Free Web NovelChapter 229: Rendezvous
More *thunks* sounded soon after, as Captain Cole and all the others who belonged to the group of survivors who arrived at the last moment also knelt or bowed to Lucas.
They were all truly thankful, and also embarrassed as they felt they had abandoned Anna even though she was sole the reason they were still alive.
Many of them offered words of apology, or thanks, while some simply remained silent as they hung their heads.
"Wait wait wait," Lucas struggled up to his feet again and waved his hands frantically, "Please, everyone, there’s no need for any of this."
"But..." Captain Reed immediately tried to object.
As one of the Aerial Cavalry responsible for patrolling the skies and later towing the Sunchaser, she hadn’t spent as much time with Lucas as some of the other senior officers, but she still had the impression of this young boy being far too humble for his abilities.
Being at least somewhat aware of the impression he had over the past 8 days, Lucas quickly interjected to clear up the misunderstanding, "What I mean is, Mom... my mother, and at least most of the others who disappeared tonight are still very much alive."
"Huh?"
"Really?"
"Is that true?"
"How do you know?"
"Are you sure?"
Just as he expected, Lucas was bombarded with questions from all around, both from the soldiers and from the townsfolk and villagers aboard the Sunchaser.
Waiting for the noise to die down a bit, Lucas began explaining what exactly had happened tonight to the best of his ability. He talked about the Spatial Tears, the distant tropical land, and about how the people and buildings that had seemingly vanished tonight had really just been transported far, far away.
"It’s all true," Christina chimed in, also getting up and standing beside Lucas, "Our group passed through one of those Spatial Tears to rescue a small group of others and we spent a few minutes exploring the other side before returning."
Needless to say, everyone aside from Lucas’ group was dumbstruck when they heard this story. It was too much for many of them to comprehend and left them in a daze.
Still, after almost a minute of stunned silence, Captain Cole hesitantly asked, "So, as long as we can find where these... Spatial Tears led to, we can rescue everyone we lost tonight?"
Many hopeful looks appeared in the crowd as they turned their gazes towards Lucas. No one aboard the Skyship didn’t lose a friend, a family member, or a comrade tonight; they had all assumed that everyone who vanished had died, but now, Lucas was giving them hope.
Seeing all these looks, Lucas pursed his lips slightly, recognizing that this was a rare moment. He needed to take a stand, to rally others to him, but he was also nervous, as anyone in his position would be. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Time, and opportunities, unfortunately, don’t wait for you to be ready, so the young boy took a deep breath and said with as much calm as he could muster, "My mother and father both taught me to always do what I thought was right. I have tried to live my life following that principle, just as both of them did. There’s no need for any of you to feel sorry for, or indebted to me or my family. We simply followed our own convictions."
Pausing for a moment, Lucas swept his gaze over the crowd, his expression solemn and serious as he continued, "However, reuniting with and rescuing all those who we lost tonight won’t be easy. The place they were sent to, if my estimates are correct, isn’t even on the Blue Sky Continent."
Gasps sounded from all around when Lucas spoke these words.
The number of people currently aboard the Sunchaser who had set foot outside the Rockwell Kingdom could be counted on one hand, and of those people, all of them had at most been to one of the neighbouring countries.
As for stepping off the continent and exploring the wider world, Lucas was fairly certain that not even his Master, one of the strongest and most powerful Cultivators in the kingdom, had done that.
Those who had just found some thin strand of hope felt like it was rapidly slipping through their fingers; after all, the thought of trying to travel so far away was incredibly daunting.
Before the mood could dampen further, however, Lucas raised his hand to silence the crowd and declared firmly, "I know it won’t be easy to find our friends and family, but I have a plan, and I won’t give up until I see my parents again. In order to do that though, I’m going to need help, lots of help, so if you truly insist on thanking me, and thanking my mother for what she did for you tonight, then in the coming years, please help me whenever and however you can."
What Lucas was saying was entirely true. He did have a plan, but it was more a vague, long-term outline than anything else. However, after repeatedly proving his competency over the past few days, and with little other choice but to believe in him, most of the gathered crowd chose to place their faith in Lucas.
That wasn’t to say they weren’t skeptical of their chances, but for the moment, they were willing to cooperate.
One by one, the kneeling soldiers, villagers, and townsfolk began nodding to show their stance, with Cassandra Reed speaking as a kind of representative for the group, "If everything you’ve told us is true, then when the time comes, I will do everything within my power to support you. I owe Captain Anna at least that much."
"You have my support as well," Captain Cole added immediately after.
"You can count on our help too, Lucas," Rebecca spoke up, voicing her support for her young boss.
"Me too!" Eris pledged, patting her little brother’s shoulder firmly.
Many others also pledged their assistance, even those who had been in the military camp the whole time and had not been saved by Anna tonight. Whether they simply got caught up in the atmosphere or really felt inspired to assist Lucas was unclear, but that didn’t really matter.
In the end, what was important to Lucas was that he had gained a teeny, tiny fraction of the support he would need to one day see his mother and father again.
It wasn’t much, but it was a good start nonetheless.
.....
When Captain Gage said that the Sunchaser was heavily damaged and would just barely make it to Herald City, she wasn’t exaggerating.
It had been almost 30 minutes since the Seventh Order Beast had been killed by Yuki’s mother, yet the Skyship hadn’t even made it a quarter of the way to its destination. To make matters worse, the Propulsion and Levitation Arrays had begun flickering more frequently, a sign they had taken more damage than originally expected.
That said, with no other choice, Captain Gage kept the Sunchaser as steady as she could as it slowly sailed along.
After his last speech, Lucas had settled into a somewhat comfortable position and was now just spacing out, gently stroking the three heads which were resting on his lap.
There was Yuki, the fox kit, who was curled up into a ball, sleeping calmly and peacefully. Then there was Christina, the royal princess whose brow was slightly wrinkled, her rest obviously being less easy. Finally, there was a drooling Eris, who spread herself out in a most unladylike manner, scratching her butt occasionally as she snored.
Lucas was also quite tired and thought about getting some sleep, but his mind was still racing, preventing him from falling unconscious even when he closed his eyes.
Suddenly, a piercing cry sounded from up ahead.
Most of the others aboard the Sunchaser had also fallen asleep, obviously exhausted from the night’s events, but when this cry was heard, almost all of them leapt to their feet, grabbed whatever weapons they had on them, and prepared for battle.
It was abundantly clear that everyone was still very much on edge after their recent ordeal and had not truly been resting.
Even Tina and Eris were shocked awake, scrambling to shake off their lingering drowsiness as they forced themselves up.
Everyone waited silently, their nerves stretched thin.
Fortunately, a familiar looking golden bird soon swooped down from above, circled around, and pulled up alongside the Sunchaser.
Seeing that it was a Golden Hawk, everyone aboard the Sunchaser relaxed. Why it was here was unknown, but at least they all knew it wasn’t another enemy.
There was only one rider on this hawk, and as soon as they got close enough to the Skyship, that rider leapt over and landed on the deck.
Hurriedly walking over, Lucas bowed politely, "Master, it’s good to see you." frёewebηovel.cѳm
Celestina nodded lightly in acknowledgement, but she maintained a look of wariness and concern on her face as she kept sweeping her eyes around, seemingly looking for something.
Lucas was curious about his Master’s behaviour, wondering why she seemed to agitated, but he soon thought of a possibility and explained, "There’s no danger here, Master."
Raising her brow, Celestina was having a very hard time believing her Disciple seeing the damaged state of her Skyship and the few people aboard it.
There was also the fact that the Sunchaser was in the air at all that was concerning. She knew Lucas well enough by now to understand he wouldn’t have just abandoned Redwood Town and fled unless there was absolutely no other choice, so after a long silence, she eventually just asked, "What happened?"
