“... so how did you two end up being chased by so many demigods?” asked Akira sitting behind a small wooden desk.

Jas, Burkin, Zundar, and Klyn were also sitting in the cramped captain's office situated at the stern of the flagship. Two braziers were burning to keep the ocean chill away.

“It's a wild tale and not even I can believe that we are still alive,” said Burkin. He took another large gulp of a strong wine that had been warmed up over one of the brazers to give him back some of his vigor.

“It all started when the demigods of Froit started to kill each other right in front of me at my tavern. After the fight ended, Burkin showed up and decided to help me deal with the demigods who said they wanted to talk about some type of business deal,” said Jas.

“That's right! He would have been helpless without me,” said Burkin, slapping Jas on the back.

“When was that?” asked Akira.

“All the crazy stuff happened in the afternoon after we finished meeting with that crazy woman.”

“Wait, you were being chased since yesterday afternoon?” asked Klyn.

Akira looked to Jas who began to explain, “We were led to the current leader of Froit, a female demigod named Fela who also seems to be one of the Demon Hunter's head officers. She offered to buy my Tavern that had been completely destroyed by the demigods' fight. The only requirement was if I sold the tavern, I was to leave Froit and migrate somewhere else. I really had no other choice, so with Burkin's help we negotiated for a decent price.”

“It seems they are buying up all the businesses in town and sending the people away. The demigods are pushing out anyone that is either not from their guild or not an ally,” said Burkin.

“... and I have a hunch that those leaving Froit all had a similar but far worse experience of being chased down by demigods. We would have had a similar fate if not for the demigods taking pleasure in taunting us by nearly missing every time they launched attacks at us,” said a glum Jas.

“They attacked so suddenly that we were unable to reach any of my waiting ships... I was only able to see one of them escape while the other two and their crew were... well I did manage to sell all the goods so I have a large sum that will cover all the expenses related to compensating their families.”

“Why would they turn on each other as well as hunt each of you down? Was it because of the gold you each held?” asked Akira.

“That's probably one of the main reasons, Fela did not do much haggling over the price and gave us several thousand gold coins. Those first few demigods that had been chasing us were from the Demon Hunters. My hunch is they were supposed to kill us and take back the gold...” said Jas.

“Hey! I am just too good of a negotiator that is why we both made a killing! Even with the death payments the gold I managed to earn from the trades is enough to buy new ships and higher a new crew!”

“So... why were there other groups of demigods trailing you and the Demon Hunters?” asked Klyn.

“Before all of this started, I heard many demigods whispering about some type of mission that had gotten everyone worked up. I think whatever it was caused the relationship with the groups to quickly sour. My guess is whatever this mission was, it requires a lot of gold, so the two of us became ripe targets for the demigods.”

“Right, those Demon Hunters wanted to take back the money they gave us, while the other groups seemed to want to steal it from either us or the Demon Hunters. It didn't matter to them who they stole it from.”

Akira started to piece two and two together and came to an understanding that the new dukedom main quest had started to stir up the relatively calm northern territories already.

“Sounds like they are trying to take complete control of Froit,” said Zundar.

“With many of the demigods now barred from Froit this will definitely cause some new problems with the smaller towns and villages in the north,” said Jas.

All that Akira heard was what he had feared would start to happen. They needed to hurry up the talks with the clans living at the nomadic city of Bleur shore, to make sure that they were able to escape any raiding demigods that he knew would be moving out in the future to take over as many places as possible.

“What do you two plan on doing now that you're safe?” asked Akira.

“I need to return to Kodria so I can rest for a few months, that chase really took a lot out of me,” said Burkin.

“I'm not sure, but I guess it won't harm me. I’ll follow Burkin and settle down somewhere out of the demigod's range of influence,” said Jas.

“Don't worry much! Kodria's outer city is growing so much that there are never enough seats in the few taverns that are built there. With your relationship with Burkin you should be able to bring in many customers with all the crazy kinds of drinks he finds on his travels!” said Zundar. He happily slapped Jas on the back nearly sending him flying into the opposite wooden wall if not for Burkin helping him stay seated.

***

Akira stood in the melting snow on the shore as he watched Kodria's three naval ships depart from the Bleur Shore coast which was empty of any buildings, tents, or tepees. They were now escorting two smaller ships that held several elders of the Coldpelt's clans along with Coldfang's elders.

“Yap!?” asked Fluffball who sat next to Akira in his miniature form.

“They should arrive at Kodria well before we do,” said Akira.

“With Jas and Burkin also traveling on the ships they will be able to transfer all of the updated information to the grand elders allowing them to understand the volatile situation in the north. I hope it will be enough for them to handle anything that pops up while we are gone,” said Klyn.

“I want to thank you for deciding to help escort our clans on our way down to Kodria,” said Dughal.

The size of both the Coldpelt and Coldfang clans were far too large to transport on the limited ships that they had. It would take several months of back and forth trips to transfer everyone and they would be passing heavily occupied demigods territory each time. Which was not a smart idea, so they were forced to take the longer route south.

“I also appreciate it,” said Grand elder Brod.

“Since both of your clans and your subordinate clans have agreed to come together and be a part of Kodria it is the least I can do,” said Akira.

Akira had offered up his own cavalry to act as a part of the coldpelts own cavalry force. Both Dùghall and Brod had accepted immediately, allowing Akira's force to help escort the large caravan of civilians and warriors part of the many small, medium, and large clans of the Bleur shore city.

He was rather intrigued by the Coldpelt's cavalry force. They had not gained large fierce mounts like Kodria's cavalry. Instead, they raised a sturdy breed of white-bellied elk that acted as their steeds.

They were sturdy and strong enough to be able to move through deep snow as well as keep their balance in rocky terrain. Although their maneuverability was not as great as Garg's, their straight-line burst speed charging was quite deadly when you added in their sharpened horns. These horns had been modified with various metals to allow them to withstand the impact of a full-on charge.

That, along with their riders' own deadly weapons, would cause any foe that faced the charge to think twice about standing in their way.

Unlike what Akira had expected, the many clans gathered under the Coldpelt and Coldfang had already expected something like the current situation to happen and had already started preparations to migrate out of the demigods' range of influence.

What they had not expected was to be making the long journey south to Kodria.

Akira turned to those that were gathered around him.

“We best be off now that we know the demigods are starting to get active. The sooner we leave the less of a chance we will run into any demigods,” said Akira.

Everyone quietly agreed and headed to various points in the caravan that had already formed up.

Akira hopped onto Grarr's back and led his own cavalry force to the front of the caravan to help clear the way forward.

'It's nice to get out and stretch my legs! I have been lazing about back at Kodria for so long that I almost forgot what it was like to move,' said Grarr.

“Hey! I had a lot of things to take care of at Kodria. I can't always be out on adventures,” said Akira.