《THE AGE OF FLEETS (A Take on an Isekai with Twists)》 PROLOGUE: WARZONE
I plan to post some artwork that I''ve drawn related to my fic such as maps, characters and designs for the sake of Codices. I hope you enjoy the prologue! ---------------------------------------------- How would a world end? It may be a question we humans ask ourselves through many means, it has been answered through many means. Nature is one element of our doom, where it can range from scientifically proven routes such as Global Warming to absolute absurdity like the anger of Higher Beings. The power of nature witnessed through disasters via land and air shows humanity that mother nature is something never to be fought against. How about destruction wrought to ourselves? As humanity is known to be great creators, we are also unfortunately known to be greater destroyers. Thousands to millions of young men and women would be sacrificed just for a small number of elites to achieve their petty goals in war. Should any of these consequences be beyond comprehension, the catastrophes resulted would be apocalyptic. Such is what had happened to the Husk of Caravonia. The Husk of Caravonia, a cluster of islands that made what was left of a western continent of the world of Mundus isn¡¯t as technologically and culturally advanced than our own Earth. The old powers of Caravonia used to resemble the times when European Empires thrived and squabbled over colonies of the East and the New World. Their mechanical ingenuity was in the era when the power of steam propelled heavy machinery such as factories, ships and trains. All of this would have made a steampunk enthusiast¡¯s wet dream if it weren¡¯t for the Cataclysm. 287 years before the present day, archived records reported of a comet that sailed southwards. This was the trigger that ignited the Cataclysm, the catastrophic natural disaster that flooded the world of Mundus. The comet had impacted the southern ice cap, shattering the icy continent into smaller pieces that melted quickly. The flooding was only accelerated by the might of industry¡¯s byproducts, which clouded the air with thick black smoke that trapped the heat of the sun. In just a few decades, a billion lives were lost and grand cities were destroyed as the sea level was raised 150 meters from its original depth. The remnants of the people of Caravonia packed what they could and evacuated to higher ground where the deathly grasp of the sea failed to reach. The last remaining civilizations of the West now reside in the Husk of Caravonia, fitting of the fact that it is what¡¯s left of the continent. Even now, petty squabbles between factions over territory, resources and even religion threaten the unarmed people struggling to survive in the watery hell they¡¯ve ended up in. The hostilities that appear and disappear like moles result in the construction of powerful fleets of steam to intimidate each other. Even after an apocalypse, war has not changed. ---------------------------------------------- The wailing of the train and the screeching of steel wheels dampened as the whiteness stayed in her vision. The demise the Jihye awaited was ...interesting. Silent, pure white being the only thing in her eyes unlike the old friend Darkness that would have awaited the dead in fictional stories. Was this not death? Or at least the hospital bed? Jihye tried to check on herself, but no matter how much her mind screamed to move, her muscles disobeyed. Whatever situation the girl had ended up prevented her from performing any kind of action other than breathing, although that gave no form of information. Her aural capabilities were null, for there was absolutely nothing she could hear. Could this be the afterlife? Were the higher beings ready to judge her? However, all of these speculations of the afterlife would end. The white of her sight slowly started to disappear and her hearing seemed to return with the same pace. The first thing Jihye¡¯s ears pick up were muffled pops of what sounded like fireworks and foreign-sounding yells. ...wait, what? The confusion the sounds brought Jihye began to clear as her vision returned, letting her eyes see the cloudy darkened skies with remnants of black smoke rising from the ground. A sudden whizz that followed a thin yellow tracer sprung her muscles to life, finally granting the girl a chance to get up from her lying form. Firstly, she looked down and saw herself in a white t-shirt, bright blue short jeans and red sneakers with white socks. The way she was laying down with her torso slightly elevated signaled that her backpack was still on her back, too. Just like before she was thrown into the train. With herself in check, Jihye finally looked forward. What she would see was less than ideal. The first thing she noticed around her was the fact that she was surrounded by unfamiliar buildings. Unlike the monuments of glass, concrete and steel that she was familiar with, these were of grey or red bricks, small rectangular windows and roofs that Jihye would have seen in one of her very old dollhouses. The very ground she was on was a road not of asphalt but rather pebbles and stone. If she remembered correctly, all of this screamed Victorian. However, Jihye also noticed that some of these said buildings were ruined by some powerful impact, as the crumbled remained had hints of smoke. The Korean girl¡¯s sightseeing tour was quickly ended when she heard more overlapping shouts and cracks of gunpowder. Snapping back to reality, Jihye was brought to the conclusion: She was in a warzone. Adrenaline coursed through Jihye¡¯s veins and her muscles in her legs were quick to get her feet on the ground. It was obvious that the street that she found herself in was blocked between two opposing groups of soldiers as bullets whizzed by from both directions. The best thing she could think of was to make a run towards the nearest building, or what was left of it. It was obvious that whatever building she was aiming for was hit with some explosive force. And that¡¯s what she did. The weight of her backpack may have been a large liability before the train hit her, but the surge of adrenaline let the girl ignore the weight. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As soon as she entered the broken door of the broken building, Jihye slammed her back on the nearest wall and released the breath and coughs that she had been holding, the backpack nullifying the sting that would have arched through her back. The goosebumps and chills she had felt while lethal projectiles tear through the air around her was tear jerking, but no matter how much she wished to break down and cry, her mind refused to do so due to the cloud of confusion that enshrouded her. The dark and dusty atmosphere of the building granted the girl the mood to clear her mind as much as possible and draw up some questions. Where was she? Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be dead? This place doesn¡¯t look like Seoul at all! Perhaps she could get a few clues of her surroundings if she could see what¡¯s happening outside. Jihye found herself some half broken stairs and proceeded to climb it. Once upstairs, she took a left turn into a room of the same dim dusty atmosphere, where she found herself in a bedroom and a window. Perfect, she could use that to see what exactly was going on outside. Jihye looked out the window to get a clearer view of the calamitous scene she was just in. Other than the warzone she knew that she was in judging by the explosions, smoke and gunfire, she noticed the two groups of soldiers were as she confirmed, two different factions. on her left were what seemed like a sorry group of ill-equipped soldiers lacking formation. What stood out from them were thin pieces of green cloth that either tied to their heads like bandannas or on their arms. The other size was significantly more organized and well equipped with rifles and machine guns. The uniforms they wore were red in color with forage caps. This group even had a large turretless tank in front of them with steam billowing from a funnel behind. Where the hell was she? Just as Jihye was about to duck down to avoid bullets from hitting her and question her very existence, large burning globule formed itself from the hands of a man from the green cloth arm. With the thrust of his arm, the man essentially threw the globule at the tank. KABOOM! As soon as the globule of fire made contact with the hull of the vehicle, a large explosion of the same color took place of the tank. When the smoke and purple light faded away, all that was left was a burning metallic husk. Seeing all of this happen, Jihye could only hang her jaw down in realization: That had to be magic. As soon as the tank was brought down, the tide began to change in favor of the greencloths. The chaos for the redrobes caused by their tank¡¯s destruction seemed to have broke their coordination, which the former soldiers began to use as their advantage. Jihye would have watched what would happen if this was a game. Since this was reality (in which she hoped not), she couldn¡¯t bring herself to look at the increasing number of corpses. She pulled her eyes away from the brutal sight that was about to unfold. Gunshots, yells of rage and blood curled screams of pain rang through whatever place this was. The sounds pierced Jihye¡¯s ears and eventually crawled their way to her heart. It shattered her mind once again as she finally gave in to her feelings. Her legs gave up and her eyes spilled tears. --------------------------------------------- Silence, once again. No more gunfire rang through her ears. The tears that had drenched her face had dried up now. Finding herself on the ground, Jihye stood up against the will of her muscles. Rubbing her eyes, the girl found herself in the same dusty dark room, only dimmer than before. It wasn¡¯t a dream. It must have been hours since the firefight between the two armies. By looking out the window, Jihye realized that the sun was setting. Even though the gunfire may have ceased, the girl thought that leaving the building she was in was still probably not the greatest of ideas. But if she was to stay, what would she do? From what she remembered from running into this building, she hadn¡¯t seen a kitchen and much of the building was also crumbled down, most likely with explosives. Nevertheless, Jihye decided to investigate. Fuelled by curiosity and the need for survival, she steeled her heart and forced her feet to motion. Heading out the room she cowered in and climbing down the stairs. The silence granted Jihye the chance to reinvestigate the place she was in, and the first thing she had noticed was that the bottom floor was in fact a corridor with a door on the right excluding the entrance. By peeking through the said door, she was not greeted by a room, but rather the outside world, filled with rubble and what seemed to be remains of a chair. This must have been the living room, perhaps even the kitchen. Jihye sighed. This house was hopeless. Well, since everything seemed calmed for now she could¡­ *Click!* What sounded like a gun preparing to fire from behind made Jihye¡¯s heart leapt and the first thing her instincts told her to do was bolt her hands up in the air. She had recently saw a firefight, why should she relax now? She didn¡¯t know how non combatants were treated in whatever hell she was in. Should she run? What was the point when the city would be infested with armed men? Without knowledge of her whereabouts, she had nowhere to go. Even if she did she would have to suffer bullying again. Death felt like a better choice. ¡°Oi! What the fuck are you doing?! Lower that bloody gun!¡± TRANSFER A burly and heavily accented yell cut off Jihye¡¯s train of thought yet again. It seems like she won¡¯t die.. yet. With her heart calmed, the girl turned around to face two men, both white but one obviously younger than the other, the former with a lowered bolt-action rifle and the latter the one who may have yelled. Both were wearing green bandanas on their arms. ¡°Oi girl! You been running around the battlefield?¡± The older man asked, in which Jihye hesitantly nodded at. ¡°You live here?¡± She didn¡¯t know how to reply to that. Even if she replied negatively, how was she supposed to answer? That she was actually from the capital of South Korea just a few moments ago? Those kinds of things can only happen in fantasy books, especially Japanese media aimed for teens! ¡°I don¡¯t think she can speak Danelandian...¡± The younger man pointed. ¡°She looks so¡­ yellow. I remember stories from my nan about the Aoudans, how they had good magic, yellow skin and-¡± SMACK! ¡°Enough history lessons, boyo!¡± The older man yelled as the victim bent down in response to the assault in the form of a kick to the shin. ¡°I¡­ I can understand you¡­¡± Jihye finally found the courage to speak, despite the confusion over what was happening in front of her. ¡°Well there you have it, fuckhead! She can speak Danelandian!¡± The older man laughed after a short pause. ¡°You¡¯ve been here for the entire fight?¡± Jihye nodded. ¡°You live in this shithole of a town?¡± A small pause followed before Jihye responded by shaking her head, albeit hesitantly. ¡°Well then, where you from?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ uh-¡± Jihye stuttered. That was the question that she currently feared that she wouldn¡¯t be able to answer without being considered insane. There was one reply that she could use, though. ¡°I- I don¡¯t remember¡­¡± ¡°What the fuck do you mean you don¡¯t remember?¡± The man grunted. ¡°You hit your head or something?¡± ¡°She could have been knocked down by rubble, mist-¡± ¡°Nobody asked you, boyo!¡± The elder cut the young man¡¯s words with another kick to his shin. The former looked back at Jihye again. ¡°Oi girl, you¡¯re coming with us.¡± ¡°Wh-what? Why?¡± A sudden jolt of fear struck Jihye. Was she about to be taken prisoner? She didn¡¯t know how civilians of any form are treated by soldiers, but she knew that cases of degenerate soldiers violating helpless women existing. Was she their targets of lust? ¡°What do you mean, why? We¡¯re told to get civilians out of this damned island! You wanna stay in this shithole?¡± Oh, that¡¯s what he meant. But the chance of being assaulted still remained. ¡°Th-then where are we going?¡± Jihye gathered the courage to ask. ¡°The Los Perdidos Islands. Don¡¯t know why we¡¯re ordered to take you lots with us, but orders are orders.¡± The elder soldier grumbled and spat on the ground beside him. ¡°Seeing that you¡¯re holding that rucksack behind ya, you must have been preparing to get out of here, eh?¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Jihye replied. She was beyond confused. Everything used to make sense just before she was thrown in front of a subway train by her bullies. She was supposed to die, for God¡¯s sake, not wake up in the middle of a warzone of people using early 20th century weaponry and magic! What was she supposed to do in this situation anyway? Jihye looked around her, taking note of the dilapidated ruins of the house she was taking cover in and then looked behind the two soldiers to see a portion of the ruined town of Victorian architecture and people, be it soldiers with the green bandanas and unarmed civilians being escorted by the former. If this town was to be abandoned, she would be alone, without a single clue of her surroundings. She would have to scavenge food, which would most likely be extremely scarce. She wouldn¡¯t last long. Her smartphone was out of the question because it was destroyed by her bullies. The only option was to follow these men. ¡°Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go, girl!¡± That was all Jihye needed to hear to move her feet. --------------------------------------------------------- Nothing so far was making any sense for the short-formed, long dark haired and eyed Jihye ¡®Jane¡¯ Choi, a fifteen-year old South Korean girl. Jihye was educated away from her home nation, her six years of Elementary School performed in Bangladesh, then four years of her Middle school life in the United States. During this time, Jihye built up some impressive amounts of trivial knowledge of automatic machinery thanks to an overseas relative that owned a auto-repair garage. Thanks to this, the first thing Jihye used to do everyday after school was immediately drop her school bag and get her hands covered in black grease, ratchet in hand and notebooks filled with mechanical knowledge. By the time she would depart the United States, the girl could build herself a go-kart with just a pile of metallic scrap and an old engine. Living overseas may have granted Jihye knowledge and understanding of multicultural ranges, but it granted consequences of living in her home South Korea. The cultural difference became painfully obvious when Jihye entered a Korean high school for the first time in her life, where she couldn¡¯t keep up with the events that would be trending among her peers. Language barriers prevented the unfortunate teenager from making advanced conversations and that made her a laughing stock among her class. Without proper means of communications, relationship bonding was practically nonexistent. To add to the injury, delinquents began to frequently target the poor girl for anything they desired be it monetary and physical abuse. The most recent abuse she had received was the taking of her wallet, smartphone and eventually being thrown in front of a subway train. Now here she sat, as a refugee aboard a steamship inside a cramped compartment filled with people for the past few hours. Just how the hell did she end up in this hellhole after everything that happened before waking up in the middle of a warzone? After the fiasco of being convinced by green bandana militia soldiers to evacuate an island town called Shingleton. Civilians of all genders and ages, now refugees, were told to board a passenger steamship, which would have made sense if they were made in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Jihye herself followed the mass of refugees into the lower decks which became dank, dark and congested by the time the ship began to set sail. The Korean girl started to think that she along with the refugees resembled chicken in an industrial coop as seen in controversial documentaries. When the last refugee, a mother holding a baby, entered the lower deck, a soldier informed in a warning tone to the refugees to never climb to the main deck, for there may be dragons that could attack the ship. They lastly requested to stay in the lower decks until morning, when the ship would reach its destination. Jihye could only scoff in her heart at such warning. Dragons? Just what drug did these people take to be afraid of this? Upon analyzing the people she came across, Jihye noticed a few traits that almost everybody in this ship shared. Firstly, most of these people lacked color in their clothes. Unlike the people she would have stumbled across in the streets of Seoul, whose attires would have been filled with various colors during the summer, the clothes of the people aboard this ship were mostly monotone. Most of them were white, but the ones with a sense of color were dulled out, and the garments covered more skin than what Jihye wore. Secondly, around ninety-seven percent of them were white, while the rest were either Hispanic or Black. Judging by the European architecture of the ruined town she had woken up into, it was pretty obvious in her mind at least. However, Jihye noticed one thing that gave her a glimmer of confusion: There were no Asians. So that was why the Korean seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Not only she was the only yellow-skinned person on board, her short jeans were quite revealing and even though her white shirt was filthy, it was still more vibrant than everyone else. Even as she sat at the corner of the deck next to the rusty bulkhead door, arms hugging her knees and head planted down, Jihye didn¡¯t hesitate to eavesdrop whatever conversation these people shared with each other, attempting to make sense of this confusing scenario. ¡°Those fucking Danelandians, I tell youl! Why can¡¯t they just leave us alone?!¡± ¡°I came to Shingleton with my family to give them a better life! Those Redcoats shot Ben without thinkin¡¯ twice! They think they rule the islands! Isn¡¯t that damn water tax not enough for them?!¡± ¡°Everything went to fucking hell ever since their Prince was exiled and the new Emperor came to Yorvick!¡± ¡°Well, at least the Free Islands League¡¯s actually treating us like people¡­¡± ¡°How do you think the League would stand against the might of the Empires?! ¡°Das Heilige Valkyrische Reich erachtet uns alle als Ketzer, weil wir keinem K?nig treu ergeben sind. Ich musste aus meiner eigenen Stadt fliehen, um den S?uberungen zu entkommen (The Holy Valkyrian Empire deems us all as heretics for not being loyal to a king. I had to run away from my city to get away from those purges)...¡± ¡°He says that we¡¯re heretics to the Valkyrians. Ha! Those assholes.¡± ¡°I heard they¡¯re still building those Battlesubs! Dreadnoughts that can go underwater! Fucking hell!¡± So that¡¯s where the redcoat soldiers came from: Somewhere called Daneland. It would seem that these Green Bandana militia were called the Free Islands League, and were pretty fragile. However, there was one problem that Jihye faced. What on Earth is Daneland and Valkyria? Were these people lunatics, or is it the other way around? That non-English speaker was definitely speaking in German, but what seemed to be the man¡¯s translator mentioned ¡®Valkyrians¡¯. This was making things more confusing! Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be staying in this stinking ship with war refugees, not Tabletop Role-Playing Game Addicts? ¡°??, ?? (What the fuck)?¡± Was all the Korean could say. ¡°I didn¡¯t recognize that.¡± That sounded like as if those words were directed towards her. Not daring to completely raise her head, she let her eyes lock onto the source of the voice, a man with dirty long blonde hair wearing a brown leather coat directly looking at her. She just wanted to be left alone, but her desire was declined just like that. ¡°Hey, look at the color of her skin!¡± Another man spoke. ¡°It¡¯s so¡­ yellow. I¡¯ve never seen anything like that.¡± ¡°Could she be one of those Aoudan that history books always talked about? Come on, they had yellow skin, wore strange clothes, spoke strange¡­ I thought they were all dead.¡± ¡°Yeah, do you see what she¡¯s wearing? Has she no decency?¡± ¡°...?? (Shut up)¡­¡± Jihye mumbled, the prickly words of the refugees impaling her mind. ¡°See? I used to work as a noble¡¯s translator, and yet I can¡¯t understand what she just-¡± ¡°I SAID SHUT UP!!¡± Finally, explosion. With rage filled in her worn out eyes and an anger-induced adrenaline surge, Jihye had just screamed for silence. Silence washed over the refugees near her and what seemed like an eternal pause followed. When the adrenaline dropped down, the girl¡¯s heart sank once again, and her head fell back to her knees. Her once furious eyes were now replaced with tear-soaked ones. ¡°...I just don¡¯t know what the fuck¡¯s going on¡­¡± She sobbed. Now that attention was focused on her, she started to understand how the fishes of an aquarium and the animals in a zoo must have felt like whenever humans would observe them for their pleasure. Safe to say, she felt disgusted. Slowly, Jihye started to feel less eyes on her as one by one, she started to hear mumbles unrelated to her. Finally, some silence. When she would calm down, she would try to comprehend what these people had just said and shut her eyes for slumber. --------------------------------------------------------- ¡°We¡¯re disembarking on Los Perdidos in ten minutes! Prepare to disembark!¡± The announcement following an ear-aching screech of door wheel turning. broke Jihye from her deep yet troubled slumber. Groggily pulling herself to her feet, the Korean girl followed a group of refugees exiting the dank and dark compartment they¡¯ve been allocated to last evening. Finally, no more need to suffer from the combined body odor of unwashed masses of strangers. Her mood seemed to have become faintly raised with the slowly brightening sight with each stairs climbed to the top deck. Fresh, salty and cool breeze was the first to greet Jihye upon setting foot outside to the steamship¡¯s wooden deck. Taking a deep inhale, she couldn¡¯t help but give the smallest of smile. The light and fresh air maybe a great change from dark and dank from last night, but the grand question of her own whereabouts. Walking towards the bow of the ships, Jihye took in the sight that would have made sense in perhaps role-playing videogames or movies with awe. Across the watery desert was a cluster of six islands, four of the flatter islands were large towns with buildings of Victorian architecture, their chimneys exhaling smoke that waft up to the sky. The islands housed ports with small factories dotting the inner sides of the facilities and the waters around these facilities riddled with steamships small and large tied up or wandering around. Jihye noticed from the larger ships that some of them seemed to house cannons on their decks. However, what captivated Jihye the most was that two of them filled with cliffs and rocky pillars like parasites on a tree. What caught Jihye¡¯s awe was that small buildings dotted the said cliffs and pillars, all of them connected by bridges. She remembered seeing pictures of cities built on cliffs on Europe and ruins of ancient cliff cities, but seeing these in person was something she couldn¡¯t explain in words. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Welcome to Los Perdidos.¡± A voice with a British accent brought Jihye back to reality. The girl turned around to find a soldier with short light brown hair with a built but wrinkleless face, showing little age. ¡°We heard someone scream in Compartment B. People said that an Aoudan is at fault.¡± Jihye froze upon hearing that. Despite how the soldier asked so calmly, she couldn¡¯t help but feel intimidated for some reason. She did indeed scream when the refugees started to feel like children upon seeing a zoo animal. She expected news of her to spread around, but having an armed soldier approach her on that matter? That was something she had no idea on how to react. ¡°A-are you here to arrest me?¡± Jihye took all of her courage to ask. ¡°For you screaming? Girl, there were two mobs fighting in Compartment C last night. Handcuffing a lass just for screaming is the last of our concern.¡± The brunet soldier laughed. Jihye sighed in relief. At least she¡¯s not being taken away to some dungeon or some sort. Once the ship lands, she could start asking about- ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m sent to take you in.¡± The warmth of Jihye¡¯s body left her as her hope to peacefully settle things shattered into pieces. ¡°Wh-why? What did I do?¡± ¡°Nothing. I was ordered from our commander to take you to him once the captain orders disembarking, so I¡¯ll be following you until then. We¡¯ll be the first to get on port.¡± Upon listening the soldier, Jihye¡¯s eyes glanced at the armaments the man had with him: A bolt-action rifle slung on his back and a revolver strapped on his right hip. Those firearms were more than enough to stop her brain from formulating any plans to run away. --------------------------------------------------------- As told by the brunet soldier, him and Jihye was the first to disembark the ship as soon as the ramp was lowered to solid ground of port of one of the pillar-like islands. Tailed by the soldier, the Korean girl was taken to what looked like a horse carriage, but what surprised her was that there was a funnel rising from the back with black smoke billowing out of it. A steam powered car. Interesting. Once asked to ride the vehicle, Jihye found herself in the middle of the back seat surrounded by more soldiers with green bandanas. On her right was the brunet soldier from before and on the left and front of her were two males and one female. Nevertheless, the car lurched forward, the industrial contraption of steam chugging behind her. Upon leaving the port, Jihye took in the sight of the passing environment. As the car made its way through the sea of people moving away from the port and towards the town of towering rocks. The rocky street became narrower and narrower and the car lost speed as the sea of people became as dense as ever. As the rocky pillars blocked the warm embrace of the sun, the town was instead brightened with lamps, placed on tall metal poles or embedded on the walls of houses and pillars. Jihye saw more crude bridges entwining the space between houses and people walking around on these like spiders on a web. On the streets, masses of people moved about their day. Most of them wore mundane clothes and peasant caps, but the Korean¡¯s eyes picked up some black suited men with stovepipe hats and soldiers with green bandanas. During the trip, not a single word was uttered in the car. Upon leaving the congested town, the steam car chugged across a bridge that linked the previous island with a flatter one, with the latter having larger structures. The streets here were wider and more signs of industry showed in the form of more buildings housing machinery and steam-propelled carriages. There was a higher concentration of suited men and women with more fancier dresses, making Jihye speculate that this town must be more commercial than the previous one. The carriage stopped in front of a bank, or at least a building that Jihye thought it was due to the letters ¡°Banco de Los Perdidos¡±. Fitting name, as the islands sounded Spanish anyway. A soldier opened the carriage door, removing himself from the vehicle and signalled the Korean to follow suit. Upon entering, Jihye groaned at the sight of a large mass of people gathered around what seemed like the reception counters, most likely handling their finances and discussing means of generating capital. Without machinery she was so familiar with like ATMs and TV Monitors, it took her a short while to remember that this was how banks may had functioned before the age of advanced electronics. Nevertheless, the group pressed on, walking towards a corridor guarded by two guards dressed in yellow uniform. One of them raised his right hand on the group in an attempt to stop them, but the brunet green soldier simply leaned towards him and whispered something into the guard¡¯s ear. Followed by a small nod, the guard stood aside, making the other one do the same. ¡°The Comandante is waiting in the grand office. He is expecting you.¡± The guard said in a heavy Hispanic accent. However, his glance turned to Jihye, and his formal and strict look turned to doubt. ¡°Is this chica amarilla the guest?¡± ¡°Yes, she is. Just let us through, will you?¡± The brunet sighed as Jihye winced at the mention of ¡®yellow¡¯ despite languages. Jihye nervously walked along with the soldiers until they stopped in front of a large iron double door. However, before she could ask what was going to happen, one of the soldiers grabbed the shoulder strap of her backpack and yanked it off before she could react. ¡°H-hey! What the hell are you doing?!¡± Jihye orally retaliated, staring at the culprit with shock. ¡°Our commander waits behind those doors.¡± The soldier simply replied, inspecting the backpack. ¡°Wh-what does that have to do with my bag?! And don¡¯t rummage into it!¡± ¡°Can¡¯t risk putting our cause in danger, girl.¡± The soldier had now placed the bag onto a table next to him and unzipped it. ¡°I don¡¯t have any bombs in there!¡± Before Jihye could retaliate any further, the brunet soldier sighed before banging the iron doors. Shortly enough, one side creaked open and he lightly grabbed the girl to take her in. --------------------------------------------------------- ¡°...This is madness!¡± ¡°We¡¯ve managed to drive the Danelandian fleet away from the Vasco Sea! How can that be madness?!¡± ¡°You may be right, Commodore Landiger, but how long do you think it will be before those Redcoats gather a larger fleet and retaliate?!¡± ¡°Not to mention we nearly lost TWO farmships to draw artillery fire away from Shingleton, with both of them damaged! Commander, Commodore LeFancel should be hanged for even thinking of using such valuable assets!¡± ¡°We would have lost supporters if it weren¡¯t for them!¡± ¡°Shingleton Island has lost its usefulness nevertheless! All of its factories are now in ruins! The entire island evacuated!¡± A tactical squabble between high ranking officers in green uniforms with silver lines was what greeted Jihye when she had entered the large room. What would have seemed to be the main office of the chairman of this bank was being used as a war council. A large desk at the center of the room was littered with maps and small models of ships. At the very back of the room behind a large throne-like wooden chair was a green flag with a white dove holding an anchor painted in the center as the insignia. The inhabitants of this room were seven men, where the six of them that surrounded the table squabbling with each other were all what Jihye considered as cliche images of officers wearing black, grey and white mustaches and even wigs that French Nobility would wear. However, the center of all attention was the figure sitting on the chair in front of the flag. Unlike the other officers, this figure was a very young man possessing golden blonde hair that reached the middle of the back of his neck and eyes of aquamarine blue. He wore the same green officer uniform like his comrades, but seeing that his uniform was adorned with gold rather than silver. Adding the fact that he was sitting at the center of Jihye¡¯s view, it was obvious that this young man, who looked nearly the same age as her, was the Commander of this place. Right now, this teenager was calm between the squabbles, a frown on his face covered by his fasted hands as his aquamarine orbs swayed to and fro around the table. Finally, he planted his hands on the table with an audible tap, silencing the room immediately. ¡°While I agree with Commodore Landiger with the fact that the Danelandians have been pushed back from the Vasco Sea and the people of Shingleton Island have successfully evacuated to Los Perdidos, the loss of the foundries there is something the League cannot take lightly.¡± The teen calmly remarked with a British accent combined with a neutral yet authoritative face, which soon turned into a deep frown as he continued. ¡°However, the fact that two of our Farmships have been damaged is something I absolutely cannot forgive. Factories may be rebuilt, but grain from Farmships cannot be restored. Hence, Commodore Gerard LeFancel will face trials for his tactical madness this evening.¡± Nods of approval from the elders followed shortly. Then the focus turned towards Jihye. At the sudden spike of attention, she could do nothing but swallow a lump. ¡°Gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned. May the gods guide us to freedom.¡± The teen declared. ¡°I believe my¡­ guest has finally arrived.¡± One by one, the commodores packed up their maps from the table and filed out of the office until all that remained in the room was the teen commander, Jihye and the brunet soldier. ¡°You are dismissed, Ranbert.¡± The teen ordered. ¡°I would like to talk with this lady alone.¡± ¡°But sir-¡± ¡°I can manage.¡± Was all the teen said to sever the words of the brunet. The latter gave a salute in the form of a right hand clenched into a fist raised to his ear and walk out of the office. The door shut behind him. Jihye stood in the office absolutely frozen with a mixture of awkwardness, fear and anxiety in her heart. She had no idea on what was going to happen. What was this young man in front of her going to do to her? Would she be violated? Would- ¡°I understand why you would be so awkward and tense in front of me.¡± The teen broke the ice as he stood from his chair. ¡°I''m not going to touch you unjustly. There¡¯s no need to be afraid.¡± ¡°I¡­ I see¡­¡± Jihye stuttered. ¡°Judging by how you look so confused, perhaps we should play a little game.¡± ¡°G-game?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing hard. Simply put, I ask you something, I¡¯ll answer your questions. Now, let me start. Who are you?¡± ¡°J-Jihye Choi.¡± The Korean replied, but was shot a confused stare. ¡°Say that again? Ji¡­ Ji-Hey¡­?¡± ¡°I-I also go by the ¡®Jane¡¯.¡± ¡°I see. What do you have in your mind¡­ Jane?¡± ¡°I-I wanna ask you the same question¡­?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The teen smiled. ¡°I am Nathan Locksley, Commander of the Free Islands League. The people here call me ¡®The Kingbreaker¡¯, my foes call me ¡®The Bastard Child¡¯... both of which I hate.¡± he muttered bitterly. ¡°O-okay¡­?¡± Jihye remarked at the teen, now identified as Nathan sighed. ¡°Back to the topic, a few reports from my soldiers say that a girl with warm, yellowish skin had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the battle for Shingleton Island wearing¡­ quite revealing clothes. Said woman was taken aboard the SS Messenger to here.¡± Nathan spoke as he walked to the front of the table, where nothing stood between the two teens. ¡°...So you brought me here just because I¡¯m Asian?¡± Jihye didn¡¯t try to hide the disbelief in her words. ¡°...Asian? Don¡¯t you mean Aoudan?¡± Nathan asked, confused. That caught the Korean off guard. That word again. ¡°What do you mean? D-don¡¯t you know the largest continent on Earth?¡± ¡°Earth? Largest continent? That¡¯s Aouda, and it was gone along with Caravonia ever since the Great Catastrophe two centuries ago.¡± Jihye froze. Before, she had thought that the people aboard the ship were insulting her knowledge with absurd words she had never heard before such as ¡®Daneland¡¯, ¡®Valkyria¡¯, and ¡®Aouda¡¯. Now that she had heard some of these words blatantly spoken in an official meeting, it started to feel like the wrong was on her. There had got to be a way to get rid of this confusion. There was a single map laid on the table that wasn¡¯t taken away after the meeting before. That may be the answer. ¡°M-may I see your map?¡± Jihye asked. ¡°Hmm¡­ Go ahead.¡± Nathan stood aside. Jihye didn¡¯t hesitate to act and walked towards the table. With whatever common knowledge of the map of Earth in her mind, she stood prepared to correct the¡­ ...Something was wrong. The map she was now reading was odd. It lacked ocean color other than the beige of paper and the coloring of islands, and the top right of the map read the words: ¡®The World of Mundus, Husk of Caravonia¡¯. The map showed what looked like a massive cluster of islands big and small, all inside what looked like a large landmass that looked like a continent. The landmass, however, had a brighter shade compared to the islands, and judging by the scale meter drawn on the bottom right of the map, the continent seemed to have the width of around 4,300 kilometers. That was massive! However, what struck the nail in her coffin were the different colors that shaded five groups of islands, Blue belonging to what¡¯s called ¡®The Gaulian Republic¡¯, Purple for ¡®Holy Valkyrian Empire¡¯, Yellow for ¡®The Union of Svarogian Islands¡¯ and Red for ¡®The Empire of Daneland¡¯. The ones in the ship was right. ¡°Are you¡­ alright?¡± Nathan asked beside her as Jihye¡¯s body began to tremble. Swarms of negative emotions began to overrun her mind and heart. Disbelief Denial Shock. The strength of her arms failed as the Korean girl fell to the ground, drawing to one conclusion that made absolutely no sense, but yet it did: She was not in Earth anymore. NATHAN 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. ¡°...???? (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. ¡°...?? (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. ¡°?? ?? ??? ??? ??????! ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ? ??? ????! ???, ? ????! ?? ?? ?? ????! ? ??? ?? ??? ?? ? ??? ?????! ? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???????! ??, ? ?? ???? ????? ????! ?? ??, ? ???! ?? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???, ????! (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.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°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-¡± ¡°??, ? (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. ¡°? ?? (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, ???? (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¡­¡±