Eleventh Day of the Earth, month of the First Moon, a merchant ship sauntered into the harbour of Crosshoe Port City. It had lowered its masts and allowed its hull to be carried along the directions undercurrents artificially generated by the waters in the Harbour.
As one of the largest Harbours of the Toenil Kingdom where a humongous volume of goods were transacted every day, it had many systems set in place to facilitate the chaotic traffic.
The merchant ship allowed itself to be carried by one undercurrent that brought it towards a huge rock pillar that peeked out of the water. As the ship drew closer to the rock pillar, a small light flashed on it as the runes engraved on its surface burst to life and performed a general scan on the ship.
The scan just measured the size of the ship when a pathway along the midsection of the rock pillar split open. The undercurrents then brought the ship forward and entered through the pathway. A world filled with countless rock pillars that peeked out of the water surface came into view as hundreds of ships of all sizes entered and exited through similar rock pillars from all directions.
Rockhill Domain, a special domain in the Hipsink River whose boundaries touched the continental landmass. This domain was conquered and converted by humans to suit their needs. Pillars of rock of all shapes and sizes peeked out of the river water and grew to staggering heights. The tallest rock pillar grew as much as 200 Dobin high.
Another mysterious feature of these rock pillars was the fact that their base didn't touch the river bed. They only spanned between 2-8 Dobin underwater while the river bed was at least 100 Dobin deep. This created a striking contrast to their heights above the water surface. They were also bound by some mysterious power which ensured that they wouldn't ever move from the place they grew up.
A scenic fish that is exclusive to this region was the cause of this phenomenon. Rockfish, a monster that looked like a small ball-shaped rock with fins and tail attached. They ranged between level 1 and level 2. Their battle strength being almost negligible since they only possess ram attacks.
When threatened, they clutter together and fused into a single entity to drive the enemies away. But, within a couple of Chants, they would lose their ego and turn into the rock pillars that floated the water surface like stationary objects.
The material that made up the rock pillars served as the building blocks for all houses. They were tough, strong, malleable, and ductile. They also had high resistance to impacts, energy discharge, heat, and other weather anomalies. They were the first go-to material that every Noble family preferred to build their architecture.
Half of the Rockhill Domain was converted into the harbour while the other half was separated into a restricted area from where the building materials were created and mined.
The undercurrents brought the merchant ship towards a pillar before stopping in front of it. A rope was stretched from the rock pillar which was then tied to the anchor of the ship.
Strevor, the Captain of the ship flew towards the peak of the rock pillar and entered a small hut. A man sat with a cigarette in his mouth as he gave a bored look at the visitor.
"The docking fees is 10 Rupi per day. How many days will you be requiring?" The man said in a lazy tone.
Strevor made a mental calculation before asking for 10 days. The man puffed out a fume of smoke that morphed into the design of Strevor's ship before taking out a set of documents from his drawer. He injected his energy into a seal before stamping it on the document and then signed at the appropriate locations. He then forwarded it to Strevor who took out his personal seal from his pockets and stamped them in the required spots. He then picked up the pen on the desk and signed at a couple of locations.
The bored man then inspected the documents before giving a copy to Strevor and keeping the other one to himself. He safeguarded it inside a stack of similar-looking documents and leaned back on his chair, continuing to puff out from his cigarette.
Strevor walked out of the small hut and returned to the ship. He gave a set of commands to the sailors who hurriedly began to unload empty crates from the ship's storage. Strevor inspected everything to be in order before walking towards a certain cabin and knocking on its door. He could hear the light footsteps of a figure approaching the door. The door opened to reveal the sleepy figure of Sarah who rubbed her eyes as she gazed at him in confusion before her eyes gradually regained clarity.
"My lady, we have arrived at Crosshoe Port City. If you have a destination in mind, it would be my honour to escort you there." Strevor bowed as he tried his very best to control his laughter. The hair of Sarah looked like a bird's nest that had weathered through a storm.
Sarah blinked in surprise before blushing in shame at her appearance. She hurriedly shut the door and ran towards the bathroom. Twenty Chants later, Sarah stepped out of the bath and wore her clothes. She folded the gown and other materials before leaving them inside the cupboard.
She stored her miscellaneous materials in her Dimension Box and placed a bunch of Energy Berries in her pouch that she hung on her hips. She hid another small pouch in her inner pockets that contained some money for her use. Since she wouldn't be needing the leather rolls, for the time being, she placed them back into the Dimension Box and picked out two different leather rolls.
Of the two leather rolls, she hid one of them in the sleeves of her right hand and the other in her left. They were items that could be used in fights that her father had meticulously prepared for her.
Taking a moment to think it through, Sarah took a deep breath and pushed open the door and looked at the figure of Strevor who happened to be waiting for her. Strevor looked at the appearance of Sarah and her demeanour as he sighed in admiration.
'She carries herself in a manner just like those nobles, a sheltered naivete but with the confidence of claiming the very skies. She is a lot different from my son.' Strevor lamented at the thought of his son who was slowly turning into a wastrel as the days passed by. Strevor had instructed his son to try to get clos to Sarah during her stay in their ship since his age was somewhat similar to her own but the brat was just too shy to talk with her.
Strevor and Sarah walked side by side as they left the ship and climbed into a flight of stairs attached to the stone pillar their ship had banked in. The stairs lead to a wide path that headed straight towards the land where throngs of people were busying about amid a flurry of activities.
"Lady Claire, where do you want me to escort you?" Strevor took a moment to compose himself before he turned to the child walking beside him. Seeing the flurry of activity around her, Sarah felt at home. She grew up in Ironhill Port City which wasn't much different from here except for its smaller size.
"My mom…my Aunt instructed me to head towards the Hunter Guild and get some experience," Sarah said as a matter of course. She had repeatedly prepared her lines for such occasions in order to appear more natural.
It felt like a hammer was smashed upon his heart while his back was drenched with cold sweat. Strevor tried his very best to control his accelerated breathing and the sounds of his thumping heart. He mustered every ounce of his willpower to control his limbs to move forward and not run away.
'She must be lady Gristella's daughter, her illegitimate daughter at that. My head will roll if I dared to talk about it. Moreover, what is strange is the fact that she possesses a pair of brown hair and eyes which is not possible if she was birthed by lady Gristella. Was she a product of their experimental research?' Strevor thought in fright.
If he dared to utter this fact outside, then people will shun him for Lese Majesty. Even otherwise, he might be silenced by the Royal family to prevent the secret from leaking out. He had initially assumed her to be the daughter of someone who was a close friend of lady Gristella. But, thinking it through, there was no way a Noble would leave their daughter alone in the middle of the Hipsink river even if they were crazy.
The Noble families usually possessed everything their successors required within the territories their family owned. There was no reason to send them away beyond the territory before they became a level 3 warrior. So, it could very well mean that she was the child of lady Girstella who couldn't be brought out to the Noble society. The more he thought about it, the more scared he became. He tried his very best to control his nerves as he escorted Sarah towards the exit of the Harbour.
"My lady, I hope I will have the honour to serve you again in the future." Strevor performed another bow as he hailed a wagon for her.
"Sure, I hope so." Sarah waved at him with a smile as she boarded the wagon. After the wagon took off, Strevor felt the trace amount of foreign energy in his body dissipate completely. Feeling as if a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders, Strevor ran towards his ship without darting a look behind him.
Within the wagon, Sarah instructed the driver to head towards the Hunter Guild as she fell into thought. She didn't manage to obtain an opportunity to talk with Strevor until now. He was mostly busy due to the dangers of the Hipsink River and Sarah didn't have the courage to talk with him in fear of exposing herself. She didn't know that Gristella Toenil had infused her energy into Strevor to monitor his actions. If she had known about it, then she would have taken a different approach.
'I missed my chance. Now, I'm on my own.' Sarah thought as the wagon arrived before the Hunter Guild.