The Musafir

Kotaraja View

PEDATI who was boarded by Mantingan and Chitra Anggini again moved. Munding pulled him slowly into the city. The mantis rests on the rim of the pedati, right next to Chitra Anggini who is now starting to sit up.

“Chitra, now answer my question.” Immediately the look of Mantingan's face looks earnest. Chitra Anggini. “Tell me the truth. Jujurnal. Whatever your answer is, I won't be mad.”

“What questions?” Chitra Anggini cut, he never saw the seriousness of a Mantingan like this just for a question. The woman was worried if one of her big secrets was exposed. But after he thought back to it, what kind of great secret was capable of making a Mantian as serious as that?

On the other hand, Chitra Anggini also does not want to lose the view of kotaraja— which may have changed a lot since the last time he came.

“Are you a so-called woman? I mean, are you really a man, but then turned into a woman?”

Chitra Anggini is so wide that it is as if his chin is about to touch the ground!

Seeing Chitra Anggini's shock, Mantingan soon realized that there was something strange about his question. But really, he did not know what kind of weirdness it was!

“So you said you were being a woman. Honestly, honestly being honest, I don't understand what that means. Please explain.”

Chitra Anggini changed the look of his face to mean it. The woman's hand squeezed the Mantingan's shoulder, then shook her head slowly. “I pity you very much, Mantingan. And I did not expect at all that in some things, especially women's matters, your knowledge was so little. I'll explain it at length once we get to the shelter. For now, I'll just tell you that I'm a real woman. I'm not a woman or anything. You understand?”

The mantle scratched his hair that did not feel itchy at all. “I left home when I was a teenager. About women matters, my parents have not taught her much to me.”

Chitra Anggini again shakes pity. “Alright, I will teach you many things about women later, including how to treat them as well as possible. But for now, I don't want to go through the cityscape from the inside, and I don't think you want to miss it either.”

...***************...

MANTINGAN soon realized that he had entered the Kotaraja Koying area, a city that was said that the magnitude and sophistication did not compare far from Kotaraja Chang’an belonged to the Jin Dynasty in the Land of the Roof of Heaven.

Soon he turned his eyes, looked out at the pedati, and at once he was flabbergasted!

The mantan was truly unable to speak anymore. What appeared before him now was like a dream, full of miracles!

The road has a width of about ten pedati are lined, but even though it has been that wide, it is still crowded by traffic that is not playing much. The streets are lined with gray bricks with no defects of the slightest goods, smooth like marble.

What filled the streets were the merchants' buffalo-pedates, the nobles' chariots, and the townspeople who all had their own business and their own. Some people looked foreign, had white faces like cotton, had narrow eyes, and were wearing clothes that were completely different from those of the city around them. They were the merchants from the Land of the Roof of Heaven who stopped to sell silk cloth and medicine, and left with spices.

While on both sides of the road, stood large buildings towering, so to see the peak must raise your head first. Most of the building is made of white or gray brick, while the other small part is made of shiny wood whose quality is not unquestionable.

However, there is one thing that cannot be found even as far as the eye can see. No children play magic while running around with their friends. Although it is undeniable that Mantingan felt the magic air that was so thick since he entered the city, but where are the children who play magic?

Among the tall buildings, there are some much taller towers. Are these pagodas called time markers? Mantingan saw orange-colored light glow at the top of the tower, indicating that the day was still fairly early; Kala Bangun.

“We just got to the city gate, so you don't expect to see little kids playing with magic spells. They are in the corners of the city, residential areas,” explained Chitra Anggini.

“Right turn, Munding!” Chitra Anggini shouted loudly as they had arrived at an intersection. Defeat the sound of many cities. His index finger was pointed at one of the roads at the intersection.

“Ongng!” Munding Caraka replied in a loud voice, the direction of her legs changing slightly to the right. How intelligent the buffalo is, being able to understand that the man who should not be understood by the deck buffalo is as intelligent as he is!

“I don't know what's really going on here,” Chitra Anggini said in a bad tone. “Should new visitors who still come from Suvarnadvipa do not have to undergo quarantine, unless there are signs that the visitor is suffering from an extraordinary disease that can be contagious.”

The mantle shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe the soldier at the entrance saw that we are both Javadvipa.”

“Who said to you that I am Javadvipa?” Chitra Anggini frowned as she looked at him. “My mother, my father, my grandmother, my grandfather, my great-grandmother, my great-grandfather, and finally a true Suvarnadvipa.”

“I don't know. Your looks are not much different from Javadvipa's women mostly.”

“Not much different from Javadvipa women most of you say?” Chitra Anggini stared at Mantingan with his sharpest. “Does my very pretty face look like a woman?!”

Mantingan laughed softly while ignorantly flicking the woman's sharp nose. “Alright, alright! You do not look like most women, because which woman can beat you when you curse?”

“I cursed like that there is also a reason.” Chitra Anggini brushed off Mantingan's hand from the trunk of his nose. “And I also don't like it if you touch me again.”

The mantingan again circulated the look outside the pedati. The view of Kotaraja is too precious to miss. Smile widely. It was incredible.

“The shelter center is located in the north, purposely built close to the port. However, the quarantine is intended more on foreign immigrants, most of whom come by sailing ship.” Chitra Anggini leaned his back on the edge of the pedati. Seriously looking at all activities on the streets of Kotaraja. “With our speed now, it should take quite a long time to get there.”

The mantle clenched his hands. How close he was to Tapa Balian, but it still took a short time to save him.

Chitra Anggini could see Mantingan's anxiety, so he said, “Patience, Mantingan. We have been really close to the goal, so let us not ruin everything just for being impatient.”

The mantel nodded for sure. “Our struggle is just about to begin. It's all not yet okay.”

***

MANTINGAN, Chitra Anggini, and Munding Caraka arrive at the temporary shelter center for the morning outsiders. But before entering it, they had to pay first outside the main gate with dozens of other swords, waiting for the officers to record their history, that's where they would get an identification badge.

They have waited there long enough, making anyone feel bored and tired, and maybe that boredom is what makes Chitra Anggini found to be yawning long several times.

“This will also take a decent amount of time. The lines are never as long as they are now, and the officers seem to be doing their job lazily.” Chitra Anggini said lazily. Just like the officials who recorded the history of newcomers he said were lazing. Support his chin with the back of his hand. “Look at that side of the road. Many liquor stores, for tired idlers waiting in the pedicure. They are delicious, just leave the pedati and buffalo on the slave, then drunk with the comfort women.”