Chapter 61 - Welcome Aboard!

The first thing that Faustina caught was how the creaks of the ship matched that of the splashing waves. As she boarded towards the haul, along with Orwell, Lucas Feuerlon (who, apparently, has to go to the capital for business affairs), and Maddie—her maid, she remembered everything she must do.

The necklace that will be given to Owen Lopez at the capital,

and the Feuer capital archive.

"The journey will be like this," Orwell says as he points to the map.

"FIRST DESTINATION: From the Feuerlon household, we will head east towards the Feuer port

SECOND DESTINATION: From the port, we will be boarding to a ship that will head to Feuer capital, which is located northeast.

THIRD DESTINATION: After reaching the capital, we will take the carriage to the central harbor, and we will board to the Feuerlon ship that will head straight to Magierstadt."

"I see," Lucas Feuerlon says. "We will be heading to Magierstadt via this route."

"There are others, Young Master?" Maddie asks.

"There are, Maddie. If we go to one, certain alternative route, we can ride a carriage and head south, and that'll bring us to the south port." He says. "It'll head to the Fire island for the stopover which will provide three routes: 1. heading to the dungeons, 2. Magierstadt, and 3. Lotherlien. AND instructor, Lotherlien is your home. You should've took that route. Alone."

"That is a very detailed explanation." Orwell exclaims. "As expected from Lucas Feuerlon! But you forgot that that route is barren with sea monsters."

Lucas slightly frowned. "Every route is barren with sea monsters, Moscow."

"The south is closer to the dungeons and the continental cliff. It will be the habitat of monsters; it is highly concentrated with a variety of creatures. And it is 'Lotheringwood' now."

"O-oh, okay," Maddie exclaims. "What do you think, m'lady?"

"Will we need to battle sea creatures?"

"We don't have tamers," Orwell answers. "But we also don't have the time to engage in combat in every sea monsters we encounter. Barrier spells are cast upon the ship for safety, worry not. The battle we are only engaging with is Feuerlon's stupi—I mean, 'senseless' suggestion."

"What? You—"

And so they argued.

Faustina simply smiled and went to see the ocean as the ship passes along the deep, blue waters. She stared at the endless horizon of sapphire, remembering the king's eyes. The ocean was calm and the breeze was cold and hot, mixing across the breadth of the vast sea.

"Beautiful, isn't it, m'lady?"

"Yes." Faustina answers, her voice sounding foreign to her.

She feels someone different.

Nebel. She evoked the memory of the day she received the letter—the memory of Orwell telling her something odd—something that made her question everything again.

Nebel.

The archives on Orwell's automated mystical archives that kept the books' information for accessible use showed one result of the certain town she was searching for. Nebel—a town where Eula take her—the people they knew who were coming over to get treated and the town Eula comes to whenever she gathers her resources.

Nebel. Faustina had a faint memory of that town—it was winter when she visited with Eula, and memories of the town were overlapsing due to the fact that she went there by seasons, losing track of whether she just fragmented her memories or not.

The town had a cozy atmosphere, but there were varieties of people there. Some possessing keen awareness of Faustina's weird straw-cloak whenever she comes there with Eula when she was a kid, some who dismisses the obviously-suspicious pair who later on becomes the witch doctors that lived in the mountain above them.

That was Faustina's life for sixteen years,

The secluded mountain.

Nebel.

Eula.

"Are you okay, miss?"

Faustina blinked as Maddie tilted her head as she stared at her with worry laced upon her freckled face. Faustina smiled to assure her, "I'm alright, Maddie."

Faustina stared at the waters, the reflection of light already made them look like something out of a beautiful painting. The stench of the water was natural and salty, with a hint of a warm breeze. Faustina inhaled deeply.

"Brother, are you really going to help me to the archive?"

"Huh? Ah. Yes." Lucas answers as he walked towards her. "Why?"

"Don't you have any business matters to attend to?"

"They can wait."

From afar, Orwell stared tentatively upon Faustina's actions. It brought him to the question: why? It still confused him—everything, perhaps. And the current situation did not deviate from it as well. The day Faustina asked him to find a town named 'Nebel,' was the day he found as if he was surrounded with an even foggier environment than before.

When he searched for Nebel in his archive, it showed one result. An information he did not expect. The best decision was not to tell he found the information alarming but to gather "more" in regards to this particular circ.u.mstance. Orwell chose not to tell Faustina about the information he found, but instead told her that the his archive's information was actually limited and the capital's archive was a lot more accessible and could provide clearer information (which was partly true).

But overall, Orwell wanted Faustina to find more about her origins. He noticed the inconsistencies of her stories and the incidents she was caught into. Furthermore, he never heard of a town named Nebel, or a town that is in the secluded mountains of the guardians in that inundates the castle of Feuersturm.

There are no such thing as that; people cannot reside in a place guarded by strong spirits—or so he thought. Upon searching for the information Faustina asked of him, he encountered an answer that made a shiver run down his spine.

The town of Nebel indeed existed below the mountains,

...but was obliterated more than 700 years ago.