A few hours later, Alexander sat outside, crossed legged on the ground, watching as the waves gently crashed against the shore before receding, once again starting the playful game of the tide. The shoreline at Port Talan was unlike the beaches he was used to back in Ignis; instead of sand, a rocky terrain met the waves of the ocean. A soft white glow emanated from Alexander’s right hand as he held the doctor’s note with his left. Being by the ocean had unraveled the emotion Alexander had tried so hard to keep hidden away, and after everyone had gone to sleep, he felt compelled to listen to the waves as he reminisced.
It’s been one heck of a month, old man. If only you could see how much I’ve grown. Would you believe it if I told you I took part in a fight? Well, kind of anyway. The ability you taught me has been incredible. I can hardly believe a scummy guy like you came up with it. I guess you don’t get to be the Royal Physician for nothing… I miss home. I hope the other aids have been able to ease the workload on you… And I pray every day that nothing happened to you.
The sound of rocks crunching stirred Alexander as he turned his head to see Thomas and Pengu approaching. “You alright, dude? Why are you sitting out here? It’s like 3:00 AM.” Thomas set Pengu down as he rubbed his eyes.
The small penguin quickly waddled into Alexander’s legs, emitting a soft snore soon after. He slid the letter back into his pocket as he began to pet Pengu. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just thought it was a good night to come look at the ocean. Back home, I loved sitting by the beach to be alone with my thoughts. Ever since we entered Port Talan, I’ve been yearning to come check it out. Couldn’t sleep anyway so I figured why not now. You having trouble sleeping, too?”
“More like my alarm sounded a bit earlier than usual. A certain penguin started squawking after you left her alone in the couch.”
“Oh, sorry about that. I kind of figured she’d stay asleep.”
Thomas took a seat beside Alexander. He felt like his friend was not his usual peppy self and thought it best to just talk like normal. “It is beautiful. The shore kind of reminds me of the Yoro Sea back in Mesto. My grandma took me one time, and I never quite forgot the place. The shore was rocky just like this one but the water. I’ve never seen anything like it. The water was red. Not really like lava or anything, it wasn’t even hot. It was just a pure red.”
“That’s amazing. I’ve heard stories from a friend back home of something like that. There’s a hot spring with red water, but the size of it is equivalent to a lake. A strong Elementalist from Agni supposedly reared a King tier tiger that lives near the lake. Its mana dyed the water red and formed a hot spring.” Alexander smiled broadly as he recalled the fantastical location Brandon had told him about.
“I’ll take you to the Yoro Sea if you take me to this hot spring.”
Breaking away his eyes from the ocean, uncertainty and fear forced Alexander to ask, “Do- do you think I’ll ever get to go back? I miss home, Thomas.”
Thomas released a sigh. “I miss it, too. It’s so odd knowing I’m in a completely different planet, far away from everyone I ever knew. But yes, I am sure you’ll make it back, and if for whatever reason you can’t go back to Fausto, Mesto welcomes you with open arms.” He nudged at Alexander before adding. “In case you didn’t know, I’m kind of the prince.”
Returning his gaze to the waves, Alexander let out a laugh. I’ve also made some pretty great friends, old man. Hopefully, you’ll get to meet them one day.
Once the sun rose, everyone began to get ready for the day. Alexander spent hours ensuring everyone was properly healed, including Pola, while Kai and Thomas tag-teamed the kitchen as they prepared a medley of dishes. As everyone prepared to head out, Alexander nagged everyone to wear a cloak. All the Green Mamba flags unsettled him, and with Thomas a wanted man, he would rather they were hidden from sight.
Setting out, the group proceeded to move through the city as they began to ask about any recluses living in a fisherman’s hut. To their surprise, it didn’t take long at all to hear some news. To be more exact, every single person they asked pointed them towards a wooden cabin a few miles down the shore to the south of the port. The only reason they hadn’t immediately rushed over was something Thomas stumbled onto in a park within the city.
Underneath a statue of the Pirate Empress, a small stand had been placed where a woman was currently speaking through a megaphone. A small crowd gathered around the stand. “The criminals are highly dangerous Elementalists. One is a runaway prince from Tlaloc while the other is one of our own: a deserter who chose to side with the enemy. If you have any information at all with regards to their location, bring it to the palace. You will be heavily rewarded. We have reason to suspect they have chosen to hide out somewhere within Port Talan. Keep your eyes peeled, and you may just have a chance at joining our glorious crew.”
A parade of pirates moved out once she had finished her speech, handing out wanted posters and hanging them up around the park. Taking the opportunity to escape, the group left the park and ran into an alleyway.
Holding up some wanted posters they had snagged while they ran, Pola inquired about something that was bugging her. “Kai, why does Thomas have a higher bounty than you? Didn’t you beat him up?”
In her hands, she held a wanted poster with an artist’s rendition of Kai: his spiky blonde hair with a fade on the sides, blue eyes and scruffy beard captured with exquisite detail. A bounty of 800,000 Presots was placed on him.
Chiming in with an answer, Thomas eased Pola’s curiosity. “It’s because despite him being soooo much older than I am, your brother still barely managed to beat me. Just barely. I am much more of a threat in the long run.”
Giving Thomas a side glance, Alexander corrected him. “Tommy is a Prince, Pola. People are much more willing to pay money for him. The pirates just want your brother dead.”
Pola quickly scrounged up her eyebrows as she indignantly responded. “They want to kill my brother?!”
“Sh, sh, sh, don’t worry about it. Look it clearly says dead OR alive. I’m gonna be totally fine. Don’t listen to these bozos.” Kai lifted Pola as he began to assuage her worries.
Returning to the point at hand, Alexander thought through what they had heard. “Security around here will certainly tighten. We’re gonna have to move stealthily. Luckily, we know where we’re headed, probably. You really think the crazy guy everyone keeps talking about is our guy?”
“Well, it certainly can’t help to try. If everyone keeps pointing us to that guy for questioning after hearing our descriptions, surely there’s something to be gained by checking it out.”
Everyone in town spoke about a recluse living in an isolated cabin by the southern beach, but it was the descriptions of the person that made the group wary. People spoke about him as if he was mythos. Children laughed as they said he unpeel bananas only to eat the peel and throw away the rest. Merchants recounted the times he attempted to purchase goods with bloody socks. Whenever he was told the socks were worthless, he would slice his hands on the spot to bloody the sock further before asking if it was worth it now. He also never left home without his goldfish. To describe the man as peculiar would be an understatement.
Interrupting the conversation, Kai spoke. “I think we need to come up with a way to deal with the pirates before anything else. We’ll die before even meeting the crazy guy if we got caught.”
Alexander confusedly voiced his opinion. “I don’t understand. Apart from that captain lady, you and Thomas have crushed all the pirates. They’re not exactly a threat to us. Maybe it would be better to blaze a path straight through the city until we find this man.”
Kai shook his head as he keenly disagreed. “That sounds like a terrible idea. I’m not worried about the fodder pirates, but with two of us having a bounty now, an Executive will more than likely be sent out.”
Clueless about the new term, Alexander voiced his confusion. “What’s an Executive?”
“One of the strongest pirates under the Pirate Empress.” Kai began to explain the strength of their enemy. “They’re a group of 6 beings who serve the pirate Empress with unswerving loyalty and carry out the most difficult missions. They are all between Grandmaster or Lord tier, and all powerful in their own way. I only ever met three of them, but they were without a doubt strong and savage: the perfect company for the vile Pirate Empress. That’s not even taking into account this Gabriel and the Storm Division.”
Easing the groups worries, Thomas clicked his tongue. “I don’t think we will have to deal with any more captains. The Storm Division is a top group within the entirety of the Jupiter Clan. I am positive the 3rd division was the only help the clan provided to the Storm King’s son. There’s simply no way so many resources could be sent to Kedra Island of all places.”
“If there’s no soldiers to worry about, can you beat those Executives?”
Raising his hand to his chin, Kai thought about it for a moment. “Like I said, I’ve only met three of them, but I would say at my best I could beat one of them, tie with another and lose against the third.”
“What if Thomas helps you?"
“Then I would say we could at least run away from the three I know.”
“Okay, so it sounds like we’re right back at a somewhat larger square one. There are pirates after us, and their leaders may come. However, any encounter with them is not deadly. I’ll just patch us up anytime something bad happens.” A cheeky smile escaped Alexander. “Sure, we’ll have to sneak around the city, but I don’t think this is that big of a deal. Let’s go!” Alexander proceeded to dash away before doing a cartwheel to head behind a box. Looking both ways at the end of the alley, he signaled to the group to move forward.
Bewildered by Alexander, Kai turned to look at Thomas seeking an explanation. “Is he always this happy go lucky?”
“Unfortunately, yes, but you get used to it.” Thomas lightly shrugged his shoulders before dashing after Alexander.
The group proceeded to move covertly through the city, or at least as much as one can when traveling with a child and a penguin. Security around the city had been tightened since last night with pirates patrolling many of the streets, and most buildings now hung both Thomas and Kai’s wanted posters. It appeared the Green Mamba did not take kindly to betrayals as the pirates were overbearingly hostile with anyone who seemed suspicious.
It was Kai who was forced to hold back Alexander and Thomas when they saw several goons roughing up an elderly shopkeeper who simply asked if he could hang up the posters later. “If we show up now, we’ll only cause more of a mess. I know this isn’t great, but the best we can do right now is walk away.” Lecturing them both, Kai pushed them away from the conflict.
From then on, the group relied on Alexander’s scan to evade any patrols. Upon detecting any lighting mana signatures, they would circumvent entire streets if possible. Using this tactic, everyone reached the wooden cabin by the beach after a few hours, undiscovered.
Several miles south of Port Talan, a wooden shack lay on the rocky beach overlooking the ocean. Its proximity to the forest Alexander had just been in caused it to be surrounded by those same orange flag trees.
The shack was rundown; the only signs of life was some smoke exiting the shack’s chimney. Several drying racks made from sticks stood around a small veranda, each holding a couple of starfish. Fishing rods, bananas, and fish bones littered the walkway to the cabin’s door. As Alexander made his way towards the door, every floorboard he stepped on creaked- a sign of the condition of the wood and the age of the shack.
Knocking on the door, a heavy, plopping sound was heard as something moved towards the entrance. Unexpectedly, a sea lion wearing sunglasses opened the door. Looking them up and down, it seemed to question Alexander as to why he had knocked on the door.
“Umm, I’m sorry. Maybe I got the wrong door? I’m looking for an old fisherman?”
Thomas smacked the back of Alexander’s head. “Dude, that’s a sea lion. Why the hell are you talking like he can understand you. Unless, you randomly understood the green color and can read his mind, this isn’t going anywhere.”
The sea lion emitted a tough grunt before he turned and hopped back into the shack. With a swing of his tail, he slammed the door shut. Hands on his hips, Alexander berated Thomas. “Well, look what you did? You made him angry! Now, what do we do?”
Unwilling to back down, Thomas nonchalantly responded. “I mean it was just a sea lion, dude. We are looking for an old man. Who cares if I pissed of the fish a little bit. The recluse’s home is probably further south.”
With a hand on his forehead, Kai exhaled loudly. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m pretty sure this is the recluse’s home. You pissing of his pet may just cost us learning anything about your precious ruins.”
Suddenly, the door eerily opened on its own, creaking slowly as it swung fully open. From within the shack, a tan skinned elderly man with a bald head and thick gray moustache emerged. He was wearing a forest green bucket hat and a short-sleeve, beige fisherman’s vest with no pants. A tattoo of what appeared to be a goldfish with wings wrapped around his left arm. Standing in the doorway in his boxer briefs, the old man yelled sternly at the group. “Are you the hooligans who bullied my sister?”
Befuddled, Alexander quizzically stared back. “Y-your sister? I’m sorry sir, but I don’t think we’ve ever met your sister.”
The man huffed as spittle went all over Alexander’s face. “Susanne! Get over here, right now. These twerps are saying they didn’t do anything to you.” The thump of a body hopping along the ground was heard as the sea lion once more approached the door. A raucous barking erupted as Susanne appeared indignant. “Hmph, you still dare say you haven’t bullied my sister after she so clearly explained what you’ve done!” The man shuffled back inside the shack, muttering insults at the group.
Realizing Susanne would be continuing her barking, Kai bent down in an attempt to placate her. “I deeply apologize for what my friends have done. We meant no offense. We were only looking for… we came here in search of your brother. We heard he might be able to help us with something.” Kai extended his hand forward as he made to soothingly pet Susanne, but she chomped down on his hand. “Ahh, she bit me!”
“You dare attack my sister as soon as I turn my back on you? You aren’t twerps; you’re criminals! You see, Gertrude. You keep saying they mean no harm, but that blonde man is clearly trying to claw Susanne’s tongue out.” The old man had returned with a fishbowl in hand. A black and white spotted goldfish with a miniature fisherman’s vest swam within.
Alexander gave a quick bow as he tried to explain. “Wait, please. I agree with Gertrude. We really don’t mean any harm. We came here because we heard you might know something about some mystical ruins. That’s it. We aren’t’ trying to attack Susanne!”
Thomas shot Alexander a glare, “Hey! Why would you just spill it all out in the open?”
“At this rate, no one is gonna tell us anything. Laying our cards out at least gives us a chance!” The constant commotion roused Pengu from her sleep as she drowsily poked her head out of Alexander’s backpack.
Susanne released Kai’s hand as she began to drool. A beguiling smile overtook the old man. “Looking for some ruins, huh? Might these be a dragon’s ruins in Mirage Island? I do know how to get to them, but considering the emotional damage Susanne, Gertrude and I have suffered today, I would say some payment is required.” Susanne and his eyes simultaneously fell on Pengu. “How about some penguin soup?”
