Chapter 37 - 37 : Lumbra City (1/2)

The next few days, the trio traveled on the bone dragon and to be honest, their traveling speed was quite decent.

Mary was dumbfounded when she rode on the dragon when she saw its speed. Lucy could only chuckle as Mary didn't even experience Arthur's speed when in lightning form so she was amazed by only this.

In truth, Arthur only planned to travel on the dragon for a few days but the two girls enjoyed traveling on the dragon as it was surprisingly comfortable so they continued to use the dragon.

....

It has been a month since they started traveling on the bone dragon, they did stop sometimes to rest and other things or else they would already arrive at the east of the continent.

Lucy and Mary continued to spar almost every day, as for Arthur he just read books or tried a few things with his magic, in fact, he came to learn many new spells thanks to Zodiak's books and even after 1 month he still didn't finish them all, plus he took all the academy's book so his collection is humongous.

There is also something that bothered Arthur, it's that he almost didn't get some alone time with Lucy, so they didn't anything except a few kisses, he felt a bit depressed but he couldn't do anything about it since Mary was here.

When they were traveling, Arthur asked Mary about the clan for more detailed information so she answered him and explained everything she knew about it.

Apparently, the clan specialized in martial arts, almost everyone there is a martial artist with immense power and skill, only a few are mages but they are weaker compared to the martial arts, even Mary she didn't know why but they have some special methods to train themselves and raise their stats by a big amount.

Since Sonia didn't have a talent for martial arts and she only was good at magic, she was sent to become the headmaster of the academy.

Mary also mentioned that the clan had more women than men, and it was because that for a mysterious reason, only women would inherit the good talents and are more suited for those special martial arts, there was indeed some men who were good at it but they were extremely few.

Also, the clan apparently controlled many facilities and had some people who attained key positions in various powerful forces in the continents, plus Mary added that the clan is very secretive, only a few people knew of its existence.

When he asked her who was in the control of such a powerful clan, Mary said that it was Sonia's big sister.

Mary even mentioned that she disliked Sonia's big sister as she was ruthless and cold-blooded, she was even a professional assassin, her skills are deadly, it was said that her talent was unimaginable and she was a true prodigy in martial arts, she controlled her clan even though she is still young.

But there is something that confused Arthur, why would anyone from the clan want him dead? Mary told him that probably Sonia's big sister is the one who wanted him dead, but why? he didn't even know that woman so why would she want him dead?

Nonetheless, he wanted to kill the one who gave that order, he did indeed promise Mary that he wouldn't touch Sonia until he investigated but he didn't know if he can control his emotions when he sees her.

He already swore that the culprit will die but there is just no reason to start massacring everyone without giving it a second thought, he didn't enjoy killing, he only killed it because he had to, so if he ever met any of the council members, he would see their reaction first and observe how will they react, will they apologize? or do something else?

The only way he would lose all rationality and start a massacre is if someone dared to hurt Lucy, at that time, none would escape from his grasp as he will mercilessly kill them all, but he hoped that time will never come and peaceful days like this would continue as he really like the current situation, just travelling with Lucy and exploring new places.

....

After 2 weeks, they finally arrived at the city which is in the far east of the continent, it was called 'Lumbra City', it was the only place people go to for a trip towards Itas continent, it had a big port full of large and small boats.

Arthur called back the bone dragon several miles from the city then proceeded by foot with the others, it was better not to attract attention to avoid any unnecessary troubles.

Actually, Arthur planned to travel the sea on the bone dragon but Lucy and Mary wanted to go by boat so he could only give up on the idea of traveling on the dragon.

By boat, the trip would take a long time but he just couldn't refuse a request from Lucy.

Very soon, they arrived at the city and entered it after paying some money for the entrance fee.

Lumbra city was considered a bustling city, as it was in a very strategical place, it was near the sea so merchants would often come and go to trade things they got from the other continent.

Arthur also noticed that there is a lot of beggars and poor people in here, there was a lot of stalls set by rich merchants, they were selling various things at outrageous prices, other than that there were some kids and old people selling flowers or simple things, they looked in a bad shape, ragged clothes and dirty appearance.

Mary couldn't help but stop walking, take out a gold coin from her storage than say

”I like your flowers, how about you give this big sister the flowers and take this and buy a good meal?”

Mary really couldn't handle seeing little kids working like this, they were very young and still didn't learn anything about life yet here they are work every day to get money for food and shelter

”T-thanks big sister, but I can't a get meal until I sell all my flowers or else Uncle bald will beat us again”

A little boy, approximately 5 or 6 years old accompanied by 2 other kids took the gold coin excitedly and replied to Mary.

A gold coin could let them leave for a year if they preserved right and didn't waste anything on useless stuff, but unfortunately, this money was not for him and he had to give all his earning at the end of the day.

Mary could only nod towards the boy and patted his head gently while forcing a smile, seeing kids like this smile made her heart ache as she was very sensitive towards things like this.

One must know she met Sonia when she was 6 years old, and before that, she lived in the western continent, the wasteland, it was truly an awful place, full of bloodshed and wars, she lived a couple of years in poverty, so she in someway is similar to those kids.

After a short while, Mary reluctantly let go of the kids and turned to Arthur and Lucy, she apologized for the delay but Lucy told her it's alright.

They went for the port to search for a boat to travel on, actually it's almost impossible to find a boat that will travel immediately as it needs passengers and preparation, nevertheless they headed to the port to reserve some places and wait until it's time for the trip, though Arthur wanted to find the boat which will travel sooner as he didn't want to stay here for long.

..

It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination, however, the port was bustling with people, there were even some stalls which sold fish and other sea food.

Seeing the seafood, Lucy's eyes lit up and she hurriedly went to buy some, she also dragged Mary with her.

As for Arthur, he began to search for a suitable boat, in fact, there was really a lot of them, there was even some with a symbol of some sort on them, so he guessed they must be owned by a power such as the church or maybe a guild.

The most eye-catching ones were ones which had a symbol of a horse, all those boats were built by some kind of dark red wood which looked quite sturdy, plus it all those boats had a special demeanor, there were armed guards standing there and they looked like experienced fighters.

Arthur picked random boats which had this symbol and went on it to talk with the captain to reserve some places if possible.

Just as he was going to enter the boat, the armored men standing there to guard rushed at Arthur and pointed their arms at him while saying

”This is a private property, please turn around and go away, or else don't blame us for attacking you!”

Hearing this and seeing their attitude, Arthur furrowed his brows and retorted

”I am only here to talk with your captain, Since this boat is heading towards Itas continent, I want to reserve some places”

Actually, due to his good hearing, he managed to eavesdrop and get some useful information, apparently those boats with the horse symbol are all going to the Itas continent, and they all belong to the 'E-Clips Company', it's a trading company and it has a large influential power, it has many branches in all continents and it's said that its fortune is unbelievable.

There is 2 main Headquarters of the E-clips Company, one is on the western continent and the other is in Itas continent, and to be honest, it's quite a smart and wise decision to make the headquarters there, considering that those 2 continents don't have an official ruler so they can freely act there.

There are many other trading companies like this, but this one was the most known, be it slaves, legendary items, strong skill books or even simple things, they handled them all and this company is renewed to be the best amongst its peers.

Arthur also heard that those ships are transporting items from this continent to the Itas continent and apparently the head of the E-clips company is also here.

While looking around, Arthur saw a ship bigger than the others and many times more luxurious, it even had gold in it and looked more majestic, he guessed that it's definitely the main ship which the head of the company will be, but in truth, which ever ship suited him as long as it takes him to his destination so he chose a random one which looked ordinary much like the others ones except the main ship of course.

The guards were stunned for a second before saying

”This is not some inn or a carriage to reserve a place, this boat is used to hold 'goods' so you cannot travel in it”

The guards relaxed when they heard what said and they replied to him calmly, in fact, they thought it was a spy or some thief, as those kind of accidents would happen a lot.

”It that so? but I'm willing to pay a lot, are you sure the captain is not interested?”

The guards didn't react and kept solemn faces.

”Sir, please leave, even if you pay a lot, you still cannot ride on this ship!”

Just as they said that, a middle-aged man came from behind them in neither quick nor slow pace, he appeared quite irritated for some reason, once he arrived near the guards, he started yelling

”Damn fools, this lord proposed to pay a lot just for some places yet you refuse? don't you even know the motto of our company? 'if you have a chance to earn money then take it!' , ahh! what a bunch of ignorant fools, get out of my face!”

This middle-aged man snapped at the guards for sometimes, when they hurriedly left he turned towards Arthur and bowed his head while saying

”Please excuse my subordinates, normally we were instructed to refuse anyone who wants to ride on the ship but I just happened to hear you are willing to pay a lot, so why not accept your request? Please don't think bad of our company, it's just that every gold coin counts for us and whatever profit we gain is beneficial to us so when an esteemed person like you proposes a good offer, of course, we have to graciously accept”

The middle-aged man spoke respectfully, but he truly was too shameless, he announced his intentions right away and declared that he only accepted Arthur's proposal because he would pay a lot.

Though Arthur despised this kind of people, they would grasp any opportunity to gain money, even though gold coins are mere objects and in a life and death situation, it's not those gold coins that will save you but your strength, nevertheless he didn't speak his thoughts and kept them to himself, each and every person had a thing they liked to obtain, this man, for example, was hungry for gold coins.

”Hahaha, no problem! Since you are accepted, then let's cut to the chase, I want to reserve 3 places, name your price”

There was no need to talk about needless things, Arthur straight out asked for a price, he didn't want to befriend this kind of people, he just wanted to get this over with.

In fact, greedy or evil people, that had nothing to do with him, if they didn't provoke or annoy him then he would ignore them too, so as long as this man doesn't go over the line then it's fine.

”Oh, so this esteemed man want to reserve 3 places, right..., how about 1.000 gold each!”

Normally, a trip from Lumbra city to Itas continent would cost at most 200 gold even though the trip is long, there may be an attack from pirates or monsters, so the price cannot be that high, but this man asked for a whopping 1.000 gold, he really is shameless.

”Deal!”

Without any thought, Arthur agreed, for him, this amount of gold is nothing, heck! even if he asked for 10.000 gold coins each he would have accepted either, it's not like he was lacking either, the gold he had would last him for a few lifetimes, Zodiak was filthy rich, Arthur could only continuously thank Zodiak for leaving all his fortune behind.

Once he thought of Zodiak, a thought struck him, why did he not get another portion of his power, I mean, his intelligence already increased by a lot, but still, he didn't unlock another portion, maybe there is a specific condition he needs to trigger? Well it's not like he was in urgent need of it, he was just wondering, he shrugged that idea off and decided to think about it later.

..

As for the middle-aged man, once he saw Arthur agree right away, he felt happy yet depressed, he was happy because he managed to earn 3.000 gold coin this easily but he felt sad because he didn't ask for a higher price.

He smiled back at Arthur and spoke

”Great, tomorrow morning we will begin our trip, as for the payment you can pay me tomorrow, this one's name is Koez, I will instruct the guards to not block you like today..”

Arthur just nodded towards Koez while saying

”Since that's the case then I will come back tomorrow with my companions, I'm called Arthur”

After they shaken hands, Arthur left the ship and went to look for Lucy and Mary.

It didn't take him long to find both of them, they were still buying sea food, especially Lucy, it seems she bought a whole lot of it and stored them in her ring, she loved this type of food so she spent a lot of gold on it. She almost emptied the whole shops.

Actually, the central cities did not always sell seafood and only nobles or rich people can afford to buy them, plus their cost would be many times higher than in here so Lucy grasped this opportunity and bought whatever she liked.

She already got a ring which contained a billion or so gold coin given to her by Arthur, he wanted to give her more but she refused to say that if he ever needed more then she would ask him, so basically, she had no shortage of money.

”I already reserved places for us in a ship, we will depart tomorrow morning”

Arthur informed them about the trip's matter, Lucy only nodded while smiling at him as for Mary she stared at him curiously then said

”T-this fast?.. did you perhaps pay more than the normal price?”(Mary)

”Indeed..but that doesn't matter, it's not like we lack gold, hehe~~”

Hearing his answer, Mary could only nod her head, in fact, she knew that they had a lot of gold, Lucy vaguely told her that their fortunes is immense but she didn't precise, so Mary only guessed that they had a couple of thousands gold.

A million at best, and even with that, paying a lot for a trip seemed a huge waste, especially when there was poor people struggling even to gain a gold coin, but it's not like Arthur cared about them, he pitied them but every person has to care for himself just like Arthur did, sometimes he would help when the situation is extreme but other than that he will not interfere.

...

They soon found an inn and booked two rooms for the night, the inn wasn't that bad and it had some good hospitality, but unlike last time, there was no problem, though Lucy still attracted a lot of attention, none dared to take action.

It was already sunset when they went to the inn since the day is almost over, Mary went to her room, as for Arthur and Lucy, they went to theirs.

It was not until an hour passed did they start enjoying themselves, in fact, they didn't make love for more than a month now so they fully released their desires and went at it for hours, but in the middle of the deed, Arthur happened to hear Mary leave her room and head downstairs, however, even after hearing that, he paid it no heed and continued enjoying himself with Lucy, after all, Mary was an adult and she can take care of herself.

Arthur and Lucy only stopped late at night, they held themselves because of Mary, but now they released all their pent-up desires, especially Lucy, she missed doing that more than Arthur but she had to hold herself for the sake of Mary, after all, they just couldn't do it in her presence.