I looked out of the window of my tavern room, glancing at the people going about their business in the streets. So far, no sign of guards holding wanted posters with my face painted on it. That was good. It had only been a day since our heist to the house Rindell estate, so if I wanted to get out of the city and the ring safely, I would have to move fast before the investigation could kick in.

Even if the place was only a minor noble house, they still had some strings to pull when it came to criminal investigations. Mages in law enforcement knew how to force the truth out of someone, and by this time tomorrow, they would know everything the no name I had left behind knew. That included my face and the fake backstory I had given the crew. Hopefully that would keep them busy for long enough that I could make my escape.

I walked to my bed and for the first time since I woke up this morning, I opened my bag, checking the contents. I pulled out small notebooks and the mystery booklet I had taken from the safe and laid them down to one pile. Similarly I piled the money and the two cases that had found a new home with me. After counting the money, I was very pleased to look at roughly forty gold pieces, and triple that in silver. No copper coins in this pile, but I had some clinking happily in my pockets, so I had some change if I needed it. Even if forty gold doesn’t sound like it’s a lot, it does offer a lot of buying power. If converted to my country’s currency from the real world, I would be looking at roughly forty thousand euros. A small fortune, which I planned to invest well.

I snickered when I looked at the golden discs laid on my bed. Just yesterday I was happy to have hundred coppers in my pocket and now just one of these beauties was worth ten thousand of them. Not a bad start. Moving forward from the money itself, I laid my eyes on the two cases. I picked the scroll case in my hands and twisted the end open. Shaking it a few times, thick sheets of paper fell on to my hands. I scrolled them open and looked at the text, groaning. Of course they were written in magical language. And I couldn’t read the text. With a sigh, I pushed the papers back in the casing, and opened the next box.

Now this was more interesting. Three vials, filled with faintly glowing red liquid were laid on velvet cushioning. From the looks of it they were weak health potions. Weak of course didn’t mean useless. Even one of them could seal almost any non life threatening wound and even repair some fractured bones. And as far as the prices go, just one of these would go anywhere from two to five gold, depending on where you bought them.

That left only the notebooks, inks and quills. Despite all the wealth I currently had with me, these would in the long run prove to be the most valuable items. Maybe even in the whole world. If knowledge was power, I currently held all the power in my head. And when I got everything down to paper, these would be the most valuable books ever written.

In the pile of books, there was still one small mystery I had not yet investigated. The small diary found in the safe. I picked that up, turned over the first page and eyed the text. Illegible. What a surprise. I would have to acquire a trait that allows me to read all written text. That would cost a little over three thousand sins, and my intelligence characteristic would have to be at thirty. Right now I had no idea what my characteristics looked like, so my next mission would have to be gaining enough sin to level myself up. Then gain access to some spells and things would only pick up from there.

Of course I could get magical powers without spending sin, but that would require an expensive tuition to mage’s college. My current forty gold would barely cover a cost of even one lecture. If I was even accepted to begin with. Wild magic and pact magic did exist, but they had… special conditions. And I had no plans to sell my soul to an evil dark lord to gain a weak zero level spell. No. Level up, dump points into magic characteristic, profit. That was the game plan, and I would stick with it. After all, the most powerful spells were not taught at any colleges. They were hidden in ancient tombs, written on dark grimoires. And I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them.

My plans set, I packed my bag and headed out of the tavern after returning my key. No need to get in trouble with the innkeeper for stealing his possessions. Once outside, I hailed a bypassing rickshaw puller, and after paying ten coppers, I sat comfortably on the cushioned seats, while the puller hurried towards the skyport.

I watched as the city went past me. It was really a beautiful place, and I was just a little upset that I couldn’t spend more time exploring the place. But I didn’t want to see my mug printed on wanted posters while being around for upstart bounty hunters to profit from my stupidity. No. Out of the ring was the safest course of action. And to do that, I needed to buy a passage from a skyship. Now that I had money, I didn’t have to settle for a mere hauler ship. They were slow, crammed and mainly designed for cargo transport. One could buy a passage, but… yeah. I wanted to catch a proper passenger ship. They were more expensive, especially if you wanted to fly in a first class, like I did.

Soon enough we were at the outskirts of the city, and I saw an enormous structure rising in front of me. The ship docks alone were massive, big enough that even one could fit three of the buildings I had just robbed next to one another. And then there were the ships. When I saw them, I got giddy in excitement. The biggest ones were the size of cruise ships back on earth, while the smallest were just bigger than normal houses. The view was majestic.

I got off the rickshaw, thanked the puller and walked the rest of the way towards the docks, wanting to locate a portmaster. They were in charge of the ships, the schedules and managed the dockworkers. So in the other words, they knew which ships would leave soon, and which one of them was the fastest.

After searching for an half an hour, I finally located the office, and after another hour of waiting, I was let in and was greeted by an ancient looking woman behind a desk stacked with papers.

I nodded politely as a greeting, and sat on the other side of her.

“I am sorry for disturbing you in such a busy time, but if I may take a few minutes of your time, I really need to know which ship is heading to the northern side of Balahir.”

The old crone looked at me through her thick lenses, and after a moment to take in what I had said, she started going through her paperwork.

“When are you looking to depart?” She said slowly with a raspy voice.

“As soon as I can, in the fastest ship possible.” I replied, and got an odd look in return for my troubles. Had she been informed about the robbery?

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“My mother is sick,” I said, gritting my teeth. I didn’t want an extensive questioning at this point. “She doesn’t have long to live for, and I want to be by her side.”

A bit generic, but hopefully a believable lie.

“Where does she live?” She asked, while going through the papers

“Dhalk”

“But Dhalk doesn’t have a skyport”

“I know that.” I was getting frustrated. “So if you would be so kind to get me a ship heading as close to Dhalk as possible, I will travel the rest of the way on foot if I have to.”

“Well… We do have a ship departing to Olvia tomorrow. It is not too far away, and it is your best option. The other ship we have leaving soon to that general direction departs this evening, but it is heading to Heivia.”

I thought I knew what she was up to. She was testing me, to see if I would take the ship leaving sooner, but going further away, and making my journey to my made up sick mother that much longer. Or in other words, was I running away from something. She must have heard about the robbery, and was ordered to question suspicious people. I wasn’t going to play her games, and I wanted to go to Dhalk anyway.

“I can wait until tomorrow.” I answered shortly. “Do I buy a passage here, or…”

“You need to speak with the crew for that. The ship is in fifth dock, on the right side. Now if you excuse me, I have work to get back to”

I stood up, slid her a silver for thanks and left the office. It was time to find a skyship.

Walking through the docks, I couldn’t help myself from admiring the sights. The utter size and complexity of the skyport was mind-numbing, and the ships themselves! Such beauties. Just by looking at them I was reconsidering my plans about getting back home. Before this, I hadn’t realised that I was actually in a fantasy world. Sure I had seen some fantastical elements, such as dwarves, gnomes and a couple other humanoid races, but this was something else entirely.

My mind in the clouds, I followed the directions the portmaster had given me. Fifth dock, on the right. After a short walk I arrived in front of a massive cruiser. It was nearly four hundred meters in length, and a hundred meters high. Small glass windows dotted the sides of the ship, and an enormous sail rested like a blanket on top of the deck. When the ship took off, the sail would stretch to cover the deck horizontally, working almost like a solar panel to gather required ambient mana to help the ship stay in air. In its current state it drew in just enough power to stay afloat.

It was a glorious sight, and I noticed several other of my design elements being put in actual use; a massive triangular sheet of metal in front of the ship, working as an air shield to direct the winds off the deck, smaller mana-sails in closed positions by the sides, and holes between the windows for ballista and other heavier artillery to protect the ship all working perfectly according to their functions. I really wanted to see the engine room. I had spent days coming up with components that allowed the ships to work, and practical rules on why they worked. I knew that none of my players would be interested in that kind of details, but it was important to me. Making stuff up and explaining it as ‘magic’ wasn’t satisfying, and I tried to avoid it whenever I could.

After admiring the ship for a few more minutes, I located the passenger signup station, and after a brief chat with the clerk, and ninety-five silver changing owners, I held a key to ‘royal cabin’. It was the equivalent of a presidential suite in modern hotels, and even if spending that much money might raise some suspicion, I wanted to fly comfortably. Not only that, the room had some pretty sizable benefits in the form of free meals, access to luxury shops on board, and funny enough, a free minifridge. Or in other words, a small locker with a chilling spell inscribed to it.

I entered the ship and walked across it, taking my good time taking in all it had to offer. Soft, red carpet covered the hallways lit up by softly shining glowstones. It all really reminded me of modern cruise vessels, and I was proud how closely it all imitated the original inspiration. Seeing it, and being able to picture it being possible in the real world made me feel less homesick. Before now, I didn’t even realize how much I missed my old life.

With these blue thoughts I followed the signs all the way to the front of the ship, and entered my room to wait for the voyage to begin.