“I never saw him before.”
Jack was shocked to see such a high bounty on Arthur. What did he do?
The admiral looked at Jack for some time and left. He sighed in relief.
“I thought I would get into trouble.”
He waited for them to sail in another direction before continuing his trip.
~~~~
Arthur waited near a river. It was the place he chose for Kai to practice, and after waiting for some time, Kai showed up.
“I’m sorry for being late. Class took a little longer today.”
“No problem.”
“Could you please show me how far you’ve gone with the water essence?” Arthur said.
Kai nodded and went near the river to absorb the water essence. It was easy for Arthur to feel it, as he was someone that could use all elements.
“Good, good. You progressed a lot in these past days. Come, let’s choose a technique together.”
Arthur had that diary in hands, open in the wyvern water element section. There were a few techniques Kai could start learning that fit his beginner level in the water essence training.
“Can I choose two?”
“That would be double the work. Are you sure? Remember that if I don’t see a decent progress, I’ll kick your ass.”
Kai’s body shook with just the thought of it, but he still kept his goals and try to learn two techniques.
He chose one that made him able to create two water wings, similar to Arthur’s. And another technique that allowed him to create a water spear.
“Are you sure you want these two?”
“I’m especially this wings, he.”
“Fire wings are still better.”
“Your ass.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, nothing, he.”
Arthur used his fire wings to show Kai, but also to leave.
“You know that unfortunately I’m very busy, and I can’t help you directly cause these are wyvern techniques, but I’ll try my best if you have questions. Good luck.”
“No problem, bro. I’ll look for you if any doubt hinders my path.”
“Good. See you later, Kai.”
Arthur flew away, returning to the school. He was Kai’s teacher, yet couldn’t really help him. It was more like he was in his personal library of techniques, and Kai had to mostly learn on his own.
Not that it was bad. Arthur was sure he had no talent to teach others, at least not yet.
The people Arthur hired worked on the recreation area construction until 6 or 7 pm, then they would return to the village, as there was no place for them to sleep inside the academy.
That was not ideal for them, but the amount of gold Arthur was paying them made them do anything.
“People always go after money, huh?”
~~~~
Arthur’s days comprised the same. He would check if the students were actually studying, check if the workers were building something, and have sex with Wisa.
The strangest part was Jane, who would try to please him every day, be it with a home cooked breakfast or lunch.
It was as if she was trying to compete with Wisa.
“Did she hear it?” Arthur thought.
That routine continued for a week until someone reached the island. It was Jack.
“Jack, my friend.”
Arthur waited by the shore, and could not help but to notice Jack’s strange face.
“Did something happen?”
Jack then explained to him everything. That an admiral was looking for him, and the fact he now had a bounty of 100,000 gold coins.
“What? How did that happen, anyway? I did nothing wrong.”
“Are you sure you didn’t kill anyone?” Jack said, crossing his arms.
“Maybe.”
“Idiot.”
He had to hold the urge to slap Arthur in the face.
Anyway, he put that aside and was excited about the treasure.
“You want to go looking for it today? Without resting?”
“Absolutely. You and me will look for it. As for my crew, they will rest and only help us if needed.”
Jack took out the treasure map, which had a X marked somewhere on the island. It had few details, which meant they would have to look for it.
“It is near these three trees. Did you see anything like that?” Jack pointed to the marking on the map.
“But what if this map is from a long time ago and there’re no trees there?” Arthur said.
“I- I did not think about it.”
“Well, let’s go. I’ll carry you.”
Arthur used his fire wings, grabbed Jack, and flew. It was much easier to find the place looking from the sky.
They searched the entire island, yet there was nothing similar to what the map described. Maybe Jack got a wrong map? Or it wasn’t the same island. Who knew?
“This is, this is, ugh!” Jack wasn’t happy with that.
They stopped near the shore on the other side of the island. Arthur, too, did not know what to do, but something caught his attention.
The sea, just near them, close to the shore, had strange bubbles. Arthur jumped over and swam.
“No way!”
It was there. The three trees on the map had. The bubbles showed a fissure down, which somehow the water could not enter, as if there was some sort of magic blocking the water.
Arthur got back to the shore, yelling, “Jack, it’s here, it’s here!”
“What?”
Jack could not believe it. He and Arthur rushed to see, and it was there.
“Should we go in?” Arthur said.
“Absolutely.”
They both dived into the ocean, getting closer to that fissure. But, as they got close enough, a suction force came into play, and they were both dragged to the fissure.
“Oh no!”
The fissure was wide, and for the looks of it, deep. They kept falling, and as everything was black, they couldn’t tell if the ground was near or not.
Jack tried to grab the fissure’s walls, but it was impossible. Arthur did the same and failed.
“ARTHUR, WILL WE DIE TODAY?” Jack yelled, afraid it was the end of his life.