'my lord you said not to submit to violence just yet,' aero groaned and just tried to plug his ears harder. within an hour of the trip to his teammates' preferred weaponsmiths, they all learned that Galia passed a harsh singing voice. couldn't call it bad, but the traveling songs she's been letting out leaked any form of tone or rhythm.' why has she been singing for 4 flowers straight!'

traveling songs usually did play by the rules of a melody but usually with small effects, like moving or creating small colorful sparks. entertaining things. but this was just noise coming out of Galia's mouth and it was driving it up a wall. 'how can the rest of them stand this!'

'my lord I encourage you to take another look,' their calm was very soothing right now. so aero did as suggested and looked around surprised to see the rest of his team was covering their ears or trying to drown out Galia's singing. which was more than enough for him to grab a random stone off the ground and launched it by Galia's head.

"ah! hey!"

"stop singing you're the only one who's enjoying it." she huffed stating she had a great voice only to get rejected by some poor ears. aero threw another rock, "okay! okay!" she stated seeing aero pick up another rock. sighing he set the rock on his seat prepared to use it if it came down to it. the rest of the day was quiet except for the bit of conversation that came up, aero didn't join in though he listed well.

"do you guess think their life among the stars?" Idit asked looking at the stars above their heads. the rest of the team was doing the same from their own carts after they finished setting up camp. aero almost choked on his water, 'why is she asking that?'

'to live means to wonder, to dream. what greater then is there to wonder about than the stars that shine above the heads of all.' the helper stated a quote from some big thinker four-star systems away. aero took that as the answer it was and instead focused on his team discussing if aliens are real. for a moment he considered if he should just ignore them all and go to sleep. 'but if they stick around long enough, they're going to get involved in my business as a lord.'

'i believe there is life out there, being alone in the universe. that doesn't sound very possible to me." he didn't tell them what he knew, he didn't know if they would be around long enough for that. but if they were he could slowly get them ready for them. 'maybe they would be of help later on, like with those troublesome nearby planets.'

'actually,' aero's eyes narrowed in thought,' that's more of a worldwide problem, right? I should tell people in charge of the world.' the helper made a comment in agreement and suggested that his best action should tell the people in charge. 'now until I can say they believe me, I will not be mocked!'

'then let us prepare for that my lord,' the helper was glade for a goal. they believed it would do much for aero's growth, especially in his social skills department.

the next day travel started up again, the conversation was still sparse but it grew stronger each day they were on the road. the girls finding topics in common. aero was still mostly just listening to them, though he put most of his attention to the helper who went back and forth with him. so he could form a plan for telling the world about aliens.

the biggest problem would be making them believe him, are figured the best way would be solid proof. he thought of the several ways he could prove it, for a moment he thought of just asking Tova to show them. but the helper asked what was the worst and best reaction. 'can't throw her under the stamped like that. so something unloving will have to work.' something that couldn't be brushed off as a far object, it literally had to come from the stars.

it wasn't until they were settling down for the third night did aero remember something, 'you said I could buy people gifts right?'

yes my lord, who would you like to buy a gift for?'

'all the high-ranking people of my planet, the delivery will show them something out of this world.' the idea was excellent and their helper was proud of their lord for thinking so such a thing. 'what would you like to send and how would you like to take care of the payment. want until the research pans out?'

aero was silent for a moment, 'if necessary I can wait for that. the other idea is to make them customers of the lord of greed, I think that might draw her attention.' the helper sent a message with the ideas, but the greedy lord didn't reply for a full day as she had a busy day.

'she interested!' aero nodded and asked what did the female lord want, 'simple a trade your energy for the items. she says she has her own ideas she wants to try out. she is willing to work with Xoqax.' aero thought over the matter and then tried to get some details but the helper stated that the greedy lord wasn't saying anything until he agreed.

"how's Xoqax doing anyway?" the helper told him of the experiment the scientist was going through a few understandings he figured. 'one thing I think will catch your attention is that pride flows through organic material best and is blocked by metals within a certain density range.'

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"definitely something to keep in mind," he just hoped that it didn't become too much of a problem for him. though as he thought of how that could be a problem another one came to him. one he couldn't really solve. "the high mother! the barrier," they completely forgot about these two very big factors." he knew the delivery system wouldn't trigger the barriers to collapse but the high mother might. he was planning something to stop here where the biggest problem was.

she would brush him off, something he could change at this point in time. it made his emotions bubble up inside him. aero made several noises of frustration that drew some attention from his teammates but he brushed them off. instead of focusing on settling his heart before he kicked a tree. he would have gone hunting if the sky wasn't so dark, also based on how far they'd traveled there was something really venous around here.

'The challenge isn't worth my life,' he wasn't going to risk the venom without more knowledge even if his pride called for him to face this challenge and improve his skills.' there is a bigger challenge before me, the zaltess. the high mother!

the helper stayed quiet forming a few suggestions but left their lord to think over the problem himself. they understood the solution to the problem was something that their lord needed to come on his own for his growth.

aero came to the same solution that the helper did pretty quickly, but the thought of asking strangers for help didn't sit well with him in the slightest. so he spent several flowers trying to think of something else, but nothing feasible came to him. so the flute player was left without a choice but to admit to the plan. 'how should we inform the planet's leaders about the barrier? and the danger that would come our way?'

'we could send a message along with the delivers, or would you like to speak with them in person?' aero would actually like to avoid the face-to-face conversation for the moment, but he was informing them that the gift was from them. there were a few more things decided that day, including what he was going to send.

'i hope they like it!' aero thought as the teams' carriages came up to the first city. "okay there this way!" tzilla called his high energy despite the setting sun and the journey here. not that it was another more than peaceful. aero let her lead until they arrived at the door of a small shop, with smoke flowing out.

'there still open?' it was kind of late places like a weapons hop would usually start closing down at this point. tzilla jumped from the cart, going to knock on the door!" what!" a loud shout reached them. it rang in their ears, it was less than a moment before the door was kicked over. "wow!" Aero blinked at one of the tallest and most muscular women he has seen in a while.

she was 2 feet taller than him and he didn't like that, she was going to look down at him physically. probably in other ways, he didn't listen to tzilla and the women talk instead wondering how hard it would be to knock this woman off her feet. he judged the weight of all the muscles she had. if she fought back with that hammer, it would need to be lifted as well.

"boy show me your weapon!"

"Who are you calling boy!" aero snapped out of his thoughts and to his feet leveling the weaponsmith with a glare. "if you want to see it I'd be glad to smash your face in with iT!" the weapon smith laughed before reached for his weapon, by Aero's standards she shouldn't have been that surprised when he did what he said. he shouldn't have been surprised that it did make her stumbled the large woman didn't get knocked off the ground.

"well tell me how much force I need to kick your ass!"

"That good quality wood kid, seen a lot recently hasn't it." the woman straightened herself out before asking some questions about the weapons assembly. aero wanted to hit her again for shrugged his attack off so easily but pushed it back and instead stated what reason he should tell her anything.

"well, your weapon is the only example I know of a weapon and instrument fusion so I needed to study it." that was a great reason it ticked off aero. partially because he was already forming a dislike for her. but still, he answered her questions to the best of his ability.

the woman took in the knowledge he gave before spinning around to speak with tzilla, aero didn't peep into that conversation. instead dragged the location of an inn from someone who passed by, he told tzilla the rest of the team was heading to the inn and that she was to join them later, "I'm not paying for anyone's room."

"Well, it's a good thing we all brought our own money," Golan Lior replied. pulling out her money to see if she had enough for a few nights. she wasn't actually that confident when she came for aero's test. Still, she wasn't one to live with regret and decide to at least try. she also wasn't sure why aero let her stay, or anyone he didn't seem all that happy with their presence.

'well maybe I'll figure it out,' she thought as they arrived at the inn. aero entered first and argued with the innkeeper that he was getting a room to himself. she believed that he was sharing with one of his bodyguards. which made the male hunter jerk like he wanted to jump the woman, but he led himself back, the innkeeper's desk creaking under his fingers

"They are not my bodyguards, they are my hunting teammates. I don't need them to share a room for my safety at night!!" it seemed she believed him this time. probably to dave her creaking desk and gave them the room keys while they paid for themselves. "do things like that happen often?" Inna asked. the look on his face said it all.

they dropped their beds in their rooms along with their supplies before looking for a place to get their third meal of the day before it became too late. tzilla returned looking very pleased and joined them for food and a bit of conversation. which aero didn't partake in much before getting ready for bed that night.

the next morning he only got up for his own training, he knew that they were stuck for a few days while tzilla got her weapons worked on. he dragged Galia into training with him that day, and they spent an hour sparing against each other. though it was mostly aero trying to get the girl to hit back. "there's no point in training if you don't hit back!"

"yes there is!" she backflipped under a swing and over the second," some creatures are very slippery, if you can't hit me what about!" aero mumbled several oaths as he thrust his staff at her, she responded by weaving around it batting the end away when he got to close.

aero came to the conclusion the only way he was going to get her to fight back, was to corner her and force her self-survival instinct to take over. she could probably see the idea in the eyes as she suddenly backed away quickly but aero matched her steps staying close to her, swinging from the left and right, high and low.

'i shouldn't use a medley,' that was overkill. but that didn't stop him from throwing dirt in her eyes, she realled from the particles inviting her sight. crying out as aero's staff hit her in the side of the face, followed by hits all the way down her body. a hit brought her kegs from under her, followed by a foot sticking her across the chin.

her feet left the ground for only a moment before the wood of the lord's staff came down on her. it's force bouncing her on the ground. she felt bone crack and organs move, the air was being replaced another attack was coming. 'he's not going to stop, he's going to hurt me badly if that keeps up.'

the hit stuck right in her stomach, taking her breath from her. she finally blinked the first from her eyes and saw aero swing the staff around his neck bringing it towards her face. she lashed out, "UGH!" the blow caught aero in his lungs. he stagger back and quickly forced himself to regain the air that was forced out.

"so wasn't that hard was it?" aero asked as Galia stood up. "hitting me didn't bring me down, your strong, that's true. but so am I so stop wasting my time! fight back!" he lunged at her, bringing his arms back to thrust his spear at her throat.

"wow!" she moved and his world was suddenly flipped around, acting quickly he planted his hands on the ground so he could spin back to his feet. kicking at Galia, who blocked wrapping her arm around his leg. " you want me to fight, fine! I'll fight you but don't blame me!" with a small roar she swung him into the air, with his hands free aero punched her wrist before using his other foot to kick her.

she leaned out of the way, "why would I blame you.?" aero asked taking several steps back," when this is exactly what I want?!"