Zeah

Theo woke up early the next day and decided to do whatever exercises he could manage on the ship.

He went outside and tried to ignore everyone else and just do his own thing, but he couldn't help but notice the crew eyeing him suspiciously.

'Do they know?' He wondered to himself before dismissing the thought.

The bounty on him only had information regarding his younger self and the picture was at least four years old at this point. Theo had changed massively since then; it was almost impossible for someone to make the connection between him now and him four years ago.

But the look in their eyes was familiar. It was the same one he had seen on people's faces when he had escaped Felwinter.

The only one on the deck currently that didn't look at him like that was an older looking fellow. The badge on his cloak revealed him to be the ship's first mate.

"Did anything happen yesterday?" Theo asked as he walked to the man.

"Hm?" The man turned to look at him. "You are?"

"Theo." He said.

"Ben, and no, nothing particularly." Ben said before glaring at a few members of the crew.

Theo didn't believe him, but he didn't have a valid reason to question him without arousing suspicion.

"Alright, then." Theo bid the man goodbye and left to finish his exercise before heading back to his room.

'Is there a new bounty on me?' He thought as he sat down on his bed.

His little adventures during the past few years hadn't exactly all been legal, and Riverrock wasn't the first place he had made the drug in.

But it was unlikely, he had been careful to always mask his identity and disassociate himself from all his illicit activities. No one had caught him in a while. He even used proxies whenever possible, and even they didn't know who they had been working with.

'The Bronze Fang, then?' He wondered.

It was unfortunate that he hadn't been able to use a proxy or hide himself from the gang, but the pay was good, and they made sure no one came looking for him.

But they knew what he looked like, what he sounded like. They even knew his name, which he hadn't been able to hide from them.

If they wanted to catch him, they would have a far easier time than anyone else. He doubted that they would make any actual bounties and post them in the cities, towns or villages, but they would surely look for him.

They weren't stupid, they knew that the only quick way out of the town was through the river so they might have sent a boat to look for any vessels moving away from there.

But if they had done that, why wasn't he currently facing their leader? It didn't make sense.

It didn't matter, he just needed to reach Zeah and the Academy, and no one could touch him while he was a student.

By the time he would graduate, he should be strong enough to defend himself.

He checked his soul and noticed that his aether reserves had already recovered enough so that he could start practicing with the aether again.

The process of drawing out the aether was easier than the first time, and also faster. Theo was also able to modify the output amount of the aether with a little bit more ease than before.

/-/

Theo spent the remaining days on the ship mostly in isolation, only coming out of his room to exercise each morning and to get food. The time he was in his room, he spent on familiarizing himself with the aether pathway he had constructed.

The two days passed by in a blink of an eye and the river they had been sailing upon had already merged with two bigger rivers, and now they were on an extremely wide one, mere hours from the capital. It could hardly even be called a river anymore. It was so large.

Someone knocked on his door and a voice rang out.

"The captain wishes to speak with you."

Whoever was behind that door didn't stay to hear his reply as Theo heard the receding footsteps.

Theo rose up from his bed, made sure he had everything on him, and exited his room. The crewmembers he saw along the way still looked at him with the same type of eyes, but it was suppressed by something. Whatever it was, he didn't know.

He made his way towards the captain's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Come in." A muffled voice said.

Theo opened the door and stepped inside. The captain was sitting behind her desk, with her feet up on it and Theo took a seat on one of the wooden chairs that were placed in front of it.

"Someone told me that you wanted to speak to me." Theo said.

Rose nodded and took out two gold pieces before throwing them in front of him. Theo looked at her, confused.

"You need them more than I do." She said.

Still confused, he picked and pocketed them. Theo wasn't about to refuse coin just because he was confused.

"You still don't remember?" She asked him while tilting her head curiously.

"Remember what?" He asked.

"It's nothing." She smiled at him before it disappeared. "You need to be careful; the Bronze Fang is looking for you pretty insistently and I won't be able to keep the crew's mouths shut once we land."

"Huh?" Theo tried playing dumb. "I don't understand what you mean, what would they want with me?"

Rose gave a small smile that was filled with amusement. "Well, they came looking for you during the first night of our trip, but didn't find you, so they left."

That explained the crew's sudden change in behavior. The Bronze Fang must have offered quite a price to bring him to them. But he still didn't understand one thing.

"Why didn't you give me to them? I imagine they offered you quite a good price." He asked, eyeing her with suspicion.

"How could I let them take away something so cute?" There was a twinkle in her eyes.

Theo's face was completely deadpan.

Rose sighed. "Let's just say that I was paying back a debt."

That didn't exactly make it anymore understandable, but it was something and it seemed like Rose wouldn't be saying anything more.

They sat in silence, both staring at each other. Theo with extreme suspicion while Rose was staring at him with something unfamiliar in her eyes. It continued for a while, neither saying a word before Theo broke it.

"Thank you, then." Theo said. "If you're telling the truth then I appreciate your help."

Rose just waved the thanks away. "It was the least I could do."

"We'll be arriving soon. You might want to go to the deck to look at the sights, it's quite a spectacle." She said.

Theo nodded in response and bid her goodbye before leaving her quarters.

He slowly walked towards the deck and stood on one side, looking at the world around him. Or at least that's what it looked to everyone else, but he wasn't focusing on the sights at all.

All his focus was placed on his thoughts.

'Why would she help me?' He wondered. 'What debt is she talking about?'

He was certain that not a single first mate of the Merchant's guild owed him a single debt. Not to mention a captain.

He shook his head, it didn't matter. Whether she was lying or telling the truth didn't matter. They would never see each other after he left the ship. Theo was almost certain of that.

The sight in front of him was extremely beautiful. The riverside was lush with greenery and there were fields spanning as far as the eye could see.

Many ships, big and small were going to and from Zeah. It was the capital of the kingdom for a reason.

Not only was almost every guild's headquarters there, but most of the nobles also operated from here, and they had a firm hold on a majority of the merchandise in the entire kingdom.

The Academy was also reachable through the capital.

Soon, small buildings started to appear on the horizon, heralding the fact that they were mere moments from Zeah.

Theo went to his room to make sure he had left absolutely nothing behind and by the time he came back up, they were already on the outskirts of the city.

Compared to the dingy and filthy Riverrock, Zeah was almost pristine and regal in appearance.

All the houses were well maintained, either made out of well-hewn stone or out of a beautiful white wood. Most were a combination of the two. A large portion of them were at least two stories tall, if not higher.

The river didn't run through the city, but basically circled one side of the city before it ended into the huge Halram Lake.

There were a few small docks alongside the outskirts, but the true docks resided on the lake's side.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of ships docked in there at every moment. Constant yells were thrown about, but everything was perfectly organized.

There were different areas for different ships, guilds and professions.

He continued to look around in fascination as their ship was directed towards one of the areas for the Merchant's Guild. Theo had only been in Zeah once before, and it had been a short time.

He noticed that Rose had appeared next to him and was also looking at the capital with a sort of reverence in her eyes.

Soon, the ship was anchored and tightly bound against the docks, and even before the plank could be thrown down, Theo moved.

He grabbed hold of the wooden railings and vaulted over and down onto the docks, before disappearing into the crowds of workers going around their day.

Theo thought he could hear a few of the crewmember's yell something but couldn't make out what it was.

'It'll be a cold day in Hell before I let some grunt catch me.' Theo snickered to himself as he blended into the crowd.