Chapter 15: Part 1

Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 15: Sabaody

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- Arthas -

I looked around the place.

The Sabaody Archipelago… It looked exactly like what I remembered from the anime. It was actually a massive mangrove forest growing out from the middle of the ocean with each tree of the forest serving as an island on which people live.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The captain asked as he got down near us.

"The whole island is actually a mangrove forest. It's made up of seventy nine Yarukiman Mangrove trees. The Yarukiman Mangrove trees are the largest mangroves in the world and are strong enough to grow from the bottom of the ocean to the top.Each tree is called a grove and serves as an island for which people live on. People can get from one grove to another via the various bridges built connecting around the many tree roots."

"It's indeed beautiful. I would love to visit a place like this during the holidays." Veena said and it was actually that beautiful. I would agree with her too had I not known about what kind of place this island was.

Thankfully, the captain informed everyone in my stead. "I'd hate to disappoint you Miss but this place is not suitable for spending holidays, especially areas one to twenty nine. Always stay in a group when you are there. The best way to look around while being protected is to get the protection of some gang in these islands. You know what? Here, take this. It will help you out." The man gave us a map of the island describing where everything was.

Richard had told us about the places we had to visit but the map had more details. I took a brief look at the man and checked the place we had to visit.

The Auction House was in Grove number one.

We need to register there first before we can go to the hotel area which was from grove number seventy to seventy nine.

I also needed to search for Shakky's Rip Off Bar and see if I can get any achievements here.

Grove number forty to forty nine was a tourist area and the place where most of the shops were. We needed to check those places too. There could be some good things for sale there. So much to do in such a short time.

The captain went with his crew and we left our own way.

"Let's meet Richard's contact in the Hotel Area and get a place to stay first. We can plan our visit there. The captain did tell us not to move alone. It's better to stick around for now."

"Alright."

And that's what we did. We were in Grove number fifty three. Grove number fifty to fifty nine was the shipping area and sixty to sixty nine was the residential area for the locals.

We moved towards the Hotel Area first. Each grove was separate and was connected by bridges built around the ginormous tree roots.

"Bubble service, bubble service!" A man was shouting, making us look at him.

We saw a person go to him with several large bags and pay him some money. The man then pulled out what looked like a horn, dipped it in a bucket and blew out a huge bubble around the bags. To the surprise of my group, the bubble floated, carrying the goods in the air. He quickly tied a rope around the goods and handed it to the person who carried everything like a balloon.

I had hazy memories of seeing this in the anime in my past life but man if that wasn't weird… and amazing to see it in front of my eyes.

Similarly, we saw another person riding on what looked like a jet ski, only this one had a bubble under it and floated slightly above the ground.

On asking around, we found out that the island offered the Bubble Taxi, the name of those jet ski, for rent to the tourists.

Since they needed the bubbles to function which can only be made by the fresh resin of these mangroves, they couldn't be used outside and there was no use in stealing them. Moreover, there was no doubt that they didn't have some kind of backup.

Remembering what little I could about this place, I wouldn't doubt if there was a bomb inside those bikes which would be set off should they be taken away from the archipelago. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed too.

I shook my head. No need to worry about it.

We were not trying to steal anything. We decided to travel by foot to enjoy the view.

It took us around an hour to reach the hotel area. Along the way, I checked several people. T5 were quite common in this place. There were several T6 too.

Then again, it was understandable or else there was no way an island like this would have remained independent despite being in the middle of so many kingdoms and with so many pirates roaming around the area. The island must have the backing of some very strong people, probably not a T8 but at least a group of T7 for it to remain standing till now.

We reached the place mentioned by Richard.

Lion's Brew, a pub with a hotel attached to it. The owner was someone from our kingdom and did business with Richard.

We entered and asked for Richard's associate at the reception table.

"Hello, I am Baron Arthas from the Utrudragon Empire. I was sent here by Richard Clyde of the Dolphin's Song Trading Agency looking for one Damon Artwick. I handed him the recommendation letter from Richard." I showed him my baron badge and the man nodded.

"Please wait in the reception for a while. I will send a message to the boss."

"Thank you."

We waited for fifteen minutes and were escorted inside by an attendant.

Damon Artwick was a fierce looking man.

He was built like a tank, had short blonde hair but his most prominent feature was probably the scar running from his right left cheek to his left jaw.

A simple scan at him showed his Class to be a Mafia Boss, a T6 Class.

Damn…

"Welcome to Sabaody Archipelago, Baron Arthas. Richard has mentioned that you were looking to participate in the monthly auctions. How many seats do you need?"

"Five."

"Hmm… five will be a bit hard but not impossible. Normally the reservations are completed in advance. The reason Richard sent you here was because we usually keep some seats with us. The cost will obviously be a bit higher but your security will be assured by us."

"How much?" I asked.

"Since this is your first time with us and you were referred by Richard, we won't charge you for the usual rate. Six hundred and twenty five gold coins per person."

"Will there be any more charges?" I asked.

"No."

"Okay. I can agree with that rate." I nodded and he pulled five tickets and five badges from his drawer.

"Here you go. My attendant will take you to the Auction House on the day of the auction. You will be staying here, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then keep those badges on your body. That's the mark of my Lion's Brew Gang. It means that you are under the protection of the Lion's Brew Gang. Just don't pick fights and no one will bother you either."

"Thank yo…"

"That will be a hundred and twenty five gold more."

….

We took three rooms and I understood why Sabaody was running so well.

The price of hotels was one hundred times more than what we had in Llyne.

I mean I knew it would be expensive but a hundred times was too much. We didn't argue. Richard had told us how to behave here and getting on the wrong side of a guy like Damon in a place like this would be stupid as fuck.

We did however take only two rooms. One for the guys and one for the ladies. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't sneak into Veena's room for the duration of the trip. Everyone agreed with the arrangement so there was nothing I could do.

"If I knew the cost of food was this much, I would have had some packed over from Lannisport. This is just daylight robbery." Star said as he looked at the menu.

"At least now we know why mostly nobles, rich merchants and pirates come to this place. Normal people would never be able to stay here for so long."

"So, what's the plan now? We even got the tickets for the Auction here. We have some extra time on our hands."

"We can explore the shopping area. Richard did say they had many unique things out here."

"Alright. Let's do that then."

We had the entire day in our hands and it would be a massive waste to just sit in our room and wait.

The market area was very different from what we had expected.

I was expecting thieves and pirates all around but it was quite peaceful… or at least it looked peaceful…

There were all kinds of things for sale. Food, clothes, jewellery, weapons and armour, anything we could look for.

We decided to check the medicine shops. Veena wanted to see if they had any rare recipes there, although we didn't expect much as our Kingdom was the leading supplier of medicines but who knows? There are items from other countries and even different continents so we could be in luck and find something good.

I went ahead to check out some antique shops. I needed some time alone to make an excuse about the Map of All Treasures.

Elaine followed Veena and Shiroe and Star went to the weapon shop.

After an hour of running around, I came to the conclusion that the antique shops were complete shams. They were just ripping off people for fake, subpar goods.

Also, I had no idea what a wind chime or ancient vase would be helpful for.

"Say, do you know of a place called Shakky's Rip Off Bar? Give me the address and this is yours." I showed him ten gold coins.

The man actually stepped back at the name. "I… I don't know what you are talking about."

…

I added ten more. He swallowed but didn't break.

"Well, if you don't want free money then it's not my problem." I picked up all the coins and turned to leave.

"Fifty."

"Hmm?"

"Fifty coins and I can tell you where the place is but no one should know I told you the address."

"Thirty five."

"Forty and no less."

"Deal."

I threw the coins to him and got the address.

Grove number thirteen.

It was in the first twenty nine groves, the one which the Captain had told us to stay away from.

I will have to find an opportunity to go there later on.