[h2]Prince Erik Reighn - Dawn, Miricia[/h2]

Prince Erik nodded as most of the group seemed to agree that clearing King Temerus's name was the best course of action. He didn't usually take the diplomatic route in his travels, but here he was, breaking his routines. Erik wasn't sorry. If this would help him find out about his friend, he'd do whatever it took. 

"If that's the case, there are two paths to Derak," Gregory explained as he laid out a map of Karula in front of them.

On the map, it showed the smaller nation of Miricia right in the center. Maul was to its west at approximately twice its size; Albia to its east, at roughly the same size, Monos to its north was approximately the same size as Maul, and Gannon, the largest nation, was to the south and southeast of Miricia. Derak was located on isles to the south of Gannon. Kuro, meanwhile, was a small nation half the size of Miricia to the southwest of Monos. 

"We can either head east to Albia. From there, we could travel through my lands relatively undeterred until we reach the shores. Then we can take a ship from the east all the way to Derak. Travel through my country will probably be easier, but the waters along the way to Derak would be filled with pirates, mostly from Gannon. That could slow us down," Gregory explained as he pointed downward on the map toward Gannon. "The other choice is to travel south of here, through the western parts of Gannon. Normally, Gannon isn't too keen on foreign nationals travelling along its borders. But it's mostly concentrated along its shorelines, so we can probably slip by without too much resistance. Then again, because of the lack of much official Gannon presence, there's a lot of bandits that roam the areas. And any Gannon soldiers are a lot more corrupt than others. Once we hit the water, however, the ports of south Gannon are a lot closer to Derak, making it a smooth ride from there," Gregory looked up at the others and awaited their thoughts. "Those are the two best options we have."

Erik scanned the map and immediately thought of suggesting the Albian path. It seemed more steady. It would take a bit longer, but they could regroup and even gather more allies in Albia, as well as supplies from the capital. The only issue being that this path would likely take longer, especially once they reached the shores. "So it's a choice between the harder path and the longer one. Thoughts?" Prince Erik asked the others.