As it turned out, sky bridges were not nearly as exciting as Roth had been expecting. Instead of some towering magical constructs brought about by the unfamiliar magic of this world, Roth instead observed mundane wooden bridges extending between the distant buildings of Tarth.

As the First Light slowly glided into the harbor with its battered sails, all of the surviving crew members gathered at the bow. Only Anpo was still in the wheelhouse, steering them toward the city before them.

Even from a distance, Roth could tell that it was nothing like the small town they were coming from. According to Alisa, Tarth was technically an island- but it was quite a big one. Buildings stretched along the slowly curving shore as far as far as Roth could see. Enclosed bridges one story off the ground stretched between every building.

The port before them also wasn’t anything like Roth had seen before, not even before his crew were lost on the island. The boat sheds back on Marie Island were used to keep boats safe from the frozen waters. Tarth took this idea of keeping boats out of the water and ran with it.

Large boat sheds slightly resembling the ones back on Marie Island lined the eastern shore of the harbor, but instead of being constructed from logs, they looked to be made from brick and mortar.

“I’m guessing we should head that way… ah, it looks like there’s a boat coming our way.”

A small ship took off from a dock near the boat sheds, then started accelerating toward Roth’s ship with surprising speed. It only took just over a minute for the small boat to reach them, and as they approached, Roth could make out just over a dozen men aboard it, all of them outfitted in pure white clothing.

“Identify yourselves!”

One of the white-clad men looked up at where Roth and the others were standing at the bow. Now that they were just a few meters away, Roth could see rifles in the hands of all of the incoming men.

“We’re from Marie Island!”

The leader of the armed men squinted up at Roth for a few moments before waving his hand toward the side of the ship.

“From just north of Losten? Why are you out here a day before the freeze?”

Roth was about to shout down to the man again, but he waved at the side of the boat again.

“Drop down a line, we’ll come up there so we don’t need to shout.”

These dudes are coming out of Tarth, so they should be friendly, right…?

Roth glanced back at his crewmates, only to see Jeren already dropping a line over the side of the boat. Alisa was cowering behind Jean, who just had a relieved look on his face. Roth couldn’t deny that he also felt a bit better now that he could also see dry land.

“Northwest Harbor Commander, Wellin. Can I ask who the captain of this ship is?”

Almost an instant after Jeren dropped a rope over the side of the ship, the leader of the armed men was already on the deck. Roth was pretty sure he hadn’t even used the rope to climb on board.

“That would be me… I guess. There’s only five of us left, though…”

Wellin’s eyes swept over the four present, then he glanced toward the wheelhouse. After taking a quick stock of the battered state of the ship he looked back at Roth.

Looking back down at Roth might have been a better way to put it. Despite having solid height genes himself, Roth still felt lacking before the white fur-clad man in front of him. Wellin was nearly a head taller, and even if the furs draped over him were helping, Roth still wagered the man was probably double his weight, mostly in muscle.

Wellin had bushy brown eyebrows and a thick yet well-maintained beard. A few white hairs were starting to thread through the brown ones. On his chest, there was a small snowflake-shaped badge.

“Only five of you? How many were there when you left the island, and what is the state of the town?”

Before Roth could speak up, Jean took a step forward, then started to recap the events that happened on the island. Wellin’s face grew increasingly more grim. One of the other white fur-clad men- whom Roth figured were likely Harbor guards, given Wellin’s introduction- climbed on board and started to take notes on what Jean was saying.

“A corrupted artifact… it would’ve had to have been at least Legend ranked, probably Deity…”

Wellin looked back up at the group, his eyes narrowing.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“And you said you survived unharmed?”

“I and a group of hunters were away from the town when everything happened, and only got back after everything was over. Roth and Hendricks were the only ones who survived in town, and they’re both Regarded.”

Alisa visibly flinched as her name was spoken, and she edged behind Roth, trying to hide from Wellin’s fierce gaze that locked on her.

“Hendricks. You that girl Liesen took in?”

“I-... yes.”

Wellin let out a long sigh, then cursed under his breath.

“Well, shit. Three for three.”

Roth felt Alisa’s arm brush against his back as she tried to hide away from Wellin.

There’s definitely something she didn’t tell me… unless being a winter merchant is loathed in this city- which I don’t know how it could be- then there must be something else going on here. She’s not acting like she normally would, either. She was even willing to risk her life trying to save the town before, why is she so scared now?

“Hendricks girl, did you bring that corrupt artifact to Marie Island?”

Roth stepped forward before Alisa could even open her mouth.

“Obviously not, Jean just told you that she helped destroy it! She almost died trying to save everyone there!”

Wellin looked at Roth in surprise for a few moments, then swept his gaze over the rest of the group. Anpo was following another one of the white fur-clad guards out onto the deck, and he also overheard the conversation. Neither he nor Jeren seemed to know exactly what was going on.

“I don’t consider myself a fool, but I’m not a suspicious man, either.”

Jean spoke up as Wellin’s gaze fixed on him, and Roth looked back in confusion. A few more seconds passed before Jeren spoke up, trying to alleviate some of Roth’s lack of understanding of the current situation.

“The adults would never tell us why, but no one wanted us around Hendricks. I have never observed her acting in a deviant manner, so it must be something in her past. If I had to speculate, -”

“Don’t.”

Wellin cut Jeren off before he could say any more, and the emotionless young man gave a small head nod.

“I’ll let you into Tarth, but there will be a long investigation into this. The only two Regarded here are Hendricks and Roth, correct?”

Everyone nodded, and Jean stayed silent.

“Then the two of you need to let me know before you go anywhere. Both of you are important figures in this investigation…”

Wellin’s eyes paused on Roth again.

“And I am a little curious, if three times is a coincidence, will it be if there’s a fourth?”

Roth felt Alisa sharply pull away from him as Wellin turned and started walking back over to the side of the ship. Without even glancing over the edge, he leapt off the side of the First Light, landing heavily back in his smaller boat below.

“My men will steer you into one of the boat sheds. The freeze is tomorrow, so you’ll be stuck here for a couple months. Roth, Hendricks, I’ll call for the two of you once we’re back in the city.”

One of the fur-cloaked guards still on the ship headed for the wheelhouse, while a few others started disassembling the battered sails. It didn’t take them more than a couple of minutes to have the sails completely stripped down.

Once that was completed, they started disassembling the masts themselves, putting the ship back into a similar state as it had been in when it was previously stored on Marie Island. Roth watched with a frown as two of the guards lowered the masts down to the deck. Back on the island, it was a job that had taken nearly all of the surviving hunters to lift them up.

They must be Regarded, and they are probably stronger than me.

Both of Roth’s Regards were now at First- his golden rabbit one that could copy others’ abilities, and the one passed down from Holl, that would let him become unnoticeable if he stood still. He had yet to have a chance to test out either of them.

Alisa explained that you will get physically stronger when you reach Half, these guards must at least be there, if not even beyond that. They might also have multiple Regards, like me…

Roth turned around, ignoring his other crewmates and focusing on Alisa. She was chewing on her lower lip, looking like she was lost in a worrisome thought.

“Hey, Alisa. Jeren said there was something about people wanting to stay away from you, right?”

She looked up at him, and Roth could see a defeated look in her eyes.

Well, I guess that explains why she doesn’t trust anyone. If she’s never had any friends, that would definitely mess with someone growing up. I don’t think she had any relatives back on Marie Island either…

Roth paused for a moment.

And everyone calls her Hendricks. I don’t think I’ve heard a single person call her by her actual name.

“I- It’s okay if you-”

“I don’t care about whatever happened in the past. We’re friends now, right, Alisa?”

“Friends…?”

Roth nodded, then took a few steps forward. He could see a few tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as he pulled her into a hug.

“I know nothing about this Tarth city, so I’ll need someone I can trust to show me around.”

Roth felt Alisa’s shoulders shake a bit as she leaned into his hug, and he gave her a light pat on the back.

Then, someone else gave Roth a small pat on the back, before wrapping their arms around both him and Alisa.

“We should stick together.”

Jeren’s muffled, dull voice sounded right by Roth’s ear as he turned it into a group hug.

“Anpo, come join the group hug.”

I didn’t think either of them were very close with Alisa, and they definitely aren’t with me… but if they want to be friends now too, I guess that’s a positive.

Anpo seemed similarly skeptical of Jeren’s actions, and was pretty sure his buddy was butting in on something romantic, but eventually decided to join the hug. They were, after all, in an unfamiliar city. Even if he hadn’t been close with Alisa back on Marie Island, he still knew her better than anyone in Tarth.

An acquaintance at home was a friend abroad.