Passing through the dark corridors of the warehouse and leaving them behind, as soon as I stepped into the open ground of the main harbor, my eyes began comparing the sight there with the ports of my world. Everything here looked the same, and yet everything was very different.
The biggest difference that I saw with my own eyes was the way goods were stored. In my world, where gigantic iron containers are used to load ships, here wooden boxes had taken their place. Although these boxes were about four times smaller than the iron containers of my world, still in my entire life I had never seen wooden boxes of such large size. Seeing this made me wonder how these wooden structures could bear so much weight. Then I looked further and saw that
The working style here was also quite old and exhausting. Unlike our world, no sky-touching giant cranes were visible anywhere. Because this world was not as technologically advanced as ours, here instead of technology human effort—manual labor—dominated.
I saw a large group of workers pulling a huge trolley-like thing. Then with great care and heavy effort that massive wooden box was loaded onto the trolley. After that several workers together pushed that load toward the ship standing near the water.
There were no machines here that could lift goods in the blink of an eye and make the work easy; instead everything was happening with the force of hands and shoulders.
Helena and Historia were right behind me, and Marcos was leading us forward while protecting us from the crowd of workers.
Walking along, we had now left behind the warehouse corridors and the workers' crowd and reached directly at the harbor port (the edge of the dock). Before my eyes was a sight as grand and noisy as an epic.
There, in a long line, about 10 to 12 gigantic ships were anchored. They were blocking the view of the sea because they were so huge that their masts seemed to be touching the clouds. On every ship workers and supervisors were shouting, all busy loading goods onto their respective ships.
Seeing the structure of these ships, I was amazed. They were not like the modern steel ships of my world, but made of heavy oak wood and brass work, proving the ancient yet rich engineering of this world. Those big trolleys of workers were one after another carrying those massive wooden boxes up to the decks of the ships.
Helena stopped and pointing toward a high platform said, "From here you can see the whole port view. Jona, look at these ships—they're not just carrying goods, they are the heartbeat of this empire."
But my attention was not on the beauty of those grand ships, but on the cold energy of the sea that I could feel. Historia too had now become completely silent, her gaze observing one by one the names of each ship and the goods being loaded onto them.
Then I noticed that when I looked closely at those 10–12 giant ships, my eyes fell upon a special logo on them. On every ship's mast and beside it in big letters was written—"East St. Claire" company.
The moment I read the company name, I understood everything. These ships definitely belonged to Helena's father's company. That meant all these luxurious ships standing in line here belonged to Helena. That's why now I was realizing her wealth in reality.
Just then Helena turned toward Marcos and in a slightly authoritative tone asked, "Hey! Marcos, where are the other 4 ships?"
Marcos bowed and replied, "Madam Helena, they have gone on sail."
Hearing this I was about to be shocked internally, but I immediately controlled myself. I knew that if Jona belongs to this world, then he should already know everything about Helena's company and her fleet. If I showed surprise now, they might become suspicious of me.
So to distract my attention I looked toward Historia standing beside me. She stood like a stone statue—no wrinkle on her face, no expression. I began thinking in my mind, "What is wrong with this girl? In front of me she sometimes gets shy, sometimes scared, and sometimes gives surprised expressions, but in front of the world she becomes completely like a robot. As if she has no feelings at all."
Anyway, I felt that now business talk had started more than actual work, so interrupting Helena I said, "Helena, should we now focus on the work for which we came here?"
Hearing me, Helena seemed to come out of her business world. She looked at me and seriously replied, "Oh yes, absolutely! We should now do exactly what we came here for."
Helena had understood the seriousness of my words. Turning toward Marcos she said one last time, "Alright Marcos, thank you for letting us enter the harbor so easily. I'll meet you later."
Before Marcos could understand anything, Helena came near us and hurriedly said, "Hurry, follow me!" and in an instant she began running through the minimal crowd of the harbor with the speed of a leopard.
Historia and I froze for a moment. We looked into each other's eyes as if both had the same question in mind, "Where is this girl going in such a hurry?" But we had no other choice. If we lost Helena, it would be difficult to find her in this huge harbor. So Historia and I also started running behind her. Seeing all this,
Marcos standing behind was stunned. Waving his hand he shouted, "Madam Helena, stop! Where are you going? There is great danger at the harbor today!" But Helena was the master of her own will; she didn't even turn back.
Leaving behind the fleets of the East St. Claire company ships, we were moving toward a deserted and raw part of the harbor. Our running speed was so extraordinary that the workers and passengers present there began staring at us wide-eyed. For any normal human it would be impossible to run so fast amid so many obstacles, but the three of us were not normal.
Finally, after going quite far, Helena suddenly stopped at one place. Historia and I also stopped right behind her.
After stopping, a basic question kept arising in my mind. We were running, but we had no solid plan. How exactly were we going to catch that kidnapper woman? We hadn't even thought about this and were just moving forward without preparation.
I put this very question before Helena: "Helena, how exactly will we find that kidnapper woman? Do we have any clue?"
Helena now turned toward me with a mysterious smile and asked, "Jona, tell me one thing—should we search for that kidnapper woman, or for those innocent people who were kidnapped?"
For a moment I was stunned. I began thinking since when Helena started speaking such deep and logical things? Until now I had considered her just a girl who enjoyed adventure and danger, but here she was acting quite intelligently. But her question was logical. I answered, "Obviously we should search for the kidnapped people. Because if we find them, we'll find that kidnapper woman there."
Hearing my answer, a sparkle appeared in Helena's eyes. She said, "Exactly. If we find those kidnapped people, we can easily find that woman."
Just then Historia added an even deeper reasoning, "If that kidnapper woman intends to take all those people out of the capital, she would never use passenger ships. That path would be too risky. Even if she hypnotized them, before reaching their destination the ship's management and staff would grow suspicious of her behavior."
Historia further clarified, "That's why I think she will use some secret route to leave the capital. She will never take the risk of a public ship."
Hearing this, lights went on in my mind. She was absolutely right. A kidnapper who has so many hostages would never be foolish enough to use a public passenger ship. Even if she had hypnotizing power, managing so many people amid crowds and security would be impossible.
Historia continued, "Even if she hypnotizes them, before reaching their destination the ship's staff and management will detect her suspicious behavior. Therefore she will exit the capital only through some secret method."
Helena, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly said, "Oh! So Historia, you mean we should focus on cargo ships? Because often small cargo ships are used for smuggling things."
A sharp gleam appeared in Helena's eyes. She added, "That means this time those kidnapped people might be secretly transported out of the capital through a small cargo ship."
Historia nodded slightly and said, "That is largely what I mean, Madam Helena. It's easy to hide humans among goods, and checks on small ships are not that strict."
At this Helena continued, "Alright, that means if they are taken from here, she won't lock them inside those wooden boxes. That means she'll keep them on a ship where they can breathe comfortably and eat and drink. It's possible she'll take them on a rice container ship or an oil container ship. That means we must find ships at the harbor that export such goods. From that we can largely figure out that woman's intentions."
Helena's logic was impressive, but a practical doubt arose in my mind. I immediately asked, "How will we know which ships are carrying rice or oil? Right now there are more than 100 ships in the port including all types. In such a situation what can we do?"
Seeing my confusion, Historia replied, "In a harbor there are people or files that contain full information about which ship is currently docked and which has departed. Those files also show which ship is at which dock number. If we find someone who has such information, our work will become very easy."
I asked again, "But where will we find such a person?"
Without blinking, Historia answered, "That's easy. Usually the harbor manager has complete information about these things. If Madam Helena asks him for ship details, he won't be able to refuse."
Hearing this, Helena immediately decided, "Alright, then we should go to the manager."
After that the three of us began walking toward the main building inside the harbor where the port office was located and all management work was handled. After walking for some time we were quite close to that building when my eyes fell upon a gigantic ship. At the very top of that ship a man was standing. The direct bright sunlight was falling into my eyes, because of which it was hard to see his face clearly.
Soon Helena and Historia's eyes also fixed on him. For some reason all three of us began watching him with a strange curiosity. That was because that man was standing at that height without any support and without any fear, and perhaps was looking directly at us.
We were still watching him when suddenly that man jumped from there. Seeing him jump from such a height, the three of us were shocked. But that jump was no ordinary fall; he floated through the air covering a long distance and landed right in front of us comfortably on his knees. I was astonished.
Despite such a dangerous leap neither his legs broke nor did the ground show any major impact. His clothes were still fluttering from the pressure of air. That man seemed beyond the physical limits of any ordinary human.