When they disembarked, they met with a man at the port. After Herman greeted him, they left the docks together and turned into a back alley. A carriage was waiting for them there.
As they approached, two men in police uniforms stepped out of the carriage and grabbed Paul Smith by the arms. At that moment, Herman released his control over the man's mind. Paul's legs immediately gave out, and he collapsed like a sack of grain between the officers. The police tossed the frail, half-conscious man into the carriage.
"Thank you. I'll leave the rest to you," Herman told the man. Without another word, they left the alley.
Throughout all this, Arsh simply followed Herman and Bera without saying anything. Soon, took another carriage. As they moved through the city, he watched the passing streets with curious eyes.
Tirsit didn't look as chaotic as Thage. It was crowded, but unlike Thage, everyone seemed to resemble one another. They walked at the same pace, wearing the same styles of clothing. Everything in the city felt orderly. The buildings were grand and magnificent, and there were so many trees in the park areas—he had never seen so many trees gathered in one place before. It was exactly like the pictures of Tirsit he had seen in books and newspapers.
But the people, the buildings, the streets, even the sky—all seemed gray and lifeless. Most of the time, the sunlight disappeared behind the clouds, with the light reaching the surface only once in a while. As Arsh looked at the view of the city, an uncomfortable feeling settled in his chest.
He felt a little better once their carriage left the crowded streets and alleys. This time, instead of massive crowds, they entered a neighborhood with only a few people wandering around, filled with large gardens and grand manors. Even though it was more open, and less crowded than the city center, that same strange grayness was still there.
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of an iron gate. When they got off, the two guards waiting at the gate opened it without asking any questions.
When Arsh stepped through the door, he found himself in a vast garden surrounded by high walls. About a hundred meters from the entrance stood a manor.
While Arsh was staring in awe at the building and the beauty of the garden, he noticed someone watching him. It was a boy who had appeared at the door of the manor, looking as if he were waiting for them.
As they walked toward the manor, the boy also approached them with slow steps.
"Professor Reiner is waiting for you in the glasshouse. Please, come this way," he said with a smile.
Instead of going inside the manor, they turned to the left side and came upon another magnificent place. It wasn't as big as the manor, but it was a beautiful glass structure.
Arsh had read about glasshouses before. People could grow vegetables and fruits here in every season. Also, rich people in the cities liked to have places where they could produce different kinds of flowers.
The boy opened the door of the glasshouse for them. As Arsh stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was the humidity in the air and the fragrance of flowers. While taking deep breaths to adjust to the air, they walked further inside. The place was filled with trees, flowers, and other plants that Arsh had never had the chance to see before.
A little further ahead, Arsh saw a man trimming the branches of a sapling. He was a tall man—not as tall as Juan, but still tall. He had wavy hair with a weird color; some parts were brownish while others were blond. He had his hair tied back. Wearing silver-rimmed glasses, a white shirt, and a black necktie, he looked quite distinguished.
He was exactly the kind of man Arsh thought a professor should look like.
When they got close, the man stopped what he was doing.
"Have you arrived? How was your journey?" he asked in a soft voice. It was a peaceful voice.
When he saw Arsh behind Herman and Bera, he smiled.
"You must be the desert treasure."
'Treasure… me?' Arsh couldn't understand what he meant.
Instead of speaking, he pointed at himself as if to confirm he had heard correctly.
"Juan mentioned you a little in his telegram. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Edwin Reiner."
Setting aside his pruning shears and slipping off his gloves, he approached Arsh.
"Arsh," he said.
"Ash Godwin... No wonder Juan chose that name. He's not exactly the most creative person, as you can see. Juan didn't tell me much, except that he was sending me a treasure he'd found in the desert. Later, he mentioned you helped them find their targets. For that, we are indebted to you. I'll do my best to assist you. But first, you must be exhausted. Follow Mes. He'll show you to your room. Take a shower and rest for a while. We'll meet at lunchtime."
Then he turned the boy who had accompanied them to the glasshouse,
"Mes, show him to a room where he can rest."
The boy named Mes gave Arsh a smile and gestured toward the door. Together, they began walking back toward the manor they had passed a moment earlier.
"For now, you can rest here. After lunch, I'll take you to the place where you'll actually be staying. We'll be staying there together. By the way, I haven't introduced myself properly. My name is Mes Milton. I've been living here for the past ten years."
"I'm Arsh... Is Mr. Reiner your relative?"
"Ah, no. Bera brought me here... You know, the young man who came with you. He's not really the talkative type, so he usually doesn't introduce himself."
Arsh nodded. During their three-day journey to Tirsit, Bera had uttered only a couple of sentences.
"So, how did you end up here?" Arsh asked.
"You know… there was a war with Aksum seventeen years ago. My father was a soldier. He died there. And my mother passed away soon after. Honestly, I don't remember it well. I was homeless... When I was nine. I was kidnapped, and…"
He paused, lifting the sleeve of his shirt. There was a big wound on his arm.
"You know what this means. It used to be a siuni. But of course, I wasn't worthy to have one. Bera saved me from the people who did this to me. Thanks to Professor Reiner, I survived. He prevented the siuni from killing me. I've been here ever since, helping with errands and continuing my studies."
The boy looked three or four years younger than him, and far too frail to do any kind of job.
Arsh glanced again at the wound. It looked quite severe. Then he suddenly realized something.
"You said your father died in the war with Aksum. How old are you?"
"I'll be turning twenty soon."
Arsh didn't say anything, but he was certain his surprise was written all over his face. 'He doesn't look a day over fourteen,' he thought.
Mes seemed to understand exactly what was going through Arsh's mind. Smiling, he raised his arm and showed the wound once more.
"I look much younger, right? Haha… please, I'm barely alive. Because it was a failed siuni, it keeps draining my body and soul. I'm grateful I even managed to grow this much."
"Then you're older than me. I didn't realize, sorry," Arsh said.
"It's okay. Let's just get along well. We'll be staying together from now on."
Now he understood Juan—and why he had taken him to the old healer when they first met. If things had gone wrong, just like they had for Mes, he could have faced a much worse fate, or he would have long been dead in that burial chamber along with the other villagers.
But he still didn't fully understand how the siuni worked. He had already realized that Juan and his teammates didn't know much about it either. They had only said that they were lucky—lucky that their bodies and souls were strong enough to accept the siuni.
'How could anyone know whether they were worthy or not before trying it?'
It was the exact same question Will had written in his notebook.
Now that he knew he was worthy, he no longer worried about that part—but there was still so much he wanted to learn.
With these thoughts in mind, he continued walking. But the moment they stepped inside the manor, his attention shifted entirely to his surroundings.
Everything inside the manor possessed a certain quiet beauty. The wallpaper in the main hall, the carpets, the chandeliers, the paintings—though all of it was unfamiliar to him and far from anything he was used to—he could still sense the refined taste behind each room they passed. Every object carried a quiet elegance of its own.
Following Mes up the stairs, Arsh entered the room he led him to. He was surprised that a guest like himself had been given such a spacious room. He hadn't really thought about it before, but for some reason he had expected they would take him to a place more like the house Juan had been staying in Thage.
"Rest here. The bathroom is over there; you can take a shower before resting if you want. Use anything as you like. It's only seven. I'll wake you around one."
"Thank you," Arsh said.
Mes reminded him once more to get some rest, then closed the door and left. Arsh did as he was told. After taking a shower and lying down, he realized just how much the sea had worn him out. Even though the bed wasn't moving, he still felt as if it were swaying. Despite that, he fell asleep almost immediately because of exhaustion.