Even though time was running short, there was no choice but to wait until morning to board the ship to Eldoran.
When morning finally came, Arsh found Juan waiting by the door with a bag in his hand.
"I've been lying around all day anyway. It's better if I come with you. Besides, you have no idea what you're going to run into. Two is always better than one," Juan said in response to Arsh's surprised look.
Although having someone by his side during that dreadful ship journey gave him some comfort, Arsh would actually have preferred it if Juan hadn't come.
Juan wasn't exactly the type of person to respect personal space, and that was exactly what he needed most when talking to the voice in his mind.
Still, he knew there was no point in telling Juan that he didn't need to come.
Even though he had been trying to contact the girl since yesterday, he hadn't been successful. The journey to Pirene was long, and during that time he would try to gather more information from her.
Even if he looked like a madman talking to himself from time to time, nobody would ever guess that the spirit that had emerged from a sarcophagus inside an ancient Nicaean burial chamber had entered his mind.
Together, they went to the port, bought their tickets. After the ship to depart, Arsh immediately headed down to their cabin and lay down, hoping to fall into a deep sleep. The journey was going to be long enough as it was. First, they would arrive at Elyrion, the capital of Eldoran, which would take them two and a half days. From there, they would cross over to Valora Island, located half a day away. Pirene Island was a small island under the jurisdiction of Valora, with several towns, and traveling between them only took a short boat ride.
If three days were spent getting there and another three returning, that left him with less than four days to find a way to save Ezra. And he didn't even know what exactly he was supposed to be looking for.
And that was the best-case scenario.There was no way of knowing when Ezra's condition would take a turn for the worse, so he had to make the most of the time he had.
He needed to speak with the girl during this three-day journey to find out more about the worms and where to find them.
He spent the first few hours of the journey unable to fully fall asleep with these thoughts on his mind, but eventually he had to get up to eat.
This time, however, he noticed that seasickness wasn't hitting him as hard as he had expected.
"You get used to it after a while. Everyone suffers at first," Juan said while eating.
"Have you been on ships a lot?" Arsh asked.
"Of course. When I was younger, I spent most of my life at sea rather than on land. Only recently, many Eldorians lived more on the sea than on land."
"Eldoran?" Arsh said in surprise. "You're from Eldoran?"
"Don't tell me you didn't know. Isn't it obvious?" Juan said.
It was obvious actually. From the very beginning, he knew that Juan wasn't Symranian. He had simply never bothered to think about where he was really from.
In fact, he wasn't even the first Eldorian he had met. But now that Juan had mentioned it, Arsh began to notice the similarities between him and the other Eldorians in the dining hall of the ship.
Tall stature, bronze skin, sharp facial features—they all stood out compared to the Symranians and other people on the ship.
"May I ask…?" Arsh said in a whisper. Juan already understood what he meant.
"There isn't much to tell. I didn't have a family anyway. When I was a kid, I used to work on ships, on fishing boats. Then I fell into the hands of pirates and was sold as a slave. You probably know the rest of the story. I was lucky enough to meet Edwin and Herman…" he said.
Normally, you would expect people to grow serious or look sad when talking about such things, Like Walter. But Juan was talking about all this with a laugh and careless attitude, just like Mes.
Arsh wondered if the difference was because they had never had a family. Unlike Walter, the closest thing to a family these two had ever known was probably the life they had right now in FFSD.
...
The rest of the journey passed without incident. Arsh had almost gotten used to the seasickness. He could keep his meals down and, at times, even manage to read without feeling too dizzy.
Juan, on the other hand, spent his time wandering around the ship, talking to people and making conversation. Fortunately, that gave Arsh some space to try communicating with the girl. Lying in his room, he spent most of those hours focusing as he had before, attempting to reach her in mind again.
But no matter what he did, by the time they reached the end of the journey, he still hadn't managed to talk to her. He believed the problem wasn't with him, but rather because the girl was too weak right now. If things kept going this way, his only choice would be to rely on his siuni. Maybe once they arrived in Pirene, he could find those worms on his own somehow.
When they arrived in Elyrion at the end of the two and a half days, they found it still hot and humid, unlike Symran, where the weather was turning cold with the approaching winter. The sky, also unlike Symran's cloudy and gray skies, was as blue as could be.
As soon as they got off the ship, they bought tickets for a boat to Valora without wasting any time. Ships left for Valora three times a day, and it would take three hours to get there.
While waiting for the ship to depart, they headed to a nearby market area. Here, white-plastered houses with red-tiled roofs met the blue sky, creating a pleasant view. The people looked lively and cheerful.
Even though he tried not to show it, Juan seemed a little happy to be back in his homeland.
"When was the last time you were here?" Arsh asked as they sat down at a restaurant they found.
"I think it was fifteen years ago for a mission. I haven't been back since… What should we eat? You have to try the fish here. Not like the bland stuff in Symran," Juan said.
Although he wasn't particularly fond of fish, Arsh nodded. The first time he had tried it, he hadn't liked the smell or the texture much.
As they ate their meal in silence, Arsh overheard a group of men talking at one of the tables nearby. They were discussing how dangerous pirates had become lately, mentioning constant attacks on areas outside the capital.
"Valora used to be a resting place for adventurers and ships heading south. Now the island is full of pirates. Nowhere is safe anymore. They'd cut off your arm for a silver bracelet," one of the men said.
"The problem isn't just the pirates. Lately, there are too many of those Symranians who call themselves adventurers. But they're no different from pirates. Disrespectful bastards, treating everyone like slaves. Most of them sail west or north, and my only comfort is that many of them won't make it back alive from those waters," another man at the table added.
Although Arsh knew that pirates were a nuisance from time to time in Eldoran, he had read that they usually managed to live alongside the local people without any real trouble. While there were occasional clashes with the King of Eldoran and the government, the pirates mentioned in the books weren't much different from adventurers.
Juan had also mentioned that he had been kidnapped by pirates. Arsh had been curious about the details, but he had never asked.
Noticing Arsh's gaze, Juan put down the bread in his hand and began to speak.
"After the wars started by Symran, taxes increased and more money was poured into the military. As the people's living conditions began to worsen, they naturally started looking for other ways to survive. Piracy was one of them. Since the military forces are concentrated in the eastern part of the country, the West Sea has largely fallen into the hands of pirates. Although they stay away from the capital, lately they've even made their way into Valora, from what I've heard. But don't worry, I can handle a few pirates," he said with a grin before continuing his meal.
"I hope it doesn't come to that… and if we end up dealing with pirates as well, I'm not sure we'll ever finish what we came here to do," Arsh said, pushing the rest of his food toward Juan, who was still eating with a hearty appetite.
The reason he couldn't finish it wasn't that he didn't like fish—it was the growing sense of unease he couldn't quite shake.