Volume 1 Chapter 5: When the World Says NO to You
"I reckon you two kids have no military knowledge …" at dawn, tied up long hair, Leiya will Su'er and the Prince gathered around, "So I'll try to make it simple. "
Despite her indifferent speech and rude demeanor, there is no denying that Leiya is a standard Nayimei beauty - tall and slender, with snow-like fair skin and blonde hair. Because of the slow aging and long life span, it is difficult for outsiders to guess the age of the Nayimei women from their appearance, but judging from the title of "High Priestess" of the Sisterhood, Su'er feels that she can call her "big sister". There should be no mistake.
Now, this Leiya big sister squatted on the ground and drew a very non-circular circle with a tree branch.
"This, on behalf of Delorean, the world's seventh-largest floating island, located in the middle of the Sea of Beasts, was once part of the old empire's southern Weldway province, but is now a typical deserted area, and does not border any country's air border."
"Father told me about Delorean Island," Prince Kukur interjected with a straight face, "that our country has a claim to it."
"Pardon me, Your Highness," Leiya looked up, "but which country are you the Prince of, exactly?"
Kukur coughed, "… Principality of Girigia."
"Yo-"
With that, Leiya smiled impishly and drew an inverted triangle on the right side of the circle representing "Delorean Island" - the shape of the emblem of the Principality of Girigia.
"The Principality of Girigia, the smallest vassal of the Northland Kingdom, is 2,600 miles away from the Delorean Island," Leiya rubbed her chin: "with a population of 320,000 and a steam cruiser, it is not as large as the Delorean Island… I'm a little curious, Your Highness, how did you win the heart of Princess Marmalan?"
"Childhood friends … right?" Kukur scratched the back of his head with some embarrassment, "We have known each other since we were small … that time she …"
Leiya suddenly expressionlessly asked an inexplicable word, "Then have you ever slept together?"
Not only the Prince, even Su'er opened her eyes wide with a look of "What are you up to, big sister?".
"I, I …" Kukur blushed, "I don't understand, does this question have anything to do with whether or not we can escape from the island?"
"Oh, of course it has nothing to do with it," Leiya shrugged, "It's just that I'm personally curious." She paused, as if she was still not satisfied with what she had just said, "… Marmalan was such a stunning beauty. It would be a waste if she died without having experienced the goodness of a man."
"Hey! Stop!" Kukur pointed at the ground, feeling both funny and annoying, "Let's talk about something serious, okay? We're not out of danger yet!"
While nodding, Leiya drew a smaller pie pattern on top of the circle.
"This is our destination, the Northern Kingdom - the nearest national border is about 5,000 miles from the island, and if we take a passenger steamer, it will take about 14 days, and the premise is … "
In the middle of the two circles, Leiya stabbed a small hole with a branch, "Region Floating Island, the headquarters of the Straw Hat Air Pirates, the last year they launched 30 attacks. Three miles from it in the sea," she stabbed another small hole, "Region Island, the headquarters of the Black Reef Pirates, committed more than 1,700 crimes in 30 years, it is said that a large country is backing them… a Chenai people's large country." Said Leiya with an oblique glance at Kukur.
"Hum? Why are you looking at me?"
"Although the Sisterhood has been reduced to an 'armed criminal organization'," Leiya still looked frank, "But as far as I know, they should still hold a lot of wealth in their hands. If they are determined to get you killed, they would not care about spending a little more money to buy airline thieves and pirates. Without a fleet escort, we'd be dead if we took this route - and most likely with a whole shipload of innocent tourists, just like when you were on my train."
"We can find a place where we can send a telegram, or …" the Prince suddenly seemed to think of something, "Or find a psychic. If we can get in touch with the government of the Northland Kingdom, I can ask them to send the fleet to rescue us."
With a look of obvious disdain, Leiya lightly raised the corner of her mouth and gave a "humph".
"You still haven't figured out yet. Don't you understand what kind of people want you and the princess dead?"
Kukur froze for a moment, and then his face turned pale.
"I … I do not understand what you mean?"
"I don't want to explain to you," Leiya said coldly, "Just remember that any indirect contact with the Northland Kingdom could directly kill you, and revealing your current location is tantamount to suicide, understand? Never use your life to play this kind of gamble."
The Prince swallowed, looked at Su'er again, and stopped talking.
He was not simply intimidated - Kukur was young, but as a prince, at least he had seen some things and understood the viciousness of court politics, and with Leiya's "advice", he was more or less self-aware of his current situation. He had a little self-awareness.
"Any more questions? My King?"
"… none."
"What about you?" Leiya turned to Su'er, "Girl, do you have anything to say?"
Su'er guffawed, "Nah, I don't understand what you guys are saying, but it feels like it's awesome."
"Very well, then I'll continue." Leiya gestured twice with a branch on the muddy ground, "Another route, which I personally recommend, is to depart from Port Deloraine, fly south for about four days, cross the Sea of Behemoths, and arrive at the Genesee Community."
Genesee Community - as soon as he heard this name, the Prince's brow furrowed. Although this Demer nation was an ally of the Northland Kingdom during the "Steel Holy War" 5 years ago, if we extend the time span to "500 years", then all the nations with the name "Genesee" - be they emirates, republics or whatever community - are hated by the Chenai people, and it is not too much to say that they are "enemies of the Chenai people".
In fact, in the traditional historical view of the Chenai people, the Nayimei people who look very similar to themselves are usually the embodiment of "goodness and beauty", while the Demer people are mockingly called "furry people" or "rude and savage beasts". The racist notion of "rude and savage beasts" is still very much alive today - and unfortunately, the Prince was raised with this prejudice, so he has an instinctive aversion to Demer people.
"Genesee Community?" The Prince blushed, "That is the land of the Demer people …… they have not been on good terms with the Northland Kingdom."
"That's why it's 'safer'," Leiya snapped her fingers, "You identify yourself immediately upon landing and declare your life in danger. Being the unfriendly country that it is, Genesee Community will instead escort you safely back home - imagine if something happened to you in their country - my goodness, wouldn't that be tantamount to a declaration of war?"
It seemed to make sense - Kukur nodded perceptively.
"Okay, next is the crux of the matter," Leiya sighed, "The land baseline of Delorean Island is 1200 meters above sea level, which is pretty short for a floating island, but that means we still only have one way to get off the island - and that is by flying ship, so here--" she nudged the right edge of the circle with the tip of a branch, "Port Deloraine, our first destination, is guarded by militia, so the Sisters should not dare to mess around. Once we get to the port, we are halfway there."
"I actually have my own steam yacht …" Kukur shook his head, "but unfortunately it's not on this island."
"I have my own steam yacht, too," Leiya said in mock surprise, "and it's on this island."
Oh! These damnable capitalists - yes, the resonator behind Su'er went off again.
"Then why don't you …" the Prince paused, "Why don't you send us off in your own boat? I'll pay you."
"The steamships used by the Sisterhood are, at worst, the 'Siren' class developed at the end of the Great War, with a speed of 101 knots and equipped with 125-caliber rapid-fire guns," Leiya laughed, "I don't know what kind of armor your yacht use, but mine can't afford one shot."
Kukur sighed with a stony face.
"So, if we can't mingle with the tourists in the harbor and leave the Delorean Island, everything is meaningless," Leiya pulled out 3 coins from the pocket of her uniform and dropped them in the middle circle, "This represents our current location, is in the central mountains of the Delorean Island, and the nearest settlement should be a Strawberry farm a few miles west - "said she took out 1 more button-like object and placed it next to the coin, "This represents our enemy, an unknown number of Sisterhood commandos. With my knowledge of them, they must have set up an ambush in the Strawberry farm. We can't go there."
"Na! Sister Leiya!" Su'er suddenly exclaimed, pointing to a small stone in the circle and interjecting, "What does this represent?"
Leiya threw a glance at her and plucked the stone away with a branch, "It means it's a stone."
The resonator behind Su'er emitted another "sting" - but this time it had no real meaning.
"If I remember correctly, there is a nearly abandoned mine in the eastern part of the mountains, left over from the mining of highly concentrated floating stones 10 years ago, where there is a track used to transport raw mineral stones. If we are lucky, we can hitch a ride to Sledgehammer Town, an industrial base in the western part of the island, then change cars or walk. We can take a loop around the island there and sneak into Port Deloraine."
"Nah, what if the Sisterhood has an ambush in the mines as well?"
Su'er's question made Leiya's eyes light up - as legend has it, Dragonfly Girl is a little bit smarter than ordinary people, and even with no combat experience, she immediately found a "loophole" in her plan.
"Because they don't know I exist yet."
Leiya smiled faintly.
"If it was only the Prince and the Princess who were still alive, they would have gone to the nearest residential area for help, not to a mine where there was no one - not to mention that, by definition, you don't know the location of the mine either. "
Su'er seemed quite satisfied with this explanation.
"When shall we set out?"
"Not so fast, I haven't made a battle plan yet."
Su'er and the Prince looked at each other.
"What?"
"A plan is necessary at all times, it's the most important rule of survival I learned in the Sisterhood." Leiya stood up and unloaded her gun from her back, "First, it goes without saying that I am the only one who can do effective damage," she tapped the butt of her gun, "Prince, you are unarmed, so remember, you must at all times take 'hiding' as your first priority, fighting is none of your business. And there is no way you can keep up with my pace and speed, so hiding behind me won't do you a bit of good. All you have to do is find a place to hide once a fight occurs."
"But! But I've learned simple magic, and I can …"
"Wow, magic, great," Leiya flirted again, "Young warrior, show a fireball for us?"
"This … I haven't learned it."
"In the old empire, combat mages needed at least 10 years of training before they could be put into active service, and you want to go into battle after learning a little base knowledge? Please, this is not the Middle Ages anymore, my king," Leiya patted his shoulder, "When we need hot water to wash our feet, I will give you the opportunity to cast 'magic', but for now, you must listen to me, understand?"
The Prince can only nod in recognition.
"And then, you-" Leiya turned to face Su'er, "I've never worked with or fought Dragonfly Girl before, but have a general idea of what you're capable of. But considering your profession as a model in the civilized world, I'm guessing you don't have much fighting power left."
"Ha, ha ha …" Su'er scratched her cheeks in embarrassment and her eyes drifted elsewhere, "About this … "
In fact, since escaping the Timo bug nest, Su'er hadn't experienced a fight - beating up the movie director who had put his hands on her didn't count as a fight.
"So you're in charge of opening the vision."
"Open …" Su'er had never heard of this military term often used by the old Imperial forces, "Open what?"
"Open the view, meaning help us scout out the environment ahead." Leiya continued, "You can fly and you're hard to be killed, so it's absolutely perfect to use you to scout out the enemy."
"Nah …" Su'er's lips were slightly open, and it took a while before she spoke, "I can't fly."
Leiya looked at her with a strange gaze, after a while, she sighed, "Girl, that's not funny."
"No kidding, I really can't fly."
Such a sincere and frank statement, coupled with Su'er's innocent and lovely smile, did not give Leiya the urge to curse - but she did anyway, "Kna'taka!"
In the ancient Elvish language this is a rather bad and classic swear word. Well, in modern times, except for some religious people in the old empire, no one knows what it means anymore, "Are you kidding me? As a Dragonfly Girl, you can't even fly? Then what's the difference between you and a hen? Huh?"
Su'er also looked a little angry, "But I can 'float'!"
"What's that?"
"It's when you take off and then glide forward quickly and low for a distance," while gesturing, Su'er opened her wings and flapped them violently, making a fly-like "buzzing" sound, "I'm good at this!"
"Oh, low glide … isn't this still what a hen can do?" Leiya let out a long sigh and covered her face with her hand, "… forget it, don't have any plans. Life is an adventure, let's put up a fight." She paused, "You two, follow me and do not leave a step. No matter when, must stay in a place where I can see you, understand?"
To take two useless and unknown children to fight with her former companions - for a moment, Leiya thought she must be crazy.
"Let's get going and try to make it to the mine before nightfall …"
She pulled the bolt hard and loaded the bullet, "May the Great God bless us!"
