As Gore and Alice, who was really disguised as Eris, walked through the gates of Dartmouth. Gore made a beeline to the nearest clothes store. He bought a nice set of clothes for himself and one for Alice.
After leaving the store with nice new clothes that fit them both quite well, they walked towards the docks where they looked around for a ship. Now looking for a ship at a dock might sound a lot easier than it actually is because no one wants to just sell their ship to a random stranger…
Gore walked up to a dude who was clearly a merchant. The guy had silver chains across his neck, a straw hat, a brown cloak, and mink slippers. In other words, the dude had a large closet, but that was a very bad thing for him because he clearly had no fashion sense…
As the man saw Gore, his eyes widened. "A giant! How may I help you sir?"
"I want to buy your ship."
"I'm sorry? None of my ships are for sale."
Gore grinned. "Oh, so you have multiple…"
Gore took a chest of jewels from his ring, and it appeared in front of the man with the lid open. "That should be enough to make five ships. Obviously having a ship down would be unfortunate for you, so that is why I figured the extra payment."
The merchant disregarded Gore and bent down to take a look at the gems. He picked a diamond up and then brought it to the light of the sun. He did the same with a ruby, emerald, topaz, and sapphire. After that, he picked the sapphire and diamond up and then tried to scratch the diamond with the sapphire…
The merchant turned back towards Gore. "These are real… And that magic too… You are a mage? I've never heard of a giant who is a mage."
Gore shook his head. "I am not a mage, but Alice here is. What is your name by the way?"
He grinned. "Veron."
Veron turned to Alice. "Do you think you could show me a light spell or something?"
A slight hint of annoyance flashed across her face that was quickly replaced by a smile. "Sure thing."
She lifted her hand into the air, and a golden light shone in her hand.
The man blinked. "Alright, I'll give you the deed to the ship. You can have the one right over there because it doesn't have any cargo right now."
The man pointed to a large ship with a tall mast and ports on the side used for rowing. The merchant nodded. "And of course, you can keep the slave rowers that I use for the ship. Right about now, they are probably all eating slop on the deck."
Gore blinked. "And those slaves, can they act as crew members for the sails too? Or do they just row?"
The man chuckled. "You must be new to the idea of slavery… Those slaves are always chained so they don't jump overboard to drown themselves. So no."
Gore nodded and then turned to Alice. "Go and get some sailors from the taverns. Use this chest of gold."
Gore materialized a small chest of gold and handed it to Alice. She nodded. "Okay, I'll be back soon."
As Alice, who was really Eris, walked away from Gore, she grinned and then stored the chest in one of her storage rings. She had a plan in mind.
As soon as she was out of sight, a small portal opened at the center of her chest and 12 purple motes of light shot upwards before materializing into the bodies of humans. They were souls that Eris had reaped from ancient Awakeners. They were bound to her. They had to follow her orders.
Eris grinned as she looked at them. "Lose the weapons. You will all be disguising yourselves as sailors. We are going to help sail the ship to the most dangerous part of the seas, and then we will leave that man alone to fight for his life with no one to man the boat… He will die in the sea of natural causes and I will not be responsible for his death then! It is the most perfect plan!"
Several people looked at Eris a little strangely as they walked past her and her men, but she paid them no attention, and they walked by her without really saying anything.
The men all transformed in a flash of purple light, and they turned from resplendent knights to. Men with long unkempt hair with greasy skin, and dirty clothes. They all nodded towards Eris. "So be it."
Eris brought the men back and she nodded to Gore. "I found a group very quickly! These bastards are willing to die for the chest of gold I've given them and the one I've promised them once we get back here!"
Gore grinned as he looked over the men. They looked like the sailors he had seen, but the men were short to him. He nodded. "Well then, let's get food and set sail in the morning! I'll be sleeping on the deck of my ship. Alice, you and the men get the food and haul it to the ship."
She grinned from ear to ear. "Sure thing."
Gore gave Eris another chest of gold.
As Eris walked away with her men, she went to buy food. She did in fact buy food, and very expensive food at that because she would be eating the stuff too and she wanted to be sure that it was up to her standards…
As Gore walked to the deck of the ship, he looked over the slaves. They were all men, they wore pants, but no shirts, and they were all extremely buff and tan.
Gore nodded to them all. "I am now your owner. This ship will be sailing across the seas to Dragonia. You don't have a choice in the matter, but if we make it back, I will set you all free. I don't like slavery. I don't like captivity. It sickens me. Every one of you has or once had hopes and dreams, isn't that true?"
Gore pointed towards the nearest man who was looking at him as if staring at a holy image that might disappear at any second if he looked away. "Sir, I just wanted to be a farmer, but they took me, my children, and everything… War did this."
Gore nodded. "If any of you want revenge, I could give that to you to. I plan on baptizing the human world in blood before I take it all. When I rule, there will be no more slavery."
Gore looked at their chains. "Once we set sail, I will take your chains off, but first, I will sleep."