the salt from the water, and the heavy metal object in the center will make it so the water will have no choice but to all go and accumulate down the center, where the water droplets will eventually get so heavy that they’ll have to detach from the fabric filters and fall into the “clean” container. This is it! Pretty clean, semi-drinkable water! Now all we have to do is wait, and we’ve solved one of the main issues of being stranded at sea.

“Mnn…!” The camels showed their dissatisfaction at having to wait by nudging me.

“Oi! Be happy you’re getting anything, y’hear?!”

***

After a long and tiring journey all the way around the continent, not to mention across yet another sea in between Abyssus Solis and Entropa, we had finally made it to the shores of Trivis Numerica. More specifically, we were in the Southern dock.

“Alright, we made it!” I made sure to proudly jump off the ship and onto the hardwood planks under me, “Land, oh how I’ve missed you!”

“Oi! Schnell, don’t just leave the gates open like that…!” Shaid called out to me as Lina and Linda seized the opportunity to run off on their own.

“Ah.” I stammered for a bit, “Shit! Shaid, tie the ship up, quick! I’ll run after them!”

“Hey! Amigo?!” His distant shouting got farther and farther away as I ran in the opposite direction.

Dammit! How do these things seem to always happen to us of all people?! We’re a good example of two pretty nice, moral and upstanding human beings, right? So why, Selzion? Why did you have to punish us like this? Gasp! Could it be that Selzion is secretly into sadism?!

“Ow!” I slipped on a random rope on the dock, hitting my head pretty hard, “Right, sorry, Selz, it was just a joke. Won’t happen again…”

“Selz?” A random baldie turned around, “By Selz, could you perhaps be referring to the God of Knowledge, Selzion?”

“I don’t have time, man.” I brushed him off as I continued sprinting through the crowded deck, “Go find someone else to pester about your religion!”

Geez, these people are always the worst. I’ve heard stories of getting smothered with annoying people who hate that you’re not part of that continent’s respective church, but to think he’d pester me right as soon as I got out of the ship. I just know that ugly pile of shit is gonna start following me around and asking about why I said Selzion and not Prylos, the Meditation God. Not sure why though, but he seemed kind enough to at least stop and check on me after that nasty wipe out I just experienced. I guess that’s their way of appealing to you in hopes of joining their religion?

Running as I tailed them with all my might, I eventually found myself lost in the middle of a labyrinth of alleyways. Truth is, it’s really difficult to follow two camels at the same time while they’re swerving from one turn to another, especially if they decided to part ways. Despite me still being hot on at least one of their tails, I was quickly losing motivation, so I eventually just stopped to catch my breath. I didn’t really see a point in trying to appeal to them anymore. I mean, if you wanna leave and be free, then I’m probably the worst person you could’ve gotten to be your master. I’m just glad you guys get to enjoy a life of freedom, if anything. I’m sure Tanathos won’t mind it too much either.

“Hey, what the hell is that thing?!” A distant voice shouted out in fear, “Get it! Get it quick!”

“Ah, looks like someone found my camel before I did…” I rolled my eyes as I picked myself up.

Walking to the source of the commotion, I was appalled by the way they were treating Lina, the darker of the two camels. They tied her up tightly to a pole, and were taking turns beating her up like it was just any ordinary beast you’d find out in the wilds. The poor girl was just whimpering and trying her best to dodge some of the attacks, but even from afar it was super obvious that she meant no harm. These guys…!

“Hey! What the hell are you doing to my wares!?” A rather unthreatening voice jumped up from behind me and went to take Lina from their clutches, “You idiots! I bought her with my own hard earned coins, and you just beat her the hell up?!”

“And who do you think you are, baldy?” One of the perpetrators jeered, only to get shut up by his subordinates.

“Hey, dumbass! Do you seriously not know who that is?!” They reprimanded him, “That’s the Revisor, Olyahim! He travels from place to place and documents his findings!”

“Cheh, so what?”

“What the hell do you mean “So what”? If he writes bad shit about Trivis Numerica, then the world will consider us enemies and they’ll leave us out of the trade routes!”

Wait, this baldy… That’s the guy that helped me out when I tripped on the ropes just a minute ago! Crap, was he really this important? But why is he saying that Lina is his? Is he gonna steal her from me in broad daylight and use her as leverage to get me to join his religion? It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen people do that…

“Dude, untie that damned thing and just give it to him!” The others rushed the perp to hand Lina over to him.

“Ugh, fine!” He did as he was told, handing the lead to this Olyahim guy, “Here. Next time don’t let it wander about. It’ll scare the locals.”

“Hehe, will do~!” He replied in a song before turning to hand me the lead, “Here. I believe this is yours.”

“What? You’re just gonna give her to me straight out?”

“Well, she’s is yours, right?” He tilted his head.

“A-Ah, yes! She’s mine, but I just thought you were gonna have me do something in return for you saving her. Y’know, after I was so rude to you and all…”

“Nonsense!” He chuckled, “Why would I do that? I’m just a lowly Revisor, but people think I can just change the fate of a country with the snap of a finger. Really, I just have a passion for traveling, and since the World’s been treating me so well up until now, I’m just riding the wave.”

“Riding the wave?” I looked at his White Eyes, “Is that so? In any case, I should get going now…”

“Actually!” He stopped me, bashfully scratching his cheek as he continued, “Ehe… That animal, I’ve never seen it before, right? It’d be an honor if I could just join you for a bit to investigate her a bit more.”

“Is that so? Well, we’ve got a ship just at the dock. If you want to, then you’re free to inspect her there.”

And so, this somewhat fat and bald guy that seemed to be just as young as us mentally had joined our party. Olyahim was his name, but that’s about all I know for now.