Chapter 203 Preparations
The group tried to arrive on the third island before the news about the attack could have arrived, but it seemed that they had failed at that. Even by following suspicious routes, they managed to see many ships heading in the opposite direction to try to hunt down the pirates.
"Although the sailors around here are pretty experient, they will never find them," Sauros declared. "They have been doing that for centuries and never succeeded… my guess is that they have a similar magic tool to ours that keep our simple invisible."
"I thought that they were rare…" Aion said. "This is explanation is kind suspicious and for such a thing to fall on the hands of criminals..."
"They are, that is why we can\'t use them often, and we make our own," Sauros replied. "Considering what we saw yesterday, it seems that many pirates are working together, many captains… so, I guess is that they managed to create an invisible hideout for them, and their base is around here since they keep attacking and stealing the magic stones."
"They seemed rather experienced… like they had done that many times, but I wonder how come the port city always recovers if that is a normal occurrence," Aion said.
"It is because the magic stones are that valuable. They don\'t reach the area of the Zaera kingdom since the trip would take three months, and those would be three months\' worth of time that they will give to pirates to find them. It isn\'t worth the hassle. However, many kingdoms and countries north of here make use of them on a daily basis. Even when people die during the attacks, no one ever thought of giving up on this business."
Aion knew that many worlds revolve around money, but that was on another whole level… Regardless, if the attacks were frequent, then they should have at least had ships guarding the island at night, it would cost them some money, but it was better than nothing.
Putting that aside, the third island soon entered their view when the sun was setting. Sauros decided that they would only return to the second island in a week, so there was no need to hurry now, and they could take their time finding the tools that they needed.
Aion was unable to tell from so far away if the port city of the second island had walls or any other sort of defensive measure. Still, he found walls, watchtowers, and even flying monsters on several parts around the place to be used in case of emergency. Sauros said that the place wasn\'t attacked that often, but they sure were cautious.
"Apparently, this island was targeted the most in the past, so they thought of these countermeasures," Sauros explained.
"What are we going to buy here?" Aion asked.
"As you can see, the monsters of the dungeon of this island are flying monsters, and they control wind magic quite well. They also had some gems inside their bodies that granted them a part of those powers. We will use them to fight underwater," Sauros explained. "Wind magic doesn\'t have much weight per se, and the resistance underwater will be smaller if compared to ice and earth magic. We just have to adjust our aim a bit."
"Because the wind still goes upward…" Aion said.
"Yes, the water forces that to happen, but they don\'t speed or piercing power under the right circumstances," Sauros said. "We just need to build the right weapons that will make them able to do that."
Aion recalled an old game that he had played… there was an underwater sector in which the protagonist had to kill dinosaurs with a gun of pressurized air… maybe Sauros wanted to make something like that, but without the proper technology, they could rely on magic. After thinking for a while, Aion realized that the power of magic tools was limited. Still, the magic stones will probably increase that tenfold.
"Let\'s go already," Seris said when they landed. "I have a lot of work to do after this, and I need to do some research."
"You sure are excited about this…" Aion said.
"I am projecting and building our magic tools. Most of the designers that we use back home are my improved creations," Seris puffed her chest forward and declared proudly.
Since she was quite voluptuous, that was quite the sight to behold. That was like a two-edged sword for someone like Aion, who hasn\'t gotten laid in many years, but it was quite good because he didn\'t have much time lately to see such a good thing. In any case, Sauros kicked the back of his knees since he was staring too much, and that was his little sister.
"You are starting on the wrong foot, young man," Sauros said.
"What was I starting?" Aion asked. "I was just looking at what was in front of me with a blank stare. Don\'t compare my pure heart and clean mind with yours."
"Playing dumb really doesn\'t suit you…" Sauros said and then sighed.
"By the way, aren\'t you guys royalty of your people or something?" Aion asked. "If she is twenty-five, you are almost thirty, then. That is pretty late for getting married, considering the standards around the world."
"You say that soon after mentioning that you weren\'t looking at my sister with that kind of gaze… we may be the leaders, but we aren\'t royalty," Sauros explained. "We are too busy to consider that; even your king is also taking his time choosing a proper partner… even though he spent most of the time being too friendly toward Seris."
"Is that so?" Aion asked. "Was he interested in her status or in her nice personality?"
"I have no idea, but Seris didn\'t show any interest in him," Sauros said.
Aion adapted to the world to the point that he found it weird now people over twenty and single. That only proves that there were all kinds of people in that world that didn\'t follow the norm…