The two of them walked in silence for a while. When he was sure they were away from prying ears, Haku decided to ask another question: "You said the ocean is full of fishes and sea monsters, right?"
"Yes, exactly" Ethan replied immediately.
"How many of them?"
"Oh, lots. Lots, lots. There are more fishes in the sea than animals on land. The ocean is boundless, and the creatures it contains are infinite"
Haku nodded. He didn't have the exact number, but he assumed he couldn't ask for that much. "Tell me, how do I get to the ocean?"
Ethan was caught off guard. "Excuse me? Why do you want to reach the ocean?"
"It seems obvious to me" Haku grumbled. "Because there is a lot of food there. If there are that many fishes, then the ocean could sustain me and all my siblings even after we grow up"
Ethan was shocked, but soon he understood Haku's thought. In a certain way it was a perfectly normal thought: Haku was just making sure he could give his family a future. The weird thing though was that Haku was a dragon, and dragons were known to live alone and not care about their own kind, even their own blood. "I see. Well, it's a very long journey. Whichever way you go, the ocean is several hundred kilometers away..."
"Kilometers? What is a kilometer?" Haku immediately interrupted him.
Ethan was a little surprised, but after a moment he reflected that after all dragons were unlikely to know the human metric system. So, with a lot of patience, he explained to Haku how meters, centimeters and kilometers worked, and he didn't spare himself to teach him other units of measurement such as kilograms, tons and liters. Within ten minutes, Haku had learned an enormous amount of information, but his brain had memorized it all without the slightest margin of error. "I see, it's all clear now. So, you said the ocean is far away?"
Ethan nodded. "Yes, very far. You will have to go a long way before you find it" he answered. "And about the direction, the ocean can be reached from anywhere on the continent, but given the geographic location of this valley, I say the fastest route is to go north"
"North?"
"Yes. If you'll do so, you will reach the Central Sea, the sea that divides this continent from the others. Once you reach the coast, it will be enough for you to find an island" Ethan explained. "My advice is to wait for your wings to grow, or it will be a very difficult journey..."
"Ethan"
The man realized that Haku had stopped and was staring at him with not exactly reassuring eyes. The man gulped, fearing he'd made a mistake. "Yes, your excellency?"
"You and I have a deal, Ethan" Haku said. "You answer my questions truthfully, and I escort you out of here"
"Yes, your excellency, and I can assure you that I was sincere..."
"Oh, I have no doubt that you were sincere. But you left out some details. You aren't just an explorer, are you right?"
Ethan froze, biting his lower lip, and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. His reaction was too clear to be mistaken. "I've suspected it ever since you recognized me and Darbi, when your three companions captured us" Haku continued. "As far as I know, dragons out there are rare. It's unlikely you've come across baby dragons before, so how did you recognize us immediately? You didn't even have to think about it to understand. You just see us and recognize us, istantly. My theory is that you've studied dragons before. From what I have seen from the map, you newcomers are capable of making very faithful images, so it wouldn't surprise me to know that you have accurate drawings and descriptions of the form and lifestyle of us dragons as well. But they sure aren't very common, or your companions wouldn't have mistaken us for lindworms. Consequently, you are definitely a scholar, am I right?"
Ethan felt pressured like never before. He didn't expect that a baby dragon, who was technically only a few months old, could be so intelligent! "Yes, it's as you said" he admitted. "I'm a scholar, but it's all part of my job as an explorer. Since I risk encountering dangerous enemies, and I'm not very talented in battle, I prepared as best I could..."
"Yes, but this preparation isn't for everyone, am I right?" Haku said. "Otherwise, why didn't those other three idiots recognize us like you did?"
"As you said, they were idiots"
"Oh, that's for sure. But even the biggest idiots in the world, if they go to an unfamiliar place, prepares properly. And certainly not even the most idiotic of idiots, if they had the opportunity, would inquire about the most dangerous predator that exists in the world if there was even the slightest possibility of meeting it. So why didn't they know what baby dragons look like? My theory is that only you possessed all that knowledge, because you are much more important than what you want me to believe. And I had the confirmation when you told me about your journey"
"What do you mean, your excellency?"
"Simple. Why did your guild send you to map the ogre and fairy territories just now? Why didn't anyone care before, but now they wanted you to create a map as perfect as the one you showed me? It's clear that there is something underneath. I don't know if your comrades knew about it, but you certainly aren't here just to explore. Someone sent you here purposely, knowing how great your knowledge is, to find out every detail regarding this territory. Which leads me to only one conclusion… someone, most likely an important person of your kingdom, is considering moving into the forest and wanted to know about every possible danger. Am I wrong?"
Ethan's gaze had turned very serious and through his eyes Haku could see his nervousness. Then, suddenly, the man closed his eyes and sighed. "I guess I can't hide anything from you" he said. "You are right, your excellency. The guild didn't give me this assignment, it was actually just a cover. An official of the king of the Jurao Kingdom entrusted me with this mission. And I am not only an explorer, but the third son of the baron Barnab Sora Tachter"
Haku didn't know what a 'baron' was, but he was smart enough to understand that it must be a high-ranking position among the newcomers. "All my life, it was my job to keep a low profile. I couldn't inherit my family's territory like my older brothers or have important positions in the kingdom, but I could still contribute to its ascendancy" Ethan continued. "For over twenty years, I studied in various libraries, learning all that my nation had been able to discover. Once I was done, it became my job to pose as an adventurer and travel to lands beyond the Jurao Kingdom, to find out not only what resources they could provide, but also any weaknesses of the local populations. It was thanks to my work that the Jurao Kingdom had such a great advantage in the war against the beastmen"
"War?"
"Yes. The Jurao Kingdom is currently at war with the Baudonia Cities Alliance, and my nation is winning, because I discovered for the king all the weak points of the beastmen's fortresses. Since it is almost certain that the Jurao Kingdom will win the war in just a few years, the king has given me another task, which is to explore his next objective: the Karbraland Great Forest"
"Does your king want this territory?"
"No, not this. He just wants the forest to the north, to turn all that land into pasture, to get the wealth and knowledge of the fairies, and to permanently eliminate the danger from the ogres... or for other reasons that I still don't know. I was the one who wanted to go far south, because I wanted to make sure a third unknown enemy didn't suddenly appear" Ethan shook his head. "My companions didn't know about it. I would have come alone, but unfortunately I've always been a low-talented warrior. I've never gone beyond the level iron, so I needed bodyguards. My three comrades thought it was a mission given to them by the guild"
Haku nodded. This time he was sure Ethan had told him everything. "Good, now you're really being honest" he said. "Listen, I don't give a damn about your war or the conflicts of you newcomers. You can come here and kill faeries and ogres if you want, I don't care. But I need the help of your knowledge, so don't try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about". His eyes narrowed and he let out a hiss. "If you've studied dragons, then you know we can't wait for our wings to grow. In a month and a half at most, my mother will kick my siblings and me out of her territory. I need to know what to do by then, so rack your brains and show me a path to the ocean!"
Ethan gulped. Even though Haku was just a baby he could be very menacing. Dragons were truly terrifying creatures. "Well, then... to get there you'll first have to traverse the forest and then deal with ogres and fairies, then pass the Jurao Kingdom, and finally cross the Yuthia Desert. It's an almost impossible journey on foot, especially for your kind, since you will be hunted as soon as someone notices you. If you want to survive, you'll have to keep a low profile"
"How?"
Actually Ethan had no idea. He had never had to study a path for a dragon! His experience as an explorer hadn't prepared him for that! "So... first you'll have to get through the forest. The forest... so... ok, I know. Ogres and fairies don't have excellent means of communication and often the various tribes diverge from each other. If you are disciplined and you will avoid killing too many animals you may be able to cross the whole territory before they notice you are there"
"I'm not following you. They will soon notice that the food will decrease"
"Yes, but this is where the separation in which the various tribes live comes into play. Many of them have an adversarial relationship. Even if ogres and fairies will immediately notice the dwindling animal numbers, they will blame the rival tribes. Only when the food is drastically reduced and they are forced to talk will they realize that someone else is hunting in the forest. So if you're quick and quiet you can reach the border without attracting any attention"
Haku nodded. He didn't know much about newcomer politics, but that rivalry between various social groups was simple enough for him to understand. "And then?"
"And then... well, you'll have to cross the Jurao Kingdom. Since they are currently at war, I recommend you cross the border with the Baudonia Cities Alliance. It is a war zone, so all the villages and towns in the vicinity have been evacuated, and you'll only have to worry about soldier patrols. But then..." Ethan shook his head. "The Yuthia Desert is the real problem. It's an expanse of sand so vast that you can't see the horizon, it's unbearably hot during the day and freezing cold at night. There's no food or water there. Even the best explorers fear to venture there. You dragons are protected from thermal excursion thanks to your scales and you bear the fatigue better than us humans, but you too need food"
Haku grit his teeth. As he'd guessed, the problem was always food. "Forget it. Assume we can make it across the desert. Will we find the coast afterward? Will we be safe?"
Ethan nodded. "Yes, you will find the coast, but you won't be safe. No matter which corner of the world you go, the coast is always full of inhabitants as the sea is an excellent source of resources. Your plan to live on fishes and other marine creatures can work, your excellency, but only if you settle on a remote island or atoll. Otherwise, you'll have to deal with those who already live there. If you had wings, you could fly above the sea, but..."
"But we don't have them" Haku grumbled. As he had imagined, it wasn't enough to reach the coast to be able to live peacefully, otherwise all the dragons would have lived there. "Is there no way to cross the sea without wings?"
"Unless you know how to drive a ship, I don't think so" Ethan replied ruefully.
"As I expected" Haku closed his eyes trying to think. "Tell me, is there a place in the middle of the desert that can supply us with water?"
Ethan thought about it carefully. "There is a big oasis, called the Thul Oasis, more or less in the middle of the desert. But I don't think you can settle there until you grow wings". Obviously, he had already understood Haku's intent, which was to use the desert as protection against newcomers and wait to grow up enough to be able to fly. "The oasis can provide you with plenty of water, but no food. There are no large animals there"
"There's always no food..." Haku growled, then he looked Ethan straight in the eyes: "You know a lot about dragons, don't you?"
"Of course, your excellency. Ad I said, I've spent a lot of time at…" Ethan tried to say, but was cut off quickly.
"Well, then do for me a quick calculation" Haku said with a strange voice. "How much food will my siblings and I need to survive from the time we leave this valley until we grow wings… no, even better, until we unlock our domain?"