Ball of Nothing

"We lived in the wilderness closest to where Indra Seagloo was thought to be. Every year, we get attacked by sea monsters, and I defended the village against it. However, in recent years, the attacks became more frequent. Thus I decided to relocate the villagers. I initially went to Deadman Town to ask Dwayne there for a favour. Fortunately, I met you. It might be a little overdue, but thank you for giving us a new place to live!"

The semi-giant lowered his head and bowed deeply. Zero looked at the sincere man and smiled. He didn\'t make a mistake in judging this man\'s character. He was a good leader who truly cared for those under him. Half Moon Village was blessed to have such a loyal ally. Perhaps when he left Earth, the people he left behind would be alright. After all, they now had one another to rely on.

"Don\'t say that," Zero sighed. "I took you in because I trusted your abilities and my judgement in a person\'s character. I came back for two reasons. The first is to take a much-needed break to recuperate from all the stress, and the second is to find out more about Indra Seagloo from someone who had first-hand encounters. You mentioned that the only way to get to Indra Seagloo was by travelling in a ship that sank?"

Bringing the topic of Indra Seagloo to the table made the mood sombre. Monoman remembered the horrors of fighting the sea monsters very clearly.

"It\'s not something I\'ve done personally, but we heard from various sources. I don\'t know how credible the stories are, but sailors who stop by our lawless village would often tell stories when they are drunk."

According to Monoman, the ship that sank wasn\'t created by a gnome, even if they had something similar. Indra Seagloo wasn\'t located in a fixed location. The base of operations moved according to the seasons and Queen Leah\'s preference in lovers. Some sailors tried to chart the location of Indra Seagloo over the years by marking out the area of disasters and when they happened. Nobody knows the truth, but sailors claim that Quen Leah had a peculiar preference for exotic lovers.

"How is that related to a ship that sinks?" Bob asked.

Monoman sighed. "This is the first part of the legend. A ship that sinks can enter Indra Seagloo, but nobody who entered it ever returned. Call them superstitious, but the sailors believe that if the ship they are on gets attacked and become shipwrecks, they become reborn into sea monsters in Indra Seagloo if they were not chosen as Queen Leah\'s new lover."

That made a lot of sense. The trip to Indra Seagloo for sailors would be a one-way ticket. The legend would make a lot of sense, but Zero didn\'t know how many ships they had to board just to get a chance at meeting Queen Leah instead of a watery grave.

"You said that was the first part of the legend," Truen pointed out. "Is there a second part to it?"

Despite going all over the place to find information about Indra Seagloo, Truen came back with more questions than answers. The only ones who had direct contact with Indra Seagloo were the water sprites in U.N.U. and the beastfolks at Lycantopia who suffered at the hands of petty sea thugs. Monoman was another survivor of encounters with sea monsters from Indra Seagloo, but none of these people actually knew the real Indra Seagloo.

"The second part to this legend that only myself and a few villagers know. However, I cannot confirm the truth."

Intrigued, Zero asked for details.

"I met beastfolks before Jermine came along. In a way, the beastfolk I met was rather similar to Jermine. He travelled a long distance from home because of an argument with his brother and was on a journey to find his answer when he stopped by our humble village. It should be about a decade ago when I met this sea otter beastman who went by the name of Pocky. He was a shipwright."

Monoman recalled how shipwright Pocky lived with them for several months, studying the sea and drawing maps.

"Pocky was a very serious shipwright. Together with his brother, he claimed to be able to build ships that could sail anywhere in the ocean, including to Indra Seagloo. Beastfolks do not have much magic. Like gnomes, the sea otter shipwright brothers used more science than magic to design their ships. I remember asking him why he continued to travel and study the sea patterns. He replied that he was trying to find evidence to prove his brother wrong."

"What kind of argument did they have that Pocky had to travel such a long distance just to study the sea?"

Monoman groaned. "It was a stupid argument. Even I cannot understand why they were so obsessed with the shape of this planet. Pocky claimed that the world was flat while his brother swore that it was round. Hence, Pocky left on a journey to record the images of the sea he saw. He believes that the edge of the world is where the sea lies. I don\'t know the details, but Pocky was very heated up when he explained his theory."

Amused, Zero asked what theory Pocky\'s brother had about the shape of the Earth. Truen recalled something similar to his previous life. Back in those days, it was challenging for people to prove that the world was spherical. Many people assumed that the world was as flat as the map they drew until sea exploration became famous.

"I don\'t recall the details, but I will agree with Pocky\'s brother about the world\'s shape. I believe it is round."

"How come?" Zero asked, and Monoman grinned. He pointed to the sky.

"The sun and moon move throughout the day. If the world was flat, the position of the sun and moon would not change vertically. It would change horizontally."

Zero deadpanned. Was this really the correct answer?

"I see. What was the theory Pocky\'s brother had?"

Monoman scratched his chin. "He said something along the lines of walking in a straight line. Eventually, someone will arrive at the same spot if they continue to walk and sail in one straight line. This proves that the world is round and not flat. If it was flat, we would have fallen off the edges at the end."

Impressed by the wisdom of Pocky\'s brother, Zero tried to find out if Monoman knew more. The semi-giant frowned. "I don\'t know the details, but the shipwright brothers were supposed to create a ship capable of sailing in one straight line to prove that the world was round. It was a ship that should be able to sail on any terrain. They called it an airship, but the project failed. It was later known as the sinking ship. I believe this is the second part of where the legend came from."

An airship, a sinking ship and a world shape theory by shipwrights... Suddenly, this matter has become more complicated than it should be. Zero wondered if they would ever come close to finding the true location of Indra Seagloo. As of now, they were clutching at straws, but Zero\'s best chance of success was to find either brother and ask for a special ship commissioned for a trip to Indra Seagloo.