Dan would be lying if he said he expected what was awaiting them on the other side of that door. The only idea he had was from some period dramas or movies. And to be honest, what met them on that side was surprisingly normal.

  What faced them as soon as they entered was a counter on their right where a middle-aged man sat. Right ahead were stairs leading up, to what Dan could only guess were the inn's rooms, and on the left, a room seemed to lead to a lively-sounding place, the restaurant part of the inn most likely. The place was lit by strategically placed crystals outputting a soft light.

  "Welcome," the man said, a smile breaking on his face after a glance over their get-up, "Are you here for a room or something to eat?"

  "Just dinner for now," Dan said with a smile.

  "Okay," The man nodded, pointing to the door on the left as he said. "Just go in and have a seat at one of the empty tables, someone will come to get your order."

  Thanking the man, they went through the side door and were met with a room that had 6 big tables, each one surrounded by 5 to 6 chairs. They looked around for a bit just to notice that all the tables were taken, even though some of them still had empty chairs.

  "Just find somewhere empty and sit down," a young woman who didn't even seem to be in her late teens said as she passed by them, a few plates on her tray.

  While Dan was still looking around, trying to choose a table to sit in, Fleta hit him lightly with her elbow. Looking at her, she nodded towards a 6-seat table with only 2 of them occupied. Those two seats were occupied by a young man and a girl who might have been his daughter. The girl didn't seem older than 10 to Dan, though he was really bad at judging the ages of people.

  Dan turned to Marcus who seemed to have noticed where he and Fleta were looking and nodded in approval. With a target decided on, Dan and the trio walked to the pair. The man lifted his head from his meal when he heard footsteps heading his way, meeting Dan's eyes. Dan smiled at him and said,

  "Sorry for bothering you. Is it alright with you if we join you here? The other tables are full."

  "There's no problem I guess..." The man first looked around before nodding hesitantly.

  "Thanks!" Pulling a seat to sit down, Dan continued with the conversation, "Can I ask you for a recommendation? This is our first time here and I don't know what might be best to try."

  "You gotta try the fish soup!" The man didn't even have the time to speak before the girl next to him exclaimed energetically. "It's so tasty!"

  "You think so?" Dan asked as he smiled at her, "Then I'm sure gonna try it." He then turned to the man and apologised, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Dan and these are my friends, Marcus, Fleta and Leonard. We are making our way to Dannyport to catch a ship to Highpoint."

  "It's alright." The man shook his head, giving the girl next to him a glance, "I'm Roy and this is my daughter Sally. We too are heading to Dannyport to visit some relatives."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Ohh, so you are familiar with the areas around here?" Dan acted interested, trying to fish for some information, "Can you tell me then how the waters are in these parts? It's our first time taking a ship and we are worried about the sea monsters and pirates."

  "You know how the waters are," Roy shrugged, "They are never safe. But at least around here, the known routes are well-trodden and you don't have to worry about facing anything that would ignore a ship's Cornerstone. Pirates on the other hand..."

  Dan saw Leonard frown at the mention of a Cornerstone, but it wasn't the first time he had heard about something like that. Back when he was trying to get some information from Nulara about the King of the Oceans, she mentioned how the ship itself was considered a Cornerstone. At the time, he didn't want to push to not appear ignorant about common knowledge, but he kinda regretted that now. Cornerstones were turning up to be quite the important artefacts.

  "What about pirates?" Dan first filed the idea about Cornerstones for later before continuing with the current conversation, "Are they active around here?"

  "Well, you know." Roy said with a frown, "They are as active as everywhere else. It's just that it seems that there have been more sightings in these parts over the past few months. No major attacks happened yet, fortunately, but with how things are you gotta ask yourself when it's gonna happen, you get me?"

  "Yeah," Dan just nodded, his gaze meeting Marcus's. He didn't know if the attack on Nulara and her ship meant that pirates were finally upping their activities.

  "Mom said that Ghost and Fallen Pirates are the nastiest!" the young girl interjected in a matter-of-fact tone, "They leave no one alive and kidnap misbehaving children from their homes at night!"

  Dan forced himself to smile at the young girl, hoping that this was just a tale to scare children into behaving and not another fact of this world. Ghost and Fallen pirates didn't sound fun.

  "What did that woman tell you," Roy smiled at his daughter, patting her as he said, "You don't have to fear those coming to land. They are kept at bay by Ocean Dwellers and the King of the Oceans. You have no reason to fear them."

  Dan found it harder and harder to keep the smile on his face the more he heard the man speak. He really prayed that those two types of pirates weren't going to be something he would have to face.

  "Sorry for taking too long," He was saved from his imagination by the sound of the waitress who finally had time to tend to them, "Do you know what you want to get? Or do you need me to recommend something for you?"

  "This young lady here just recommended us your fish soup, it would be a shame not to try it," Dan said, "I will take one. See what my friends would take."

  The other three also went with the same order as Dan and the waitress left to get them ready.

  "I-I heard that some pirates work as slavers too?" Fleta took the chance to ask while the waitress went to bring their food. Dan almost couldn't keep his mouth closed as he saw her show a worried and anxious expression as she asked, "Is that true? Do they take passengers from ships and rob them of their freedom? Selling them in dark corners of the world?"

  "That..." Roy looked at his daughter, seeming hesitant about bringing such a subject in front of her. But after a glance at Fleta's worried expression, he said, "You don't have to worry about that, even though some pirates also work as slavers, they would never dare to target the empire's ships, it's a death wish for them. They instead go for the alliance's ships or the Westerners if they get the courage and ships for it... And yes," He turned to his daughter here, "Ghost and Fallen pirates do catch people, but as I said you don't have to worry, they would never get this close to the shore and the routes this close to it."

  Dan again chose not to gamble on asking about those two scary terms, and instead, decided to continue with what Fleta aimed for with her question in the first place.

  "Those Westerners are pitiful though. Getting kidnapped like this to be forced to be slaves."

  "It's on those Alliance bastards," Roy humphed in disgust, "The Empire already outlawed slaves. It's the alliance that's still holding on to such a horrible act."

  "I heard that..." Leonard finally interjected, a light smile on his face as he lowered his voice, "Some far-off places still have them as slaves, with some black markets existing specifically for such things."

  "You can hear all kinds of things," Roy shook his head in disinterest, "I'm not saying that it's wrong, the part about them still being treated as slaves in some far off parts of the Empire that is, I don't know about the black markets for them. But what can you do, the Empire is big, and most of those who can own slaves are strong nobles. Who could force those to give them up if the Empire doesn't interfere?"

  Finally getting proof that the old man's worries weren't baseless, Dan could feel his headache mounting. He didn't know where they could even start dealing with that mess.