Summoning the Directorium

Chapter 5: The Principality

Principality of Qua-Toyne, October 1639

Port Town of Kuina

Located at the eastern coasts of the Qua-Toynian Principality, a certain town stood. This town is called Kuina. Due to its coastal location, the town features infrastructure that supports maritime activities. One of those facilities would be the modest-sized dock where ships of all sizes would moor.

Next to one of the port's platforms, two ships had just docked. Those ships would be an Indonesian fishing boat and a Qua-Toynian warship. The Qua-Toynian vessel had towed the Indonesian boat from the western ocean and had finally come to a stop at their destination. Also behind the Qua-Toynian vessel is a large corpse of a red shark.

The two vessels had previously encountered each other some hundreds of kilometers away. In the midst of disputing claims on which country owned that part of the sea, the Indonesian and Qua-Toynian vessels were suddenly attacked by a sea monster. Fortunately, the beast, known as a 'White Eyes Shark', was killed off with the use of a liquefied petroleum gas tank. However, the Indonesian fishing boat had suffered damages to its propeller and was subsequently towed to this town. By extension, the owner of said fishing boat was also brought along.

Disembarking from the Qua-Toynian boat was Midori, the captain of the vessel, and Fakhili, a fisherman and the owner of the Indonesian boat. Trailing behind the Indonesian fisherman was his son, Anton.

"My crew will be handling that sea monster. Meanwhile, we'll be heading to the Maritime Authority building," Midori stated. "Please follow me."

Fakhili, alongside his son Anton, followed the Qua-Toynian captain to the so-called Maritime Authority building. As they walked through the dock's platforms, Fakhili looked back at his boat which was still immobilized by White Eyes' attack. He was grateful that it wasn't sunk but he still had a heavy heart due to the damages that occurred. After all, he had been using that same boat for decades and took good care of it.

"I still can't believe such a monster exists," Fakhili commented as he looked at the shark's corpse.

"It was a miracle that we've only encountered the juvenile one and that there's an explosive onboard," Midori replied.

"Wait, that thing wasn't even an adult?!"

Fakhili took a second look at the shark. It was already almost as big as his boat yet this sea monster isn't even in its largest.

Midori nodded, "I told you that these things can grow as large as whales. We're lucky that this one is green and clueless. God knows what chaos an adult one would bring."

Fakhili shivered at the thought of a whale-sized shark. He instantly knew that it would literally dwarf both of their vessels and bring it down to the bottom of the ocean. If such a monster exists, how would the people even survive?

Midori had noticed the grim look on the fisherman's face and went to address it.

"Don't worry! the navy handles these monsters, but we often lean on the Altarans for help."

"The what..?" Fakhili asked.

"You don't know? They're a kingdom northwest from here. They're masters of killing sea monsters in this region."

Midori found it even more peculiar that the fisherman had never heard of the Altarans. For such a person to be ignorant of a major regional player was strange. This made him ever more curious about them. Meanwhile, Fakhili still couldn't quite understand what Midori had explained due to the fact that he had never heard of a country named Altaras. The same case applied to Qua-Toyne that Midori came from which surprisingly was real.