Entrance

Our destination, the eastern Dukedom of Siran was a beautiful port city. It was big, and even from a distance I could see both the tall walls and the large ships leading over to the sea. Also, white houses!

Most claimed, this was the biggest city in Siran, even bigger than the capital itself. They were the biggest sea food suppliers of the entire region. The incoming salty breeze reminded me of the time I traveled with Den.

Very mixed feelings.

"Look big ships!" Shia almost knocked me out the window. She was back to her jolly self.

"Why are all ships just parked on the port though?" I wondered aloud.

"It's the sea king's hunting season. Most ships don't traverse the oceans around this time of the year," said the knight. "It's mostly over though."

I'd heard about this sea king thing before. Apparently, it traveled all over the globe. It was similar to the Sea monster the demigods had murdered centuries ago but not quite. This thing was apparently immortal. Most claimed this big sea king thing was a god from the past. I didn't buy it and frankly didn't care. Not my problem.

There was a massive line near the city's entrance; lots of carriage, lots of people. Unlike most of the cities from before, this city had a concrete like wall. Looked somewhat like roman concrete. Sturdy stuff, must have taken years to complete.

"You still have the letter of invitation, right?" Shia asked.

"Yup."

"Sibrian, just take us past the carriages," Shia yelled.

"Roger that! HAH!"

Woah, I almost hurt my back with how much acceleration he created. The horses we were using were quite something. Not only could they go on for hours and sometimes days, they were also super strong and kind of big. Like at least twice as big than earth's. Then again, most people of this world were just darn tall and big.

Except me of course. I was tiny.

"Make way!" Sibrian roared and we passed by large ass fancy carriages. Judging by the décor and guards, they were probably high nobles. 

But aren't we just mid rank nobles? "Are you sure about this? I mean… we're not that influential you know."

"Oh please," Shia shrugged. "We're not waiting behind these wimps."

I smelled trouble. Literally…

At the very end we were stopped by the guards. Shia took charge and went out, proudly flashing the invitation.

"What is the meaning of this!" One of the nobles came out of his super fancy carriage. Red hair, rather big dude.

Oh boy.

I felt an odd sense of familiarity. Looks like Mike. Speaking of Mike, the dude actually waved… wait, what? Mike was in the fancy carriage.

Oh.

Shia smirked. Still flashing the invitation.

"We all have one, child," he said, flashing his own letter.

Yet, Shia didn't back off. "Do you have one personally signed by Duke Alzania?"

The duke didn't necessarily say anything, he just stood there as an attendant of sort whispered something to his ears and he eyed me for one second. I guess he doesn't.

I sighed, came out and offered a noble bow. "Soler A. Barack. Pleasure to make your acquaintance Duke Arale Chewbosky." I didn't smile, I didn't frown. I maintained my best neutral face. "I apologize for my sister's rude demeanor. We're personal friends to lady Nisa Alzania and would like to see her as soon as possible. So, if you'd excuse our poor display, we would humbly appreciate it." I kept it short and blunt.

I got a snort. Not a good sign but hey better than literally pissing him off and him branding us as enemies or something. "Very well."

Wow he actually backed off.

Weird.

I caught Mike smiling disgustingly and waved at him. He waved back. Seriously, your smile is creepy dude. I didn't have it in me to tell it to his face though.

Moving on, we were allowed in.

"Hmph, wimp," Shia didn't even face me.

"You do realize he's three ranks above us, right?"

Duke families were technically kings here in Siran. There were nine sovereigns and eight of them were Duke families. But the ninth one, the Archduke family of Dolins ruled over these dukes as something like an emperor. I only understood the basic concept but despite being on the very top, the Archduke was powerless. The Dukes ruled over each of their respective eight states however they liked. Kind of like senators but with much more power. Meanwhile the archduke was the president just with way less power but he still had at least some sway over the internal politics of this place. At least to my understanding.

"Who cares about rank, we're not even-" she paused. "Never mind."

Oh?

I didn't know why but I did have a bit of a bad feeling about the way she said it. Please tell me, we're actually a noble family….

Anyway, my attention was brought back to reality as we passed the gates and saw more of the city. Just like any port city, we were greeted with a myriad of inns and restaurants and the sizzling smell of freshly fried food. Ah, I smelled salmon, and TUNA? I debated whether to order one for about a minute. But in my mind, I was going nuts. One more second and I'd never see them again! It was now or never! Do it, do it NOW!!~! "Can you like buy one of those for me?" I asked the knight, giving him a silver coin. One of those meant a whole package of sea food containing fried tuna, salmon and shrimp rice.

He nodded and went over to one of the restaurants. Fortunately, most this continent's currency was interoperable thanks to the holy church. You could hate their guts all day but you had to admit, those filthy religious dolts were doing something right.

He brought a sizzling piece of thick tuna cut with some thinly sliced salmon fries and shrimp rice back with him on a plate and even brought some cutlery. He even gave me back change! Only two copper but I'll take it!

"Hmm…." Shia mumbled, basically leaning on my shoulder, guess someone wasn't mad anymore. Yup, she wanted some. I could tell the guards wanted some too. Sigh… "Fine you guys can have some too. We still have time. Let's park and eat some…."

"ROGER THAT!" Oh yeah, they were definitely happy to hear that.

So, we settled down by the side of the road, went over to one of the bigger restaurants and ate seafood. Softy, juicy and delicious. But most importantly, these things were highly nutritious and I felt like a super hero!

I'm overflowing with mana~!

***

After our hearty noon delight, we made way for the center of the city. It was a big city, so we still had about two or maybe three hours of travel time left. So, it was good we had lunch.

"That was good," Shia said. "A little heavy but good."

The people of this place were mostly human. But I did see some Southerners every now and then. Also some rather rare people… the ones with fish face. I kept a solid eye out for mermaids. Sigh… so far nothing.

"Agreed," I said.

"You sure about that though? You spent a lot of money."

"Well, father did mention I should show some lavishness."

"Wait what? He gave you pocket money?"

"Yeah?" About four gold to be specific.

"Hey didn't give me anything!"

That's because you'd spend everything miss. "My lord, there's some uproar up ahead, should we take a detour?" Sibrian said.

I took a look. A group of people had one carriage surrounded. I'd seen it before, it was three carriages behind the Duke's one. Looked somewhat fancy?

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Count Margius."

"I've heard that name before," I said. I couldn't recall though.

"He monopolizes all the onions of Siran."

"And the people aren't happy with that, I'd assume?"

"They are not."

Who would be?

"Go right through," Shia said.

"Huh? Why?" He said.

"We're making a display of power I guess," I said.

I somewhat understood what she was trying to do, but I kind of didn't. As we came closer, the crowd just immediately moved to the sides. Some even bowed. We weren't even from this country, and yet they knew.

"Everyone really is afraid of our family, huh?" I mumbled.

Was this why bandits didn't target us on the road? But do we have any mark on us stating we're Baracks? I tried looking at our door and the carriage through the window and… the insignias you dolt. Every noble family had a different one.

How the fuck did I forget about that?

Arghh!!

"Yup," Shia said. "That's why you shouldn't just randomly bow down to these clowns."

Seriously, this young lady didn't understand that even if our family's influence was that of a count's, we were still nowhere near the level of a duke. Besides, if we were that tough, we wouldn't go bankrupt and end up broke in the first place.

But that aside, we passed the Count's carriages and caught a glimpse of him. Black hair, age lines on his face and although he was only forty, he looked sixty. The girl next to him though. Woah… hot. No seriously, she looked like a model.

Anyway, once we passed, that carriage was again blocked but it was only a matter of time before the people were going to just randomly leave.

With nothing better to do, I watched the scenery outside. The houses were very similar to the stuff I'd seen in Schalion but they were oddly white. The first few layers of the city were for the common folk, then the rich folks, then nobles and finally the duke's mansion. Most houses in the rich and noble areas were beautifully crafted, way better than the stuff I'd seen back in Schalion.

I didn't see a single tree for some reason. Trees in general weren't abundant in this part of the continent but I hardly saw any here at all. No wonder I didn't see any produce either.

Well, they have loads of fish at least.