Layana City, the heart of Crossire.
After spending the night at the station, Zavi asked Zuhen to accompany him there, following the request he had made aboard the train.
Monday, the 7th, 6:00 a.m.
"That's right. That man looks completely unremarkable. Maybe that's true, but 'he' uses a very conspicuous violin when he fights," Zuhen said.
Although he did not know the man's actual whereabouts, Zuhen knew the rumors surrounding him, as though he were a ghost wandering the world, capable of appearing before them at any moment.
The only information Zuhen had, and the reason he avoided the man, came from those rumors.
'He' has lived since the Era of the Tailed Star, and they believed that to be true, even though the details remained uncertain.
"Why did you tell me to be careful around that man?" Zavi asked seriously, every word carefully chosen.
The two exchanged glances as they shifted in their seats.
The station was bustling as usual that morning, filled with the noise of the crowd and train conductors maintaining order.
The ticket counters were packed with passengers. Two cashiers were serving customers, their faces already tense even though the day had only just begun.
Working in the heart of the city, they understood all too well the physical and mental burden the job demanded. Even so, there was one thing they sought from it: money.
Money was everything.
Janitors swept and mopped the floors while several newspaper vendors distributed papers on behalf of their superiors, blending into the bustling crowd.
Their conversation came to a halt when a ragged teenager with a dirt-stained face approached them. They were seated on the far-right bench at the back, near a flower pot containing a one-meter-tall tree.
"Please buy one," the newspaper vendor said, catching his breath.
Zavi glanced at the newspaper while adjusting his hat. After a moment's thought, he asked, "May I read it first?"
The teenager shook his head, keeping his lips tightly sealed. It was only natural that he found such a request unusual.
"All right," Zavi said with a sigh as he took money from the pocket of his suit.
Watching the exchange, Zuhen shook his head while reaching into his own pocket.
He flinched slightly when he realized his cigarettes were gone and grumbled inwardly.
Zavi looked at the teenager as he held out his hand.
The teenager hesitated for a moment before stepping forward, taking the money, and handing over the newspaper.
"Just a moment, sir," the teenager said, causing Zavi's eyes to widen.
The teenager opened his sling bag and searched for the change.
"Keep it all," Zavi said indifferently.
The teenager looked up at Zavi, who had already bent slightly over the newspaper.
"A-Are you sure?" he murmured, seeking confirmation.
"..."
After silently observing the exchange, Zuhen spoke in a hoarse voice. "Why make things difficult? He doesn't want the change anyway."
"But..."
Zuhen narrowed his eyes at the teenager.
The teenager pursed his lips before returning to his work.
"Unbelievable," Zuhen muttered, then glanced at Zavi's serious expression as he read the newspaper.
"Important news?" he asked, lifting his head slightly.
Zavi turned toward him while lowering the newspaper.
"No. It's just... something has been bothering me," he replied.
Zuhen closed his mouth.
"What is it?" he muttered, asking for clarification.
Zavi pressed his lips together for a moment. Two seconds later, he said, "About the beautiful world beyond the mountains. This newspaper is still covering that story. Besides that... the airship inauguration will take place in a few weeks, and the festival that's usually held in Norn?"
He glanced at Zuhen, unsure of what else to say.
He folded the newspaper and placed it on top of the suitcase handle.
"About that," Zuhen finally said. "Don't you want to talk about it?"
Zavi froze for a moment.
"Oh? You mean the Prisoner ability?"
Zuhen nodded confidently.
Yes, at first, Zuhen had truly given away valuable information for nothing. He had expected nothing in return, and more importantly, even he himself did not understand why he had told Zavi about it.
Wouldn't it have benefited him more to keep it hidden?
Yet Zuhen harbored a different desire, one that neither they nor even he himself understood.
His motive for hunting the 'Soul King,' Hein Warlock, had become an escape from a life that drifted like a ship lost upon the open sea.
Moreover, although everything had begun exactly twelve years before today, his memories refused to preserve that important event in detail, as though something prevented Zuhen from remembering it.
Despite being an ordinary human, Zuhen still had to obey his Recipestele, Tell, who was often selfish and prone to acting recklessly, making Zuhen's workload even heavier.
Even more so after meeting Zavi, his purpose in life shifted from finding a way to save his hometown and survive in this broken world to pursuing revenge.
Although that 'revenge' had never been part of his life before, he could not simply let his companion die while the one responsible escaped without receiving the punishment he deserved.
Zuhen knew he was no hero, and he wanted to discover the true purpose of his life.
Was it to grow alongside his family, or alongside his friends?
During those difficult times, Zuhen calmed his chaotic mind by smoking, having picked up the habit from others.
What had started as simple curiosity eventually became an addiction that continued to this very day.
He wanted to quit, but for some reason, he could almost hear desperate screams rising from his tongue and lungs.
"Fuh... So that's how it is."
Zuhen understood Zavi's intentions. Zavi still wanted it and agreed to perform the ritual at that location.
The nature of the Prisoner connection, which Zuhen had briefly explained, compelled Zavi to stop there.
Distance was no obstacle; they were determined to see it through, even if others tried to stop them.
"Ardevanarasevia."
It was the oldest and last great defensive fortress, and its ruins still stood to this day.
Unlike the other four fortresses, Ardevanarasevia's history was rooted in Vinohoshi Province, specifically Tafox County.
After hearing that brief explanation, Zavi knew where to begin expanding his knowledge of this world.
"So your hometown used to be a battlefield?"
Zuhen immediately clarified.
"Historically, yes. It served as the final stronghold of the United Leh'en and Samano Empire."
It was a legendary empire that had once stretched across nearly the entire continent of Chynoria, only to collapse within a matter of weeks during the early Star Calendar era.
The history of this world was incredibly complex, even when viewed only in part, stirring Zavi's curiosity to learn more.
"The United Leh'en and Samano Empire, which..."
The sentence was cut short when Zuhen interrupted sharply.
"Became the Kingdom of Norn, the Kingdom of Hovewer, the Kingdom of Synomia, the United Republic of Tagah, which later became Tagasa, and Modeloe, which became part of the Sheak Empire."
Upon hearing "the Sheak Empire," Zavi pondered the matter, struck by how strange it sounded.
It was true. The continent should have been home to at least six kingdoms and republics, yet the existence of an empire within the Kasnia Sea Basin made the situation seem highly unusual.
Although bodies of water separated it from the mainland, and a vast stretch of land still connected it to the rest of the continent, the Sheak Empire quite literally stood upon the sea, as though something deep beneath the ocean supported that enormous landmass.
Even the researchers and scholars of Chynoria were still investigating how that land had nearly separated itself from the continent to stand independently in the middle of the sea.
Although the difference in elevation was not extreme, it was significant enough that water flowing from the Sheak Empire created the illusion of rainfall for those living in the farthest coastal reaches of the Kingdom of Synomia.
Zavi nodded as though he understood, even though he really didn't.
He had admittedly become a little less academically inclined after skipping school so often, though this world's general knowledge managed to cover his ignorance to some extent.
Back in elementary school, he had always ranked within the top five. Even when illness caused him to drop to sixth place, he had never ranked any lower.
That changed drastically after he entered the next level of schooling. During those three years, he had once ranked forty-second out of forty-nine students.
Back then, hanging out had become his favorite pastime, and the places where he spent time with his friends felt more like home than his own house.
He knew his older sister and mother scolded him constantly, and at one point they had even thrown him out of the house.
But when graduation and high school enrollment came around, he decided to change.
Unfortunately, those words meant nothing if he continued repeating the same old behavior.
He frequently skipped classes, slept during lessons, and occasionally got into fights that landed him in the principal's office.
All of that happened within just a few months of starting his new school.
As the days and months passed, he slowly changed from a delinquent teenager. He abandoned his laziness and sought out friends who ranked in the top ten, hoping to broaden his horizons.
Despite all that progress, one habit remained deeply rooted in his personality: he was always late for school. He accumulated seventy-six tardy violations, just fifteen short of the record held by a senior who had graduated six years earlier.
He was, of course, ashamed of it.
Standing on one leg beneath the blazing sun from the first break until the second was an exhausting punishment, both physically and mentally.
What had begun as a punishment that made him want to give up eventually became something he regarded as an important part of his life.
His family often had to come to school. At the very least, he always managed to convince his second older sister to act as his shield by pretending to be their mother, on one condition: he had to grant two of her requests.
Since he earned a great deal of money from gaming and also received a generous allowance from his mother, he had no choice but to agree.
"Fuh... I never imagined that a united empire could collapse and split into so many pieces."
Zuhen raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Some of them are still at odds even today," he said calmly.
Zavi immediately understood what he meant.
He was referring to the conflict between the Kingdom of Norn and the Kingdom of Hovewer—a rivalry that had endured for nearly a century and continued to this day.
Furthermore, the restrictions preventing Norn citizens from entering that kingdom were extremely strict. Although the region was largely inhabited by people with brown or blue eyes—who also tended to be shorter—they prohibited entry to people exactly like themselves if they had been born and raised in the Kingdom of Norn.
Even though the war had long since ended, Zuhen and Zavi could only exchange bitter smiles after realizing that fact.
Zuhen glanced at him before continuing.
"As for the collapse of that united empire, its center was in Tafox. And besides... well, part of that land is dead."
Zavi swallowed.
"You mean Solaria?" Zavi murmured, seeking confirmation.
"What exactly happened there?" he asked, recalling what Zuhen had mentioned during an earlier conversation.
Zuhen let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. Talking about this weighed heavily on him.
Even so, he intended to share that information with Zavi.
"A falling star. You'll see it for yourself once we arrive," he said.
"Oh?"
Zavi pursed his lips.
Realizing that a verbal explanation would not be enough and could take hours, Zuhen ultimately settled for that brief description.
From that point on, their conversation shifted to lighter topics, touching on newspaper reports about events that might affect their journey.