Chapter 97 – Problems

"The hell has gone on here?"

Me and Petra have just arrived back outside of the mine returning from the trade deal trip, took roughly two weeks and have come across a pretty nasty looking sight outside the cave. All eleven of our workers are outside sitting down looking bruised, beaten and some even bloodied.

"*Cough cough*... damn chest, apologies ma'am, we failed to uphold our duties"

Jaxon is the first to answer and looks the worst out of the lot, he might have a few broken ribs and a busted arm. Thankfully enough, I've always got something to fix injuries like that but it would've been nice if Ariza were around right now.

"I've already told you to stop calling us ma'am... here take these, apply it on the injuries, it'll hurt like a bitch but it will help a lot"

While responding, I get out a handful of healents and pass them around the broken miners, all of them start to apply the solution onto their wounds while still conversing with me.

"Thanks ma'a-, Ikarus. Sorry again, a group of pirates followed us from town, beat us to a pulp, then took all the gold we had stockpiled that hadn't been transported over just yet"

"Fucking pirate scum"

"One of the bastards caught my good eye"

"Damn! That potion hurts like shit, sorry about losing your ore"

"Sorry bosses, nothing we can do against people like that"

The vocal four can't help but join Jaxon is his response, I'm a little annoyed at these lot right now but clearly not for the reason they think. As for Petra, she also seems a little concerned about what's happened but hasn't said anything this time around.

"For the love of God, will you stop apologizing for one second..."

I have a few questions about everything that's gone on but for now, there's a more immediate issue at hand. I don't really understand why they even went into town since I made sure to give them enough supplies before leaving and I could've just transported the stockpile myself later on. That fact that a bunch of pirates decided to beat up our workers like this though... I'm about to leash my full wrath on them. I couldn't give a shit about the lost gold.

"... Money's just money at the end of the day. Be positive about this, all of you are alive and don't look to have any serious injuries... Jaxon, how long ago did this happen and are they still close by?"

"Several hours ago and one their ships was anchored off the north shore, they took rowboats into the town... you're not going to chase them, are you?..."

I don't need give a response to him or even say words with Petra, it's now time to start the hunt, these bastards won't get away with this, mark my words...

"... *Cough*, already know I can't convince you otherwise but there's another issue that's come to light as well"

'Oh great, another problem'

(Petra) "What's the issue Jaxon?"

The scrawny kid ends up pausing before responding to Petra's question, he even looks to be more concerned about this than getting his arm broken and bloodied from the pirates.

"The Lord of these islands is demanding tribute in exchange for setting up a business here without permission... we thought we were being secretive enough about this but clearly we were too incompetent"

"So let me get this straight then... while we're gone setting up a deal, pirates come stealing our product and now the Lord is basically demanding taxes? For fuck's sake! We've just gotten back and two annoying things have come up... I'm not pissed at you lot, just I wanted a slight break after travelling, that's all"

Also, I was kinda hoping Petra would feel a little tired so we could sleep together as humans again, don't really do that while travelling since constant form changes can be annoying and feathered form is warmer at night without a bed after all. Even though I say that, I did manage to convince her to have slight nap up against my feathers one back at my parents cave but Petra's really not the type of person to enjoy being smothered all nice and cosy like that. Even though she said it was nice, my lie detector ability kinda said otherwise so I won't force that on her. I bet I'd like it being the other way around but that's only a thought for when she's no longer in pain and doesn't have to switch form... maybe I'm reading into it a little much but I'm guessing she'd rather not be spooned as well then.

Conveniently enough, thinking about Petra has led to her coming up with a solution for our problems though.

"Ikarus, you handle the pirate situation while I go deal with the mundane stuff. Whoever this Lord is, he isn't going demand anything from us and doing it this way means we can relax quicker... just be safe and not reckless about it, okay?"

"Hey, I'm careful, you know? I mean, it's not exactly like I can afford to be reckless now... even if there isn't any particular reason for it"

"Heh, love you too, my adorable tsundere lovebird"

Even she's starting to call me a tsundere and she's even used that lovebird thing I like; I'd pout about her for understanding what I was getting at but there's people to be killed right now and it's not exactly like we're in a private place. The workers do know there's something between us and some are extremely supporting about it, it almost seems a little suspicious but not the time for pointless thoughts.

"Urgh, see you then Petra... l-l-love you too"

Before we split, need a quick kiss, really don't care that much about privacy now, despite me literally just thinking otherwise...

__________

'The targets are in sight... that's a pretty big fleet though'

Up in the skies of the northern shore of the mining island, I can see what basically might as well be an armada of pirate ships. Seriously though, I'm obviously exaggerating but there are at least two dozen ships all flying the black flag with the skull and crossbones on them. I may be quite high up but one of them I'm sure has a pile of our gold ore sitting on the deck, it's time for a little payback. You take my gold and injure my workers; I take every single one of your lives...

'I'm seriously going to fuck all these up now'

Before I even have the chance to think in depth on how I'm going to go about this, Aesa can't help but warn me.

[<Aesa recommends -user- not go too mad and decide to use something that could have devastating consequences on the world>]

'This a perfect opportunity though...'

I'm past caring about the EXP nor any lost gold, most was already transported to the blacksmith according to Jaxon but we still would've lost a bit. I wouldn't even say I'm angry, this is just a stubbornness thing about people getting hurt trying to protect our product and being stolen from. I'm pretty calm about this which surprises me a lot.

'... Can I at least use atomic hellfire? It holds a lot less power and still should get the job done'

I think the concern might be causing a tsunami than anything else, even though there are like zero settlements in this part of the region that would actually get affected by a huge wave. Seriously though, look at a map, there's no way a tsunami would get any known settlement because of either cliffs, other islands being in the way or just that they would be too far away to be effective. Still though, using supernova might be a little overkill, that needs to be reserved for when there's bigger fish to fry, a small nuke should get the job.

[<While Aesa advises -user- EXP shouldn't be wasted, there is some appeal in using new ability in an actual combat exercise>]

Heh, even Aesa is curious to see how nuking a bunch of pirates would go, let's go with that plan then. As for the lost EXP, it's not exactly like there isn't other enemies out in the world, this'll just be a one off.

Since I've already switched into the hybrid form coming over here, I ready myself getting into a position aimed slightly downwards and now I can start.

'Aesa, active atomic hellfire'

[<Confirmed, make sure -user- doesn't miss the throw>]

'Loving your confidence in me like always'

The orb has now appeared within my grasp, I've just got to make sure to aim at the one of the centre ships and volare, pirates will be scattered everywhere. Starting my descent, I rapidly gain some speed just from gravity alone and very quickly, I'm ready to let this fly.

"I purge all the sinners and... you know what? Fuck this, you can just all burn for all I care"

And with that statement, the orb flies diagonally downwards towards one of the ships in the middle of the fleet, my aim is precise and this won't miss...

Just like the last time, the blinding lights, bang of the atomic death blind and deafen everyone ensuring chaos. Once sight returns after a little while, I find that a huge splash has occurred also causing sight to be limited from the falling water. This time around, I'm way too close to actually view the mushroom forming as well, this was only ever about causing peak destruction without caring about how it looks.

'And that's all she wrote...'

Once the water has finally fallen back down into the ocean, the entire fleet is no more just leaving an ocean temporally confused on which way to flow and floating pieces of scrapwood on the surface, even that might've been a little overkill but don't be stealing from me and hurting my workers otherwise nukes get launched. I really wouldn't make a good leader...

"At least that's now don-... hang on, did some of them survive that!?"

Where the ships had been furthest away from the centre of the fleet, several pirates can be seen coming up for air after witnessing their ships disappear in a heartbeat. Seriously though, how the fuck did they survive that? Most of the few do look severely injured though.

"Heh... sometimes I feel like there's a being watching down on me from above... looks like I am getting rewarded this time around"

Even though there may only be a handful of survivors, all I can see is little specks of EXP trying to prevent themselves for drowning and seriously injured. If you look at it that way, I'm doing them a favour really, it's basically just mercy killing at this point and the shore is pretty far away. That's only of course if I feel like they deserve pity.

'I could just let them drown... damn, that thought is pretty sinister, let's just get on with it...'

__________

It's probably best not to go into detail on how I just committed a war crime, is it? Eh, I'll just leave it up to interpretation about what happened, they could even still be alive... the EXP does tell a different story though...

'Now that situation is over, status check'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 182]

[Health 40,000*/40,000*]

[Stamina 11,335*/20,000*]

[Magicka 40,000*/40,000*]

[You currently have 16000 unassigned points]

'Huh, they weren't as low levelled as you'd expect from bandit scum, maybe pirates kill more than bandits then? Matters little, gained six just from that encounter alone'

Also, I feel like it might be time for another gambling buy, having that many spare points might be a little over cautious... no, not yet, at least until I get back and have some time to relax, all that'll happen is I'll be constantly distracted wanting to either test my new thing out or be moody at it being shit. Have a little patience for now Ikarus, it's not exactly like I don't have two apocalyptic things to rely on, even if they're impossible to use around Petra. Ah, I might just wait till I've levelled up again, kinda prefer doing it in one go.

Continuing my flight back to the town, I can't help but review what just happened there. Truth be told, I may have been a little bloodthirsty to those lot, it's not exactly like they didn't deserve it but my calmness with it all was more surprising. Everything I did, felt like it was coming from a place that was calm and rational despite the fact they clearly should've pissed me off. Eh, I'll see if Aesa thinks I could've handled that differently.

'Aesa... could I have gotten the gold back?'

[<Potentially, however Aesa shouldn't have to tell -user- that taking on an entire fleet of pirates without setting the carrier ship alight, then guiding ship back into port may be an impossible task for -user- alone right now>]

Aesa does have a big point, I'd have to wipe out the entire deck of pirates by hand simply because I wouldn't be able to return the ship back into port if it was covered in flame, there's only so much I can absorb back in when everything starts to go uncontrollable. Also, how the hell would one bird command a ship all by her lonesome? Yeah, that lost gold is now mermaid currency... huh, I wonder if they even have mermaids in this world.

'Fair point, maybe I could've tried to get more EXP from that encounter but oh well, no regrets... even if I did come pretty close to doing something really sinister'

Now and then, I do start to get feelings like that, unsure if its prophecy related or just simply because I was raised by dragons. One day, I can see myself doing something really morally questionable or dark and not caring in the slightest. That's enough about this dark side crap though, mentioned it enough times already and it's time to return...

'Let's see how Petra's resolved this tax situation...'

__________

'The fuck... what has Petra done!?...'