“¡Buenos días! Mi nombre es Schnell. Eso es un… Hmm, how do you say table?”

“Mesa.” Tanathos was quick to tell me.

“Ack! I keep forgetting that one word!” I started bonking myself on the head, “Geez, it’s because it’s not at all similar to the Entropic word like the others are!”

“But hey, you’re doing pretty good for just a week of studying, brother.” Tanathos still praised me, “Did you try speaking to any of the locals here yet?”

“Err, no. I’m still too shy to say anything. It feels kind of like I’d be offending them if I said something wrong or forgot a word.”

“Tch!” Cassandra clicked her tongue at me as she left the tent, “Estúpido idiota...”

Yeah, I don’t need to know Raamic to understand that one, given how similar the phrase is to its Entropic counterpart. Even still, her reaction really does give me all the insight I need to know as for how engaging with the locals would go. I think I’ll wait a bit more until I get a bit more confidence in my vocabulary. Oddly enough, it seems I’ve gotten the hang of grammar a lot easier, despite Tanathos telling me it’s supposed to be the hardest part of the language.

“Well, at least your attendance is spotless, brother.” The Old Man sighed, “Unlike that friend of yours. Ay caramba, is there a reason as to why he almost always fails to show up to my classes?”

“Aaaahhh!” Shaid ran into the tent at full speed, bringing in all the dust from the outside all the while, “For the last time, I don’t know what you’re saying! Leave me alone!”

“Girl problems?” I teased.

It seems he got his wish fulfilled a bit too much, as there’s an imbalance of genders in the settlement, favoring the female gender. Since most of the ladies of quik Havana don’t yet have a partner because of this, they’ve taken a great liking to the skinny Shaid. Me, on the other hand, they pretty much detest. Maybe they’re just jealous I’ve actually had a proper meal growing up…

“Screw you, amigo!” Shaid used his favorite Raamic word he learned, “These girls are savages! They keep grabbing me and pinching me in weird places, and the fact that a loincloth is the only thing keeping them from walking around buck naked is really not helping me keep a calm mind! Argh, Old Man, please teach me how to reject a woman in your language!”

“And have them hate me for it?” Tanathos raised his eyebrows, “I’d rather die, brother.”

It seems Tanathos is quite the prankster himself, despite him being in the middle stages of life. Then again, he might actually be rooting for one of the girls to catch Shaid’s eye, since he once told me about their rapid decline in numbers. See, the people of Abyssus Solis really don’t have any villages or cities for that matter, but rather these little settlements they call quiks. Think of the people who live in the quiks, the quikkas, as tribesmen. Obviously, if a tribe doesn’t have any offspring, then it’s as good as dead. He mentioned this while he was teaching me more of their culture.

“So, what do you say, brother?” Tanathos nudged Shaid, “Is there any girl here that you wouldn’t reject?”

“It is not that I want to reject any of these girls, far from it actually.” He chuckled heinously, “I would have to be an idiot to push away a beautiful bunch of ladies that were throwing themselves at me, but I would rather we focus on giving you people a proper meal plan.”

“You dislike the Raamic standard for beauty?” Tanathos tilted his head, “In our culture, being skinny is very much praised. It is said that the skinnier a woman was, the closer you could be to the heart when embracing her.”

“That’s such a different view on beauty than what we’re used to.” I thought out loud, “In Meridia, a girl should at least be a bit plump if she wanted to have any chances to find a boyfriend.”

“Aye.” Shaid high-fived me, “We like ‘em big!”

“Ah, so I’ve heard.” Tanathos confirmed our claims, “Oh, but the Carmenians on the other hand…”

“Euch! Don’t talk about their tastes at all.” We shook our heads, “The curves on their women are borderline impossible to achieve without constraining the waist with those torture chambers they have them wear.”

“Yes, ehh, what were they called again?” Shaid combed through his memory, “Corsets?”

“Oh no. No, no, no, that is not natural at all.” Tanathos warned, “A woman is beautiful by default. Each one has a certain body style, and she is most beautiful when she fully embraces it. Piling on artificial augmentations to the body will ruin the body long-term.”

“You said it.” I laughed, “Heh, to think we’d get the Old Man to talk his butt off about the ladies.”

“Even I have a daughter.” He joked, “Trust me, brothers, I was quite the ladies’ man in my heyday.”

“Ah, that daughter of yours, I’ve seen her storm out of the tent just a minute ago.” Shaid recalled, “She still dislikes us?”

“She will learn in due time that you are allies.” Tanathos reassured us, “But learning some words will hardly do the job. For you to earn not only hers, but the rest of the quik’s trust, you’ll need to prove that you can be useful.”

“Ooh, is it finally time?” I jumped from my seat, “Is it finally time for our first job here?”

“It is. Rejoice, brothers, here is where you earn your stay!”

***

After such a bold declaration, Tanathos took us outside and showed us to the cames. Confused about where we’ll be going, he only continued instructing us with a proud smile on his face. Looks like he didn’t at all care that we were left clueless in this whole situation.

“Here you are, grab Lina and Linda and travel west until you reach the dock where I left my ship.” He smiled away.

“What will we do there?” Shaid asked.

“What else?” He joked, “Why, get on the boat and travel to Trivis Numerica, of course!”

“All the way around the desert?!” I jolted, “Isn’t that too much of a detour? Wouldn’t it be faster to just…!”

“Go north immediately and cut straight through the desert?” He finished my sentence, “I’m afraid not, sadly. There doesn’t exist a northern dock for this continent, only east and west. Even if you made it through the harsh desert dunes filled with Scirps, you’ll just be stuck up there. There is no other route to Entropa.”

“Speaking of Entropa, why there of all places?” Shaid thought, “Is there something we need to acquire from there?”

“Yes, very much so.” Tanathos got serious for a second, “Here, this pouch contains enough money to buy all the wheat Havana will ever need. Take it, and buy out all their best seeds.”

“You’re planning on growing your own food here?” I tilted my head, “That’s a great idea! But… ya’ can’t grow wheat in the middle of a desert.”

“It will be extremely difficult, but not impossible. This is also why I’m asking you to use my own boat instead of renting out someone else’s. I will need you to go ahead and grab as many building materials and soil as you can. Take it all and load it up on the ship. Essentially, I want to start making a greenhouse for the wheat here, but opposite. It will have windows in the room which we can open and close freely that will restrict and allow the sunlight to enter the building.”

That’s it. He’s gone crazy. No wait, I can’t be saying that to someone as wise as Tanathos. Or then again, I really don’t know what to think of his grand plan anymore. He’s not someone who would spend all this effort, money and time just so he could be wrong, but on the other hand I highly doubt it’s that simple to grow plants in such a harsh environment.

“Amigo…” Shaid furrowed his brows, “You are a weird one, you know?”

“I know.” He chuckled, “Hmm, oh. Looks like my daughter has something to say to you.”

“…” Cassandra’s short white hair could be seen peeking out of the corner of the tent, “A-Ah…”

“Never mind her.” I continued the conversation, “If it’s anything important, she’d muster up the courage to walk up to us and say it to our faces. I’ve seen her brutal honesty multiple times.”

“Right, about that.” Shaid pondered, “Is there any chance that she wants to apologize for treating us so harshly this entire time?”

“It’s as I said, we’ll only find out if she tells us.” I gave him a quick reply before turning to Tanathos, “Old man, if we are to do this for you, then I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it, brother?”

“Please, could you go with us?” I looked him in the Eye, “This is a serious request. Both of us are just about nearing only seventeen. We hardly know anything about the World, despite almost being of age in it. Neither of us have ever traveled to Entropa because of the Great War, and so we would like for you to join us and show us the ropes.”

“Hmm… No.” He shook his head, “It’s precisely because you’re almost of age that you should figure it out yourselves. Besides, did I not tell you? Passing through borders and customs with a bunch of random wares will surely get me arrested and our stuff taken from us. Remember, leaving the continent is extremely risky for me at all times.”

Ah, that’s right. In a way, the quikkas here are all banished from visiting the outside world. Forced to live out their days here just barely surviving off of dry Desert Snair meat and extracted saltwater, their skin color had practically made their life a predestined living hell. Even with that, Tanathos fought his entire life to travel to parts of the world where he would hopefully find some kind people willing to help his people. It just so happens that we were said people.

“In any case, we’ll think about the details later.” He hurried us onto Lina and Linda, “Go on now! Off you go, and don’t forget my seeds!”

“Heeeey!” Cassandra suddenly ran towards our camels with a bright smile on her face, “Ptu! Hahahaha!”

“Did she just… spit at us?” Shaid tilted his head at the rather unladylike behavior, “Old man, teach that daughter of yours some proper manners. She’s way too immature for her age.”

Well, guess that was her way of gesticulating how happy she was that we were leaving. Eh, she may think she’s won now that we’re away from the quik, but as soon as we come back, oh ho ho~! I can’t wait to see her face when we return!

“I know, I know. I’ve heard it all before from the other quikkas…” Tanathos groaned, “She is nearing twenty years old, and yet-”

“Twenty?!” We both yelled out, “She’s older than us?!”

“Of course she is.” Tanathos sounded confused, “Why? How old did you think she was?”

“That’s a trick question, old man, and you know it.” I replied without giving him the proper answer.

Truth is, she looked like she was fourteen. But if I say that, Tanathos might relay it to Cassandra later, and that’ll only lead to her hating us more. But wait, if all the girls here are just as skinny as she is, the does that mean that all of them are older than us? Geez, we really need to get them some food soon...