The port was not too far from the marketplace since goods and commodities needed to be transported often from the two locations.
Adori thought of taking the carriage again but decided against it when she looked at the condition of money she had on herself. It was a meager amount.
I think I bought too many.
She looked at all the bags she had on herself. It contained a lot of food items spanning from vegetables to fruits to all the way to canned items.
It was not like she and Emis needed this much food, but she had thought splurging that much amount of money just this one time might have did her good. Maybe it would have given her useful information.
But...no. It had all been for naught.
As she walked southwards toward the port, Adori made up her mind. This time, she would not be cajoling anyone anymore. And she absolutely was not going to spend any more of the little money she had on herself.
Time seemed to have blurred between questioning people in the market and the walk towards the port, since it was already past noon when Adori reached her destination.
The smell of the ocean immediately invaded her senses. Adori took deep breaths as she watched the clear view of the ocean under the bright sun. The sight of the glimmering waves when the wind blew them northwards put a smile on Adori's face.
It was a sight she had dearly missed.
A memory of herself when she was younger entered her mind. A carefree, young and naive child who would often play near the ocean from morning till sunset. Searching for beautiful seashells near the beach had been her favourite hobby then.
How times have changed...
"How much longer are you going to keep dawdlling? I'm about to starve here." Emis, who she carried on her arms, said to her in a low voice.
The sound of Emis' voice had immediately brought Adori out of her trip down the memory lane. She cleared her throat suddenly and continued the path she was taking.
"I know, I know. I just stopped for a second," she muttered under her breath.
Emis looked up at her from where he sat, clearly not buying her words.
"You don't have to lie. I know you miss Verdant."
That made Adori scoffed under her breath. "The only thing I miss about that place is the summer."
"We have summer here too," Emis nonchalantly replied.
"Yeah. But the summers in Verdant were more fun." Adori looked around the area. "I mean this is fun too. But the mood in the southwest was just in a league of their own, you know."
Emis closed his eyes as Adori said those words. Clearly the Yvelin had also missed the many fun activities summer used to bring in the southwestern lands.
Now that they settled down in one of the northeastern regions—an island located on the northern side of one of the kingdoms in the eastern continent—both her and Emis was dearly missing what could have been in another time.
They did not walk far before they reached the busy part of the port. The place was packed with people of all ages. Adori had not visited the port often and was almost overwhelmed by the amount of moving and shouting there was.
The scene somehow made it looked like all the residents of Ime Island gathered together all at once. Adori hadn't known there could be this much people present on this small island.
When she first arrived on Ime with Emis, it was on nighttime and thus fewer people were around. Back then, her first impression of the island had been 'cozy'—the kind where a few residents inhabited the place.
But as she walked around looking at all the workers and passerbys, she thought of how wrong she had been.
She had lived here for three months already, and in all those three months, she had rarely interacted with the residents of the island. Other than the Varn family, she had not one person she could call by name.
Others might call her a shut-in, but she rather liked to call it 'strategic avoidance'. The reason was simple.
It's the best way to stay away from nosy people.
Adori had never liked interacting with people she was unfamiliar with. That was why it had been close to a miracle that Rebek could befriend her so easily.
Speaking of people she was unfamiliar with, Adori suddenly stopped on her tracks when the view of someone she knew entered her line of sight.
Rather than calling it unfamiliar though, it was closer to the term dislike. This was because the person she saw was the one who screamed at Rebek the loudest in the station, Seren's mother.
Adori had not known she worked at the port. Whether it was logistics or entertainment or whatever her job was, Adori knew in the back of her head running into Seren's mother was sure to make a scene regardless of where they were.
She quickly walked the other direction before the woman could spot her. This was not because Adori was afraid of the tall and slightly buffed woman, really no. It was simply due to the fact that she did not want to waste her time causing some unnessary scene in the port of all places.
She went around the alleyways in between the buildings. After turning left and right and repeat again and again, Adori was not sure anymore where exactly she was going.
"Where are we, Emis? Are we still in the port?" She looked at the cat in her arms.
Emis was silent. Adori lowered her head and saw that Emis was looking toward her left, staring at something. She immediately followed his line of sight.
To Adori's surprise, there sat an old man in one of the dark corners of the buildings. His clothes were tattered and he was sitting on a ragged cloth he flattened on the ground.
The old man was staring at Adori.
Adori gulped seeing the old man.
"Umm..." Adori did not know why she wanted to talk to the old man, but her mouth was moving faster than she could process the situation. "Can you help me? I think I'm lost."
The old man did not answer. Adori bit her lips in nervousness as she felt deeply uncomfortable by the old man's stare.
"Um.. can you hear me?" She asked again.
She slowly backed her feet away from the old man. Sensing she was not going to get her answer from him, she was about to turn around when she heard a low sound of humming beside her.
It came from the old man. Goosebumps travelled throughout Adori's body when she turned her gaze toward the man again.
He was still staring at her while humming to himself. His eyes were that of an icy predator who was surveying its prey. Thinking, preparing, waiting... for that right moment to jump on its prey.
Suddenly he stood up from his seat. The act made Adori froze in her place.
There was a quick movement on her arms. Adori was still sane enough to turn her head toward the movement.
It was Emis. He had jumped to the ground the moment the old man stood up from where he sat.
The man took a step when he saw Emis glaring at him. This made the Yvelin hissed.
That shocked Adori. This was the first time she had ever seen Emis hissing at someone, anyone.
The act was like a confirmation for her that this place was danger—the old man was danger.
Completely in contrast to a few minutes before, her mind was now moving faster than her own body.
Run run run run run...
The man took another step forward. This time, Adori did not freeze. She quickly took a step forward and scooped Emis in her arms.
She did not think of anything when she turned her body and ran toward the opposite direction of the man. Her mind was blank and her feet were moving on their own. Wherever they took her was where Adori would wind up to.
Her vision was a blur as they passed by several buildings. Finally her feet came to a stop and they ended up in another alley. However, this one seemed a bit closer to the port as was evident from the buzzing sounds in the background.
She breathed heavily as she sat on one of the corners.
"What the heck was that?!" Adori was close to screaming as adrenaline coursed through her veins.
"I do not like that man." Emis jumped down from her arms again and walked in circles.
"I don't like him too. The heck's wrong with him!"
"No." Emis turned toward Adori. His face was looking all grim. "There's something evil about that man. I can't put my hands on it but there's something..."
"I could also tell he's evil," Adori said firmly.
"You don't understand. I could feel it."
Emis face was all twisted as Adori watched him. From the way he was acting, she was sure something was deeply unsettling the Yvelin.
Just what exactly could unsettle a Yvelin this badly... Adori could not think of anything.
And she was not sure if she wanted to know either.