Anchor's Away!

Job Description:

It had been around a week since Johann arrived in Hargeon Town for the more or less famous seafood, but so much more had happened in just this week alone. First, he had helped a king ,who used formidable earth magic, defeat a band of slavers. He had obtained a passport and, weirdly enough, made some potions for a local trader. In addition to that, he had set his sights on the goal of his journeys: Divide Island. He had thought about it a lot and found himself debating whether or not to continue his more nomadic lifestyle or to take a ship to Divide Island and apply for a job at the West Fiore Trading Company. It was rather unlikely for him to regain his lost fortune when all he did was travel around and enjoy himself, but it helped him further his understanding of his magic and magic in general. In addition to that, he used his understanding of magic to develop his own fighting style, so his travels weren't really entirely pointless in the past. But now the time had come were Johann was at a point where he himself wouldn't advance much further on his own while he also found himself with emptier pockets than ever, a grim reminder of his past and the goals he had set for himself. He still wanted to regain what he had lost. At least that which he could regain. Ultimately, he had decided to make his way to Divide Island and try his luck. He figured the West Fiore Trading Company would be the best bet for anyone looking to make a fortune.

It was still early in the morning when Johann woke up. He couldn't really sleep too much in the past couple of days since even he who tried his utmost to always retain a disciplined and calm attitude couldn't fully suppress his nervousness. But then again, everyone who was facing a major change in their lives would probably have been nervous as well. He got up and looked at himself in the mirror. His grey hair had served as a reminder for that day for most of his life, but now that he had gotten older it looked natural. It was almost exactly representative of Johann's situation. Now that he was older, he found that he could slowly but surely deal with the tragedy of his past without losing his motivation, and it was the first time in decades that he was feeling things he had lost for decades and that he thought would be lost forever: happiness with the present and confidence for the future.

Johann took a shower and got dressed. He still had a few more days before the ship to Divide Island would leave the harbour and he still tried to find a way to combat his boredom in the meantime. He started with doing what he had done before and what he originally was here for: trying the local cuisine. Hargeon Town held the reputation of offering excellent seafood, and so far he could only confirm this claim. After the jobs of the past days he found himself wandering the streets of Hargeon Town again, looking for a nice place to eat at while encountering an unusually large number of people with hair glowing in all colours of the rainbow. He smirked.

Eventually, after a bit of walking around and enjoying the fresh and salty ocean breeze, Johann found a relatively nice looking place that seemed to combine bar with restaurant and advertised with it's supposedly excellent and very fresh Tuna filet. He was intrigued, and thus entered the place. Johann was greeted by the smell of fried fish, steamed vegetables and fresh butter. His mouth watered instantly and he quickly made his way to a nearby table. He ordered fried tuna, a side of buttered vegetables and baked sweet potatoes, again fulfilling his desire for tasty food. In fact, after only eating great and fresh meals for the past couple of days he felt revitalized. Eating only dried food for weeks when travelling between cities had really taken it's toll on Johanns morale.

He finished his food and went to pay when someone bumped into him with their shoulder. The person turned around and instantly opened his mouth "Oh, sorry there mate. I didn't see you coming through" and finished his sentence with a warm laugh. The man looked a little rough, as if a life of hard work had somehow sped up the aging process, but he was still in great shape. Muscular and tall. Johann gave the man a nod and was about to keep going when the man addressed Johann once more. "Oi, you don't happen to be a sailor, mate ?". he turned a little to face the man and responded "No, good sir, not really. Why do you ask ?". "Oh well, it's just, you look like you had a rough life at sea" he laughed again. "I'm still looking for people to help me with some cargo. couple of jewels to be had. Interested ?". Johanns eyes lightened up. Jewels were always a good thing. "Interested indeed, good sir ..." . It didn't take much convincing, anywhere where there were jewels to be had, Johann was on board. This time, literally.

The man introduced himself as Captain Kooh and he, as Johann could piece together, was the captain of a small transport ship. He, however, had to deal with an outbreak of the flu among his crew and a few of them had to take a while to recover, so he went to town looking for people to help load and offload some cargo for a couple of jewels. That's where Johann came into play. He followed the man to his ship and immediately noticed the huge stack of crates already stapled, waiting to be loaded on board. This was the point where he started to question the legality of this operation, but Captain Kooh reassured him that everything was as legal as could be and even showed Johann the contents of the crates, which seemed to be simple office supplies. Not that Johann would have had a problem with something not particularly legal, but he couldn't afford getting arrested now that he had decided on a goal for his journey, and, quite frankly, it would have been annoying as hell.

He thus helped the captain to load the cargo into the ship, joined the other sailors on the short trip to River village and helped offload the cargo again. They were back in Hargeon in the evening and, when Johann stepped off the ship and said goodbye to everyone, the captain threw him a small bag. It was the exact amount of jewels they had agreed upon. A grin made it's way onto Johanns face as his pockets started to fill again.

----------------------------------
Word Count: 1149