Aria

The Kahuna of the arians – the official title of their leader, Ake – gives me an odd look as she sees me arriving at the portal hub. A place that has portals connecting the islands. Albeit very expensive portals to run, making them for military use only. With everyone else being required to travel themselves between islands. Most of the time through airships, which are what those ships with the balloons are called.

“Sounds like you had fun Ari,” she says with her hands on her hips. “You bought how much explosives? Several tons?”

“Enough to influence the market for explosives at least,” her second in command, a man named Kekoa Onaona, says with a wry tone. The man having long gray hair and an elderly appearance. Probably in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile of his lifespan.

“That much?!” Ake exclaims, somehow not sounding surprised despite her feigned surprise. “What’re you planning on doing?! Blowing up an island?”

I avoid her gaze, making her stiffen up slightly as she realizes I may very well end up doing that.

She takes a deep breath before muttering, “I didn’t say this, but if you find yourself needing to, go ahead and blow up an island. But make sure it doesn’t have any civilians on it.”

I turn back to her with surprise on my face before smiling and nodding.

The woman looks surprised herself as she almost takes a step back, her hands still on her hips, and exclaims, “Woah, you can actually smile?!”

I frown again.

“Aaaaand that didn’t last long,” she says, rebalancing herself again. Then she claps her hands and says, “Well, let’s be on our way!”

And just like that, I move through the portal, leaving both Hannah and Shirogane behind in the capital. Only for that thought to instantly shatter when I appear on the other side to find Hannah waving at me from inside of the fortress we end up in.

Hannah has taken to wearing an outfit more along the lines of what’s normal here, but with less skin exposed. With a shirt and shorts, but no stomach exposed. And she has various accessories like a couple rings and a necklace that are creating a barrier around her body that’s only barely visible. Another normal custom here for soldiers.

I blankly stare at her for several seconds before asking perhaps a little too calmly, “Why are you here?”

She frowns at that and answers, “To help you, of course.”

I continue staring.

“And to level up,” she adds, almost as if she hopes it’ll convince me to let her. Not that she really needs my permission.

And if I’m being honest, it’s a really good reason for her to be here.

She mentioned before that her purpose was to protect others from harm with her barriers. And the best way to do that is to enter a war and defend those on one side of the war.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I let out a sigh and begin following after the Kahuna without saying another word. And Hannah seems to take that as silent acknowledgement as she follows after me and the soldiers moving along with us.

“The Frost Clan entered our world through their Gate in Southeastern Arian,” Ake says while walking towards a large building within the fortress. “Of the one hundred and eight islands in that quarter of the world, about forty-one have been taken over by them. They have more battle-hardened soldiers than we have, better weaponry, and more forces overall.” She glances back with a tilt of her head. “So things haven’t been lookin very good.” She faces forwards again. “We’ve only been hanging on thanks to the mercenaries hired from Atlantis.”

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Why do I always get hired to fight on the underdogs side? Couldn’t I have an easy job where I’m hired to fight for the people with the more overwhelming force for once? Or is that too much to ask?

“You’re thinking something rude right now, aren’t ya Ari?” Ake asks without even looking back at me.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” I answer in my usual tone, not even so much as batting an eye. “I’m guessing you’re going to be sending me to one of the islands that was captured?”

“Good guess,” she says while moving her hands to clasp behind her back as we all enter the large building to find a table with a map on it. At which point she moves to the head of the table and places both of her hands on it. “Go where you want so long as you wipe out one twenty thousand enemy forces within the next half a year. I’ll give you a display counter to keep track and to serve as proof, and you’ll be given a bonus for every extra enemy soldier you kill.” She raises her head to me again with a bright smile on her face despite the subject. “Got it, Ari?”

I blink at her in surprise and if I’m being honest, maybe a little intimidation. Because this woman might be more… darker… than I was expecting.

“You don’t have any plans that you want me helping with?” I can’t help but ask, feeling more than a little curious about that.

She shakes her head and answers with a shrug, “Our people don’t care much for the formal military structure a lot of other worlds like. We fight as individuals most of the time. Using our higher than average quality Ability Holders to our advantage.”

Oh. Right.

Did a little research on Arian earlier, and I almost forgot Arian has a very high average number of Ability Holders on the planet. So many that it has more than some Alpha Tier worlds.

Only reasons it’s not an Alpha Tier world are its low population and resources, considering that it’s a world with just a bunch of floating islands. That and its lack of a Hunter’s Spot.

Also, most of the Ability Holders on the planet are all Class B or higher for the most part.

They only have around five Class S Ability Holders though, despite all that. The woman in front of me being one of them.

“So let me get this straight,” I tell Ake while folding my arms under my chest. “You want me to act as I please so long as it deals out casualties to the enemy. I get paid depending on how many I kill. And it’s fine to blow up islands. Have I got it all right?”

Her eye twitches at the ‘fine to blow up islands’ part, but other than that she nods her head with that smile and answers, “Yep!”

“And just to be clear, kills I make while blowing up an island will be counted on the counter thing you’re giving me?” I ask, just to make sure.

Her eye twitches again, but she still answers once more, “Yep.” Albeit with a little less enthusiasm.

That’s good.

“Any chance you’ll refill my supplies every month?” I ask with a tilt of my head. “Specifically my explosives.”

“Yes, if we can,” she answers, growing ever so slightly terse as her other eye twitches this time.

I think I have everything I need. No need to push for more any longer.

On that note, I go ahead and ask, “By the way, what happens when someone falls off an island?”

She relaxes a little again at that and answers, “There isn’t much beneath the clouds other than more clouds. And the gravitational field around the core within the clouds is a little wonky. So at best they’ll either find themselves plastered to the core for a while or shot out the other end of the planet into the sky before falling back down again.” A slight grimace covers her face. “We’ve… sometimes found splattered people who ended up falling off and landing on another island on the other side of the planet.” She shakes her head. “Not a pleasant sight.”

I’ll bet.

But it does mean I should be fine when it comes to falling off islands.

And if not and I end up stuck on the core then it doesn’t really matter. Shirogane will get a spatial mage to teleport me back.

I’m actually rather curious about what it’s like down there.

So blowing up an island while I’m on it is definitely still in the cards.

I wonder how big the explosion would be?

“Why do I get the feeling you’re thinking about something unpleasant…” Ake mutters while furrowing her brows at me, the woman growing less happy-go-lucky the longer this discussion trails on.

“No idea,” I tell her without showing anything on my face. “Well, on that note, mind filling me in on the locations of the enemy forces on this map?”

That seems to brighten her spirits a bit and she begins to answer, only for me to add, “Oh, and the islands you don’t mind me blowing up.”

Then she grows despondent again.