"THE ONLY WAY TO GO TO NORKYEW, IS BY NOT GOING TO NORKYEW!"

This answer startles Nouma, "Whaaaaaa?! What do you mean?"

"Whoa! Calm down, at least let me finish first. I should have worded it better. Do you know about Ceprad City?"

"Group 7 right?"

"Yes. Their Group Leader is extremely fond of games. He was appointed as the Leader of Ceprad City 3 years ago. Ever since he was chosen, He used to hold 6 games every year and the Group members participated in them. Eventually after 7-8 games, no one participated as they had no motivation to do so."

What do I do with this information though? Just get straight to the point!

"Since no one participated, the Leader started including people from other groups for participation. However, people did not show up even after that. Once again, the same problem existed-There was no motivation for people to participate. In order to curb his boredom by having consistent competitive games, he was forced to have an ultimate prize for the winner."

"And that prize is?"

"The membership badge of Group 7. After that, the number of participants from other Groups, particularly Groups 12-15 increased exponentially. Since the only way to enter NorkYew is to be a member of one of the Groups 1-11…"

"We have no option other than going to Ceprad City and trying to win the competition." continues Nouma.

Bruh! You could have just told us to participate in that event, why the hell did you vomit so much nonsense.

"Almost all the participants are from Groups 12-15. Everyone wants the membership as much as you two do, so it won't be easy by any means."

"That's not an issue. I had to work hard for everything ever since I was little, I'm used to it."

Rita speaks out of nowhere, "Nothing is free. If you want it, you have to earn it!"

No one asked for your opinion. She decides to speak after all this time pretending to be some guardian angel? And why does she sound like me all of a sudden?

"A ship for Ceprad City will depart at noon tomorrow."

"That's perfect. We won't have much time in that case!" says Nouma as he gets up to leave.

"You never let me finish, do you? Always poking your nose in between."
Ledie grunts, "It is really pissing me off jackass!"

"Sorry, it's an old habit of mine."

Ledie burns with anger, "Again, you did it once again. Just shut up until I finish talking."

Cough, Cough

"Just to be clear, you cannot travel for free. You have to either pay the required amount of 'Jollers' or offer something equally worth to the captain of the ship."

Rita looks upwards as she speaks, "Just when I thought we had no more problems. We don't use Jollers in Dorom."

Nouma asks Rita, "What are Jollers again?"

These two are more hopeless than I imagined!

"I'll see if I can help with that. But you can worry about that tomorrow, the first thing you need to do in the morning is inquire about the cost of travelling."

Nouma questions, "Won't you be coming with us to inquire?"

"Tomorrow is an off-day for me. I'm not gonna be wasting my recreational time! I cannot even guarantee if I'll wake up or not."

Rita nods, "I completely understand that. Thanks for all the help."

Someone actually understands how I feel! I-I think I'm in l-love!

The next day, Nouma and Rita head to the port. They find several crew members making all the necessary arrangements for departure.

"Excuse me, we want to board the ship. How much will it cost?"

A random crew member readers don't need to know about replies, "Ask the Captain. She is on the ship."

Both of them head inside the ship. Neither of them have boarded a ship before. The captain of the ship notices them as they enter the ship.

The Captain questions, "What are you two doing here? It isn't time to depart yet."

Rita timidly replies, "We want to board today's ship. We came to inquire about the cost for travelling."

"It's '300 Jollers' per person."

"The thing is, we don't even have a single Joller."

"That's unfortunate. I'm sorry to say this, but you can't travel for free."

"Could we do something else? Something that is equivalent to the cost of travelling?" questions Nouma.

"Let's see." 

The captain points at Rita, "You could serve the other passengers food and drinks. That would cover your cost."

Nouma asks, "What about me?"

"Lucky for you, we only have one person in the engine room for today. Help him out during the journey."

"What do I have to do?"

"Don't you know? This is a 2nd Gen Ship. It works on energy produced by burning coal. But we have to manually burn coal. You have to pour coal into the furnace to power-up the propeller."

"I'm not sure if I understood what you said just now but I can do that."

"Then it's decided. You two can travel with us!"

First target has been achieved!

The next day, it is time to depart. The ship's anchor is slowly brought up. The propellers are started on the signal of the captain. The ship gains pace as the propellers start to rotate in full force. 

Nouma is working hard in the engine room. Him and the helper decide to work taking turns. The journey is expected to take 8 hours if there are no interruptions. Nouma is going to work for the first 2 hours. They will switch places every 2 hours.

3 hours into the journey, a storm appears in sight.

"Captain, is this something that you encounter all the time?" questions Nouma.

"There are storms every now and then. But this one in particular looks very strong. My instinct says that it might last for as long as 2 hours."

The ship is made in order to handle such storms so none of the crew members are panicking. 5 hours into the journey, the storm hasn't yet disappeared. 

"This one is acting tough huh!"

The waves are getting wicked with each passing moment. The rain is getting heavier and the wind, growing stronger. Most of the passengers are in a cabin located in the centre of the ship.

The captain screams on top of her voice, "Everyone stay in the cabin. Don't leave the cabin under any circumstances! Things might get out of control here."

As the captain notifies everyone to get to safety. A giant wave imbalances the ship. In that moment, Nouma sights something coming out of the water.

Pointing towards that location, Nouma asks the Captain, "What is that?"

The captain silences in shock after she spots a creature emerging out of the ocean.

"I-It can't be! No way! You're kidding me! This can't be happening! I'm seeing things, right? It isn't actually here, right? It can't be true, it is just a myth."

"What is it?"

"One of the rumoured Cavaliers of the Ocean, Ihcoro!"

TO BE CONTINUED

NOTEARTH VOCABULARY #7

JOLLERS: The global currency of NotEarth. Any other currency is not accepted in Groups 1-11.

CAVALIERS OF THE OCEAN: The rumoured 8 mystic creatures that rule the ocean. No one has ever seen their leader Sorob.