As could be expected, the port was by far the largest part of this place… Or else it wouldn’t literally be called Avril Port. However, the port as a whole was a lot more impressive than it sounded as it hadn’t just been built on tough banks which resisted the ocean tides very well. It was originally built off a tiny peninsula of land which extended from this specific point off the coast for about half a mile, but such a short distance still made it perfect to create a gigantic line of docks like no other.
While smaller vessels could directly move into the harbour, and tie up at far smaller docks or the boardwalk itself, the far larger ships had to use dedicated places, which meant only four of them could be kept connected to the port at any one time.
And this resulted in an annoying workload as the harbour master not only had to stop deadlocks from smaller vessels coming and going but also ensure the larger trade ships rapidly moved all their goods into warehouses, and then the new product was moved on as soon as possible right after.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. Sometimes the larger vessels might sit just a short distance from the port as the merchants in charge were still gathering stock to take back over to the elven lands, or perhaps their return date was delayed, and thus there was no point in leaving yet.
There were thousands of ships which docked at Avril Port every single week, and dealing with merchants on top of that was only a greater headache.
However, he did have a favourite type.
“Harbour Master, I believe you dropped this.” From behind, a feminine voice caught him off guard, and he turned a few moments after his two guards to see a woman in a wizard’s robe handing a clearly packed leather pouch to him. While his position did offer quite a bit of wealth, its actual disposable income was sorely lacking compared to many other jobs.
And so, he received the pouch from her and opened it up to see at least 40 black metal coins. Whilst not a massive amount, it wasn’t just pocket change either. He replied to her in a rather snobbish tone, “Oh my, thank you for returning this. Cannot believe I almost lost it! Is there anything the young wizard required?”
“If it’s a small matter, I’d like to know when the Stormbreakers will be returning to the port. And perhaps even know where I may charter one?” Mala wasn’t exactly a flirtatious individual, but she knew how to put on a smile and appear approachable, any adventurer did after a few years.
“Ah, an excellent choice for one such as yourself. Elves are very welcoming of those versed in magic… As for the Stormbreakers, they should be here in no less than 10 days, and no more than 12. The one you wish to speak with owns an office in the Gilded Swallow and goes by the name ‘Breakhead’. He is incredibly fussy about his real name,” while more than happy to talk, he really didn’t have time to waste and simply pointed out Mala in the direction she sought without much trouble.
In truth, the only difference he showed between a man or woman in such cases was the degree of interest he held in their journey.
But with Mala gathering what she wanted, for a slight price, they were able to head straight to the pretty famous pub in the town. This was actually one of the few they hadn’t visited because, unlike the many inns with taverns, it did not house guests.
Just by walking into the place, its atmosphere differed quite heavily from the more traditional establishments, however, this could also be due to the general wealth used for the building’s appearance. Besides the white walls and dark green tinted windows, a small canopy primarily covered in azure tiles stretched over the entrance, as well as similar lines above each window for decorations. Of course, the roof was instead made of a black slate, more like other buildings, but its three-story height only amplified that sense of wealth.
Internally, the floor was not bare like many other establishments, but fully carpeted with a darker navy blue, with occasional black stripes for additional embellishment. Of course, they could go on to stare at the gold-coated railings on staircases, or the luxurious carvings built into the walls themselves, but none could afford such a long stare.
Raccelline didn’t seem particularly impressed, but it wasn’t like any of them expected such a scene to mean much to her.
From the entrance, it was a few steps up to a platform with dozens of tables and a well-stocked bar on one side. Mist falling off the back where spirits had been stored was clearly created by some sort of array to keep the place chilled, a huge display of wealth right there.
Korridan simply had to approach the bartender about Breakhead’s office to be told the top floor of the establishment, and from there, his office couldn’t be missed. While the bottom floor housed many patrons, from appearance alone, it could be seen that two groups fell into this category.
Warriors and some of the city’s middle-class, which wasn’t exactly small in such a lucrative place.
The former were mostly around their own group in strength, or slightly better, as seen by the several Gold ranks in Icy’s vision.They didn’t bother any of the patrons though, and they ascended the staircase with relative ease, its flat and long steps were less impactful on older ankles as well as the limited mobility of any beast like himself. On the second floor was once more a bar at the end of a corridor, however, these were all private rooms with quite a few arrays to isolate individuals. His mana sense couldn’t penetrate through, and everyone knew better than to disturb anyone capable of using such a room.
But finally, on the top floor, they found that the corridor wrapped around the perimeter of the building with doors consistently on the right-hand side all the way round. The right hand being relative to the direction their group left the stairwell.
Indeed, every door hung a sign right beside it marking their business, and the second door right after reaching the top step was their goal. ‘Stormbreaker Ship Leasing’, and when they walked up to it, a plaque read ‘Fleet Commander Breakhead’, not exactly a flashy title, given just how lucrative this business was.
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Korridan knocked three times, and they entered, the door seemingly opening on its own accord.
Inside the office were some sets of wooden cupboards with small paper cards attached to the front with various dates, probably receipts and documentation regarding previous passengers. All manner of tools and stationery covered the tops of these cupboards though, and with reason, as no desk existed in here.
Instead, the centre of the room was kept entirely empty with the exception of a single chair and the man leaning back on it such that it stood on two legs. However, what really stood out was that the chair did not rock or fall over, but rather remained perfectly balanced on the corner of both legs without any input from the man.
He wore a wide-brim cowboy hat and even spurred boots to go along with it, however, Icy saw through that simple appearance quite easily with the frightening mana contained in those metal spurs, as well as an almost unnoticeable edge surrounding the hat’s edge. If that black felt hat was thrown, he’d probably be sliced in half without much resistance. Besides a bit of stubble on the man’s face, he appeared rough but not exactly aged, perhaps the perfect age and build to make women of all ages swoon, but that digressed from the topic at hand.
A white dress shirt with few frills and something that resembled leather pants completed his costume, but it was the hat and shoes which stood out to them all.
When all seven of them completely entered the surprisingly well-lit windowless room, the man’s finger curled slightly and the door closed behind them. It only took that much for Mala to throw out a guess, “A Kinesis warrior? Purely force specialised or…”
“Element master, are you wizards ever less nosey?” This exact question came out once every ten or so clients, and he couldn’t lie that it grew tiresome at some point. But it didn’t truly bother him. If anything, it meant they were intelligent enough to know what was going on and actually pay for his services. Meanwhile, Mala nodded to herself over the answer but didn’t seem the slightest upset over the comment.
“We’d like to charter one of your Stormbreakers. From what we heard, they’ll be returning to the port in just under two weeks,” Korridan asked blankly.
Breakhead stood up, and at the exact same speed, his chair lowered onto the ground perfectly to catch his feet, at which point he asked, “This your whole group?”
With a nod from every person, he titled his head a few times, and wiggled a few fingers. After each movement a different item from on top of the several cupboards flew into the air and hovered in place for him to look at.
A pencil scribbled down sets of figures on a sheet of paper, and then a fine quill pen dipped in a strangely cosmic-looking ink before filling in details on a contract. Two to be precise, one for each party. No doubt, the man’s control over his abilities was utterly amazing, and it only reinforced the danger of his hat and spurs.
“Now, I presume you have that… child with you for good reason since you have a priest. So, you seven are all fine, as maddening of a group you are. I’m also curious as to what made you accept these humans… Yes, that was directed to you.” While at first Breakhead addressed the leader of this group, he switched focus to Icy halfway through to ask a seemingly random question. However, before anyone replied, Breakhead followed up but spoke in a completely different language that only Icy understood, “Perhaps you do not know Baranot. I asked–”
“I heard you… It simply caught me off-guard. And you also speak Beasten for some reason?”
“Knowing everything helps in this business, although my heart and throat make it hard for me to speak Draconic. But that didn’t exactly answer my question either.” The others hadn’t exactly come to realise, like he and Mala already had, that the man opposite them was far more observant than he let on.
And while it confused him for a moment at how his identity had been seen so easily, that made some sense as Breakhead already noticed Raccelline’s mana density and likely his special heart. This could be expected as not only was he an Element master, but quite literally at Starlite rank, the same as a master tier beast.
And by god was his mana frightening to the two magically inclined of the group.
Icy spent a few seconds to think of an answer to Breakhead’s question though, comparing the reason he originally worked with them to how they behaved recently. In fact, even just how he looked after Raccelline most of the time was unnatural for a dragon. “I joined for her sake and to travel easily, but now… I quite like it. Having friends makes living a lot easier.”
It wasn’t an answer Breakhead expected in the least from a dragon of all things, but it hadn’t distracted him from finishing up the paperwork. A final figure was soon given for the journey.
“1750 dreyers? That’s fine, but will you take a rough equivalent to it?” Korridan asked while reading, also telling the group how much they’d be paying. That was by no account a small amount of money, a single dreyer being one of the black metal coins they used quite often.
Although, for such a high cost deal, it would’ve made more sense to simply use a higher value currency, but perhaps Breakneck assumed they lacked the ability to gather those coins.
“As long as it’s the right amount.”
From there it didn’t take long for Icy to remove ten coins from his necklace and kick them over, one by one they flew up for him to take a good look at them. Each coin was made of a cloudy crystal, very much like raw quartz, but when light shone through, it diffused within to create a rainbow spectrum inside the coin itself.
He bit his lower lip before giving an answer to the dragon, “Got 5 more of them?” And there wasn’t even a haggling phase as he received a few more and figured they roughly came to a great enough value. Still, he wasn’t exactly experienced with phased-out currencies. “You lot find an ancient ruin? These things almost never appear these days.”
None of them replied to his question, and to move the topic away, Mala asked, “Is it fine to sign for a ship now?”
“Of course. Just sign in these spots and come back in twelve days for more information. Can’t designate a ship without knowing their conditions.” The process ended extremely smoothly, and with their copy of a contract, the group was able to finish their most important matter in less than a single day.
As the day passed as well, it became more of an issue that they spent most of the time perusing stores and getting a proper meal to eat at a place which wouldn’t drain their funds dry for a single dish. But then came the part of finding an inn to stay at, and the group settled for a somewhat annoying way to go about it.
Find a more secluded inn with a backroom which Icy could access, then as long as they allowed companion beasts to sleep inside rooms, he could simply teleport up with a spell. To avoid being found out though, a silence spell hid his voice, and a veil of space covered his body entirely. After all, while most weaker wizards knew little about what dragons look like or how to identify them, Most would be able to tell something was strange by the way he cast a spell purely through speaking.
No other methods of spellcasting worked purely off speaking, and the less who knew his draconic identity, the better.
And while a rather stupid way of doing things, he very easily teleported straight into a room upstairs like this. From there, using a second Instant shift to move into a room with Raccelline.
Well, now to just do this for 11 more nights. Would he be asking for trouble by hoping that nothing happened in this city?
Probably. Every dragon had more than a few stories about jinxing things.