Chapter 10 ─ Travel in the sky

I opened my eyes to see a new sunrise.

Today Mary wasn't waking me up, well, there must be days where she prioritizes breakfast before me.

I got dressed after stretching my body and went to the bathroom.

As I went downstairs I was about to greet the usual bustling customers, but to my surprise there wasn´t anyone there.

To make it weirder, Mary and her mother were looking very distressed at a piece of paper.

"What's wrong with them?"

I called out to them because their faces really worried me.

"Regu-chan is horrible!"

Mary immediately came to hug me.

"What are you talking about?"

I asked starting to get distressed too, her mother came up to me and handed me the paper she was reading.

As I read it I couldn't contain my anger.

"Eviction!"

Apparently, the idiot Viscount Heving hadn't paid taxes for years, a friend of his was forging documents to lie about paying them.

That money used was giving a percentage to him. We know this because the palace discovered him trying to ask for help from a corrupt nobleman who was actually pretending to be one.

"Due to Viscount Heving's failure to pay taxes and acts of corruption, the royal palace has declared that its territory will be auctioned off. That includes the eviction of all the villagers to avoid possible problems related to personal interests..."

"What the hell is this crap?"

Shannon was sad, she told me more details.

"That paper is a royal decree. An official came early in the morning and the current governor gathered all of us here to indicate what will happen."

"It says that we should not worry because they will give us a money based on the land of our houses or workplaces, it is including the interior."

"With that money we can go live somewhere else... but that doesn't solve how disastrous it is to hear that the place that has been our home for over a decade will be demolished to be auctioned off."

"This is where Mary grew up, where we cooked together and I watched her grow up every day. They can't just kick us out and give us compensation like it's just a piece of land."

"Here we have precious memories that will never come back."

Shannon burst into tears, she was comforting Mary who was crying the same way her mother was.

I wish I could say I understand her pain... but I can't. I've never experienced this.

I've never experienced this, you don't understand why they cry if it's just walls and ceiling.

Any place would be good for one thing.

The important thing is to be together at all times and not to be separated.

What should I do now?

Suddenly, hurried footsteps I heard approaching.

The door opened and I saw Russell and Cedric with supplies in their hands.

"Did you hear the news of the eviction circulating all over town?"

"Yes. Can't we do something about it?"

"I'm afraid not."

I was answered by Cedric who closed the door on his way in.

"The eviction issue seems to be a royal decree. Which means the king approved this."

"If someone wanted to persuade him it would be difficult, besides only select people can see the king."

I remembered something regarding the king.

"I will go to see the king to get a title soon, can't I persuade him?"

"That would be a possibility if you were someone important."

"You will be recognized as a mere knight, but you are neither a court noble nor a country noble so the king might want to hear what you have to say."

"To make it worse, I heard that officials will soon be coming to assess each property and give an exact value of what each private property would be worth to its owners."

"There is nothing we can do. We should look for another place to live."

Those words further shattered Shannon who buried her face in the table.

I looked menacingly at Russell who apologized with his expression indicating he screwed up even more.

He suddenly coughed and changed his posture.

"I know this isn't a good time to say it, but..."

Russell pulled something strange out of his back pocket that he had never seen before.

It was colorful paper.

"Ta~da~. I got this yesterday in compensation for helping a merchant deal with some extortionists a little while ago, he had no money so he paid me with this."

"What's that?"

"Tickets for a trip."

"Tickets? What's that?"

"These tickets are rare for people like us to get. They're for a boat trip from one town to another, a renowned tourist spot."

Mary showed interest in it.

"Really? There are five of them. Do you want us to go with you?"

Russell answered her as a responsible adult would.

"Sure. There's five of them and there's five of us, it's perfect."

But then he reminds you that this guy wasn't.

"Since no one else can afford them I can't sell them. Even if I wanted to use one, the other four would go to waste."

(You really are an old scumbag.)

I cursed him inwardly.

Mary took the tickets Russell gave her and showed them to her mother.

"Mom look. Russell-san is inviting us on a trip."

"Remember how you said in the past that you would like to travel? Well, this is our chance to get to get to travel and get out of town."

Her hand gently touched her hand.

"I understand you are pained by this news, so am I, but remember you once left your home for me. It's time to find a new one, the memories we made here will always be with us."

"There are more people with us so we will make new memories. So cheer up a little, okay?"

"This trip will do you good."

Shannon lifted her face even with tears in her eyes.

In a weak voice she said.

"May I know where we're going?"

We all looked at Russell, he seemed to be taken by surprise by that answer.

"Oh yes, let's see, the place was..."

He told us the place where we would spend a few days unconcerned about the problems of the eviction to relax.

"Crammond City."

◇

After telling us about the trip, something Russell forgot to mention.

"The day of the trip is tomorrow. Sorry, I forgot to mention that."

With that said, we hurried to put everything away, the next village is where we will leave for travel and it's about 10 hours away by wagon.

It was midday when I woke up so it was really bad for us.

We had to check several times to make sure we didn't leave anything behind, but it was worth it.

We arrived tired at an inn where we had to ask for two rooms.

The girls would sleep in the same bed and the three of us in the other room.

Cedric offered to sleep in a corner while Russell declined.

We fought over the bed and eventually fell asleep on the floor.

When we woke up we had a quick breakfast and went to the place where we would board the ship.

I asked Russell very curiously.

"Hey, as I understand it. The ships must be in port...there is no port here."

"You didn't get ripped off?"

He laughed at my question.

"Hahahahaha. It's true, you don't know anything about it."

"Look, sometimes there are places where the abnormal is normal. And we're in one of them."

"Abnormal?"

We arrived at a place where there were a lot of people with baggage.

I still couldn't see the port.

"Lesson number one about the world."

"As long as [Mana] exists the world will move in a strange way."

"Mana?"

"Mana is what uses our bodies to perform magical attacks, didn't I tell you that before?"

"You never did."

"I already did."

"..."

"Oh, there it is."

I looked in the direction where he pointed and was amazed by something unimaginable to me.

The girls were amazed as well.

"I never thought I'd live to see one."

"It's really amazing mom."

"Admire everyone, a [flying boat]."

A large ship with wings slowly descended to a huge platform.

A man in a hat climbed onto a box and through a magical device known as a megaphone spoke.

"Good morning everyone. Please line up and get your tickets out everyone."

"Those without tickets will not be allowed to board. Fake tickets will be destroyed on the spot."

I commented on that as we lined up to go up a ramp.

"Are there fake tickets as well?"

"Anything can be illegal in this world, there are rules to prevent them for a reason."

"... Hey, these tickets are real aren't they?"

I said in fright.

"Of course they are."

Russell replied confidently.

But he took his ticket anyway and looked for some sign to see if it wasn't fake.

When it was our turn to board, the man in the hat took Russell's ticket first, using a magnifying glass, a magic circle appeared and he checked the ticket thoroughly.

He handed it back to Russell after tearing off a portion at the top.

"No problem. Go ahead please."

"T-Thank you."

Replied the startled Russell.

Then it was my turn and the same thing happened.

Cedric was next, then Mary and finally Shannon.

We all boarded the ship without a problem.

It was huge and luxurious.

I had never been on one before.

A man called a sailor approached us and asked for our ticket to take us to our stateroom.

Apparently each ticket is a single room unless it is a couple buying a room to themselves.

This is the power of rich people.

The money is certainly incredible.

After arriving at our staterooms which were located on the third floor downstairs.

There are seven floors on this ship not counting the deck.

The bottom floor is for the exclusive use of the sailors.

The sixth floor is sailors' quarters.

The fifth floor is for those with a third category ticket.

Ticket categories depend on their color.

Gold color first category.

Red color second category.

Green color third category.

The fourth floor up to the third floor is for second category like us.

The second is for golden color tickets and the second floor is a party room as a two floor dining room.

This place is huge no doubt.

◇

After dropping off our bags I went with Mary and Shannon to walk around. Russell took Cedric with him for a drink, Cedric was confused, but I told him it would be bad if this guy ends up dead by accident or gets in a fight with someone, so I'll keep an eye on him.

We were watching the landscape.

We had long time since left the city and were now hovering over a forest.

Mary noticed that I was very intrigued about how we could fly, she explained the reason to me while presuming her knowledge.

"I read this in a book a client lent me in the past."

"Flying ships are possible because of the stream of [Prana] in the world. Only in areas where magical power is abundant are ships with a magical stone placed at the bottom of the ship so as to support it by levitating and being able to travel on the prana currents as if it were a river of water."

"Prana stream?"

I asked very intrigued by what he said.

"A prana stream is the magical power that is in the air. When our bodies absorb it, it becomes mana. What we know as magic power."

That really blew me away.

"That's amazing."

"Fufu, that's not all. Did you know that underneath the ground there is another stream of energy?"

"It's known as [Odd] and the name given to the current where a huge amount of magical energy runs through the ground is called [Ley Lines] or [Dragon Veins]."

"That's a very powerful name no doubt."

"It is. I don't know who came up with it, but it's amazing that someone managed to figure that out and write a book about it."

Seeing Mary happy made me very happy.

She seemed to have forgotten about the eviction issue.

"Ah, that mister over there is a magical musician. He can make musical lyrics manifest through bubbles, I haven't seen one since I was a kid."

Mary ran off to see the guy playing with the guitar leaving just me and her mother.

I took the opportunity to ask Shannon if she was feeling better.

"Feeling better?"

She didn't say anything, so I took her hand and led her to a remote area and we went into a room that was open.

"What's wrong with you?"

I asked her because I was very worried about her.

She didn't look at my face when she answered me.

"It's not that I'm not happy about this... it's just that I keep thinking about it."

"You don't understand how I feel knowing that my house, the home I've had for over ten years, where my daughter and I lived a large part of our lives... will disappear just like that."

"It's really painful... I don't want my house to be taken away from me. I don't want..."

Shannon burst into tears again.

The feeling she must be feeling is something I don't understand.

Even if I wanted to tell her that everything will be okay I can't because I don't understand what she feels.

I want her to be happy, but I can't do anything for her.

I hug her to try to cheer her up.

"It's okay."

"I'll make sure to give you a new place. A new home."

"You don't need to think about that inn anymore. I'll support you both."

Shannon looked at me with a look that indicated if it was real what she was saying.

I was about to tell her yes again, when suddenly the boat made a sharp turn.

"Kyah!"

We were about to fall, but I quickly grabbed hold of us to keep us from falling.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. But stay here, I'll go find out what that was."

I said that to her and ran out of the place.

◇

I went to see Mary to find out if she was okay.

When I arrived, I was shocked by the surreal scene in front of me.

"Good morning everyone, you despicable nobles."

The guy with the guitar was holding Mary by the neck, some children were being held hostage as well by some waiters and passengers.

Someone shouted.

"What's that approaching!"

"It's a ship, and not just any ship. They're..."

"Sky Pirates!"

Sky Pirates.

I know what pirates are, they're the same as bandits, but they're at sea.

To think that there would also be pirates in the sky is very surreal... or not.

It doesn't matter. What matters is rescuing Mary.

I had no weapon, I approached slowly after crouching at the bar as the pirate spoke.

"I am Barossa, captain of the Sharkfin Pirates."

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you, we just want all your belongings."

"Although..."

Suddenly the guy started rubbing his cheek against Mary's.

The guy when he had the guitar seemed like a nice person, but now his expression was very unpleasant.

"Maybe we'll take a few women with us. We haven't released our load in a while, my favorites are pretty, busty girls like you."

His hand moved to grab Mary's breast.

I grabbed a broom, I was about to jump when suddenly the bartender said.

"Stay there, I'll take care of everything."

"...!"

I didn't understand why a mere bartender said that, but suddenly he jumped over the counter and threw all the bottles on top with his legs.

There were twelve pirates aboard and they were all surrounded with children and Mary in the center.

The bottles flew straight at their heads.

The moment they hit, the pirate ship was right next to us.

A board pierced the windows, turned into a ramp and several pirates began to descend.

The bartender picked up a decorative sword and proceeded to speak as if he knew the situation.

"Barossa, a pirate who has been committing crimes and misdeeds for over ten years, there is a great bounty on your head."

"Your methods of calling your comrades were a mystery until recently, I discovered that the moment you start playing the guitar and the bubbles manifest, the window is always open."

"The bubbles come out and burst outside, the way they burst is always very rhythmic. That is to say it's a coded message."

Barossa wiped the wine off his face and pointed his sword at Mary.

"What's up with that you idiot!"

"I'm going to kill you now!"

"That answer I wanted. I will proceed to take care of all of you."

The bartender put his hand on her black hair and with a shake removed it, revealing an orangey blonde color.

Without him being able to see it, it appeared in front of some pirates and they were cut in the neck, so that the blood would not splatter so much he gave them time to try to close his wound. But the wound was very fatal so it would be useless to avoid healing it.

Barossa was walking away, an explosion occurred near a wall and a door opened, it seems that is the method how they manage to steal without going up the ramp.

But I won't let him take Mary.

Using the broom, I imbued some magic power and quickly gave a strong blow to one of the pirates holding the children.

Since they were focused on the mysterious bartender, I had the perfect opportunity to hide and attack them.

I sent them all flying and went after Barossa.

I didn't give him a chance to use Mary as a shield so I hit him over the head with the broom.

It broke into many pieces and the guy let go of Mary.

I grabbed him and gave him a hard beating.

"How the hell can you even think of using my woman as a hostage!"

"I'm going to fucking kill you─!"

"Enough."

This time I paid attention to the bartender's voice.

It was a very masculine but gentle voice, his tone made me think he was in his early twenties, although his expression is very serious.

I turned to look at him and saw his yellow eyes.

"You did a lot catching him, now I'll take care of the rest."

"You'll take care of it?"

"I'll sink their ship so they can't do mischief again."

He walked into the ship, I followed him without hesitation.

"Ah, I'll go too, these guys ruined the trip to improve the mood of someone important to me."

Together we started wrecking inside. From outside we should hear small explosions and a guy climbing out of a window.

◇

After a few minutes we managed to catch the pirates and sink the ship.

The bartender said it was no loss to do so, only the magic stone on the bottom mattered.

After retrieving it, the ship fell into the forest.

By the way, the forest we are above is the black forest.

Apparently if you descend you are killed by monsters and that's why it uses the ships to descend.

I watched as some wizards on board temporarily closed the rift so that the trip could continue.

Suddenly the captain of the ship told us to pay attention.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience to everyone. It's ours for not thoroughly checking the workers, but we couldn't figure out which pirates were disguised as passengers."

"On behalf of the ship owner here, we will give you all a free ride the next time you board one of our ships."

He said the lord was there but I couldn't see him.

But no matter, I turned to Mary who hugged me, her mother was fast approaching.

I asked her.

"Were you afraid?"

"Not this time. It took me by surprise, but I was sure you would save me, so I'm fine."

"I see. You were very strong, I'm sorry you went through that bad time."

"Mary! Are you okay?"

Shannon hugged her daughter.

I stepped aside so they could have a nice mother-daughter moment.

But suddenly I felt something behind me.

I turned around and there was the bartender with his unruly spiky hair.

"Is something wrong?"

I asked him a little startled by his unchanging expression.

"The owner of the boat wants to see you."

"Me?"

"Yes. He says he wants to thank you."

"Very well."

I followed him because it was interesting that the owner wants to thank me. This guy did more than I did during the fight.

We went to the right place, but I didn't see anyone.

"Down here."

Said a middle-aged voice, but with an elegant tone.

I looked down and saw a man of short stature, chubby, pink hair and a thin mustache wearing elegant clothes.

"Pleased to meet you, I am the owner of this ship and many others."

"I am Count Hamilton."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Regulus, an adventurer."

That was how I made my first contact with Count Hamilton.

_________________

The fanservice is for Shannon, because she will have little role in this volume as a spoiler.

https://chan.sankakucomplex.com/es/post/show/32457552