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CHAPTER START---
Deep beneath the waves of the blue open ocean, Oberon flies about within a safe Gravity Magic air bubble.
Looking up at the midday sun high above him, barely reaching him at this depth, he spots the hull of his ship before refocusing on his new friends.
Flipping to his right, he moves closer and extends his right hand outward, releasing spheres of glowing yellow light into the water, illuminating the dozens of massive greyish-blue whales swimming around him.
They barely notice the light and continue swimming, unbothered.
Even as Oberon seamlessly moves between them, above them, under them, and eventually stops beside his new friend and swims alongside him.
A baby whale, already 33ft -10m- long, but nothing compared to his monolithic mother swimming beside him. She was already 70m -210ft- long and four stories high.
The baby whale opens its mouth, and the water around it shakes, its innate Sound Magic sending tremors through the water that could shake a human to death and do much the same to most predators.
In its infancy, it releases these while getting used to them itself, which, judging by her mimicking his action, its mother finds adorable.
Oberon smiles as all the whales do the same thing, and he's completely unbothered by it. His Gravity Barrier was now so absolute that he couldn't even hear the ear-bursting sounds they made, much less feel the body-shattering vibrations they released.
After a few seconds, the baby slows, and the other whales do the same to match his pace.
Oberon sees his chance and once more gets closer, weakening his Gravity Barrier enough to get close and press it against the whale.
Then, with a broad smile on his face, he reaches out and pets his friend once more, pushing his hand through the Gravity Barrier and into the freezing cold ocean water.
The whale doesn't react, too busy catching its breath to even notice the tiny creature gently touching it.
Oberon studies the strange slimy sensation of the whale's skin, gently pushing his hand against it and feeling layers upon layers of muscle beneath the thin sheet of blubber on its back.
Oberon smiles and rolls away, pulling his hand back into the Gravity Barrier, and using the barrier to clean away the slime as his hand enters.
He moves away from the baby as it recovers and releases another set of vibrations, and peacefully observes the family with a smile on his face.
"Lucky." He sadly mutters while looking at the baby and its mother, then he takes a deep breath. "Stale air."
He looks up, spotting his ship, and rockets to the surface, erupting from the ocean and startling some of the crew on deck when he lands on the railing, perfectly dry.
A tall, dark-skinned woman walks over to him, wearing a military-esque uniform, with long curly hair loose at her back, and a Magic Pistol at her hip.
"Captain Carit, how much longer?" Oberon asks while looking at the landmass on the horizon.
"Not long enough for another swim with your new friends. We'll reach the dock within the hour."
"That's good, four days on this ship is more than enough."
"Excuse me?"
He shoots her an apologetic look. "No, uh, I mean. I'm just excited to get the Job started, that's all. Your ship is wonderful."
He gestures at the small luxury yacht, which secretly doubles as a smuggling vessel.
"Better than most hotels, really."
She rolls her eyes, then ruffles his hair, annoying him. "Good thing you're strong, maybe when you're older that'll be enough to get the girls to like you… because you certainly ain't charming."
Oberon hastily pats his hair back into place while muttering, "I can be charming. I'm super charming…"
An hour later, Oberon is standing on the railing at the front of the vessel as they approach a small city, nestled within a desert valley, caged in on all sides by lifeless stone and sand with matching landforms out for the shore, forming a natural defense from the destructive waves.
"Why are you always standing on the railing?" Captain Carit asks as she takes her spot beside him while they approach the city.
"I'm not standing on it."
"I know how your barrier works, still don't like the sight of you standing there."
"Good thing I'm leaving the ship soon."
As they approach, carefully navigating between the natural defenses of the bay, the city comes into proper view.
A collection of houses and buildings carved from single pieces of rock, matching the surrounding mountain and ground.
The roofs were much the same, with only a few having glass windows, as most were protected with wooden shutters. But closer to the port, the buildings were made of either wood or brick, while farther away, the buildings blended more and more into the natural yellow-orange rock of the desert.
"Wow, weird buildings," Oberon mutters as he notices most of the buildings were three to five stories tall, and the scale of them individually was similar to the Fairy Tail Guildhall, but the quality was poorer.
"This port doesn't get much trade. Minstrel only really exports ore, and not from the West Coast. This is just a fishing village, mostly."
"Mostly?"
He turns to her, and she gestures back to the middle of the forward deck where her crew is removing small crates from a Magic Bag that was hidden in a tiny compartment.
Each crate was larger than Oberon, while the bag was only the size of a backpack.
"Where'd you get that?"
"It's a family heirloom. This is a family trade after all, no idea where you'd get one these days."
"Damn."
They turn back to the city as the harbormaster signals them to a secluded spot at the edge of the docks.
"Make sure you don't forget anything on my boat. We'll restock and be here for three weeks, then I'm gone, with or without you, got it?"
"Yeah, I'll be back before that."
"I get paid either way. What you do is your business."
"Thanks for having confidence in me…jerk." Oberon leaps off the boat before she can respond and lands on the dock.
The harbormaster is shocked by this, but Captain Carit quickly waves him over to her as the boarding ramp is connected to the docks.
The man sees her and smiles, ready for his wallet to get fatter from her usual business.
Walking across the wooden harbor and into the sandy rock city, Oberon immediately stood out.
Every local in this area of Minstrel has tan skin and is wearing either cloth wraps on their head or face to protect them from the scorching heat and blistering sand grains picked up by the intense wind.
While he casually strolls through the long main street leading from the harbor to the main gate of the city, and the desert beyond, with his casual combat attire and caucasian skin exposed to the wind and heat.
Some of them even appeared concerned, assuming he was the child of someone who stopped to restock before going to the Sothern Isles and was wandering about alone.
But the moment he took out a Magic Card and withdrew a map, they knew to keep their distance.
Looking at the map and the notes beside it, he walks down the main street carefully, reading the foreign language on each sign. Or more accurately, matching the symbol with his notes, until he eventually finds the place he's looking for.
'Oh, come on!' Oberon has to stop himself from screaming as, once again, the meeting place is a bar. 'Why the heck can't my clients get it through their heads that I'm 9!'
Looking around to make sure nobody is watching him too closely, he spots more than a dozen locals curiously casting glances at him while he stands in front of the bar.
"Whatever," he mutters before pushing open the saloon-style doors and entering, holding his breath and expecting someone to come kick him out.
But within the half-occupied bar, nobody pays him any mind.
At least until the bartender whistles, pulling his attention to the tall, rotund man cleaning the counter.
He expects the man to kick him out when everyone turns to look at him, but the man signals him over to the bar, and everyone goes back to what they were doing.
Oberon approaches with visible hesitation, but the man looks him up and down before nodding. "King of Fairies?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Symbol?" the man asks with a thick accent.
Oberon shows his Guildmark on his inner right forearm, and the man nods.
"Ahh, good. I am guide."
"You're my guide. Alright. So…when do we leave?"
"Four days," the man holds out his finger, which Oberon is thankful for because his accent made it difficult to decipher.
"What? No. Why not today?"
The man shakes his head. Then thinks very carefully to find words in Oberon's language. "Sandstorms. Big. Bad omen. Too deadly. Impossible."
"I can protect us."
"No, no. I die, my family is sad. Four days. Enjoy town until."
Between the language barrier and the obvious delay in his Job, Oberon feels a headache forming.
"Do you know where it is?" Oberon asks.
The man nods.
"Alright," Oberon takes out his map and places it on the counter. "I'll go alone, you can stay safe. Your job is done. Deal?"
The man looks at Oberon as if the boy had grown a second head. "Sandstorms already killed people going there. Will kill you too."
"I'll be fine, and you'll stay safe." He takes out a pencil and places it on the map.
The man looks between the map and the boy, then, with much hesitation, draws a circle on the map.
"Thank you."
"No," the man places a hand on the map before Oberon could take it, then points at part of it. "Canyon, go around."
Oberon makes a note on the map.
The man points to another part. "Sand River. Fast, hot, death. Go upstream to bridge, here."
Oberon makes another note.
"Good. Ten days' walk. Animals no go into sandstorm."
"Thank you," Oberon takes the map and carefully stores it in the card before leaving the bar.
He steps out of the bar and takes one last glance at the main street before making a beeline to exit the city.
CHAPTER END---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]