In between what was open to public and what was not (sometimes physically) was the Song Estate Security Force. The captain of that security force was a grizzled veteran named Song Han.

This was the guy Song Chen told Remian to look for.

He eyed them with a frown. "Oh? What brings you to the Song Estate Security Center? You're not just running in here from the rain, are you?"

"I rather like the rain, actually." Remian mused. "It's like it has its own thrumming melody."

There was a short pause. Then, a small smile appeared on Song Han's face. "Well, then, it seems little Song Chen has been making friends."

"How did you know it was Song Chen?" Remian marveled. "Does everyone have a different pa.s.sword?"

"Every branch has its own, and every generation has its variant. But Song Chen is the only heir of his generation within his branch, and thus, yours is rather specific to him."

"I see. I'm Remian Vin. This is Xiao Yan."

"Song Han, just as you asked for. Now, what can I do for you?"

"I want to join the next convoy to the Wildlands."

"That… could be difficult." Song Han scratched his head.

"I'll bring my own airs.h.i.+p. I'll even help you take some cargo along."

"Welcome aboard!" Song Han instantly concluded. "The convoy leaves tomorrow morning. Please have your airs.h.i.+p at our Song Estate docks ready to go by sunrise."

"Wow, that's early." Remian half-yawned thinking of how early he would need to wake up. Even after a week of sleep, he felt unusually groggy.

"It's a long trip to the Wildlands, and we plan to stop at the borders of the Empire for a night." Song Han explained. "Then the next day, we go around the middle east region, avoiding their land and their airs.p.a.ce. That way, we avoid conflicts, tolls and all sorts of complications."

"A two day trip? Wow, that's fast." Remian mused. It had taken him a week the first time he made the journey from the Commonwealth. Then again, his earlier ride had stopped many times to pick up and drop off pa.s.sengers and cargo.

So agreeing to meet them the next day, Remian asked about airs.h.i.+ps. Song Han generously offered to bring Remian to the n.o.bles s.h.i.+pyard.

It wasn't that simple, of course. There was this arrogant sn.o.b called Song Ming who was not at all fond of Song Chen, and he started to cause trouble for Remian…

But never mind. He went running off to the toilets in short order and was kept thus occupied for the better part of the day.

Meanwhile Remian went to buy airs.h.i.+ps. Among the things Xiao Yan had bought, there were a few things on his list that she simply could not get. Airs.h.i.+ps and sophisticated medical magic machinery were among them.

***

"This is the Kelpie." Song Han introduced him to a st.u.r.dy red Frigate outfitted for putting out fires in a hurry.

They were at the n.o.bles s.h.i.+pyard, the second best air s.h.i.+pwright in the Capital. Barring the Imperial s.h.i.+pyard which served only the Imperial Family and its forces, the n.o.bles s.h.i.+pyard was frequented by the ranking aristocracy, the richest private citizens, and the biggest companies and guilds.

Despite the name, however, the fact was the n.o.bles s.h.i.+pyard was also owned by the Imperial Family. To be precise, it was owned by the Third Prince, Sior'khan-dras as was the Imperial s.h.i.+pyard, and the Industrious s.h.i.+pyard, which was a ma.s.s producer of simpler, cheaper designs, including the airlifted carriages actually never flew and relied on wheels. Within the Capital of the Dragon Empire, the Third Prince controlled all the s.h.i.+pyards.

The military? Why their airs.h.i.+ps were all built by the Imperial s.h.i.+pyards, of course. All military forces in the Empire were directly under the control of the Emperor. Even the Imperial Police were directly under the Crown Prince Zar'khan-dras. Like the military, they too, bought their airs.h.i.+ps from the Imperial s.h.i.+pyards.

Sior'khan-dras even owned a naval s.h.i.+pyard. The Dragon Empire actually had a small navy (small in comparison with its air force and ground armies, but much larger than anything the Eastern Sea People nearby could manage) which was the Naval s.h.i.+pyard's biggest customer. Not many dared traverse the sea, but with Ti'eldras and Sel'edras for an uncle and aunt, it sort of made sense that Sior'khan-dras wasn't as afraid of the sea as human sailors.

Maybe that was why the Kelpie was designed to be seaworthy as well as airworthy, and most importantly, be able to transition between both. This airs.h.i.+p was capable to quick dip runs to pick up tons of water from the sea and rush over to the burning sites to spray that water. It was had magic water cannons capable of focused streams or wide-spread sprays.

The downside, of course, was its fuel. Mandust fuel was very expensive these days, and these Kelpies were built for quick response, not fuel economy.

"What about Tugs?" Remian asked. On defense, the Kelpies could quickly move to intercept Spectres when alarms were blaring, but if used on offense, say, to hunt them down, perhaps using mage-powered Tugs would suit better?

There were a few for sale. Song Han suggested one in particular, the Mastiff Frigate. It could be manned by up to twenty magi working in concert and was famous for safely and securely Tugged every Galleon that ever crossed Imperial skies.

Both the Mastiff and the Kelpie had a bulky, muscular look to them. Remian was starting to wonder if this was simply the Third Prince's tastes, or it was meant to inspire confidence in anyone looking at them. Despite knowing that their locomotive power was actually reliant on internal components rather than external looks, Remian couldn't help feeling that these two vehicles were strong and reliable.

Both of these were Commercial-grade Tier 4 Frigates. Remian was about to confirm the deal when he heard shouting outside.

"No more wasting! Save our mana!" the chant sounded.

"What's going on?" Remian blinked.

"People are complaining that these airs.h.i.+ps waste mana unnecessarily. They'd rather save our limited remaining mana for important things like medical machinery, food refrigeration, and their home air conditioning." Song Han explained wryly.

"Is this normal? How long have they been doing that?" Remian asked. "Standing out there and shouting?"

"About… twenty seconds?" Song Han coughed. "I'm sorry, Remian, it seems someone had seen fit to stir up trouble and leaked information about your purpose here."

Someone… like Song Ming, most probably.

Again, he wasn't important and not likely to ever appear again, so Remian basically ignored it and bought his airs.h.i.+ps. With a few crewmen borrowed from Song Han, they flew off into the afternoon sky, free and far away from crowds of hired protesters.

As for wreaking righteous vengeance, well… who was he to stop the Song Clan from sharing some of their wealth with their less fortunate neighbors? If they wanted to pay people to shout, Remian saw no cause to get in their way.

***

In the end, Remian brought four airs.h.i.+ps with him on the convoy, two Mastiff Tugs and two Kelpie Firefighting Frigates. The amount of cargo he could help the Song Clan bring was rather low, since the Tugs did most of the work and the Kelpies were little more than cargo themselves… but Song Han didn't complain, and even offered Remian free rations and a bit of crystal dust fuel.

Thus they sailed directly for Song Chen's Bog Marshes, specifically the construction site for what should later become the Bog Marshes Great Docks.

***

"Remian! You're back!"

"Urghk! Phoebe! Too tight… too tight! Can't… breathe!!"

Ten minutes later…

"By the way, guys, where's Mindy?"

"You didn't see her? After one week waiting and you didn't show up… she took Loh and went to the Dragon Empire to look for you."

Unknown to them, while the Song Clan Convoy sailed south-east by the coastline, the Red Fang had hurriedly made its way over the clouds to Bee Hoon Town.

There was a bare moment, just a sliver of time, in which Mindy and Remian could possibly have turned spygla.s.ses at each others' airs.h.i.+ps and seen each other there, but the clouds were heavy, and traffic was too, and neither of them saw fit to thorougly investigate every airs.h.i.+p that crossed their paths.

So it was that Remian and Mindy pa.s.sed by within two kilometers of each other.