The journey by road on a good carriage to the Windmoore city had gone without any hassle.
When they had left Granny Umba's and the sister's village together with Lord Alex, all the villagers were quite surprised. But they could only envy them at that time and could only dream that it would be them going with Lord Alex.
Merchant Goerge came running through the streets himself when he came to know about Alex leaving the village around noon. He insisted on giving Alex his own carriage so that they can use it to travel to the WindMoore city.
While the villagers were waiting for Goerge to face another rejection and make a joke of himself in front of everyone, Alex unexpectedly accepted to use his carriage under one condition that he will send it back to him later after he reaches his destination.
Under the dumbfounded gaze of the villagers, Alex sat together with Granny Umba, Ciera, and her little sister Siera inside the carriage with decent decorations.
Alex agreed to use Goerge's carriage because of the incident caused by him yesterday.
Goerge was also looking fine and had come running to gift Alex a carriage because he was visited by one of Alex's guards who explained a little about how Lord Alex accidentally showed him a little nightmare and that he shouldn't take it to his heart.
But before leaving, the guard also foretold Goerge that these nightmares would only stop if he protects this village and proactively take part in the development and the welfare of the village honestly. By doing this, not only will he dreaming about his nightmare but he will also gain the goodwill of Lord Alex Mordrake.
George was relieved when he heard that his nightmare can stop playing in his mind for good if he does as the Lord's guard had told him. Though he had always acted for his own self-interest and had never hesitated to profit from the poor people, Goerge decided it was time for him to turn in a new leaf.
Therefore, even though Merchant Goerge had annoyed Alex a little bit yesterday, Alex ultimately chose to leave that matter aside and give the Merchant another chance to turn over a new leaf.
But as they exited the village, some villagers started shouting on top of their lungs for Alex to come back again in the future and visit their small village some other time.
Alex waved back at the cheering villagers by extending one hand out of the window.
...
A small merchant boat was slowing sailing towards the Windmoore City Port when the sun had just reached above the head.
It was noontime, and the sailors on the ship were quite hungry and tired due to the heat radiating from the sun. But since their destination was already in sight, the sailors had to stay on the deck while withstanding the severe heatwave so that they can park their ship on the dock when they come near it.
"Master, the port is in sight."
"Ah...finally we have arrived. Let's make haste. So much has changed since we left this island a month ago. If those rumors are really true then... I can't even imagine what would have happened to my family while I was not at home." an obese middle-aged man said worriedly as he exited his room while garbed in clothes that told his identity as a merchant.
"Master, you shouldn't worry unnecessarily. According to the rumors, the person that ascended to the throne by defeating the three Lords is not cruel or greedy. He would not take the wealth of merchants or attack the families of the merchants that had only some business ties with the previous Lords." said the captain of the ship. He worked under the obese merchant he called Master.
"I hope what you say is true, but still, I can't stop worrying myself. Most of you also have your family living on this island. You should be able to understand my worries." The obese merchant said while sighing.
"Oh right, what about the man you saved an hour ago from the sea."
"Ah... master, he is still unconscious. Because I feared that he might be a pirate that's why I had him locked below deck just to be safe."
"Um... that's was a good idea. It's better to be safe than sorry." Just then the merchant sighted a medium-sized ship coming towards their own. By looking at the flag, the merchant recognized it to be a patrol ship that protected the island from sailing near its borders.
The merchant commanded the captain to stop their ship because of the signal coming from the opposite patrolling ship.
Soon the navy soldiers brought their ship alongside the merchant's ship and boarded it without asking any permission.
While showing the badge stitched on the chest area of the leading officer's clothes, he said in a voice that told there was no room for negotiation, "My men will do a routine search on this ship under the orders of Naval Commander, Blackbeard. Please tell all your men to come and stand in a row on the deck including you, Merchant Gai"
"You... you know who I am?" Merchant Gai asked in surprise.
"Yes, we know the crest of every merchant that are citizens of this Island. Thereby, we know who you after looking at the crest on your clothes. Now, please step aside so that we can do our work. Don't worry, it's just a routine check we are doing to find pirates that are trying to sneak inside the island."
"... Alright," Merchant Gai had no reason to stop the officers of the new Lord from carrying out their duties since stuff like this had happened quite often before when the Lord of their home city was the Frey Family.
But afterwhile when the people garbed in sea blue robes were in the middle of searching the ship, Merchant Gai remembered about the man that they had saved while he was floating on the sea. IF he turns out to be a pirate, Merchant Gai feared that they would be misunderstood by the officers for helping the pirate sneak inside the city.
Therefore, he thought of telling the Captain of the patrol marine guards about that unidentified man lying unconscious below the deck just to be safe.
But before he could open his mouth, the guards that had gone down below deck and in the two rooms above deck came back in just five minutes.
They said, "Noting was found out of ordinary"
The two guards checking the sailor's body working on the Merchant ships also said that everything was normal.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Merchant Gai. We will be leaving now. Welcome home." The cold face captain of the patrolling ship left with his men just after saying those words.
Seeing the ship sailing away, Merchant Gai sighed a relief but immediately told the Captain of his ship to check on the man that they had saved. he was confused as to why didn't those people find him there. Were they being lazy and just doing this for show or did that man hide in one of the goods stored below.
"Master, we had searched the whole ship, he is not there."
"What! Check again." Merchant Gai shouted.
But the men they were trying to find had already escaped from one of the windows below the deck and had jumped into the sea when he heard of a patrolling ship boarding to search the Merchant ship.
He stayed in the blind spot of the two ships so that no one can spot him. After the patrolling ship went away, he latched himself from a rope tied to the ship and the sail.
LIstening to the shouting of the men above, that man tried his best not to be spotted by the sailors trying to search for him.
After not finding the man, Merchant Gai told his men to sail towards the port. He had decided to tell the guards there about that unknown man since that would be a safe choice.
Unknown to him, the man that he had saved was now, in fact, a real pirate who had boarded the merchant ship to sneak inside one other city so that he can gather intel about the new Lord under the orders of his Captain Ragetti Crook.
"I should dive into the sea now or else someone from other ships passing by might spot me hanging on the side of this ship like some thief." the man by the name 'Nor' thought since he saw an open beach shore just some distance away.
He could easily swim underwater till the beach without resurfacing the water. Because he has done this numerous times, Nor reached the beach shore without getting noticed by anyone.
He lightly lept away and hid in between the gaps of the rocks by the side of the beach next to the path going towards the city without making a single sound.
There was a large tree about thirty meters away from the path. Nor hid behind the tree, curling himself into a ball. If one were to examine the tree from the front, he or she would not be able to find any traces of the pirate.
It was only after finding a good hiding spot that Nor gradually began to calm down.
Waves of low-sounding voices drifted over from far away.
"... weather... good... Let's eat... restaurant... delivering the goods..."
At this moment, the wind was blowing extremely strongly. As a result, most of the words had been scattered by the wind, leaving only a small portion of the conversation that made its way into Nor's ears.
From the path up ahead, a carriage was slowly making its way towards the location where Nor was hiding. Its destination was definitely the Windmoore city as that was where this path leads up to.
But since the number of guards escorting the carriage was a dozen, Nor decided to choose another target as this one was too big for him to handle alone without attracting the guards patrolling near the city.
He waited for a while after the carriage passed his hiding spot. Soon after he spotted another carriage coming at a distance away. No guards were escorting it and only a simple old man was driving it.
Another part of the conversation soon drifted over, clearer than before. The carriage was getting closer and closer to the pirate. But the words that fell into the ears of the pirate caused his facial expression to tense up. He just couldn't believe his shit-ass luck for encountering the big boss this easily.
"Lord Alex, the people of the Windmoore city will definitely be overjoyed for your arrival. Are you sure you don't want to show your face?"
Nor gathered his thoughts as he tried to remember all that he knew about Lord Alex Mordrake. Sucking in a cold breath, he curled up even tighter, trying to lower the sound of his breathing.
Nor did not even dare to breathe loudly. He knew that if he were to be discovered now, only death would await him. That carriage was likely carrying the mysterious Lord of the three cities, Lord Alex Mordrake.
The windows of the carriage were open therefore, Nor was able to see two of the people sitting inside. One of them was a lively girl but the other person face made the pirate frown. He couldn't see anything special about that person who he guessed was the person he had come to gather information about.
However, according to the merchant captured by them, the rumors were far from the truth. Contrary to the rumors, Lord Alex looked quite normal and even a little weak. The only thing that stood out was his exquisite facial features. He was quite young, around 16 years old boy.
The rumors regarding how he ruthlessly destroyed all the nobility and the leaders of the three cities, however, were true. Alex Mordrake could not be judged by his appearance. After all, based on his facial features and age alone, no one would expect him to be able to accomplish such a feat.
