"Alright, but what about the second sister?" YunYun voiced the question Zia asked earlier, not paying attention to the two bickering.
"It's not that easy, but solvable as well." Nick answered, "It is highly likely the second sister should be at least partially immobile, because if she could, she should've joined the third in her search. Dragon isles is big and dangerous place and another experienced expert only could provide a crucial help. Thus, she sits somewhere and sucks the life out of other people, but somewhere where her atrocities could be hidden. And your idea about hiding disappearance of the populace behind slavery is valid."
Zia intended to raise some arguments, but before she could, Nick continued, "First of all, I doubt she's on the Nestri continent, but that is more based on intuition that the three sisters would prefer to stay in the same region, I don't have a real proof for that. Next, Lori kingdom housed the creepy goddess and the resources from the whole country were dedicated towards her, well most likely partially towards the third sister as well. It's hard for such poor country to house another vampire like them, especially to keep it hidden from the investigative forces of king Spenser. The only remaining place is the Sand kingdom."
"That might be so, but the Sand kingdom is a real kingdom and king Canute is a famous tyrant. I doubt he would let someone abduct his people right under his nose." Although YunYun was a sword maniac, as a princess she experienced a throughout education and know quite a bit about the global politics.
"Indeed. That leaves only one option." Nick smiled back and, seeing two confused gazes, explained, "There is a deal between king Canute and the second sister, or maybe the goddess or the bishop. Anyway, no matter who was the one who concluded the deal, the second sister most likely is in the territory of the Sand kingdom."
"A deal?" Zia was still confused.
"Exactly." Nick nodded, "Maybe it's dozens or even hundred years old, but he still keeps his side of the deal."
"Why?" Zia asked.
"Obviously, because it's in some way advantageous." Nick said and immediately explained, "Think, what the Sand kingdom gets from the poor Lori kingdom? The support of manpower in the almost never ending war with the Sun kingdom!
"Alright, let me make a few guesses now." YunYun's energetically jumped in, "At some point Lori and Sand agreed that Lori will help in the war, while a key person will be allowed to remain somewhere in the Sand's territory despite the fact that this person will sometimes bring losses to the Sand kingdom. But obviously it couldn't happen in the middle of it or the prosperous areas, otherwise she would've been found out and that leaves us with …"
YunYun stopped and her eyes widened.
"What is it! Where is she! You two!" Zia started to get upset.
"Sigh, most likely she is somewhere where the war activities are taking place. It's unlikely king Canute allows her to freely feed on his own people, therefore most likely her replenishment mostly comes from the war victims." Nick explained.
"That b*tch!" She is killing my people!" Zia jumped on her feet, "Let's go! My brother should know where to find her!"
"Well. I was leaning more towards getting information from general William Grant, but your brother might have become an expert during these years and know a thing or two as well." Nick smiled at his energetic friend, "Indeed, we should pay them a visit, except let us depart in the afternoon. It's too hot for now."
They continued their discussion for few more hours. Although a lot was based on guesses and assumptions, Nick's theory sounded logical and he himself was surprised how it turned out. Truth to be told, he was just putting pieces of information together when they left Moira and part only after they sat down, but if he confidently told someone all of it, many people would tend to believe.
He decided to remain critical and firstly report to the king Alexander Maxwell and his experts. Their experience was much more wast than his and they had to have their own theories as well. This was, actually, the main reason he wanted to rush back.
Of course, it was inevitable to visit prince Helio on the way. Zia and him didn't have particularly warm relationship, but he was her brother and she did miss him for some reason after not seeing for so many years. More importantly, they would bring news about the Lori kingdom's army turning back or, if the news already reached the prince, more detailed information on that.
The short time they spent in Moira was too stressful, therefore all three youths relaxed while continuously speeding over the dry fields of the Lori Kingdom. Sometimes they ran on a yellow grass, sometimes sand and sometimes pieces of land that was covered in cracks from drought.
"Do you think it will rain more in this land after Zia destroyed that formation under the temple?" YunYun asked.
"No. The climate change won't be that drastic. Albeit the people in Moira will have it a bit better. I don't see how such formation could cause drought hundreds of kilometers away. And the desert between Lori and Sand kingdoms has to be naturally formed and it influences region the most." Nick explained, "If you want to enjoy a climate change, you will tonight if we manage to reach the mountains."
"What do you mean?" Zia was confused.
"You probably noticed that for some time we are running uphill. Of course, we can barely feel it and it doesn't tire us at all, but we are getting higher and higher above the sea level. And, when we reach the mountain ranges, most likely it will be cold, much colder than in Aurora. Of course, it's wintertime now so it's normal." Nick said.
"But why? Aren't we even more south than Nola kingdom? Why can be there such a nice tropical climate, but here … well … here sucks!" Zia didn't like this half desert at all, in fact, none of them did.
"It probably has something to do with the continental climate here and, of course, the lack of water." Nick replied.
"What do you mean? It's the same continent, isn't it?" Zia asked. Apparently the medieval education didn't pay that much attention to the geography because YunYun also was listening to the conversation with a great interest.
"It is. But with 'continental climate' I meant the climate that is in the middle of the continent, far from the ocean. Similar to how it is in Aurora compared to the distant towns directly to the east – Aurora enjoys much milder winters while the summers are also more pleasant." Nick did his best to explain.
"So basically the further from the ocean, the more dry the climate is and the colder in winter and hotter in summer?" YunYun asked.
"Exactly!" Nick smiled back.
"Then why didn't you just say so? Zia pouted, but still held back from punching him. She was really afraid Nick's threat might have been real.
"Sigh, sorry." Nick just shook his head. Zia hadn't change in these few years at all and, in fact, that was a great feeling.
Several hours later, right before the sunset, the trio saw the first mountain tops in the north. Even though they ran for a long time, they weren't really tired. The only complain, of course, was the dry air, even for Nick. He quickly solved the situation by promising everyone similar herbal baths they enjoyed in Selva's royal palace.
After Nick mentioned the unlikely possibility of finding wild hot springs, majority immediately decided to turn directly north and proceed along the mountain ranges, maybe even explore those a little. Once again Nick could only shake his head and under his nose murmur how 'bored girls were not best candidates for a democratic discussion'.
The night was clear and the stars and the moon shone brightly when the three youths arrived at the slopes of the mountain ranges in the north east of the Lori kingdom. While all of them longed for a change in the scenery and were fed up with the dry plains, the view in front made them depressed.
On their way the two girls hoped to finally enjoy picturesque mountain sights, but Nick figured they shouldn't be far from the Holy Order's base and he still remembered the beautiful sight from the grand elder's balcony. Unfortunately the reality was anything but that. In front of them stretched seemingly endless mountain range without any signs of life – animals or vegetation. Except for some moss or rare patch of grass between the rocks, there was nothing else here.
Feeling down, they found a large cave in a wall of a steep cliff and decided to rest for few hours in hopes that after the sunrise surroundings would look less gloomy. Few minutes later all three were already asleep. They didn't have the necessity for someone to keep watch since they hadn't seen any signs of life for over two hours and, in addition, their Qi master's senses were sharp enough to wake up if any wildlife tried to approach.
None of them realized how tired they were and soundly slept till noon. But when one after another woke up and went outside, their mood quickly returned to the same they had last night.
Indeed, there was nothing pleasant to the eye around, except if one was a huge fan of gray rocks, cliffs and sand. They quickly decided to immediately leave, but then Nick suddenly stopped in his tracks and told the girls to wait.
He quickly went in back in the cave and in the deepest part unloaded the remains of the dried up corpses that he kept taking out from the belt they found on the 'goddess' body.
"What are you doing?" Zia asked a question with an obvious answer seeing him treating the dead people he didn't know with, what she considered, an unnecessary care.
"This bugged me the whole yesterday." Nick answered, "These people ended their lives in suffering and I want to at least bury them properly."
"Shouldn't you dig a grave or something? How being piled up in the cave is a proper burial?" Zia asked.
"Well. This will be their grave. You'll see." Nick said and sent her a sad smile.
He finished only an hour later while girls were patiently waiting outside. Actually he could've done this job in five minutes, but for some reason he felt he owed these people.
"Oh, that's what he thought of." YunYun finally understood when she saw Nick fiddling with something at the cave's entrance.
"Let's go!" Few seconds later Nick shouted and immediately ran away with the two girls following.
They heard a loud 'boom' behind them and, when they turned back, there was no sign of the cave's entrance – only a pile of rocks and a large could of dust.
But before girls could relax, they heard Nick cursing, "F*ck!"
And they immediately understood why – starting from the former cave's entrance, one after another tens of cracks spread to all sides and, just like a spider web, covered the whole cliff's wall that was several hundred meters tall.
"What are you standing there for? Run!" Nick's shout woke the girls up from stupor and they dashed directly away from the cliff without looking back.
For a few seconds nothing happened and the trio was already several hundred meters away. They just stopped to look back when the cliff collapsed with a thundering sound. All three of them immediately understood they have underestimated the destruction Nick caused and started running again when the cloud of dust caught up to them.
"Sorry about that." Nick said after sneezing a couple of times.
"What in the world did you do?" YunYun asked, trying her best to stay polite.
"Uhm … I didn't think it through properly. I should've probably just used rank three cores to cover the entrance." Nick apologized, while Zia was laughing out loud.
"Hahaha! That was fun! I hope those people also enjoyed their funeral!"
The other two looked at each other and laughed along Zia. Even though burring hundreds of people was not a happy occasion, they did look hideous now, all covered in dust.