000 - What Makes The Sky Blue

Hey, it's me. At first, I wanted to create a different event because technically, they arrived a few days late than the original story. However, I found out that would make the later story more complicated, so I decided to just delay the event a few days before the attack on Port Breeze and Tiamat's rampage.

So yea like always give me your feedback on this chapter.

Thank you~

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*Cough Cough* It can be seen that 4 people and 1 lizard are experiencing an emergency landing on an island.

"Is everyone okay? How about you, Lyria?" Katalina said while looking at each one of them.

"I'm fine, Katalina. How about you, Rei? Djeeta? Are you all okay?"

"Yes, Djeeta and I are fine," Rei said as he stood up and offered his hand to help Djeeta stand.

"Said You! My legs hurt from the impact of the airship when we crash-landed earlier," Djeeta reply, holding onto Rei's hand and trying to stand, but her legs still hurt, so she used his shoulder for support.

"Come on, Djeeta, didn't you experience worse pain during our training than this?" Vyrn, flying nearby, said to Djeeta.

But Djeeta just stared at Vyrn expressionlessly.

"What? You're lucky, Vyrn, that you can fly and didn't feel any of the impact," Djeeta said, slightly upset that Vyrn was the only one not suffering like they were.

"Alright, alright, how about we get off this airship first," Rei suggested to everyone because the airship was severely damaged from the impact when they landed.

Everyone nodded and began jumping down one by one from their airship.

Katalina carried Lyria and started to jump, but Djeeta, whose leg was still hurt, could only stand still and wonder how she would get down.

Rei looked beside her and saw Djeeta with a puzzled look, knowing what she was thinking.

"Hold on tight, Djeeta," Rei suddenly spoke to Djeeta.

"Huh?.... Uahhhhh!"

Rei used a princess carry on Djeeta, and Djeeta naturally hugged Rei's neck.

"Haha, this reminds me of when you couldn't walk after training with grandma, and I ended up carrying you like this."

"Ughhh, be quiet, Rei" Djeeta's face turned red as Rei carried her again just like before.

"Haha" Rei then jumped off the airship and landed on Port Breeze island.

"But what happened? Did we just drop out of the sky?" Vyrn was confused because they had no problems at all during the flight, but suddenly everything went wrong when they were about to land.

"I'm sorry... I never imagined piloting an airship would be so difficult," Katalina looked guilty and apologized to everyone.

"Well, at least we made it to another island," Rei looked at their severely damaged airship.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do we have here?"

Suddenly a voice they had never heard before appeared, and they turned to the source.

"You've really done a job on her. I reckon you've blown the power unit... Look, the keel's cracked too!"

"Repairs aren't gonna get this thing flying again. So... is this your airship?"

The person continued talking, making Djeeta and the others silent as this person suddenly appeared and talked about their airship.

"Well, yes, but... who are you?" Katalina tried to ask the identity of the stranger.

"Haha! You can forget about that! It's clear you don't have an expert among you to pilot an airship," the person diverted the conversation and started to leave.

"If you plan on calling yourself a crew, you need at least one helmsman on board before anything gets started," the person reminded them again before walking away.

"A helmsman, eh? He's right. If we plan to continue this journey, we're surely going to need one," Katalina agreed with the person.

"Sure, sure. But what's with that guy? Saying his piece and leaving just like that," Vyrn was slightly annoyed that the person came to scold them and then left.

"Who knows? In any case, we should find a town and prepare for the journey to come," Katalina answered and suggested to everyone.

"Ummmm," suddenly Djeeta's voice, which had been silent all this time, was heard.

"What Djeeta?" Rei looked down and saw Djeeta, whom he was still carrying.

"Can you put me down now?" Djeeta spoke softly, with a red face.

"Oh, sorry Djeeta, I thought your leg was still hurting, so I planned to carry you to the town."

"No, no, that's not necessary, my leg is no longer hurting, so please put me down," Djeeta refused Rei's offer.

Finally, Rei put Djeeta down, but Djeeta still kept her head down because her face was still red.

"Haha," Katalina laughed at their antics, but Lyria looked at them with confused expression because of her feeling right now.

'I need to talk to Katalina about the feelings I'm experiencing.' She is thinking that she needs to talk to katalina and telling her what she's feeling when they have the time.

Meanwhile, Vyrn could only shake his head, seeing them always joking like this.

"Alright, everyone, let's head to the nearest town to find a helmsman and look for a new airship."

They all nodded and began to walk towards the nearest town.

While on the journey, Katalina explains to Djeeta what they need to buy for their upcoming travels.

"Hey! I can see a town! It's huge!" Vyrn feels amazed as it's their first time seeing a big city.

"If I'm correct, we're on Eingana, the main island of the Port Breeze Archipelago. These islands engage in a lot of trade. A trip to town should provide us with everything we need."

Katalina explains their current location.

"And after that, Katalina, what do we need to do next on our journey?" Djeeta asks Katalina.

"Good question. First, we have to get through the Grim Basin."

Rei immediately recalls the sky piece they need to collect to pass through the Grim Basin.

'Sky piece, huh? If I'm not mistaken, it's a primal beast that possesses the sky piece, so we have to fight them to obtain it.'

'And Akasha... a primal beast with the ability to distort and alter history.' Rei hopes to become stronger before facing Akasha.

"It's filled with dangerous miasma and divides the sky into different skydoms. Port Breeze is part of the Phantagrande Skydom, mostly under the control of the Erste Empire," Katalina continues her explanation.

"So, what do we need to get through this Grim Basin?" Lyria asks Katalina.

"We'll need a skilled helmsman to join us. We also need something that shows the route to take, the sky map."

"So, with just those things, can we pass through the basin?" Djeeta starts to think that their goal of reaching Estaulica is getting more complicated.

"It's more like we couldn't even come close without them. And then there are the monsters..." Katalina shrugs and shakes her head.

*Groooaaaarrrr* suddenly three monster show up out of nowhere and trying to attack them

"Whoa! We have monster trouble too! There may be challenges ahead, but let's focus on the task at hand," Vyrn is surprised as the monster suddenly appears out of nowhere.

'Wow, this really feels like Arc 1 from Granblue Fantasy, where each chapter ends with a monster appearing out of nowhere,' Rei thinks.

"Alright, Katalina, Rei, are you ready?" Djeeta unsheathes her sword.

"Yes!" Rei and Katalina prepare their weapons as well.

"Lyria, Vyrn, you two step back and let us handle these monsters," Rei instructs them.

"Okay, we'll leave it to you," Lyria replies as she and Vyrn move back.

"Hehe, you finally encounter a normal monster, right Rei?" Djeeta jokes with Rei as the monster rei fight for the first time is a hydra.

"Well, at least this time it's a normal monster," Rei takes a deep breath and prepares to attack.

*Roar* one of the monsters began to leap towards Rei.

But Rei, who had already prepared himself, advanced and jumped to strike the monster.

"Eh?" Rei cut the monster into two, but he didn't feel anything, as if he was cutting through butter.

"Uahhhhh" *Crash* Rei fell because he can't get his balance after striking.

"Rei!" Djeeta and Katalina, who were fighting monsters, were surprised to hear the sound of someone falling and looked towards Rei.

"Hyaaahhh!" Djeeta immediately killed the monster she was fighting and ran towards Rei.

"Ow ow, why did I suddenly manage to cut that monster so easily?" Rei started to think. When he wanted to attack the monster, his body suddenly filled with energy, causing him to lose balance because he wasn't used to such power.

"Hey Rei, are you okay?" Vyrn and Djeeta reached Rei first.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know why my body was filled with so much energy when I cut that monster and then i lost my balance and fell because I didn't expect that" Rei stood up and looked towards the monster he had cut.

He saw the cut was very clean, as if he had cut the monster with something very sharp.

"Hmm, maybe that's the effect of when you lost control when you were fighting the Hydra," Djeeta said to Rei.

Before Rei could think about Lucilius whom he saw when he was unconscious, Lyria and Katalina approached Rei.

"Hey Rei, are you okay?" Lyria examined Rei's body to check if he was injured or not.

"It seems like you're not used to the power you have now. You should start getting used to it later, Rei" Katalina suggested Rei to practice and get his body accustomed to his powers.

"Yes, after we're done with the problem here, I will try to go back to practice and get used to this power."

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After that, they continued their journey to the city. When they entered the city, they agreed to go to Knickknack Shack first to prepare for their journey across the sky.

"Welcome! How can I help you this lovely day? Journeys, jobs, or skyfarers' hearts! Leave it all to Sierokarte!"

Rei saw a young child(?) with yellow hair and blue eyes carrying a bird on her shoulder.

'That's Sierokarte! Ughhh, looking at her directly she is so cute! Harvin indeed are cute.' Rei wanted to pinch her cheek but restrained himself from doing so.

"You run this place all by yourself? That's very impressive for someone your size!" Lyria admired the ability of the Harvin who could handle such a big store.

"Now, now! Never judge a book by its cover!" Sierokarta spoke while smiling.

"You sound quite reliable! Anyway, shopkeep, we're trying to find a way across the sky..." Katalina told her what they needed.

"Stowaways, eh? You're in luck since I've got a sale on people-sized luggage..." Sierokarta spoke but Djeeta interrupted her.

"No! You've got us wrong! We're looking for a helmsman to join us."

"A helmsman, eh? Hm... I'm afraid most of them are out on other business. It's the busy season, you know! Every helmsman worth their salt gets snatched right up!" Sierokarta shook her head as they were a little late in looking for a helmsman.

"Really? What do we do now?" Djeeta looked disappointed upon hearing the information from Sierokarta.

"They're looking for a helmsman. What about... you-know-who?"

"You-know-who? You mean Rackam? I mean, he is good, and he's got some serious time on his hands..."

"But I hear he's given up on airships."

"Well, he might've changed his mind! Isn't that right, lizard?"

The residents who listened to their conversation started discussing among themselves.

"Well, I dunno abou—Wait! Quit calling me a lizard! You wanna fight?" Vyrn got angry because he felt offended being called a lizard.

"Settle down, Vyrn! You only get cuter when you're mad," Katalina calmed Vyrn down.

"Oooh! Just cut it out! Anyway, where can we find this Rackam guy?" Vyrn asked one of the residents who spoke.

"He's always on the outskirts of town doing who knows what. Check near the airship in the Angads Highlands. Don't think you'll have trouble finding him... or monsters. So be careful!"

Katalina and the others then thanked the resident for the information.

"Alright, everyone, let's go find this Rackam guy," Djeeta was excited again because finally she found her helmsman.

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"Wow, so this is the airship they were talking about," Djeeta exclaimed in amazement as they found the airship mentioned by the previous townspeople.

After they left the town and searched for the airship, they finally found it on the highlands.

"Woah this airhsip is really big." Vyrn was also impressed by the appearance of the airship.

"It looks like it's been here for a while. Could this really be Rackam's airship? What happened to it?" Lyria observed the airship, which appeared to be undamaged.

Suddenly, Rei heard a sound coming from a direction and warned them.

"Hey everyone, I hear something from that direction. Be careful, it could be a monster," Rei spoke in a low tone and pointed in a certain direction.

Katalina, upon hearing Rei, tried to check the direction Rei pointed to, but when she saw it, she panicked.

"Ah! We've got trouble... You see them too, right, Djeeta? They're soldiers of the Erste Empire."

"They haven't seen us yet. We need to hide! Now!" Djeeta suggested to them all, and they all nodded and began to hide behind the airship.

"Oh, this is so aggravating! Do I really have to be here for this?" as they hid, they heard someone angrily addressing the soldiers.

"General Furias, Port Breeze has a history of resisting the empire, you see..." one of the soldiers answered hesitantly.

"I know that! Are you some sort of wise guy? Tch... Now you've ruined my mood. Somebody take him to the torture chamber!"

"Eek! General Furias! I apologize for my earlier insolence!"

"Cease your yapping... Or maybe you could do without a head! You don't seem to use it much, now do you?"

"But... I..." the soldier panicked even more as the other soldiers approached him and began to take him elsewhere.

Rei, watching this, felt frustrated that the person was so easily ordering others to die without a second thought.

"So? How fares the plan to deal with those idiot conspirators?" the person began speaking to one of the soldiers again.

"Sir! The troops are in place. Everything's ready to go. Simply give the word, sir, and you'll witness the town's magnificent destruction," the soldier proudly reported to the person.

Suddenly, Rei heard the sound of someone approaching them and realized that Katalina was no longer by their side but was heading towards them.

"I've been listening to what you plan to do. And it's heinous! How dare you destroy a town for simply resisting the empire! I won't stand for it!" Katalina appeared in front of them and scolded them.

'Are you kidding me, Katalina? Why did you appear just to say that? At least attack the officer giving orders!' Rei shook his head and then along with Djeeta coming out of their hiding place and approached Katalina.

"Unbelievable. It's the girl we held captive and the guard who helped her escape..." one of the soldiers recognized Lyria and Katalina.

"Oh, give me a break! We get your point, Knightalina, but couldn't you wait until later to show up?" Vyrn was annoyed with Katalina for getting them spotted by the soldiers.

"Time to run, guys! There's no way we're getting caught here!" Djeeta suggested to them as the number of soldiers was greater than theirs.