The Lord of the Seas - An Isekai Progression Fantasy [ Currently on Volume 2 ]

Velena Ilagron had been right. There was nothing much to see in this village that a reminder of what once had been one of the Great Kingdoms of Humanity. Their host had left the dining room without another word, leaving them as she retired for the night. When morning came, the woman made no mention of the previous night's conversation. The Countess simply suggested they take a look around the village after cooking them a light breakfast and return in time for dinner. She still stood by what she said about how there wasn't much to see around here but she suggested they might as well do some exploring while they were here.

This was why Lukas, Katrina, and Jesse found themselves wandering through the streets of Ilagron Village, their footsteps echoing off the cobblestone walls while the Kraken had chosen to remain in the pond (Lukas made him stay in the pond).

The market square, once likely bustling with merchants and traders, was now little more than a series of empty stalls, their wooden frames sagging under the weight of neglect. The few souls they passed kept their heads down, barely acknowledging them as they shuffled by, their faces weathered and gaunt.

It was clear that this was a place that had long given up any hopes of prosperity.

The streets were lined with crumbling houses, many with roofs patched up haphazardly, and the air had the heavy scent of salt and decay. There was no sign of commerce or trade—no chatter of business being done, no cries for fresh fish or goods. Everything felt still, suffocating under a blanket of poverty.

Lukas could not help but notice the hollow eyes of the villagers, the way they moved as if they were only going through the motions, as if all the life within them had been snatched away from them.

This was a ghost town, sadly just a dying remnant of what had been a thriving kingdom; a kingdom that Lukas had wished he could have seen in all of its glory. Katrina and Jesse were bickering as Lukas continued to take in his surroundings. The two had been arguing morning and it was starting to get on Lukas' nerves.

"We can't just leave Velena to face this alone," Katrina argued, her voice firm. "She's fighting for her home, her people. We should help her! She let us stay in her home, she fed us even when she didn't have to!"

Jesse shot her a sharp glance, frustration flickering in his eyes.

"Help her?" the young dragonborn scoffed, his tone thick with condescension. "She's already made up her mind, Katrina. We've got bigger things to worry about. The whole point of this journey was to find Lord Rodan and bring him back. Helping Velena would mean likely making the entire Kingdom of Nozar our enemies and that is not something we want or need right now."

Katrina stepped closer towards Jesse, her jaw set. "Velena's not some side mission, Jesse. This village might be falling apart, but it's still her home. If we don't help her now, what kind of people are we? We owe it to her. She let us into her home when she did not need to. My father would have wanted us to help her."

Lukas put a hand between the two, just in case they made the decision to use their fists instead of their words.

"And how on Hiraeth would you know that? You know what I think? I think Lord Rodan would want us to find him and bring him back home! The Kraken can guide us to him. Helping her and this village that is clearly already a lost cause won't get us any closer to finding your father. We'll just be wasting our time here and putting ourselves at risk. Safety is our number one priority, remember?" Jesse shot back.

"I-" Katrina tried to come up with another counter argument but she had none.

The tension between them simmered as they walked on in silence, each unwilling to back down from their stance. It took a while for Lukas to realize that the silence was there because they were both staring at him, waiting for his opinion on the matter. So he cleared his throat, choosing his next words very carefully.

"Both of you need to calm down. Katrina does have a point. Velena is a good woman and I can see she's fighting for what's left of her people." His niece's face lit up but Lukas wasn't finished. "But we can't risk our lives going up against the Kingdom of Nozar. If we get caught up in this fight, we won't be able to accomplish what we came here for: to find Rodan and expand the Merchant Guild's influence outside of the Seas. It is my responsibility that we all make it back home safe. So I have to agree with Jesse. Helping Velena might be the right thing to do but I will not willingly put us in that kind of danger, especially when that danger can be so easily avoided."

Katrina's jaw tightened, her hands balling into fists at her sides as she stared out at the empty village streets. His niece did not want to admit it, but deep down, she knew Lukas was right. This was not their fight.

The trio continued to make their way down the cobbled street when the distant sound of rain starting to tap against the rooftops that shattered the silence. Velena had not lied to them when she had said the weather had not been kind to the village in recent times because the downpour soon became heavy and it did not seem like it would stop any time soon.

They spotted a tavern with a sign hanging crookedly above the door, its wooden frame creaking as the wind pushed against it, and it was then when Lukas decided that it'd be a good time to get some food in their bellies.

As they stepped inside, the smell of aged wood and stale ale greeted them. The tavern was painfully empty, save for the lone bartender who stood behind the counter, polishing a glass. The man looked up as they entered, his face lighting up with an almost desperate enthusiasm.

"Well, I'll be damned! New faces! Welcome to Ilagron Village! I'm Jerry! That's short for Jeremiah," the bartender exclaimed, his voice cracking from long disuse. He wiped his hands on his apron and gestured toward an empty table. "Please, sit! Sit! Order whatever you like! Please!" He practically beamed, clearly relieved by the sight of company.

The three exchanged a glance, unsure of what to make of the sudden warmth of his welcome, but sat down at the nearest table nonetheless.

"We'll have whatever you think is good, sir." Lukas flashed him a friendly smile and the bartender obliged without hesitation, stepping into the back to get them some food.

Lukas reached into his pocket to find some coins he could pay the bartender with but the man had already returned to start them off with drinks and when he saw Lukas reaching for payment, the man shook his head; refusing whatever payment Lukas wanted to give.

"You're doing me a favor by giving this place some life! Don't even think about paying! It's on the house." The bartender quickly brought over a pitcher of ale and a few bowls of stew, his eyes gleaming with an almost bittersweet excitement.

Lukas thanked him graciously before they dug into their meal. A dragon's appetite is never to be underestimated.

"Well cheers then, mate. Not many customers this time of day, huh?" Lukas asked but from what he had seen of this village so far, he did not think the tavern had many customers at any time of the day.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"I'm afraid not. It's a shame to admit that you folks are the first customers I've had in a week, actually! In fact, I'm about to close up shop for good," Jerry told them with a sigh, setting more food down in front of them.

"And why is that?" Lukas asked before taking swig from the cup of ale that the bartender had set in front of him.

"Ain't it obvious? Business just isn't what it used to be. It's a gorydamn shame how much this place has changed over the last ten years." Jerry's face fell for a moment as he looked out the window, as though the village's gradual decline was finally catching up with him.

"The last ten years?" Lukas asked, confused.

Hadn't this village's decline begun centuries ago when the Great War had come to a close? When this Kingdom had been reduced to nothing more than a fishing village in the middle of nowhere?

"The village used to be so full of life!" Jerry proclaimed, letting out a deep sigh as if reliving memories from a past life. "Ships would come in from all over. From Nozar, from Easthaven and even from Khaitish up in those dunes of theirs. Goods, spices, textiles, fish...you name it, we had it all. The docks were always full, and this tavern here? It was packed every single night, I'm telling ya! People came from all corners of the world because this was the place to be!" Jerry set the glass down, his smile fading with every word he spoke of the past.

"But those days are long gone now. And bless the Countess Ilagron. She deserves nothing but the best. Fate has not been kind to her." The bartender remarked, shaking his head in disdain.

"You mean Velena?" Katrina asked, intrigued now.

"Oh yes, Countess Velena! You've met her?" Jerry asked.

"She was kind enough to let her stay in the Ilagron Estate during our stay here." Jesse interjected before Katrina could answer.

"Why did you say that fate has not been kind to her?" Lukas was curious now, pulling out an empty chair and gesturing for the bartender to sit with them. "Please, Jerry. Join us."

The bartender didn't need to be asked twice as he sat with them before answering Lukas' question.

"I suppose you could say the downfall of Ilagron started with the Ilagron Family itself," Jerry continued, his voice tinged with a somber heaviness.

"The Ilagron family used to be so strong, so proud even after they lost the kingdom that they had ruled over for thousands of years. The Ilagrons, boy, they weren't quitters. They knew how to make do with what they had. They kept the docks of this village running, the trade flowing. The late Earl, Velena's son, was a good man. He was a great man. I watched him grow from a boy to a man, Volantis Ilagron was his name. It wasn't until he came to power that Ilagron became more than just a fishing village. Volantis expanded these docks, set up new trade routes and brought in merchants from all over Hiraeth! He struck deals, got families involved in the global markets and before long, Ilagron wasn't just a village. It was the hub. This village heart of trade, where everyone all around Hiraeth came to buy, sell, and barter. The people respected him. They loved him. We loved him, yes, we did." Jerry paused, his voice faltering for a moment.

Jerry became quiet for a moment.

"And what happened to Velena's son? Where is Volantis now?" Jesse asked but Lukas could already guess the answer.

Jerry's voice became no louder than a whisper as he answered Jesse's question with a heavy heart. "Many years ago, one of the worst storms the coast had ever seen hit Ilagron and the ship Volantis and his family were sailing on never returned to our docks. It wasn't just a son the Countess had lost, that day we lost what was to be the future of Ilagron. Volantis' wife, his son and his daughter. All of them gone in an instant. That was a dark day for our village. And his father, the previous Earl...well he just couldn't recover from the loss. He died shortly after, and just like that, everything fell on our Countess Velena's shoulders."

The three did not say a word. Lukas was beginning to get a clearer picture about how it came to be this way in Ilagron.

"But you know what? Our countess bloodydamn did not break. Our Countess Velena held things together. Even after losing everyone she loved, the Countess of Ilagron stepped up and kept the town from completely falling apart. It wasn't easy, and it sure wasn't fast, but she did it. Slowly, the docks became busier again, the markets started to fill up, and for a time, we felt hopeful for what the future held for us." Jerry's voice was hoarse, threatening to crack as emotions overwhelmed him.

Lukas did not hesitate to reach out and pat the bartender on the back, hoping it would give him some comfort. "Hey. If it's too much for you to talk about, it's completely alright. Take your time." He knew this was not an easy story for Jerry to tell. As much as Lukas wanted to know more about what had happened here, this was not an interrogation.

Jerry nodded and took a long sip of his own ale. As the bartender took some time to compose himself, Lukas found that he felt even more confused than ever before. If Velena had done such an impressive job of shouldering the burden that was placed onto her, then why was Ilagron in the state it was now? Lukas was about to find out because Jerry cleared his throat to continue his story.

The bartender's voice dropped to a hushed whisper as he leaned in closer, a flicker of fear in his eyes. "Pirates aren't uncommon, especially if you're in the trading business. So at first, people thought...it was just another band of rogues. They started off with smaller trading ships but as time went on, they became more and more bold. They became enough of a problem that Nozar sent one of their Three Admirals to apprehend him. And that man did not stand a fuckin' chance. They say that in a single hour, their leader destroyed an entire fleet of Nozar battleships and slaughtered the Admiral they had sent after him. One of the three bloody admirals!"

Even Lukas knew of the Nozar's Navy, for it was the most powerful military force in all of the human kingdoms. And the admirals were the strongest of them all.

"And after he annihilated that fleet, it didn't stop there. No, that was just the beginning. He set his sights on everything. Even the Divine Knight of the Church could not stop him. The trading routes—the very lifeblood of this village—was his to take, he began to torment and plunder all the ships that passed through these waters without mercy. Ships that tried to pass through, carrying goods of any value, were dragged beneath the waves, never to be seen again. No merchant could make the journey without fearing for their lives. The trading routes that once brought prosperity to this village? Destroyed. And...the Ilagron Family went bankrupt trying to keep this village. Now they're in a pretty tough spot. To be honest, we all are. Every ship that sails the seas of Hiraeth is an easy target for that man. No one dares to sail the waters now, not with that monster out there. To this day, he remains at large." There was a hint of anger in his voice that Lukas could detect but it was masked by an immense fear.

Lukas realized that Jerry was scared of that pirate.

All of them were.

"Can you tell me more about this...man?" Lukas asked.

"They say he wields magic that controls the seas, with storms following wherever he goes. That's what makes him so dangerous and it's why no one's been able to bring him to justice. The water itself obeys him. Ships caught in his path are torn apart, swallowed by waves of his creation. They say he rivals the might of Oceanus himself. But that's blasphemy, I tell you."

Jerry leaned in closer, voice lowering to a near whisper, as if afraid someone would overhear him.

"And they say...he can turn into a monster. A creature with scales like black stone, eyes that glow with power. He's a beast, a monster, a terror that no one can escape. No ship has outrun him, and anyone foolish enough to challenge him never lives to tell the tale. This pirate isn't just a man; he's a goddamn nightmare! Because if the Admirals of Nozar and the Divine Knights of the Church can't even keep him in check, who can?"

Gorydamn, could this bartender tell a story.

Katrina and Jesse had even stopped eating to give him their full attention, hanging onto his every word.

But something about that description had immediately jumped out to Lukas.

Magic that could control the seas?

The ability to turn into a monster, a beast of the seas?

"And what's his name, Jerry?" Lukas asked, the feeling of dread rising within him.

"They call him the greatest pirate that Hiraeth has ever seen, the man's name is Rodan, the Leviathan of the Deep."