Chapter 165 – Journal Entry 15: Sardis and Ships

The City of Sardis faces the seas, the houses of the city lines within the side of mountains which are held by stones, braced with marble. The roofs of the houses here are hipped, tiled and the walls are composed of either stone or bricks. There are few wooden houses, but mostly they only amount about forty or so.

The harbor of the city is quite large, larger than I imagined. There is basically a floating city on top the water, and ships of different sizes could be seen anchored. Galleons, steamboat and even metal ones that are about three floors talk are present.

The roads are paved in stone, and in those roads, they are filled with people. And I could see extravagant houses, no more like a wall that contains one area. I asked Elena about it, but she said to me that the place is the original ‘village’ of the city. Most of the original villagers or at least their descendants are now there. It is a personal giant territory granted by the King of Gann hundred years ago to one of the Heroes that recklessly fought for Gann.

The Magic Archer of Sardis that were able to help the Kingdom of Gann to facilitate the damage caused by the initial fall of the curse of Sanctus. Along with a healer, a dwarven of old, and a human hunter, the four of them managed to somehow stop some of the beings that touched the land during the first initial landfall of the curse. Mostly, however, the work was done by the leader of the party, the band leader Magic Archer who accepted the highest rank a Magic Archer could reach, sacrificing those who are near death, turning them into arrows of Hope that would kill the monsters that summons the Warp Gates.

It took about sixty years until the band slowly went out of shape. The two members were quite mortal, and thus they could only leave and settle back in Sardis to retire. With the two members done, the Dwarven of old, and the Magic Archer stayed in the front lines until the final match, where it all ended in a stalemate.

The Dwarven of Old went back to Sardis, opened up his old Inn. While the Magic Archer, who was drowning in her sorrows at being saved despite being weaker, finally left the battlefield after being persuaded by a powerful child who possesses mana of large quantities to stop fighting. The powerful young lass, was quite something, despite her young naïve way, she forced the sorrowful half elven to retire by a duel. It ended with the young lass, who was working for the Kingdom of Lin’s ruler and War Maiden, giving the half-elven a big defeat.

After that defeat, the sorrowful Half-Elven, requested the King of Gann, using her merits in her fights the village of Sardis, or at least the parts that I see right now to be hers. The King of Gann agreed, gave her the rights as her reward, and with that, the whole village became hers, while the rest was turned into a harbor city that is today.

...

When I was done gazing at the City of Sardis, the carriage that I was riding arrived at a warehouse. In there we parked the carriage and locked it away. Following that, we went to the ship that would take us to Fernery Island. Upon stepping on the ship I felt a wave of nostalgia, the smell of the sea, and the flapping of wings, despite different being a species made me feel like I could remember some of my memories.

But to no avail, I couldn’t remember a single thing. At least, the hazy image that I first woke up to is there. But other than that there was nothing to be had. I could only give up gracefully with my head lowered down, and as I lean on the rails of the ship. I noticed Grom clinging to a pole, shaking, terrified to an extent.

“Oh don’t worry about Grom.”

“You sure about that, look at him all clamped up. Holding his head, and shaking like the end is near.”

“Yeah, Grom is kinda afraid of ships, and when the weather is stormy he would get even worse. He usually doesn’t show fear despite anything, but when it comes to ships and thunders, man, he is quite a coward.”

“Well he is wearing metal, and I doubt he can float. Must be afraid that he might drown to death?”

“Probably, but who knows? Uncle Grom is always weird to me.”

Elena said that as she approaches Grom, helping him out, leading him inside the ship. With Elena gone, I just leaned on the rails, watching the sea. Miss Leona and Tisza stayed on the front bow of the ship, and it seems that the two of them admire the open sea.

From here on the journey to Fernery Island would start, I do not know how many days it would take. But during those days, I can probably collect my thoughts, hypothesize what the island is, and who is the Mistress that seems to be feared and respected.

I have no memories whatsoever.

I don’t have anything at all.

So this island might as well be either my new start or the place where I could get my lost memories. Memories are quite valuable, and even though I am doing fine without them, I just cannot help but want to know what my memories were.

But even so, I have doubts if it will ever return. So for now, I am keeping my hopes low, while at the same keeping my spirits up that the island of Fernery will be a good place to live. I heard good things about the island, yet it is better to see it with my own eyes.

The ship moved a bit, seeing the smoke rising from the chimney, and the anchors being pulled up from the sea. I held on tight to the rails of the ship, looking forward to an island that I would soon be living at.