Chapter 117 - Let's Rent An Airship

We visited Cadebre's Skyport to rent an Airship that we would use in our exploration.

Where is the destination of our exploration?

The answer is Death City Vulvanier.

Vulvanier is a prosperous city that collapsed hundreds of years ago. The cause of their collapse was the Magitec which was growing too rapidly. They tried to extract the Aether directly from the Ley Line but they failed.

Thanks to that failure, the Mana in all parts of the city and the surrounding areas were polluted, became unstable, and became violent. It was this change in Mana that killed everyone in the city.

Now, the city was filled with undead and a dozen types of mutated monsters. This is the reason why the Quest given by Lostria was difficult to complete.

That was enough for Vulvanier's Death City. Now, I have to think about what I should do in this remarkable Skyport.

The Skyport in front of me was three times larger than the Skyport in the city of Rishtonbell. This place is filled with so many people, the hustle-bustle, and loud noises.

And yes, there are many Airships in this Skyport. In addition to the dozens of the kingdom's Airships, some of the Airships here were owned by Merchants and individuals.

That's right, we couldn't rent the Airship belonged to the kingdom or the Merchants. So, our only option is to rent an Airship that is owned by individuals.

Commonly, Airships owned by individuals would accept a wide variety of jobs ranging from sending cargoes, becoming bodyguards, carrying people to the destinations that did not in the Skyport's destination list, exploring the middle of nowhere at the request of Adventurers, and finally, they will hunt down the Sky Pirates for the bounty.

Why do I want to hire an Airship? Didn't I have a plan to buy an Airship?

Yes, I want to buy an Airship. However, since Lostria said, it would just be a waste of money, time, and energy if I buy an Airship for this short exploration, I held the intention to buy an Airship.

Besides those,  she also explained that if I bought a new Airship, it also meant that I would have to find competent crews, take care of the engine and fuel problem, register my new Airship to the kingdom, make a flight license, and fill out my Airship with stuff like Aether Cannons, ammo, supplies, extra furniture, and so on.

And of course, those things also apply to small size Airships that can be operated by ten people.

Out of the eight people in our Party, only me and Lostria had the knowledge and experience to handle an Airship. 

Disasters would come if I bought a new small-size Airship and pushed ourselves to drive it. 

Because of that, buying a new Airship is out of the question for now.

And, In the end, I accept Lostria's advice to rent an Airship rather than buy a new one. Why? Because I didn't want any problems or unwanted accidents.

Now.

"What kind of airship do we rent?" I asked Lostria.

There were only the two of us who visited the Skyport. 

Ruciel and the kids went to visit the Adventurer's Guild to create a Quest intended to gather information regarding Agnisdesmo and others. 

Myu went to buy raw materials and ingredients that she would use to make some items I requested. The items that she will make have an important role in our exploration this time.

As for Ronove, she packed her belongings due to this sudden exploration plan. She wanted to leave the horse-drawn carriage she always used to move from one city to another in a safe place.

Lostria looked at me. "If we're going to go past the places you said before. At least we need a medium-sized Airship, armed with eight pairs of Aether Cannons. We need sufficient defense and attack power."

"All right," my fox ears twitched. "How many coins will we spend?"

"Twenty-five to thirty large gold coins. If you want a good deal, you'll probably need forty large gold coins."

"Well, we'll take a good deal. However, more than that, I want Helmsman and Crew who are trustworthy plus competent."

"Everyone wants that." She replied. "Let's don't waste time in here, let's get into the Skyport and have our business done."

"Okay," I said then followed Lostria's footsteps.

From the entrance, we straight to visit a room. In there, we conveyed our desire to rent an Airship to an employee of this Skyport.

"So... You want a medium-sized Airship owned by a female Helmsman?" Ask the woman to confirm our desire once again.

"Yes, please," I replied.

"I understand. Please wait a minute, I'll find documents of the Helmsman that matches your request."

With that, we wait.

A female Helmsman? Why?

Isn't that obvious? I hate men and Lostria just became their toy. So yes, we want a female Helmsman.

We agree, that crews under the command of female Helmsman have better nature than those under a male Helmsman.

The employee of Skyport, Lola, came back with some documents of the Helmsman we wanted. We read the documents and selected four candidates. After that, Lola invited us to meet the candidates.

The first candidate, Nindita, turned down the job we offered after she heard a few places we were going to pass through. Her airship didn't have enough defense and she was sure that her Airship would fall if it passed in those places.

As for the second candidate. It was a young man. He said that the previous Helmsman, who is his mother is retired. So, automatically, we don't hire his services.

We got a surprise when we met the third candidate. Kumala's Airship meets all the criteria we wanted. Her crew looks promising and Kumala herself has quite a lot of flying experience.

We plan to choose Kumala. But, before signing the contract, we want to see the last candidate.

Unique and delinquent is the word that pops into my head when I see Helmsman named Teria. She had an Airship that was not inferior to Kumala's Airship. Her crew was a little scary but looked competent.

She's not bad but I'm more interested in Kumala. However, Lostria instantly became familiar with that Helmsman. Because of this, we have disagreements about who we will choose.

We quarreled for some time before we finally agreed to choose our Helmsman by throwing coins.

The result is, "I lost." 

The tail of the coin didn't support my desires.

So, in the end, we hired the services of Teria, the slightly scary delinquent woman.

"Don't make that kind of expression!" Lostria scolded me.

"I didn't make any expression."

The denial I voiced got a sigh from Lostria. "Haa... Listen, Teria got the flying license from the Skyport. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with her. We can trust her and you shouldn't judge someone by her appearances."

"Okay, okay, I get it," I told Lostria. Then, I looked at Teria and reached out my hand to her to shake hands. "I am in your care, Mrs. Teria."

"Sure, leave it to me," said Teria who greeted my hand. "Tell me, do I look bad in your eyes, young girl?"

"I'm not going to say bad. You're just a little messy and scary. If you were a little neater, you'd be perfect."

"Neat huh? I'll ask you for advice on that later. But now, let's talk about the work you gave me."

With that, I, Lostria, and Teria exchanged opinions on the exploration plans to search for the Red Comet.

We talked about the route we were going through, how to deal with the monsters that attacked us along the way, choosing some places that we would use as a place to stop and rest, and so on.

A few tens of minutes passed and we managed to make a good, satisfactory plan.

As for the fee for this job, Teria asked for thirty-seven large gold coins. That already includes the cost of buying ammunition, fuel, and food supplies that she will prepare.

Lostria said it wasn't a bad deal so I accepted it.

The contract was made and we will leave in two days after our preparations are complete.

Before leaving the Skyport, I told Teria about choosing clothes and some tips to match those clothes.

Teria said she was going to try on some clothes and I promised I'd fix her choices when we met again.

After leaving Skyport, Lostria and I went to the shopping area. We will meet with Ruciel and the kids to buy supplies together. We need Potions, new weapons along with new armor, and other supplies.

After buying the supplies, we bought some new Spells.

I bought Water Manipulation, Water Pillars, Swift Gale, Blessing of Holy Light, and Light Aura.

The kids got their spells. As for Ruciel and Lostria, they refuse my offer to buy them spells.

"I have to get stronger, [Stat Open]"

『General Information』

[ Name: Eclaite | Gender: Female ]

[ Race: Three Tails Fox Beastkin ]

[ Age: 19 | Level: 10/30 ]

『Jobs』

[ E-Rank Adventurer, Courtesan ]

『Basic Statistics』

| HP: 250/254 [221] 

| MP: 346/355

| SP: 208/219

[ STR: 157  | DEX: 54 ]

[ END: 125 | Luck: 9  ]

[ AGI: 163                    ]

『Skill』

[Heart of Monster] [Doppelganger]▽

[Stealth |Lvl 1] New