BXBX NOVEL Chapter 179 Short Break
Three days after they left that shitty country, Aion, Sauros, and Seris learned that the prisoners had woken up and their condition had improved. Thanks to Aion\'s magic, their lives weren\'t on the line, but the torture could have disabled them…
"According to them, they didn\'t notice anything unusual that would have made them look suspicious in the eyes of the others," Sauros said while Seris and he was watching Aion train. "They also said that they were captured at the same time, two days before our arrival."
"And they still managed to prepare all that?" Seris asked. "That doesn\'t make any sense. No one aside from us on the ship knew where and when we would go after leaving Zaera kingdom."
Those two couldn\'t imagine that they had a traitor among their ranks… As for Aion, he had no idea how those things worked. Intelligence when it comes to interaction between countries and betrayals was uncharted waters for him. He also only studied the tactics of the plan and simple battlefield. Intelligence and espionage seemed interesting, but Aion already had too much on his plate to consider.
"What were the chances of someone seeing the ship and recognizing you all from a distance?" Aion asked.
"The chances aren\'t small, but we don\'t use regular routes. The routes we use would be a waste of time for pirates and commercial ships," Sauros explained.
Aion didn\'t have enough knowledge to think of a hypothesis. If it were a battle, he could think of a few, but… it was better to take that as a lesson while they move to their next destination.
"I will think of what happened later. Still, I knew that you would be of great help, but you far surpassed my predictions," Sauros said. "I guess that\'s unfair of me, considering that you invaded three places to free the slaves, even though they were supposed to belong to your allies."
"You know about my situation, so you know that I can count my allies with the fingers of a single hand," Aion said. "Also, your compliments give me goosebumps. So stop."
"Your attitude is the only thing that makes sense considering your age," Seris said. "Anyway, it seems that we owe you again."
Making others feel indebted to him was pretty useful, even when Aion just used that chance to let loose. Regardless, he could agree with her that he had a bit of an attitude problem… he wasn\'t like that when he was at home. Maybe it was because he was worried about Artemisia. She was a person who acted based on feelings, so maybe something would happen while he was away, something unpredictable. While the magic relic will protect her body, there are other types of wounds.
In any case, Aion felt that he had trained hard with the bow, but it became clear that he was lacking during that night. So, he was planning to train more often, but without targets and materials, that was too difficult. Hopefully, during the mission, Aion finds a dungeon or two that he can use…
Since they lost the chance to get some supplies in that country, the group had to deal with some problems for the next week. Eating fish was only natural when they were crossing the oceans. Still, there were many problems that might happen if they only ate that kind of food, so they usually bought fresh supplies to help with that. The extra numbers on the ship also was another issue…
So, they had to change their plans a bit. They changed their course to a series of islands further north. That area was rarely visited since many monsters showed up there, and they could multiply even faster than usual. However, the place was quite rich in fruits, and they needed that variety on their menu.
When Aion could see those islands in the distance, he recalled Indonesia… he never had been there before. Still, he knew that the country had thousands of islands, and it was a bit inconvenient for the people to move around without boats… Regardless, that area of the new world seemed uninhabited.
"I can see why this place has so many monsters like you said," Aion said while looking around. "People rarely come here, so this might as well be the best the monsters would want. Regardless, is there a dungeon here?"
"There is, but it is three days away further North," Sauros replied. "We would be way off course if we headed there."
"Are you that thirsty for battle?" Seris asked.
"No, I just felt like asking," Aion said. "Anyway, I will scout ahead once we stop, and I need some real moving targets."
The weather was a bit too warm for Aion\'s tastes, but he could tell that such a thing would improve their trip. Citric fruits will be easy to find, and they go along quite well with fish and similar types of food. With some ice magic and a bit of sugar, Aion could make some decent juice. Adding that to the sun and the ocean around, Aion could relax quite a bit… if only he could calm down a little and leave his training aside for a day or two…
Sauros decided to stop near an island that was pretty big, and it even had a tall mountain on it. Aion was the first to land on the beach, and he immediately felt some eyes coming from the forest around the mountain. That will be a good training session…
"We rarely stop here, so we don\'t know the terrain very well. I would advise not to go too far," Sauros said.
"No problem," Aion said and then summoned his bow.
"Conveniently, we have a reckless kid that is willing to do such a dangerous job for us, don\'t you think?" Seris asked.
"Don\'t talk like that…" Sauros said and then sighed. "He may be reckless from our perspective, but maybe that willingness to put himself in danger made him so strong and resourceful."