December 6, 1614 Central Calendar

“Mmmnngh…”

A soft groan echoed in a quiet cabin that was dimly lit by a faint glow rising from beyond the horizon, entering through a single circular window that was bolted shut on the wall. The source of that voice, a young boy, was sleeping on one of the bunks within the room, his body twisting and turning under the thick blanket until his sleeping form finally faced the window.

“Uhh…?”

The sleeping boy jolted awake, bringing his right hand to his face in order to shield the morning glow that suddenly assaulted his closed eyelids.

“Ah… it’s already morning,” he murmured, glancing around the cabin to find that the bunk next to him was already empty.

There was no clock inside the cabin, no way for the boy to tell accurately tell the time, but judging from the light outside, he guessed it must be around 6 to 7 o’clock in the morning. The boy can clearly feel the gentle motion of up and down of the cabin now that he was fully awake. He was on board a ship, and from the circular window—a porthole, he can see the dim, but slowly brightening light blue of the slightly cloudy sky that meets the dark blue color of the ocean. It’s a beautiful sight of differing shades of the same color, separated by a line in the distance known as the horizon.

The boy stifled a yawn and rubbed his sleepy eyes with the long sleeve of his dull white shirt. After sitting for a while, he then got out of the bunk in order to get dressed. And when all is done, he took a deep breath and pulled out a locket from his jacket’s pocket. It opened to reveal a portrait of a woman.

After placing the locket gently on a table, the boy crossed his arms and muttered in his heart.

‘Mother, today is the second day since I went on another voyage with father to the east… I wonder, how are you today? Are you being always treated well in there? I hope good fortune to always be with you, just like I hope good fortune to be always with us… Anyway, I have to go. Mother, once again, please continue to watch us from above…”

He finished the rite that he had always done in the morning after a while and put the locket back in his pocket. With a satisfied hum, he stood up and finally headed outside.

As soon as he opened the door that connected the cabin to the outside deck, a surge of bone-chilling wind suddenly rushed past him, a stark contrast to the cabin’s warm interior which was heated by a magical device containing red magic stones. Fortunately for him, he was prepared and already braced himself for this kind of weather. After all, it is already early in December, the winter season in this part of the world. And so, the boy, a merchant’s son named Kaios, stepped to the deck to start a new day on board the ship.

“Brrr…!”

Even with the thick coat that he is wearing, Kaios still shivered at the sudden drop in the temperature the moment he stepped outside. It was so cold that he can see his own breath, prompting Kaios to bring his gloved hands to cover the cheeks of his face, the only part of his body that was exposed to the sea breeze. He walked towards the railing to gaze at the sky and water that spread out as far as he could see in front of him.

The ship that Kaios was boarding is one of the clippers in his father’s merchant fleet, currently heading south from her homeport of Esthirant in the Parpaldia Empire towards the first destination of their voyage, carrying merchant goods to foreign countries.

Just like several months ago, he had requested his father’s permission to accompany him on another voyage to spend the Winter Vacation for schools in Parpaldia. He argued to his father that it is a good opportunity for him to learn more about navigation and matters related to their business if he were to succeed the Meyer Trading Company’s leadership in the future. Besides, it won’t hurt for Kaios to spend some time with his only immediate family that he knows of in a way that both of them can enjoy rather than toiling away in boredom at his house alone. His father, Meyer, had his feelings struck by his last argument and finally relented to bringing him in, although he was concerned due to the nature of this time’s voyage route.

After departing from Esthirant on the morning of December 5, this morning marked the beginning of the second day of the voyage, more than halfway to their first destination. They were expected to arrive in several hours, with all the sails fully opened and blown as they rode on the northerly wind that provided the ship with a comfortable speed even without the assistance of magic. Meanwhile, on the above and below the deck, the thirty-five crew of the ship other than Kaios and his father worked diligently to ensure the successful operation of the ship.

“Oh, you’re finally awake, sleepyhead?”

“Huh?”

Turning from the rails to face the speaker, he found an irregular passenger that doesn’t normally belong to this ship. Dressed in a small brown-colored winter coat with a fur-lined hood, the speaker addressed Kaios with an amused eye, trotting towards him across the deck from the starboard side.

“Oh, hey,” Kaios said in greeting. “When did you wake up?”

This irregular passenger is none other than Kaios’ friend, a young girl called Elto by everyone. She nodded at his greeting as she joined him at the railing. However, just as she was about to open her mouth to answer his question, another voice called out to the two young children, specifically Kaios.

“Ah, there you are! So you’ve finally awake. Good morning, Kaios.”

Meyer, the boy’s father, came to him from the stern where the ship’s steering wheel was located. He was wearing a hooded long coat of various shades of dark blue, while underneath it one can see that Meyer was also wearing a white undershirt, leather boots, a red sash and matching scarf tied around his neck, and brown belts with various pouches around his waist and over his shoulder. With the same hairstyle as his son, Meyer looked like an adult Kaios. In this outfit, Meyer looked more like an explorer than a common merchant, even more so with a saber and a pair of flintlocks hanging from the holsters on both sides of his waist. Nevertheless, Kaios’ face lit up at the sight of him.

“Good morning, father!”

The happy face of his only son brought a slight tug to Meyer’s mouth, even though it was hidden by his thick mustache. He gazed at the children standing before him with a warm gaze despite the frigid atmosphere they found themselves in.

“Good to see you still wake up in the morning even though you’re on a vacation, Kaios. You too, young lady, eager to see the sea, huh?” he praised as he patted both of their heads, making them blush. “However, we will not be seeing any land until afternoon, so why don’t you get inside where it’s warm? Besides, Kaios, have you had breakfast?”

The boy shook his head, “Not yet, father…”

“Then what are you waiting for? Just go to the lounge, I’ll tell the cook to make you a soup. Now go.”

Yes, a warm soup seems perfect for the weather. As he thought about it in anticipation, Kaios felt his stomach finally rumble. As he began to feel the rising hunger that caused him discomfort, Kaios obliged at his father’s suggestion and quickly headed back inside with Elto in tow, leaving Meyer behind who then proceeded to give instructions to his crew.

Not long after sitting at one of the desks in the lounge, a place reserved for the ship’s officers, a crewman from the galley came to Kaios and Elto, bringing a bowl of soup, a freshly baked meat, and a bottle of milk. Noticing something off, Kaios asked.

“Elto, you aren’t eating?”

“I woke up early, so I already ate.”

“Ah…” Kaios scratched his head, “Then… I’m digging in.”

Elto just hummed in affirmation as Kaios picked up the spoon and began eating.

Foods served on ships in this part of the known world usually consisted of hard tack and bland stew with only salt to give it a flavor. However, by virtue of being the son of the trading company’s owner, Kaios gets to enjoy a breakfast of a quality similar to the dishes he sees in Esthirant. The same thing also applies to Elto, the daughter of one of Meyer’s business partners and a family friend. Said girl only watched in silence as the blonde boy before her chewed on the meat and vegetables in his richly-seasoned soup. After swallowing, Kaios turned his gaze on her and spoke up.

“So… uh, Elto. Why are you here again?”

“…I decided to spend the Winter Vacation by going on a trip, remember? Plus, I am curious about what it’s like to go on a boat trip. That’s why I’ve asked to join you and your father this time.”

Kaios scratched his head. Wanting to go on a trip during vacation is nothing unusual, everyone can do that if they wanted to. A boat trip for vacation is also not at all that strange for him, as when visiting Holy Milishial Empire several months ago, he had seen a type of vessel called a cruise liner for nobles and rich people to visit various places with.

However, the ship they are boarding now is a merchant ship bound for the eastern world that belonged to Meyer’s company, where they will be stopping by a series of outside civilization countries to trade merchant goods before returning to Esthirant through Duro. Although it is also Kaios’ first time visiting an outside civilization, he was under impression that those countries are much more backward compared to his homeland of the Parpaldia Empire and as such, there will be nothing interesting to look at.

Besides, Kaios didn’t join his father simply for the sake of spending vacation. He felt that he has the responsibility to learn and observe his father’s work as the heir of Meyer Trading Company. Why would Elto, the daughter of a wealthy diplomat, spend her vacation here of all places?

“I still don’t get it. I mean, you can go on a trip somewhere else,” Kaios said as he finished his soup and was now reaching for his bottle of milk.

“You sounded as if you don’t want me here.”

Elto’s witty rebuttal surprised him so much that he almost dropped his bottle. Fumbling with the bottle of milk in his hands, he turned to her with an indignant expression.

“What!? No! That’s not what I meant…! Why must you twist my words like that?”

He downed the milk within the bottle in one gulp before continuing. In response to his sudden yelling, Elto just silently tucked a strand of her blonde hair to the back of her left ear.

“What I mean is, why would you come with us to see countries outside civilization? Why not go to places like, I don’t know… visiting your relatives in the interior?”

“Boring…”

“Isn’t traveling by boat more boring, though?”

“Then what about you?”

Kaios was taken aback by Elto who suddenly answered his question with a question of her own.

“Well… I don’t come all the way here simply for fun, you know?”

“I know, I know. Well… as for me, maybe it’s just a whim. I rather liked seeing the sea. Besides, I get to see new places. Even if I wanted to go to the interior, there’s no one there. My relatives are all busy with the war further north.”

“Oh…”

Kaios hummed. His friend Elto’s relatives mostly served in the military, and the majority of them belonged to the Parpaldian Imperial Army that is currently invading the countries to the north. As he recalled, she once said to him that the cousin closest to her age was enlisting in the army, that was before Kaios visited Milishial. Maybe there will be no more relatives of her age to play with in the interior, that’s why.

Kaios was still unsure what to make of Elto’s decision of wanting to spend the vacation with them. But a companion of his age in this voyage feels nice.

“But, do you feel any discomfort? People who boarded a ship for the first time are usually prone to seasickness.”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Oh well… I hope you don’t mind being here. To be honest, there’s nothing much to be done on this ship.”

“As I said before, I don’t mind.”

Kaios and Elto continued conversing, not noticing the presence of Meyer who stood with crossed arms near the doorway to the lounge and listening to them. After standing there for a while, he gave a soft sigh and uncrossed his arms before heading outside with light steps, still unnoticed by the two friends.

13:42

After several hours of exploring the ship and conversing with the crewmate, Elto retreated to her cabin, deciding to read a Milishial book borrowed from Kaios, who happened to bring it to the ship. Meyer had said that they should be seeing the land of their first destination soon, so Elto decided to kill some time by reading.

“Huh… these things are really interesting, no wonder Kaios is so enthusiastic,” she murmured.

The content of the book that Meyer had bought for his son when they visited Runepolis together showed her things that do not exist in Parpaldia and a brief explanation of them. Kaios was so fascinated by it that he had talked about it nonstop whenever she come to his house to hang out. She doesn’t really mind listening to him talk, but listening to the same thing over and over again gets annoying really quickly until Elto told him to tone it down.

The reason why he didn’t run his mouth about them as usual on this ship was that he was interested in something else. They were busy speculating what the outside civilization country looks like after Meyer, with a mysterious expression on his face, said that there might be surprises they will find in the most unlikely of places. He had refused to elaborate about that, but it certainly piqued their interest.

Suddenly, there was a series of knocks on her cabin door.

“Elto!” Kaios’ muffled sound echoed from the other side.

“What is it?”

“We’re already there! Come on!”

“Okay.”

She closed the book she was reading and walked outside the cabin together with Kaios.

On this day, Meyer Trading Company’s merchant ship Blijde Boodschap had safely arrived at their first destination, the port of Le Brias in Altaras Kingdom, located outside the Third Civilization Area.

…………

As the Blijde Boodschap approached the port, the view of the island of Altaras became increasingly clearer for everyone to see. When Kaios and Elto emerged from the cabin to the port side deck, they found Meyer gazing in the direction of the island with a spyglass in his hand. He sensed a movement behind him and turned to see his son and his friend.

“Ooh, it’s you two. Look! We’ve arrived,” he said, pointing to a city in the distance.

“Where?” Elto squinted her eyes.

“There, look,” Meyer pointed toward the horizon, where amidst the brown landscape of wilted foliage, they can see what appeared to be a group of buildings where people live.

The view became even clearer when they took turns using the spyglass they borrowed from Meyer. The buildings in Le Brias, the name of the city, looked like they were also made from brick, just like in Parpaldia, but with a different style of architecture, with many of them having domes that rested above their roofs. They were scattered following the contour of the gently sloped hill, and the higher the elevation was, the more extravagant the buildings were. And on top of the hill, a large white building stood among the brown, blue, and green colors of the city, surrounded by tall towers on each corner of the building.

“That white building is called the Atenor Palace, the residence for the king of this country. So, what do you think?” Meyer asked, pointing to the palace.

“It’s… okay, I guess? Certainly better-looking than what I had expected,” Elto mused.

“Hahahaha. I see, it’s not like what the people tell you, huh? Don’t listen to those people too much, I bet they never even set foot outside Parpaldia. Well, Altaras is quite wealthy compared to the other countries outside the civilization areas, so rich you can compare it to Parpaldia’s neighbors on the continent.”

“………”

Meyer scoffed at his fellow countrymen’s tendency to look down on people who are not Parpaldian. The common stereotype of people outside civilization that is popular in Parpaldia is that these outside civilization countries are full of primitive barbarians who live in bleak and dirty towns infested with pests of various kinds, conveniently forgetting that decades ago, Parpaldia’s predecessor state, the Republic of Parneus, was no different from these barbarians. The older generation, who had grown too proud of Parpaldia’s repeated victories, came up with this stereotype and taught it to their children, who subsequently parroted what their parents said.

Meyer was not your average Parpaldian, and neither he wants his son to become one.

…………

When a large, white-hulled sailing ship approached the bustling harbor of Le Brias, the onlookers stared at it with amazement, but quickly turned into doubt and apprehension upon noticing the two dragons on a red flag that flew menacingly on top of the ship’s tallest mast. The sky had turned overcast and the wind was picking up, making the flag of the infamous Parpaldia Empire fly even harder. Oblivious to those feelings, the ship continued to sail past the local and foreign ships that had stopped by the port, with a man on the deck pointing to them while speaking to a pair of children standing by his side.

“Look, that is called a karveel (caravel),” Meyer said, pointing to a much smaller ship than their own, “It came from the Sios Kingdom, an island east of here.”

“Ooh…”

“Mister Meyer, what about that one?” Elto asked.

She was pointing to what appeared to be a small sailing boat with one mast and a triangular sail. She had noticed that that kind of ship was the most numerous in the harbor.

“Ah, that is an Altaran boat. In their native tongue, it’s called a daawa, but the Parpaldians called them dhouw.”

“So they belonged to this country.”

“Eeh, they’re so small and look cute.”

Meyer chuckled at his son’s gushing.

“Yes, that’s right. They are usually used by the local sailors for fishing in nearby waters, but that large dhouw over there is used by the Altarans to sail in the open sea. That kind of ship is called a sambuk.”

“Wow, Mister Meyer, you’re so knowledgeable.”

“Thank you very much. I have visited many places because of my job. Of course I get to know these things.”

“By the way, Mister Meyer, why we don’t see them in Esthirant’s harbor?”

“It’s because the government banned the ships from outside civilization to dock at Esthirant. The only port cities in the homeland that are open to them are Duro and Laessig. Otherwise, only ships from civilized countries that are allowed in Esthirant.”

“Is that so…”

He continued to show Kaios and Elto ships of various types that crowded the port of Le Brias, but so far none of them were as large as the Blijde Boodschap, which boasted an overall length of around 90 meters. Compared to her sister ships in Meyer Trading Company’s merchant fleet, the Blijde Boodschap, which served trade routes to the eastern world outside the civilization areas, is slightly larger in order to accommodate more Tears of the Wind God and ammunition storage for the ship’s defensive armament of four draaibas—small cannon attached to swivel mountings located on each side of the ship’s forward and aft sides. She, along with her sisters, was considered Parpaldia’s fastest and most advanced merchant ships, having been built using nearly all of Meyer’s entire fortune at the time and has generated tremendous profits ever since. However…

“Hey, look at that!”

A yelling from the other side of the ship caught the three’s attention, while at the same time, some of the crewmen began to flock to the starboard deck to look at something in the distance.

“Did something happen?” Elto wondered.

“Hmm… let’s take a look.”

She and Kaios followed Meyer to the other side of the ship, where the crew, upon noticing their master, immediately moved aside to give way to the three of them. Their eyes widened in astonishment for different reasons.

Sitting on the far western end of the Le Brias harbor, there was a huge light gray-colored ship that looked very out of place among the ships present. Unlike the sailships around them, it doesn’t seem to use any sail to move around, nor does there are smokestacks which is the signature feature of ships belonging to the Second Civilization Area. While it was moored, the metal cranes on board the ship continued to lift strange metal boxes to the section of the harbor beside it, which was equally looked out of place. And on top of the mast of that ship, flew a sky-blue flag with a blue comet emitting rays in nine directions. The said blue comet, the August Star, was a very prominent symbol in the known world, being tied directly with the banishment of the Ancient Sorcerous Empire by the gods.

And there is only one country in this world that dare to use that heavenly symbol as its national insignia.

“To think that I will see a ship from the Holy Milishial Empire here of all places…” Meyer murmured, stroking his chin. “In addition, it looked larger than the ones usually visiting Esthirant, give or take 140 meters.”

“Really, father?”

“Hm. This is a very unusual occurrence. I wonder what happened?”

The sight of the ship from the world’s strongest country suddenly made the Parpaldian clipper pale in comparison to it. However, Meyer decided not to dwell on it any longer and ordered his crew to lower the sails in preparation for docking, letting Kaios and Elto gaze at the Milishian ship together. He has a business to do.

Currently Publicly Available Information

BLIJDE BOODSCHAP

A Parpaldian clipper ship built at Esthirant in early 1602 Central Calendar for the Meyer Trading Company, launched on December 1602 and in service two months later in February 1603. She was the fourth ship of her class, designed for speed to gain an advantage over other vessels carrying high-value, seasonal products. Like her sister ships, the Blijde Boodschap was ordered by the previous head of the Meyer Trading Company, but was not constructed yet when the previous owner died in early 1602. When the current owner of the company took office, he requested that the ship was to be enlarged, which resulted in the current ship.

Specifications:

- Class and type: Clipper

- Tonnage: 970 Gross Register Tonnage; 925 Net Register Tonnage

- Displacement: 2.200 tons

- Length: 68,3 m hull; 90 m length overall

- Beam: 11,5 m

- Depth of hold: 6,74 m

- Speed: 15 knots (27,78 km/h) standard; 19 knots (35,18 km/h) Tears of the Wind God engaged

- Complement: 35

- Armament: 4 × swivel guns