“I’ve got tons of questions. But before that, could you please get off me?”

“But we used to do this way back then.”

I try to release from Nevi’s cling. But it’s no use, she’s clinging on me showing no signs of letting go. I can totally feel her breast rubbing against my left hand while holding the Pair of Dragon and Phoenix in my right hand.

Right now we’re on the first level. Usually this room is reserved for few high class traders. This place looks like a castle with a veranda in all four directions.

“So, do you like them?”

“Uhh, what do you mean?” I try to avoid the question.

“You always prefer them big, aren’t you?”

“Uhm….., I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ehem.” Shiba tries to imitate a cough to let Nevi knows his presence.

I look into him awkwardly. He just stares at me like I’m an enemy or such. Well, judging by how he looks at me, there are two possibilities. One, he’s jealous of Nevi and Me. Two, he hates me for being the reason the high priest act so low.

I pull my hand and jump a few steps to the side. With my speed and power, I could easily get out of her hand. But in an instant, Nevi appears again on my hand in clinging position.

I let out a sigh, “Okay, I give up. Just tell me what you want from me!”

“I’ve told you right, I’ve been expecting you and I wanted to meet you.” Nevi answer me showing no doubts.

“No, she’s lying. She’s also lying about waiting you since the fall of Ul Thadur and come all the way here to look for you.” Shiba deny all of her words.

“So?” I ask him. He’s look more reliable than Nevi.

“We’re simply back from Ul Thadur to talk about the future of this country and our kingdom. Nevi is the negotiator. But in the journey back, we got attacked by a numerous band of bandits and only me and two more standing in the stairs is left. We asked the captain about the list of people in this ship to look for guards. She wants you when she reads your name on the list.”

Okay, something is wrong. I put my name as Mada Jeian of the Vorks in the registration, but yet they’re looking for Mada Arcaness, my real name.

“If you’re wondering how, I simply know it.” Nevi says to me like she’s able to read my mind.

She’s as ambiguous as ever.

“So, are you willing to take this job?” Shiba asks me.

“Before we continue, I’d like you to let my party come upstairs. It seems they’re already standing in front of your guard downstairs.”

“Your party?” Shiba raises his voice.

“It’s allright. Let them in.” Nevi make the order to Shiba while she’s still clinging on me.

Shiba just let out a sigh and walk towards the stairs. I put my Pair of Dragon and Phoenix on the floor and try to stand.

“Daddy…..” Erfia yells at me while running.

“Daddy?”

When Erfia calls me, I can feel Nevi’s hold is becoming loose. Loose enough for me to escape. I walk towards Erfia and I carry her. I can see Erfia is curious why I act that way as she tilts hear head without saying any words. Reis, Eri, and Kurua walk behind her without showing anything. They just look around this level. Except for Reis. I can see she’s a little pissed at something.

“Let me introduce you to my party. This is my child, Erfia. The cat girl is Eri. The man is Kurua. And the girl with some pissed expression on her face is Reis.”

Reis became more pissed than before and she won’t look at me.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Shiba and this lady here is Nevi.” Shiba tries to show a courtesy. “May I say something?”

“Yeah, sure,” I nod.

“You got yourself an unusual party. A party comprises of human, beast man, and a mix blood is not something you found everyday.”

“Hahaha, I got that a lot.” I answer him with a chuckles. “You’re the last person I’d want to hear that though. A kingdom that has a beast man as their king, a human as high priest, and some demons in the government.”

“Well, you got that right.” Shiba agrees with me. “Well, shall we continue?”

“Sure.” I walk while carrying Erfia with me.

Shiba sit on his chair so does Nevi. I sit and put Erfia on my lap. Nevi became more silent since Erfia and the others come. I know letting Erfia come is a good idea to constrain her. The others take a chair for their own and then sit beside me.

“I’ll explain the details,” Shiba speaks up. “We’re looking for a man to guard us in our way to Sairkhan. We’re hoping that you would take this job. Of course, you will be rewarded when the job is finished.”

“Before we take it, who we’re facing?” Kurua suddenly speaks what I want to ask.

“The Raider. They’re a gang of raider consists of two words fugitive and three words fugitive led by Mada the Great Raider.”

“Umm, Mada the Great Raider?” I try to gain more info.

“Yes, he claimed as Mada the Raider pupil and always puts a clown mask like he did. He put up a band of raider few months ago and raid every caravan that travel from Loos Port to Sairkhan.”

Okay, so basically some me wannabe appeared, and he declared that he was my pupil? What the hell is that? I look around and realize everybody is looking at me with a suspicious look. Well, we just met like a couple months ago, so I can’t really blame them.

“So, are you willing to take the job?” Shiba asks me.

“Sure, I guess I’ll take it.” I need to clear things up.

“Really? Thank you very much. You will be rewarded handsomely. Surely.” Shiba stands and shakes my hand.

I look into everybody and see there’s no objection in their face. Except for Reis, she’s still not willing to look at me.

“Say, Mada, I see no human figure on her. Is she really our child? Or did you kidnap her?” Nevi asks me. It seems she’s focusing on Erfia all this time.

I chuckle. “You’re saying the exact same thing as Ariana.”

“Huhuhu, I suppose it’s a normal thing to ask you.”

Yeah, I agree. “She’s my foster daughter. I’m not married yet.”

“Hah, that’s a relief.” Nevi let out a sigh.

“What do you even care about him being married or not?” Reis suddenly let out a burst of her opinion.

“That’s because I’ve been expecting him to live with me since at Ariana’s place.” Nevi jumps to me but I manage to hold her with my left hand.

“Hey, get off of him. You’re way to close.” Reis shouts at us.

“PIRATES!!!!”

Finally the last pirates attack for the day. We only have another 30 minutes before we arrive at the Loose Port, so yeah, I could say this is the last pirates attack.

“Umm, mister Mada, actually,” Shiba tries to tell me something but I can see he’s being too hesitant.

“Even if you believed in her words, you still worry about my capability, aren’t you?” I try to complete his words.

Shiba hesitantly nod his heads. Apparently doubting Nevi’s words or trust is something hard for him to do.

“It’s okay, that’s perfectly normal. Actually, I’m glad you don’t follow her words blindly.” I let out a praise for Shiba. Then, I try to make another deal. “Then, while the guards are busy defeating the pirates aboard, let me sink every ship in sight.”

I put Erfia down and take the Pair of Dragon and Phoenix with me.

~By the will of wind and the earth, let these touches the greatness of your might. As I say, speed of wind~

Without waiting for any signal or permission, I run and jump toward the vast ocean. I manage to reach the ocean in a single leap.

~By the will of the vast ocean, let these step and walk free on your territory. As I say, ocean’s will~

Ocean’s will is a magic to manipulate the water’s surface in contact with my foot to make it splash slower. I won’t drown as long as I step on the water in less than a second. So, I have to jump or run in the ocean’s surface. If I stay, the water will let me drown.

I make another jump while opening the cloth that’s covering the Pair of Dragon and Phoenix. The final attack involved at least 5 different ships. The pirates that’s trying to reach the ship is not too much so the guards will likely to defeat easily.

I finally reached the first ship in the west of the ship. As I land, all the pirates aboard the ship point their weapon at me. I put the strength in my foot and propel myself into the horde with my shield as my weapon. By doing this, I manage to charge the air explosion at the same time I attack them. I stop and put the lance sword into the deck.

“BLOW”

By a voice command, I activate the main feature of the Dragon, the air explosion. That single air explosion changes the ship interior into nothing and makes a big hole in it. I leave the ship as it’s sinking. It takes me another few jumps to reach another ship. But I think landing on the deck is taking too much time, so I run toward the ship’s side and slash it open with my lance sword. A lot of slashes on it will create a big hole that will lead it to sink.

Two ships down, three to go. Without any hindrance, I manage to bring down another two ships by wrecking the side of the ships. Finally only one ship left. When I jump toward it, I could see a big arrow of water and lightning is being cast at its top. But before it completes and comes at me, suddenly the big arrow of water and lightning disappeared.

So, Nevi is using her power to cancel it. Thanks a lot. Without any hindrance, thanks to Nevi, I sink the last ship by opening a big hole in its side. As I have done with my task, I jump back toward the ship and land safely on the first level.

~The greatness of wind and earth has been proved. The territory of the ocean has been explored.~

As I back, I got greeted with a welcome hug from Nevi.

“I know you can do it easily. I love you…..”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.” I put the pair of Dragon and Phoenix on the floor and try to run from her hug. “Anyway, thanks for helping me out there.”

“Anything for my beloved Mada.” Nevi hugs harder than before and try to kiss me.

“That’s enough!” Reis suddenly appears and separates us without a hunch.

Thanks Reis. But I see her face is pissed. Maybe I’m getting into another problem here.