"So that is Aezam."
Standing at the bow of the ship, Marcus had his right hand over his eyes and was gazing at the shoreline that had just appeared in the distance.
After their three-week journey across the ocean, today was the day that they were going to be docking in Aezam.
Nothing major of note occurred during their trip which had been completely peaceful and Marcus and Mrazivy were anxiously waiting for their arrival.
Other than studying, the two of them had little to do on the voyage since the crew took care of everything else.
Both of them had gotten a bit stir crazy and were ready to get off the ship where the scenery had been unchanging since they left the resort. Just a vast expanse of blue in all direction for as far as the eye could see.
"Ugh, if only Aezam was afflicted with the Adventurers Guild we could just fly over and not have to worry about normal procedures." Marcus grumbled.
"Normally I would say you are overreacting, but this time I agree with you. I am ready for something else to happen. I would not even mind if we were attacked by a swarm of monsters, or raided by pirates." Mrazivy said, slumping over the guardrail and looking longingly at the shoreline.
They were still around three hours away from the destination which was a major trading hub on Aezam's coast named Tijara City.
And Unfortunately, Mrazivy's wishes for the ship to be attacked did not come to fruition, and they spent the next three hours sailing calmly towards their destination.
At the very least once they were closer to Tijara, Marcus and Mrazivy were able to look at the sprawling city that had several hundreds of ships docked at its ports.
"Wow, I think that this city might be even bigger than Loursend." Mrazivy said in amazement.
"You might be right. But it is still not nearly as big as the royal capital. What is really interesting is the architecture though. The buildings are very different from those in Borealia." Marcus said, enhancing his vison to look at some of the more impressive buildings.
In the center of the city there was a large white stone building that had a domed roof and reminded Marcus of middle eastern architecture from Earth.
Unlike in Borealia where the majority of buildings were wooden, all of the buildings here were made out of some type of stone and only very few used wood in any of their construction
Another major difference was the number of windows. In Borealia most buildings would have very few windows to keep the heat in and cold out.
Here in Aezam though, every building had plenty of buildings to increase the air flow.
"I know we have been to Tralenstein, but it was actually pretty similar to Borealia. In away this is our first time going to a truly forging nation." Mrazivy said an excited smile on her face.
Just a few years ago she never would have imagined being able to travel to the other end of the continent.
As the two of them continued to observe the city, their ship pulled closer to the port.
Soon a small government vessel came out to meet them and several officials boarded to check the cargo and make sure all of the paperwork was in order.
Thankfully, things went smoothly, and their ship docked without any issue.
"Jed, make sure to get them into the city and settled. Remember that it is our masters' orders that you help guide them while we are here." Desirae said to her fellow homunculus just before Marcus and Mrazivy disembarked.
With a bow Jed assured his captain that he would do his upmost to help them, before guiding them to the dock's checkpoint.
"Stop! Beyond this point is the city proper. Only citizens of Aezam and those that have already gone through the proper procedures can enter. If you wish to enter you will need to head to the harbormaster's office and petition for one of the clans to vouch for you." A guard at the checkpoint said.
"Yes, we know. Our papers should already be in order." Jed said, taking out a couple of documents and handing them over.
With a quick glance the guard looked them over and went wide eyed at what was detailed.
"Sorry, forgive my rudeness. It is rare for those with proper credentials to come on foot, and I normally need to prevent curious sailor from going where they are not supposed to. I did not know that you were guests of the Eazim Clan. Please allow me to have a carriage called for you all." The guard said respectfully.
"Thank you for the offer, but my masters wish to go on foot. It is there first time here and they are curious to see the city." Jed responded.
Nodding his head, the guard understood, and gave them a few quick warning about parts of the city to avoid.
After clearing the checkpoint, Marcus and Mrazivy followed Jed into the city proper.
"Things really are different around here than in Borealia. Anyone who docks in Loursend can enter the city without going through all of these procedures." Mrazivy said.
"Yes, Aezam is fairly strict about allowing outsiders in. Luckily my masters have made numerous business relations with many of the nations on this continent and the one to the west, so receiving permission to enter was relatively easy." Jed responded.
"That reminds me, the guard said that Eazim Clan is the one vouching for us. That is the great clan that holds power in this city, right?" Marcus asked.
He was almost certain that he had learned this in his crash course on Aezam during their journey here but wanted to make sure with Jed.
"That is correct. As the resort has done trade with their clan for centuries at this point it was easy enough to receive their permission to enter the nation. Once we reach the hotel you will be staying at, a guide from their clan will come to show you around and take you to your destination as planned. It saddens me that I will not be able to assist you for much longer, but I will make sure to do my best until you are in the Eazim Clan's care." Jed said.
Soon the three of them reached one of the city's main streets and were met with a large bazar where several hundreds of people were hawking their wares.
Now that they were out in the open Marcus and Mrazivy were receiving a number of curious looks.
All of the people that lived in Aezam were quite tan from living in a harsh climate that had bright sunlight for most of the year and it was rare to see individuals with such fare skin. With Marcus and Mrazivy being especially pale.
Nevertheless, while they were garnering a bit of attention as they walked, their presences did not cause any sort of commotion.
Tijara was a major trade city, and while their were procedures to follow for foreigners to enter, it was not like there were none here.
At the very least Marcus and Mrazivy appeared human. It was individuals from others races that were on the receiving end of more interested stares.
"Beautiful foreign princess. Do you not think that these rare jewels would look lovely with your outfit. I can promise that no other vendor in this bazar has higher quality gems. For a beauty such as you I would be willing to let it go for only five gold coins." One of the merchants said, walking right in front of Mrazivy and stopping her.
In his hands was what looked like a gold chained necklace with a large yellow gem in the center.
However, the words that the merchant used to flatter pretty much any female foreign customer he approached had been a poor choice in this instance.
Immediately Mrazivy raised her guard, believing that this man had some how seen through her identity.
Luckily before she could make any rash moves, Marcus put a hand on her shoulder and spoke to her with telepathy.
'He is just trying to butter you up. He does not know you are actually a princess. It is just a line guys like him say to try and sell their goods.'
Thanks to Marcus' explanation Mrazivy calmed down and inspected the item.
Normally she would not frivolously buy whatever was pushed into her face, but they were in a new country and she figured it would be fine to pick up a few souvenirs.
Except with a quick use of her dragon eyes, she found that the necklace was not nearly as imprecise as the merchant was trying to make it out to be.
Certainly, it looked pretty but the materials were common and cheap. Not the high-end item it was being made out to be.
"Your necklace is not made out of gold, and the stones are all just common quartz. It is worth only a couple of silver at best. No one in their right mind would pay a single gold coin, let alone five for it." Mrazivy said, coldly shooting the merchant down.
Having been utterly rejected the man huffed and stormed away. Realizing that Mrazivy was not going to be an easy mark to sell a cheap peace to.
Along the way a few more individuals like him tried to approach them, but after the first time Marcus and Mrazivy had Jed jump in and swiftly deal with the situations.
Most of the merchants in the bazar though were not trying to scam foreigners and had their goods marked at fair prices.
Over three dozen times Marcus stopped at some of the stalls selling food items he had never seen, and using the currency they had exchanged with Daniel bought a handful of items to test out.
"Seems like their coins are larger." Marcus absentmindedly said while walking.
He had not noticed it at first but after using the currency of Aezam several times now he had noticed plenty of differences from what they had in Borealia.
"That would be because Borealia uses the standardized currency sizes set forth by the adventurers guild to make exchanges easier. Aezam is not a part of the guild and openly hostile towards them, so it makes since that their money is not the same size." Mrazivy explained.
She then carefully examined the two different gold coins with her dragon eyes and found that while the one from Borealia was about ten percent small, the actually content of gold in the coin was higher.
Several more hours passed as they traveled the streets of the city and toured around the numerous markets in search of interesting items.
Eventually thought it was time for them to move on and Jed led them to the hotel that they would be staying at.
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