Chapter Text
The chestnut boy's hurried footsteps were lost in the cheerful sound of the crowd that the Port Kingdom Roan heard daily.
People screaming in order to sell their products, the smell of fresh fish that always accompanied the street of the market, and the unmistakable sea breeze was the first thing that the excited boy perceived upon arrival.
He had always enjoyed traveling, and the thought of being able to know the untold stories the world had to offer never failed to thrill him. The target of his travels this time was the Port Roan.
It was a big place, enough to be called a Kingdom and not just Port.
The legends told that the Kingdom even had a family blessed by the sun god. It was the Real family of Roan, the Crossman household. Nobody dared to question the veracity of the legend: the radiant blonde hair of the family members was enough for most of the people.
However, although he liked to travel around the world, his mind was tired. Since he left his hometown he had been traveling; never staying in a place for more than three months.
The tiredness could be noticed over his body, even though he didn't wan to show it, it was inevitable. There were big dark circles eyes under his eyes and his posture was full of fatigue.
He started walking again after stopping for a moment to see the landscape.
As the guy walked down the street, he saw out the corner of his eye something that captivated his attention.
Once he stopped again, this time facing a bulletin board. He opened his eyes with genuine surprise as he started to take a deep look at the papers in it.
In the center of the board, with the most detailed portrait he had ever seen, there was a clear warning. A warning of someone. He stared at the handsome guy for a moment as if he was hypnotized by the look on the charming eyes of the man.
Then, as he started to read the words in the paper, a gasp came out of his mouth suddenly.
"WANTED, Cale Henituse. Formerly known as the eldest son of the Count Henituse, now better known as the Captain of the dangerous Pirate crew colloquially called «Scarlet Aegis». Accused of a wide list of crimes such as fraud, kidnapping of minors, damage to someone else's property, etc... If you have some kind of information about him, immediately report it to the Captain of the Knights to receive his due reward. 10,000,000 gold coins"
He coughed roughly after he read the amount of money being offered for the guy's head. A normal family of four members could live a long and comfortable life with that amount of money, hell, even that amount was the patrimony of a large list of noblesse households.
He started to think about how stealth he and his crew must be to not being captured even if his face was everywhere. His face was no joke, it was almost impossible to forget a handsome face like his easily.
Then he flinched at the list of crimes below his name.
Just how cruel you must be to even kidnap children!?
His eyes now were on the other papers.
"WANTED, Choi Han. Swordsman in an unknown level, member of the dangerous pirate crew colloquially called «Scarlet Aegis». Accused of thievery, spying and aggravated assault. If you have some kind of information about him, immediately report it to the Captain of the Knights to receive his due reward. 100,000 gold coins"
"WANTED, Rosalyn. Runaway Princess of the Breck Kingdom, member of the dangerous pirate crew colloquially called «Scarlet Aegis». Accused of run away of her own kingdom and responsibilities as a crown Princess, possession and use of ilegal magical devices and damage to someone else's property. If you have some kind of information about her, immediately report it to the Captain of the Knights to receive his due reward. 100,000 gold coins"
The rewards were high enough to be an imaginary amount of money for a normal citizen, but after he read the Cale Henituse's one, it was as if it wasn't a big deal.
Two more papers captivated his sight.
"Have you seen me? On, young girl, gray haired, golden eyes, short height. If you have seen her, report it to the nearest knights stand"
"Have you seen me? Hong, young boy, red haired, golden eyes, short height. If you have seen him, report it to the nearest knights stand"
He frowned in concern, from the appearance of both children he could easily tell that they were both starving. Their clothes were damaged, and their hair was a mess. He wasn't surprised to see how apparently no one was offering a reward to save them. Even their papers were gnawed, as if people decided not to pay attention to them.
He shook his head and finally looked away from the board. He decided not to worry any more than he already did by seeing the portraits of Roan's criminals.
But while he was walking through the streets of the Kingdom, he noticed the recurring and particular thing in the walls, even some children were playing with cardboard things with the same figure.
A silver shield.
It was almost on every wall he had seen since he arrived to the Kingdom.
Is it some kind of religious thing? Or was there a festival?
He did the same thing that he had done with the image of criminals. He decided to ignore it. He wouldn't be staying for more than he did on other kingdoms, anyway.
Although he definitely drew a sketch of the figure in his travel journal so as not to forget it. He would investigate the meaning later.
One of his life goals was to write a book. He had decided to do it when he finally reached the end of his travels, so the book would mainly relate his adventures as a traveler, the stories he heard and the people he met.
He kept walking among the Roan's joyful people, the guy received a lot of curious gazes, as if people were asking what was a foreigner doing on their port. They weren't hostile gazes, but they still make him feel a bit uncomfortable.
The brown-haired guy tightened the strap of her beige backpack with both hands. That was his only luggage. A change of clothes, money and the necessary things to write. His way of live was earning money telling stories in the streets or working on inns. Whatever it was that left him enough to have a roof over the night and at least two meals per day.
After asking a pair of women and follow the signals on the streets, he finally reached a cheap inn, he could stay there for sleep and apparently they were searching personal to work.
The perfect opportunity, he thought. As he always did, he was grateful with the Destiny.
Once he entered the inn, it appeared to be a tavern more than an inn. Anyway he took the sign that called for personal, and went in to ask the manager.
He was an old man and had a benign smile on his face. His experience was telling him that there was something strange with the old man, but he decided to ignore it.
"Good evening" He said as he placed the sign in the bar
The man took the sign "You came here for the work, I guess?"
He nodded with an unusual shyness on him "That's right, sir"
He offered his hand to the old man. He looked at it for a second before taking it with his own gloved hand.
"Ron Molan, manager of this lovely inn"
The guy nodded again, remembering the name of the inn. «Hope and Adventure Loving Inn»
"I can do almost everything. I had worked on inns before"
Ron smiled, taking a peek to the guy's body. He flinched in response as he looked at the old man. He could feel as if his gaze was staring at his soul.
"I see" The Molan patriarch nodded
They talked about it for some minutes, and after that they reached an agreement so they signed a contract. The inn would give the guy a room, three foods and the minimum salary, and he would work at wherever the manager told him to.
The brown-haired was a bit nervous about it. He clearly was receiving more than he was offering, but he decided to sign anyway.
He was now sitting on the bar, looking at the mug of beer that the old man had offered him in a welcome souvenir.
He hadn't even taken a sip of his drink when a wave of exclamations sounded outside the inn.
The loud hurried footsteps along with the shouts of joy made everyone leave the place to find out what the hell was happening.
The atmosphere outside felt strangely expectant. Even the brown-haired guy felt how his stomach had the characteristic pressure of emotion.
Although, contrary to all the people of the kingdom, he did not know why he felt that way. He had been carried away by the feelings of the people who passed by him. They were all running towards the port.
His blood run cold through his body and he could feel his body shaking in anticipation for something big enough to make so many people seem so excited.
The last time he felt like this was when he got to see the king of a small kingdom to present him one of his stories.
A girl ran past him, with a bright smile she turned to the men leaving the inn.
"It's the Captain! The Captain Henituse's ship!"
Her smile was one of the widest the guy had ever seen. That's why it take him a moment to recognize the name.
What the hell!? Captain Henituse!? Cale Henituse!? How can everyone be so calm!!? They even seem happy! Isn't he the most wanted criminal?! I must inform the knights!
When those thoughts entered his head, he looked around the crowd trying to find a knight. Receiving the reward didn't even cross his mind, he was more worried about his own safety than the huge amount of money he surely would receive if he helped with information to capture Cale Henituse.
The knights of the Port Kingdom Roan had a particular beautiful armor. It was silver, always shinning and had the Crossman royal family crest engraved on the shoulder.
Each noble family had its own crest, but the official knights were the ones who protected the Roan civilians so they were the ones who had the Crossman family's. The proud royal family of Roan, the bloodline blessed by the sun god.
He frowned as he saw the captains of the Henituse and Crossman family grinning broadly, shoulder to shoulder, staring at the harbor. The sky was painted in shades of orange, a sign of sunset
His stomach flipped as he saw a majestic sight he had never seen before. Not even the Royal family of the Mogoru Empire had that kind of sight.
In the distance was the shadow of a ship. And there, majestic as the guy had never seen before, the obsidian sails that the ship hoisted were the insignia of the crew who dared to flaunt them. Accompanying the ship's wide sails, the dark reddish wood that the ship proudly presented made people recognize the crew anywhere.
"It's the Crimson Commander!" The same girl from before shouted, many people followed her screams of joy
What the fuck is wrong with them?
The sweat on his back wasn't due to the warm weather or the people around him, it was because he was scared.
He turned to the people who were in the inn earlier, and even the old man was looking at the ship. His sight seemed to be more relaxed than before.
He frowned again "What the heck is the 'Crimson Commander'?" His voice was low, but not low enough that the people next to him wouldn't hear him
A well-built man approached him.
"A foreigner on Roan Port!" He laughed
The brown-haired flinched at the loud voice.
"My friend, let's have a drink while the people get ready!" He shouted as he wrapped his arm around the brown-haired guy's shoulders, directing him to the inn from earlier.
The people that was seeing the ship in the distance began to scatter, walking in a rush to somewhere the guy didn't know.
He didn't have time to process what was happening when he was back at the inn.
Several men drank more avidly than before seeing the ship.
He looked at the man who had dragged him away, just realizing the armor he was wearing. On his shoulder he had a golden tortoise, but it did not appear to be the Captain, as he was with the Crossman family earlier.
"Umm... Sir?"
The man was ordering something to the manager, they seemed to know each other.
"Wait a second, kid. This surely will take longer than you expect"
A woman laughed as she talked to him. He frowned with confusion but still accepted the new beer tug, remembering the one he had left before.
Suddenly the man turned at him "Tell me kiddo, What brings u to Roan?"
He didn't know how to respond that question.
"I like to think that it was the destiny"
Some people that were hearing their conversation laughed softly at his answer.
"I see, I see" The man nodded "Buddy, lemme tell you that the destiny brought you to a really interesting place"
"I could see that since I entered, I mean, who is happy to see the most wanted criminal in the Kingdom?"
The shrieks of laughter rang out. The brown-haired didn't understand what was that funny.
"Boy, we'll see if you still believe that by the time the banquet starts"
"Banquet?"
The knight's bright smile greeted him "Although Captain Henituse may not like to admit it, he enjoys when people care about him. So the least we can do is host a banquet in his honor"
The same woman from before smiled too "It's one of the only events in Roan that all people can enter regardless of their social status. Many nobles do not attend precisely because of that"
That's why the people were in a hurry
Apparently the hours he would spend listening to those stories would be more interesting than many of his travels.
[...]