Alfstrat lays a map on the table in his office and brings Crystal and Tobi inside the office.
As Alfstrat lays the map on the table he thinks to himself
'Helping these kids should be the last thing on my mind right now but... this is the right thing to do... I can tell from this young lady's determination'.
On the map that Alfstrat lays on the table in his office, there were two continents; The Continent of Neda and The Continent of Eledaor.
The two of the Continents, Neda a Nv and Eledaor have capital countries, Neda has Tokishki while Eledaor has Gonva. These two continents are surrounded by small islands, Venzu; Tobi's village, being one e the islands, and many others.
The two continents are also located at different equator around the globe making it very hard to travel from either of them, since the distance from the equator to the east seems unbelievably far!
While the country Tokishiki is not far from the continent itself but is usually located where most ships end their journey from either of the islands or from Eledaor that come to Neda, they just end up in Tokishiki itself.
This meant if Tobi and Crystal went to end their journey with the ship, they would end up directly in Tokishiki. After explaining this to the two kids, Alfstrat brought out another map, this time it was the map of Tokishiki and its capital, The City Of Ikgrali.
"Ikgrali is unfortunately not a safe place for you to settle" Alfstrat told the two teens.
"Why?" Tobi asks
Alfstrat looks Tobi in the eyes and says to him
"It's an epitome of malevolent chaos"
"What do you mean by that?" Crystal questions Alfstrat.
Ikgrali is indeed an epitome of malevolent but it is a lie that it is currently. There have been rumours of war going on between Tokishiki and Gonva but recently which gives Ikgrali has been having some bad news.
News articles claim that it is a terrorist city, a war zone, has high level of poverty, homelessness, rape, sexual crimes, knife crimes, murder cases, kidnappings and a bunch of terrible chaotic things that are happening in the city!
There are even rumors going around of a secret organization that is going against the government and wants to take the so-called war into their own hands since their government is useless.
After hearing all this, Tobi looks at Crystal... in fear. He doesn't want to go to the country anymore after listening to what Alfstrat has said.
He tries to pacify Crystal into being extra determined to go to the country...
"Crystal-"
"shut it Tobi, we're still going"
but he was immediately shut down.
'Did she not hear what the old man said?!' Tobi thought to himself in fury.
"Lord Alfstrat! We're still going... no matter how dire the situation of this city might be!" Crystal declares with seriousness in her eyes.
"I figured you'd say that so take these with you" Alfstrat gives Crystal a jute bag full of pictures of places in the city, he has prepared them as soon he starts heading back to Neda.
'Who would have thought that this was necessary for something like this' Alfstrat says to himself
"When you reach Tokishiki take a cab to the city and follow the pictures in ascending order according to the written numbers on the back of the pictures" Alfstrat explains.
"On the last number, there is a picture of the house that your kids can live in Just say it's from Alf.
He also gave the jute bag with his signature in it and gave it to Crystal.
"So, three months from now you kids should be ready to... embark on a very difficult journey"
Crystal was not phased by the difficulty set before her... that was what she felt like at least...
"Thank you sir for all your help... if you don't mind we'll be going now"
"But... young lady if you ever change your mind-"
"No thank you sir for the concern but we'll be fine"
Alfstrat was taken aback and sad, it reminded him of his youthful days... times when the world was a much more peaceful place.
As Crystal and Tobi were leaving the office, Crystal stayed back and asked Alfstrat a question.
"Lord Alfstrat... if there's anything we can help you with?"
"Oh? yeah sure! you can help with the cleaning of the toilets, laundry, cooking, and a bunch of other stuff-"
Crystal and Tobi were... shocked!
'I mean... she asked for it' Tobi thought to himself as he shrugged and looked at his sister. Bloody hell! I'm not doing the laundry' Crystal thought to herself.
"Look, I know this will sound reversed but I don't cook or clean... he does all of that at home" Crystal hurriedly says to avoid the work.
"w..wh.. what?!" Tobi tries to object but is held back by Crystal's suffocating aura.
*pat pat pat*
Crystal indifferently pats Tobi on the back. encouraging him to agree to what she said.
Thing is... Tobi isn't giving in.
Truth is... they both don't do the cleaning or the cooking at home.
They were both lazy.
Extremely lazy.
Tobi wants to object but Crystal gives him the... 'eye'
'The eye'- you're going to regret this if you don't do it!
*chocks in fear*
*crack!*
Tobi fell on his knees in pain... Crystal had cracked his neck. Tobi with no other option fell on his face as if bowing to a king,
" I... Tobi Ọkan, the first son of the Ọkan family at your service"
Alfstrat was confused at first but he realizes that Crystal is older and Tobi was just following her instructions as expected as the younger sibling.
"Well then, follow me, Tobi"
Crystal heads back to the basement whilst Tobi follows Alfstrat.
'Ugh, she's going to pay for this!' Tobi says to himself whilst clenching his fist.
-----------------------------------
Alfstrat takes Tobi to the dorms first where all the crew sleeps and hands him a room key.
"There's an extra room here with bunk beds for you and your sister should take it since you're helping us around here"
Tobi was shocked at first.
"But we've not even started yet"
"Don't worry about it, You guys need a place to sleep don't you?"
Tobi felt a bit embarrassed...
"Uhmm.. yeah we do, thank you hahaha..."
Tobi was pleased to have a bit of kindness shown to him for the first time in a while of 48 hours. As the two were walking together, Alfstrat asks Tobi a question...
"how do you feel about your sister's decision"
'man... if I had a the courage that she had this situation would've been reversed'
Tobi thinks to himself
"sigh, i don't know... she says i should trust her so that's what I'm doing"
------------------------------------------
Alfstrat takes Tobi to the departments where he'll be helping out.
"this is the kitchen, Tina is the head the cooking crew"
-----------------
"this is the cleaning closet, Jasper is in charge of the cleaning crew"
-----------------
"this is the laundry room, Domi is in charge of the laundry crew"
------------------
"this the engineering compartments, Tesla is in charge of the engineering crew"
------------------
"any questions?"
"no sir, and thank you for the help"
"anytime... but just so you know when we end this trip I'm gonna give you some money for the help" Alfstrat whispers in Tobi's ear.
'yes! yes! yes! payback time! muhaha!' Tobi leaps in excitement.
*coughs*
"uhmm thank you very much sir for the... generosity"
---------------------
Tobi thanks Alfstrat and leaves to the basement of the ship.
*door opening*
"Crystal! I'm back-"
*snore snore*
Crystal was fast asleep, being it's was already late in the night it was the next thing to do when jobless.
Tobi walks up to Crystal as she sleeps and stares at her...
'i'm supposed to be the one doing this... but I'll let it pass, since I'm getting paid... he's
"you know you're vulnerable now that you're asleep... you shouldn't be sleeping carelessly"
Tobi starts tapping on Crystal's forehead thrice to wake her up.
*tap tap tap*
*mumbling noise*
"let's go to our room"
Crystal was still half asleep, confused held Tobi's hand following him to the new room that Alfstrat had given them.
*creak*
As soon as Tobi opens the door, Crystal immediately jumps of the upper bunk bed!
*flop!*
"Crystal! it's dusty-"
*snores snores*
"ugh... she's asleep again?! how?!"
---------------------------------
EXTRAs~
Tobi: you know you're quite stubborn...
Crystal: scoffs, yeah... i am
Tobi: ugh! why did i follow you?
Crystal: same reason you saved me...
Tobi: saved you? when?
Crystal: ...
*blush*
*runs away*
Tobi: hey! where you going! Sister what are you talking about?!