Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – Colors of the Sky

From outside, the only thing I heard was the sound of a light breeze. There wasn’t any tension, no trembling anymore. All of that had already subsided. The cold sweat on my back had slowly run dry. My eyes were wide open, solely fixated on the bolt-pierced door.

Maya whispered into my ear “Lenn…What do you mean…?”

The person behind this door…Could it be him? I became overwhelmed with an odd sense of confidence. So, without any care left, I boldly proclaimed.

“I…I’m going to open that door.”

Maya wasn’t on board with this, understandably so.

“What? Are you crazy? You were wetting your pants just a second ago! For real, are you right in the head?”

But it just came out, more and more. I was sure of myself. So much so that I wouldn’t tolerate anyone else giving their say.

“Shut up, trust me.”

“Huuuh?!”

I let go of Maya, and with a firm posture, went to the doorknob, gripping it. There was no hesitation.

I opened the door with such fervor, it was as if the force I used could have propelled the entire door out of its frame. And what I saw was…Just what I suspected.

“Oh…Ah…”

The voice and appearance of a large, bulky, bald man I knew. There still weren’t many people in this city that I could recognize at a glance, but this was one of them. Besides, even compared to the workers coming to the restaurant, his pants were especially dirty.

“Agham. What the hell are you doing?”

Maya also didn’t know what to make of this.

“Agham?”

Now that we knew it was Agham, the both of us only grew more confused. It had to do with the scuffle happening outside just before. Was Agham…protecting us? Or maybe he got ambushed while on his way here? Even so, Agham had no visible injuries, nor any blood on him.

“Sorry, guys. For scaring you like that. I thought about knocking, but I was conflicted about whether I should come up to you or just leave. It’s been a real dilemma, for sure.”

He put on an awkward smile, one that certainly didn’t smooth over my mood.

“What, you think you’re going to cause trouble or something? It’s a bit too late for that, wouldn’t you say? You’re already here, after all.”

There was so much that happened at once, it took all I had to try and keep up. Before properly collecting my thoughts, I vented some of my emotions on him, which of course wasn’t right.

It wasn’t like he was in a better position or anything, or that he had any control over our situation. He had possibly just been in a fight, too.

“I’m sorry. After last night, I still had work. When I returned to the restaurant, Sofia told me you two were leaving together, so I thought you were going to the same place. When I came here, people were already preparing to raid you or something, you know? There was someone right in front of your door.”

Faced with that, some of the fear I felt came back.

“Wait…So that wasn’t you, after all?”

“Uhm, no. Sorry.”

I was glad we didn’t open the door at that time. I really, really was. But there was still a question that needed to be answered.

“So, you took them out or something? I’ve heard the scuffle.”

“No, actually, that wasn’t me. I only watched. There were these two guys, well, actually a man and probably a woman, and they, uh- “

“What did they look like?”

“They looked pretty unique. Pretty uniforms, long hair. One of them had these insane glowing eyes.”

Someone with glowing eyes. I saw them before, definitely. As Maya regained some of her energy, she started asking questions, too.

“And these guys took out the ones who were coming to my house?”

Agham’s eyebrows were raised a little.

“More like scared them off. But yeah.”

I pointed to the silver tip freshly ingrained into the door.

“And this bolt?”

Agham pulled out the bolt stuck in the frame with astonishing ease, like picking up a twig from the ground.

“One of the guys who fled had a crossbow. Must’ve been that. They missed.”

Missed what? Oh, well…Maybe some of these guys who saved us. But it was here that I realized that we had already spent a few whole minutes talking like this, with an open door, at a crime scene, unprotected and unaware of the situation.

“Anyway, come in for now. That should be fine, right, Maya?”

When I asked her the question, she seemed to have noticed, too.

“Y-yeah, sure. These guys probably won’t come back tonight. Right?”

Maya was still partly in shock, though her face was getting more relaxed by now. We needed to figure something out as soon as possible.

We all took a seat in the living room. Then, I began talking about our approach.

“First, we should look at the sequence of events today. What happened, where, how…This way we should get a good understanding of what’s going on. Agham, you first.”

Somehow, Agham wasn’t very enthusiastic about it.

“I’m fine with talking about it, but actually, could you go over your story first? This was the place that got attacked, after all. Not me…I think.”

I looked towards Maya.

“Maya, are you ready?” 

She gave me a big nod in return.

“Sure. Let’s see…We were both at work at the restaurant until evening before we headed here. On our way here, I didn’t spot anything or anyone suspicious. When we got to the house, we talked a bit about my last name, then we went inside. Lenn met my mom and afterwards looked around the house while I was staying upstairs. We then spent a good amount of time organizing the living room together. When we were finished, Lenn said he was sleepy, so I wanted to go and grab some bedsheets and cushions for him. On my way through the hallway, I saw a shadow under a lantern light right before the door. From there…Yeah.”

With all relevant info laid bare, there was no need to say anything else. We needed to move on to Agham’s part.

“Okay, that about wraps it up. Matter of fact, we just came straight from the restaurant to this house, noticing nothing suspicious, and then we spent some time in here before the fight happened. Obviously, someone could’ve tailed us. We wouldn’t have noticed. Or they already knew we were here in the first place.”

I let out a big sigh, knowing what was to come. I didn’t like confrontations like these, but it had to be said. We wouldn’t get to the bottom of it unless we talked about it.  

Agham, you have connections to Miss Tallier. If your boss is behind this, he WOULD know about us.”

My words seemed to have no effect on Agham. He wasn’t shaken or anything. Just…

“Oh. Yeah, maybe.”

…a lack of urgency.

“As for me, as I said, I was just out working today as usual. My boss usually isn’t on the sites I work on, so outside these additional meetings at the bar, I don’t get to see him that much. I don’t know why he would be trying to kill me, or you, though. Sure, I received some money from him, but it’s not enough to make him want to take it back by force. Whoever he would’ve hired, that kind of thing costs way more. And while I do hold a good position at my workplace, I’m nowhere near a position like executive. In other words, I’m still fairly expendable, and I don’t earn that much. Lenn, you can attest to that. Yes, it could be my boss, but maybe it’s not.”

We already talked ourselves into a corner. With this little information, there is no way to confirm who was behind it. I was still unsure about how little Agham was telling us, but I had no means to force him into telling me more.

“Okay. Change of plans.”

“Already?”

Maya was just as unsatisfied with Agham’s response as I was. But dwelling on it didn’t do anything, either.

“We’ve got to figure out how to spend the next few days. Agham is here now, so that’s a plus. This location is already known, and therefore dangerous. We should think about whether to evacuate to somewhere else or to barricade ourselves or something. Though, if we keep your mom in mind, there is no way we can just leave her here on her own. We also have to consider contacting the two people who made the raid party flee…”

As I tried searching for ideas, Maya already came out with her own.

“I’d like to propose something…”

“What is it, Maya?”

“Well, how about…you just stay here for a few days?”

Agham and I looked each other in the face, sharing one mind. It really was the only choice.

We decided on staying at Maya’s house. Before the inn blew up, Agham managed to rescue his savings, so we didn’t lose any money, after all. In other words, for Agham, it meant…

“Give me a few days. We’ll get out of Casla. Pinky promise.”

Of course, we didn’t actually do the pinky promise or any related motions, but I definitely felt his determination.

Agham repaired the entrance door, while I covered the windows with extra furniture, making it harder to look inside. All the while, Maya was growing more busy caring for her mother, whose condition slowly worsened. At this point, just how much time would she have left, I wondered.

One day came, one day went. Agham decided not to show up for work this time, but instead go to an acquaintance who would help us leave the city. He would also inform Miss Tallier of the situation and that we couldn’t come to work today.

While he was gone, Maya and I talked about the future. If Agham and me were gone, Maya would be all alone with her mother again. Considering what happened the day before, it was not an appealing outlook. Me coming to this house were the ruin of her life here. But still, she wanted to stay.

Of course, there was a chance that once Agham and I left they would not come after her, either. But there wasn’t any guarantee.

The conclusion we arrived at was simple. Gather more help. There was still a loose end to tie up, namely the two people in uniforms. So, my plan was to go around the city and ask. I wouldn’t be attacked in broad daylight, surrounded by others, and finding people wearing outstanding clothes would be a clinch.  

With that in mind, I left the house and went onto the streets. A part of me wanted to pass by the restaurant, just to see if it was open. By now, Agham should’ve already met up with Miss Tallier. But I didn’t even want to imagine what she would do to me if I was there, too. She certainly wouldn’t be pleased.

Shaking off these thoughts, I mindfully avoided going into the restaurant’s direction while keeping an eye on finding the main street again. On my way, I found a few people here and there, but talking to them provided no clues. Not to mention, the stares…Talking to people around these parts still felt weird.

Getting to the main street, my mind started wandering again.

Something was bothering me. It just wouldn’t leave my mind. Did I hear wrong at some point, or what was it? There was a clear discrepancy in what I knew and what I’ve heard from Maya just before the attack. What was it, again?

Maya was introduced by Agham to Miss Tallier, so she could work there. Isn’t that how the story went? But not too long ago, Maya said she has only seen him once or twice before…Put into context, that didn’t make any sense.

Maya had no reason to lie. Did Miss Tallier mix something up when telling me some bits of her story? No, did I originally hear it from Maya, too? There’s something in there that seemed just important enough for me to care about. However, just maybe, it was a simple mix-up on my part.

On my arrival, I immediately noticed the blue fabric of someone standing in front of a stall. What that person wore reminded me of my first day in this city. That attire…the uniform. Agham even specifically said they were wearing uniforms.

Even if they weren’t one of the two people at the scene, it was still more than good enough. As I moved towards the stall, I could overhear the conversation between the owner and the person in blue.

It was in that one language again, but at least I could tell it was the same language I’ve heard numerous times before in this place.

The person in blue pulled out some kind of paper, showing it to the shopkeeper.

After a brief exchange, the blue uniform left, leaving a silver coin at the stall. In comparison to the gold coin that I had picked up on my first day, silver coins were worth much less. I only recently found out that a silver coin counted as 400 gan, while a gold coin was about 3000 gan. The last thing I wanted to deal with in day-to-day life was a confusing currency.

It was no wonder that I received a rather peculiar reaction from that guy at the festival. Looking back at it, maybe I should’ve been a bit more mindful of how the money worked here. Then again, at the time, I only thought about how thirsty I was, among other important survival-related stuff, so…

But no. There was something I’ve had to focus on. The person I’ve been looking for was leaving my vision. So, with my best efforts, I hurriedly followed them to try and reach them, but being just slow enough to not look like a lunatic while I was doing it.

As idiotic as it was, taking a full two minutes to catch up, instead of just calling out to them, I was now right behind them. I had already reached a location in the city I was not familiar with, so I couldn’t afford to go out any further. Here was where I had to stop them.

“Excuse me?”

The person abruptly stopped, and slowly turned around. Being greeted in this language must’ve seemed like a total shock, like it was to everyone else. I had yet to see anyone who wasn’t surprised by it, except for…well…Miss Tallier. Or maybe, Maya. All clear exceptions, though. So, in the end, Agham was the only one not too shocked by me when I first met him.

By turning around, I could get a better look at whom that person in blue actually was. I couldn’t look at it too well since the sun was blinding me just enough before, but only now I noticed that truly everything they wore was blueish. Standing before me was a dark-skinned woman with dark brown hair covered by some traditional looking headwear, going all the way down her shoulders.

It was adorned with immaculate white designs following down her hair like bright rivers. Her uniform was tightly-knit onto her body, following the same white patterns running down her knees to the point of reaching her shoes. Embedded towards the chest near the heart was an emblem of a lion, ferociously fighting a big snake.

Not to mention…those eyes. Eyes that I had seen before. The makings of a miniature sun, a bright, radiating orange. Eyes that you couldn’t help but just stare into. It pulled me in with a similar force like that blackness I knew from someone, but compared to something like Maya’s green luster, it gave off an entirely different vibe. It was weirdly warm, but also oppressive.

“What? Do you have business with the brigade?”

I ended up narrating my impressions inside my head, letting the woman wait for quite some time.

“Uh…”

What the hell is the “brigade”? I thought.

“No, not really. Well, actually, maybe…It’s complicated.”

“Make it quick.”

Something about her attitude reminded me of that someone.

“Yesterday there was a scuffle near my friend’s house, and they said they saw two people with a similar uniform to yours chasing off the other side. That should’ve happened…somewhere in that direction, a few blocks away.”

I pointed towards the direction of Maya’s house.

“Ah, that.”

She begins to lean in a bit more towards me. I can hear the clinking sound of some kind of glass or metal. Hidden behind that headwear might be earrings or something similar.

“Currently, we are in the middle of hunting down members of a criminal organization that has conducted multiple forms of terrorism in this city. If you know anything, tell me.”

“Well, I might have some helpful intel for you…”

Then, something surprising happened. Without notice, she grabbed me by the collar. It was such a swift attack that it took me a second to realize what was happening.

“Really.”

Her eyes were lighting up like wildfire.  I guess the lion wasn’t just there for show, after all. However, grabbing me like that in public, she had some courage. Or maybe, the authority.

“…Well, truth is, about that room that blew up before…I was one of the guys living there. These guys were…trying to kill us.”

“…Really?”

“Yes…really. And, it was a friend of mine who was directly at the scene yesterday too, when a raid party…of sorts…was at that house…And…Sorry, but might you let me down already? It’s…kind of hard to talk.”

I was already halfway flying in the air when she finally decided to put me down. What monstrous strength that was, despite her build.

“I’d like you to hear me out. My companion and I want to leave the city soon. Until then, we need protection. Who knows when the guys in black will come back to try to kill us again? You want them anyway, right? Two birds with one stone.”

“Hm.”

Naturally, she hesitated. My story was dodgy at best. She had no reason to trust me. Still, she didn’t seem to have much against my idea, either.

“You’ll need to come with me to the barracks. Prepare your story for the commander. We’ll see how it goes from there.”

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“Oh, alright. Thanks.”

“Also, my name is Turvi. Keep that in mind.”

It worked. Turvi led me to the nearby barracks, her so-called brigade headquarters. They were covered in those familiar white patterns over a blue canvas. A strong king’s blue, that didn’t fit in with the environment at all. Towards the entrance, there was a sign written in Angal.  

 “Blue Saints, temp. 2^nd HQ -2- “

“Wait here.”

The area around the barracks was just like the rest of the city, covered in those warmer, older colors. Brown and red were the most prevalent, with that glitter on their roofs. It made the barracks covered in that cold blue and white stand out like a thorn in one’s eyes, drawing a stark contrast to everything around it. This kind of design just didn’t fit in with the rest, it was completely out of place.

An audience with the commander of this Blue Saint Brigade…It made me all fiddly. But getting an ally or two here was necessary.

What came out of the barracks was a fair-looking man. It was the same man I must’ve seen together with Turvi at the festival. The long and combed dark brown hair, the blue eyes…It fit. His uniform was definitely more commander-like than Turvi. A gilded line followed alongside his collar, ending on a silvery medal-like ornament hanging down on his chest. He didn’t wear those kinds of extravagant clothes before.

The emblem on his uniform was different from Turvi, depicting an eagle carrying off a fat rat. Though, upon further inspection, the commander’s face looked a bit weirder than I imagined. He had a droopy nose and a few birthmarks, too. He looked…less handsome than I originally thought.

“I apologize for the wait. I am Piles Martin, the leading commander here. I hear you have some interesting news to share with us. Would you mind telling us more inside? I am positive we can assist you with whatever problem you may have. Really.”

His tone was very friendly, although he did seem weirdly nervous. That part wasn’t too different from my memories.

Inside the premises, I was taken to an isolated room. The interior of the place didn’t seem unlike Miss Tallier’s restaurant. There still were wooden bars all around, and the dark color made the light fade out.

The room I was taken into was small and dimly lit. There were no windows, so the only light came from the open door. A small table with two seats opposite to each was all there was, except for a few pieces of exotic greenery firmly planted on the floor. If anything, this was a room for questioning. No, interrogation.

Turvi brought in some water before proceeding to watch the door.

“I hope this room isn’t too uncomfortable for you. We currently have a room shortage, you see.”

Most of the bigger rooms we passed by before were empty.

“No, it’s fine.”

I needed to clearly think about what I was going to say.

“Now then…First, I’d like to properly introduce myself and the brigade. I am the commander of the 2^nd division of the Blue Saint Brigade, which deals with combating organized crime. There are four divisions in total, and we’re primarily located in Marin. However, certain circumstances have led us to relocate some of our forces to Casla. Circumstances that you, as I’ve heard, have grown somewhat aware of, and suffered under.”

Commander Martin took out a tissue, wiping his glistening face. How warm was it right now? I got acclimated pretty quickly, but the kind of desert heat around these parts could make some people faint.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

He attentively listened to my story, leaning back and forth. I decided not to leave anything important out. What I had to show, above all, was sincerity. His body moved from one end to the other, never breaking eye contact with me. He would wipe himself with a tissue, until he would bring out another, throwing the used one in the bin.

When a tissue was used up, he would also drink a whole glass of water, too. The water Turvi brought us, plenty as it was, was being used up at an incredible rate. After five minutes, half a dozen tissues had vanished into oblivion, his glass having been emptied that many times.

“I see. That certainly is some valuable intel. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. For the next few days, I’ll assign someone from the brigade to the house you spoke of. This should provide ample protection.”

“That does sound reassuring. I am in your debt.”

“As for the protector…Let’s see…Right. that’ll be you, Turvi.”

For a moment, Turvi hesitated. Her glare was quickly fixated on me instead of the commander.

“…Understood.”

“Now then…We’ll just have to see where it goes from here. Mister Lenn, I wish you good luck in your endeavors. We’ll see each other again. For now, rest assured.”

“Yes, Sir.”

With the meeting concluded, Turvi accompanied me back to Maya’s house. She remained completely silent all the way. It made the situation quite awkward. But before we would reach the house, I wanted to break that ice.

“So, Turvi. How long have you been in the Brigade?”

“Why does that matter?”

There was no pause in between what I said and her response to it. Either she knew what I was trying to do, or she wasn’t interested in having a talk in the first place. Well, it was probably both.

But people like her would appreciate being talked to in an honest fashion, disregarding whether it will hurt anyone’s feelings, is what I wagered. No harm in trying.

“It doesn’t matter, really. I just felt like talking to you. I’m not sure about having a literal faceless person around me, you know. All I’ve got going for me here is your death stare. I won’t bother you about stuff that’s too personal, but any info about yourself you feel comfortable sharing with me would definitely reassure me.”

I was leaping over bounds, but it worked.

“…Whatever. I’ve been a member for as long as I can remember. I’ll do the job that’s asked of me. I trust the commander. What, are you satisfied now?”

Turvi didn’t even blink while saying that. Her eyes were just wide open the entire time.

Soon after, we arrived at Maya’s house. Maya was already waiting at the entrance, waving her hand towards us.

“Hey, Lenn! Did you find them?”

“Yeah, they’re right beside me. It worked.”

Maya quickly moved on to greet Turvi, grabbing her hand and shaking it with furious excitement. It made a shock run through Turvi, unable to expect that kind of enthusiasm.

“Nice to meet you! And thank you so much! I’m Maya Fay. Please, call me Maya!”

She was probably trying to shake off her remaining fear with this. Maya wasn’t the type to suddenly explode like that, even if she was a bit more outgoing than the average person.

However, the effect it had on Turvi was enormous.

“Oh, yeah. Hello…I’m Turvi.”

Even through all of that cloth, anyone could tell Turvi’s cheeks were turning a bit red. She also couldn’t look Maya in the eye. Maybe wholesomeness was her weakness. Regardless, in that brief moment, Maya’s eyes appeared to outshine the intimidating aura coming off from Turvi.

“Come in, come in! Lenn, Agham is already back, too!”

“Well, that’s nice.”

With that, I made my way inside.

“W-wait. There’s no need for me to- “

“Come on!”

“Oh, uh…yes.”

Turvi didn’t know how to deal with Maya, that was for sure. It was kind of cute, really. Without giving her time to think, Maya pulled her inside.

Agham was already sitting in the living room. He seemed awfully happy about something. Maybe this was also why Maya was regaining some energy?

“Hey, you guys. Seems like we’ve got another in our midst, eh? And that blue outfit…from the brigade? Nice.”

In that instant, I was thinking: I’m going to kill this guy.

“…Agham, if you knew about the brigade, why didn’t you just tell me? Don’t you say you couldn’t be sure whether the two from that night wore blue uniforms instead of just any other uniform.”

“That’s right.”

“For fuck’s sake…”

I started mumbling to myself.

“How difficult is it to tell a uniform’s color if you can confirm that it’s a uniform in the first place? No, even without that knowledge, wouldn’t literally anyone realize it’s the brigade uniform from the white patterns all over their clothes? That kind of contrast just HAS to be visible at night. You can’t tell me it’s not. That’s bullshit. This guy can’t be serious…”

“Anyway, now we’ve got the support of someone rather powerful. There isn’t anything to worry about now, that’s for sure. Haha!”

“In the first place, it’s blue! Fucking blue! It shouldn’t take much of a guess! He knows, knoooows about the brigade, who else would go pick a fight like that with some shady group in the middle of the night, anyway? Is he retarded?”

“…Speaking of which, how was it on your end? You wanted to secure a way for the two of you to get out of the city, right? A way to leave as soon as possible.”

Agham toned down his obnoxious grin and returned to a more serious expression. My mumbling grew to a halt.

“The negotiations are complete. In three days, just after midnight. That’s when we’ll leave by carriage. We should arrive at Vermas within half a day, a pretty nice little town by the way, then after spending the night there it will take about another half day until we arrive at the Inmar Duchy. It’s a place I know very well, so as long as we get there safely, there will be no problems.”

Not that I had ever heard of this Inmar Duchy before, but as long as Agham knew his stuff, it would be fine. At least, that was the attitude I adopted for the ride that was to come. But to get into the groove, I felt I had to say something, too.

“Alright. For those three days, Turvi here will accompany us during our efforts. As you already implied, Agham, she’s from the Blue Saint Brigade. Commander Martin has tasked her with protecting us until we leave the city.”

“No, I’m actually assigned to- “

“Wow, you’re from THAT brigade? I’ve only ever heard from you in passing. You’re from Marin, right? Just like Sofia! And what are you doing here in Casla? Your uniform looks so cool!”

Maya was all over Turvi, bombarding her with countless questions. Simply averting your gaze just didn’t cut it when Maya had her eye on you.  Turvi was completely shut down.

“Hey, Turvi. Why don’t we go to the kitchen? Let’s have some girl’s talk!”

“No, I think I’ll pass…”

“Oh, don’t be like that. I don’t have many opportunities to talk to other girls. Please, over here!”

Maya’s pull was out of this world, rendering Turvi helpless. In actuality, Turvi was only a few years apart from her, maybe one or two.

After Maya dragged Turvi away, it was just me and Agham left in the living room. I was just laying on the coach, collecting dust. My work was done, so I just wanted to sleep.

“Hey, Lenn.”

“Yeah?”

All this time, Agham’s seriousness didn’t disappear for some reason. It was still there, in his face. It dawned on me that I overlooked something.

“You should grit your teeth tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“It’s only expected. It was me who told her, not you. Well, she doesn’t care about your reasons, anyway. Because of you two, she couldn’t open shop.”

Oh, shit. I forgot. I was still an employee at a certain place, just like Maya. In the end, we didn’t show up for work, leaving Miss Tallier by her lonesome. And I had Agham be the errand boy for the news, too. That was a true no-go, all things considered.

At that moment, it was the opposite from before. There was no way I would’ve been able to close my eyes.  I would rather have gone up to the restaurant that instant and put on my robe, saluting to Miss Tallier, while cleaning the whole place and simultaneously reciting the entire menu. But it was too late. At this time, there was no point.

With a heavy sigh, I sank further into the coach. But Agham still had more to tell me.

“Oh, by the way.”

“…Yes?”

What was it, now? I really didn’t want to think about anything for the rest of this day.

“I’m sure you would know this given our situation, but I’m going to sleep here too. I was hoping that I could be on that coach…”

Oh, right.

“Yeah, no. Think you could ask Maya to share her room with you?”

I cracked a smile at my own joke, as bad as it was. Agham answered me with his own little grin.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll sleep on the floor, then. For now.”

“Sure, that sounds fair…I’m just going to sleep now…”

With a big yawn, I made myself comfortable. I would be missing out on Maya’s and Turvi’s escapades that night as well as whatever stuff Agham planned to do with his time, but I was spent.

For me, this day ended before the last glimmer of light would even leave the day. The old coach was more pleasant to the touch than I thought. But the next day, I mysteriously woke up next to it, not on it.  

 

-End of Chapter 4-

 

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Harc Manem: A tour around Oulayn, year 505

 

Page 0-B: The guide’s guide

“A tour around Oulayn” is a comprehensive 100-page guide that explores the different regions of Oulayn while allowing me to let my own experiences sink in somewhere as well. With this, I intend to bring the hidden facets of this continent to light while also giving form to my life’s work, adventuring and travelling the world. It just so happened that this topic is what I explored the most thoroughly and above all, I want to share my excitement with anyone interested in it. That would be you, dear readers.

I sincerely thank you for your support, whether you bought this book in its limited printing or whether it ended up in a library for you to grab and take a look at. I also hope that this will help fuel your determination to go and fill in the blanks I left behind. And oh boy, there are so many. One man just doesn’t cut it when it comes to discovering the secrets this world has in store for us.

To be perfectly honest, at the exact moment that I finished writing this book, something in me found peace. I’ve slowly grown old. With no family left, I still roam the world regardless. But life…life has its limits. So, this is also my way of passing the torch. Please, for the sake of all adventurers around the world: Make this flame burn brighter than anything. For that, I’ll give you all that I stand for.

Ending on a positive note, this guide may just provide you one of the best experiences around when it comes to finding out new things about the continent. I wouldn’t call myself prideful, but I think I have the right to call this my masterpiece. It is the culmination of my legacy, after all.

I’m not the type to go and invent his own crazy catchphrases. But guides like these always need their spice, their individuality. After all, personally, I want to be recognized as well as what I’ve written, not just one thing or the other. So, I came up with something simple. Something that I would be able to tell anyone who manages to recognize me on the streets. A farewell greeting.  

 

With that being said:

Dear readers, good luck in your travels!

 

 

 

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