Chapter 37: The City Built on a Volcano
As the ship finally set sail, Hachiman finally had a chance to talk with the gang-leader uncle.
The uncle's name was Rusa, his son was Isiharu, his only child, and the Cretan girl was Pinarruti—a pink, youthful Cretan beauty. From a modern perspective, Hachiman judged that Isiharu had hit the jackpot; Pinarruti was high-quality even for that era.
Rusa was a powerful maritime merchant in the entire Aegean, traveling to all known trade hubs of the time. He commanded a fleet of dozens of ships, controlling most of the seafaring vessels of Thera. Truly, the title of "first tycoon of Thera" was well deserved.
Like the Cretans, the Therans' politics revolved around temples, and their merchants were intermediaries. Rusa was no exception—his main goods were metals, olive oil, wine, pottery, and spices.
Hachiman didn't know much about Rusa's hobbies, but one thing was certain: scolding his son was definitely one of Rusa's favorite pastimes.
For example, shortly after Hachiman began chatting with him, Rusa saw his son playing with a rope at the bow of the ship and immediately lost his temper.
After apologizing to Hachiman, he strode over to Isiharu. As an experienced "scolding specialist," he used the classic "sneak up quietly, then suddenly scold" approach.
Rusa adjusted his cloak, sat next to Isiharu, and patted his thigh, looking exhausted.
Isiharu eyed him warily, but seeing his father seemingly ignoring him, the unlucky boy relaxed and continued playing with the rope.
The next moment, disaster struck.
"You embarrassed me, and you embarrassed the Therans in front of the Cretans!" Rusa launched his attack so suddenly that even Hachiman was dumbfounded, let alone Isiharu—he hadn't even processed what was happening.
"And in front of your fiancée, your fiancée's mother, and my loyal business partners! Not to mention a friend I just met today, you made me look bad in front of him too!"
By the time Rusa reached peak scolding mode and even included Hachiman in the list, Isiharu finally realized he was being berated.
Dropping the rope, he weakly protested: "The ground was shaking, so the bull got scared."
"You were shaking when you landed," Rusa said sideways, giving his son a look that said, you're really a useless brat.
"Maybe it was a hint!" Isiharu tried to explain.
"Exactly! A hint that you're undertrained!" Rusa's response, in every sense, crushed all of Isiharu's excuses.
Isiharu fell silent, brooding, while Rusa continued to lecture him about all the people he had embarrassed, including those he didn't even know.
If it weren't for his future wife stepping in with a sympathetic "I didn't think you were embarrassed," Isiharu might have jumped overboard.
Not wanting to show his nagging side on the first day, Rusa finally shut up. The rest of the journey was silent.
This calm persisted until a towering cliff appeared ahead at the bow of the ship.
Not only was Pinarruti seeing this sight for the first time, Hachiman also stood up.
The cliff marked the connection between the inner sea of ancient Thera and the surrounding outer islands, the entrance to the inner sea from the Aegean.
Within the inner sea was the historically famous Thera volcano.
From Hachiman's perspective, the volcano was very active, with visible gases continuously rising from the mountain. Thick smoke from the crater formed pillars that shot into the clouds.
Pinarruti, clearly seeing a volcano for the first time, gazed with wide, curious eyes.
By contrast, Isiharu, the local, reacted differently.
"What is that?" he asked, both fearful and confused, staring at the smoke from the crater.
Rusa didn't answer, his expression serious. He watched the volcano for a moment before turning to direct his servants—the ship was about to dock.
Before Rusa could turn, Hachiman asked,
"What is the name of this island?"
"Poseidon," Rusa replied, then continued directing his crew to dock the ship.
Hachiman noticed that when Rusa said "Poseidon," his expression was subtle and contained only negative emotions.
Hachiman didn't take it too seriously—after all, even ancient people generally held gods in reverence, not admiration.
He didn't disturb Rusa as the ship docked. Once it was secured, Hachiman stepped onto the ancient city built atop the towering volcano.
Ignoring the Therans' poor sense of city planning, the urban construction itself surpassed even that of the Cretans.
Buildings lined the streets densely. There were single- and multi-story structures capable of withstanding frequent earthquakes, indicating excellent construction quality.
Hachiman recalled that the ancient Therans had apparently built an underground sewage system connected to indoor toilets. Whether true or not, he didn't bother verifying—after all, it was a sewage system, not a water supply.
After surveying the city, Hachiman decided to say goodbye to Rusa.
This city was destined to perish, so there was no need to linger and soften his resolve. Even if he did nothing, the city wouldn't last long—the seismic power deep within the island had been accumulating for over a thousand years. Even Hachiman, with dominion over the earth, could only delay or mitigate it, not eliminate it.
As he prepared to leave, Rusa called out behind him.
"Hey! Friend! Come to my house for a banquet tonight."
"A banquet?" Hachiman turned. "Are you celebrating your son's wedding?"
After a moment, he said, "Congratulations. But I want to check out that island. Let's say goodbye here."
"You also want to visit the god's shrine?" Rusa raised an eyebrow. "My childish son went earlier. He actually thinks the gods will care about him."
"That's not good. You should bring him back," Hachiman said, shaking his head. Then he added, "By the way, when did your Poseidon Island start smoking? Has this happened before?"
"For two days," Rusa replied, a bit puzzled by Hachiman's curiosity about the island, or the Therans' view of it as a divine abode. But Hachiman had more important matters, so Rusa didn't dwell on it. He continued, "If you want to do big business here, you must know the island's priests. I'll invite them to the banquet as well."
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