Chapter 306: Elyonda, Capital of Yeos.

Chapter 306: Elyonda, Capital of Yeos.

Wow.

Ports. Or, as Saori described them, the economic and cultural hub of any city with access to the ocean.

The bustling noise of the people talking, walking, working at the harbor, the sounds of ships unfurling their sails and beginning their voyage, and the screeching of the seagulls flying above all of us in search of food resounded across the pier. Not to mention, for us, the newcomers, having to walk through crowds of people shuffling around, trying to reach their next destination.

Oi, ere the stops! Ank down, rope her up!

Hey, porter! Move thems crates to the next loading deck, already! Bluebloods waiting forem. Ya necks under the water, if those snail-legs aint moving faster!

Phweeeeeh! A whistle. Come on, come on! Move! Faster, faster! The ships about to depart! Tickets ere, people! Come here!

It was loud. I had thought Gleisvales river harbor had been already filled to the brim with people, but it couldnt be compared to a major harbor like this one, located right on the beach next to the Principality of Yeoss capital, Elyonda. The city itself was about three blocks away, but that just meant the harbor had more room to work with.

Numerous ships, whether commercial or passenger, were moving in and out of the port. Activity was booming and, honestly, surprised me with how many people were around. Most of the port workers and seamen were rowdy and moved around like New Yorkers, pushing anybody stupid enough to just dawdle awound sightseeing. If you wanted to look, you had to do it while keeping on moving.

Admittedly, I had never, ever been to see a port once in my life, well, outside of Estralia. I knew New York had a port, but I never visited it. It was never part of my life. I didnt know what was going on, so my curiosity was causing me to inconvenience others.

Eyes on the road, people. Lets move to a tavern! Drinks on me, lads!

Oooooooh!

Adhi led his crewmembers and my group through the crowd, deftly avoiding large incoming parties and slipping through people transporting cargo. After a while, it got a bit too annoying for me, so my group took to the skies, scouring above them to give the levianewts info on where they should go.

After an exhausting trip through the port, we made it to the commercial district of the harbor. There were still a ton of people around, but it was laxer and you could find benches to rest on. Adhi, and his crew of eight men, led us to a nearby tavern he always visited whenever he came here. Once we entered it, I couldnt help but feel out of place.

Smelly, salt and sweat in the air, and filled to the brim with muscular men gorging down on mead and food. With every step I took into the building, my shoes stepped on something. Fallen food and mead; whatever it was, I had to make sure I wouldnt slip.

But even without all those issues, there were also the seamen themselves. Loud, with too much energy. They would tell tales of what they experienced on their recent voyage, boasting it to other seafarers while they either laughed heartily or rebuked them with what sounded like roars.

I like it.

It had that adventurer feeling. But, even if I liked the atmosphere, I understood mother and I werent what you expect to see here. My group stood out like a sore thumb, especially Tasianna, who was mortified at how filthy the place was.

Hmm, there are a lot of beastmen here.

Another thing I noticed after moving around a bit was that the majority of patrons here were beastmen of various kinds. Wolfkins, katzune, and arvisians were the most common present, but they were everywhere in general. Some rarer types like bovlines, leonids, and pathereons were also here, impressing others with their muscles.

But

Oooh! Levis and dragos! Come ere, come ere! Good to see more Caedhulens and a few Loatryxians!

There were also merfolk and nagas around.

Melicherthas greetings, seafins! Did you just dock? Adhi clapped hands with the merfolk who greeted us and gave him a quick handshake.

Aye! Good tidings, today. Waves are calm and smooth, ike me mood, krakhahahkrak!

The merfolk were generally more fish-like than reptilian. However, unlike a goldfish or koi, the merfolk I saw here looked a bit like a depths terror with his completely black eye protruding 50% of itself from his socket and orange scales covered his entire body with fins on his back and limbs. Lastly, his wide grin showed me his numerous sharp fangs, looking very much like a piranha or shark.

Waitress! Give us A naga shouted before pausing and counting how many of us there were. 14 more mugs!

Unlike the merfolk and Adhi, this naga was easier on the eyes, as it was a race with the torso of a human and the bottom of a sea serpent. His upper body was what you would expect from a human-like beastmen, with smooth blue skin and a couple of animalistic features, like claws, fins, and whiskers. On the other hand, his long tail was completely covered in azure scales and serving in place of a chair for him right now.

After the order was made, the friendly merfolk and naga sailors brought over a table and several chairs for our group, enough for everybody to take a seat. While Adhis crew members celebrated meeting fellow Caedhulen, the twins and I were confused as hell.

[Hmm, there was nothing like this in Gleisvale.] Shay spoke, noting how the tavern was mostly beastmen. Even the waitresses were foxians.

Adhi Bayudra, captain of the Kartika Pearl. We arrived just now from our voyage from Gleisvale. Adhi began talking with the Caedhulens after taking a sip from his mug.

Gleisvale? the naga looked at him weirdly. Thats no sea route, you went down the river? Why are you sailing so deep inland?

Mhmm. Some business I got my wide mouth into, Adhi answered remorsefully.

Captain Adhi has a wide mouth and drinks like a whirlpool. If he starts yapping while drunk, take everything he says with a grain of salt.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Ha, ya woulda think the man would be more competent when he speaks with our clients, but we had to go down the river to get back home. Hahahaha! Were stuck here cause of our Cap!

Adhis crew members began some bantering, laughing at their captains account. The latter scratched his neck before downing the whole mug in one go and ordering another mug.

Refill, waitress! He threw his hard-earned coins on the table, prompting the smiling foxian to pour him more ale.

Oi, cap! Ya cant drink just yet! We gotta help Lady Hestia and Her Grace before that! Adhis crewmate pulled the embarrassed Adhi away from his mug and back onto his seat. Adhi smacked his fist on the table and shook his head, apologizing to me in the process.

Oh jeez I smiled wryly. It was nice seeing him so animated, but this was as chaotic as talking with any adventurer.

Ahem. Adhi cleared his voice. Well, about the Gleisvale thing. Got ourselves in a storm over there. Melicertha be thanked, that we got out, but its cause of this dragonewts help. Lady Hestia and her mother, Honored Lady Melloxtressa.

Hmm? Some true dragonkin spawns? the merfolk question. From which clan?

Clan Nordor. S rank silver dragon, Mother answered with pride, even if they mistook us for dragonewts.

Ooooooh. The nine merfolk and nagas expressed their amazements.

Uhm, excuse me, before we continue this discussion, could I ask why there are so many beastmen in this tavern? This is all part of a human city, right? With Beth and Shay still unable to speak in their dragonewt forms, I had to ask for them, although I was equally curious.

Adhi nodded and began his explanation, The sea is vast, and you get all sorta guests. Every group needs a place to rest, right?

What Adhi meant by that was, due to being a maritime city, Elyonda received a ton of ships everyday. Most came from the Empire, but about the crewmates on these ships? Even Caedhulen races come in and out, like Adhi and the merfolk and nagas here. As such, opportunistic merchants took it to themselves to take advantage of this fact.

Taverns and other entertainmentfacilities were needed to greet the incoming sailors after their long voyages. The principality of Yeos and the other human countries around them werent big fans of beastmen, so any interactions between the two could become hostile if they intermingled too much. As such, a few businesses were made for only beastmen.

Hmm, oh yeah, I remember those guys. Very generous with their money, really. Hmm, too bad you cant get some people to broaden their minds, ya know what I mean? Would make more money if we didnt scare off you beasties from entering the city. Maybe youll find your buddies in the mercenary guild? They got dragged there by the peacekeepers the merchants here brought out.

People actually paid mercs to scare off Master Kush and the others? Jeez, good thing Akasht is a mild giant. Krim-Slak and Grazlahta probably would have punched them, if they werent in the city.

The information digging went by quite quickly with Tasianna and me asking everybody we saw. It also helped that the city was seemingly getting ready for the festival happening in three days, on the first of HarvestFest. Merchants from all around the lands for this event, not to mention the farmers and peasants wanting to sell their products.

Aurena informed me the Festival of Yeostar would also act as this years harvest festival, and as such, would run for two weeks straight. Like, wow, that was how you knew something like this was important. It probably held as much cultural value as Artoriass one week festival for their founding anniversary.

And, this was my first time here. Elyonda certainly was smaller than both Gleisvale and Griffonpeak as a city, and its architecture was probably less impressive than both of them, but the streets were booming. Although it was just the pre-fest, Elyonda felt extremely alive.

If only the populace were a bit less hostile towards us. The amount of annoyed looks I was receiving from people was astounding. I was starting to doubt if performing here would be worth it.

Hmm, as an idol, I should but

Considering how Aurena mentioned how my idol job was made for this sorta situation, to bring people together with songs, I guess I had to be brave. What was an idol who was scared of performing?

Anyways, while pushing an extremely irritated Mother away and dragging Shay and Beth who actually wanted to start culling people for acting so brazen in front of me, we eventually made it to the mercenary guild. It also helped that the people we asked for directions were elated that we were learning our place and going back into a cage. Somehow they thought some mercenaries would be capable of enslaving me.

Little by little, I felt a growing desire to abandon this Divine Quest and shout at Aurena and Yeos. God or not, some warning would have been nice.

Ha ha ha!

Wait. That awkward style of laughing. Isn't that

But that thought and all my anger disappeared into the noise of the city and I burst into the guild, perching my ears until I noticed a conspicuous group of scalekins laughing and drinking with a bunch of human and beastmen adventurers.

Hmm? Oh? He

Master Kush! My rocket boosters activated and flew right into Master Kush, shocking him with my appearance that he didnt even embrace me.

Ooofk! I knocked the air out of him, pushing him onto the ground before I wrapped my arms around his scale body and pressed my face against his soft priestly robe. Arghk! My girl, ha ha ha ha! You almost knocked down over 600 Health with that one slam. Ha ha ha, were you trying to kill me that badly?

W-What?! Oh shit! Flustered, I push myself up and sent my white fire out to heal him. At first, he was surprised at the flames, before noticing how he wasnt being burnt.

His eyes widened. I see youve grown, my precious student. Not only your flames but that aura around you. The mana you wield. It seems that we have a lot of catching up to do.

Hiehie. My mouth curved into a big grin as I couldnt help but giggle and nodded over excitedly. Kri! Yes! Its been almost one year since we last met, after all, Master! Ive missed you!

Lady Hestia!

Little princess!

Woah!

From behind, a strong arm suddenly pulled me off Master Kush into a big bear-like hug. A bunch of blue scales were shoved right into my face coupled with hard metal and leather. With the embrace intensifying, it became harder and harder for me to breathe, forcing me to strengthen my arms with mana and push myself out of that tight grab.

Woah?! I heard a surprised voice as I landed back on the ground. By Xohulotel, how strong have you gotten, little princess?! Can't believe you managed to break my grip like that.

I stuck my tongue out at the blue carnosilian. Yeah, too bad for you, Krim-Slack! Have you been sleeping and eating around all the time while I was out training and becoming stronger? You got beaten by a little young-scale!

Thems fighting words! Now that I remember it, we never had a round before, right? Ive only been sparing with Saori! Krim-Slak bared his fangs in a playful manner, egging me on to fight.

Stop! But before we could become rowdy, another saurian pushed us away from each other. A red-scaled one. You two know you shouldnt fight here. You especially, Krim.

Argh, jikla, get off my case, Grazlahta. Turn around, Krim-Slak pushed the red-scaled saurian around to, where our eyes met. By Xohulotel, you think I coulda stopped myself from speaking with her? Weve been waiting for this, ya numbskull.

Hiehie, I grinned, holding my arms out, offering him a hug.

He. He suddenly patted my head and then took the embrace, kneeling down to my height. Its good to see you again, Hestia.

You too! Grazlahta! I was ecstatic.

The wise and fatherly Master Kush. The energetic and boisterous Krim-Slak. The stoic and warrior-personality Grazlahta. We were reunited after almost eleven months of being separated. However, that was only three. There was still one more left.

Hey, big guy! After I let go of Grazlatha, I arched my head back, looking up at the person casting the large shadow over all of us. Akasht, how are you doing?

Go od to se e you. He struggled to speak, but I could still feel his sincerity through his voice. He was an extremely intimidating person, but I could feel the warmth his greeting gave me.

Still hard to speak, right? I really should learn Aelulash just to make it easier on you.

Kraaaahahaaahaaa! The giant crocodile-saurian bellowed out a deep laugh, understanding my joke.

100%. This was the reunion I imagined.

Ha ha ha. I turned around as Master Kush was dusting the dirt from his clothes, standing back up to give me a proper hug. After he let me go, he inspected me from top to bottom. Mhmm. Kri, you really did change. Even without [Identify], I can just tell how much youve grown by your general aura. That draconic power inside you, that fire. Its shining so brightly now.

It was the best praise I could have ever imagined. I was already on the road to becoming a true mage before I met Master Kush, but he was the one to push me into the right direction. He gave me all the tips I needed to grow faster than ever before.

Excuse me.

But our small moment to reunite was just that, a small moment. It was a blissful one, but the five of us couldnt live in our tiny world forever. After all, we were inside a guild, after all. But, more importantly, there were other people waiting for us.

I turned around to that voice.

Mother, Tasianna, the twins, and Rajah were standing there, looking at me as if I was the cutest thing in the world. I felt my face heating up into a blush, finding this all too embarrassing. However, before it got to the point I had to turn away, another imposing person talked.

The gods have guided us to each other. Blessing of the tides to you, young scale.

He was a naga. An intimidating half-man, half-snake in marine blue armor, looking like some sorta deep diving soldier from an ancient ocean-dwelling society. Actually, this was exactly it.

His helmet suddenly let out a shrill sound like a boiling kettle before separating itself into several pieces, revealing his face from behind it. Greyish-blue skin with black long hair framing the face of a handsome young man.

My name is Tehmrayn. A Depths Adjudicator, and Champion of the Depth Goddess, Plesia.