The Asshai's Bloodmage

 We completed 6 months of travel two weeks ago and we made our last stop in a big city, it was a port south of Leng Ma, this time I saw a lot of Asians and a small sample of their customs, unfortunately we were in a hurry and left the tourism at the Yi Ti territory for later, but we still did the usual, the members of the Order of Sages went to complete missions and I got something I wanted for a long time, a scroll called a blood contract. With this contract in hand, I made all members of the Order sign about keeping our group's information and identities secret. When we stopped at this port, everyone on both ships were already wearing masks to get used to them when we arrived in Asshai. At this place I also convinced the couple of passengers who had a toddler to stay on the island with the aim of moving to Yi Ti, our next stop would be some small unmapped islands where the fishing island where Aisha grew up was.

Knowing the isolation of the place, the lack of security on the small islands and few resources, the parents chose to stay there. The orphans and children of the crew would stay on Fisherman's Island, where I will set up my desalination plant, some of the crew and passengers have already accepted the job, while others will stay there to guarantee their safety. According to Aisha we should be able to see the island in another day or two. I made all the changes that each member of the Order decided, I finished everything I planned for myself too. And I finally made some advances in new methods of using this ability. There are limits, but everyone was satisfied with what they received and I won't give too many details about that now. On my shoulder is a raven with blood red feathers, this little guy became a good helper in combat, it's a shame there weren't any more pirates attacking us.

Just yesterday we found another shipwreck thus completing another optional mission, the system level should increase as soon as we arrive in Asshai, in that shipwreck we got more ingots, but they were all of low value and it seemed that it was left by the survivors as the least valuable cargo but the most heavy, we also decided to tow the entire ship, it had many dangerous cracks that we reinforced and was anchored with broken sails.

Omar then reminded me that all this wood could be used in the place where we will set up the factory. It's almost 6:00pm now and I've finished our Asshai'i class with Aisha, this was the last class for everyone on board. In fact, 3 months ago, those who could not understand the language completely or partially gave up, as they had already learned the most basic and simple words to get by in this region. And now the remaining students are only those with some talent in the magical language. I feel more confident now in Asshai'i than in the common language. In the fourth month of the trip Omar also finished his training with Mr Arthur, but I only reached a moderate/advanced level in the sword and this morning I also took my last class.

I thanked Mr. Arthur for his teachings, and in the afternoon after the last language class, everyone gave Aisha gifts to thank her for the free lessons. By learning two new languages, the people on this ship became more capable of getting their own jobs. They can manage even without my help once they reach Asshai. At night, I rest and around 4:00 in the morning, Aisha wakes me up saying that we have arrived on her island. I see a worried face and we soon board several smaller boats to go there. The strangest thing is that there are no lights or signs on the island. We stay on the beach until the sunlight begins to appear before exploring the deserted island.

As the sun begins to illuminate part of the place, I see several wooden huts in the center of the island surrounded by a small fence that has several gaps in several places. It doesn't take long for us to enter the village and confirm that everything is empty and abandoned. We soon find some corpses that have already become just bones. Henry confirms that they were murdered due to several traumas in the victims' bones. I see sadness on Aisha's face and try to comfort her with pats on the back and words of comfort. She should know these people, after that we have a meeting with the two captains, Omar, Fatty and I. The reason for the meeting was to decide whether we would use this island as a base. It is less than a day from Asshai and we can use everything here as a base, the well has been tested and has water for at least 200 civilians daily. That alone is worth protecting the place. The reason no one has tried to settle here again is probably the risk of being attacked again.

The people here live off fishing, selling water and little of their own cultivation. But after we agreed to settle here, Omar and I decided to leave my blacksmith and his entire smithy here, all 7 of Henry's married crew members with their wives and children will stay, the grandson of Esmer's butler will also stay, the 11 orphans will also stay because most of them are also very young, and the surprise was that Sir Arthur's 4 men decided to stay here to retire.

With these 4 training the young men they would soon have a good force to protect the place. I leave weapons, arrows, grains and other items of sustenance, the 3 desalinators of the ships and their spare parts and mirrors, 1 of the ship's scorpions for defense against monsters that will be installed in the highest tower in the middle of the village, half of the fertile land and seeds that I prepared when we embarked, the animals of the ship to maintain the breeding, milk production and egg laying. I also leave the towed ship to be used to repair the damaged houses, the fence and build 4 more archer towers on the outskirts of the village.

Last but not least, I leave all my coal that I had on board, along with several plants and plans that teach about horizontal cultivation, how to create natural fertilizers, more desalination plants and finally all the ingots that we had on board. We left the place only after I used my bag and made several boat trips leaving everything the men needed. In the end Henry leaves 3 more men to help with security and construction and promises to use the money from the crew who will settle on the island to buy fishing boats and a smaller sailboat to transport the items produced to Asshai where I, Omar and Gordo (our new partner) we will buy and resell all items produced here.

I and all members of the Order left our animals behind. At least temporarily, until we know more about how common animals die upon arrival in Asshai, it would be a mistake for us to take them. My crow can carry me an urgent message since it always knows where I am due to its taming skill. This ability creates a blood bond between the two where we always know where one or the other is.

Next we are not going to Asshai yet, there is a rocky island 3-4 hours from Aisha island that has a messenger crow station. This station is the closest to Asshai and the only one capable of carrying information far from the Jade Sea, so it must have survived even without this island nearby. We can get clues about who attacked the island, if there are any survivors and we can also send letters to the rest of the continent announcing our safe arrival on Asshai as well as receive the letters sent to us.

End of Volume 2 - Life at Sea

Special thanks to Patreons:

Magic Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, Jan, frimorigo, Scott Robertson and Takatchi!