Near Home...
In the 8th days, any seconds from now. They would have seen the land started from a small at the far distance to the big lands.
They waited and waited; the crew doing their job and the passenger waited patiently with big smiles at their face. They are getting impatient now.
1 hour came by, still nothing as far as their eyes could see. But… at the very distance, they could see some lands.
Slowly and slowly becoming gigantic, there is a port town there. With many ships at the dock doing nothing.
Closer and closer and the town became recognizable, the town he met Ansu that brought him across the sea. The Port Town of Gilam.
But their destination is not there, their destination is his land. Bringing the ship with them to his land using a river that would bring them back.
They would continue, but not without food to eat. The only solutions are to stop by and buy some foods in the town.
So… they decided to stop at the Port Town of Gilam and buy some supplies there. The crew would help them, but half of the crew would stay at the ship.
"We will stop at that town, half of you follow me" He shouted to the crew and they comply.
"Maverick, come with me" Maverick come with him as they began making their way to Arden's room.
Arden now at his room with Maverick trying to use his armour so people know not to mess with him. Especially when he has the banner on his chest.
"Here, take this money, use this to buy supplies" He gave some Aurens to him.
They came back to the deck while waiting for the ship to dock at the port and Maverick is with him. Their plans are him and Maverick would go on their separate way with some of the crew to buy the supplies.
Not long after waiting, the crew of the ships began docking the ship and then tied the rope of the ship to a pole to make the ship not go away when they were doing their business.
The board that acts as a staircase is placed by one of the crew and they began making their way down the ship. Most of the people avoid Arden once they saw the banner on his chest. The incident is still not forgotten by the people after all.
They made their way past the streets and going to the market with the help of many people. Not long after, they could see the market, now with fewer people in it than at the morning.
"We will go our separate way and meet here," He told Maverick and ordered some of the crew to accompany his young squire.
Not long after, they began making deals everywhere with various sellers and merchants. The food is plenty now, and they began making their way to the ship with smiles at their face.
They met at the place Arden pointed to Maverick after they had done their business. Once he saw what his young squire has bought, he is proud to him.
"Not bad kid" He gave a pat to his head afterwards.
"Thank you my lord, shall we begin making our way to the ship?" He made a smile at his face.
"Yes, we should, let's go now" He walked away gesturing others to follow him and then complied.
They began making their way onto down the streets and onto the port. Once they got to the port, they could see the guards now getting mad to the rest of the crew of the ship.
He approached them…
"What happens here?" With a confused face, he asked, and the guard turned to him and raised his voice.
"Just shut the…" He stopped midway when he saw with whom he makes the mess with.
"Shut the what? This here is my ship, now go before I get mad at you" The guard gesture others to come with him and left the scene, now with their worried face.
He does not pursue it and just told the half of the crew that came with him to move the supplies to the ship while they looked at him with a surprised face.
They load the ship with supplies and then Arden opened his map.
According to the map, if he wants to bring the ship with him, he would need to set sail toward the south and stick to the shore.
3 days or so, they would see a river entering the land, big enough for the ship. That river would go from there to the Kingdom of Bisvirb and then exit the land to the south of the Kingdom of Bisvirb.
Arden's land is one of the lands that is passed through the river. The very same river that separate Aerdy and Aselwey.
The entrance of the river itself is at the land owned by the Kingdom of Norse. It won't be a problem to pass through there for them.
So they untied the rope from the pole and set sail toward the south. At the middle of the journey, Elise came to him.
"You are a powerful noble here, but I think you are too soft, you need to act like a real noble," She advised.
"You could say I'm powerful, I knew a lot of people and that advice of yours, I really want to do so, but I can't," He responded.
"There is nothing you can't do, you saved me from the yakuza on the fight with an odds even the best samurai in the city can't do. You should ask some nobles you knew," She advised more and more things.
"I'll try, but don't expect me to change much" His sister left the room, and he began thinking about it.
'Maybe I'm really too soft, I will ask some nobles' He thought of it before Maverick came knocking the door and burst open the door
"My lord, the dinner is ready" He began to walk away before getting stopped.
'Maybe I could try with this kid, hehe' Arden thought of the perfect sentence.
"Maverick, don't ever open the door when I haven't given the permission to," Maverick look at him with a shocked face.
"Forgive me my lord, you… you have changed, now you talk like a real noble" Arden just laugh.
"Hahahaha, I'm just testing you, don't worry, I'm not mad, is it good if I speak like that?" Maverick stood at the door with a confused look.
"I guess it's better to speak like that to the nobles you haven't met before. Now, I would like to excuse myself" He walked away and Arden followed him soon.
At the dining room, he saw the crew eating with beer at their cup. Turned out, Maverick has bought some beers for them.
Arden just patted his young squire at the head before joining the people on the feast and drinking beers not until they were drunk.
Half of them stayed sober though, as they need to work with the ship. They did this routine activity every day, and the crew were very happy with their lord giving them permission to drink.
3 Days into the journey and they saw the entrance to the river, he shouted to the crew and giving them orders.
"That is our place to go, drive the ship toward that river!" They complied without a single question.
According to his calculation, it would take them 5 days or so in the river before reaching their destination. If there is no problem on the way that is.
…
4 Days have passed since they entered the river, they encountered many people, from fisherman to merchants on the way.
Even some of the people from Norse came and greet them while they were doing their business.
Also, there are some problems on the way. Sometimes the river is too narrow or too shallow for the ship to pass.
Once they forced the ship, some parts got broken, and they needed to stop and repair. If not, they going to sink with the waters keep pouring in.
Based on Arden's calculation, they would need at least 3 more days, 2 days delay.
The ship itself is almost twice the size of Ansu's ship, Ansu's ship would pass the river without any problem. The ship itself is faster than the ship he is currently on board.
…
5 days have passed since they entered the river itself. On the 6th day, they entered a strange-looking forest, a very thick one to begin with.
He opened his map and saw the forest on the map. Strange enough, it has no name written on it.
The forest is at the west of his land, after they exited the forest, a few hours more on board of the ships and they would reach his home.
At the 7th days, they still haven't exited the forest. Everyone is getting worried now, feared of getting ambushed by some forces.
That fear came true. They got ambushed by 20 people or so. Half of them were waiting in the waters and once the ship got close enough, they climbed the ship and board it.
At the moment, almost all of the people on board is at the deck. Waiting to see the clear green lands.
The fact they got ambushed in the forest shocked them. The crew rushed to get their weapons and Arden did the same.
But then, his sister is still standing there, too shocked to move. One of the enemies grabbed her and used her as a hostage.
Once he came back from getting his weapon, he was greeted by the scene of his sister captured by them. The enemies gesture "surrender or this girl will die".
He thought to himself, standing and not moving. The others began to worry and just asked "what are we going to do sir?" or some sort of line near that.
His sister at their hands, with the fears of anything, would happen to the only sibling he knew. He ordered others to surrender…