It only took them 3 days from the original 10 days using the safe route to go to the Port Town of Gilam, after reaching there, they got accommodation at an inn.
A pretty pleasant inn, with a nice room and breakfast. They put their things there and then went out to search for a ship they could get into.
They searched and searched, with the banner with the initials of 5 powerful people, Arden got a lot of invitation from various people to board the ship.
He politely declines and searched for a better ship, then he saw a fisherman with a pretty nice ship getting bullied on the ground.
He was getting kicked, punched and even thrown rock at. Being a man that didn't enjoy seeing others getting bullied, he sprinted to his aid.
He stopped the bully, and they stopped for a second, with the face of "don't mess with us", then they saw the banner on his chest.
News about the incident that happened at the City of Etria travelled fast, once they recognize Arden, they ran to every direction they could.
Fleeing for their lives in fear of him, Arden approached the poor fisherman and helped him. The fisherman looked like in his 40 with his really brown hair.
"Are you fine? Is there any injury?" Arden checked all corners of his body.
"Yea, I'm fine, seems like no injuries too" He sighed and shrugged his shoulder.
"What happened here?" Arden asked curiously.
"I'm a fisherman and I have a pretty nice ship, it could go travel to another country but their leader has some interest in it. I refused to give it to them when they asked and they send their people to beat me up" He scratched his head because he didn't know what to do anymore.
"Really? I'm looking for a ship that could bring me to Tadashima shogunate. Could I see the ship? I would even pay" Arden asked for more information.
"Yea, come follow me" He then began to walk away and soon, Arden followed him and his party did the same.
They walked for a minute and there he saw a medium-sized ship docked at the dock. He examines it and it sure could go through the sea; the ship is pretty big and could hold 15 people easily, there is even place for horses.
He then turned his attention to the fisherman and asked him.
"Could you bring us to Tadashima Shogunate?" Hoping he said yes.
"Yea, I probably could, I want to bring my family out of this place too. It's not safe here because of them, but I haven't found an enjoyable place for me to settle." He sighed, and the sign of frustration started to show up at his face.
"Ooooh, I'm a baron and I have some lands at the west, we could probably go there using the river route." The fisherman turned to Arden and ask more about it.
Arden told him all about his land and he made a face that he just found the perfect land for his family, safe from thugs and all kinds of that thing.
"By the way, I'm Arden, nice to meet you" The fisherman is surprised hearing this name but manage to calm his self down.
"I'm Ansu, nice to meet you" They shook each other hand.
He promised to take them with his family to Tadashima Shogunate the next morning, with no fee.
Arden thanks him and they left since the day is turning dark. Eventually, they got to the inn and have a pretty good rest after dinner.
The very next morning, they pack their stuff and everything they have and went to the dock. They saw the ship from yesterday with everything ready in it.
But now, there are Ansu's family waiting there, the family comprise Ansu's wife, sons and a daughter. His son is at the age of 15 and 17 and his daughter is at the age of 12.
It's a great family, humble, non-expensive lifestyle and hardworking. Both of Ansu's sons could help at the deck of the ship.
Then they set sail, toward Tadashima Shogunate, Ansu said he has been there once already, it was when he is still young and still as a crew of a merchant ship.
He said it would take 7 days at least based on his experience. On the first and second day, there is some small island, then the third until the sixth, there is nothing.
On the seventh day, there is still nothing as far as their eyes could see, but then, some shore fish started showing up.
Meaning they are soon reaching their destination, 3 hours passed by and at the distance, they could see a mountain, its height reached the cloud.
And then some lands started to show up, in one hour, they reached a port town and docked their ship. They got off the ship and started walking.
They are greeted by the armed force that took them to a local noble since they are seen as foreigners that could do harm to the country.
Once at the local noble residence, they are placed in a room an odd-looking, with some kind of carpet made with straw covering the floor.
And there is some kind of pillow placed for their seat. They sit at some kind of pillow and a man and a lady came inside the room with their strange clothes.
At their late 60, with grey hair and some light beard on the man's face. They sat at it, his designated place, then opened his mouth.
"What brings you to our country" The woman translated everything he said in his language to Arden's language.
"I'm searching for my long lost family" The woman then translated it to him.
He then sighed in relief and they talked for a bit. After some time of talking, Arden asked.
"Do you know any person named Usha, he is a slave trader," Arden asked for information and the woman translated it.
"Usha? Yes, I know about him, he used to come here using ship" The man answered willingly.
Arden asked about Usha and the man told him everything he knows. At the end of the day, Arden is given accommodation in one of his inns.
From the conversation between Arden and his party member with that local noble. He knew that this Port Town name is Kumikita and the most west located city at this kingdom.
Usha is known to move to the Capital City of Kumawara at the east of this Port Town and is quite famous, he is one of the earlier people to move and got accepted by the people.
Most of the time, the foreigner often thought that this land is filled with people that still used stick and stone to fight each other and so they tried to treat them like an animal and proceed to kill and enslave them.
But when they saw the resistance from the kingdom, they got eliminated pretty quickly and the kingdom since then didn't accept people that behave like that.
But Arden is different, he is calm minded, humble and liked to help, judging from his behaviour that is polite during the conversation, the local noble even got along with him.
After a day of resting, Arden and his member proceed to continue their journey to The Capital City of Kumawara.
Ansu and his family said they would wait until his business is done at the town and then stayed at their boat making it as a house.
Along the way, they saw the kingdom itself. The landscape is amazing; the scenery is beautiful. The infrastructure is better than the one in his country.
Even people at the village seem to enjoy their life, not like the one at his kingdom, the villager there works their self from 3 in the morning at the field and then came home at night.
When they need to settle down at one of the town or village, the people were very interested in them, especially the noble class and the warrior class called "samurai"
The warrior class could be called as the knight here and the noble would become samurai. They often got invited from them, and some even asked Arden to spar.
To which he couldn't refuse, he had seen the sword he saw at the blacksmith back at the Town of Edklin many times seen he saw one before.
'Looks like that sword called "Katana" is the most common one used here,' He thought to his self.
Not only that, but Arden saw a lot more various kind of weapon, from yari which is basically spear, naginata that looked like yari but with a different edge.
And a big, giant sword called no-dachi, the biggest kind of sword there. And after 10 days of riding on horseback from Port Town of Kumikita to the Capital City of Kumawara.
Surrounding it, a big and long wall of it protecting it from all sorts of invader and a big castle in the middle of it, located on an elevated ground.
The city compared to Atlan is not worse, perhaps even better. Once they got inside the city there, they got a lot of attention from passerby.
This happened in every town, village and town they visited before, one of the groups of passerby approached them with curiosity.
Katana is hanging at their hips meaning they are from the noble class or samurai class, not to be shocked they are from that class.
At first, they tried talking using their own language and Arden responds as best as he could. He learned a few sentences from the people they met before.
Then one of them start helping translate them, didn't know from where he learned the language and then all of them started talking in the same language as Arden.
Arden is shocked and surprised at first and then curiously and a little bit confused asked them.
"Where did you guys learned this language?" Arden then raised his eyebrow.
"We learned him from Usha" They responded as best as he could.
"Woah, really? Could you take me to him? I have been looking for him" Arden asked, now they have his attention.
"Sure" And they began to talk away.
Not long after walking, he arrived at a medium-sized house, there is a garden in front of it and a tree called "sakura" tree when he learned from the people he met.
They knocked on the door and a woman opened it, for some reason, she looked similar to Arden's sister, could she be the long lost sister of him?
After getting into Usha's house with the help of a group of samurai, a woman opened the door. She looked similar to Arden.
'Is she my sister?' Arden thought to himself before entering the house with the group of samurai.
They are guided to a room by that woman. Once opened, Arden could see the room is basically the same layout with any room he entered in this kingdom.
There is a kind of carpet made of a kind of straw and there is a place to sit made by a plank of wood with a kind of soft pillow on it.
They took their sit and start talking to each other, Arden started to talk to them and they introduced themselves to him and he introduced his self and his party member to them.
Not long after, he learned that the 6 people in the group are named Machida Yosai, Nagashima Totoya, Sone Katsumoto, Akiya Fumihiko, Asato Tsuginori and Oshita Nobuhisa.
They have a quite strong influence, Yosai and Tsugi are actually from a noble class. He also learned that the noble class there is not actually called "noble class" but called "Kazoku".
In the middle of the conversation, the woman comes back and poured tea to their cup and then a person in his late 60.
He entered the room. His body is muscly, even more, muscular than Arden. That man took his seat and then opened his mouth.
"Good morning gentlemen, what brought you here today?" He smiled and then drink the tea at his cup.
"Actually not us, but this gentleman over here" Yosai answered and then the old man turned his attention to Arden.
"I'm Usha, perhaps I know you?" Usha made a confused face on who is Arden, Arden answered with.
"I'm Arden, I knew you from Theo and now is searching for my long lost siblings." The 6 other people were shocked. They didn't know that Arden is searching for someone.
"Your sister and brother, right? I do not know your brother since I never took him under me. However, your sister is here," Arden smiled and the other 6 people became more shocked.
Valen, Maverick and Austin are happy too, knowing Arden is happy, and they could go home. Usha called for his sister and she entered a room and take a seat.
"Elise, this is your brother, Arden" Upon hearing this name, Arden suddenly remembered that name, the name that has been lost from his memory.
"Really?" Elise is shocked and a little bit happy hearing this and Usha answered with yes before saying.
"Gentlemen, let's leave the room and let them talk." They comply and then left the room, leaving only Arden and his brother there.
"You look different from when we are just kids," The situation became awkward.
"Yea, how is life there?" She asked, changing the topic.
"I recently became a nobleman, would you mind going back with me?" Arden hoped she would say yes.
"Well, I have been around Usha for a long time, I don't want to leave him alone, sorry brother" Arden face then become moodier and moodier.
"Well, I will stay here then until I Can change your mind" Arden is excited like he has found a solution to his problem.
They have a chat and going along pretty quickly, Arden also mentioned how he would search for their brother and Elise became happy and wished Arden good luck.
After some time, Usha knocked on the door and entered the room. He asked how's the conversation going.
"How is the conversation going, Are you guys having fun?" Usha asked curiously and Arden answered.
"Yea, we are having fun… actually, Usha, can I ask for a favour?" Arden asked with his hope of him saying yes.
"If it's inside my capability, you can." Arden's face showed that he is excited and happy at the same time.
"Can I stay at your house, I don't want to part with my sister only after a few minutes" Then, Usha's explain to him.
"You can, but there is a problem, your wife seems pregnant and I suggest you bring her back to your land, besides, there is only one room available here and only 2 people could fit in it." He sighed.
"That's ok, I will talk to my party about it, could you also find a guide for my party's member," Usha said yes and Arden smiled.
He exited the room and entered another room where he saw his party is taking their time and relaxing while drinking tea.
"Guys, I want to stay with my sister for a while, you guys could go back to our home." Arden sighed and they just look at him, Valen starts opening his mouth.
"Couldn't we just stay here?" She looks worried and others show the same expression.
"You are the person I want the most to go home, considering there is our kid you are carrying" He sighed and then Maverick start talking.
"Since I'm your squire, is it okay for me to stay here with you?" Austin looked at him and wanted to ask the same thing.
"I guess you could, but who would guard Valen while she is travelling back home?" Then Austin realized that he is likely to be the one to do so.
"It's settled then, I will give you a map and I'll find a guide, but you guys could rest at the in first." He sighed, needed to leave his wife.
Valen and Arden spent their last night together with a romantic dinner at a nearby restaurant, eating some kind of noodle called ramen.
While Austin and Maverick spent their last time training together as the young Ady and Arden until they are exhausted.
They rested through the night and said goodbye to Valen and Austin in the morning, with the guide Usha found.
Arden trusted their life in the hand of a guide, even though Usha assured Arden that the guide is a good friend of his and is trustworthy.
With the map and that guide, Arden hoped they could reach the Port Town of Kumikita safely. While all this happened, The Shogun has gotten word about a man from the west.
The very next day after Valen and Austin left, The Shogun contacted Usha through some noble he knew and invited Arden to him.
Tomorrow is the day he needs to go to attend the shogun's invitation, hearing about this, the group of 6 people visited him.
But now, they have their some maid, carrying their armour weapon. Seeing this, Arden knew they would ask for a spar.
He met some people that wanted to spare with him in the past before, some of which he accepted and some of which he politely declines.
But now, it's clear he couldn't decline, that would just be saying "I'm afraid and don't want to fight with you guys" and would destroy his reputation badly.
He met them at a room to talk about something and they talked with the help of Usha translating almost everything and hid their intention, at the middle of the conversation, they started showing their intention.
"Arden, I heard you are an impressive warrior, let's spar shall we?" Arden just accepted and asked Maverick and his sister to come with him and help him put his armour.
Because of Maverick have only a little experience and Arden's sister never helped someone use their knight armour before, it took some time.
At the time he got there, he saw their back turned to him and probably are discussing about this spar and who to go first.
Then they turned back to Arden and Yosai step forward. Using his Katana that he put in front of him and duelling against Arden's 2 handed sword.
Arden decided to not use his shield and use his sword only. His sword is unique, could be used as a 2 handed or 1 handed sword, even though it will weary him if he uses it with a shield.
Yosai Chose Katana, Totoya chose the same as Yosai, Katsumoto chose a giant, No Dachi, Fumihiko chose his trustworthy naginata, Tsuginori chose a short yari and Nobuhisa chose a long yari.
Yosai bowed and Arden did the same, it's a culture to bow before sparring there as he learned by his experience
Yosai's mastery of kendo fighting against Arden experience of a sword. Which one would win? It's hard to decide.
Then a silent, as a leaf dropped from its tree and finally touch the ground, they charged at each other, when close enough, Yosai make a swing from the right wanted to end this fast.
But Arden blocked his attack easily, they bought used their strength as their sword touch each other, Arden suddenly slit his sword under his sword and ducked as fast as possible.
His sword missed Arden and Arden now is behind him, as accurate and as fast as he could, Arden used the hilt of his hilt to hit Yosai's head at the back.
Even when there is the thick protection helmed of his, Arden's attack managed to get through and it knocked him out from the fight.
He is unconscious, and the other called a maid to help him while clapping and gave Arden they applause, there are clearly sign of hesitation on who is the next but it quickly falters as Totoya stepped forward.
Still with a Katana but it's different, Yosai is from the Kazoku class(noble), which meant he didn't get as much training as the one from the samurai class.
Arden wary at him, as they started to get to their position and bowed to each other. Silent at the start before they charged at each other.
Then he stopped midway before the meeting point and Arden continue charging. He raised his Katana like a baseball bat and then waited till Arden is close enough.
When he is close enough, he swung his Katana aiming at Arden's stomach, luckily Arden blocked it, if he realizes and blocks it too late even for half a second, he would get a new mark at his stomach.
Like before, they used their strength and Arden caught his breath while using his strength to push him. In the end, Totoya strength overcomes him and he is pushed back.
Then Totoya came charging at him and kicked his face with his knee while jumping into him. He got pushed more to the back.
Totoya made a mistake when he just kicked Arden, he makes a pose and going to do an overhead attack that would come straight at Arden.
He swung his sword down and then…
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GOT IT