Chapter Twenty-Eight

Unlike her previous approach from underwater, she spotted dozens of boats of all sizes coming and going. None of them paid Umbra any mind, despite it standing out with its sleek black exterior. At least at first glance, if one looked at the hull under water, it was a different story. It was a miracle Umbra stayed afloat, as damaged as she was.

Hopefully, they found someone to repair her. Otherwise, they might have to abandon the yacht that brought her so far. Just the thought of abandoning Umbra sent a pang of sadness through her. She would do everything she could to repair and improve Umbra. If it was within her power, she would make Umbra a sleek but unsinkable tank.

Soon the gate as they curved around a bend. Umbra slowed to a crawl as her sister presumably released her control, forcing the sails to do all the work. Fortunately, plenty of wind blew through the canyon, allowing them to sail forward. At least until they approached a line of ships most far larger than Umbra probably used as cargo ships.

The sound of motors running from behind her, then a deceleration, told her Eva knew what she was doing. She glanced up at the sails to find they reversed, stalling forward momentum, slowing them to a stop with a boat length gap between them and the large ship in front of them.

Sereia joined her and Ione on the bow of Umbra, though there wasn’t much of a view as the ship in front of them towered over. They could barely see the closed gate from their vantage point.

Worry shot through her thinking they shut down the gate, but that proved to be false seconds later as it opened to allow several of the ships through. The gate appeared to be opening and closing at regular intervals, similar to what she saw before giving her hope their escape didn’t kick the Hornet’s nest.

As the ship in front of them pulled ahead, a problem presented itself. The previously potent wind was nowhere to be found, probably because an ocean liner planted itself behind them. With the sails useless, it fell to Sereia to provide propulsion.

With a grunt, eyes clenched tight, Sereia nudged Umbra forward. Just when she built up momentum, she had to stop one ship from the gate. Fortunately, she kept enough distance that all she had to do was released her control and let Eva use the sails to do the rest.

As they waited, warmth radiated through the boat, causing everyone to stiffen. Elysia instantly locked onto the source. She sprinted over to the railing and looked over the edge to find dozens of glowing crystals below them. From the distance and the shine, there wasn’t much she could make out. If she had to guess, they performed a scanning function of some sort. It would explain how they allowed so many ships into the harbor. Hopefully, they passed whatever scan they did.

A few minutes later, the gate opened, allowing them access. Suddenly, Umbra jerked forward far faster than Sereia could manage, causing everyone to panic, at least until both Elysia and Sereia recognized the energy pulling them.

As if sailing under her own power, Umbra navigated the busy harbor, weaving around the numerous obstacles on its way toward the massive turtle lazily floating in the far corner of the harbor.

Halfway to their expected destination, Umbra suddenly turned toward a section of the harbor filled with damaged or half built boats. Instead of slowing down, Umbra sped faster and faster as the docks rapidly approached. Sereia’s veins glowed as she attempted to slow Umbra, but the moment she tried she stumbled back with a squeak, connection with the water broken.

Just before making impact with the pier, Umbra lifted off the water and landed on an open dry-dock causing several workers to scramble away in surprise.

When the commotion calmed, several blue skinned beings began walking toward them from several hundred meters away. One of which walking with confident strides denoting them as the leader or at least someone important, while the other being followed closely behind, most of their attention focused on a tablet in their hands.

Elysia and Sereia glanced at one another with Sereia waving Elysia forward as if saying it’s your ship, so deal with it. With a scowl, Elysia hopped off Umbra, wincing upon landing from the unexpectedly high height. Though her highly improved body shrugged it off, allowing her to stand with a professionally blank expression, while mentally praying the turtle didn’t break any rules with their impromptu dry-dock.

A moment later, Ione landed with a soft plop far more graceful than her mother. She took her place next to Elysia with her ears tall unblinking green speckled violet eyes staring at the approaching duo.

As Elysia stood next to Umbra, she tried not to wince as she saw the array of dents and holes in the hull. It was like Umbra took several broadsides. Was there even enough hull left to repair? What about structural damage? Umbra was a mess, but as long as it was possible, she would try her best to repair her.

A quick glance at the nearby ships, most of which were far larger than Umbra told her while Umbra was a mess, she wasn’t the worst. Some looked like they had sunk with holes larger than Ione. Umbra just looked worse because of her size and density of damage.

It was probably cheaper to raise and repair ships than build new ones, especially when they likely had a graveyard full of them from the city ruins nearby.

Despite the blue being’s confident strides, they took a while to reach Elysia, allowing her time to inspect them. While they were humanoid in shape, that was where the similarities to humans ended.

A crest of fins ran from the top of their heads down to their back, or at least she thought it did, as she couldn’t see their backs from her vantage point. Massive fishlike eyes far too big for their faces took up most of the top half of their faces. Two holes, she assumed were nostrils centered above a pair of puffy lips stuck in a permanent pucker.

Fine blue scales covered the entirety of their bodies, which she could see as they didn’t wear any clothes, not that there was anything visible on their streamlined bodies likely designed to minimize drag in water. Finned comically large feet plodded along as webbed hands, tipped with claws, clutched various utensils, at least in the subordinate’s case.

It was hard to tell with their inhuman faces, but she envisioned the leader fish person stared down its nonexistent nose at her.

From lizard people to fish people, what other humanized beings existed? If she was to be honest, the Chrotile made better humanoids. It was hard not to find the fish people ugly, not that she would say that out loud. That would be incredibly stupid. For all she knew, these people were supermodels of their race.

She tried to smother a flinch as a scary thought came to her. Hopefully, they didn’t read minds. Though going by their unchanging expressions, she should be safe from that intrusion.

Before she could confirm that thought, the duo reached them, the lead fish person speaking first with a somehow clear but deep voice despite their inhuman features. “Young elemental, may I know why you took a reserved dry-dock?”

Without hesitation, Elysia pointed at the turtle to continue to laze in the water, not even looking in their direction, though she had no doubt it was paying attention. “The turtle placed my boat here. I’m willing to wait my turn if it’s a problem.”

The fish person’s head snapped toward the turtle, large mouth twitching as if speaking, which for all she knew they were. After several seconds of silence, the fish person returned their attention to Elysia. “That will not be a problem as long as you can afford the docking fee.”

Elysia’s shoulders loosened. “How much?”

The fish person looked at Umbra for a moment, as if sizing her up. “One medium mana crystal per day.”

While trying to smother a wince, Elysia withdrew a high-grade mana crystal and raised toward the fish people. The subordinate grabbed it with surprising dexterity, then retreated behind the lead fish person.

With payment made, the lead fish person scanned Umbra’s hull with an unreadable expression for several long moments. “The Honorable Colossus told me you require repairs and upgrades. Would you like me to send a specialist?”

Elysia’s core fluttered, though she kept her excitement off her face. “I was under the impression I needed to go through a guild.”

“You do. The specialist will be from the Shipwright Guild. We have specialists from the guild on standby to inspect the vessel and relay the information to the Guild. Any business must be performed through the guild, however.”

Elysia nodded her head in understanding. “Thank you, please send over the specialist. As you can see, we need a lot of repairs.”

Without another word, they turned on their heels and plodded away. Instead of climbing aboard, Umbra Elysia circled around her ship, inspecting the outside.

When she reached the back, she flinched at the state of the props or lack thereof. Water dripped out of melted holes where the props used to reside. Upon peering inside, she found she could see the wrecked remains of the engine room, causing a shiver to run through her.

Her eyes widened as she realized something. They floated with an engine room full of water? It was a miracle that didn’t sink.

How did anything work? Wasn’t the entire power system housed in the engine room?

Actually, now that she thought about it after the motors died, so did most of the power. Not that there was much working in the first place after the humans’ kidnapping.

Eva must have diverted power from the solar panels to power some essentials. They still had lights, after all.

She continued to eye the holes. Maybe the reason why the motors lasted as long as they did was they were water-cooled. Not that it did them any good in the end.

It wasn’t all bad, though she discovered it was possible to supercharge Umbra with her lightning. If possible, she would like motors installed capable of handling her lightning. She didn’t want to power Umbra all the time, but having the capability of doing so could come in handy, especially if they needed to escape something.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she probably didn’t have enough for all the upgrades. If she went by how much it cost for her armor and ring, even supplying a lot of materials, Umbra would cost a ton.

Just repairing her to what she was before probably wouldn’t be too expensive, but what would be the point in doing that? She needed to future proof Umbra and that meant it would cost a lot of money and maybe time.

Time she wasn’t sure she had, though the elementals may think twice about attacking such a large city.

As she circled back around the bow of Umbra, she spotted an approaching person, this time quite a bit more humanlike. Really, aside from pointed ears and webbed hands and feet that could pass as a human. If she had to guess, the woman was some sort of elf, probably of a water variety.

With all the water races wandering about, Sereia might get jealous. Hopefully, she didn’t do something stupid, like showing off just to prove her superiority. Though she didn’t see her sister acting out like that. She was never one to antagonize people, at least in front of her.

As soon as the elf took in the state of Umbra, an enraged expression formed. A pair of blue eyes set themselves on Elysia as the elf stormed over hand pointed accusingly at Elysia, who just stood there confused by the over the top reaction.