It took Jun and Misaki another day of traveling down the waters of the Long River before they reached the inland port town of Vosorod.
Though as they traveled, they did pass through a few villages and towns on there way here. Jun and Misaki stopped at a few of these villages and towns to grab a few things for their journey.
Jun learned that the Yimpan Empire was actually split up into eight kingdoms so that it could be governed better.
The Long River passed through two kingdoms before they made it to Kordebławaznesco, or The Kingdom of the Blessèd Emperor of Heaven.
Apparently it was the shortened version of the kingdom's full name and Jun could see why. He wouldn't be able to remember it either way, or pronounce it for that matter.
But from their journey through the two kingdoms they were able to purchase some dried sausages.
Jun noticed that dried sausages along with a few types of grains seemed to be the main foods in the Yimpan Empire.
As when Misaki was going through what the merchants had in stock, he noticed how there seemed to be an endless variety of dried sausages. From chicken to rabbit to even yak. Various herbs were stuffed into each sausage which caused each one to have a different flavor.
Apparently, according to the merchants, each town and village has a different flavor because of the different herbs grown and the different combinations of meat and herbs.
As much as these dried sausages sounded, and were, foreign, their shape of being very long and thin weren't that different from a certain type of sausage in Huaza.
Jun and Misaki ate the dried sausages along with tea as they waited for their sampan's arrival in Vosorod's port. Jun didn't realize how fast the current of the river was until he came into the West.
The scenery of the forests and jungle of the East were pretty similar in how they looked, it didn't seem like much was changing.
Especially if you're traveling. But the Western landscape was a lot more different here in Vosorod, than near the Grand Wall of the East, as it was pretty empty.
Though Vosorod's terrain was extremely varied, just not with lots of tall tress everywhere.
There were many valleys and rolling hills that littered the terrain. Along with huge jagged mountains. Fields of foreign flowers could be seen along the hills with tall grasses on the flatter areas. There seemed to be huge forests of pine and fir trees that covered the mountains, even at their snowy peaks.
Large wild animals with lots of fur, which Jun identified were yaks, would graze along the shorter grasses of the foothills.
The more calmed tones of the new scenery made Jun feel more relaxed. Most of the plants were dark tones of green in the mountains while the lower fields were a light yellow green shade.
With various flowers giving muted colors of reds, blues, lavenders, and pinks. While the white flowers stood out to him in their bright fields.
But he could only enjoy these calming scenes before it changed once again. As their boat went down the river swiftly. Though Jun didn't like how fast the scenery changed, he was happy that the boat did go fast at times.
Especially when they went through the gorges in the mountains.
Being in those gorges made Jun feel extremely uncomfortable and anxious. Because it felt as though rocks or something would fall down from the tops.
Or that something big was going to emerge out of the gorge's tall stone walls.
It was nighttime when they entered Vosorod's port. Various lights could be seen coming from large boats, tall poles on the stone docks, and from the tall houses in the town. As they got closer to the docks Jun saw how strange the town looked.
The boats looked like no boat he was familiar with as they had large, white cloth sails in the middle of a somewhat big hull.
Though there was a dip in the middle on both sides, which Jun guessed made it easier to get onto the deck if the boat. The stone docks were also really unusual to him as he had never seen docks made out of stone. They were always made out of wood in the East.
Misaki guided the boat towards an empty side at one of the stone docks. Jun saw men moving around on the docks carrying boxes off of a boat on the other side.
The men could be heard talking and shouting, what seemed to be orders, at each other in a foreign language. The language sounded similar to what Misaki had said yesterday about the hawks.
Jun guessed that was the language that was spoken in the Yimpan Empire.
The men wore thick, long fur jackets along with thick pants that were tied with string multiple times around them towards the bottom.
Their hard soled boots clacked on the docks while they continued to move swiftly. Fur caps could also be seen on the tops of the mens' heads along with necklaces around their necks.
One thing Jun noticed, which he considered odd, was that among the men's various necklaces they all had at least one of the same necklaces on.
It had a thin metal circle that had an X shape within it.
On top of a nearby wooden barrel, Jun saw a rooster near a lantern. He was confused as to why the rooster seemed to just stay on top of the barrel as the men worked. It seemed to be a pet or something as it watched the men work and didn't seem to be aggressive.
It surveyed, along with the men, as it noticed Jun and Misaki's arrival to the side of the dock.
"Merchant?"
One of the men said in a thick accent as he looked over at the two of them.
Jun noticed that the man was only watching the men work instead of doing the work along with them. He guessed he was an overseer of sorts. Misaki nodded her head in response to the man. The man then yelled at the men working and pointed down at their boat.
Jun watched as Misaki dropped their anchor and tied the boat's top to one of the docks wooden posts. She got out of the boat and stepped down onto the stone of the dock.
Jun grabbed his covered bow and put it on his back along, along with grabbing his small bag that was right next to Misaki's bed. Once he got all of his stuff Jun stepped onto the stone as well.
Misaki was over to his left talking to one of the men who was writing something down on a piece of paper. Jun walked over to them and noticed that the man was writing with some strange device.
Instead of writing with a brush or pencil, the man seemed to be writing in ink with some small, thin implement. She soon noticed Jun standing next to her and quickly told the man to wait for a moment.
"I guess this is where we part ways, sai bān," Misaki said, she seemed to talk in a solemn voice. Jun shifted his weight between his feet nervously while fiddling with his fingers.
"Yeah, I guess so..." His voice seemed to trail off on his final word. Misaki pulled him into a quick hug which he gladly accepted.
"Remember, the West is nothing like the East," she whispered in his ear.
Jun could feel his heart started to beat faster as he heard and processed Misaki's words.
He had never been this far away from home.
"Goodbye..." Jun was lost for words as he paused.
Suddenly the words came to him. "Aunt Kimura." He watched as a smile graced her lips at the sound of his words.
"Give me a visit when you have the chance. I live with my son in law."
Jun bowed before he began to walk towards the town. As he was going to walk from the stone of the docks and onto the stone brick street he was suddenly grabbed.
He looked behind him to see Misaki holding his arm.
"I almost forgot to tell you," she said quickly, "the town's name is Bia Phi. It's on the northern coast, close to the Huazan border."
And with that she let go of Jun's arm and went back to talking with the man writing.
For some reason Jun stayed there frozen while he watched Misaki talk to the man who seemed to meticulously write down what she was saying.
He didn't want to leave for some reason, but at the same time he wanted to get to Perenykisk.
He has lied thus far about his real reason, he might as well go through with it. As he's done enough heedless damage by lying to so many people about the reason.
It felt like he was being pulled in two directions and that will tear him apart.
Eventually his lies pulled him into the town as he was welcomed by foreign houses, dark alleyways, and a stone street.
He looked up at the two story buildings, or houses, with curiosity and apprehension. The houses looked like nothing he'd seen before.
The first floor was made out of stone bricks with wooden beams at the edges. Then the next stories were made out of wood that seemed to be stripped of its bark that showed weathered, white wood.
What made the houses even more strange was how there was some type of wooden crosshatching that went across the white wood walls. The roofs were made out of wood and thatch.
A stone pipe, or square pipe Jun couldn't tell, went from the side of the bottom of the houses and went above the roofs. Smoke came out the end of these stone pillars.
Curtains were in front of the windows which covered the light coming from the inside of the houses.
Jun looked down the street to his left and saw spread out wooden posts with lanterns hanging off of them. The light from the lanterns lit up the streets to a degree, though there were still dark patches.
There was not a soul lurking among the streets which creeped Jun out. He clutched onto his bowstring that was across his chest and forced his legs to move him down the street.
The wind blew lazily through the air which caused some of the lanterns on the posts to swing about slightly. Causing the light from the lanterns to move around.
Jun jumped back when he saw a shadow move in an alleyway then disappear. But then he realized it was just a shadow created by one of the swinging lanterns.
Cloths could be heard flapping in the wind from the higher stories of the houses. The water from the lake sloshed at the sides of the stone embankment of the docks.
Suddenly Jun heard the sounds of music in the distance. It sounded like a medley of animals and people.
He continued to walk down the street further, as if in a trance, as he heard the music gradually grow louder and louder. The main sound in the music that Jun heard had a strong, resonant, sweet and even silvery sound. It was enchanting but also kind of eerie in a sense.
The next sound he heard was a soft and mostly covered by the first sound, but still could be heard, sounded high pitched. It sounded like the high pitched chirping of a bird.
Soon Jun came out of his trance-like state once he saw bright lights in front of him. It was at the corner of the street and overlooked the waves of the lake and still boats.
A sign was hanging from it that had painted bottles clanking each other with writing on top of the picture. It read something, but in a foreign script.
As he saw characters being reused again in what he assumed were words. It was like an alphabet or something like that.
Underneath it was written, though smaller, in Common. "The Drunken Maiden" was what the sign read which confused Jun.
He noticed that as he got closer to the sign, that it was a tavern as he heard the singing of men that accompanied the music coming from within. It didn't sound like the singing of professionals, but of the voices from the deep chests of fiery spirits.
Opa! Opa! Op op op!
Then a lone man could be heard singing.
He comes down the mountains of the North,
Bringing doom whence He comes forth.
Then the group of men all came in singing once again.
Op op op!
Two swords swinging by his side,
With greed and pride being his guide.
Op op op!
Fiery eyes and resounding cries,
Is what ya hear before ya soul dies.
Op op op!
Jun heard as everyone began singing together.
Arkshan! Arkshan!
The Harbinger of Syóyeong!
Arkshan! Arkshan!
Born from the Dragon woman,
And of the human man!
Even though Jun was outside of the tavern the song still sent chills down his spine and throughout his body. His heart thumping in his chest.
The people of the East could barely say Arkshan's name while the Western people had a whole song dedicated to him.
But Jun had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't what Misaki meant when "the West is nothing like the East".