Advent of the Three Calamities

“…Enjoy your stay in Virellith.”

Taking the bone, the man in white hopped back onto his boat and gestured with his hand to allow them through.

Shortly after, the boat moved away, and the three were allowed to dock at the port.

“Kek.”

Holding back his smile, An’as looked towards the distant white figure and shook his head.

‘What a poor soul.’

He then looked towards Lazarus.

“So what’s his job going to be?”

“His job?”

Lazarus blinked his eyes, looking at An’as in confusion. What could he be talking about?

An’as dismissively waved his hand. You think I’m a fool? An’as chuckled inwardly. He knew the merchant well enough to know when he was going to make someone his next victim.

“What would you even need him to work for you for? Don’t tell me that you’ve stalked him as well? …Or is it that he might know some important information?”

“….?”

Lazarus continued to look at An’as in confusion.

No, seriously… What in the world was he talking about?

“Huh?”

Seeing the look on the merchant’s face, it was An’as’s turn to look surprised.

“Wait, is he not going to work for us?”

“Work for us? Why would he?” Anne suddenly interjected from the side, looking even more confused than An’as.

Lazarus scratched the back of his head while looking at An’as.

“Why would he work for us?”

“Because he… took money from you? Like me…?”

An’as felt his eyelids blink at a pace slower than usual.

Something didn’t feel quite right.

“Ohh.”

As if suddenly understanding, Lazarus moved closer to An’as and patted him on the shoulder.

“Your thinking isn’t wrong.”

“So…?”

“But that wasn’t my bone.”

“Huh?”

“It belonged to Anne.”

An’as’s eyes widened.

Wait, wait, wait…

“So it doesn’t really matter to me if they take it. Not really my money.”

Lazarus looked so proud while saying such words.

An’as, on the other hand, stood frozen, his thoughts in complete disarray.

Doesn’t matter to me if they take it. Not really my money. It belonged to Anne.

“Haha.”

An’as suddenly laughed, his feet staggering back as he looked at the merchant.

This… Motherfuc—

*

As one of the main cities of the Remnant South, and where the main temple of light was located, Virellith was a large and imposing city.

Finding a place to dock, the merchant and his crew got off the boat with the boxes in hand.

Neither of the three attracted much attention, as there were several others who appeared to do the same. The dock was rather lively, with merchants walking all over as they settled their goods around.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”

Anne looked at the surroundings with a calm expression.

She didn’t look at all out of place in this weird city.

Looking around, her gaze eventually fell on Lazarus.

“What should we do now?”

He was their current ‘leader’, so all decisions really fell on him. Although she was still extremely worried about the situation with the primordial one, her mind and thoughts were completely blank on how to handle the situation.

She had dealt with so many things in her life, and yet… This was the first time that she felt so helpless.

In such a situation, finding someone who appeared rather calm in such a despairing situation felt reassuring.

He also appeared to have some idea of their current situation.

Maybe, if it was him…

“There are a few things that I’d like to find out. For now, I’d like to visit a certain place.”

Lazarus’s head raised as his gaze settled over to a large steeple in the far-off distance.

“The Cathedral?”

Both An’as and Anne looked at the merchant with surprise. But then, their faces changed.

“That’s quite reckless.”

“There’s a bounty on us at this moment. If you were to go there then…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Lazarus’s voice remained calm as he kept his gaze fixed on the distant steeple.

“I’ve got my own means. For now, I’d like the two of you to find some place to rent and start selling the bones. At the same time, try to find out more about the current situation within the city and any possible news related to the Eclipsed Maw.”

“Well…”

Anne frowned, but then shook her head.

“There’s no need to go through such troublesome means.”

“Hm?”

“I know a few places where I can get the information that you need. All I really have to do is pay them. I’m going to head out there anyway, so this might just work out in all of our favor.”

“I see.”

Lazarus was a little surprised to hear this, but then again… She was one of the seven lords of the sea. She needed to be at least this bit capable in order to survive for so long.

He calmly nodded his head before looking at Anne.

“We can meet up here in two hours. Is that enough?”

“That should be plenty.” She nodded back before turning to look at An’as. “What about you? Are you going to come with me, or—”

“I’ll just set up the shop myself. It’s much easier that way.”

Pulling the box from Anne’s hands, An’as turned his attention elsewhere and got going.

Anne traced his back before going in a different direction.

“I’ll be back here in two hours, then.”

“Alright.”

Lazarus looked at the two leaving before turning his attention towards the distant church. He also started to get moving.

As he moved, his eyes fell on the top of the Ashen Steeple.

‘Goddess of Light… I wonder if she really is still alive.’

***

Virith-Anash.

Following the incident with the Luminarch and the merchant, the entire city was tense. The tensions were so high that even a random bystander felt it.

The bazaar was no longer as lively as it once had been, much of it left in ruins after the clash between the Luminarch and the merchant. Temple emissaries now roamed the streets with hawk-like expressions.

For the time being, the city was shrouded in a tense atmosphere.

Within a certain inn, a group of seven sat at a table.

As the last member entered the inn and pulled down his hood to reveal a pair of slick gray eyes, Leon paused, glancing at the others.

“So…? Did you guys find anything out about this place?”

“I more or less managed to find out quite a bit.”

“Same.”

“I think we all managed to get the same information.”

Right before entering the city, the eight of them decided to split and search for information about the place. From the currency to language, and everything about the place… They planned on learning all about it before meeting up at the inn a few hours after, which was now.

“The currency here seems to be the Solas, and it’s… everything here is quite overpriced.”

Aoife was the first one to speak as she tossed several coins on the table.

“They seem to be linked to the Goddess of Light, Panthea, and it appears that her influence within this region is massive. This also doesn’t look to be the only city. There are several other cities under her jurisdiction, with the main one located in a place called the Remnant South.”

As she spoke, Aoife couldn’t help but press her lips together.

Despite being royalty, she found herself at a total loss regarding the situation. Be it the Academy, or the Empire… Nobody had mentioned to her about certain places like this existing before.

She had always thought that the Mirror Dimension was some lonesome place with hardly any living humans, but this had completely shattered her perception of the place.

‘No, it makes sense when I think about it. Especially since there existed past kingdoms…’

But still, to suddenly find out about this place left her a little lost.

‘…It must also be quite far from the Academy crack since there’s been no mention of it in any books I’ve read before.’

Lost in thought, Aoife didn’t notice that Kiera had taken over the discussion.

“I’ve found pretty much the same things she did. To be honest, it’s kind of hard to communicate with the people here since the language is different, but thankfully, there are a few devices that can help with that. After that, I managed to find a few other things.”

Kiera began to share her findings.

Great Primordial one. Seven Lords of the Sea. Temple of the Goddess of Light. And so on…

She had very detailed reports on the situation.

Her reports were so detailed that it left everyone speechless.

“What?”

Seeing the looks that she was receiving, Kiera tilted her head.

“What’s wrong with all of you? Why does it look like you’re constipated?”

“….I don’t know about this.”

Aoife held onto the side of her arms.

“This new Kiera… I… am not really feeling it. In fact, I’m getting goosebumps. Holy shit.”

“Same.”

Evelyn also held her arms as they looked at Kiera, who frowned.

“You fuc—” The brows of both Aoife and Evelyn shot up when they saw that Kiera was about to swear. However, they quickly settled down in disappointment when Kiera stopped herself and shook her head.

“Never mind.”

“Tsk.”

“…We almost had her.”

Kiera clenched her fists but maintained her poker face.

Leon and the others were pretty much already used to the scene, so they didn’t say much. In the end, it was Caius who started speaking.

“I think everyone already knows most of the stuff, but I’ve found something interesting while exploring the place.”

All attention fell towards the quiet Caius as he looked around with a deadpan expression. From time to time, he’d show some semblance of emotion, but he was usually still deadpan.

“Some sort of incident occurred recently. It was between one of the seven lords mentioned by Kiera, the Luminarch, and… some sort of merchant.”

“A merchant?”

Leon curiously blinked his eyes. This was a piece of information he hadn’t heard. He had mainly focused on learning about the layout of the city and its structure.

He did notice several abnormalities, but he didn’t investigate deeply.

“Yes, a merchant… and it also looks like the merchant was able to take down the Luminarch, or at least, do something to him.”

“Wait, isn’t the Luminarch supposed to be strong? You’re telling me that a merchant was able to fight against him?”

Agatha suddenly spoke, her hand brushing her blonde hair back.

“What sort of fucked up merchant does this place have? Or is it that the Luminarch was weak?”

“No, far from it.”

Caius shook his head while recalling what he had heard.

“It’s the merchant who’s the strange one… He appeared out of nowhere and started trading bizarre goods, taking over most of the market within a week. There aren’t many detailed descriptions of him, but from what I’ve heard, he’s a fairly handsome middle-aged man with a calm, peaceful demeanor. He…”

Caius paused, sorting through the information in his mind.

“…I’ve tried asking for the merchant’s name, but it seems to be some sort of taboo around this place. It’s almost as if everyone is scared of mentioning him. Especially those that managed to witness his fight with the Luminarch.”

“That bad?” Leon asked, his brow raising in surprise.

“That bad.”

Caius replied back with a nod.

Leaning back, Kiera just barely stopped herself from clicking her tongue. Fucking habits…

“Then you don’t know his name?”

“No, I still managed to figure it out.”

“Oh?”

Everyone looked at Caius in surprise.

“Then? What is it…?”

As Aoife asked, Caius’s brows furrowed tightly. In the end, he mumbled,

“They called him the merchant with the thousand voices, Lazarus.”

Bang!

A chair fell all of a sudden as everyone turned to look at the pale-faced Leon, who stared directly at Caius.

“What did you say his name was?”

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