Since Arthur agreed after the persistence of Mary, the group exited the warehouse and headed towards the port as it was almost time for departure.
There were exactly 7 kids, including the little boy from earlier, these children were extremely happy when they heard Mary say that she will take them with her.
They can indeed live in Lumbra city while selling things or doing odd jobs, but that was no way of living for little kids like this.
As they were rushing towards the port, Arthur turned his head to Mary and solemnly said
"They are your responsibility, whatever happens to them I'm not going to bother to save them or whatever, also, you will pay for their shares"
Mary only nodded although he said that, a smile was covering her face, it didn't matter if she had to take care of them, as with her strength, it should be no problem, the payment was even more so not a problem, as she is a former council member of the Nemia academy, so her fortune is not small, a few thousand gold coins are nothing to her.
...
After 20 minutes of running, the kids were breathing heavily and panting while Lucy and Arthur were fine due to their fine infinite stamina.
Arthur thought about this infinite stamina a lot, he even judged this to be a bug, it's literally system breaking, having infinite stamina is impossible for any living being, it's just that he got it from a skeleton corpse, so he automatically got its infinite stamina, normally, something like this is absurd, but he was a parasite, something that breaks every rule and allows one to be overpowered just by possessing corpses, it's really absurd, however, since he was reincarnated into one, so why not enjoy its advantages?
Once they reached the port, it didn't take Arthur long to notice Koez standing not too far away on a ship, he was looking around as if he was searching for someone.
Arthur and the others proceeded towards Koez and when they were close enough for him to see them, he waved his hand at Arthur while brightly smiling.
'Damn! his acting skills are impressive..' Arthur couldn't help but praise this middle-aged man, if he didn't say that he will pay a lot, then Koez would by no means act like this.
Well, it's not like it bothered Arthur, it was merely a trade between them and once they reach Itas continent then they will separate and each will go on his way, so there is no reason for him to hate or loathe this man.
He came to know that every person has ambitions and dreams, though the way they try to reach them is different, some use evil means, some work-hard, it's needless to coldly treat anyone who seems greedy, Arthur decided to treat them all equally and if they tried anything against him, then the treatment will change.
"Good morning Mr. Arthur, for a second, I really thought you wouldn't come"
Though it's still very early in the morning, Koez's voice seemed as energetic as ever.
Hearing Koez, Arthur heartily laughed while saying
"We already made a deal, how can I not come? I've also bought several more people, the price will be the same, I assume you don't mind?"
"Of course not, of course not! quite the opposite, I'm happy you bring more people, we will provide good rooms and food for all of you, our service are among the best, no need to worry"
Arthur nodded towards Koez then turned his head to Mary, waiting for her to hand him the money for the children.
First Mary was confused, she tilted her head while showing a dumb expression, but after some seconds, she managed to get a hold of herself and retrieve the money.
She quickly handed Arthur 7.000 gold coins, and he in return added another 3.000 and gave them to Koez, who couldn't be happier when he saw the payment.
After taking the gold coins and storing them in a flash, Koez slightly bowed his hand and said in a humble tone
"Thank you very much for your payment Mr. Arthur, You can pick whatever rooms you want as all people except you are only slaves or some labor workers"
Actually, pretty much all the shops belonging to E-clips company were full of slaves or weapons, Arthur noticed the immense number of slaves, they were almost all beastmen, whether it is children or old people, as for the weapons or miscellaneous items, they were put in a wooden box then in a large container.
The slaves were in steel cages, they were also chained in some of their limbs to bind their movements even more, their state looked horrible, even Arthur became slightly irritated as he saw them, this world was really rotten, slavery is what Arthur despised the most, he really wanted to get rid of it but just saving a couple of slaves won't fix it, so he could only sympathize with those beastmen.
As for Mary, when she finally saw all those beastmen chained up, she became enraged and almost acted on impulse but a simple cold glare from Arthur made her stand her ground and suppress her anger.
It didn't take them long to find suitable rooms, the 7 kids all preferred staying in the same room, Mary took one for herself, and Arthur chose a random room for himself and Lucy of course.
The interior of the ship was stunning, even Arthur was astonished, it was luxurious, red carpenters and a big golden chandelier in a central room inside of the ship, one would definitely think it's a ship for tourism or relaxing, not for importing slaves and other items.
The more Arthur observed and saw how the ship was well built and luxurious the more he got curious about this E-clips company.
This ship was only one of a few others which were exactly similar, so if these normal ships were like this, then how was the main ship that the head of the company was currently in?
That ship was double the size of the one Arthur was currently on, it looked more majestic and beautiful, it even had some golden carvings here and there, which made it look even more stunning.
......
The boats finally departed and the trip to Itas continent began, their speed was decent, though if Arthur went on the bone dragon or the dark cloud then it would have been faster and more convenient.
It was the first time for Lucy to travel on boat, since she was a child all she could remember is being on the human continent so finally leaving it was a relief to her, she felt really thrilled as it is also the first time she was on a ship, she didn't linger off in the room and went outside to observe the sea.
Arthur followed her but the sight was not as he expected, the beastmen were doing some labors and sometimes they would get whipped by the guards, it was truly a pitiful sight, nevertheless, Arthur didn't do anything.
Lucy, who came to enjoy a good view, felt a bitter taste in her mouth and the idea of enjoying the sea was already out of her mind, for someone who was already captured and treated as a slave, or even worse than that, seeing people treated similar made her angry.
Her ecstatic mood vanished and what replaced it was a cold an emotionless face, the one she once had when she met Arthur.
She turned around, held Arthur's hand and dragged him to their room, she didn't want to stay outside to watch more of that, so the best solution was to go back to her room and find something to do.
...
When they finally arrived at their room, they both silently sat on the bed, Arthur knew what she felt, so he wrapped his hand around her back and made her lean on his shoulder.
"Do you want me to stop those guards? just a word from you and it will be done, Lucy..."
His actions already snapped her out of her daze, she felt his warm hand around her back and his soft voice talking to her, that emotionless face instantly disappeared and what replaced it what an enchanting, breath-taking smile which blossomed on her face.
"Hehe,~~ No need, these slaves have a bad fortune but they have nothing to do with us...."
After she said that, she stayed silent again for a dozen or so seconds before speaking again
"....Arthur, kiss me...."
This really surprised Arthur as usually, she wouldn't ask him this, she would kiss him without warning and he would do so too.
Arthur complied with her request and imprinted his lips on hers, but they didn't intimately kiss, it was a simple yet warm kiss.
No words were necessary, both of them laid on the bed, they hugged each other and started chatting.
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After the kiss, Lucy's mood seemed to got better, whatever saddened her seems to have vanished and her usual behavior resurfaced, they even ended up doing it after Lucy insisted many times.
....
The trip will approximately take 1 to 2 months, depending on the weather and the circumstances.
It has been 10 days since the trip began and everything passed smoothly, Arthur and Lucy would sometimes come out but most of the time they stayed in their rooms.
It was also the case for the children and Mary, she would visit them often to give them food and take care of them, plus she didn't let them go outside for fear they would see what is happening to the slaves, maybe it's too much for them to handle.
Arthur was silently reading a book while Lucy was taking a nap next to him, it was a normal day like any other and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except, Arthur heard the cry of a guard from outside, with his good hearing, he can hear anything if he focuses a little.
"EVERYONE, PREPARE YOUR WEAPONS, KRAKENS! KRAKENS ARE ATTACKING THE SHIPS"
Everyone panicked when they heard that, it seems whatever it attacking is dangerous.
After he heard that, Arthur had a rough idea of what's happening but he still remained calm, he knew what a Kraken is as he already read a book about some sea monsters and compared to a dragon, it's nothing, though for normal travelers it was a pain in the fucking ass as it had many limbs and tentacles and it's hard to kill it.
The book he read was one of the Zodiak's so the information about the Kraken was detailed. Apparently, a Kraken can use some water magic but it's stronger in physicals attacks, especially with its tentacles.
Koez, who was the current captain of the ship, began shouting and commanding the guards left and right
"IMMEDIATELY HAND THE SLAVES WEAPONS TO FIGHT! USE THEM AS CANNON FODDER AND TRY TO HURT THE KRAKEN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BE WARY It's NOT JUST ONE KRAKEN, THERE IS A LOT OF THEM!"
Normally, Krakens were solitary, so Arthur was a little confused as to why they are attacking in groups, nonetheless, one or ten, that's still the same for Arthur.
The book he read also mentioned that a Kraken's LVL ranges from 100 to 150 and it's impossible to find a stronger one, though he found a note of Zodiak saying that he encountered some Kraken Lords and Kraken kings deep in the southern sea, he even mentioned that he cooked some of them and their meat was delicious, plus he added that these Kraken lords and kings are way more powerful than the normal ones.
Lucy, who was soundlessly taken a nap, awoke from the noise, people were yelling everywhere so how could she not have awoken by that loud shouting, she could only grunt and curse them 'damn bastards! scared of a few Kraken..'
"Let's go see what's happening, if it goes out of hand I'll interfere, if not then we'll just watch"(Arthur)
"Un!"(Lucy)
They slowly left their room and made their way outside to observe the situation.
Mary and the kids were also outside, as, for the female beastmen, she seemed a bit worried, after all, she was not like Arthur and Lucy, a few Kraken with high levels were troublesome for someone with her strength, so for those guards, it was almost impossible to deal with the Kraken.
As Arthur looked around, he saw 3 ships already wrecked and sinking, these Kraken were enormous with disgusting tentacles that had some kind of sticky substance.
Though 3 ships were sinking, the others were doing well, he managed to see that on other ships there is some strong warriors and mages who were able to hurt if not kill the Kraken that was attacking their ship.
Slaves were holding spears, swords and various other weapons and sluggishly attacking the gigantic tentacles, but that only ended up badly for them, they were either sent flying or fell from the boat, however, excluding those weak slaves, there were others who were skilled at fighting and managed to injure the Kraken, which impressed Arthur.
As for the guards, they were ruthlessly smashed into minced meat by the Kraken or blown away, they only stood in the backline and attacked using arrows or crossbows, but even staying in the back didn't mean the tentacles would ignore them, actually, it seems it purposely targetted them or maybe was it just coincidence? no one knows.
Koez, who was the captain of the ships, never ceased attacking using his wind magic, he would mumble some incantations then wind slashes or cyclones would ravage everything in its way, he didn't even care about the lives of the slaves.
Koez Laflamor (human) : LVL104
Arthur appraised him to assess his strength but he wasn't anything special, though, for normal people, his LVL was indeed quite high.
..
At some point, the tentacles became more violent and attacked randomly, one of them even headed for Arthur and Lucy who were standing next to each other.
Since an opportunity appeared, Arthur decided to test his [Ancient threads], the tiny threads came out from his hand in a split second and headed for the incoming tentacle with lightning speed.
It was but a tiny threads, almost invisible, but it cleanly cut the gigantic tentacle, it's as if it was cut by a big sword.
The Kraken, sensing that one of its tentacles has been cut, became furious and concentrated its attacks on that location, it even excluded some howls which sounded terrifying.
As for Arthur, he was joyous by the result, the threads were strong enough to cut the Kraken's tentacle, it was like his white sword energy, but it these threads can be used in a lot more ways than just cutting.
'sigh...I guess it's time to end this, the boat is almost destroyed'
Though he was not an expert in boats, he still noticed how wrecked this ship became, it's sail was completely destroyed and even the ground began cracking.
When he(Arthur) looked around to see the stats of the ship, many of the guards seemed to have disappeared, even Koez strangely vanished.
There was the possibility of them dying, but it was strange, too strange because only the slaves and his group remained, Koez and all the guards seemed to have gone somewhere.
With his good eyesight, he a few escape boats not too far away from this ship, of course, the one in it was Koez and the other guards, they were using all their strength to get away from the Kraken.
'ho ho ho, so they abandoned the ship and now fleeing....'
Arthur realized he misjudged Koez a little, it's true he seemed a bit greedy about gold, but he didn't think he would straight out abandon them in a situation like this.
The ship he was on currently began breaking bit by bit and it was obvious it will sink soon enough. The tentacles never ceased to attack but Arthur put a dark barrier which enveloped him and the other as he pondered on what to do, he was not in a hurry for he was not the least bit afraid of the Kraken, quite the opposite, Zodiak's note intrigued him and he wanted to taste their meat...
There were about 30 slaves left, give or take, and he honestly didn't want to abandon them like Koez did, it's true he said he didn't care about them, but the situation is different now, if he decided to abandon them then they can only wait for their deaths.
The slaves noticed the barrier of the Arthur so they slowly approached it, they saw how the tentacles couldn't break it no matter how it tried.
After some thorough thinking, Arthur decided to save them, for no special reason, he just decided to do so, also while he was thinking about that, a strange idea struck him, but he put it in the back of his mind to think about it later as it was clearly not the time for it.
Normally, no one could enter his barrier without his permissions, the incoming slaves were able to pass the barrier safely, Arthur obviously did let them pass, plus he enlarged the barrier so it covered all of them.
Then, he turned around and walked inside the breaking ship, since Koez left it in a hurry, then the imported items should be here right?
After looking in some of the storage rooms, the containers which had the weapons and other items were still there, intact, though some of them slipped through the big cracks and fell in the sea.
Arthur stored all the containers in his storage since it was left then it's his now, he'll not give it back to E-clips Company.
The tentacles were becoming more and more annoying so Arthur created a dozen dark spears and threw them into the sea, exactly towards the Kraken's position.
In just seconds, the sea around the ship became dyed red, the tentacles became lifeless as they fell to the ground and began slowly descending to the sea.
The spears instantly killed the Kraken, with their strong piercing power, of course, the Kraken could not defend, he was killed in an instant as the spears left many holes in his big body.
Normal darks spears should not have killed a big body like him even if they penetrated him, so when Arthur created those spears, he made them bigger, probably one the size of a bed, so with a dozen spears like that, the Kraken could only meet it's cruel fate and die, but it could only blame itself as it is the one attacked Arthur and not the other way around.
After a minute of storing all present containers, Arthur breathed some fresh air and calmly said
"Guess it's time to go now huh?"
The slaves followed him silently since earlier since his bizarre spheric barrier protected them, then they didn't care where they went.
Arthur firstly thought about using the dark cloud, but unfortunately it had a specific maximum size and at best it could hold ten people, while he had more than 30 with him, so the only solution for him is to use another flying thing....yes you guessed it right, it's his dear bone dragon.
With a frame like the bone dragon, even a hundred people could fit on his back, he was seriously enormous.
Arthur didn't know why, but Yamak's body was smaller than the young earth dragon, he was confused about this for several hours but he then judged that every dragon had something special, Yamak had incredible speed and strength with godlike magic, while that young dragon had a big body with high defense.
With a mere thought, he summoned the bone dragon, soon the ground in front of him disappeared and what replaced it was an ominous dark hole.
In just seconds, a terrifying bone dragon came out howling from that hole.
The appearance of the dragon petrified everyone excluding Mary and Lucy.
The slaves were shaking and many kids were crying, even the 7 kids who Mary brought were shaking with fear.
A dragon was more terrifying than a simple Kraken, more so a bone dragon, just his appearance would make anyone piss their pants and pass out.
"Calm down, he isn't dangerous"
Though Arthur tried to calm them down, it didn't help at all, their eyes were glued on the flying dragon and all of them already fell on their knees, not capable of standing.
There were some of the slaves, who showed good fighting skills earlier, managed to control their fear and stay standing, though their bodies remained standing, their eyes showed fear and anxiousness as they were looking at the bone dragon.
The ship was already on the verge of breaking completely, so Arthur didn't waste time and said
"I'm not going to repeat myself, if you want to live then get on the dragon, if not then just stay here"
As he said that, he ordered the dragon to come down so the others could get on it.
The bone dragon obviously obeyed and slowly landed on the wrecked ship, it didn't exercise too much strength to not deal more damage to the already destroyed ship, its state was more like a wreckage of wood than a ship.
Arthur then jumped on the back of the bone dragon with Lucy, Mary soon followed as she urged the kids to come with her, after some little comforting and persuasion they finally followed her.
As for the slaves, they were hesitant at first, but seeing that they only got this choice or else they would die, they clenched their teeth and one by one got on the dragon's back, they even helped each other and the few elders to get on the dragon as it was quite difficult for weak people.
Once he confirmed that everyone was on the dragon, Arthur ordered it to fly away.
Their ship already sunk and as he looked around, he noticed that almost all Kraken were either heavily injured or killed by some way or another, though 5 ships completely sunk excluding theirs.
Arthur also saw that from the other 5 ships which got destroyed, their guards and captains escaped the same Koez did, he didn't even see one slave in those dozen escape boats, there were only guards and the captain.
Though their ship was destroyed, that didn't mean the deal was over, they paid 10.000 gold coins for nothing, he still wanted to finish the deal and travel by boat.
He then ordered his bone dragon to head to the biggest ship, the one the head of E-clips company was occupying.