Arcane Era-Chapter 83: The Port

Days later... the ship finally stopped and passengers disembarked.

There were all kinds of transportation systems and networks in the world of Trae’h. There were S’ubs, R’acs, and ships. The latter had the unique ability to travel very long distances and also cross borders surrounded by water. There were also things like carriages and airships, with airships considered very rare.

As rare as Armaments themselves.

No, perhaps even rarer.

When people traveled through ships, there were many ports the ship would stop at. These ports served as stops for passengers, but it also served as ways for shipowners to do business, buying goods and also selling. They would do this in one port, and then sail onto the next Nation to do business with them.

In a way, they were like caravans... but the maritime version.

The ship Theo’s team boarded, however, did not have that quality. It only had two stops—Great Nation Roehel and Ak’ashi Guild.

It took goods from the Ak’ashi Guild, selling them to Roehel, and vice versa. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

All of this was well-coordinated with the Guild’s government, so it wasn’t a purely commercial activity. Instead, it was more like a national export. There were other ships in the Ak’ashi Guild that aimed at other Nations, and those also had two stops—the Guild and their target Nation.

Trade Ships rarely appeared in the Ak’ashi Guild, which meant it was hard to find a ship that would have multiple stops in the port of the Guild.

The reason was obvious: distance.

Ak’ashi Guild was separated from the Mainland, which meant it would take the ships extra effort to reach the Guild, which would only be a stop. Adding that to the fact that its population was immensely low compared to other Nations, and the Guild was also already self-sustaining due to its abundant resources, trade relationship with other Nations, and an immaculate management of public resources.

The people within the Guild already had little to no lack present due to the internal and external trade largely conducted or regulated by the authorities themselves, so private commercial bodies would encounter immense loss and very little profit if they decided to trade with Ak’ashi Guild as maritime caravans.

Unless they had special commodities that the Guild could not get from other Nations, there was no market for them in the Guild. But, how could they have unique goods in the first place when their trade involved going to other Nations to buy and sell. Since Ak’ashi Guild already had direct access to those Nations, no middleman was necessary.

In conclusion, the ships in the Guild usually only had one direction in mind... and that same rule applied to the one Theo’s team boarded.

"Haa... what a long journey..." Kaycee mumbled as he stepped down the stairs and walked closer to the team.

His long brown hair appeared disheveled, naturally covering the upper part of his mildly pale face. At this moment, he was grateful for the incredible size of his bangs, since they hid the dark circles beneath his extremely exhausted eyes.

He had the least sleep among everyone present, which surprised his friends—especially Theo.

"I thought you wanted to travel the world. How could you, of all people, get seasick?" Theo asked, but Kaycee had no response.

At that moment, he resolved within his heart to discover some other method of travel that didn’t involve sailing. One already existed in the form of airships, but the chances of him freely using one was slim, so his mind automatically sought another route.

"I can’t blame you, Kaycee. I’m super relieved we’re finally here." Taking a look around the port, Liyah beamed enthusiastically.

During the later days of the journey, she had also felt a bit of seasickness, and it got worse on the last day. However, she was perfectly fine now.

Plus... hers wasn’t as bad as Kaycee’s.

"So, this is Roehel?" Theo muttered, observing the port with far more scrutiny than the other members of his team.

The port was very massive, but it looked quite ordinary.

Other than the ships coming in and heading out, as well as standard infrastructure that one would find in a port, there really wasn’t anything special about it. Considering the fact that Roehel was a Great Nation, the unremarkable state of the port felt a little disappointing.

’Or is it actually that the Ak’ashi Guild port is exceptional and I’ve gotten desensitized to the point where I consider this to be unimpressive?’ Theo wondered.

Fortunately, Kamara quickly cleared the air and explained.

"Roehel has over six ports. This is just one of them, and like I said before... it exists in the outskirts of the Great Nation." To put things into perspective, the Ak’ashi Guild only had one port, and most Nations didn’t even have them, to begin with.

Hence, the maritime trade was almost exclusive to Great Nations and a few Nations that had access to large ocean bodies and possessed sufficient financial capacity to make a port. Roehel having six showed just how far ahead it was when it came to commerce.

There was a reason it was called the central hub of commerce and the bastion of wealth.

No other Nation came close.

Theo and his friends were still processing all of this when Kamara spotted something in the distance and beckoned to them while walking away.

"Come on... let’s go."

They followed her, walking a small distance away from the pier to approach a group of people loading goods to a vehicle that resembled a cross-breed of both a R’ac and S’ub. It was large, like a S’ub, but the sleek design and absence of many seats made it look more like a R’ac.

It only had two seats positioned in front, and its back was fully exposed.

"This is a K’curt." Kamara quickly explained to the group before proceeding to talk to the man in charge of the group unloading the massive vehicle.

She asked a few questions, got a few directions, and returned to the group within mere moments.

"Are we... traveling in that?" Liyah asked, subtly pointing at the enormous vehicle.

In her mind, it resembled a frightening beast—far more imposing than even the S’ub. Its engine made low growls, vibrating noticeably. Plus, with the loads that were being unloaded onto the back, it seemed like traveling on the K’curt would be an uncomfortable experience.

"We couldn’t, even if we wanted to." Kamara smiled. "The vehicle, as well as other similar vehicles in this port, is the exclusive property of the Roehel government. Private individuals can only rent it and use it to transport items within the port city."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. This is one of the benefits of the alliance between Roehel and Yabamiah. They have exclusive access to the K’curt, and not even the Ak’ashi Guild has been able to get their hands on a single one." She went on to explain.

’Ahh... it’s no wonder no one here, apart from Miss Kamara, has seen this vehicle before.’ Theo thought to himself as he looked around the port. ’Yet this place is littered with them. Yabamiah is the technological hub of the Mainland, so I guess it makes sense that an alliance with them would score you stuff like this... and many more.’

He could not even begin to comprehend the kind of benefits the two Nations had because of their allied status.