After leaving the small alley behind his house, Zavi walked on the bustling sidewalk, filled with people preoccupied with their own affairs. The sun wasn't too harsh today, and the cold air around him mixed with the smoke from the steam locomotive company.
He kept walking on the pavement, waiting for a horse-drawn carriage to pass. Two minutes later, from the intersection, his gaze swept over a crowd gathered around something, accompanied by voices laced with panic.
Curious about what the people were looking at, Zavi immediately ran toward them. When he was just a few steps away, he heard words that made his body freeze.
"What did he say? A beautiful world hidden by mountains?" he muttered softly.
He glanced left and right before slipping through a gap between the people standing in front of him. After navigating the throng with difficulty, his curiosity was finally satisfied right before his eyes.
In front of the bakery stood a square wooden board, approximately ninety centimeters long and fifty centimeters wide, used to display news and black-and-white illustrations.
Events occurring in the city, industries in the Kingdom of Norn, politics, criminal threats, and supernatural matters, such as the drastically increasing mystery of daily deaths, would be published on the displayed news-sheets and also in the newspapers distributed by delivery officers.
"Hidden beautiful world...?" Zavi's eyes widened as he mumbled to himself. "But it's written here that its location is not precisely known and isn't on the continental map."
"How did they find this information?" he said, stunned after contemplating the words in front of him.
Then, he decided to leave the spot and continue his journey, turning right onto Street No. 10, Counting Street.
Fifteen minutes later, Zavi was forced to walk to the old consultant's house since he couldn't find a horse-drawn carriage along the road.
His face suddenly crumpled because he hadn't eaten or drunk anything since morning, not even since the previous night.
He twisted his head right and left with his mouth slightly agape. His legs trembled as he stood still in the middle of the sidewalk, being watched by other people, some of whom were talking about him. But he didn't care—more accurately, his ears suddenly seemed to stop working.
Following that, a man wearing a white shirt under a brown suit happened to pass by and involuntarily stared at Zavi's slumped back.
His eyes widened. Recognizing what Zavi was experiencing, he felt that he himself had gone through the same thing. Finally, the man immediately hastened his pace to approach him.
"Hey, Mister..." the man said. Zavi turned his head with an exhausted look. "You look incredibly pale. Have you not eaten or drunk anything at all?" he asked sympathetically.
Zavi nodded slowly. His lips were trembling violently, and no words came out of his mouth.
"I see. Would you like to eat with me?" the man asked enthusiastically, signaling for them to move right away.
"O-Okay..." Zavi stammered and walked, following the man from behind.
Afterward, the two of them stood right at the door of one of the eateries that was quite busy on a normal day—especially since people claimed the food there was delicious and affordable.
Both of them craned their necks, staring at the shop sign hanging above before stepping inside.
Ting...
The door, designed with two glass panels on the right and left, swung open, followed by the sound of the bell chiming again as the door closed.
"Welcome..." said a woman behind the counter, greeting them with a gentle tone and a friendly smile.
Zavi's body suddenly straightened; he didn't want to show his poor state to a woman. The man standing next to him was surprised and instantly turned his head sideways.
"I knew it," he murmured quietly.
The two walked closer to the counter table. Afterward, the man asked for the available food and drink menu at the eatery.
The woman nodded with a smile, retrieved the menu paper and a pen from a drawer, and immediately placed them on the counter table.
"Please take your time choosing. Once you've decided on the right order, please let me know," the woman said with a welcoming smile.
The man glanced from the top corner of the paper down the menu, and after confirming a suitable order, he handed the menu paper to Zavi, who was standing beside him.
Zavi accepted it happily, even though his facial expression was indifferent. He stared at the menu paper for five seconds, searching for food and drinks that suited him.
After confirming his choices, he suddenly realized that he had been invited here by the man who had suddenly approached and spoken to him.
"Mister..." His expression turned serious. "Are you sure you want to treat me?" he asked, confirming that the man genuinely intended to pay for his meal.
The two exchanged glances before the man chuckled softly and replied, "Don't worry about it. Besides, this is the first time I've received a salary, and there's no harm in treating someone else like you."
"And... Please don't call me 'Mister.' I'm actually only twenty years old," he said, taking the menu paper and returning it to the woman.
Zavi's eyes widened.
"Are you really twenty years old? But you look like a man in his forties," Zavi said, half-joking.
The man burst out laughing, not expecting to find a person who was good at making such strange jokes.
And this was the first time he had spoken to anyone other than his own family. Remembering that, the man smiled, never expecting that he had been freed from his cage of solitude.
Zavi briefly glanced his way. Since he already knew he was being treated this time and had decided what food and drinks he would order.
He looked at the woman.
"I apologize if you were uncomfortable with the conversation earlier," Zavi said softly, pointing toward the man and handing the menu paper back to him.
"It's fine, Mister. I've often experienced this! He-he-he," her replied with a forced smile.
Both of them had checked off their respective food and drinks, and the woman pointed her index finger to the right, indicating two empty seats that formed a circle in the center.
Nodding, the two turned around, walked with steady steps, and sat facing each other.
"So... We haven't introduced ourselves yet. Allow me. My name is Dave Matthews."
"Oh... My name is Zavi Actitus," he said indifferently, extending his hand forward, waiting for Dave to shake it.
Dave understood and immediately shook his hand with a small smile.
"But I didn't expect us to meet again, Z-Zavi," he stammered.
Zavi immediately lifted his head, his blue eyes staring intently at him as he tried to recall where he had met him before.
"Is it possible... Mister, no, I mean Dave, the one I accidentally bumped into at the park in the Tezny district?"
"That's exactly right..." Dave smiled and reflexively snapped his fingers.
Kletak...
"Huh, it's a small world, isn't it?" Zavi said with a sigh, not expecting to run into him again.
After the brief introduction and reunion, ten minutes later, their food and drinks arrived. They were delivered by a man wearing a blue apron with an unfriendly face—quite the opposite of the woman standing at the counter table.
But neither of them cared about the waiter. Before them, on the table, was the eatery's recommended beef steak, still steaming and emitting a fragrant aroma that tickled their noses.
Zavi hadn't expected that Dave had ordered a steak for him. In the end, they both ate mixed meat stew with smoked fish, steak, and pudding for dessert.