Departure #1

It's not a departure if you don't miss the person you're leaving behind. Ars realized that he would be gone for months, or even years.

This one day will be his last day with his family and also the beautiful panorama of this city.

Ars was at the edge of the cliff looking at the sunset. Remembering various beautiful memories in this city, he closed his eyes and immediately stood up and walked down the cliff towards his house.

On the way he followed the road that connected him to the city center. He then turn left walking towards the residential district to the east. Although he had memorized the route to his home, he was careful and looked at the road signs thoroughly.

Not without reason he was careful like that. Although it is not the biggest city in Lagon Island, Bit is not by any means a small town. Therefore it sometimes can led people astray when they were not careful enough.

Bit is a city where most of the residents are fishermen, in fact, Bit is the third largest fish-producing city in the Ruan Kingdom. However, Bit is located on the northwestern tip of Lagon Island where Bit and several surrounding small towns are separated by the slopes of Mount Rana from other large cities. Therefore, lanf transportation are not favorable and most people prefer to use the sea route to travel to other Lagon's major cities such as Asteria and Haas.

Ars himself will go to the capital city of Ruan on Panta island north of Lagon island. The plan was to transit to Astaria and take a bigger ship to Panta island.

Walking through the streets and alleys, he finally arrived at a small two-story house on the edge of a small stream. On the door was written "122 Ara alley".

He knocked briefly and immediately opened the door saying, "Mir!"

From inside came a 12 ruo tall man who approached Ars while saying, "Amir! Your mother is waiting in the kitchen, let's have dinner soon."

"Yes Dad!" Ars took off his sandals and immediately went to the kitchen with his father. His nose then smelled a delicious odor from the direction of the kitchen, tempted by the smell he accelerated his footsteps.

When he entered the kitchen, his mother greeted him.

"Welcome home Ars! Today's dinner is Astaria Fish Soup. Eat well, you will leave early in the morning so you have to be full now. Mom doesn't want to worry about you. Remember that achieving your life goal is not easy. Therefore, every high dream starts with a good meal! Come on, eat! "

"I also can't wait mom, let's eat" Ars replied while sitting and staring at the dish in front of his eyes.

He then saw his parents sitting in front of him before his father started a conversation.

"Ars, I will no longer try to convince you to stay here because I know your dream is bigger than just living in this city. But I must remind you to always be careful, because the one who survives is not the strongest but the most careful."

"Yes, Dad!" Ars replied, looking at his father with eyes full of confidence.

"This last three years I've been training you rigorously. Although, I'm not a great person or anything, I hope you understand and follow what you have learned during the training. Keep--" Dad's speech was interrupted instantly and my gaze then fell on Mom's hand that was pinching Dad's cheek.

"You seem to have a lot of things to say, dear. Let's eat first, before the food gets cold!" my mom said as she stopped pinching my dad.

Ars laughed a little then immediately took the food in front of him, "I'll eat first then!"

Ars immediately ate the food in front of him with relish.

Seeing Ars eating heartily, his parents also stopped their fight and smiled briefly before eating the food that had been served.

...

17 Julio 50 Gillian Calendar 04.00

The blue-black sky colored the scenery at the harbor of the city of Bit. Although it was early in the morning, the atmosphere of Bit City's harbor was in stark contrast to that of its residential areas.

Crowds have become a daily occurrence at the harbor in the early hours of the morning because many ships take advantage of the high tide to sail, as well as the ship that Ars boarded.

Ars was now walking towards the dock to board the ship he was on. The ship he was on was a small cog that was actually intended to send processed fish to Astaria. The only reason Ars could join the ship is because the captain was a close friend of his father.

When Ars boarded the ship, he was greeted by a ship crew who directed him to the quarter deck. There he was greeted by a familiar person who he thought was his father's friend.

"Mir, Liefhon! Welcome to this beautiful little cog my friend, your father entrusted you to me for a trip to Astaria. Ried, hello there!" he said as he put his hand forward.

"Amir! My name is Ars Captain Ried, nice to meet you. I have also been told by my father to board this ship, thank you very much," I said while returning his handshake.

"Woah! You're quite a polite boy, aren't you? Gurd, please guide Ars to the crew cabin. He will occupy the empty bed above you." said Ried towards the cabin crew who had escorted Ars.

"Aye aye! Captain!" replied Gurd.

Then Gurd guided me down from the quarter deck towards the crew cabins.

There I saw several crewmembers stowing their belongings beside their respective double-decker mattresses.

Gurd guided me to the end of the crew cabin before pointing out the bed I would be using during this trip.

"This is your bed Ars. Have a comfortable trip. I myself will go to the deck again to take care of the cargo of fish being transported. You can rest here if you want, we won't bother you with menial tasks." Gurd said as he turned around and left the cabin.

Ars actually wanted to return the hospitality to Gurd, but Gurd had already left.

Ars then put his body on the bed and looked up at the cabin sky. Ars thought that this is the kind of place he will live for at least several years of his life. Small place, Low lights, qustionable sanitary, that is a life of a sailor. He thought of many things that may become a "bad side" of his journey but that thoughts perish. He refused to give in to such circumstances.

If his dream is bigger than bit town, his dream surely is bigger than a small cabin cog.

He conditioned his mentality and strengthened his determination to achieve the life he wanted to live.

"Dream Big, live to endure. Dream small, death not satisfied."