Emissaries - A Kai Side Story

Chapter 2: The Gilded City of the Wastes

NOTE: This is rose. I'm not sure if you've been made aware, but I was hospitalized for the entire week last week due to dengue. I'm now better, so here's the first of two chapters I want to release this week.

Discord: https://discord.gg/wEp44XuaT3

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Cent. Calendar 10/09/1639, port town of Savdid, Quila, 9:30

"Goddammit... It's so hot..."

Hot air and pained groans left the throat of one Izumi Hikari as she rested her crossed arms against the rails of the ship she was on. Despite the plentiful shade offered by the ship's overhanging superstructure, there was little escape from the almost 35-degree heat that was seething through the air. Unable to carry on with the heat, she tossed aside her reservations and reached for her still cold, recently filled canteen and drenched her rapidly heating throat with much-needed water.

"Say it ain't so..."

Suffering in a similar fashion beside her was her best friend and fellow archaeologist Kita Michi, whose usual sparkling disposition had long translated into heavy groans and runaway perspiration.

There was little in the way of cloud cover when they looked around: the sun pretty much had the entirety of the great blue sky to itself, in addition to whatever poor soul lay on the ground beneath. They were still at sea, but they were already in line to dock at the port of a town known as Savdid, one of the sea-based entryways into the kingdom of Quila, a desolate state that borders Qua-Toyne. They've only ever heard of the kingdom via hearsay from other scholars, indirect mentions from the Qua-Toynian natives, and newspaper headlines from back home. Unfortunately, all that they've heard about the supposedly desolate nation painted a bleak picture: a poor state of all sorts of demi-humans living in harsh, desert-like conditions.

It didn't take much of a head turn to the right for them to bask their eyes on their first sight of the Quilan landscape.

"It's pretty much what I expected..."

Simple buildings made out of mud brick-like substances with some standout complexes and walls–a scene that echoes the West African Sahel region. There was some vegetation here and there, most prominently trees and shrubbery, but it was a stark contrast–a far cry even–from the luscious green forests they've seen back in Qua-Toyne. The port was less deserted; there were many fishing boats of all shapes and sizes populated by muscular beastmen hauling their catch off their vessels and onto the . However, much like the port of Myhark, Savdid was not free from the grip of the near omnipresent shadow of Japanese expansion.

"A beautiful native port town... if not for the countless cargo ships, burgeoning modern port facilities, and that."

Past the long queue of cargo ships and tankers was a massive construction complex off to the port's east, complete with workers, heavy equipment, and even sky-high cranes that dwarfed the native Savdid settlement next door. From what it looks like, it appears that it was going to be some sort of oil facility, presumably to exploit the seemingly ceaseless deposits of non-renewables found in the state. Though how much of this was fairly and justly brokered with the native authorities of Quila remains to be seen to them.

"I know that it's hot and that there are many sights to behold, but we have to focus on the objective at hand."

Their red-haired Italian friend, Cecilia, walks up to the two and joins in on the sightseeing with her camera, very much in contrast to what she just said.

"Right. Site X–no, Krko..."

"Mhm... There's nothing much to go on about it other than the few black and white pictures we've been given."