Chapter 349: Catch-Up

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Chapter 349: Catch-Up

Late Evening - Late Summer : The Eastern Oasis

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"HAHA! I win again! Who's next!" *Thump-CHUG* Ripping her mug off the table and throwing the drink down her throat, Hera dunked the mug into a barrel of liquid on the ground next to her and refilled it. "For a barrel of Piotita, 34 platinum can be yours!" She quickly pointed toward the center of the table, where a bag of coins lay.

It had only been a few hours since we first arrived, but in that timeframe, Hera had amassed about twenty barrels of slightly aged Piotita. All from betting.

In the eyes of everyone else, it was simple. Beat her in any game of your choice, and you win the bag of platinum, but if you lose, you have to pay up with a barrel of Piotita.

As it turned out, people in the Oasis had begun amassing it because of a rumor that some people would pay huge sums of money for it from time to time. It was essentially like they were treating it as an investment. -An investment that will pay off for them.-

*Clunk* Watching a saddened man stack yet another barrel of Piotita behind Hera, I let out a chuckle. -Well, at least some of them...- *sip* "I should probably buy some to take home though." Although Krystallo was still too young to enjoy the taste, I was certain Mother and Grandmother would enjoy it.

"How many do you want? Five, ten barrels?" Adrian confidently looked over at me before looking at Abbie. "She's stockpiled a couple hundred over the years just for you."

A smile instantly came to my face. "I'm glad you were thinking of me, but you should really be buying up as many as you can even if it costs a couple gold coins. I know some people that would pay some exorbitant sums to get just a few barrels."

"Hoho, is that so?" It looked as if money signs suddenly flickered in Adrian's eyes instantly.

"It wouldn't be a bad way to give the city a new income source... Speaking of.. how's everything coming along in the city's development? From the sky, it seemed like the city was thriving."

Not questioning my wording, Abbie quickly spoke up. "It hasn't been easy, but we have come a long way. Our population is somewhere around twenty thousand, and we are by far the largest pirate group around this part of the Main Continent.. although that's bringing on some issues..."

-Hm?- "How is that causing issues?" -Are there some groups getting hostile?-

Her conflicted expression quickly darkened. "We have tried to work with Kaelallan for peaceful relations, such as simply having merchant ships pay us a tithe to pass through this area, or even engage in trade with us for mutual benefit, but they have all ended sour."

-Huh? They've ended sour?- "What do you mean?"

"Haah..." She let out a heavy, stress-filled sigh as she averted her eyes. "We've lost nearly all the ships we've sent to negotiate with them, even those waving a white flag."

-That.. doesn't sound right...- Right away, something felt off. "Are you sure it's Kaelallan? Why would they sink surrendering ships?" -I doubt Oliver would be so overly hostile.. even to pirates...-

"We haven't ever had friendly relations, but after we took one of their galleons, it got really bad. Because of lack of compliance, we ended up killing the captain and several in the crew before selling the rest of the crew and the noble aboard for ransom."

-Ah.. I bet the hostility is from the noble...- "Do you know who the noble was?"

"He was just a wealthy man who owned inns throughout Kaelallan, Toria, and the Holy Kingdom."

But I didn't have too much time for that.

Before long, we arrived at the space rune in the heart of the temple, and after letting everyone off my back, set the rune's destination to Ampelos, the city a few thousand kilometers south of Akri, and about a thousand kilometers south of the newly constructed Elder Hall. -Mom and Grandmother should be there...-

Looking up, Hera had transformed into a shrunken version of her draconic form, exactly matching my size, and Krystallo had followed suit. -Looks like they're good to go...-

But the moment I went to put my mana into the rune, a presence approached with haste. -Uh oh...-

It was Grace. -Something better not have happened to Father...-

*Fwoom* Slowing time around me as my presence turned heavy, I looked to the side before Grace's figure suddenly appeared.

But as she did, she hesitated.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Father?"

She quickly shook her head before glancing at Hera, who also used her divinity to chime in on our conversation. ~"I'm not sure if you really care to know, but.. Myles is about to wake up from his dragon sleep.~"

My whole form tensed up instantly. -ALREADY?!- Turning to Hera in a flash, I asked in a frenzy. "Didn't you say it would be at least sixteen years at a minimum?!"

But rather than being shocked, she just shrugged. "I just gave you an estimate for what was average." A smile slowly crept onto her face as she paused. "But I can't say I'm not interested in a dragon that could finish stepping into the realm of a demigod in just eight years."

I looked at her in disbelief for a moment before letting out a hardy sigh. "Haaaah..." -Why do I feel like a sudden weight just appeared on my shoulders...-

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