Tearha: The Number 139

Chapter Five: Triage Diplomat

For as long as he had lived, The Watcher had always followed. Never once was he allowed to set his own path. Not when the fate of the world was at stake. Not when his brother died. Even now, he was trotting behind Adelaide as she led him through the white forest, crossing creeks and hills that looked all too similar to him, but apparently were familiar enough to the green-haired elf that she needed no second glance to find her direction.

They reached a cliff edge that led down into a small basin. Adelaide peered over the edge, seemingly with half a mind to simply jump down, but decided to circle around to a slope for him to walk. The pond in the middle of the depression was clear, the water rippling from the landing of gentle snow and dust.

He slid down the last of the slope, skidding to a stop by her side. "What are we doing here?"

She pointed to the pond. "Look in there."

He did so, squinting into the deep of the water. It was deeper than he had expected, and darkness engulfed it before he could see the bottom. "I don't see anything. There's a few fishes though."

"Look closer, moron."

He snapped her an irate look before turning back to the pond. He squatted by the water-side, and tilted his head away from the light. And then he saw it. The figure in the water was huge, the size of the entire pond. Part of it stuck into the dirt, extending into the earth below.

"What's that? It's a giant...hand?"

The hand, made of brown, marble-like stone was easily a hundred times his size. Each phalanx of the finger was the size and height of his body. He shivered at the thought of what creature the hand could be attached to. It would have rivalled mountains and skyscrapers. A single finger could crush his body if he was ever caught by such a monster.

Adelaide commented, "It's the hand of a sentient." He turned to her with a confused look and she sighed as she tried to simplify her explanation. "A sentient is a class of Titan. Titans are basically extremely large creatures. Giants, dragons, mechs, golems. Those are Titans."

He did not understand half of the phrases she used. Gist of it, sure. And he definitely heard giants and dragons. "So basically a very large creature..." He turned back to the hand. Eyes still on the pond, he got to his feet. "What does this have to do with this favour you wanted?"

She found a large rock and settled down on it. "Humans have been trespassing into my forest for decades. Usually I'd chase them off. Sometimes, when they fight back, I kill them. All because they want that hand."

The Watcher turned to her and asked, "Why? What's so special about a rocky appendage?"

"It's made of titanium."

"So?" He took out his pocket watch. "My watch is made of titanium too."

"Then you better hold onto it. Titanium is rare, away from Katoki. The amount in your watch is enough to buy a new carriage."

"You're kidding."

"Eltar has some of the best metallurgists in the world. A team of master blacksmith and Enhancer could use it to create weapons that slices through any other metal like paper." She drew her axe out of boredom and twirled it in her hands. She had apparently come used to explaining her world to him. "And because most metals rust, they use titanium for blimps that travels across the oceans. A load like this one here could buy an entire district in Everwind."

Where he came from, titanium was questionably useful. It was expensive and hard to work with, but was still stronger and lighter than steel. But it was by no means flawless. Unless they had a workaround for it's downside of being hard to harden, shape, and handle. And there was only one thing he heard during the explanation that could have made that difference.