Chapter 6 Travel Across The Vast Sea

• “If you think those sweet gestures would make me take you back, you are definitely wrong,” EMery mumbled to herself as she headed to the nearest shop selling different kinds of buttons.
• She was warmly welcomed by the owner so she immediately showed her the silver button.
• “Wow, this is of an excellent quality, dear,” the owner commented as she looked at it closely. “But my apologies, I do not sell these buttons. Maybe the other shops do. Here is the address of a friend of mine. She might have some of this.”
• Emery thanked her and headed to the next store, however, the result was the same. She went from one shop to another until the sun was close to setting in the west already. But much to her disappointment, none of the shops knew about the button and they all had the same comment.
• “It’s my first time seeing such an intricate design for a mere button but I do not sell them.”
• As she stood in front of the last shop, Emery very much hoped that she could at least get some important information before her first day ended. The shop seemed to be popular since even though it was almost time to close, there were still quite a lot of people around. She walked up to the owner and showed him the button.
• “Do you sell buttons like this?” she asked.
• She did not receive an immediate response from the old man since he was carefully inspecting it. Waiting for a while, she started feeling the exhaustion and fatigue catching up to her, making her feel a bit sleepy.
• “Young miss,” the old man finally said, which somehow awakened her. “This is my first time to see this here in the Kingdom of Silex given that where it came from is far away.”
• “So… You know where it came from? Can you tell me?”
• The old man pointed at the puma inscribed on the silver button and replied, “As you can see, this panther is one of the symbols of the Varmore Empire. It symbolizes one of its most respected protectors.”
• After hearing that, Emery did not waste any time and rented a room where she could stay for the night. SHe immediately wrote her report, stating every important detail she managed to get that day. A lot of questions swirled in her mind that night, keeping her awake even though she was supposed to rest for her long trip the next day. Either way, she still got up before dawn and went to the old woman’s store at the city’s third circle and handed her report.
• “Please, do tell the headmaster that it will take some time for me to return,” she said before leaving.
• As she left the capital city, Emery could not help but recall her conversation with the king about the Varmore Empire. If the emperor was indeed planning to conquer the kingdom by weakening them first by killing off the soldiers, then that would mean that their speculation about the killers looking for that maiden was considered null. But the more Emery thought about it, the more confused she was because some things just did not make any sense. All throughout her trip, those thoughts bothered her.
• After a few days, she finally reached the Thorine Kingdom, which means that she was already close to the coastal area. But before she continued going west, she visited the old shop of her master, Sire, to see if Raphael was still there. He was the last student of her master before he passed away and was the one who passed the message to her.
• However, when she reached the place where the old shop was, it was no longer there. What stood on its original location was not a forge but a restaurant instead. But instead of leaving, she entered and was greeted by a rowdy group of workers who seemed to have just clocked out from work. She took a seat by the counter and saw Raphael just coming from serving the other customers. She raised her hand and was able to catch his attention.
• “What can I get for you, madam?” he asked, showing that he did not recognize her just yet.
• Emery cleared her throat. “If Master Sire gets to know what you did to his shop, he could have whacked you right on the back of your head.”
• It took a minute for Raphael to process the words he heard and to make sure that he was not at all imagining things. When he was sure that Emery was indeed in front of him, he took her upstairs where they could have some privacy.
• “Where have you been all this time? After the war, all I heard was that you left after your argument with His Majesty reached its peak.”
• “It’s a long story but I stayed in Realgar Kingdom for the past years.”
• “So… why are you here? It’s a good thing that no one here had seen you yet or else, your life could have been in danger. You may be the hero of Silex, but you are the reason why Thorine plummeted to the ground after we lost Princess Natalia. Though we’re slowly recovering with the new appointment of a king.”
• Emery could only smile as she shrugged her shoulders, knowing that it was not entirely her fault that Thorine suffered. She simply protected Silex Kingdom from the greedy schemes of the princess.
• “I came to tell you if it’s okay with you to be my messenger? You see, I will be heading to the Varmore Empire to investigate something and I need someone to deliver my reports from here back to Silex.”
• Raphael thought for a while since this was a risky task and it would bring him not only to trouble but to death's door as well.
• “I… I’ll try but if my life is threatened, I’ll abandon the post,” he finally said.
• Emery could understand him so she had to agree with his condition rather than have no one to send her reports to at all. That night, Emery took her rest in Raphael’s home before once again going back on her track. It took her another week before finally reaching the docks.
• As the humid air blew past her, she stood frozen on the ground. In her years of existence, this was her first time to ever behold the beauty of the ocean. There were only a few people around, probably because it was only dawn. She took her time walking towards the ships and watched the seagulls fly here and there as they tried to hunt for fishes and even hover around the fishermen.
• “Aye there!” a muscular and bearded man approached her. “Are ya probably going across the sea, madam?”
• Emery nodded. “I am heading to the Varmore Empire. Is there a ship going there?”
• “Aye! The largest one, of course. My ship! If you want to avail the best hospitality while aboard, you will only have to pay a hundred gold coins! The cheapest among the cheapest!”
• Emery’s jaw almost dropped at how expensive it was and yet the man still said that it was the cheapest. But before she could make an impulsive decision, she eyed the man with her sharp glare.
• “You’re overcharging, aren’t you?”
• “Of course not! It’s hella expensive since my ship is the best among others.” The bearded man spread out his arms before pointing at the largest ship present at the docks.
• Still, she did not believe him. Hence, after a long conversation with him, she managed to make him finally say the original price which was actually 50 gold coins.
• “Y’er smart, I must say, madam. Anyhow, welcome aboard!”
• Emery had to wait for two hours though for the ship to be loaded with passengers before they finally started their three-week journey of sailing across the ocean. She could not help but stare at the land growing smaller until it was out of sight. Compared to being sent to the Realgar Kingdom, this journey gave Emery the fear of not being able to return. Somehow, there was a lingering feeling telling her that she might die on that foreign land. When she realized that she was starting to think too negatively, Emery shook her head as she tightly held her dagger to calm herself.
• “Now that I remember, I should have told King Lawson to return the rest of my daggers,” she muttered to herself. “Though I wonder if he had also come to know about the button.”
• “Aye!” the owner of the ship once again approached her. “Ya okay? Yer looking pale.”
• “Y-Yeah… I’m kinda feeling sick now,” Emery replied while her stomach seemed to be somersaulting on its own. But then, she simply earned a small laugh from the owner.
• “Ya got seasickness, huh. Doncha puke anywhere, madam. Just let it fall into the ocean and let the fishes eat yer leftovers!”
• Imagining that made Emery feel even worse so she decided to just go to her room and have some decent sleep. But as she stepped inside, she felt like someone was watching her so she immediately shifted her attention to her right and caught someone staring at her just a few doors away from her. Though he immediately entered his own room. She simply shrugged it off since she was not really feeling okay.
• For the entire trip across the sea, Emery took that chance to speak with the other passengers and gather some information about the empire of Varmore. Since it was a total foreign land, she had to be aware of her actions in order to blend in with the people and avoid any attention that would expose her real purpose of being there.
• “So yer just visiting the empire, madam?” the owner asked as they stood at the ship’s deck.
• Emery shook her head with her eyes focused on the hazy image of the land that was already becoming more and more visible.
• “I am returning home, captain,” she said. “I left since I was very young so I feel like a stranger here despite it being my homeland.”
• The owner simply nodded his head and was feeling relieved since they were finally close to the land after seeing nothing but the vast ocean for the past weeks.
• “Well, ya gotta be careful, then. The empire is vast and not all people are nice.”
• “I’ll keep that in mind. By the way, how far is the capital city from here?”
• “You mean Elescaster City? Ya can reach the capital in three days if ya ride a carriage.”
• Emery could only nod, already feeling tired since she won’t be having much decent rest after this torturing sailing. Heaving a sigh, she decided to return to her room only to bump into someone.
• “Sorry,” she apologized with a small bow before turning her back on the guy whose eyes were still locked onto her. As far as she could remember, he was also the man whom she caught always staring at her but would look away if she stared back.
• “What’s wrong?” another guy asked upon noticing the odd action of his colleague.
• Castor, the guy Emery bumped into, shook his head before walking past Evander. Ever since they boarded the ship back at the western coast of Thorine Kingdom, Castor already noticed the presence of Emery. He really could not explain it but he felt like there was something about her that seemed to catch his attention.
• He snapped out from his thoughts when Evander suddenly slapped him on the back.
• “You have been eyeing that masked woman, haven’t you?” Evander teased, only to receive a painful whack on the head. He added, “I knew it. She gives off that mysterious vice so she is definitely your type.”
• “Keep your mouth shut and prepare already. We’ll be there within two hours and we can’t keep the emperor waiting.”