Venturing Into Kingdom of Napre

…

"We all went into training mode, me with Scias and Nina with Aily,"

February 21st, 1001

The party spent the whole month preparing for the journey ahead. Marco trained and honed his skill in gunnery and his lightning magic while Scias sharpened his sword art and his fire magic. Nina and Aily together they trained their mana energy in order to increase their efficiency in all sorts of situation.

Aily obtained full concentration in magic casting in just three weeks. Nina managed to gain some new healing spells. Scias managed to combine his magic with Aily and Nina. Marco himself obtained a bunch of helpful Lightning elemental spells and some other neat skills.

After their hectic training, about a few days before their journey, the party went to the Town of Areda, which is currently under reconstruction after the battle that took place.

Marco's house collapsed down, he managed to scavenge some remainders from his house. Fortunately for him, the basement of his house was untouched by the raging fire. He then went to the basement on his own. He picked a certain key beneath the mat down there and used it to open the cupboard.

*CLICK*

The lock opens up. He gently opens the cupboard doors, inside, there's one pistol hanged on the cupboard walls. It is a custom model of flintlock that only one of it exists. The gun itself was named after Marco's family clan, 'Istinggar'.

"Huh… this gun, it brings back memories, eh… My dad said this pistol is compatible with whatever type of bullet that existed in this world, as long as it fits to the gun's module. I dunno whether the gun refers to most flintlocks. The neat thing I found about it is that it has some sort of auto-loader in it, which makes it really easy to fire multiple bullets at once,"

Marco then takes the gun, along with his dad's remaining bullet that he gave to him before his death. He counted in total: "…Eighteen, nineteen… twenty. Twenty bullets… I guess I should use it wisely,"

Not just a pistol that was stored inside the cupboard. There are two short swords hanging on the cupboard. "Heheh… how long since I don't use these weapons, eh…"

Marco remembered his father's art of fighting. He was exceptionally proficient in close quarter battling and ranged fights. That art of fighting was passed down to Marco as well, which everyone called as a madman's fight style.

Beside the cupboard, there's a suit that looked similar to the ones that Marco usually wore. Technically, it's his normal explorer suit, the one that he will always wear when going outside Areda. A full set: Goggles, headband, scarf, explorer garb, gloves, pouches, and tactical boots. All of them were still in good shape.

Meanwhile, Nina and Aily went to the armor and weapon shop, which has been razed to the ground, thanks to the fiery conflict. But the shopkeepers of both shop managed to extract some of their items before hitting the fire and carried it away.

Nina bought her sister a new set of armor that's lighter but stronger. She lets Aily chose the armor of her liking beforehand. Nina didn't buy anything for herself. She believed her equipment is enough. Aily gets herself a new scepter. It has a golden-like color, with a pincer-like tip with a red orb between it.

"Thanks, sis!" said Aily happily.

"You're welcome, Aily," her sister replied gladly. "By the way, why not pick a sword?" she then asked. "Ahh, I'm not interested in swinging those sharp things!" Aily nagged as she holds her scepter.

Nina smiled and lets her sister have the weapon of her choice, but in Nina's mind, she's quite shaking, "Heheh… years of academy training, wasted…"

Scias went to the mercenary tavern, which is beside the PUB. He felt glad that his room wasn't engulfed entirely by fire and his treasure chest was still intact. He opened it and picked a pear-green mercenary robe. He then wears it. The robe reveals his brown shirt from his chest to his stomach. A red belt dissects his torso and his legs, he put his long katana on his left, while the short one on the other. He wore a new pair of shoes, too.

In the treasure chest, there's also a picture. "It seems… I'm going on another journey, huh…?" said Scias softly, alone in his burnt room. The picture was old, and is likely to disintegrate should it exposed into hot fire. In the picture… shows a picture of Scias and another person beside him. He took the picture and put it in his robe.

Marco's party is ready.

In a matter of days, they will finally set out into the Sea of Carba and into the kingdom of Napre. What kind of adventure lies ahead of them?

…

..

.

February 28th, 1001

The day has finally come. All four of them shall depart aboard Drugo's ship into the outer world! "Haha, exploring time, here we go!" said Marco spiritedly.

They went aboard the ship, just when reaching the main deck they saw Drugo waving his hand at us.

"Hoooy! So, you people are completely ready, ah?" He shouted at us. "Yes, sir-ee! All packed up and ready to go!" Marco replied excitedly to him. "We're completely ready, Mr. Drugo!" said Aily in the same tone as Marco. She's also excited.

"Oh, I see… Ahem! We shall depart after the sun begins to set. Go get yourselves a room or two," said Drugo appearing bravely.

The party went silent. "Uncle…"

"Yes, Marco?"

"WHY DID YOU TELL US TO COME SO EARLY?!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE SOME… uh… 'THINGS' HAPPENED, WE MUST DELAY THE DEPARTURE!"

The party couldn't force the captain to go now. The only reason why Drugo delayed the departure was that because his crew accidentally blew a hole in the middle sailing sheet. To make matters worse, some of them accidentally lit up gunpowder in the lower deck, which needs to be fixed right away.

Drugo wondered about his own crew, "Since when I picked up retards on my ship…? Sigh…"

The party then went to the ship's cabin and headed into a room that has been reserved for them. Scias put their goodies on the floor. Aily jumps on the bed, she said that she must test the bed, "Hm! Hm!" she sounded glad. "This is quite good!" she said.

Marco peeks through the square window. He saw the Areda Island still defiled with scattered black color of a post-burnt incident. "Geez… how long will it take for the island to recover, eh?" he said to himself.

"It's time to continue my search for the Grand Altar once again after a year of slacking…" said Marco to himself again.

The legendary Grand Altar. Legend says that little amount of creatures have ever been there. What's surprising was that only ONE human that ever made it there and succeeded to return to tell the tale. But that was 1000 years ago. Its truthfulness got questioned as the era changes.

Even so, there are many explorers wanted to find the truth about the site and mark their name in there. Legendary treasures are bound to exist in there, so said many explorers, but no one had any idea whether is it true or not.

"My father said if I want to start looking for something big, I should try tracing it from place to place. If that's the case, then my first steppingstone into getting it… is Napre,"

The Kingdom of Napre is bound to exist only on the other world. They're not originally from the world where Marco previously lived in, so going there would be a completely new experience. However, Nina and Aily, whose actual origins were from the other world, had known the kingdom before but haven't visited it yet.

Who knows what they will find on their first destination…

…either new friends… or it could be their worst enemies.

Finally, the sun begins to set.

Not so long after that, the ship's bell rang. It's the sign that the ship's about to leave port.

"All abooaaard!!!" One of the marines shouted out loud, his voice can be heard even to the lower decks. Scias and Marco went outside and joined Drugo on the ship's helm.

"Oookay… the thingamajigs has been dealt with and we're departing, Marco. You better get ready, cause the ride's gonna be tough. Show me your determination!" Drugo stated boldly. "You betcha, uncle," Marco replied spiritedly.

Several seconds later, Drugo hails his men to deploy the sails right away.

"Raise the anchor, men! Deploy sails! Everyone onto their posts! Move, move!"

"Yes, sir!" The crew shouted.

The reason Drugo to depart after a month was because the flow of wind changed direction to the north. That way, his ship will be able to go north with ease and reach his destination faster. His presence in the island was very helpful, even though he stayed for a month in the island.

What a true gentleman he is, so Marco thought, but a prick to woman's heart.

Marco who was beside his uncle and Scias yells out full of spirit: "Napre Kingdom, here we come!"