Aboard

Barry negotiated back and forth with the boatman, until at last, he came back to the group. His face was one of utter frustration.

"The boatsman will take us to our destination for 30 silver." He said.

"What?!" Tristan shouted, unable to contain his bewilderment. "It only costs 6 silver for a trip from Epheria Port to this village. How did the cost end up 5 times higher than that?"

"Unfortunately sir, the Ephenia Port and Cola Village is a common route that is relatively safe. Currently, we are asking them to sail out from their usual route, and it's a bit more dangerous as we're going to be sailing out of the kingdom border."

Tristan glanced and saw the ship captain's grinning face from the corner of his eye. His wooden boat, although average in size, seemed to have holes and mold all over. Even from a fair distance, it was clear that the captain had scammed them.

Tristan wanted to save his money, to the point he thought about using [Blood Seal] on the captain for the entire duration of their journey. Unfortunately, he didn't have that much blood essence, to begin with. Moreover, this morning he woke up to find that 5 points of Blood Essence had been used, something he would have to live with every day it seems.

"Uurrggh…"

To be fair, although they had not received the reward for their quest, Tristan still had 20 sets of weapons he could sell after looting the dead orcs. Unfortunately, the village also had no need to buy such items. Thus, their only option was to sell the scraps at Erantell later. However, before that could be done, the weapons were just baggage shared between Borin and Seth.

"Sir Tristan, how about I help you take the loot to Erantell? I can collect the reward while I'm at it…" Seth smiled and winked.

Knowing his intentions, Tristan did not immediately approve. He merely turned towards Seth and said.

"Seth.. the only way I can trust you with that is if you are willing to be my blood puppet. Do you want it?" Seth quickly turned pale and gulped. "no sir…" He quickly shook his head. "I'd rather follow you to the orc country, sir…"

"Good choice, Seth"

Tristan needed as much manpower as he could get if he was going to explore the wilderness. Among them was Herrera. The fire magician apparently didn't need to be persuaded or any incentives at all. She had attached herself to be Tristan's assistant forcefully.

Even knowing about their next destination into dangerous territory or the fact about Tristan's skill that made Borin into a living puppet didn't scare her.

In fact, Herrera offered herself as Tristan's slave if Tristan could provide her with a certain reward.

[Human - Female]

[Battle Power: 25]

[Spirit force: 90]

[Rank 3 fire magician]

Tristan did not expect to see that Herrera had such good stats. He could make her guide him in the ways of magic, fire spells, and so on. Not to mention, she is a decent cook.

"Hey, Barry." Tristan called, "How long would this journey take?"

"If everything goes as planned, we should be back to Erantell in three days, sir. Right in time for your promise to the mayor."

Finally, for the matter of 30 silver payments, Tristan shamelessly took out some money from Borin's pocket and gave it to the captain. The siblings had a total of 2 gold coins and a few silvers.

"I am sure Borin doesn't mind," Tristan said to himself

With all things set, the group of 6 plus 8 orc younglings went aboard.

The orc children looked down at the churning waters and held each other tight, they gripped the edge of the boat hard and tried not to let their fear show. It was equal parts adorable and surreal.

All preparations were set, The captain and half a dozen crew pulled out the anchor, set out the sail, and steered towards the water

"Set sail!!"

The boat sailed to the east at a decent speed. After sailing through the river for a few hours, finally they met up to the vast sea. From there, they started sailing southeast and moved further across the shore.

Tristan enjoyed the open blue scenery, the sound of the water splashing on the boat, and the cool ocean breeze on his skin. He thought perhaps one day he could just spend his days as the captain of a ship and sail across the world.

The boat kept sailing even as the sun started to dip lower on the eastern horizon. Everyone took turns sleeping, and finally, dawn came.

When the sun started rising, the boat crew started running around the deck in a panic. Right as Tristan was about to ask the captain frantically running around, the boat lurched to the side, forcing everyone to hold on.

"What happened?!"

"A raid sir! Barbarian raid!" The captain answered, his breath ragged and sweat covering his body.

Tristan saw gray smoke rising in the distance while from the west they saw two large ships moving towards them at great speeds. The ships were packed with people carrying weapons and shouting battle cries toward them.

"We are turning back sir!" The captain said.

Before Tristan could answer, Barry shouted.

"Watch out" Barry raised his shield to the air as fire arrows started to rain down on their boat. The dried and rotting wood started to burn, fire spreading to every direction, propelled by the wind.