Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 3: Port Kibo

Zincalo-Minami Ocean

Minami Coast

Mimi and Rubi talked for a long while, their eyes searching through the glass dome around the ship for the telltale red eyes of the demon.

"Why doesn't it just magic through the walls?" Rubi asked, squinting into the deep blue. A few times she could have sworn she saw it floating almost out of sight. Sometimes it was just strange looking fish, other times she was not sure. She hoped for fish.

"If it is the embodiment for water, I expect it can do what water can do." Mimi replied. "Passing through the sides of the ship seems unlikely."

"But not impossible?" Take'Ichi squeaked, clutching his pillows tightly to his chest and barely peeking over the top. In his nightwear he looked even smaller and frailer than ever.

"It's not onboard, 'Ichi." Kagemaru muttered. "If it could be, it would be by now."

Take'Ichi's face became even whiter than before.

"There hasn't been so much as a peep from them since we went down." Rubi said suspiciously. "Most people would have freaked out a little with the ship suddenly becoming a submersible. It's not exactly common."

"Maybe this kind of thing isn't weird where he's from." Kagemaru shrugged. "Some places we've been have had really different developments in technology."

Mimi pondered quietly for a moment.

"I don't recall any particular emphasis on Tsuki technology in my readings. One of their defining features was their separation from other humanoids, mostly to maintain neutrality in times of war. For such long standing and isolated civilisations to survive, I expect their tech was very appropriate to suit their needs. Advanced isn't necessarily the most appropriate."

"Still, you don't see a lot of machines around. Even some cities in the same country differ a lot. There's nothing like this back home in Migiue, as far as I know."

People's heads back home would spin if they saw a ship like the Disaster. While her father and his peers had pushed against tradition in some ways, many common people were comfortable in the familiarity of the past. One of the first issues after achieving freedom was finding homes and jobs for freed slaves.

The solution had been mills, both water and wind based, replacing hand-ground flour, pumping water through their dry country, and providing lodgings. Introducing technology slowly seemed to work best and prioritising the tech with the clearest benefits.

"We don't have anything like this at home." Take'Ichi said quietly. "To be honest, everywhere we land is pretty scary."

"We've been to Minami before," Kagemaru said. "Nothing different than last time."

"There were no trees." the sprite recalled. His face looked glum. "There used to be. Just not anymore."

Minami was a huge, industrial country that covered most of the continent. Greenery and wildlife was restricted to small, privately owned reserves far inland. The port, Kibo, was as it's southernmost point, known to many as the Last Hope in the South. Everything was dusty and golden, not unlike Migiue in many ways, which was far away in the northeast. Tricolour granite and sandstone towered high in multistory buildings to house the huge population.

Below the bustle, embedded into the caves carved by underground rivers long ago, was a second smaller city where the undesirables and lowest tier slave population lived. Though starved of light, long enslaved cultures still lived on there, guarding old books, stories, and most importantly, medicines from when a fairer people had ruled the surface.