The actions of the fleet certainly caused tragedy everywhere. The natives call this area the Highest-Land where their ruling masters lived. After the death of many individuals in this area, it was expected that there would be a crisis.

  “There are a lot of them,” Robert said to Wiles who stood with him. Wiles had become a field medic during the few weeks and because of Millie’s pregnancy that he wasn’t able to move as much as anyone.

  Next to them was Doctor Gabrio who was making a suture on the guardsman who got hit by one of the refugees that lashed after seeing them. What followed was a brutal sight that one would call a massacre.

  The Guns of Aon were unfriendly to those who resisted it.

  The refugees who lashed out were killed in a hail of gunfire by the people of the fleet. The fleet itself hadn’t been concerned with the people at all. The people of the fleet were far more important than the people of the Icean Spine.

  A complete slaughter.

  It was also that time when they noticed the blinder coming out with a gray giant. When the refugees saw the gray giant, they prostrated and begged for mercy at the sight of the group.

  “This is crazy,” Robert said. “Now a giant too?”

  The giant left for Arkshelled Island. Robert had been used to the sight of Caldor Ando’s team and the Blinder doing their own thing. No one other than the Admiral or the Captains could make them listen. They were a group ‘untouchable’ and allowed ‘freedom’ just because they were part of a group that was going to save the world supposedly.

  Robert didn’t believe easily in saviors. Nonetheless the powers shown by the blinder was enough for them to agree on whatever they do. Robert remained passive on the walls. The Doctor continued his suture while the barrels of cannons and rifles were still pointed at the refugees.

  If Robert would allow the sprite on his shoulder to translate what the people were saying. It would be:

  “Please help us! We have nothing to eat! There are monsters everywhere and they crawl the land butchering us! Please save us! Don’t abandon us lords!”

  “Just my children please!”

  “Monsters! You foreign monsters!”

  They would call them foreign monsters. The butches who ruined the land and drowned it. They were called ‘drowners’ as an insult, but as long as they kept their sprites silent, they wouldn’t know what their words were.

  “They sure are loud,” Robert muttered.

  “Considering what we did to them.”

  Wiles answered with a subdued look. Robert replied with a nod while holding on to the bow he half-drawn. He always preferred the bow to the rifle. He kept his rifle on the back which he tied with a sling. There was a pistol on his belt that was loaded. A quiver on his back and a dagger he could easily draw and kill.

  Robert had been a mercenary before this. He wanted this opportunity knowing that it was better than staying on a continent with a bounty on his head. The pay was good. And although there was a high chance they would meet their death in this voyage.

  Robert would welcome it. Of course, these days, he was the bodyguard of the Doctor of Milostiv. The disciple of the Butcher of Fort Rava, everyone knew the teacher, but the disciple, at least the Doctor, was someone who wasn’t as famous as their peers. Unlike his seniors that were popular and infamous, the Doctor remained a Doctor.

  He had clear respect for a Doctor. A dedicated professional who tirelessly spends time on his patients. It was odd to Robert how the Doctor acts. The Doctor to the people of the Milostiv was a person who they could respect. A nosy person who troubles them everyday, but couldn’t curse knowing that he was also the person that would treat them.

  It was reasonable not to talk back to the doctor. To Robert, the Doctor was a person who would only speak when needed. He was reserved and would keep his thoughts in until he decided that it was right for him to do so. The Doctor doesn’t hold back when he wants to say something.

  “Go. Don’t be cocky and stay in line. Follow Claudel’s orders,” the doctor said as blandly as he could. The demeanor of the Doctor was unchanged. He stood up. Looked at the refugees and blinked.

  “Good job, Doctor.”

  Doctor Gabrio nodded. He placed his hand on the battlements of the walls. His eyes reflected the cries of the people. Some were holding on to their dead, the others burying them while sobbing heavily. It was a ghastly sight, one that the Doctor was used to.

  “Tragic.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  The Doctor said to which Robert agreed. “What do you think of all this, Doctor?”

  “A shame. But what can we do? One would be a powerful savior with infinite resources. We save who we save. And if we have enemies, we usually kill them.”

  “Doctor, have you been told that you sometimes speak like you don’t have a heart.”

  The Doctor shrugged, “I was raised in Fort Rava. Sights like these are not unfamiliar to me.”

  Robert had been to Rava. It was a wasteland that was surrounded with nothing but dark soil and poisonous foliage. In that land there was one oasis where plants grow safely. It was also the place where most of the prisoners of Aon are forced into hard labor. Some are even treated like animals.

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  “Strange.”

  “What?”

  “That you became a Doctor, Doc.”

  The Doctor stared for a moment before answering solemnly. “Sometimes, we don’t choose the Lot we are walking. I’m sure that you have your own Lot as well, Robert.”

  “I wanted to be a merchant,” Robert said. “You Doc?”

  “Botanist.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A person who studies plants.”

  “There are people like that? So like a farmer?”

  “Close, but yeah, you could say that.”

  “Why?”

  “Why not? Plants have a certain appeal to me. You must have seen my cabin.”

  “Ah, so that’s why you keep those plants. What are those anyway?”

  “Spuds.”

  “What are they?”

  “Food.”

  “Oh, are they tasty, Doc?”

  “They are. When fried in oil at least, maybe one day the Island will distribute it to the common people.”

  Robert still stared at the refugees. “I hate it that we’re stuck in this damn place.”

  “What can we do? We need to resupply, repair, and rest.”

  “This ain't rest, Doc.”

  “It isn’t. The refugees are a pain in the ass.”

  “What did you hear?”

  “They can’t make a choice, Doc. The heads want to stay for another month just in case. They want to reinforce our hulls since we are learning more dangerous things about the Great Seas beyond the Icean Spine.”

  The Doctor kept his face blank. “Ah, so they want to?”

  Suck this place dry.

  It was the same as hoarding all that was currently useful in this city and taking them back. Like the Old Days of Aon where when a war band seizes a territory or a city, they would take everything and burn the whole place down.

  “What do you think of it?”

  “Nothing. As long as it doesn’t affect the Galleon at least.”

  Robert nodded. He had been transferred to the Galleon and had become familiar with it. His room was close to the clinic of the Doctor as well after the fellow that once occupied it died during their time on the dread line. It was made empty and became a storage area. Some parts of the Galleon had become a storage area where supplies are placed. Instead of crew members entering the Galleon, they would store ship supplies instead.

  Commodities and food were valuable to the fleet. But humans who could help keep the fleet afloat were lacking. If hundreds of them died then there was no one who would replace the crew members who died.

  The people of Aon could not be replaced. That was what the people inside of the Grand-Galleons and the smaller ships thought. If a ship cannot be crewed any longer, then that ship will become a fire ship that can be used haphazardly by the fleet.

  The crew members would then be integrated to one of the ships. Most of the crews would go to the Grand-Galleon to replace the lacking crew, but it was not like that the fleet was lacking in personnel. No, some even said that the purpose of the voyage was to test if humans could live on and not save the world.

  It was just pure luck that the Chancellor had many reasons to make this voyage happen. It was an accepted reason.

  A project that was made possible because of the support of the Elven-kin. It takes a lot of charisma, persuasion, and political power to make such a grand fleet. All of it was so that the fleet could head into the thousand islands and save the world.

  To save the world.

  That was a reason that would be scorned by anyone who wasn't a damn fool.

  But the Chancellor believed in that reason and so everyone accepted it.

   Everyone believed that the main reason for the fleet was to save the world, not colonize the thousand islands and make it theirs. What a grand and just reason it was.

  “How many do you think we will lose in the Great Seas?”

  “It depends on our preparations,” the Doctor replied. “You know better than everyone, at least, Robert. There is no going back once we take a step into the Great Seas. The Great Seas is unknown to us. We reached this far because we have ancient charts. It’s the same reason why we know that this continent is called the Icean Spine. Why are our ships reinforced and armed to the teeth so we could kill monsters? Most of our ships are meant to kill and endure the raging seas. Weather, diseases, starvation, uprising, mutinies, and monsters.

  “The sea is uncooperative. No matter what we do. We’re not sure of what may happen. It took us many years to just cross this damn sea and reach the Icean Spine. Two months isn’t enough to prepare and sail the Great Seas. We have the Elven-kin and the Blinder of Light with us, but they are not all-powerful. They cannot save everyone that they can’t reach. That’s the truth. If we don’t rob this place we die. If we stay good and try to talk. We waste time. It’s a simple thing to do but hard because we aren’t heartless bastards. Robert, we should be glad that we aren’t the damn ones who are making the choices. I don’t ever want to be in their shoes.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  It was pathetic. Some might think that this isn’t right. That this isn't what a human should do. No matter what reason they spew from their mouths. Killing people using reasons was nothing more than an excuse. A bullshit one that Robert detested.

  “Ah, so that’s why.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing, Doctor. Are you going to treat the rest?”

  “Yes, but after I catch my breath.”

  “You don’t look good, Doc.”

  “There are days that I’m not. Anyway, are you sure that you want to keep staring at this sight?”

  Robert nodded. His eyes remained on the mass grave that the refugees placed their dead. “I don’t mind.”

  The Doctor said nothing. Robert thought to himself that at least the Doctor wasn’t hiding what he thought of the situation. He might be called a hypocrite for wanting to save people but look at the refugees unkindly, but who in the world was not a hypocrite? As if a person who doesn’t make excuses for their beliefs exist.

  Robert refused to believe that anyone could be so perfect that they could hold onto their ideals perfectly. And there are days where even a bastard mercenary like him who had done nothing but kill would ever think of pity against the enemies who might be a burden to their journey to the thousand islands.

  “What a fucking mess,” Robert glanced at the refugees before going back to his position.