While Erwin and Onean were fending for themselves in the Boll Dukedom, Christine had already piloted the airship to the southwesternmost dukedom on the northern continent, the Putrani Dukedom.

In reality, it was more accurate to call it an almost completely uninhabited desert than a dukedom.

This was the wildest region of the northern continent, and it also had the most unique topography. Violent sandstorms were an extremely common sight here, and the desert was filled with thieves and bandits.

At the center of the desert stood the city of Madeira, also known as the city of sand cones. It was the largest city in the Putrani Dukedom, but of course, there was only a single city in this entire dukedom.

At the same time, the city was also a massive exchange hub.

All of the stolen goods from the nobles of the other dukedoms were brought here to be sold. As for why those thieves and bandits would come all the way here to sell off their stolen goods, that was because Madeira was home to the most knowledgeable buyers, so those stolen goods would be sold for better prices here than almost anywhere else. In contrast with all those black markets, which always offered ridiculously low prices in exchange for those stolen goods, Madeira was paradise for the thieves looking to offload their spoils.

Aside from goods stolen from nobles of other dukedoms, valuable goods stolen from travelers in the desert would also be sold in the markets in the city.

Those illicit goods would be purchased by opportunistic buyers who felt themselves to be very smart and business-savvy, but once the goods were transported out of the city and entered the desert, the bandits would emerge from ambush to reclaim everything again.

In that case, why was it that there were still merchants who dared to come here to purchase goods? After all, this scheme was very obvious, and it was certainly no secret.

This was because, in the face of the potential of making massive profits, there would always be merchants who were willing to try their luck, thinking that perhaps they would be the fortunate exception to the norm and be able to transport their purchased goods out of this desert. In reality, every merchant who developed this mindset would've already fallen into Prince Yamoyan's trap. They could only see the potential for massive profits, thereby blinding them to the enormous risk involved.

Of course, there were still some merchants who were very intelligent and rational.

They knew that if they offered a sufficient number of Loonies to Prince Yamoyan, then the bandits and thieves serving the prince would let them off the hook. Thus, they would be able to take their purchased goods and leave the desert safe and sound. As long as they could transport those goods out of the desert, then they would have many opportunities in the future to sell those goods to nobles for several times the prices the goods were purchased for.

So who exactly was this Prince Yamoyan? There was naturally no way that the glorified leader of a bunch of bandits and thieves could actually be an official prince with their title conferred upon them by the emperor of the Fulway Empire, so it was clear that he had given this title to himself.

The Putrani Dukedom actually was the fiefdom of a certain prominent noble once upon a time, but that was several hundred years ago.

As the desert slowly devoured the oasis, this place had become unfit for human habitation long ago, and thus, that branch of nobility had left this place many years ago.

As time passed, this desert gradually became the gathering place for all types of shady individuals. After all, no one wanted to come all this way and venture into this godforsaken desert to capture these convicts on the run.

During the past few decades, a man by the name of Yamoyan experienced a meteoric rise among the bandits and thieves. He was renowned for being exceptionally bold and ruthless, and with those qualities, he was able to gradually seize control over this entire desert.

In the past, Madeira was only a run-down and dilapidated encampment in the desert, but during these past years, Yamoyan had built this city of sand cones, essentially from nothing, with all of the Loonies that he had earned and plundered. Thus, all of the convicts on the run now had a home.

All of the convicts and fugitives living in the city also had a great deal of respect and reverence for Yamoyan, and they were all very obedient to him. Of course, those who weren't obedient to him had already become skeletons in the desert sand.

Aside from fugitives and convicts, there were also many poverty-stricken common folk, disgraced nobles, and people running away from enemies that had moved into the city over time. Thus, the city was expanded time and time again over the years, and at this point, its population was already close to 100,000.

Prince Yamoyan was also very lenient toward these people, and all that he required of them was that they paid their rent on time.

There were no hotels in Madeira, so for those who entered the city, they would be registered by Prince Yamoyan's subordinates, then taken to their residence.

Given the way that the city functioned, it wasn't inaccurate to say that Madeira was essentially a hotel of unprecedented scale, and the owner of the hotel was none other than Yamoyan.

Of course, this wasn't the most nuanced assessment of the city. In addition to all the accommodation sites, Yamoyan also owned all of the shops in the city, regardless of whether they were restaurants, pubs, or weapons shops. As long as it was an industry in the city, it undoubtedly belonged to the notorious prince.

Hence, once someone set foot into this city, they would have to begin spending, and the only way that their cash flowed would be outward.

However, Prince Yamoyan was quite lenient when it came to rental fees, and the prices were all set quite low. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many people willing to move here for permanent residence.

Furthermore, prices for necessities like clothing and food were also considerably lower than in most places, even below the standards of many of the small towns in the north.

Thus, one would only need a few thousand Loonies to live here for several decades.

The downside to living here was that the environment was quite unforgiving. Madeira was situated deep in the desert, so there was a severe shortage of water. All of the water in the city was distributed by Yamoyan's subordinates, but thankfully, the cost of the water was already included in the rental fees.

Thus, taking a shower or a bath was an extravagant luxury in this place.

Of course, no normal alcoholic beverages could be purchased in the pubs, either. The only thing that could be purchased was something known as dry booze, which came from a type of plant known as purple rotum that could only be found near desert environments. After a fermentation process, the fruits of these plants would develop a flavor similar to grape wine.

This dry booze was served to customers in the form of globules in beer mugs, looking a lot like bunches of rotten grapes. They were very tannic and astringent to bite into, but each fruit did hold some juice. It certainly wasn't the best form of alcohol, and it couldn't even be referred to as a beverage, but it was the closest thing to booze that the residents of the city could get their hands on.

Why was it that there were still people willing to move here for permanent residence even though they couldn't regularly shower or bathe, and there was no booze to be drunk?

As aforementioned, there were always people in this world who were so poverty-stricken that they couldn't afford food and shelter, and there were also people who were on the run from enemies that were out for their blood. For those people, survival was the number one priority. As for deriving enjoyment out of life, that was something that was very far down on their list of priorities.

Here, one would perhaps be led to wonder what would happen to the people who were so poor that they couldn't afford even the lenient rental prices offered in Madeira. Would they be skinned alive by the ruthless Prince Yamoyan? Would they be thrown into the desert to wilt away?

That was not the case. For those who were so poverty-stricken that they couldn't even afford to pay rent, they had to go to Prince Yamoyan and be assigned jobs as manual laborers as an alternative form of payment. There were many jobs in the city that required manual laborers, such as maintenance and repair of the city walls, building additional residential flats, and sweeping the streets.

Most importantly, Prince Yamoyan provided food to those people as well. At the very least, they could expect to receive one piece of jerky per meal.

There was another reason why the close to 100,000 residents of the city were happy to stay here, and that was because the law and order in Madeira were exceptional. It could be said that when it came to the maintenance of law and order, Madeira was superior to the vast majority of cities in the north.

The main reason for this was because Prince Yamoyan enforced the laws of the city very strictly. Even though his subordinates consisted primarily of fugitives and convicts, none of them dared to misbehave in Madeira. They knew that if they were to commit an offense against the laws laid down by Prince Yamoyan, the most important of which was the prohibition of stealing from anyone in the city, then they would immediately be thrown into the human-shaped cages deep in the desert. There, they would die a slow and torturous death from starvation and dehydration with nothing to keep them company but the unforgiving sun in the sky.

Aside from Prince Yamoyan's subordinates, all of the residents of the city also abided closely by the laws laid down by him. They had all seen what had become of the people who had broken those laws, so they naturally didn't dare to make any transgressions.

As a result of this, even fights and brawls were an extremely rare sight in Madeira.

If any of the visiting merchants were to break one of Prince Yamoyan's laws, then that would be exactly what Yamoyan wanted to see, and if they couldn't issue a large sum of Loonies as bail, then they wouldn't be leaving the city anytime soon, or perhaps ever.

....

So why was it that Christine had taken everyone to this place? Aside from the fact that it was the closest dukedom to the Terarody Mountain Ranges, there was another reason. She knew that only in this place could she gather a group of people willing to venture deep into the Terarody Mountain Ranges as soon as possible. These fugitives and convicts valued money above all else, so they were willing to take extreme risks as long as the price was right.

The airship slowly drew to a halt near a spire in the city of Madeira. An orderly system of "branches" was extending out of the tip of the spire in all directions, and the airship landed on the ends of these branches.

All of the remaining members of the Four Winds mercenary legion were feeling completely lost and devoid of direction as the fierce desert wind blew into their faces. At this point, they could only rely on Christine to lead them out of the predicament that they were in. It was clear that Erwin's disappearance had dealt everyone a heavy blow, and their sense of despair and lack of direction were only further exacerbated by the fact that they were in a completely unfamiliar land.

This must be a crude aerial port, Lanyon thought to himself as he stood on the deck of the airship. "Why is there an aerial port here? Could it be that airships regularly visit this place?"

As it turned out, that was indeed the case. Not only did many of the merchants traveling to and from the city do so with airships as their mode of transportation, Prince Yamoyan also had his own fleet of airships, but they weren't docked nearby. However, with all the sand and dust flying through the air, it would be impossible to see the airships even if they were situated nearby.

There were some merchants who thought that they could exploit a loophole by transporting their purchased goods safely out of the desert via the aerial route, but things weren't that simple.

Prince Yamoyan had five modified airships that were quite small and compact, making them very fast and maneuverable, perfect for pursuing other aerial targets. Furthermore, special ballistae had also been installed onto the airships, and a single arrow fired from those ballistae could pierce through the main airbag of the target airship.

It was impossible to ward off the arrows from those ballistae unless one had an armored airship like the one that the Skycourt Kingdom's mercenaries had made by modifying Christine's airship, but with additional armor plating, the airship would become too heavy and cumbersome. Thus, the small airships in Prince Yamoyan's fleet would be able to quickly surround the larger and heavier airship to attack it from all directions.

Thus, the best course of action was to make offerings to Prince Yamoyan. Otherwise, he would be able to intercept merchants and their purchased goods both on land and in the sky.

"Hey there, Christine." A burly man with a thick beard wearing a pair of protective goggles waved at Christine with a wide smile, then tied the rope that had been tossed down from the airship to a large metal ring at the end of the branches.

Only then were Lanyon and the others able to see that the branches were actually a series of long open-air staircases, allowing the people on the airships to enter the spire.

In response to the burly man's greeting, Christine merely gave him a quick wave.

She turned around to look at everyone on the deck, then instructed them to keep their protective goggles on. As the burly man tightened the rope little by little, the airship was gradually docked at the aerial port, and Christine led everyone down from the deck before the group made their way toward the spire along one of the long staircases.