“Crap crap crap, what do we do, i can’t use any magic right now..!”

Yuri was panicking, ignoring the guard who was repeating his warning about attacking if they did not surrender.

“I can’t attack any of them without leaving you two defenceless. So that is out as well.”

Hikaru said, his hand resting on his sword, ready to deflect whatever projectiles they might launch against them.

“I ain’t even been to a fight in my life!”

Ahab also chimed in.

“Damn it, what do we do..if i could only use some magic to distract them enough to give Hikaru a chance to clear the way..”

Biting her nails in deep thought, she could not think of a solution no matter how hard she worked her brain.

“We will fire our bows if you do not surrender! This is your last warning!”

The guard yelled out, with the guards on the surrounding ships arming their bows with arrows tipped with freezed sharp paper.

BOOOOM!

One of the ships suddenly exploded. Separating the thin ship into two parts that dangled from its balloon.

“What the!?”

Yuri exclaimed in surprise, while Ahab almost fell due to the shock.

“I don’t know what just happened..but this is our chance..Hikaru! Now! While they’re distracted!”

Hikaru had already jumped off the ship before she had began that sentence.

He appeared on one of their ships, slashing through the guards before moving on to the next with a small jump which made him disappear from where he stood and reappear on another ship in an instant.

Their numbers were getting halved each passing second, but that was still not enough.

“Hikaru!?”

Yuri yelled as she and Ahab were slowly walking backwards to the end of their ship, away from the guards that had boarded the airship while Hikaru was busy.

“They’re quick..”

Hikaru reappeared in front of Yuri and cut the guards down in one swing.

“Hey sonny, there are more of em comin..!”

Ahab pointed toward the distance, where a new line of red ballooned ships was quickly approaching.

“I took care of some of the ships surrounding us, can you fly through them now?”

Hikaru asked Ahab.

“Aye, i can do that, but with the speed they’re comin in, i doubt we would make it far before we’re surrounded again, this ship ain’t built for speed. I don’t doubt they got more ships incomin, the fleet is extensive..”

“Then we need to get one that can match their speed.”

Grabbing Ahab and Yuri, Hikaru jumped onto one of the guards ships that was now empty.

“Ahab, fly this ship, i will try and slow them down.”

Jumping onto another empty guard ship, Hikaru headed toward the approaching ships.

“Wait, we’re leaving Ahabs ship!? How are we going to get to the bottom without it!”

Yuri complained loudly.

“We will find another. With you unable to use magic, i must make sure you are safe. Go, i will catch up soon.”

Saying this, Hikaru increased the speed of his ship, flying at a speed that did not intend for the ship to stop anytime soon.

“Ahh..my pappy’s ship..damn those higher up bastards..! This is why my pappy never liked em!”

Pulling on the ship's lantern, Ahab piloted their small guard ship away from the incoming fight, aiming for the nearby floating islands that would provide cover as they escaped.

In the distance, Yuri saw Hikaru’s ship smash into another of the guards ships, exploding in a fiery blaze.

“...Better than fireworks, Show them what it means to mess with Yuri!”

She cheered Hikaru on while watching the distant ablaze airships slowly falling into the darkness one by one.

--

“Hey! Wait up..!”

Resounded a yell in the empty air.

“Who’s that!? Nother one of those damn guards!?”

Ahab looked around for the source of the yell.

“No, look closely, it’s Helgi!”

Yuri exclaimed in surprise.

“Who?”

“Helgi! The blonde guy!”

“Oh, that other one who was with you..how’d he manage to get here?”

Still looking around for the source of the yell, Ahab had difficulty seeing much.

“On his..bicycle..apparently..?”

Watching the strange bicycle with a balloon attached to it slowly land on the ship, Yuri couldn’t help but laugh.

“You came all this way on a flying bike..!? That’s hilarious, where is your little alien that should be in the front basket, did you drop it along the way?”

“Very funny..Yuri..”

Helgi breathed out in relief, while sliding from his bike and onto the wooden floor of the ship.

“It took all i had in me to catch up with your stupid ship, and i was already exhausted from pedalling this damn bike all the way from the city..”

Splaying out on the floor, Helgi relaxed his sore muscles and almost passed out due to his exhaustion.

“Boy..you mean to tell me, that yuh pedalled just this bike, by yourself, all the way from the city..!?”

Ahab walked up to him with unbelieving eyes.

“...Yeah? What about it..?”

Helgi mumbled while closing his eyes.

“Those bikes ain’t made for long distance travel, and it can’t handle island to island travel even if they’re right next to each other. If you really did ride this bike all the way over here...are you like that other sonny..the one with the sword who’s older than me..?”

Ahab was trying to rationalise something that was impossible to explain. No normal human could ride this bike for that long and across this distance, it simply, was beyond anything a human could endure.

“What..? No, i’m just a normal guy..i do work out though, women dislike a flabby body..”

He yawned while still splayed out on the floor.

“First a man who is as old as my dead pappy and who can fight off hundreds of guards on his own..then a man whose stamina seems to be infinite..what about you missy..do you also have some amazing power..?”

Ahab looked over at Yuri, expecting something really extravagant.

“Me? I’m really good at stealing stuff!”

She answered proudly.

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“Oh..a common thief huh..i guess third time’s the charm.”

Ahab nodded, underwhelmed  but slightly relieved that at least one of their group’s members was normal.

Little did he know, that Yuri was likely the most abnormal one out of all of them. in more ways than one.

“Helgi! Stop sleeping! we were almost captured by some guards while you were off biking around!”

She kicked his side lightly.

“Ow..Hey! What do you mean just biking around, i was the one who saved you ungrateful pricks! Why else do you think i pedalled all the way here on this rusty bike!”

Slowly sitting up, Helgi began to massage his sore calves.

“What are you talking about, we got saved by one of the ships randomly exploding in a mysterious and unpredicted manner, after which you somehow conveniently appeared nearby!”

She rebutted.

“That was me you airhead!”

Yuri’s head was rubbed with Helgi’s knuckles.

“Owowow! What are you doing, i told you to never do that again a long time ago!”

Escaping his grasp, Yuri jumped back, scowling at him.

“You deserved that, why won’t you believe it was me who saved you guys, even though i probably pulled a muscle trying to get here in time”

Helgi complained.

“Because! It can’t have been you, because magic doesn’t work around here, so how could you have caused that explosion”

She argued.

“Magic doesn’t work..? Mine works just fine, the cards you made for me, see?”

He took out a metal card and activated the runes on it, making it explode into several electrical charges.

“Huh..? But whenever i tried to draw a new spell, it always failed..?”

She demonstrated drawing a few runes and activating them, which resulted in barely anything worth calling a spell.

“Strange..Maybe it’s not the spells that won’t work, but the creation of them..?”

Helgi suggested.

“...That actually makes sense. That would mean..that all the spells in my gauntlet should work?”

“Most likely? But don’t waste them since you only have a limited supply drawn on your gauntlet, try it out when you’re forced to”

Helgi said.

Yuri nodded and glanced at her gauntlet, she had luckily drawn spells on it before they set off back in Asur.

“Well, thank you for giving us an opening Helgi, you did good. Good job. well done”

She praised Helgi while patting him in his head.

“...What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this why you complained about me not acknowledging what you did..?”

She kept patting his head.

“A simple thank you would have been enough”

Her hand was slapped away.

“Awh, alright, your hair was so soft though, very comfortable to pat”

She gave the annoyed Helgi one last pat before jumping out of his reach.

“Anyway, how did you even find us..?”

“Ah right, i came across some significant information concerning both this beast of yours and possibly the relic, but before that, where is Hikaru, he should probably be here to hear this..?”

Helgi noticed the absence of the usually silent knight.

“Oh Hikaru is right over there in the distance, still fighting this guards, i think he’s done now, so he should be back any minute”

Yuri pointed over at the smoldering burnt airships that slowly sunk toward the darkness below, with occasional corpses falling out of them.

“...Remind me to never get on his nerves”

--

Several minutes later, they sighted a half burnt ship fly over to them, housing a single passenger.

Hikaru slowly stepped onto the ship Yuri and Ahab stole, as he did, the ship he was on began to sink down into the depths below.

“We should move, i saw movement in the distance, more are coming.”

He immediately said, making Ahab fumble around towards the steering wheel.

“What about my ship, we can go get it before they arrive, can’t we?”

Ahab asked hopefully.

“No. That ship is too slow, their ships are light and built for speed. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Shaking his head, Hikaru brushed off some soot from his clothes.

“Is everything fine?”

Hikaru asked Yuri, while Ahab steered the boat into the opposite direction of where Hikaru mentioned seeing movement.

“Yeah! Helgi’s here, he says he has something important to tell? But more importantly, apparently i can still use magic! At least the ones already drawn on my gauntlet! Isn’t that great! Yuri the thief is back in action..!”

Grinning at Hikaru, she pumped her fists and made an amusing pose.

“That’s great Yuri, at least now i know you will be able to defend yourself should something happen”

Her head was patted, while Hikaru smiled in relief, happy that Yuri would still be able to keep safe in his absence.

“Gather around already, i need to tell you this information before the guards attack again!”

Helgi called everyone over to him.

“Uh? Should i come too? I’m steerin the ship though?”

Ahab wondered while steering the quick ship past and around various floating islands.

“You stay over there and steer so they don’t catch up to us”

Helgi dismissed Ahab.

“Awh come on, you’re being mean! Ahab is cool too, for now he’s part of the team! and i think the way he talks is so silly!”

She made everyone walk over to where the steering wheel was located so Ahab could be part of the conversation.

“It’s a normal dialect on the island i’m from though...but i’m grateful”

He nodded at her while steering.

“...Anyway, as i was about to say.”

Helgi began.

“During my search for clues on the relic, i found dozens of reports. Reports that all had one thing in common, they were about anyone under even the slightest suspicion of wishing to build a stronger ship or spoke about travelling below, even as a joke.”

“So..that confirms there really is treasure down below, that’s great!”

Yuri beamed at the confirmation.

“That’s not all that was in the reports. They never mention what this thing they are safekeeping at the bottom is, but they always mention how it is vital to the survival of this country, and how it needs to be protected and hidden. That isn’t all they mention in these reports. They have a list of people suspected to go against the government by breaking the unwritten law of exposing the truth about what is hidden.”

Helgi looked directly at Ahab.

“The person who was perceived as highest threat, was you, Ahab.”

“W-What!?”

Ahab almost fell back from his steering wheel.

“What, why would they suspect Ahab?”

Yuri seemed unbelieving.

“I don’t know. But that’s why i didn’t want Ahab to listen in. But someone insisted.”

Yuri was given a blank stare Helgi.

“Ahahaha..sorry”

She gave a half-hearted apology.

“Ah..my life is over..” Ahab was barely focusing on steering the airship, and leaning over the steering wheel, empty of energy.

“Hey cheer up, not like it matters that they suspected you before, since they now for sure have you written as a criminal since you are literally aiding us in doing the exact thing you were suspected for possibly committing!”

She threw out that sentence without taking a single small breath while patting his back.

“That’s not the problem..” Ahab slowly shook his head.

“Huh..? Then..?” Yuri tilted her head.

“If they suspected me all this time..then they must’ve tailed me..so they probably know all of my secrets..”

The old sea-captain looking man sulked.

“Huh..? What secrets?”

“My secrets ain’t for a girl as young as you to know..it ain’t proper.”

He shook his head again.

“Hey! I’m not young, I’m...how old was i now again..” She seemed to have trouble remembering her true age as she had gotten accustomed to being a teenager for so long. “Right! I’m twenty nine! So tell me damnit!”

“It ain’t somethin a lady should hear either..”

“I was originally a man so tell me already!”

She snapped, running out of patience.

Blinking with confusion, Ahab looked over at Hikaru and Helgi, who nodded and shrugged in confirmation.

“Is that so..i suppose it’s alright then..”

Leaning over to Yuri, he whispered something in her ear.

Yuri slowly began to get coloured in a deep red, the colour rising from her chest to her face and ears.

“W-w-ha-wha-wha-wha!?!”

Stuttering, she took a few steps away from Ahab.

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

Her face was warm and her mind overheating, and in that confusion, she noticed she had thrown a punch at Ahab, making a deep dent in his face.

Being as old as he was, Ahab collapsed immediately.

“...Ah, didn’t meant to do that”

She slowly realised what she had done.

“Yuri you really..” Helgi sighed.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault! He said something that terrible!”

She protested while turning away, not feeling any remorse for her actions.

“..What did he tell you?”

Hikaru wondered.

Images of Ahab face plastered onto unspeakable scenes entered Yuri’s mind. Making her shudder in disgust, her stomach almost letting out it’s contents.

“You. Don’t want to. Know.”

She shook her head while groaning to make those scenes disappear.

“Wow that bad huh? Alright” Helgi put up his hands, making a gesture of being sorry for asking. “Wait. Who’s steering the airship now that Ahab is asleep?”

All three of them looked over at the empty steering wheel that was spinning out of control, before their eyes were immediately drawn to the island about to ram into their ship.

“Oh crap..”

Helgi muttered.

“Not this time..!”

Yuri took out her dagger and flipped it upwards, puncturing the balloon above them.

It quickly began to release it’s hot air, making the airship quickly sink, until it sunk just below the island, the balloon scraping slightly against the bottom of the island.

“Well done Yuri, you saved the ship. I was was about to grab you and hop onto the island, while abandoning the ship.”

Hikaru was impressed.

“Well~ I’m not the brains of the team for nothing”

She bragged while lifting her nose.

“...Right. Brains..” Helgi mumbled to himself.

“What was that?” Yuri looked over at him.

“Nothing, nothing~ That reminds me, about Ahab being a person of interest to this government..” Helgi began.

“It must have to do with Ahabs father.”

Hikaru said with certainty.

“You thought so too huh?” Hikaru and Helgi looked at each other in understanding.

“Indeed. When i met him all those years ago. I had a strange feeling. That there was more to him beyond his eccentric behaviour. Although it was just a hunch. He was hiding something, i suspected that much.”

Hikaru explained.

“Is that so..you might be onto something. I found the story of his father to be fairly peculiar. Why would he spread around tales about a beast living below without fearing the government. In fact how did he keep doing it for so long without them taking notice of him..considering they’re so sensitive about anything concerning what’s down below..?”

Helgi wondered while glancing at Hikaru for clues.

“Mhm. I do not know that much, But that might have something to do with why Ahab is now a priority..”

Hikaru  and Helgi stood quietly for a while, wondering to themselves, while Yuri ran around in the background, fixing the torn balloon of the ship so as to not sink any deeper and regain their altitude.

“That’s not important right now!” Doing a little jump, Yuri smacked them both on their heads. “We lost our only way of finding out the truth! The ship that could take us down there..!”

Both of them realised that any further discussion was pointless without the next clue, they needed to find out what was down there.

“That’s why! We need to go get another ship!” She said with an easy going smile.

“They have surely sunk the old boat by now, where would we find another one..?”

Hikaru wondered.

“Think about it, if you have a big secret that you’re keeping, surely you want to check up on it every now and again to make sure no one has found it, right?” She explained.

“You mean you think..”

“Indeed.” She imitated Hikaru with a stern face before smiling “They must have a ship strong enough to travel to the bottom, and that’s what we are going to find, and steal!”

She stood with a raised knee stance at the front of the ship.

“If my luck is good enough, the thing they’re hiding there might be the relic itself..!”