Thanks to the corrupted artifact’s control over the townsfolk back on Marie Island, almost all of the town’s funds had been wasted gathering jars of mist. Much of what they had left was lost to the fires, leaving the survivors with next to nothing.

Aside from a small handful of pelts from the hunting cabin and a few coins salvaged from the town, all the crew had was the chest full of scorched relics. With everyone who valued the burnt keepsakes dead after the trip to Tarth, they didn’t have any value left.

Luckily, they didn’t need to worry about finding a place to shelter from the freezing temperatures right away. After the First Light was pulled into one of the boat sheds- once again using rollers to get it inside, Wellin began leading Roth and the others further into the city.

As soon as they left the boat shed, Roth got to see why the sky bridges were so common. They stretched between every building, forming a complete network above the water.

The Fractured Sea didn’t stop at the port.

Instead of having roads, Tarth had canals. They ran just like streets would in a normal town, leaving only small paths between them and the bordering buildings. It separated the dry land into blocks, with the best way of getting between blocks on foot being over the sky bridges.

Unlike almost all of the other buildings in Tarth, though, the boat sheds didn’t have any sky bridges attached to them. On one side of the shed, there were a couple small boat-sleds. They looked like slightly scaled-down versions of the boat that Wellin had approached Roth’s ship with, and were made from wood.

Apparently, when Wellin had previously said that he would call for them when they got to the city, he meant immediately. The Harbor Commander was already at the boat shed when they arrived, waiting for them to depart from their ship.

Before boarding one of the boat-sleds, Wellin turned and started whispering with the guard who’d been taking notes before. After a few moments, they broke apart, and Wellin pointed toward the center of the city.

“Tomorrow will be busy because of the freeze; I'm going to take Hendricks and Roth in for some questioning right now. Nolan here will take the rest of you to the guard barracks for the night, you’ll be free to go tomorrow.”

Wellin reached down and grabbed the side of the boat-sled, and with one hand, effortlessly slid it over the bank and into the frosty waters of the canal.

This isn’t looking good. This guy is way stronger than me, and I’m not sure if his intentions are good.

“Hop in.”

The small boat-sled bobbed in the water after Wellin hauled his hulking frame into it, but he still looked confident that it could support Roth and Alisa’s weights too.

It’s not like there’s anything we can do other than comply with him. If we tried to run, we’d be caught in seconds.

The level it floated in the water was noticeably depressed as Roth climbed in, but it remained surprisingly steady when he shuffled around to make room for Alisa. She climbed in silently after Roth, taking a seat near the back of the small craft.

“Why do the boats look like this?”

Wellin glanced back at Roth, a hint of surprise visible on his face.

“You’re a captain, but this is your first time in Tarth?”

Wellin reached for a small white line running down the length of the boat, and it glimmered faintly when his hand touched it. The entire boat-sled jolted forward, then slowly started gliding down the canal.

“I’m not really a captain… I just had the most experience with boats and navigation, so the others appointed me as the captain. This was my first time leading a ship.”

And you could hardly even call it that, I was unconscious half of the time.

“It’s impressive for any captain to make it from Marie Island to here during this time of year, and even more so for a new guy like you. You might have a bright future as a captain.”

Roth rubbed his chin as he looked back toward the boat shed that was slowly fading into the distance behind them.

“I think I’d rather stay on land. I should be able to safely make a living drawing maps here, right?”

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“Maps? Are you literate as well?”

When Roth nodded, Wellin let out a small sigh.

“Mapmaking might be the most dangerous profession there is, but if you’re literate, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to find other work. For the time being, anyway.”

Wellin glanced to the side of the boat, where there was an unusual empty plot of land within the city’s borders. There was a small training ground set up there, with a bunch of gray-clad figures doing exercises in tandem on the small plot.

“War is coming, and it’s going to engulf the entire continent. Good mapmakers will be essential in this fight.”

Wellin opened his mouth like he was going to say something more, but caught himself. After collecting his thoughts, he started speaking again.

“You’ll be stuck here for the next couple months either way, so you’ll have plenty of time to think about things. We’re almost at our destination.”

The buildings around them were starting to become slightly more spaced out, with enough space along their sides to walk comfortably. At the corner of almost every block, Roth could see more boat-sleds of similar design to the ones he was currently on.

There were sky bridges hanging over every canal as well, and as they approached the center of the city, the designs of some of them became more sophisticated. Some of them even had cloudy windows, through which Roth could occasionally make out figures moving inside the enclosed bridges.

It was unlike any city Roth had ever seen before, even before he arrived at the foggy island.

I don’t understand the canals, but those sky bridges are definitely smart. It’s only the beginning of winter right now, and it’s already blisteringly cold. Being able to stay inside while still getting around the city is amazing.

“Hendricks, your first name was Alisa, right?”

Wellin glanced back as the boat started to slow down.

“Mm.”

Roth looked back at her as she answered.

She hasn’t said anything since we got to the city… she looks a bit pale, too.

Before Roth could ask Alisa if she was alright, they arrived at their destination.

“The headquarters of the Winter Merchants.”

The building before them was significantly different from the rest of the city. It was made almost entirely of stone, and took up at least four times the space of any other building they’d seen within the city.

The canals that hashed the rest of the city into even squares were forced to take detours around the headquarters, and there weren’t even any sky bridges reaching over to the building.

Instead, there were even more boat-sleds present around the front of the building, occupying more than half of the canal space. White fur-clothes guards and regular citizens bustled around the wide entrance of the headquarters. It was easily the largest crown Roth had seen outside in the city.

“Make way!”

One of the guards at the busy canal section spotted Wellin’s boat approaching and started clearing a path for him. It only took a handful of seconds for there to be a clear path directly to the front of the building.

The regular citizens peered into their boat curiously, and Alisa hunkered down even more, using one of her hands to try and discreetly hide her face.

“Someone hold this boat-sled for me, we won’t be long.”

Without even waiting for their boat to come to a full stop, Wellin hopped out of it and onto the bank in front of the headquarters building. One of the guards hopped in and took his place while Roth and Alisa climbed out and followed Wellin to the entrance of the building.

From a distance, the outside of the entrance had looked mundane, but up close, Roth could see intricate carvings adorning both the wooden double door of the building, and on the stone around it.

The carvings painted a mural- A giant wave, sweeping over a fierce army of both men and beasts. Within the waves, Roth could make out a few snowflakes, their design exactly matching the emblem on Wellin’s chest.

Wellin didn’t pause to examine the engravings, and when he pulled open the door, it immediately motivated Roth to give up on it as well.

Warmth.

A veritable wall of heat hit Roth the moment the doors were opened; a welcome reprieve from the frozen air outside. Roth wasted no time diving through the door after Wellin, and Alisa was fast behind him.

It wasn’t just warm inside. It was hot.

From the freezing temperatures outside, Roth felt like he’d just stepped into a mid-summer day.

“Wow, it’s hot in here.”

“Annoyingly so.”

Wellin stopped after taking a few steps inside, then looked back at Roth and Alisa.

“Give me your coats, then wait here until I come back.”

The hulking commander was already stripping his own fur coat off, revealing a layer of leather armor beneath it. After receiving Alisa and Roth’s coats, he walked off to stash them somewhere.

“Hmm?~”

The moment Wellin walked away, someone approached Roth.

“I’ve never seen you before, young man. Are you here to tra-”

The woman’s voice cut out as her gaze focused on Alisa.

“Hendricks. Why are you here?”

A few other people looked over when they heard Alisa’s name, and Roth could faintly overhear them whispering amongst themselves.

“Hendricks? Isn’t she the one whose dad…”

One of the others nodded, and their conversation went quiet.

What the hell happened that everyone knows her last name, and why are they reacting like this? There’s no way she’s the only one with the last name ‘Hendricks’ in this entire city, right?

“Answer me. Why are you back here after Liesen’s funeral?”