Nothing much but a very interesting conversation with the ghoul.

When the Sun finally risen, you woke up, found that Brittany already woke up since she is no longer in her bed, hit the shower, change your outfit to a new one provided by the crew and head out to eat breakfast at the steamboat's cafeteria.

While the breakfast buffet is made up largely of dishes made from a number of species of fishes and what appeared to be crayfish-like triops, there are some other familiar dishes as well such as fried eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, breads and a number of dishes related oatmeal as well.

Since eggs are your favorite foods, you take a lot of of dishes made from eggs and dig in when you found where Brittany and her reptilian pet are sitting. And to your joy, she is sitting with that bald ghoul in the worn-out military uniform and clearly enjoy having a conversation with him!

"This girl! I swear..." - You think as you still cannot believed she approached this guy and befriend him out all of people on this entire damn vessel!

"So... mind if I sit here?" You asked Brittany politely as you can see that she is clearly busy with talking with him and also eating her breakfast.

"Go ahead!" Brittany said in her typical friendly manner before taking a bite of her sandwich that is made of just two pieces of breads with meats of the crayfish-like triop in the middle.

"And... what were you saying again?" Brittany asked the ghoul as she's chewing her food.

"Well, I was telling you about how I, Elijah N. Moore, woke up and look like... well... this." The ghoul, now identified himself as Elijah N. Moore, is gesturing all of himself.

"Oh! You have a middle name too! Just like Anton here!" Brittany said as she pointed to you with her right thumb.

"So... what happened to you?" You asked him as you are using the spoon to pick some scrambled eggs into your mouth and wondering why he can still be alive despite looking like this.

"It was during the last days of the Third Great War 500 years ago." Elijah said grimly as he's looking at his own right hand that is nothing but bones covered in skin with little meats in there.

"WAIT! WHAT?! WAS HE LIKE ME IN A WAY?!" You think as you are chewing your food as your brain is processing the idea of someone else but you from your good old days back then is still alive and is actually sitting beside you at this very moment!

"Huh! You were living since the days when we humans can fly with those cool things with wings and this land used to be part of the civilization called the United States?! How did they work?! Was there magic actually involved like many people in nowadays theorized or was it something else?! What was life in the United States like?! How big was the United States?! And what was the Ever-" Brittany asked a little too loud but the ghoul immediately grabs her by her mouth to make her shut up to not attract unwanted attentions.

"Shhhh! Be quite!" Elijah whispered as he's looking around to see that no ones really paid them no attentions. Once it is confirmed that no ones actually paid them attentions but solely focusing on eating their foods, he turned his eyes back on the short brown-haired woman with ample breasts in grey dress.

"Do not be too loud! Some people disliked such words!" Elijah whispered as he's still holding his grip on the young woman's mouth.

"What word? Ever-" Brittany asked in the whispering voice but the ghoul squeezed her mouth shut, preventing her from finishing the word.

"Shhhh! Not. A. Word. Of. This. Word!" Elijah whispered to her to make it clear to her that such a word is not tolerable. After that, he lets her face go.

"What the heck was that?! She just wanted to ask him about the Everglades!" - You think as you are eyeing him suspiciously while eating your scrambled eggs.

"We can continued this conversation in private after we had our breakfasts. If both of you still wanted to, of course." Elijah said before he continued to eat the oatmeal cookies in his dish.

Of course, at least you wanted to. After all, you wanted to know how did this guy survive, who he really is and why the word "Everglades" is now a forbidden word. And obviously, Brittany most likely wanted to know about what the world was like back then as well.

And so, you and everyone at your table just continued to enjoy breakfasts in peace and quite. Once finished, Mr. Moore takes us to his cabin, which is as small as the one you and her are staying together. Once inside, he locked the door and pull out his big square-shaped bag, unlock it and show me and the girl what it contained inside while the giant chameleon-like anole simply lied down on the floor and watch you, Brittany and Elijah doing what it may or may not even understand.

While Brittany's eyes are glimmering like stars with curiosity, your eyes are filled with shock but also relief at the same time! You are not alone! In this post-apocalyptic new world, you have found a kindred spirit of sort from Elijah N. Moore! You see his old plastic ID card that is now yellow and with the information is now almost completely erased but still somewhat readable that stated that Elijah's rank is that of a lieutenant, you see an old rusty medal he gained from his military service, you see an old screen-touching mobile phone that still in good condition but most likely no longer working in this world without reception and you also see a colored picture that has him, the woman who appeared to be his wife and his daughter who appeared to be around Brittany's age.

"Are they-" You asked for confirmation as you looked at him but Elijah simply nodded to you to give you the confirmation you needed. Yes, the woman and the girl in the picture are indeed his wife and his daughter respectively.

"And what does this have anything to do with the Everglades being forbade to speak around here?" You asked Elijah back as Brittany kept looking into the belongings inside the bag of the ghoul.

"Because it is one of the words associated with Florida and the anarchistic gangs who are firm believers of the survival of the fittest with no moral code like the Hellhounds and the folks who hated the certain types of old ideological beliefs from the previously civilized world such as those white supremacists in Jackson Fortress hated Florida." Elijah said nonchalantly and grimly.

"Why?" You asked as Brittany is inspecting the screen-touching mobile phone that she is now holding in her hands.

"Because beyond the Orange Kingdom's borders, which is just a city-state ruled by the descendants of the royal family from the Netherlands as its royal family, lied the nation called the Republic of Florida. And they are threatening the only world these anarchists and racists only know with the ideologies such as liberty, racial equality and democracy." Elijah said and upon hearing about the Republic of Florida, you are shocked!

"A nation... is real..." You muttered to yourself but loud enough for Brittany to hear.

"What is a nation?" Brittany asked curiously and somewhat innocently as she gets up with the screen-touching mobile phone still in her hands. However, her question is ignored by both you and Elijah alike.

"But... but why? Why would they hated the nation that stand for such ideologies?! Don't they wanted better lives for themselves?!" You asked Elijah out loud because you cannot figured out why the people like Hellhounds do not wanted such lives at all.

"From what I remembered after one of my battles against one of the bands of anarchists out there, I asked them why they hated the Republic of Florida so much. And they said they hated the ideas of having to pay taxes and get crappy services in return, fight wars of others without actually gaining something back, and definitely not liking being told how to live or what to think. That's what they told me. To me, it sounded like they hated concepts of governments and nations as a whole." Elijah replied to you to satisfy your curiosity why some peoples in this new world hated such thing like a nation.

This changed everything. For you, now you have another option to consider. You now have the ability to choose between going to live the City of Axeman, the powerful and wealthy city-state with a lot of opportunities, and to live in the Republic of Florida, a nation state built on certain ideological beliefs such as liberty and equality as its foundation with possibly equally good opportunities.

"Now that I told you and the girl about the nation that is Florida. How about you told me a bit about yourself, Professor Anton Blake?" Elijah asked with a knowing smirk.

"How... how did you know my name?!" - You think because you clearly remembered that Brittany only told him your first name and your middle name, and that neither you or her never told him your last name at all! And that is when you remembered it! His wife and his daughter used to be your coworkers!

"Um... Anton? Why did he call you Professor? And seriously, what is a nation, though?" Brittany asked you again.