A/N: Halo~ so, this chapter'll be sea-questing again! Yaay *smacked*

Told ya I haven't ignored Chitose and Rudollf.

Anyway, sea-charting GO!

Warning and Disclaimer... yeah, you know...

Enjoy~

Chronicles of the Drowned City

C.13: Further into the sea...

Night came a little after the Enterprise left the docks. The air turned cold, but the sea remained calm, only gently rocking their ship left and right.

Chitose, due to the rocking, fell asleep. Well, that, and because of boredom. There's nothing to do, no animals to experiment on... all these animals she's seen before. Though she did hear from Rudollf that just before they met her they went and fought a giant, red bird that made it's nest on a lighthouse went of Armoroad. Skandalia Lighthouse, she thinks.

But no, they're not headed that way. According to Rudollf, with the kind of supplies they have right now, they wouldn't be able to reach father than the lighthouse. So, they opted to go the other way: east.

All they could see as they sailed are chuck of lands, seagulls flying above them, patches of seaweed that they can't seem to cross, and hidden reefs that are too deep for them to even enter.

Rudollf, as always, captained the ship. Though he may be as bored as Chitose was, he still had to focus on driving the ship, or else they'll crash. And also charting the sea, which managed to keep him awake.

All he could see from the deck are dark blue waters, due to the night sky, stars and the moon, and chunk of lands here and there. But then, as he was about to head back to the Inver Port, he noticed quite the big landmass in the distance. Taking a close look, he noticed that it's...

A city!

"Oh, 'ello~," muttered Rudollf, steering the ship towards the city, but then noticed that one; the current seems quite harsh, and two; pirate ships. Also, he noticed the supplies in the ship is about to run out.

And Chitose fell asleep.

Sighing, Rudollf called out to the crew in the ship ,"Alright, we're headed back!" Everyone nodded, getting everything set to head back.

Once they arrived in the port the next morning, Rudollf woke Chitose up and walked off the ship, the first person greeting them being the captain himself.

"Hey, looks like your back safe. How was it?"

"Well, we found a city up east of 'ere." The captain immediately smiled in delight.

"That's the trade city of Batavia. Armoroad and Batavia used to have good trade relations with each other, but after the Calamity happened, the currents around Batavia became quite harsh, it cut off out trade route." It didn't take much for the two to figure out what the captain wants.

"So you want us to chart a route?" The captain nodded.

"Alright, then, give us th'supplies, 'nd we'll set sail," said Rudollf as he handed some money. The captain took it and went to get their supplies. He then came back and gave them quite a few sacks, full of dried peas. Carrying it onto the ship, Rudollf and Chitose ordered the rest of the crew to get ready and set sail. The ship then set sail out of the port.

As they sailed, Rudollf steered the ship as he looked at the map they've managed to draw so far, trying to plan a route. The currents are harsh, and there's a pirate ship sailing north of the city. Which means they have to go around the currents.

Marking the route on the map, Rudollf smiled, steering the ship, following the route he planned. Circling the currents and carefully navigating them, until he crossed into the lands of Batavia and finally found his way to the port.

Docking the ship, one of the men in Batavia's port noticed the new ship. A closer look at the ship told the man that the ship is from Armoroad.

Wait, Armoroad?!

"Oi! Are you from Armoroad?" Rudollf and Chitose both nodded as they got off the ship.

"Ok, wait here, I'm gonna go get someone!" The man then stormed off into the city, Rudollf raising an eyebrow while Chitose seems nonchalant, looking around, desprate for some animal parts.

The man then came back with someone-a soldier, most likely. The soldier then spoke.

"I'm a represenative of the Batavian goverment. Your from Armoroad, correct?" Again, the two nodded.

"So that means you've found a route? Would you mind sharing it with us then, so we can reopen our trade again?"

"Alright..," Rudollf shrugged, then got on to making a copy of his map. Once he was done, he handed the copy to the soldier. The soldier thanked them and ran off back to wherever he came from.

"Let's head back..." Rudollf noticed a glint of desperation in Chitose's eyes, most likely from the lack of getting her hands on animal parts. Worried that the girl might snap and experiment on him instead, he nodded, hurrying back onto the ship and having everyone prepare to set sail at full speed.

Night fell when they got back, but once they got to the port, Chitose jumped off the ship and stormed off into the Labyrinth. Well... at least that's what Rudollf heard.

The captain greeted them, asking if they managed to chart a route. Rudollf showed the map to the captain.

"Yer' safe t'go tradin' with 'em again." The captain nodded, a bright, happy smile plastered on his face.

"Thank you! We're one step closer to Armoroad's recovery now. We should be able to start trading again soon." Rudollf nodded, expecting some sort of reward, but the captain apologized as he said he didn't have anything. He then walked out of the port, pouting a bit.

"...You could've given us something..."

Chitose meanwhile, finished killing some monsters. She could experiment with these animal parts some more, but she's starting to get bored with them. Still, she managed to discover some new animals, a steel-shelled crab and a centipede like thing.

Please to god, let them reach the second stratum faster...

Packing up the animal parts and stowing them away, she fished out a warp wire and warped herself out of the Labyrinth.

When she arrived outside, noticing Rudollf came to pick her up.

"Got some fresh parts?"

"How long will it be until we reach the second stratum?"

"Patience, young lady, patience...," Rudollf said, attempting to sound wise. Chitose scoffed a bit, following Rudollf back into the Labyrinth.

Today was quite uneventfull, and the night is just as uneventfull. When they got into the room, all of the other guild members are there, lying on either the bed or the floor, asleep. Tucked in the corner of their room, there's a bag of supplies. A huge bag.

Sighing, Rudollf plopped down onto the floor.

"Better go hide 'dem animal parts, lass. Wouldn't want t'start anything with 'er," warned Rudollf as he pointed at the now sleeping Wildling. Chitose nodded. She did say that she's going to respect the Wildling's wishes and do her hobbies elsewhere. She then went out of the room and hid those animal parts.

Soon after, the ninja came back into the room and lied down on the floor, tucked into a small corner of their bunk. Soon, both of them drifted off to sleep as the night activity in Armoroad continued on.

Hopefully tomorrow would be a bit more eventfull...

-To Be Continued-

A/N: RRRRGH WRITER'S BLOCK. AGAIN. WHY...

Ahem, anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is short... and if I got anything wrong here, do tell me, please! Maybe the next chapter'll be Labyrinth questing~ yeah, we'll see ^^.

And now I shall go get some ice cream *creeps into fridge*