Chapter 1396: Cogonia
The country of Airan was an island of the Cogonian archipelago, the majority of which formed the country of Cogonia.
Since the entirety of Cogonia was just a bunch of many islands, trains hadn’t yet become a staple of transportation here just yet and people had to move around either in boats for long-distance travel or regular cars and carriages for short-distance travel.
Ning walked the streets of one of the major islands of Cogonia that went by the name of Yhalwon. In the Cogonese language, it meant something along the lines of ‘Green on blue’ that was usually more formally translated as ‘Emerald in the Ocean’.
The blossoming peach trees along the sides of the roads gave the city a completely different vibe from any of the other cities that Ning had been to until now.
Everyone led a quiet life here, going their own way without bothering anyone else.
From time to time, Ning saw soldiers dressed in white uniforms walking around with guns in their hands. At first, he thought they were soldiers belonging to the Cogonia, but Jasmine answered some more.
“No, not just soldiers. Look at their sleeves,” she said as she gestured in their general direction. On the white sleeves, there were two golden intertwined parts.
It was an image of a hand that grasped the sun.
“That mark on their sleeves is the mark of the Zurinus church,” she said. “That means those soldiers are part of the church as well.”
She turned around to Tim and Ning. “You guys do know that the Church has a large influence on Cogonia, right? I would hope you guys don’t do anything to grab their attention.”
Tim quickly nodded.
“Why would I do anything?” Ning asked. “I’m only going to meet the Pope is all.”
Jasmine felt a shiver pass down her spine when she remembered what she had signed up for.
“Right, the pope,” she said, walking listlessly again.
Tim followed the two ahead of him, carrying his bag on his back and his horn at his side. He looked around, searching for a place to eat.
They had been walking for half an hour after arriving on this island by the Zeppelin and now he wanted to eat something good.
Tim looked around, listening to the conversations between people who talked about their own things. He understood some conversations while some conversations completely escaped him.
There were people here who spoke the language of Oriman, Warfort, and Nineflags, but those were only people who came to work here.
The conversations made in Cogonese, however, were something that he couldn’t understand even if he tried. It was his first time being around people he could not understand in the least.
He wondered how he would survive here at all if he had to do so alone.
Walking thoughtlessly, Tim smacked into Ning suddenly and nearly fell. However, he caught himself at the last moment and rubbed his head a little.
“Are you alright?” Ning asked him.
“Yes,” Tim said. “Why did we stop?”
Ning shrugged with no answer as well. He motioned toward Jasmine who had suddenly stopped in her tracks and was looking somewhere.
Tim looked toward the building she was looking at and realized that it was an orphanage as well.
Ning saw a small group of kids playing beyond the walls in the front yard of this rather large building. “Remembering your childhood?” he asked her.
Jasmine moved her eyes away from the young kids and toward Ning. She narrowed her eyes a bit before shaking her head. “Just missing the kids. I hope they’re doing alright.”
“They’ll do fine,” Ning said. “Fabian and Melenna will take care of them.”
“I hope,” Jasmine said.
Ning looked at the orphans as well and thought of donating to them. However, looking at it from the outside, it didn’t look like the orphanage needed any of his help. The city seemed to be doing a good job taking care of it.
Ning was about to turn and leave when he noticed something in the distance at the front of one of the building’s entrance doors.
A hand grabbing onto a sun was carved onto the wood.
‘Makes sense,’ he thought with a sigh. This close to Airan, everything would have the influence of the church.
The soldiers, the orphanage. He wouldn’t be surprised if he soon found out that the ships, hotels, and everything else here were owned by the church.
He continued walking.
“Should we get some food?” Ning asked after a while. He didn’t need to eat, so he usually didn’t have any reminders to stop and eat.
The only reason he remembered at all was because it seemed they had walked into some sort of food section of the city with every other building being a restaurant of some sort.
“Yeah, I’m starving,” Tim said.
“I ate back on the Zeppelin, but I definitely wouldn’t mind a small bite.”
“Let’s go there,” Ning pointed at a meat bun shop. “That looks delicious.”
Ning was only halfway to the shop when a group of soldiers quickly rushed toward his group. Instantly, they surrounded him and the other two.
Tim and Jasmine huddled up around Ning, unsure what was going on.
The soldiers were standing with their guns, but none even made it ready to fire.
A middle-aged woman walked out from the formation of soldiers, wearing a start white uniform of her own with the fist and sun symbol of the church.
At the same time, there were colorful badges on her chest, marking her as a high-ranking officer for certain.
“May I ask what is going on?” Ning spoke up.
The woman’s eyebrows perked up a bit. “You speak our language?” she asked.
Ning nodded.
“Then this should be easy,” she said. “We would like to question you on some matters pertaining to national security. Would you mind coming with us?”
“Would it be okay if you waited for us to eat? We just arrived here and are quite hungry,” Ning said.
“I understand, but I can’t accept that. You must come with us, now.”
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