BXBX NOVEL 26 Chapter 26
A short while after Jagu and Oxin met up with Aron on the deck, their airship appeared right next to the one they were on. From there, Jin and Scarlett made their way onto the deck of the other airship.
"Part of me was worried you lot would wreck this beauty but aside from the blood stains it looks to be in mint condition" Scarlett commented immediately upon setting foot on the deck of the airship whilst looking around.
"You really like airships don\'t you?" Oxin asked Scarlett with a brow raised to which she nodded while shrugging her shoulders as if liking them was the most natural thing.
"I most certainly do, what\'s not to like? It\'s like a mobile home you can use to travel wherever you wish. Speaking of traveling it\'s best we move our arses because I\'ve set that other airships core to implode on itself soon." Scarlett quickly explained before turning to walk into the new even more extravagant airship.
"If I had known we\'d be changing ships again I would\'ve splattered less blood. Anyway what shall we do with these two?" Jagu sighed expressing his annoyance before pointing to Anastasia and her maid.
"You\'ve got to be arsing me!" Before anyone could respond Scarlett came rushing back to the deck with a panicked expression on her face.
"Didn\'t any of you bother to check the crest that all those people you slaughtered had?! Dammit all, we\'re screwed." Scarlett rubbed her temples while shaking her head.
Jin has a rough idea of why she said and proceeded to walk over to the unconscious Anastasia before looking at crest she had embroidered on the shoulder of her attire.
"Now I really wish I wasn\'t sober." He muttered before turning towards Jagu and Oxin who genuinely just looked confused.
"What\'s so special about this particular crest? Are the potential students who it that important?" Aron asked after roughly putting together what was going on but Scarlett shook her head.
"Not students, student. Everyone else is just a servant that much is obvious from how old they all look *sigh*. Not just any backing either, that crest belongs to one of the five most powerful families in all of Ettenheim. I still need to move this airship before the other one implodes, Dammit!" Scarlett cursed before rushing back inside.
"What makes these five powerful?" Aron turned to Jin and asked with a brow raised slightly. Even now he showed no concern like Jin and Scarlett because what was done was done, Aron still lacked a vast amount of information so he couldn\'t fully anticipate the consequences of his actions.
However he still chose to act because he\'s only other option would have been to be incredibly cautious in every thing he did to a point where he\'d likely make little to no progress.
Working in a group lessened the chance of him performing an action of great consequence because he had well informed individuals as allies and it was fairly likely that they wouldn\'t do anything to risk their own lives. In theory this approach was fine and the current scenario could only be said to be a terrible stroke of luck.
"*sigh* Just think of them as the people who control all major aspects of Ettenheim, they\'re very secretive and don\'t even directly rule their own regions but instead do so through families or organizations under them. This one laying here belongs to the Löwenstein Rosenberg family. I\'m not sure about her position but judging from the fact she has her own personal airship, it can\'t be low." Jin explained seriously while giving everyone a concerned look.
"Then let\'s just get rid of her and the ship" Jagu hurriedly suggested but Aron shook his head as he walked over and picked up the unconscious girl.
"The Journey is monitored remember? Our actions may have already been seen so what\'s done is done, the girl isn\'t dead so the situation isn\'t as dire as you all put it. If anything we can capitalize on this, for now let\'s restrain these two." Aron didn\'t once fret about the situation but instead analyzed it calmly from his standpoint, he even made sure to pick his words carefully using "we" instead of "I" so as to seem more open with them.
As far as he was concerned wordplay and scheming were far harder to perform and keep up with as compared to just fighting, another reason he disliked established societies.
"You\'re right, let\'s take them to the lower floors." Jin replied before walking over to the unconscious maid and lifting her.
"I\'ll clean up all the dead bodies and blood in the main hall." Oxin stated while raising her hand happily, to which Jin just nodded and Aron didn\'t answer at all.
"I\'ll help you with carrying the bodies." Jagu added and just like that everyone was performing a different activity as the airship began to gain attitude and move again.
In that time, Jin and Aron had managed to make their way to the lower levels of the ship where supplies were stored.
"This airship doesn\'t have any cells so how do you plan on restraining these two?" Jin turned to Aron and questioned as the two carefully put the two women down and had them lean against the wall.
"For now, runes and a barrier will be enough." Aron explained vaguely before taking a small knife like brush from his jacket and infusing it with mana.
The sharp looking tip began to glow a misty black before he proceeded to delicately start drawing strange lines around on the floor and wall around the women with some lines formed to form strange patterns and symbols while others remained linear.
Jin simply watched carefully and with amazement at the accuracy of each stroke. Runing was one of the most basic and well known forms of mana application, however being such an expansive and most times unrewarding skill lead to it being practiced by few and looked down upon battle wise.
Jin found it rather unexpected that someone as skilled as Aron in combat could also perform this and to quite an intricate level it seemed.
After finishing with one layer, Aron began drawing another layer a few centimeters apart from the first. This time, Jin recognized the symbols being drawn as that of a barrier.
When a specific runs held numerous layers it was referred to as a collection but a collection was better known to most ignorant individuals as a glyphs.
Glyphs were a complete rune collection so most people never even knew how they were formed. They simply cared for the end result and only saw an attractive pattern which they would sometimes recognize if common.
A glyph for barriers was one such common one depending on the tier.
\'That should be a tier two or three barrier at the very least. Seems I\'m not the only one with secrets here.\' Jin thought to himself as he watched Aron finish up. Jin already knew he would encounter some talented individuals during the Journey but Aron was starting to seem above what he expected.
"Done, they can\'t escape from this without at least causing considerable harm to themselves." Aron stood up from the crouching position he was in and returned the brush he used back into his pocket before turning to Jin who nodded in response.
"Then let\'s head back up, I can\'t imagine they\'ll be too pleased to wake up like this and quite frankly I\'m too sober to have women shout at me." Jin showed a smile and suggested to which Aron just nodded before the two left.
Once they got back to the upper levels, they found Jagu, Oxin and Scarlett seated in the airship\'s dinning hall quietly.
"Who\'s flying the airship by the way?" Aron asked as the scene did indeed look off to anyone who just entered.
"It\'s following a set course, all is fine as long our speed is low and I check in every now and then." Scarlett replied in a laid back manner but Aron couldn\'t add more to the matter as he didn\'t know much about their mechanisms in the first place.
"I see, then what\'s happening here?" Aron asked as no one seemed to be doing anything particularly eye catching.
"Everyone just chose to seat in here I suppose, it has lamps everywhere which makes for a soothing environment. Something I really could use right about now. Where\'s Jin?" Scarlett replied still looking concerned about their predicament but before Aron could reply, Jin appeared.
"Right here and I\'ve got just the perfect addition to this soothing atmosphere. Booze, I do hate these bastards but damn do they know how to make wine." Jin explained as he walked into the room holding a tray of assorted bottles.
"*sigh* count me in, I definitely need to forget our current predicament." Scarlett was the first to comment before taking a bottle she was familiar with for herself.
"Why not, I could use something to have me doze off. Give it here." Jagu replied before grabbing the most intimidating looking bottle for himself.
Jin was about to walkover to Aron when Oxin stretched out her small hands, gesturing him to hand over a bottle.
"Uh, are you old enough to drink?" Jin asked while giving Oxin a skeptical look.
"I\'ll have you know I\'m among the oldest of the younger back in my clan. Now give me a bottle before I hit you with a mace." Oxin threatened while Jin just shrugged and handed her the most feminine bottle.
"I\'ll never understand the ways of Komi." Jin shook his head helplessly before tossing the last bottle to Aron who glanced it oddly for a moment as he had never partaken in it before.