Chapter 1.23

"What do you think I need?" Colonel Tirel asked Mike, grinning.

"Money?" The latter said without hesitation.

The smile fell off the Colonel's face abruptly. It now looked like the face of a stone statue.

"You're funny," he said.

"Let's not beat around the bush, and tell me directly what you want from me," Mike couldn't stand it.

"No, that won't work," Tirel replied, shaking his head. "I've waited fifteen years. Wait a little longer while I tell you a little story that started back then."

"I'm listening in," Mike said. He got a bad feeling about the story.

"As you already know, fifteen years ago your parents took a loan from me," Tirel began to say.

"I thought you and I had already closed the matter of the loan. I paid you back in full," Mike was surprised.

"Yes, about the money part," the colonel agreed.

"I don't understand," surprised Mike, even more, not knowing what the Colonel was getting at.

"According to the agreement we made, after expanding their business, your parents were to give me a share in their business."

"After they went missing, you got full control of the business," Mike said grimly.

He believed at the time that the business was what had caused his parents' disappearance. He suspected Tirel of this at first. But the colonel had managed to bankrupt the business, which had been making a steady profit for 40 years before that, in three years. And then Mike had his doubts about Tirel's involvement.

"Yes, that's right," Tirel replied. "But besides a written contract, there's also an oral one."

"It is the first time I have ever heard of it," answered Mike honestly.

"Still, there was one."

"And now you want me to fulfill it?"

"You're not even going to ask what the deal was?"

"Well, enlighten me."

"Your parents were developing new technology for growing crystals. It was supposed to speed up their growth while reducing costs."

Mike's hunch hadn't let him down after all.

"But then there was their disappearance. And when I got control of the business, I found no trace of this new technology."

"There wasn't," Mike replied.

"I couldn't get over it for a long time, but then I figured your parents had just tricked me."

"Bullshit!" Mike couldn't stand it.

"Control yourself!" Colonel Tirel raised his voice at him. "You're in a bad position now. Don't forget that."

"There was no new crystal-growing technology," Mike muttered through his teeth.

"I thought so, too, for quite some time, until a few days ago when you paid off your loan to me," Tirel grinned.

"What?"

"You can't make 80,000 gold in a year on a salary of 120 gold a month," grinned the colonel even more widely.

"There is no new technology for growing crystals," Mike repeated.

"Then where did you get that amount of money? Did you take credit for it? In crystals and clear tablets?"

Naturally, Mike couldn't say where he got so many crystals and tablets. He had already deeply regretted his decision to pay such a sum to Tirel all at once. But what had been done could not be changed now.

"Can't you tell?" It was as if the colonel had read his mind. "But I can. You have a secret laboratory that you inherited from your parents. And in it, I'm sure, there are facilities for growing crystals with new technology."

"Get me out of this cell, and we'll talk."

"Uh, no. That won't do. I need access there immediately," the colonel grimaced.

"No. You won't get anything without me."

"You have a court in three days. You're in no position to condition me," Tirel began to get more and more irritated.

"Then we won't see each other again, Colonel. Goodbye," Mike said and laid down on the bunk, turning away from Tirel.

"What?" Colonel Tirel couldn't believe what he heard.

"We have nothing to talk about with you," Mike said with a yawn.

"You're going to regret this, you little brat," Tirel snapped.

The colonel went to the iron door and knocked on it, then turned around and spoke.

"You have time until trial to agree to my terms."

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Mike didn't answer him, and a few seconds later, a peephole on the door opened.

"Are you finished," the guard asked the colonel.

"Yes," the latter replied.

When the cell door was closed, Colonel Timothy de Rogan approached and asked.

"Well, is it Mike de Graaf or not?"

"Let's talk about that in your office."

Aireen walked into the cabinet where Mike's group had been gathering for the past few days.

Captains Eric Shtof and Chester Nights, along with Lieutenant Alex Crowley, sat at one table talking. While Lieutenants Emma Pryte and Caroline de Tarro sat at another table, looking at some fashion magazine.

"How nice to catch you all here," she said when she saw Mike's entire group.

"We're glad to see you, too," Caroline told her.

"Have you seen Colonel Tirel," she asked them.

"Not today," those present responded in turn.

"I see," said Aireen. "If you see him, tell him he is urgently wanted by Madame General Catherine de Graaf."

"Has something happened?" Eric Shtof asked.

"No. You have nothing to worry about," replied Aireen, and left the cabinet.

"I don't like all this," said Captain Chester Nights.

"What's not to like about it. There’re no superiors. You just sit back and relax. That's how our young ladies are," said Alex Crowley.

"Lieutenant, your superiors are right there sitting next to you. And they can find something for you to do very quickly," Captain Nights answered him.

"Sorry, sir," Alex Crowley apologized, realizing he'd said something stupid.

"But, he's right," Captain Eric Shtof suddenly backed him up. "As long as there are no superiors, all we have to do is keep up with the day-to-day stuff."

"I hope the colonel isn't missing like our major," Emma Pryte said.

"Why would he be missing?" Eric wondered. "He'll show up. Either by tonight or tomorrow morning."

"What makes you so sure? Did he say something to you?" Chester asked him.

"I've worked with him a long time and know the Colonel well. But he didn't say anything to me. Besides, he ain't Mike to stick his nose into all kinds of trouble."

"Captain," Caroline turned to him. "You were at the Major's house, wasn't there any clue where he went or where he was?"

"Not the slightest clue," Eric answered her. "I'm telling you, our Major's mixed up in something again."

"Shouldn't we help him?" Carolina wondered.

"We? How? We'd better let the colonel deal with it from here. We've done all we can."

"Our group will probably be disbanded soon," Eric said.

"You think so?" Chester asked him.

"Yeah. Some of us will have to go to Artea, and some of us will have to keep working on Selvi Meyer. And then there's Mike, too."

"I don't want to go to Artea," Emma said suddenly.

"Why?" Caroline wondered. "Don't you want to go traveling to foreign countries?"

"No, I don't," she replied. "What's there to do? Look at the aborigines? I'm fine here."

"Maybe you'll find a rich husband there?"

"I'll find one here. You'd better let Caroline and me go a little earlier today," grinned Emma to Eric. "We've got someplace to go."

Eric looked at Chester.

"I don't mind," the latter replied.

"You can go, ladies," Eric said to Emma.

"Yay!" The latter jumped up and pulled Carolina by the arm. "Let's go quickly."

Anastasia de Graaf and her small team were on their way to the Air port. They were going to fly from there to the capital.

"I don't understand why we can't go straight to the capital," Anastasia exclaimed, turning to face the others who followed her.

"Asya," Kai, who was second in the group, told her. "We've talked about this before. Besides you and me, the others don't have air magic. It will be difficult for them to maintain speed and wings all the way."

The whole group flew pretty fast high above the ground. Anastasia and Kai used an "air wings" spell. Four translucent wings were at their backs. Batunkhan used "wings of fire" and there were two wings of fire behind his back. Behind Antonio's back were two white-bright wings of light magic, the Angel Wings. Anastasia looked them over and made a quick circle around the group.

"Boo, you're so slow," she said with a puff of her cheeks. Kai sighed.

"Besides, if we fly straight like this, we'll have all the Southland Border Patrols chasing us. Or have you forgotten what happened last time?"

Anastasia didn't answer, only puffed her cheeks harder.

"Be patient a little longer," Kai told her. "We're almost there. There's a town visible below already. Just beyond that will be the Air port."

"I hope we don't have to walk through town?" She asked him.

"No, we don't," he answered her. "But we won't be flying over the city either."

"Boo…"

"No need to scare the local guards. We'll fly around the city from the right side."

"All right, whatever you say," she surrendered. "You're worse than my grandma."

It was only a matter of minutes to fly around the sparsely populated city. The closer they flew to the Air port, the more clearly its structure became visible.

The airport was a fairly large enclosed area with one large four-story building, a large field, and several smaller buildings. About a dozen dirigibles were moored near the large building on the field side.

The dirigible was a large elongated balloon filled with gas, with a passenger cabin suspended from the bottom. It moved and lifted by the air's magic, but it was slow, though completely silent. Usually, the airship carried from 8 to 50 people at a time, depending on the size of the dirigible. This mode of transport was quite cheap and was used everywhere in the northern and some central parts of the continent.

Without waiting for Kai's instructions, Anastasia flew away from the main port building and the moored dirigibles. She headed to the other side of the field, where there were a series of smaller buildings. One "transport" was just landing near one of these.

Another type of air transport was, of course, winged magical creatures. Two types were mostly used - winged lizards and large birds. Birds almost always took only one passenger and were quite capricious and required good skills. It also required a license to fly. Generally speaking, a license was required to operate any type of transport, be it land, air, or sea. All four of Anastasia's group naturally did not have one.

The "transport" that sat in front of them was a large scaly lizard. It was about ten meters long with four translucent wings and an almost flat tail about six meters long. Such lizards usually carried three people, a handler, and two passengers.

Anastasia and her group headed toward a separate group of three lizards ready to depart. Not far from them was a small two-story building. In front of it, they landed. The handlers who were standing nearby were looking at them with surprised eyes. It wasn't every day you saw such a strange group using magic to fly.

Anastasia waved cheerfully as she passed them.

"Don't get distracted," Kai hurried her.

On the first floor, there was a waiting room with twenty seats, a small café, and two counters with flight controllers. The group headed toward one of the counters, behind which was a woman in uniform.

"In the name of the queen, I command…," Anastasia began to say. "Ouch…that hurts," she grabbed her head and turned back around. " What for?" She asked Kai.

"Quit playing around," Kai told her. "We're not here for fun. Look, you already scared the nice lady."

Kai looked at the woman and bowed slightly.

"Madam, no offense to my cousin, she's a little eccentric," he told her holding out their papers.

"That's all right," said the woman with a slightly strained smile. "Where are the gentlemen headed?"

"Abern," Kai told her. "And as quickly as possible."

The woman opened the notebook on her desk, then looked at her watch.

"Twelve-hour overnight flight with a small stopover. It will cost the least ten gold each."

"Money's no problem," Anastasia assured her.

"All right, let's go to the handlers then."

The group went to the handlers, whom they had passed before.

"Four, twelve-hour overnight flight to Abern. Depart immediately," the woman said as she approached the handlers.

"Twelve gold each, not including luggage," one of the handlers said. The others nodded vigorously.

"Okay, we agree," Kai hastened to agree with him.

"Come with me, and pay for the flight," the woman told him.

While Kai went to pay, Anastasia decided to pet the nearest lizard.

"What a cute little beastie."

"Careful Missy, she might bite," the handler warned her.

"Don't worry about her. Nothing will happen to Mistress," Batunkhan assured him.

"I'd worry about the little beastie if I were you," Antonio added quietly.