The Trader's Arrival

After Leo, Zohar, and Mr. Kael finished checking the maps, it started to rain. *Wishhhhh-wishhhhhhh*. It was a really heavy downpour, so they stopped what they were doing and went outside. It rarely rained, so every resident came out of their room. Someone shouted, "Bring the barrels!" Everyone rushed to collect as much water as they could. For them, it was the gold of their time.

Leo, ignoring what everyone else was doing, looked around and noticed a large ship in the distance. "Hey, people!" he shouted loudly. Zohar realized that Leo was trying to get their attention, so he started shouting with him to draw attention to the boat.

Someone finally calmed everyone down and pointed out that someone was sailing towards them. "Go get the leader!" Xander shouted. Leo quickly ran towards the tower where the leader lived.

Leo rushed inside and noticed the leader standing and looking out the window. "I see, Leo, let's hope they are peaceable," Kian said before leaving the tower and heading towards the port. As he passed through the crowd, people asked, "Leader, who do you think they are?" Someone else wanted to say something to the leader, but he interrupted and calmed everyone down.

"Calm down, people, don't be afraid. Go and collect water in barrels, and you, Kael, bring the magnifying glass. We need to check who is there and how many of them." He said calmly, explaining that there was nothing to fear.

Kael quickly ran to his workshop and brought the magnifying glass.

"Pass it here, Kael," Kian requested.

Kael passed it to Kian, who looked through the magnifying glass and only noticed five people on the boat, saying, "There's really nothing to be afraid of, there are only five people."

"What if others are hiding?" Leo added.

After a moment, Kian replied, "It doesn't matter; it's not such a big boat. There could be at most ten of them. Nonetheless, stay alert and watch if they are indeed approaching."

Everyone was watching the mysterious group, which stood still, waiting for them to come closer.

"We can't wait," impatient Zohar said.

After a while, Kian looked through the magnifying glass again and said, "You're right, prepare two boats, we'll go and see what they're looking for."

Leo, Zohar, and Mr. Kael prepared the boats, and then they chose six volunteers to sail towards the mysterious boat. Kael also prepared weapons.

"Remember not to attack first," Kian said, wishing them good luck. Leo and Zohar's group went first, and Kael's group followed them shortly afterward. When they got close to the boat, Leo ordered his group to stop the boat and asked the approaching people what they were looking for.

After a moment, the unknown group stopped and asked, "Whose side are you on?" Leo was intrigued and asked, "What do you mean?" The group responded with a question about trade, saying that they only wanted to trade their grapes.

Leo and Zohar's group looked at them with interest and asked, "What's that? Some kind of fish? We don't want fish; we have enough of them." The unknown group laughed, saying they didn't know what grapes were, and explained to them exactly what it was, giving them a little to try.

Leo asked Kael quietly, "What if it's poison?" "I don't know," Kael replied, then he asked the mysterious group, "How do we know you're not trying to poison us?" "You don't have any certainty; we don't know each other, but we guarantee you that it's not poison," someone from their group replied.

Leo then ate some grapes and exclaimed, "This is good!" Every member of the group started eating until nothing was left. Zohar asked, "What do you want for these grapes?"

"My name is Aaron, and I'm the trader in this group," said the leader of the group that visited them, then he explained exactly where they come from and what they want in return.

"Follow us," Kael said, and they headed towards the platform. Upon arrival, they were greeted by a crowd with their leader, Kian. Then Leo made a proposal that could help both sides.

So they began to talk about what and how they would trade with each other, and after an hour, they came to an agreement.

"So do we have a deal?" Aaron said, shaking hands with Kian.

Kian shook his hand and sealed the deal, thus beginning the first collaboration between the platform's members.

"Okay, Zohar, we're heading out tomorrow with those watches they wanted, and the map," Leo said after Aaron and his group departed for their own home.

"Leo, why do they need a map, actually? Do you think they can read it? It was a bit strange when they heard we had maps, and they started asking about them. Wasn't that weird?" a concerned Zohar spoke up.

Leo spent the entire night thinking if there was a chance that these people knew what was on that map. Later, he fell asleep with that thought.

The next day, Zohar got up, went through his morning routine, and then left his house to visit Leo, who was still asleep. Along the way, he met Kian.

"Zohar, have you seen Leo?" Kian asked.

"I'm actually on my way to him, did something happen?" Zohar replied. "No, not at all, I just couldn't sleep thinking about where Leo got those maps. I didn't hear that we had any."

Surprised, Zohar told Kian, "Come with me to him, and let's ask why he didn't show you those maps earlier."

So the gentlemen went to Leo, and in the meantime, he got up and went through his morning routine. Searching for the map, which he found, he left his house and headed towards Kian. Along the way, he met a worried Kael.

"Leo, I need to talk to you," Kael said. After a moment, Leo replied, "Yes, what's going on?" Then Kael began to tell him what was going on.

"Basically, could you guys take me with you?" Leo grabbed the back of his head and answered after a moment, "Honestly... I don't want to go there. I talked to Yuki about it, and she said it would be better if I went, but I don't know. I had a strange feeling before going to sleep yesterday that something was going to happen."

After listening, Kael began to think about it even more and then added, "You too?"

"How do you mean me too?!" a surprised Leo said, adding, "Did you also have something like that?"

"Yes, I did, but I felt it differently, not through a feeling but through a strange dream. I saw a tree growing in a building, similar to the one in your workshop." Leo interrupted Kael's statement, asking, "Like the one in that painting in your workshop?" After a moment, he continued with his statement, "Yes, but half-submerged. We would have to go there. Overall, it's a strange feeling. Rays of light were coming through the roof, illuminating the place, but I don't quite remember what was there. From what I do remember, there was a person standing there, had white hair, was dressed in a black cloak, and that's all I remember from that dream. It was really weird." Kael recounted, thinking about what it could mean...