Chapter 49 - Airboat
The Stella Federation consisted of four districts, the south, north, west, and east district.
Seaside City is one of the cities belonging to the East District.
At the moment, Jem and the others were traveling towards the nearest town from the Seaside City, the Mauve Town.
The reason that he agreed to tag along was, it was uncommon for a young person like him to sell materials like the monster cores.
People would get suspicious of him if, out of a sudden, someone as young as him would sell several monster cores at once.
He didn\'t care about what others might think about him, but. He could not do things unreasonably.
Although he became a little stronger after his conquest of the labyrinth, it didn\'t change that he was a small fish in a giant pond.
He was still ignorant of the world. He knew so little about it. That\'s why. He should be careful of his actions.
Nonetheless, not all shops in Seaside City were closed. But it didn\'t mean that all shops would buy monster cores.
Just because he agreed with Leanne Hope\'s invitation to come along with them, it didn\'t mean he trusted her. If he thought of it logically, his decision was a better choice compared to walking around while trying to find one shop out of many.
Looking for one out of many was exhausting, physically and mentally, especially when you don\'t know the exact location.
That\'s why coming along with them was more beneficial to him. Just because he was betrayed before and suffered, it didn\'t mean he had to act alone all the time. What he learned in the labyrinth was to be more vigilant. Involving himself with other people was unavoidable. No matter what he did, at the end of the day, he was still one of that despicable race. So avoiding contact with them was difficult.
Though, he never lowered his guard while in the presence of other people. He also tried not to get too involved with them. That\'s why he would rather avoid talking to them and stay silent the whole trip.
His view towards other people would never be the same as how it used to be before the labyrinth time.
Regardless, he just needed to get done with it and get cash in selling the materials with him.
About the danger of getting betrayed? Only heaven could tell. No one was omnipotent against betrayal.
In this case, he just needed to believe in his luck. But, if that is going to happen. They must be ready for the consequences of their actions as Jem would not hold back in doing something that they would never wish for in their whole life.
If things turn south for him, or if the other party is stronger than him, he has a way to escape.
With his newly acquired power, the dimensional territory, he had a great chance to escape a difficult situation. Though, he would never say one hundred percent because that is outright hypocrisy. There\'s no absolute one hundred percent in regards to one\'s safety.
After hearing the name that came out from the nun\'s mouth, the nun finally noticed a slight change in his expression. It was a tiny change that happened in an instance only.
The name she spoke of was not only familiar to him. It was the name of the person he held dear.
His grandfather.
"I see. I will relay it to the person if given a chance to meet," was his reply to the nun. Even with the slight surprise, he still managed to get back his calm.
Though, he was curious. He wanted to ask how she knew his grandfather, but he decided against it at the last second. Anyhow, if he wanted to know, he just needed to go home and ask his grandfather about it.
The nun could not help but secretly amazed, and at the same time, doubted him.
His calm demeanor was unusual for a person of his age. How can such a young man have this level of calmness?
At first, she thought he was the type of person with a few words. But as she was observing him, he seemed to be beyond that. In their conversation, he only replied in simple yet straightforward words, always attempting to put a stop to the conversation.
She had no idea if he was hiding something or he just disliked conversing. This young man intrigues her for some reason. There was a weird similarity between him and that Oldman.
"Fufufu. Thank you very much, then," Sister Ann said as she bowed slightly in his direction. The young man in front of her nodded slightly. She decided to put an end to their conversation. She could not provoke such a person, who was the savior of these two girls.
The rest of their trip was finally a peaceful one. But in truth, not entirely. Who would have thought that the girl beside him would be snoring so loud?
Jem was secretly amazed that she could sleep in such a situation. Probably, because of exhaustion.
It also happened to him sometimes in the labyrinth. Whenever he survived a hard-fought battle, his body would fall asleep even in any kinds of situation.
Contrary to Leanne Hope, the other girl was sleeping peacefully.
Jem sighed inwardly.
Then he focused his gaze outside. The scenery gives him a pleasant feeling. The falling snowflakes were slowly embracing the canary fields and slowly painted them in white. But it didn\'t take long. The snow was disappearing along with the white world.
A few moments later, the sun peeked out, granting warmth to the country. It was evident that the winter season in the federation would come to an end soon. Then, a new spring would come to greet the country.
\'I\'m finally outside, huh,\' Jem thought in nostalgia.
After almost an hour of travel, they could finally see the canopy of buildings ahead of them. It was the Mauve Town.
However, a kilometer before they reached the town, they heard unusual sounds.
Zooooom!
Zooooom!
Zooooom!
CREAAAAK!!! The carriage came to a sudden stop, causing panic to the people inside.
"Kyaaaahhh!!!"
Leanne Hope shrieked when she suddenly felt pains on her face. Her face was forcibly pressed on the carriage\'s frame, which she used to lean her head.
"Ngh! W-What\'s happening?" Sister Ann groaned and asked in a pained voice. She suffered the same as Hope. Fortunately, she was able to hold on to Meir.
Because of Hope\'s shriek, Meir woke up. "W-what happened…?" She asked. She blinked her eyes several times to clear her vision, but. Then, after clearing her vision, her eyes widened on the spot.
She noticed a familiar face in front of her!
"Ehhh!" But before Meir could open her mouth once again, they heard a piece of bothersome news coming from the coachman.
"Sister Ann, t-the rebels!"
"What!?"
Sister Ann\'s face instantly turned pale upon hearing it.
The jolt caused by the unceremonious stop did not cause any displeasure to Jem. That moment when he was gazing outside, he noticed some people riding flying vehicles. They speedily overtake the carriage.
Jem felt a foreboding feeling just looking at them. So, he subconsciously gripped the horizontal pole on the carriage ceiling.
A second after that, the sudden stop happened.
It wasn\'t the first time he saw those vehicles. He saw some of those when he was still in the Academy. However, only rich people could afford to buy it.
Based on what he knew about it, that vehicle was made of wood as its body, and metal as the frame. Then it was powered using a special artifact as the engine. The design was similar to a boat (Flying Jet Ski). But unlike a boat, it could hover half a meter above from the ground. Thus, the vehicle is called Airboat!