Royal Blood : Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Chapter 15: Kith and Kin

When I was younger, I actually came to Port Royal. I thought the name was funny, see. I remembered that there was some place called Port Royal on Earth, in the Caribbean maybe, so  I wanted to see the fantasy version.

It was massive.

The city itself was built in a crescent surrounding the Bay of Swans. It was called that because the Lleathe river curved as it flowed out into the bay, like the neck of a swan. The entire bay itself was lined with docks and ports. It was actually divided into four sections: the north side was for the lords and nobility, the two central sections for ships, and then the southern side of the bay ifor local fisheries and small traffic.

Really, it made getting around the city a pain, but that was almost by design. Not like Count whosmyfather wanted to have his estates next to the fishmonger’s warehouses. The smell alone would spoil his evening tea.

I took a bite of my breakfast. Currently I was sitting on the bed, a wooden bowl of porridge next to me as I looked over a map of the city. The number of berths had actually been expanded since the last time I was here, but the city itself was mostly the same.

I remember I’d seen a gryphon from the southern continent before. I’d tried to get mother to buy me a monster so I could level up, but Raxus had vetoed it.

It was then that I learned that even if I was royalty by birth, that didn’t mean I was worth anything to my new family. But really, that was fine. Best I knew where everyone stood from the beginning.

It was a pipe dream, anyway. It’s not like this was Hydra Quest, where you could just go out and kill weak creatures to level up. Normal animals didn’t give experience, because they didn’t have any magic. They didn’t have a system.

So, I’d need to buy a constant string of actual monsters to level up, and for what, so that at the cost of a small fortune I’d be able to get to level twenty and go off adventuring myself? Or worse, make a kid the Royal executioner and feed me real people to level up? Overstep and the nobility would start talking about a coup. There were only so many high level people to go around after all, and I’d get fragments of exp if there was no challenge.

In any case, I’d figured out a way around my Blessing on my own’.

“So whatcha thinkin’?”

I looked up at Nezza. She’d scarfed down the extra bowl of food in record time. It was the Boss’s meal, but he’d been gone by the time I woke up this morning.

“We’ve got some reconnaissance to do.”

“Heh?”

I rolled my eyes. “I need to get you into a library.”

“Not on yer life!”

“We need to figure out more about our target.” I tapped the north side on my map. “He lives in Queen’s Row, along with most of the magistrates and higher ranked port officials.” It was on the boundary of the north and west side of the port. Close enough to power, but still separate from those with titles.

“Then what?”

I shrugged, hopping off the bed. “Then we figure out how we’re gonna kill him, I guess.” Should I feel conflicted? I grabbed Nezza out of the air as she transformed and slipped her under my cloak.

It’s not like this would be my first kill, but before, they’d all been some kind of justified. This was the first time I was going out of my way to hunt someone down who didn’t deserve it. Actually, it was probably the opposite of deserve it, if he was some upstanding individual.

But then, I’d never called myself a good person, and I was more than willing to kill someone if it meant I got to live.

I left the room, waving to the innkeep’s daughter as I walked through the common room. Nezza grumbled about that, but there was nothing wrong with being polite.

The streets were different from Iduneth. That place was a hub of trade as well, but the sea traffic complicated things. I took a deep breath, relishing the smell of salt in the air. The entire city was built within sight of  the ocean, it was just long, long, looong.

Because of the way the city curved, there was a single wide street running along the interior of the city in a half-circle, and then multiple ones going from the port to the out walls like spokes on a wheel. Between them all was an utter maze of side streets and twisting ways that normal people used to get around the city while the blood of trade flowed down the main streets.

Port Royal was the mouth of the Empire, and it was always hungry.

I ducked through one of those side streets, taking my way northwest to the import docks. When we dipped out of sight, Nezza slipped back into her human form, walking at my side. “Wow, this place is real different.” She goggled at the ocean as we came back to a main road. The fastest way to Queen’s Row would be through the docks themselves, due to the curve of the bay.

The road I was on ran north to south, and merchants were making their way north towards the harbor to arrange deals and inspections with the magistrates.

The sailors and dock hands were already hard at work, of course.

“Never saw the ocean before?” I asked. Nezza shook her head and I laughed. We stepped around a large cart bearing nets for the fisheries in the south. “Well, get used to it, because we’ll be here long enough for you to get sick of it.”

“How could I get sick a’ that?”

We finally broke through towards the outer section of the docks. There were steps leading down to the harbor proper, and ramps for carts as well. Even I paused at the anthill of humanity churning in the space below. Wood and stone quays stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see, almost all of them with multiple ships already docked.

Here an army of men and women unloaded ships coming in from all over the world. I saw crates of spices from the archipelagos, silks and jewels from the southern continent, even a ship of demon make with brilliant crimson sails. I watched as dock workers lowered a footbridge over one of the inner channels, giving us a clearer view of the demon vessel.

“Look at that one.” I pointed. “It’s from the Demon Kingdom.”

Nezza boggled, leaning forward as if she could catch sight of the people beneath its empty deck. “Can we…can we get closer?”

“The guards will stop us.” I moved my hand, pointing towards the four men guarding the mouth of the ornate stone pier. “But…we can maybe take a look at what they’re here to trade.”

Nezza nodded as I pulled her along down the steps.

The stairs themselves were made of sandstone, worn smooth by the countless procession of feet. They actually curved inward at the center, where the stone felt almost soft beneath my feet.

“D’ya think there’s a demon lord?”

I shook my head. “If there was, the ship would be docked to the north. It’d be an insult otherwise.”

“Oh…”

I nudged Nezz in the side. “Don’t be such a baby, I’ve never seen a Demon Lord either.”

She huffed. “Yeah, but yer actually a baby!”

I rolled my eyes. “Please. I’ve been to more places than you have.”

She puffed up her cheeks. “Have not!”

Despite our bickering, it was easy enough to get through the rows of wooden boxes, pallets of silk and jars of everything from olives to snake skins. A riot of smells and sounds filled the air, and I had to pull Nezza along half a dozen times to keep her from getting overwhelmed.

It was kind of awe-inspiring to watch, the goods all taken out of the ships and sorted, carried to warehouses where merchants would buy them and ship them out across the Empire.

I paused when I saw a simple clay jar, of the same make I once saw in the palace kitchens. I placed my hand against the side. It was warm.

“Oi, brat!” I ducked away as a swarthy man came through to scare us off, ducking around the next batch of dock hands carrying a mountain of furs hung over a pair of wooden rods.

“Wazzat about?” Nezza asked.

I shook my head. “Just thinking about…carving something into it, or something.” I laughed, and Nezza gave me a weird look, but all too soon her attention was drawn back to the Demons’ ship.

It was a strange design, with a wide front that narrowed towards the rear like a teardrop. I didn’t see any oar ports, but the ballista on the fore—coupled with the massive ram—was more than enough to show that this was no simple vessel despite its smaller size.

There were four guards in Imperial colors standing away from the pier as the demons themselves unloaded their own cargo. A male demon with paper-white skin and long, curving horns oversaw the process from the docks themselves.

As the bridge was lowered, we made our way to the island that formed the outer quay. Nezza’s eyes were nearly locked onto the ship, and I had to stop her from getting too close as one of the guardsmen started to eye us up.

The demons were unloading simple chests, made of an odd-looking wood. This close, I could see a man in magistrate robes tallying the goods alongside the ship’s captain.

“What are they selling?” Nezza leaned forward. “D’ya think it’s weapons? Oh, or, or magic amulets? What about—”

She stopped when one of the guards stepped forward, brandishing his simple spear. “Alright, that’s enough.” He rapped the butt against the stone, driving Nezza a step back. “Get a move on.”

Nezza glared, but I pulled her back a step. The last thing we needed was to get into a fight on our first day on the job.

“Peace, lawbearer.” A raspy voice drew the guard of short. I glanced around the man’s armored legs. The confrontation had drawn the attention of the demon captain. “It is of no moment.”

I drew back as the man came over. Like I said earlier, his skin was white as bone, but his eyes were the same red as Nezza’s. He approached us, the magistrate trailing in his wake. With a wave, the guard stepped away.

The demon was tall, his clothing light and airy, only a shade darker than his skin. He looked over Nezza curiously, tilting his head to the side.

“How fortuitous, to find a kin on foreign shores.”

Nezza startled. “W-we’re kin?”

The man hummed, eyes flicking to me, before dismissing me. For once in my life, I felt like that was a good thing. “Not in the way these mortals reckon such things, yes. But all with the blood of Sheb’Ritha are kin,” He smiled, showing sharp white teeth.

It looked like a gesture he had learned from mimicking others.

“You have questions about my wares, yes? Come, come.” He beckoned us forward. “Let not it be said that I, Leiroc, would not treat with any at fair price.”

Nezz shot a glance at me, and I nodded. We had money to spare, and…it was always best not to spurn a demon’s offer without hearing it first.

They were notoriously stringent about their bargains, but if you turned one down without listening first? Well, in the stories, that’s usually when people started dying.

“Leiroc.” The magistrate stepped forward. “Surely these children do not have anything worth your wares.”

The demon shrugged again, ushering us along towards the pile of chests on the pier. “Perhaps, perhaps not. But it is good, yes? To offer aid to kin in foreign land.”

The magistrate huffed, but nodded his head. He stepped back, the guards with him, and one of Leiroc’s crew opened a chest at the captain’s order.

“Here, we have fabrics of Lloth Silk, treated with thousand-year oil.” The fabric within was resplendent, deep black as night, and glistening like a flash of oil on the water. Nezza’s eyes sparkled, and Leiroc laughed. “You like, yes? Still, perhaps not to your bearer’s taste.”

We both jumped at that, but Leiroc’s expression remained unchanged, proceeding to the next chest.

Maybe he hadn’t been so quick to dismiss me after all.

Another chest was brought forward. “Perhaps this. I, myself, did acquire, though not from Sheb’Ritha’s dominion.” He laid it open to reveal wooden talismans, wrapped in cloth. “From Seishima in the forgotten sea.”

“What d’they do?” Nezza asked.

“Ah, that is for discerning buyer to determine, yes.” He hummed. “Still, where there is market for such things in the South, perhaps this is what you might be after.”

He reached into the pile, pulling out a small, battered box. Nezza practically vibrated in excitement as he brought it closer. I held back a laugh. Even I was morbidly curious as to what he’d saved for last, next to Loth Spider silk and Amulets from a country even I’d never heard about.

He lifted the lid to reveal two small slips of obsidian, jagged and barely the size of his thumb.

There were spidery figures, etched painstakingly into their surface.

“Rithatra Mersuz,” Leiroc declared, before translating, “The Breath of Our Blood.” This time, his smile looked less practiced, and far more predatory. “If you wish to learn what it truly means to be… kin.”

Nezza’s eyes zeroed in on the slips like lasers.

Shit, that was a really good pitch.

I took in a breath. “Actually, what about those talismans?”

Leiroc’s smile only grew.