No leads so far.
I sighed, sitting down against the nearest wall.
Shalap plopped down beside me, casually sipping the bottle of water we bought for the trip. Sinus was still off somewhere, busy asking around.
I glanced sideways at her. "Well, Shalap, why did you even want to come here in the first place? There's a low chance of a revolution actually happening. Wanora's only taking precautions because the chance isn't zero. You could've lived there without worrying... So why come?"
She looked at me briefly, then went back to drinking.
"Tch. Hey, let me drink too."
Without waiting for permission, I snatched the bottle from her mid-sip and took a gulp myself.
The coldness of the water surprised me.
"...How is this cold?" I asked, blinking.
Shalap, unfazed, replied, "Well, the bottle is one of your gifts. It's temperature resistant. Keeps water cool or hot."
"I see..." I mumbled, taking another long sip. The cold water sliding down my throat felt too good to stop.
Still, I wasn't letting her dodge the question that easily.
"How about answering my previous question?" I pressed.
She tilted her head lazily. "I don't know. I just thought this would be fun."
"Fun, huh?" I muttered, giving a short laugh. "If Gars heard that, he'd have screwed you over. Lucky for you, I'm not him."
Before Shalap could react, Sinus came back, snatching the bottle right out of my hands.
"Hey, I was drinking—"
He didn't even spare me a glance. Instead, he shoved a piece of paper into my chest. A map.
"We'll check out these places," he said bluntly. "And yeah, we showed them the emperor's order. They said they'll do a thorough inspection on the ships. This port's clear."
I unfolded the map, scanning the marked locations. "Well, do we have a ship to go to the other continent?" I asked.
Sinus nodded. "Yeah. Varson lended us another ship. This time it's an artifact ship."
He paused, clicking his tongue. "Though, he increased the cut he's taking by two percent."
"...WHAT? WHO ALLOWED THAT?" I practically shouted.
Sinus let out a long, tired sigh. "Wanora. Any more questions?"
"No, sir," I grumbled.
Sinus pointed toward the harbor. A fancy-looking ship, smaller than the others, bobbed lightly against the dock.
"That's our ride," he said. "Artifact-fused ship."
The three of us boarded without ceremony.
At the helm, Sinus stood by a peculiar half-globe mounted near the wheel.
"Wherever we wanna go," he explained, placing a hand over it, "just point it on the globe and the ship will automatically take us there. No steering needed."
Shalap peered at the wheel suspiciously. "Then why even have a wheel?"
"Emergency use. In case the ship stops working," Sinus answered simply.
"Alright, point the location," I said.
He pointed to a continent on the globe—Nuraf. The Green Continent.
Or, more accurately, a massive sprawl of interconnected landmasses, each a country, each home to different species.
"How long will it take to get there?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the green expanse.
Sinus shrugged. "A while."
"Details, please," I said flatly.
He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I dunno. A day... or four."
"Oh wow. That's a while," I muttered under my breath.