"Joah, is there any truth to that rumor?”

One of the porters that had been moving cargo on the ship asked Joah.
Joah, who had been taking inventory of the cargo, answered without even bothering to look at the porter.

"What rumor? There's a lot of rumors floating around.”
"You know, the one about you planning to sail for the mythical new continent in the west of Arad."

Joah’s hand suddenly stopped with its busy writing.
He looked around for a moment, and then silently waved at the porter.
What is he going to tell me?
His face flushed with anticipation, the porter put down the cargo in his hands and moved to Joah.

"Closer."

How big is this secret that he wants to be so careful about it?
The porter brought his ear close to Joah’s mouth.
Joah also brought his mouth close to his ear.

"That’s..."
"That’s...?"

Joah produced a bloated-looking book from his jacket.

"This book was found from a shipwreck in Lua Lua—"
"Gah, not that book again!"

Recently, Joah had been playing pranks on his porters with this book found from a shipwreck that came ashore in Lua Lua.
Having succeeded with this gag yet again, Joah gloated.

"That book’s is full of nothing but inkblots from the water damage. It can't have anything useful in it.”
"There’s no way you can sail through the violent sea creatures in the west of Arad, anyway, is there?"

Joah put his book back into his jacket and turned his eyes toward the parchment in his hand.

"Are you just going to stand there? For your information, I’ve been counting the minutes off your wage since we started talking."
"Damn, you're heartless."

Looking deflated, the porter stomped back to his post and picked up the cargo he had put down.
Joah looked sideways to see if the porter was still there, and then mumbled to himself.

"Hah hah, you wouldn't know the value of this thing, even if I explained it to you."

Joah's eyes turned upward toward the sky.
It was high and blue without any clouds.

"You know, I've just figured out how to get there."