"Have you heard about that rumor going around about Rimouwater Island?" One guy whispered over to his friend.
"No, what about it?" His friend asked back, leaning forward a little more to hear better.
Rowan perked up a little when he heard them talking about Rimouwater island. He had just come from there, so what would that rumor be?
"I heard that worshippers of the Goddess of the Ocean are on the island." The first guy said.
Rowan perked up a little more at that. Hadn't he met one? What was so odd about that?
"And earlier this morning a ship filled with followers of the God of Oceans were in a ship and headed that way earlier this morning." He finished.
After hearing this, his friend paused for a few moments, and Rowan couldn't help but frown a little as well when he heard about that. Was that so odd? Why did it matter?
"They've really been going at it lately, haven't they? How many are going to die this time?" He said before slightly shaking his head.
After that, they stopped talking about that and went back to chatting about work and other people.
Rowan was a bit out of it after hearing about this.
He knew that the followers of the two Ocean deities would be a bit hostile to each other, but he didn't expect that they would be so hostile to each other that they would seek out each other to kill. Are they at war with each other or something?
While he was thinking about this, his beef stew was brought over to him.
'I need to find someone who I can trust to give me info on sensitive subjects.' He thought.
After that was done, he started to eat his lunch.
Tasting the thick savory stew with soft chunks of beef and vegetables. Potatoes, celery, corn, onions, carrots, and peas. It was probably the best meal this body has had in the past 16 years.
He took his time to savor it at first, but couldn't stop himself from quickly devouring it.
After he finished his meal, he walked out of the shop and thought about what to do before getting an idea and heading towards a plant shop.
He was going to have more and more space, and he didn't have much to grow.
The idea of being able to grow his own food and be entirely self-sufficient sounds interesting, but if he did grow his own plants, then he might get skills related to it, and maybe even a cooking one too.
Food is one of the most important things in life, so he couldn't live without it. It may not sound as cool or exciting as magic, but it is even more necessary, especially for the current him.
It took him a bit, but he eventually found a shop which had various plants inside of it. Fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, flowers, anything a guy could want.
Rowan walked into the shop and began glancing around at the shelves.
Getting a grown plant could be more useful, but he wanted to grow them himself from seeds.
It took around half an hour for Rowan to find the seeds he wanted, but he unfortunately didn't find any Grade 1 plants.
When he asked the owner of the shop, she said that it was because that while those kinds of plants are valuable the more, they go up in grades, having them sitting around or inside a small shop like this was just asking for trouble.
Rowan understand that, and stored the seeds away for now while he left the shop.
When he walked outside of the shop, he felt something was a little different. He looked around, and saw that some people were still going about there day as if there was nothing odd, but others were already looking around in confusion.
Rowan looked up towards the sky, and could see grey clouds slowly gathering towards the ocean.
He frowned a little at first, but then he remembered the conflict between the two gods he heard about earlier.
He quickly ran back towards the dock and looked out towards the southeast. Above the small island, there was a massive grey cloud slowly spinning.
The waters of the ocean were turbid and chaotic. There was no regular flow to it like in the past.
He couldn't help but let out a nervous gulp at the ominous feelings he was getting.
'The Goddess Nalarie also has the domain Storms, while the God Arallon has the domains of Rain, Tides, and Islands. They are in a direct conflict with each other, and it seems like Nalarie is threatening the island with that storm cloud.' He thought.
Rowan stood there and watched along with another small crowd.
He wasn't sure why it happened, but the situation took a drastic turn.
Large hurricane type winds rushed and gathered into the grey cloud before lowering and tearing through the island.
The island itself was shuddering under the onslaught of the storm, and the waters of the ocean at times would rise up as if to strike something, only for a different wave of water to smash it apart.
It was as if the ocean was in conflict with itself, and in a way, it was.
This continued for a few more minutes, the winds from the conflict bringing rain even towards the small town he was standing in, quickly soaking his clothes as well.
Some members of the crowd were already starting to run away, but Rowan stayed.
He needed to see what would happen to his old home.
Not much longer after that, the crowd started pointing in a different direction, drawing his attention as well. He could understand why it drew everyone's attention.
It was a wave of water rushing towards the island, slowly growing bigger and bigger the longer it traveled, until the wave was several times higher than the tallest point of the island.
Then it hit.
The wave kept traveling after going over the island, but he tried looking.
Looking for any bit of the island, but even as the storm abated and the waters calmed down, he couldn't see anything.
There was no island.
It was gone.
Rowan finally understood why Sorard insisted that he leave earlier this morning. He must have known that something was coming. 'Church of Fate, huh?' He thought.
There was a soft pattering of rain that continued to drizzle over the area.
But Rowan still stood there.
He hadn't felt much emotions since coming here.
He already wasn't that emotional of a person, and having the emotions attached to his memories being lessened just made him seem a little dull.
But now he was feeling something.
Anger.
Hatred.
He might not have liked that town, but it was his.
Old John wouldn't be able to peacefully die from old age.
The children that struggled to live just like he used to have their lives cut short.
An entire island and town, while small, was still wiped out in this conflict.
All because of the conflict between two gods.
Because one group of followers attacked another.
He couldn't see the ship that the followers of Arallon sailed out on this morning, so it wasn't too much of stretch to believe that they had been wiped out too.
Rowan took a slow deep breath, even as his eyes looked as if they hardened a little bit more than in the past, and he turned away.
His back to where he grew up, and walked into the depths of the town.
---------------
[11th Month, 14th Day, 4E 1894]
It had been a couple days since Rimouwater Town was wiped out, erased from the world by the ocean waters
During this time, Rowan spent most of his time inside his [World Seed]. He needed some time to calm himself down and work through his emotions on what happened.
He had become a little bit colder, and a little bit more detached. He didn't seem to smile as much.
The one thing he did do to keep himself busy was gardening. In fact, due to his efforts, he had even gained the skill [Gardening].
He was also able to slowly expand the space he had as well.
[6 yards wide x 6 yards long x 6 yards tall]
With the new available space, he had planted all of the different plants he had, and even the seeds of the Silver Star tree were sprouting.
[Mana: 48/216 (+3 per minute)]
[Nature Energy: 21/216 (+1.3 per minute)]
Once those seeds had sprouted, his nature energy generation had gone up by +0.5.
The issue was that the other plants he had all planted weren't giving him anything, it was only the Grade 1 plants that gave him anything. Once he realized this, he knew that he needed to find some new plants to transfer here.
"Show me [Plant Organisms]"
-----
[13 Silver Star Tree Saplings]
[20 White Onion Sprouts]
[20 Garlic Sprouts]
[10 Potato Sprouts]
[10 Tomato Sprouts]
[10 Cabbage Sprouts]
[10 Cucumber Sprouts]
[10 Strawberry Sprouts]
-----
He nodded a little when he saw that the they were all successful in growing, and his eyes drifted back down to the patch of ground infront of him with small green stalks and leaves poking out of the ground in even rows.
The reason for planting 20 of both onions and garlic was because of how they grew. The main part of the plant to eat was the root, while with the others they could grow multiple. Well, maybe not cabbage, but the others would definitely be able to keep him fed.
Since they had started growing, that meant that in the future he would have a supply of food even if he didn't have access any when out in the world.
It was slowly becoming morning, and when Rowan looked outside of the [World Seed], he could see an empty alley which he had been using to come here.
He left the [World Seed] and started walking through the town, reaching the center of it.
Most people along the way seemed to have gone back to their own lives and didn't seem to really be freaked out that an island not far away had been wiped out, but he could only shake his head a little.
It wasn't so easy to see what was going through people's heads, and he didn't believe himself to be able to perfectly see everything about a person.
After walking for a while, Rowan came to a stop. He lifted his eyes and read the sign above him.
[The Adventurers Guild]