"Other than overland trips via wagons and carriages, Alfheim also witnessed a significant volume of traffic from the three rivers that crossed the city. The northern River, Lesarde, brought traders from the Union of Nations, while the southern one, Kernfluß, extended even further, all the way to Knallzog in the south-west of the continent.

Further east were coastal settlements which formed around the mouth of the river, brought together to form Zwostadt, one of the larger port cities in the continent. Trade between the two cities was always robust, and ships travelled both up and downriver nearly every day as a result." - Garth Wainwrought, Dean of the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, formerly professor of Socioeconomics.

In the end, Cal and her party stayed for over two weeks in Alfheim and relaxed quite thoroughly in that time. While they were in town, Cal also took the chance to order some robes made from the brocade silken fabrics she purchased, as gifts for Xain and Layla. She knew their measurements, so it was not hard to place such an order.

The rest of the group each relaxed in their own ways. Leila, Elaina, and Sidonie quickly found some new friends to hang around with in town, not a surprise considering the predominance of half elves around.

Her blood mage students took the rare chance to truly rest and relax, though Cal made sure they remembered to spend an hour or two of their time each day on training and sparring with each other.

Fheeri and Fyodor, along with Dan, accompanied Kyara and Ashani as they took in the sights around town and shopped for souvenirs and the like. Kino on the other hand mostly relaxed on her own.

When they departed, they did so not as escorts for a caravan, but as passengers on a boat. Cal planned to ride a boat from Alfheim to Zwostadt, then take a ship south from there to reach the Kingdom Down Under, entering from its eastern coasts.

The river boat they boarded was one of the larger ones anchored at the ports built around and over where the rivers formed a confluence. The River Princess was about ten meters wide, and seven times as long, with three decks.

Cal and her group were only a few of around a hundred passengers on board, and the boat also carried various sorts of cargo below decks. The crew seemed competent, and a wizened old elf served as the ship's captain.

The man dressed like no other Elf Cal had seen, in wide, flowing robes made of brocade fabrics, as well as loose pants with shoes that ended in a curved, pointy tip. He had a tall conical headwrap which seemed to be kept in shape by several metal rings, and often ran his hand through his smooth, silky beard, which reached down to his waist.

With a smooth timbre to his voice that Cal thought odd in a man his age, he shouted his commands and the boat raised its anchors. Cal immediately noticed the strong fluctuations of magic emitted from the man, and the way the large boat seemed to be carried along by the river, yet turned around smoothly nonetheless. Clearly an experienced water mage at work.

They were travelling downriver, so there was minimal need for external aids in their travels. The river's flow itself would bring them to Zwostadt in six to seven days. Had they gone upriver instead, the boat would have unfurled its multiple sails, and either caught the wind or used mages to aid them in their travel upstream.

As the boat traveled, Cal and her group had not hesitated to make use of the amenities. They spent relaxing days laying down on recliners on the deck, sunbathing under the early summer sun, with drinks in hand to enjoy.

It was their third day of the trip, nearly halfway between the two cities, before they ran into a small incident.

Cal had long noticed that every crew member on the ship was armed. The captain himself kept a curved sword sheathed by his waist at all times. At first she had thought it to be ceremonial, but when some local river monsters struck, she learnt that it was not.

It happened during the day, when Cal was out on the deck, sunbathing along with Kino, Giselle and her nieces. The therians in their groups didn't seem to quite grasp the idea of sunbathing so they had stayed inside where they entertained themselves with other means.

A small flock of river monsters, ones that looked like eels which had eight wing-like fins growing from their sides, had flew out of the river and attacked the boat with loud screeches, which elicited panicked shouts from some of the passengers on deck.

Cal noticed how nonchalant the crew members looked however, and had not risen from her recliner, as she settled down to watch while sipping her drink instead. Kino did the same next to her.

Much like she expected, the crewmembers drew their cutlasses, hatchets, and blades and swiftly sliced down any of the beasts that made it into the boat. Around fifty of the smaller beasts had been cut down before a larger one rose out of the water and screeched in fury.

The large beast was as long as the boat was wide, several orders of magnitude larger than the smaller ones, which were just two or so meters long and as thick as a human's arm. This large beast on the other hand was as thick around as a wine barrel, and rose on the dozens of wings on the sides of its long, sinuous body.

A razor-sharp ring of metal greeted it the moment its snout reached the ship, the projectile embedded accurately in one of the beast's eyes, cleaving the eye in twain and causing its screech to turn into one of pain.

Before the beast regained itself, the old captain had nimbly leapt down from the sail's riggings, blade first. He accurately plunged his curved blade right in between the beast's eyes, and the creature dropped onto the boat.

Some passengers screamed more as the boat listed slightly to the side due to the weight of the beast, at least until the crew hauled the rest of its body out of the water and onto the boat proper.