Puchi!
The sand shark was split right in half, from nose to tail. Its stubby, yet powerful legs wiggled nervelessly for a couple of moments before they seized all movement. Blood would have flowed to water the sands but the flesh was cauterised. In fact, the side grew so hot that it started to smoke and burn. Underneath the corpse, the sand crystalised to glass.
Yuriko snorted in annoyance. It was the fifth attack that slipped through her sunblade screen and she had to take action. She'd been flying for half an hour and she'd already traced the caravan's route back for a couple of days. The slave caravan should be nearby, right? Hilfers had some lights active during the evening, so the slavers should shine brightly in the night. But when she flew up to the clouds, the only lights she saw were the Moonlight reflected from the Great Erithmus Lake, the lanterns from Boata Port, and the Hilfers caravan.
She'd been searching for a while now and she didn't see anything close to the route they took. It was likely that they took a different one, and in that case, she was wasting her time. 'I should've kept watch.'
But no, that would be just a waste of time. Her priorities were to get to Herrera City's Portal Gate, and then use it to reach the Eternal Tower. She already used Chaos Sight and Elemental Vision, but nothing was found. She was just about to turn back when a powerful flare of light appeared over the horizon. Curious, Yuriko flew towards that direction and a few minutes later, she found the source. It was the campsite of the slavers.
And it was on fire.
Boom! Bang! Whoosh!
As Yuriko came close enough to see, she couldn't help but look at what was happening with no small amount of appreciation. The slave caravan was being raided, and from the looks of it, the attackers outnumbered the enemy two to one. Spells flew in the air, as well as bullets, though she could see most of the latter were aimed at the edges.
Should she help them? It didn't seem necessary as the rescuers seemed to have everything in hand. Oh, she shouldn't get too close, but her Anima perception, moulded into tendrils, could already reach the action from half a longstride away.
Uh, she wasn't glowing golden light, was she? Yuriko wasn't all that good at sneaking around, especially since any active use of her abilities lit up her surroundings and come to think of it, acting at night, when her light would be visible from leagues away, hadn't been the smartest thing to do…ehehehe.
Well, she was suppressing most of her Anima underneath her robes, and the woollen fabric was thick enough that the light didn't penetrate. It was only when she flew that some light from her Anima became visible. Although, if she flew high enough, she might be mistaken for a star.
Hmmm, it was interesting what the raiders were using to fight. Most firearms were like Plasma Casters, long guns that were at least a pace long, or they were like Plasma Lancets that were about the length of her hand. These raiders were using something that was in between the two types, and unlike normal firearms, these spat out bullets at three or four times the normal rate.
Yuriko had studied the Bresian firearms, and they used clips to hold their bullets. The guns used either some kind of alchemical substance to create propulsion or used runescript nodes etched into the bullet casing that worked alongside the weapon's enchantment. The former was often used in Chaos Founts since runescript inscribed bullets that used Elemental energies to propel the bullets would fail more often than not. But it wasn't as if the alchemical version didn't fail in Chaos Founts either, just that the rate was about a fifth. They also had a failure chance in the material plane, whereas the spell-propelled ones didn't.
The ones the raiders were using were alchemical bullets which was why they were so loud. They also loaded bullets using long, rectangular magazines instead of just clips, and the bullets were etched with anti-barrier spells from the way they mowed down the slave traders.
At the same time, the slave wagons were attended to by another contingent. Corpses littered the desert sand, and the blood didn't even have a chance to pool as they were drawn into the depths. The wagons were broken open, however, but rather, the raiders took control and hitched camels to their yoke. Then, the wagons were driven away while the rest of the raiders proceeded to massacre the defenders. But soon enough, the bullets ran dry, and the slavers who'd hunkered down started their counterattack.
Raiders and slavers fell like flower blossoms, and perhaps the volume of blood exceeded the threshold, since a few minutes later, the Sandsea Desert's ground level bulged as dozens, then hundreds of land sharks and other predators surfaced. The burst of sand created a plume dozens of paces high, and then the real slaughter began. The wounded and the dead were the first ones taken, but there hadn't been enough corpses to sate the creatures' appetites, and soon they went for the slavers. At that time, the raiders had already created some distance.
Yuriko quietly followed the escaping slave wagons, now unsure who the raiders were. It was just as likely that they were also slavers and this was a raid to capture ready merchandise, though she was hoping it wasn't the case. Either way, she could just as easily free the slaves from these people as the original operators of the caravan.
The wagons practically flew across the dunes. There were five such wagons and from her preliminary scouting, there were twenty slaves contained in each one, along with some supplies. She followed them for a couple of hours, confident in using her connections with her lovers to guide her back to the Hilfers Caravan.
Although the desert had been mostly dunes, it wasn't that homogenous. There were parts with rocky formations, there were some parts that looked like the ground was like cracked skin and scales. Well, there weren't any rock formations nearby and the nearest landmark was a small oasis tucked between two tall sand dunes. Yuriko casually inspected them and found out that it was actually a stone building, a temple, that was buried in the sand. It sheltered the oasis' spring that was no larger than five paces across, and the thin perimeter that was covered in palm trees.
The raiders and the wagons entered the oasis and it was there that they cracked open the locks and freed the slaves from their confinement. The slaves clambered out of the wagons, and while the raiders didn't yell or scream, they nevertheless exuded a stringent air.
When they unlocked the shackles and collars, Yuriko's perception of the raiders changed to rescuers. They soon ushered the emancipated slaves towards the camp that had been set up and they were given water and bread.
'Well, no reason to stick around.' Yuriko decided, and just as she was about to leave, she perceived a rather familiar figure. Hmm, there were two that were familiar, but the smaller one was only a passing acquaintance. It was Mihalis from Boata Port, and Yuriko's curiosity about the boy was now satisfied. The servile air he had about him had changed to one of easy confidence.
The other had been her one-time student, Laura Mondero. The Sha'ledras adventurer's complexion was now slightly tanned, but nothing much changed. And because of what she read, Yuriko assumed that the clan was making moves against the Herrera. Well, as interesting as it was, this was no longer Yuriko's business. Ah, this must have been the urgent thing Laura said when they last met, and since she looked relatively alright, all Yuriko did was look. Then, with a shrug, she turned around and followed the connection back to Gwendith.
Perhaps they would cross paths again when Yuriko returned this way.
It took less than half an hour to return to the vicinity of the caravan, and she returned to the ground some distance away. She easily snuck into her sleeping tent, then wrapped her arms around Gwendith's sleeping body.
The next morning found herself as the little spoon and Gwendith's cheeky fingers sunk into her bosom. Yuriko giggled to herself and wiggled out of the embrace, then did her morning ablutions. Afterwards, they joined the rest of the caravan to break their fast before continuing on their journey.
Last night, Yuriko hadn't been able to clean herself, though her layer of condensed Anima kept the sand off her. Still, habits were a powerful thing and she was used to bathing every evening if she could help it. The way the desert dwellers did it was somewhat unique though, since they put up large tents, separated by gender, and heated it with braziers. A bit of water was tossed on hot rocks to make steam, and the naked people inside used bronze scrapers to sluice off sweat, sand, and filth. Unfortunately, Yuriko's body didn't sweat just from that range of temperature, but at least the steam created a layer of moisture on her skin. The scraping was pleasant though, so she looked forward to the steam baths.
The next few days of travel were again, uneventful. Relatively. A couple of days after the slave raid, the caravan was harried by desert bandits. It happened in the middle of the day, and those fools struck the trailing end of the caravan, right where Yuriko and the others were stationed.
The bandits, like every other desert dweller, were clad in heavy robes that concealed almost every inch of skin. They had long guns that they fired immediately at the outliers. The bullets, round pellets rather than a proper shell shape, struck and injured the guards. The camel-riding bandits whooped and shot more bullets as they closed in. Then they met a fierce counterattack led by Heron, who used his spells to camouflage his strength. Yuriko, on the other hand, blanketed the area with her Terror Mien, but only activated it once Heron and the others were in melee. The result? Five dead, and about two dozen captured.
"I'll pay you their bounties, my lady," The caravan representative, Augustus Hilfer, said once the hullabaloo ended. "Unknown bandits are worth ten silver coins a head alive."
"Are they going to be slaves?" Yuriko asked.
"Better than dead and the clans always need more menial workers."
Ten silvers was what life was worth, huh? Yuriko let Gwendith accept the fee and they continued on their way. The bandits, as well as their assets, riding camels and other gear, were separated across the caravan train. They received another gold coin for their share of the loot since most of it was actually spent to care for the wounded. Nobody died on their side, though someone was hit with a bullet to the spine, effectively crippling him. The bulk of the loot was given to him.
The next three days saw them crossing more of the desert. The Sandsea lived up to its name and to her eye, the dunes looked and acted like waves.
"A Conflux?" Yuriko said out loud.
"The real Sandsea," the woman who was their wagon-mate said. "The entirety of that expanse is quicksand, and while most humanoids won't drown in it, Durandir is unfortunately dense enough to sink like a rock in actual water." The woman chuckled, "The Sandsea stretched north to south throughout most of the desert region and is a significant source of water. It's not hard to cross if you're on a sandship."
"But most of those are probably owned by the clans, right?" Yuriko observed.
"Yup."
The caravan eventually moved away from the Conflux, and half a day later, they finally arrived at their destination.
The horizon in front of them was covered with greenery. Palm trees, bushes, and crops. Herrera City was not walled, and it displayed its splendour for everyone to see, thus hiding its ugliness in bright sparkles.