There were six of them ready to go. They followed the same basic idea as the Foresight Gunboats, that is, to put as big a gun (a heavy mount currently outfitted with an XXL Ballista, actually, Asda"s shipyard didn"t have anyone who could build magic cannons) on a floating platform as they could manage. George also wanted them to be able to move around on their own, and respond quickly to situations, so they also had their own engines and power system. In order to fit all the equipment and crew on board, the airship"s basic size easily matched that of a Sky Tug.The end result was a squad of Patrol Boats that Asda priced at 600,000 lir in total. "This includes labor charge, tax, and a big discount since you guys have helped me out before."
"A discount? Really?" Mindy eyed the less-than-stunning workmanship and shook her head. "Then why do I feel like they"re a bit overpriced?"
"Hey, you ordered, I delivered. You want them or not?" Asda said.
"We"ll take them." Remian cut in before Mindy could flare up.
So he said, but it was Mindy who forked out the cash in the end.
Then there was the issue of getting them back to KarGoth. They had to ask Aren for help.
Aren put Izak on the first Patrol Boat out. "Now you have an airship with a big gun. Go find Talia and keep her safe!"
"That"s not a gun. It"s just a ballista." Izak protested, but he took the airship, a whole bunch of his friends, and relieved Mindy"s overloaded airship of some cargo. Then Mindy piled on more cargo (since they had extra capacity on their hands) and they made for KarGoth.
***
"You owe me 600,000 lir." Mindy told George as they delivered the Patrol Boats to Kara"s topside dock.
"You can take it out of your next ore bill." George offered.
"Deal."
"The Wildlands!!" Father Petrov exclaimed as he set foot on the airship dock. "We"re really here!"
"Amazing! What a place!" Professor Alexei said, looking around Kara.
"Oh? We have visitors?" George blinked, seeing a whole lot of new faces.
"Yes, we do!" Mindy jumped into action. "George, meet Professor Alexei Mikhailov, Sixth Circle Thaumaturge of the Ecclesia College of Magi."
"What"s a Thaumaturge?"
"Um… a magician."
"You could have just said that."
"Right. Anyway." Mindy cleared her throat. "This is Father Petrov, a priest and scholar from the Church of Light. That"s Sir Ivan, his wife, and his squire; Sir Ivan is the Temple Knight charged with protecting Father Petrov."
"Great! And the rest?"
"Um… I"m not exactly sure. Cla.s.smates of mine from Ecclesia, and their loved ones, mostly." Mindy said modestly. "I was a bit too busy piloting the airship to get to know everybody."
"Aren"t they your cla.s.smates?"
"They are. We attended the Ecclesia College of Magi together!" Mindy said, proudly.
"How did you ever find the time to go to college?!" George blinked.
"It was one public lecture in an open forum." Remian clarified.
"And you brought thirty magi back?" George shook his head. "We should send you to Ecclesia more often."
"You should." Remian agreed.
"Hey! I need to make money, too, you know!" Mindy protested. "The amount of profit I could have made from Germat during the time it took to get there…"
"That doesn"t seem likely." George cut in. "The war"s started out, and Germat"s pretty much closed its borders already. I don"t think you could have gotten in to trade if you tried."
"They"ve closed their borders?" Mindy sank back. "That sounds… bad."
"It"s serious." George nodded.
"Well, anyway, I won"t be going to Germat any time soon. First, we need to find the Source of Magic." Mindy told George about it.
"Would Ha"res-dras really know about that sort of thing? I thought he was just a baby dragon." George pointed out.
"Maybe he might not. But his dad or mom might know something, and he could ask them. Worse comes to worst, we could ask Doom." Mindy suggested. "In any case, I think everyone mostly just wants to see a dragon without getting themselves killed."
"And what about the ore shipments to Fal"herim?" George asked. "And selling the smelted bars from there onwards?"
"Talia can handle those with the Sky Galleon." Mindy shrugged. "We have a chance to save magic here. That means we could end the war before it gets too serious."
"I"m not sure that"s going to work, but good luck with that."
They stayed a day at KarGoth. Mindy switched trade goods for expedition supplies, Remian had a check-up at the hospital, everyone else explored KarGoth. Most of them just shopped and ate, or toured, but Ivan"s wife picked out an apartment at Residential Block Kar02, to the west of the main block, the one with the multi-purpose sports court in its open area.
"This is where I"ll be staying, then." She said, looking about. "I"ll take the apartments next door too."
"What?" Zana blinked.
"My husband brought his squire, and I"ll want a pair of maids and a steward." Margerita nodded to herself as if it was all only to be expected. "And one of those clever dogs everyone has. They seem very well trained."
"They"re not dogs. They"re wolfcats. And they"re not owned or anything, they"re Comrades. They"re our friends and neighbors."
"Neighbors? You sound as if they own property."
"Actually, they kind of do. See that tunnel? It leads to Red"s clan. The cavern they live in is entirely their territory."
"What"s that half-built hall next to it?"
"That"s the new Adventurers Guild Hall Headquarters. We"re moving it here for efficiency."
"You"re moving the headquarters?" Mindy gasped. "Who decided that?"
"Josh and George did. Why?"
Remian restrained Mindy with a hand on her arm. "Never mind. Please, carry on."
Mindy glanced at him. "But… but they didn"t even ask you!"
"They shouldn"t have to." Remian said. "Josh can handle the Guild. George can handle KarGoth. Everyone"s doing exactly what they"re supposed to."
"But you should be in charge! You should… you should…"
"I"m fine." Remian a.s.sured her. "Don"t worry about it."
Remian noticed Margerita looking at him oddly. He looked right back at her, his question all over his face.
"It"s unusual to see a young man give up power so freely." Margerita noted.
"Then consider me old." Remian suggested.
Margerita barked a laugh, but she still looked at him as if at an oddity.
The two merchants likewise found places to settle down. One of them was the brother of the shopkeeper where Margerita spoke with her friend. He opened a boutique at Kar01, on the second floor overlooking the main open area. The other merchant didn"t open up any shop or some such yet. He just settled in for now, and claimed he intended to explore the area further before making any big decisions.
"But I"m definitely staying here." He said broadly. "At least for a few years."
Remian didn"t ask him why. He just bade him good luck, departed in peace, and advised the neighboring lynxmice to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn"t do anything bad.
Then they were off, heading to Three Pines and Dragon Lake to look for Darian.