Eerik glanced quickly at it. He recognized some landscape, mountain and sea, and a red X shoving some location. As the merchant was nervous, Eerik folded and hid the map in his hands.

- Is it real ?
- Of course.
- What proof you get ?
- There is a red X on it.
- You could have drew it.
- Ok. Yes, I could have. But I swear this is a real one. And it’s a bit expansive. For it’s real, you know.
- How much ?
- Ten golden coins
- Yeah, expensive !
- But you’ll get a treasure...
- Why didn’t you went for it ?
- I’m not in a perfect shape for that kind of adventure, answered the merchant showing his eyepatch and his stick.
- Oh, I see.

Eerik considered his options for a while. He bargained a bit, making the merchant think for a while. Then he frowned, spat in his hand and offered it to shake in agreement. Eerik put eight golden coins in the moist hand and thanked the merchant before leaving.

His treasure map in one of the many secret pocket of his coat, Eerik took a cab from Pââoma to the closest harbor : Ei Missään. There he bought some climbing equipment because the X on the treasure map was up in the mountain. It was also not far from the sea in one of the many fjord of the island. Going by foot would have been hazardous because the land up there was a real maze. As all the Kingdom. And if the treasure was not moving like a human target, it had no highly frequented road nearby. So he started looking for a small boat with a crew to hire.

Eerik asked almost all the sailors of the harbor if he could hire their boat and crew to reached a specific destination in the North. They all seemed interested, as he mentioned he would paid some gold for the trip. But as he showed the location he wished to go on a paper map (he bought a new one to show the destination, he wasn’t fool enough to show the leather with the X, the treasure wasn’t to share), they all said it was not on their path or that they should go on plain sea to fish, not in some fjord. They all provided an excuse not to go there.

There was only one boat left and Eerik took a deep breath for good luck before asking his request. The captain, a big slim guy named Gunnar with a foreign accent and legs that looked like two frail canes agreed with a loud friendly voice. He didn’t even watched the paper map.


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