Arablest/ Prototype

Our trip back was definitely safe, if not easy. We were now coming back without Nicolas, Gwen, and Veronica, who stayed at the Northern Isles because she had completed her mission scouting Raalte’s mountain range. She should now either be receiving another mission, on a break, or training, as far I know, if you were curious.
Anyways, that just left Joseph, Garrett, Durand. Leona, Kal, Pierre, and me to travel to Thrycia. Joseph and Garrett were unable to do much do to their injuries, and many of us were weary from that fight. At least we had the escort of three other battle ships, each with a full squadron of Unicorn Riders and soldiers on each ship, not to mention other soldiers of the Northern Isle. We were very well protected, although I thought this many guards was a tad bit unnecessary, but Lazarus had insisted. “It’s my fault for sending you to fight a dragon, so as a sign of good will I’ll do more than just make sure you have a safe journey.”
So here we are, travelling through the waters to Thrycia with an army to protect us. Didn’t anyone think of the costs to maintain this army, or even maintain enough food for everyone? Hmm. Oh well, they weren’t my problem.
Kal had pulled wooden swords from somewhere to teach me swordplay, as he had promised, to waste the time away.
I pretty much failed epically the entire trip, only managing to hit Kal a few times the entire trip. Me, I was very sore when we had finally had reached Thrycia. He said I certainly was improving, however.
Obviously, we made it Thrycia without much trouble. Fortunately, the weather was on our side, but that might have Durand’s power.

Oh, and I forgot to mention Marcus, Ezekiel, and Hetzel. They left after the battle, deciding that they should go adventure somewhere else that was slightly safer. Apparently they had never heard of dragons, but the mythical creatures they had were called werewolves and vampires. Hmm. And yet I’ve heard of all three, but none existed where I come from. This was certainly interesting.
Nonetheless, they had left on their ship off to another adventure.

When we reached Thrycia, the ships from the Northern Isles were to restock, and then return back to their homes. Since we were back on our homeland, they could not continue with us, not that they didn’t want to.
“I would like to accompany you to make sure you stay safe, but… We’re literally the size of army, and we have orders to return when we see you have reached Thrycia safely. Make no mistake; I have much respect for you for being able to defeat that dragon, and the port wasn’t even in very destroyed, but… I hope you understand.” That was one of the captains.
“I understand. Go; you have a family to return to, right? You don’t have to accompany us home, we should be able to take care ourselves know that they’re in their home country.”
“They? Are you not a Thrycian?” he asked, surprised. “Where are you from?”
“I… I’m not sure. I know that I’m not from Lehrail, though.”
He was silent for a moment. “At any rate, we were lucky that you happened to be here for us.”
“Um, thank you.”
“Well, we must part now. May the Saint give you her blessings, and decide no misfortune befall you today.”
“And the same for you.” I replied. I knew nothing of customs and politeness here, so I just replied with that to attempt to be polite.
We then went on our separate ways.

I suppose it was nice to be in Leona and all her escort’s home country. Even Kal was from here, which he had just told me recently.
“Leona! You’re home, now! How do you feel?” I asked.
“I… I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m home, yet I know this is my true home…”
“Well, Then perhaps we should prepare to continue our journey.”
She nodded, and went off somewhere else in the port. I pulled out my map, and went to Joseph.
“Joseph!” I called out. She was astride a horse, as her left leg was still unresponsive. She was still able to direct the horse, however, and she hid her disability well.
“Commander? What is it?”
“How far away are we from Gravius?” I asked, remembering the name of our destination. It was mentioned right after I left, if I remember correctly.
“Is that a map? Let me see.” She said. I gave it to her, and she opened it up, showing it to me as well. “We are right about… here,” she said, pointing somewhere on the coast of Thrycia. “Gravius is… here.” She said, pointing to another spot in the middle of the country. “It should only take us a week or so to reach the city, if we don’t have any trouble.”
“And If we have trouble?” I asked, wanting to know how long it might take.
“Well, it depends on what troubles we have. I would estimate one week to a month, and that’s longer than usual, considering what always seems to happen to us. First an army, and then… the battle at one of Northern Isles’ port. That was certainly unexpected.”
“Yes, it certainly was. Come, let us prepare so that we may leave soon enough.”

The next day, we left the port on horses (Where did we get all that money to afford all this stuff anyways? I will have to ask Joseph later.)

Anyways, when we left the port, we traveled down the road when a girl ran out to catch up with us. She asked if we were traveling mercenaries, and since we didn’t really have any other reasons to explain why we carried weapons to defend ourselves, we just said yes. Unfortunately, this led to her asking if she could come along with us, and after much debating (and her convincing us that she should come along), we didn’t really have a choice but to bring her along. She was skilled with the sword, though. She was even faster than Kal in swordplay, but Kal was able to deal slightly heavier blows. Or something to that extent. Kal was more of a mercenary, after all, and she was training to become the best swords master. As far as I knew, swordsmen (and women) preferred to be quick and accurate, while others who wielded swords used strength to deal punishing blows. Kal, it seems, appeared to be a bit of an exception, and the girl, who said her name was Iris, was happy to have someone to spar with. I often joined to watch them, and Kal would occasionally stop to teach me the art of his style of swordplay. Iris paid attention as well, and we both began learning his technique.
Iris soon opted to train with me, and because I was a complete beginner, she opted to go easy on me.

I lost every time, whether it was Kal or Iris. No surprise there.

Leona and the most of the group sometimes watched; Joseph was always training instead, and Garrett was too busy trying to get the attention of other people of the opposite gender, as usual.

Our next destination was a small province under the control of Lord Winston, one of Thrycia’s many lords. We should arrive at this province named Passaic, before night came, assuming we didn’t run into much trouble.
Which was just asking for trouble, really. But we didn’t run into any trouble until we reached the entrance of the province.

The guards refused to let us in.