Chapter 195 - Imperial outpost

“Excited to get there?” 

Adion turned around and noticed Shindo walking up from behind him. 

Adion turned back to look out over the desert in front of him. He still couldn’t see the outline of Gekon, the first town they would be stopping at for their journey.

“Don’t you ever work?” Adion couldn’t help but ask. Shindo would appear from time to time, seemingly never really busy contributing to the winds in the sails above him. 

“Honestly? I don’t make enough difference to be noticed most of the time,” Shindo said.

“Haha,” Adion couldn’t help but laugh, “What if the captain catches you? Don’t you want to keep this job?”

“He knows better than anyone that me conjuring wind won’t help much,” Shindo said with a shrug, “But I’m talented, so I’m sure he’ll keep me around. He’ll probably dock my pay again if he notices, though.”

“Right,” Adion said, “Do you think we’ll be delayed?”

“I imagine we’ll stay in Gekon for a few days,” Shindo said, “There are a lot of people who are still injured. They’ll either need to heal quickly through expensive pills, or we need to hire new Silver mages.”

“Are there many Silver mages in Gekon? How big is it?” Adion asked. It had been five whole days since the attack from the Pelltian Apes, and the senba had been moving a lot slower because of the lack of manpower. 

“It’s about half the size of Jimike,” Shindo answered, “But even with that, if the captain is generous enough, it shouldn’t be difficult to get some help.”

“I hope it doesn’t take too long,” Adion said.

“What’s the rush? You have plenty of coins now, might as well relax and enjoy your time in town,” Shindo said, “We can live like kings for a few days.”

“We?” Adion questioned.

“Surely you’re not planning on leaving me out of it? If you hadn’t asked me to stay out of the fight, I’d have received coins as well,” Shindo said, “Besides, it would just be sad to drink fine wine alone.”

Adion rolled his eyes at Shindo’s shamelessness. “I plan on saving my coins as much as possible.”

I don’t know how much it will cost me to take a ship from Kerrick Hold to Cyalis, but I’d rather not have to delay by working odd jobs once I get there.

Adion had received 30 gold coins for his contribution during the fight. When all was said and done, it was apparent that Adion was basically single-handedly responsible for four Silver beasts’ deaths. One of them was even peak Silver. 

Considering he was practically a paying costumer, and that his action had saved quite a few members of the crew, the captain wasn’t stingy in his reward. 

“What do you think happened in the Outskirts?” Shindo asked.

“It’s not certain anything happened,” Adion said, “The Empire can’t have eyes all over the border. It might just have been an unlucky coincidence.”

“That would be for the best,” Shindo said, “If we encounter another attack like that, we’ll be done for.”

Adion and Shindo continued their small talk for a few minutes, but it wasn’t long before they both spotted something on the horizon.

“Looks like we’re here,” Adion said with a smile. Even if he didn’t want to be delayed for too long, he had to admit that it would be nice to walk around for a while.

I’ll have to keep my wits about me, though. There might be people from Heavenly Light here looking for me. 

There might be people from the Academy too, but I can’t trust strangers too easily. 

Should I wear a mask? But that would surely just make people pay more attention to me. 

Maybe I’d be better off just staying on the senba.

But that would make it impossible for any allies to contact me as well. If I can get into contact with people from the Academy, I’d be able to get home a lot quicker and safer. 

It’s worth the risk. Heavenly Light can’t possibly have a Soul mage here, so I can always escape if I need to.

“What’s that?” Shindo’s question brought Adion back to reality. He noticed that there seemed to be some kind of outpost separate from the town. A small senba was coming toward them from that outpost. 

Adion squinted his eyes and noticed a few details as the senba got closer. “Looks like it’s men from the Empire. Maybe they’ve found some resources or something.”

“Resources? What kind of resources would need a Diamond mage to act?” Shindo questioned.

He’s right. Adio felt it now. The senba carried a Diamond mage and three Gold mages.

“Halt! We are from the Alago Imperial Forces. What is your purpose here?” The Diamond mage, a man with black hair and a neatly trimmed beard, called out.

Adion and Shindo turned to look for the captain as they felt the senba they were standing on slow down to a stop.

The captain stepped up to the edge of the senba and looked down on the men from the Empire. 

“Are you responsible for the Pelltian Apes we encountered a few days ago?” The captain asked with an unhappy expression.

“You want to make this difficult?” The Imperial man asked with a bored expression, but a threat was hanging in the air.

I hope the captain can stay calm. He doesn’t appear to have the best of tempers.

Fortunately, the captain took a deep breath and answered the man’s question, “We are from the Weshin Saba Merchant Company. We set off from Jimike a little over a week ago. This will be our first stop on our route, not counting the attack from the Pelltian Apes,” 

“Well, you need to go around,” The Diamond mage told them, “You can enter town from the north side.”

“What about the attack we suffered?” The captain asked, not willing to give up on receiving an answer now that he had men from the Empire in front of him.

“Not our business,” The Diamond mage answered with a shrug, “People get attacked from beasts at times. Get used to it.”

With that comment, the Imperial senba started heading back to the outpost, leaving a fuming captain behind.

“Damn it,” The captain cursed through clenched teeth, “They think I won’t be able to make trouble for them, huh? Just you wait!”

“He didn’t notice me. Lucky,” Shindo said as he followed the captain with his eyes.

“What’s he going to do?” Adion asked.

Shindo looked back to Adion and said, “The merchant company has a lot of contacts. At least a few Diamond mages are involved, maybe even a Soul mage, from what I’ve heard. I’m sure the captain is going to try to get in touch with some of the higher-ups to get compensation. Or at least cause some trouble for the people responsible for letting those beasts this deep into the desert.”

“I see,” Adion nodded.

“More importantly, what do you think they are doing in that place?” Shindo asked.

“No idea,” Adion said with a shrug, “Like I said, they probably found some kind of valuable resource.”

“I guess I’ll ask around in town,” Shindo said with a thoughtful expression.

“It’s probably a secret. Don’t get mixed up in anything above your level. Asking too many questions could get you in trouble. They seem a little tense,” Adion cautioned.

“You’re not curious?” Shindo asked.

“I guess a little,” Adion said with a small laugh, “But it doesn’t bother me as much as it seems to bother you.”

Shindo didn’t comment, but he seemed to be in deep thought as he kept his eyes on the outpost as the senba they were on slowly made its way around.

It didn’t take very long to get to the north side of the city. Adion disembarked along with Shindo as soon as they got the go-ahead. 

Kurin said he didn’t know how long we’ll stay here, but it will definitely be at least three days. 

I’ll just keep an eye out for anyone who recognizes my face for now.

If nothing happens until it's time to leave, I might risk asking around for people from the Academy.

Adion strapped his backpack on and looked to Shindo at his side. He couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you need to help out?” 

“At most, I’ll get yelled at,” Shindo said with a shrug, “Let’s go.”

What a troublemaker. Adion thought with a sigh. But it wasn’t his business, so he didn’t comment.

As they started heading toward the town, they heard Teruro calling out from behind, “Adion, Shindo. Wait up!” 

“Are you free already?” Adion asked.

“Haha,” Teruro laughed, throwing an arm around Adion’s shoulder, “I traded my shift with a friend. Where are we heading?”

Teruro had been looking for Adion every moment of his free time for the past few days. He wouldn’t shirk his duties like Shindo, though, so he didn’t see him as often. But when he did, Teruro would always bring some beer and food with him. Adion guessed he was trying to repay him for saving his life. 

Teruro hadn’t mentioned what Adion had done during the fight to anyone. At least not that he had noticed. Shindo hadn’t questioned him about it, so he assumed his space powers were a secret for the moment. 

“Let’s get some food and drinks,” Shindo said. 

Adion didn’t mind, so he followed as Shindo led the way to a bar that appeared to be pretty popular, seeing as it was almost full even though it was only afternoon.

“Have you been here before?” Adion asked, as Shindo had walked confidently straight to the bar.

“Never,” Shindo said, “I just have a nose for these kinds of things.”

“Beer?” Adion questioned.

“Information,” Shindo replied with a smile as they stepped inside the bar. 

Shindo walked straight up to the bartender and said, “Three beers. What kind of food do you have? Also, we are looking for information about the outpost the Imperial Forces have set up. Do you know anything about it?”

The bartender stopped moving with his mouth slightly agape, trying to process everything Shindo had said.

“Here’s the menu,” The bartender finally said, pushing a paper menu to them, “I’ll come over with the beer in a minute.”

“Good,” Shindo said, “And the outpost?” 

“They say they’ve found iron,” The bartender said, “They’re probably building a mine.”

“Alright,” Shindo said with a nod.

The three of them took their seats at a booth, and Adion couldn’t help but say, “Iron? It’s like they want us to know they’re lying about what they’ve found.”

“Definitely,” Shindo said with a nod, “It’s weird that they didn’t make up something more precious.”

“What are you talking about?” Teruro asked.

“We’re wondering what the Empire has found. They wouldn’t post Diamond and Gold mages to protect an iron deposit,” Shindo said.

“Maybe it’s a lot of iron,” Teruro suggested.

Adion and Shindo stared at Teruro in silence for a moment.

“Let’s see if we can find a weaker member of the Imperial Forces,” Shindo turned to Adion and suggested, “Someone like that is sure to know something.”

“Are there any weak members of a force like that?” Adion asked.

“Maybe not,” Shindo murmured, “But those mages wouldn’t do the dirty work themselves, collecting whatever they’ve found. I’m sure there are people in town who have been there and know more about what’s going on.”

Adion couldn’t help but get a little curious himself, affected by Shindo’s enthusiasm. 

“How do you think we should go about it?” Adion asked.

“No need to complicate things. Let’s just ask around,” Shindo said, rising from his seat. He grabbed a beer from the waitress who had just arrived at their table and chugged half of it down before wandering off.

“Is this a good idea?” Teruro asked nervously.

This Shindo sure is fearless.

“Whatever,” Adion said, “We’re just asking questions. Anyone would be curious about this kind of thing. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Besides, this is kind of exciting. 

Adion still remembered his fight against the beasts a few days ago and couldn’t help but want some more action. While painting and slowly recovering his memory was pleasant, he couldn’t help but feel excited for something more now that the opportunity arose. 

Maybe I can teleport inside the base and take a look. If they don’t have a Soul mage there, I’m pretty sure I can go in and out unnoticed.