'Treasure… me?'
He didn't speak. Instead, 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 and reached out for a handshake. Arsh took the offered hand and shook it.
"Arsh" he said.
"Ash Godwin. No wonder Juan chose that name. He's not exactly the most creative person, as you can see. He didn't tell me much, except that he was sending me a treasure he'd found in the desert. Later, he said 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 a room. Take a shower and rest a while. We'll meet at lunchtime."
Turning to the boy who had accompanied them to the glasshouse, he said, "Mes, show him to a room where he can rest."
The boy named Mes gave Arsh a small smile and gestured toward the door they had entered through. Together, they began walking back toward the mansion they had passed a moment earlier.
"For now, 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 Professor Reiner your relative?"
"Ah, no. Bera brought me here… 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 handful of sentences.
"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 wound on his arm.
"You know what this means. It used to be siuni. But of course I wasn't suitable to have one.
Bera saved me from the people who did this to me. Thanks to Professor Reiner, we 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 physical labor.
Arsh glanced again at the exposed 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 fifteen' he thought.
Mes seemed to understand exactly what was going through Arsh's mind. Smiling, he raised his arm again 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."
"It's okay. Let's just get along well. We'll be staying together from now on."
Now he understood Juan—why he had taken him to the old healer when they first met. If things had gone wrong, just like with Mes, 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 about it.
Everything 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 the boy led him to. He was surprised that a guest like himself had been given such a spacious and refined 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.
"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."
Mes reminded him once more to get some rest, then closed the door and left. Arsh did as he said. 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, exhaustion pulled him under almost immediately.
…
"Juan and the kid didn't tell us what his Siuni is. But it must be something pretty useful—Juan wants him back in his team once he deals with the remaining job."
"Good. He should learn not to be too open about his abilities. So, what's the story? What do you know?"
Herman told him everything he knew—how Juan had met Arsh, how helpful Arsh had been in the children's case, and how he had also met Matthew Tiffany there. The man who bought the kidnapped children to use as test subjects had turned out to be a general, and now Juan was going to deal with him.
"He wants support. I think we can send some of the men from the other regions to back him up."
"Yes, let's do that. Do you know where Matthew is?"
"He's still in Thage, dealing with the children's case. I guess they're trying to use it to strengthen Senator Hill's position in the next elections. You know, these days, high society and some of the middle class are against slavery. The law was abolished twenty-eight years ago, back when colonizing started. Supporting this case would help them maintain their influence in the colonies. It has now evolved into a kind of human rights trend among high society—it's the new fashion for wealthy ladies and students."
"It should work, and if Juan succeeds in gathering evidence, that would be even better… Okay, what do you think about Arsh, Bera?"
"We haven't talked much."
'As expected, this guy really doesn't talk. Traveling with him is boring.' Herman thought.
"When he spoke with Juan's team, he was pretty open, cheerful, and honest. But I'd say there are some things he tries not to talk about. There's a fine line between the issues he avoids and the ones he's open about."
"Got it. Thank you, Bera. We'll talk again after lunch. For now, you should get some rest too."
…
He woke up to the sound of a knock at the door. He got out of bed and opened the door. It was Mes.
"It is lunchtime. Come downstairs when you are ready."
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."
He was hungry. He only splashed water on his face and quickly went downstairs. But he didn't know where the kitchen was, so he followed the chatter and found the room where the others were.
'These people are really rich. They don't eat in the kitchen but in the dining room… Of course they're rich; don't you realize what kind of place you're in?'
Still half-asleep, he set aside his inner thoughts and greeted the people in the room.
"May Arinne's blessing be upon you."
It was the Professor who said this, and Arsh hadn't been expecting it—especially from someone who didn't believe in the goddess Arinne but in their own god. The Symranese worshipped a deity called Vurdar.
The Professor smiled and gestured toward the chair beside him, inviting Arsh to sit. Realizing his intention to be kind. Arsh smiled in return and sat down on the chair the Professor had pointed to.
"May Arinne's blessing be upon you."
There were only three people at the table besides him. Herman was nowhere to be seen.
"Meet Madam Hilda and Eleni. Even though this mansion is quite large, we keep very few staff for the sake of discretion. That's why everyone who lives here has certain responsibilities. Since not many people live here, we don't burden them too much. Isn't that right, Hilda?"
"Don't worry, Professor Reiner. Lately there's hardly anyone around, so aside from cooking and laundry, we don't have much to do."
Madam Hilda was a beautiful woman in her forties. She didn't resemble a servant at all; the clothes she wore were nothing like the maid uniforms Arsh had seen in magazines—elegant and refined instead. As she set the plate in front of him, she offered Arsh a gentle smile. Arsh tried to return a similar smile.
Professor Reiner turned his attention to the young girl. Eleni was a gentle-looking girl with brown hair, and brown eyes. She looked perhaps a year or two older than Arsh.
"Eleni can't speak, so be mindful when you try to communicate with her."
Arsh greeted Eleni as politely as he could, then began eating the meal set before him.
It was a pleasant lunch; the food tasted similar to what he was used to. After the three days on the ship that had turned his stomach upside down, he finally felt well again.
"Did you like the food? Bera said you were seasick, so I asked Hilda to choose something suitable for your taste."
"Thank you. It was really tasty."
"If you've finished your meal, let's have a cup of tea and talk for a bit."
Arsh followed Professor Reiner and they moved to the sitting area.
A moment later, Eleni brought their tea and quietly left the room.
"So, Arsh, tell me your story. What happened, how you ended up with a siuni, and what exactly I can help you with?"