Chapter 10 – Sorard

Rowan walked further into the town, walking out in the open this time instead of trying to sneak around.

He walked further until he came to a small tavern-like building.

Inside it, there was only a couple people sitting around. Rowan went up to the counter and ordered a bowl of soup and placed down a few copper coins as payment.

Rowan went and sat down at one of the tables along the wall.

While he was waiting for his soup, a new guest walked in.

It was a middle-aged man in a torn and weathered grey robe. He was walking around and mumbling softly to himself, but Rowan and the other patrons didn't bother with him.

This town, being a place for the unwanted of society had all sorts of weird people here, so the muttering wasn't too out of the ordinary.

The man was someone Rowan had seen over the past few years, when he came about 5 years ago.

The man was named Sorard, an exile who was sent here due to constantly causing unrest among the city where he was from.

Rowan never knew what exactly it was that made him that way, but he wasn't going to bother.

Atleast, that was at first.

"Ah, Rowan! How are you doing young man! I wish you a happy birthday!" Sorard said with a smile crossing his face as he quickly made his way over and sat opposite of Rowan.

He was a bit surprised that Sorard had knew that it was his birthday, since he never told anyone about it besides Old John.

"Sorard, it's nice to see you. How have you been?" Rowan asked.

After hearing this question, Sorard became gloomy.

"They don't understand. They never could understand. The calamity, the apocalypse, it's coming. None of them know. None of them believe me. Do you believe me? I am sure you do. Why wouldn't anyone believe me?" Sorard began mumbling again.

Rowan gave a nervous gulp and stayed quiet, even as his soup was brought over.

He slowly began to eat his soup while occasionally glancing at Sorard, who seemed to break out of his trance.

"You. You could do something. I am sure of it. I can't see you. You're the only one I can't see." Sorard said.

At this part, Rowan began to get a little nervous. Hearing a raving madman saying these words was creepy to him.

"What can't you see?" Rowan asked.

Sorard began mumbling softly while gently rubbing his hand over a small woven crest on the chest of his robe.

Rowan couldn't hear the exact words, but the way he was speaking it, made it sound like a prayer.

He couldn't help himself and asked, "Who do you worship?"

He didn't recognize the symbol on the crest.

"Oh, me? I worship the "One Who Can See All", the God of Fate." Sorard said with a large smile. It seemed that was something he was proud of.

Rowan took a few moments to think about this.

"Then that means you can't see my fate?" Rowan asked.

Sorard seemed to hesitate and looked down and mumbled under his breath, and slowly lifting and raising various fingers.

"Hmm. I can see you, from others. But not you by yourself." Sorard eventually said.

Rowan could kind of understand what he was saying. He could see him, just not directly. Through fate.

He thought about his recent reincarnation, and his Unique Ability which he had only just acquired. He knew that there was something a bit different about himself, so he decided to believe Sorard, as odd as it may sound.

"Sorard, may I ask, why were you sent to this place?" He asked.

Sorard paused for a few moments before a look of grief and melancholy crossed his face. His entire mood seemed to drop.

"I tried to warn them. I really did. They labeled me a madman. I was able to see what others could not. A danger is approaching. We should be preparing. But no matter how much I tried to get officials or members of the church to listen, they didn't believe me. So, I went out to the streets, hoping to spread word to the people." Sorard said with an eerily calm tone.

"Only after people started to listen and ask the members of the church questions and demanding answers did, they start to target me again. They said that all my preaching was causing havoc among the people was causing problems, and a riot almost started. They asked me stop, and I still won't. Then I was sent here." He said with a slight sigh.

"I can't warn others, but I can warn you." Sorard looked up at Rowan with an unnerving seriousness.

"You, you need to leave this place. Tomorrow. It won't do you any good to stay here." He paused.

"The end of an era draws near. You need to be ready." Sorard said with a slight sigh, then his mood shifted again. He started mumbling softly to himself while standing back up and walking away without pause.

The sudden shift in the situation caused Rowan to stop and look down at his meal. He could faintly see his own reflection in his soup before a soft sigh escaped his lips as he began to eat and think.

'Sorard was always an odd one, but I didn't think that was what brought him here. A calamity, huh? A new era? It sounds interesting, but also dangerous.' Rowan thought.

He didn't know much about the history of this world. But he did know that they were currently in 4E 1894. This meant that it was currently known as the 1894th year of the 4th Era.

What he did know, was that when an era changes, in this world and his last, that it was brought about but something huge that would affect the world at that moment and for centuries to come.

'A calamity, an apocalypse that could end an era and start a new one. That does sound quite frightening. But where is the threat coming from? Why can only Sorard see it?' He thought.

No matter how much he tried to think on it, he just lacked the necessary information. His mind could only run around in circles, coming up with theories and ideas, but he couldn't actually verify anything. He lacked knowledge, and now he was beginning to understand that he lacked strength. Rowan had started to understand that there were mysterious abilities within this world after getting his [World Seed], so Sorard having one wasn't a huge leap. Then there was the part about counting on his fingers, which while he couldn't understand anything, it seemed to be something which Sorard could understand.

And with Sorard giving him the warning of leaving tomorrow, he could feel a need to leave this place. Before, he just had a rough estimate, but now he decided he would try to leave tomorrow.

Rowan walked out of the tavern after finishing his meal and walked back into the town, and went to says his goodbyes to Old John. The old man just quickly waved him away, not wanting a heartfelt farewell, but because the old man wouldn't look at him, he was sure that he was feeling emotional.

Rowan wasn't sure how to feel, since the emotions he felt of this past life had dimmed. He felt something, but it wasn't as intense as it should have been.

To this day, he still didn't understand the exact reason why the old man stayed in this town. His only guess would be something related to the small picture Old John kept stored under his bed in a chest, but he had never seen it.

Rowan let out a soft sigh as he turned and walked further into the town, and even further towards the ocean shore where there was a dock. It was only a bit after 7 PM, but due to the fog, it was already much darker and harder to see than usual.

'I wish I could eat that Silver Star Fruit to see, but I need to save it.' He thought.

At the dock was a couple of boats, mainly used for fishing.

But there was a small boat that was used to ferry people from this small island to the closest town connected to the rest of the world, Farway Town. If there wasn't any fog, Rowan knew that he would be able to see it in the distance. It wasn't too far actually, but it was too far to swim. Who knew for sure what was in the ocean?

Rowan went aboard the ship, and found the captain of the ship and a couple workers.

After telling them his purpose, and paying 2 silvers in fees to be allowed to travel with them, he was set.

He had taken a large burlap sack and filled it with a few items to show proof of his profession, like his tools and a few carvings. It wasn't much, but it would prevent people from questioning him if he didn't carry anything.

This was the only boat that would travel between Farway Town and Strata Town.

It would make a trip once a week, to bring supplies to be sold, and for anything the people in town wanted to sell. While also acting as a method of travel between the two places.

Aside from there being little value here that only one boat was needed, the more serious reason was because of the islands purpose.

If they put exiles on the island, they wanted to keep them there. So, when this boat reached the port at Farway Town, some guards would check them over with a booklet to make sure that they weren't exiles trying to escape. Maybe that was the reason Sorard stayed?

Rowan let out a small yawn as he found a place on the deck to sleep. He pulled out his shabby blanket from his burlap sack and draped it over himself. There wasn't any more space to accommodate him inside the boat under the deck, so he could only stay outside.

Rowan wasn't too worried, since they would be leaving in the morning. He was already starting to drool when imagining the better food, he would be able to get soon.

Under the soft rocking of the boat on top of the waves, Rowan drifted asleep, huddling under his blanket.

He had a dreamless sleep and woke again a bit early in the morning. It was around 6 AM, and there was still a bit of fog that had yet to clear up.

He decided to rest and close his eyes.

Atleast, that's what it appeared like. Even when his body stayed in Faentar, he could still focus his mind on his [World Seed], and manipulate it to an extent.

[Mana: 36/36 (+3 per minute)]

[Nature Energy: 36/36 (+0.8 per minute)]

'36 cubic yards of space in total. Divide it by 3, and I would get 12. So, I can grow the space by an additional 12 cubic yards, bringing the space up to 48 cubic yards, and 48 as the maximum energy storage for both mana and nature energy.' He thought.

Rowan made his decision, and grew it a little bit bigger.

He added 1 yard in total to the entire space's width. 3 yards because of the length, and 4 from the height, would be a surface area of 12 yards. It may seem like the space was only growing at a small pace, but it would definitely start adding up.

The dirt space, which he could stand and walk around on, went from 9 square yards, to 12 square yards.

[4 yards wide x 3 yards long x 4 yards tall]

Rowan nodded slightly, and felt glad that he was getting such growth. It was just a little, but it was still a welcome change.

He could only add on to the growth of it as fast as the Nature Energy generated, since it was the slowest.

At the now 48 total storage on both, and 0.8 a minute, he would need to wait 60 minutes before he could grow it again.

With that finished, he went back to focusing on what was happening around him.

He opened his eyes, and looked around at some of the sailors getting prepared for the day.