91 A Journey Across the World

(15 years and 2 months after reincarnation)

[Kyrielle's POV]

(Kemet, ancient Egypt)

We sailed our ship all the way from where would be called Europe in modern day through the Mediterranean Sea (Greek) until we went to the Suez canal where we decided to stop. It took us two months of sailing but we finally arrived at our first destination, the Egypt.

The ship that we got on is a merchant ship that go around basically the entire Centralia doing trades, and in modern map the Centralia Continent would be an amalgamation of Europe and half of Asia itself.

For now, they are stopping in Egypt to do their first trade before continuing onto the next place.

They had planned to stop for a week, and originally I planned to take this week easy because of the intense heat of the desert.... But all of it was ruined by my friends who think we are on a trip or something.

"Look at that huge Pyramid!" Said Diana as she ran off to the distant pyramid.

Hmm.... Do they have any mummies in there?

"Hey don't run off your own you dumbass, there might be monsters!" Yelled Garnet to her.

"There won't be any! Just look at this vast sea of sand, how can there be any monsters-"

'Bwuom!' (?x)

'Shriek!' (?x) Giant Orange Scorpions. They hide under the sand, waiting for their prey to come close before stinging them with their tails.

Unlike the Black Scorpions found on Bostnia Continent, these ones aren't venomous because of their size. However, that doesn't make them any less dangerous since their stinger is like spear, and their claws like giant clamps....

"Kya!!!"

"Diana!" (4x)

'Thud!' (2x) Both me and Garnet kicked off the ground and rushed forward with our swords in hand...

Without magic, my fighting style had changed completely. I no longer relied on passive attacks that kept me at a safer long range, but instead I relied on rushing down my opponents quickly.

In close combat, aggression is the key to preventing any effective counter attack from the enemy.

"Kyrie, take the right one!"

"Yes!"

There are five scorpions in total.

I dashed into range of the right scorpion, and it immediately tries to stab me with it's massive tail.

'Tank!' With my sword, I received the stab and then directed it away to the sides.

Thrusts can't be blocked and that's what makes them dangerous, but it's easier to deflect (perfect block) or parry thrust attacks.

"Shriek!" The scorpion raised it's claw and tried to cut me in half....

This is a sweep attack. A sweep attack cannot be blocked, but it can easily be dodged most of the time. Or if you are skilled and brave....

'Thud!' 'Clamp!' You can jump over a sweep as well.

"Hiyah!" One Line!

Aiming for the giant scorpion's face, I slammed my sword down. 'Tank!'

"Tough!"

"Kyrie, the gaps! Thunder!" Yelled Garnet as he cast a magic.

"Shriek!" The scorpion's tail aimed for me and stabbed at me trying to get me off it's body. I jumped off to avoid the attack...

I need to bring down it's dangerous tail first.

I sheathed my katana, and then aimed precisely for the gap in it's scales while rushing forward at the stinger....

Shadow Rush! 'Slash!'

"Yiekk!!!"

I jumped onto the scorpion's back while it was recoiling from the pain, and then aimed my katana carefully through the gap of it's scale.....

"I've got you!" I jammed my katana through the gap in it's head. 'Stab!'

"Yiekk!..." The scorpion dropped to the ground almost instantly after that, it is dead.

"Phew....."

Suddenly, the severed tail starts to pulsate violently. 'Splashing...'

"Urgh?! That's so disgusting!"

But after a few seconds of erratic movement the tail stopped.

"Phew...."

"Thanks Garnet, you took care of most of the monsters as usual...." Said Michael as he sat on the sandy ground, exhausted.

"It's alright... Next time don't run off on your own like that again, Diana. I can't guarantee I'll make it in time, I'm not as fast as Kyrie."

"Sorry...."

Gerdur latched onto my shoulder from behind. 'Grab!'

"I came here to your side because I was worried that you are gonna have trouble but...."

"Thank you for that, but I'm good. I'm trying to learn how to be a swordsman now afterall."

"You never give up even when your entire world is flipped upside down huh?... Even if you can't use magic anymore, you still compensate it with your swordsmanship."

"Yeah.... But if I had access to my magic I could have destroyed these things in seconds."

"We know.... By the way, you are starting to talk like a granny who's way past her prime."

"Oh shut it, Gerdur, I'm still young."

"I think that's adorable, don't be so angry!"

___________

(Red Sea)

One week passed, and we went on our merry way. In the end, I am the only one who's used to traveling vast distances. And this is especially apparent because Gerdur, Diana and Garnet frequently get sea sick.

"Buweh...." Garnet puked to the sea from the deck of the ship.

"How disgusting.... Are you okay?"

"Urgh.... I feel like my head is about to burst...."

"Me too...." (2x)

"Come on you guys, stop blessing the fishes and lie down on the floor staring up. It helps." Said Michael as he made everyone do exactly what he says.

Out of all five of us, only Michael and I were completely fine.

"You handled this quite well, Mike."

"Hmm? My parents used to be sailors before they became farmers. Since I was practically raised on their ship, I am quite used to this. How about you?"

"I had to ride a ship for three months to make it back to the Centralia Continent through the Atlantica Ocean.... It was cold, and we even got attacked by sea monsters, not a great experience."

"Yikes, that sound scary.... But in the past you can handle them without any issues right?"

"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't."

"Haha, of course!"

In biology, it is a commonly known fact that marine animals are generally larger than land animals.... Sea monsters are particularly troublesome to deal with because they are not just larger than normal monsters, they are also far more aggressive due to their advantage on sea.

However, life for monsters under the water is far more different than monsters from land. On land, monsters can easily hunt animals for food, and most predator animals wouldn't dare to interrupt them.

In water however, monsters have to compete with the top predators of their area, and their large sizes usually mean there's not enough food for more than a few monsters....

This means that pack animals in the water can still easily defeat sea monsters. A giant crocodile is still afraid of a pack of smaller crocodiles, a kraken is still vulnerable to a pack of sperm whales, etc....

"Well, we are in the Red Sea so there's no sea monsters around. We wouldn't have to worry about fighting them now." Said Michael to me.

"I guess that's true."

The Red Sea is quite shallow, and that's why there's no much marine monsters.

_______________

(15 years and 4 months after reincarnation)

(2 months later....)

After we made it through the Red Sea, it was time to head through the Indian Ocean.

The voyage continued on until we made it to Hindu, modern day India where we are forced to stay.

The reason is simple.... It's the peak of the monsoon season. And this is also because India is the first trading hub that this ship is meant to go to, they have one month of trading to do here, and they can wait out the stormy seasons. It's killing two birds with a stone.

_____________

(Kandla Port City's coast)

The peak of the monsoon season lasts for a month at least. During the peak, it is extremely dangerous to sail the seas so the merchant ship we are following has decided to wait a month in this Indian port city.

With so much time on our hand, we decided to explore and enjoy ourselves here while doing the occasional adventuring odd jobs to earn money.

I'll be honest, my time here in Hindu has been a blast the whole time.

___________

(At an Indian restaurant)

"Naan! Five!" I said as I points to one of the dishes at a customer's table.

We have a dictionary but we left it in our inn.... We were just back from one of our adventures and were trying to buy food at a random restaurant.

"உனக்கு நான் வேண்டுமா?"

Great, I really understood that....

I signalled to him with my hand, counting with five fingers and then said "Naan!"

Naan is a type of bread dish that is very famous in India.... And it's cheap. Not particularly healthy or tasty, but it's good as a meal.

"Ok! Naan, five!" Said the Indian waiter with broken Ataraxian as he walks back into the restaurant to put our orders.

"Phew... This never stops being awkward."

"How incredible.... You can even order food without the help of a dictionary." Said Diana to me.

"Haha.... You'd be impressed how much you can communicate with just your hands and a reference object to use. This was how I talked to the demons back in the Bostnia Continent before I learned their language."

___________

(At a Muslim mosque....)

"Ouh! Everyone, I want to check that out!" Diana say as she points to a mosque that we passes through.

"That? It's a mosque built for the Arabian traders that visit this city." Said the Indian guide that we hired to take us on a trip through the city.

"Can we go in?" I said, with a curious look.

"Of course."

"Hmm...." I've never had much interaction with muslims back on Earth so I've always been curious about it....

"Wait!"

I waltzed into the mosque care-freely, and as soon as I stepped through the gate....

'Wrap!' Someone covered my face with a cloth from behind.

"@#&?!" I instinctively reached for my katana and almost sliced him up before I confirmed that it was the indian guide who did it....

"Muslim women wear these to cover up their hair! It's rude to enter a mosque without doing so!"

"Oh I didn't know that, sorry...." I almost killed him just now....

"Kyrie, you need to pay attention to the guide, be like me!" Said Diana as she took a cloth from the guide and covered her hair up.

"I don't want to hear that from you.... Wait, why do you have these scarfs prepared?" I said to the Indian guide.

"I figured that you three girls might make trouble because of this so I brought them just in case it happened.... It really happened."

He's oddly well prepared for a guide.

___________

Our month long stay in Hindu was short, but it was extremely fun.

We got on the ship, and continued on to the east.... Following closely along the coast, we sailed until we reached the Malay Peninsula.

Malays are Indo-chinese people who is in South East Asia. It's location is exactly the same in this world.

We reached the peninsula after about 2 more months of sailing, bringing us to a bustling trade city in the peninsula, Malacca.

Of course, this city is the ship's second major stop because this city is also one of the largest trading hub that the ship is meant to stop at.

It is most famously known for its strategic location, being in between India and China, and also being in a place where the storm winds doesn't went over. There's no risk of tsunamis or things like that.

For those reasons alone, it has become an extremely famous trading hub. So much so that it's basically a gold mine city for merchants.

___________

Our stay at Malacca was relatively peaceful compared to our stay at India. Michael and Garnet got hired by the captain of the ship to help with the merchant work, and so they are earning money the entire month.

As for us girls, we didn't have much things to do at all.... However, the ship captain's wife invited us to a royal party.

She's not Asian but Ataraxian just like us, that's why we can trust her. We did sail with her for half a year now, so there's a sense of familiarity between us women on the ship.

_____________

(15 years and 7 months after reincarnation)

"A royal party?" (3x)

"Yes. The Sultan, king of Malacca is holding a dinner party tomorrow night and he's inviting every merchant to go to his house for the party. It's for free, and I can get you three into the party if I just brought you along."

"If that is the case, thank you very much! There's not a lot of chance to go to a royal party after all, we are grateful to you for inviting us."

"Naturally. My husband is busy, and it'd be weird for me to just show up alone so I thought about bringing you three along."

________________

(Sultan's Palace)

It seems that coming here wasn't a mistake. Not only did we get to dress nicely for once in a long time and experience the malay culture, we also get free tasty food.

"This is Rendang Ayam, it's chicken cooked in thick curry. It's a Malay specialized Indian curry dish." Said the merchant lady as she points at the dish on the table.

"This is Nasi Lemak. Coconut milk cooked rice with peanut, fried salted fish and egg. Though it's normally served as breakfast, it's here as well. It's a Malay original dish."

"This is normal Char Kway Teow. It's rice noodles stir fried with vegetables, seafood and egg. It's a Malacca specialized Chinese food, extremely delicious."

I think I gained at least 5 kilograms after that night....

_____________

Our stay at Malacca ended shortly after the party, and now we hopped on back to the ship to sail around the entire peninsula. Once we went around the land, we sailed through the South China Sea towards our final destination.... The Central Kingdom, China.

It took us almost three months of sailing, but we made it through the entire South China Sea. Now we are at the most famous port city we have ever been to.... The Fragrant Port, also known as Hong Kong back on earth.

Hong Kong is like the Chinese equivalent of Malacca, but the port city's size is multiplied by two times.

Just like in Malacca or any other trading hub, the food here is great.

There's this particular restaurant that sells a food type known as 'Dim Sum'. They are all steam cooked meat and sea food dishes and they taste extremely good because of the spices used.

And even though we are in China, the people here mostly spoke in a dialect of Chinese known as Cantonese, which is completely different from mandarin....

Cantonese is a language that sounds brash at best, forceful at worst.... The sailors who live around Hong Kong doesn't make this any better because even though I don't know Cantonese, I know the swear words.

_____________

(15 years and 10 month after reincarnation)

(Dim Sum restaurant)

"Diu lei lo mo!" Said a man arguing with another man inside the restaurant.

"Is it just me or does Cantonese sounds.... funny?" Said Garnet to all four of us sitting on a round table.

"Yeah.... I agree...."

"And this is coming from all five of us who have heard countless languages at this point..."

"Well, it doesn't help that the dialect itself has a lot of changing tones and pitches.... It do share many similarities with Japanese, but honestly Cantonese is one of the most difficult language to learn."

"Wait, Kyrie you know Japanese?"

"Uhh.... Yeah."

"Since when?" (4x)

"....I practiced a lot when I was a kid, because I'm a big fan." I could never tell them that I was literally Japanese in the past.

"Hoh?...." (4x)

_____________

We stayed at Hong Kong for one more month, and this is because we are waiting for the merchant ship to be done with their trading. This is because they will ride the ship back the way we came, back to Ataraxia which spans almost the entire Europe.

They will only accompany me until I reach the Moonfall Continent because it'd be inconvenient to travel in a group when I'm searching for Severance, the black lotus katana. It's basically a fool's errand for them after all.

One month gone by within the blink of an eye. Soon, it was time to bid farewell.

__________

(15 years and 11 month after reincarnation)

"Kyrielle, We'll be going for real this time." Said Garnet, with a down face.

"Mmn..."

"....Kyrie, let me hug you." Gerdur rushed forward, and tightly grabbed me.

"...." I hugged her back.

"I'm going to miss you so much when you are gone...."

"I know, I know. But it's time to let go, I still have to talk to the others."

"Alright...."

Michael walked up to me. "Please take care of yourself when we are gone.... Don't be as reckless now, especially when none of us are here to cover you in case of a fight."

"I'll be careful.... Come here." I signalled him to get closer.

"?"

"Girls like it when you whisper into their ears like this.... If you are going to sleep with Gerdur, use this trick."

"Wha-?!"

"Hahaha, remember my tip well!" I said as I pats him on the shoulder.

Diana walked up to me, and grasped my hand with her own.

"Kyrie, this journey opened my eyes on a lot of things and I only have you to thank for it.... Thank you, I mean it."

"Mmm. Will you become an adventurer after this?"

"....No. I'll still be a magic researcher."

"I see. Good luck."

And finally, Garnet walked up to me.

"I thought this wouldn't be so hard, but.... yeah."

"Yeah...."

"Anyway, I've also learned a lot about myself since last year, and it's all thanks to you. Our entire journey has been a blast, and you're the one who started all of this so thank you."

"Mmm. I need to thank you for volunteering to come with me on this journey as well."

"Heh.... When I go back, I'll become a magic knight. Once you made it back home you probably won't find me in Klada anymore so come and look for me in the capital city instead. I'll be there amongst the knights."

"I'll keep that in mind.... And we can have one last duel by then when we reunite."

"It's a promise."

"Yeah.... Hahaha, how ironic."

"Why?"

"At first I entirely rejected the idea of travelling with you all because it'd take up time.... I had planned to hurry over to the Moonfall Continent, and didn't even thought about enjoying the journey."

"....."

"But travelling with you all made me cool down a bit and rethink a lot of my choices.... I found it easier to just let my guard down and take it easy on myself. Also, I had tons of fun travelling with you all."

"Yeah." (4x)

"It has been one crazy party one after the other during this journey. Without you four here, I wouldn't have enjoyed myself this much. Thank you everyone.... I mean it."

"Mm Hmm." "Don't mention it." "Naturally." "Kyrie..."

"Before you all go.... I have one last request. I want us all to have one big group hug!"

"....let's do it!"

All five of us got up to each other and hugged around our shoulders.

"This crazy party was great!" I yelled out.

"The world is so big!" Diana yelled out.

"There are so many monsters!" Garnet yelled out.

"Maybe I do love Michael!" Gerdur yelled out.

"Maybe I do love curry!" Michael yelled out.

"Pfft hahaha! What was that part about curry?!"

"You prefer curry over me?!"

"Sorry Gerdur, but it was an on the moment thing! I love you more than anything else!"

"Yeah yeah...."

"Well then, it's time for you all to go because the ship's not going to wait forever. Thank you all again, I really mean it. Farewell, may we all meet each other again."

"Farewell to you as well!" (4x)

They all picked up their luggage, and went onto the merchant ship. Once they did so, they turned around and waved at me.

I waved back to them as well while the ship starts to move away from the dock.... They had finally disappeared into the sea's horizon once the ship is far enough.

Now I'm all alone, left by myself here while everyone get to go home. A droplet of tear drips down my face....

"...Sniffs." I wiped off my tears on the sleeve of my shirt.

"It's my turn to go as well...." I said as I picked up my luggage, turn to the next dock and went up that ship.

This ship is headed for Hiroshima, a port city on the Moonfall Continent. I had finally reached my last destination after so long.

How will my journey to find the Black Lotus Katana go on now? How will my interaction with the Uesugi Clan go? How will my meeting with Amaterasu-sama go on? And how will I split Red out from my body once I've done all that?

I don't have answer to anyone of those questions, and to be frank I'm kind of afraid.... I don't know what will happen to me, and now I'm especially vulnerable because I'm all alone.

But it is precisely because of this reason that I'm also getting a bit excited.

'Ting ting ting!' As I thought of all that, the ship's bell rung loudly, signifying that it's about to depart.

"My time has come...."

Now, a new journey begins!

(Chapter end)