God Complex - Vol. 1

XXXI. Shanghaied-Part V.

Jun didn't know why they had to go downstairs into some cellar room as there was clearly an upstairs.

Arkshan pulled the collar of Jun's tunic and dragged him to go behind the counter. He saw that the snake-like tail was connected to the woman from her lower half and was all curled up. The entirety of the space behind the counter was filled by her tail except a small pathway towards the open wooden trapdoor on the floor.

Jun felt the grip of his collar go away as Arkshan stepped down. There seemed to be stairs that went down instead of a ladder, which Jun initially thought there was.

"Oh! By the the way, he's not exactly the most friendliest of people!" The woman said casually as she closed the trapdoor behind them.

Jun didn't feel the most joyous when they were told this person was downstairs, now knowing they're not friendly was just the glaze on top.

It was so cold downstairs that Jun could see the steam coming off of their skin from the humid room upstairs. Downstairs was also almost pitch black except for the faint glow of light coming from his left.

Once Arkshan and Jun reached the bottom of the creaky wooden stairs they found a stone floor. The room was small like a cellar, but contained a simple bed with furs on top that was near the stairs.

A man muttering in an odd sounding language was heard while the light became brighter. Jun saw a man in a blue, knee-length tunic in front of a table where he seemed to be muttering to himself.

Shelves upon shelves of books were on the walls along with what seemed to be large maps sprawled across the stone floor. The only light that looked to be down here was a small candle on the table that the man was at.

Something that was a rosewood color was draped along his neck and around his left arm.

The most unnerving thing about this cellar-like room wasn't how cold it was or the strange man, but the smell. It was a sweet, salty smell. Like dried fish.

But somehow it smelled worse than that back in the East. The only thing Jun was thankful for was that it was cold down here or else the smell would've been even more pungent.

"Ya," Arkshan said as he walked towards the hunched over man.

Though there was no response. As if the man didn't hear him.

Small streams of steam puffed out of Arkshan's nose as he sighed. Jun watched Arkshan walk behind the man and grabbed his shoulder roughly. The man flinched and shouted in the foreign language as he looked up at Arkshan.

The rosewood colored object that was draped around his neck turned out to actually be a type of snake.

"Pervelitälä! What in the Pékikios's green Lands are you doing here!?" The man yelled, pushing Arkshan away.

Jun noticed that even though the snake was around the man's neck, it didn't seem threatened or aggressive towards Arkshan. Though the snake didn't seem normal as its eyes glowed a light blue, the same as the man's.

"Where's the dwarves' mine?" Arkshan asked bluntly, Jun noticed that his face scrunched up when he flickered his tongue.

"Ai jaa!" The man dragged out as he rubbed his face. "You fucking people expect me to be a damned mind reader! I need context—oh..." He looked up at Arkshan and looked him up and down.

Jun guessed the man just recognized Arkshan but didn't know for sure at first.

Arkshan glared down at the man as he crossed his arms, Jun was surprised the room was tall enough as Arkshan barely had enough headroom.