Chapter 1007: Riding waves, building walls
[~What do you do with a drunken kaijin, what do you do with a drunken kaijin, what do you do with a drunken kaijin, early in the morning?~]
[Hurricroak, are you…mentally singing a sea shanty?]
[Indeed I am, big sister Nepherage. Indeed I am.]
[Okay…but why?]
[Well, a book I read stated that sea shanties was the way sailors kept rhythm when doing shit on sailing vessels, and since we’re doing this…]
[I get that, but like… we’re connected on a mental level. Isn’t it kind of redundant?]
[Nah. Besides, the zakos seem to like it.]
…
“Damn…it’s too bad these lesser puppets of Zhen Liu can’t take that many hits before breaking apart, otherwise he’d be an unstoppable force of nature,” Zhen Feng commented.
“Yeah…actually, maybe that’s a good thing,” Zhen Hai observed while imaging a world where Zhen Liu was less nice and more of a megalomaniac with a literal army of puppets. “By the way, am I going crazy or are these puppets humming?”
“That’s just me,”, Zhen Liu lied. “Gotta keep rhythm while controlling…all of them. My brain hurts…”
Moments after manifesting all of the “puppets”, Zhen Liu got to work in making sure the [Storm Queen’s Galleon] was in pursuit of the main clan’s sea serpent ark.
Zako after zako got to work in unfurling sails, hauling in the anchor and making sure everything was tied down.
As for the kaijin themselves, they positioned themselves in the places where they were most suitable. Namely, Hurricroak took her position in the crow’s nest, Frosttusk helped with sails, Nepherage helped to haul in the anchor, while the rest took up positions below deck to get ready to fight in a moment’s notice. While this wasn’t completely necessary, it gave them something to do.
All of these actions were made under the impression that Zhen Liu was controlling all of it while piloting the ship’s main steering wheel, with his eyes focused forward and his mind spread out to every corner of the ship and beyond.
Which was a good thing too, since none of the humans present actually knew how to sail a ship. A consequence of desert living, as it were.
On the plus side, this gave cousins time to talk to each other. Namely, about the rest of their family back home.
“So…is there any particular reason why we couldn’t delay our departure for the [Abyssal Lands] until after the beast tide back home abated?,” Zhen Hai asked. “As far as I know, the Fallen haven’t left that place for centuries and they don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”
“Oh, I actually know some details about this,” Zhen Feng answered. “During the fishing trip where the Matriarch dragged our Patriarch and fathers, they ran into the Fallen Clan in the middle of diplomatic talks with some faction they found living in the [Abyssal Lands] too. They managed to interrupt the negotiations for a time, but they’re worried that it might happen again.”
“So we’re severing hands before they can start joining hands with others?”
“Essentially.”
“Damn that’s cold.”
“Yup.”
Technically speaking, Zhen Feng’s retelling wasn’t exactly wrong, so Zhen Liu felt no need to try and correct his cousins by clarifying that there were two separate trips into the [Abyssal Lands] prior to this expedition. Instead, he pivoted the topic back towards home.
“Speaking of joining hands…how you think things are going back home?”
“Don’t know. But last I checked, a new construction was taking place.”
As much as Zhen Liu, Zhen Feng and Zhen Hai wanted to focus on the war in front of them, they were still worried about their own “war” for survival back home.
Hell, the incoming beast tide was so worrisome that most of the branch clan had to stay behind to organize a proper defense. Honestly, if it was up to the scions, all of them stayed home. But alas, time waited for no one and both the matriarch and patriarch of the main and branch clans respectively, believed this was for the best.
On the plus side, there was at least one member of this trio that could check how things were going back home.
…
‘Lacerage. Arachnidame. How are things going back home?’
________________________________________
“Steady, steady! We don’t want to leave any gaps between the slabs. Otherwise they might be able to slip through or worse.”
“Yes sir!”
“How are the ballistas coming along?”
“We have eight ready to go and another three to be ready by the end of the week.”
“Good, good. Make sure to hit up the Corradas for special payload bolts.”
“Of course.”
“How many families and factions are committing themselves to defending and how many are considering evacuation.”
“Approximately 98% of the families and factions living in Stone Claw City are committing themselves to defending the city.”
“Ninety-eight percent? Who are the last two?”
“The Devolo Familia. They mentioned that their core elder has recently been infirmed due to injuries received during a recent hunting expedition.”
“Get an alchemist over there and assess injuries. See if we have anything in our stores to get him back on his feet. We’ll need every warrior we can get.”
“At once, sir!”
Stone Claw City was usually a pretty easy-going place.
Sure it was in the middle of the desert, sure the crime rate was questionable at best on its good days and the sheer amount of people who came back with missing limbs after picking fights with the local giant scorpions was disturbingly high…it was still home to a lot of people who came to this pioneer mining town for a reason.
As such, when the news that a horde of vicious aether beasts being led by a Seventh tier Dust Devil King was was about to come and annihilate the place, many of its residents chose to give it their all in defending the place.
Of course, it probably helped that the biggest powerhouse in the region, the Zhen Clan, led a majority of the defensive efforts.
Thanks to recent developments, the Zhen Clan had grown exponentially in terms of warrior quality and in monetary power.
And now, they were going to make it work for them.
New city walls were being built, practically over night. New defensive arrays, mechanisms and other means of dealing with invaders were built just as fast.
Warriors learned how to work along side the many, many tamed aether spiders that had become more and more a part of everyday life in Stone Claw City.
All in all, Stone Claw was gearing for a fight they knew was coming and the Zhen Clan was taking the lead.
Of course, despite this being the most immediate crisis, some members of the aforementioned clan were occupied with other things.
Personal things.
…
“Well, color me surprised. I figured you’d be in Roaring Tide right now to join along that campaign against the Fallen Clan.”
“Oh, I do plan to tag along. Just gotta wait for the call from darling that they’ve touched down and made contact with the Fallen. Not much for travel if I can help it. Plus, this way I can
“Ah.”
At this moment in time, Jin Fang and Jinju Ren were having a rare moment alone with one another while exploring the tops of the newly built walls, ramparts and towers that Arachnidame and Lacerage built with the help of the Construction Zakos.
Other than themselves, the only sound that could be heard at this moment was the whistling of the desert wind blowing through the area.
“Speaking of tag alongs, where is Rianna? She’s normally by your side at this time of day,” Jinju Ren asked.
“She’s practicing archery techniques with some of the other warriors,” Jin Fang answered. “The variety of aether beasts that are going to impact us has yet to be identified, so they’re trading tips, tricks and information in how to take them down from a distance. That and they’re having a contest about how many targets they can bust through with a single arrow.”
“That explains the whistling sounds I’ve been hearing all day.”
“Right??”
The two young women from very different walks of life continued to stare off into the distance towards the direction the so-called beast tide was coming from, wondering just how bad this attack was actually going to be.
That is…until Jin Fang decided to bring up a rather unusual topic.
“Hey…are you happy with your royal status?”
“Huh?”
“No, that’s the wrong way to put it…give me a second…,” Jin Fang muttered to herself as she rubbed her forehead in frustration.
“Alright, let’s say, hypothetically, you learned that your background was not as straightforward as you thought it was. That you discovered that there was a whole other side of your life that you never found out about because of…reasons.”
“Like being adopted?”
“Yes!,” Jin Fang agreed a bit too readily. “But now there is a chance that you could learn a whole lot more of yourself…would you take the chance to do so, knowing it might change everything?”
