The Erratum-Chapter 42: Sundown.

Visiting 4 more individuals with black masks, Cetas and the other two did not take that much time underground.

Seeing as they didn’t have enough Solaris to purchase anything at all, they merely gazed at the varieties of Zeal Weapons with sorrow and left.

In the end, only Cetas had bought something from the ’underground’ market. A weapon considered to be quite versatile in terms of combat.

Still, Elishia and Reid didn’t complain, this meant that the firepower of the Aegir Pirates gained an incredible increase.

After exiting the tailor’s shop, Cetas stood in front of Elishia and bowed at a low angle, "Thank you for helping me with the cost.. I will pay you as soon as I get the money!"

Surprised by his sudden actions, Elishia placed her hand on her mouth, her eyes widening slowly.

Then, she shifted her head to gaze towards Reid, "Oh my, what an earnest young boy! Right?"

Elishia laughed for a second then faced Cetas, "Raise your head, Cetas. It is only natural that we help each other out, we’re crewmates after all!"

"Still, I wanted to show my gratitude."

Raising his head upwards, Cetas gazed at the two’s expressions.

Elishia was grinning, clearly joyful by Cetas’ willingness to be gratified at kindness.

Reid remained aloof and unmoved, however, Cetas noticed that there was a dim light within his eyes.

After Cetas raised his head, Elishia suddenly bursted out energy, uplifting her delicate arms in the air, "Alright! Let’s buy some groceries, shall we?"

*

As the sun parted from the skies above, leaving behind a residual orange hue for the people in the town of Lakalan to appreciate, the moon slowly ascended into the skies and showed its serenity to the world.

Many people passed by as the sun vanished from the distance, exuding only a warm radiance left by its splendor.

Near the entrance gates of Lakalan, Cetas, Reid, and Elishia waited for the other members of the crew to arrive.

In their hands, sacks of fruit, meat, and other essentials were being carried, mostly by Reid and Cetas though.

Elishia merely held a small pack of vegetables.

Upon minutes of waiting, Skadi and the others soon arrived near the gates. Elishia waved towards them, showing a large joyous vibe to the group.

"How was the day for the three of you?" Skadi paced through their gazes and focused on their eyes.

"Fun!"

"Normal."

"Uh.." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Respectively, Elishia spoke out of excitement, Reid remained indifferent, and Cetas was still formulating his language.

Skadi giggled a little bit, covering her mouth with her delicate hands.

Then, she placed her hand on each of their heads, rubbing them left to right.

With that, she turned around and urged them to follow her.

"This way, the horses are waiting.."

The stables were located 4 streets away from the main gate, entering through the first street, turning left, and going straight through.

The people in the streets of Lakalan dwindled in number as the night approached, marking the entire town with a similar silence to that of the sea.

Still, there were quite a lot of people in Lakalan, the streets would not be empty for another hour or two.

After a few minutes, Cetas and the others arrived at the stables.

There were many carriages led by horses, some looking luxurious and pristine, while some looked to be spacious and vintage.

The horses themselves looked to be filled with vigor, almost as if they were already raring to go on a long journey!

Heading inside the stables, Cetas followed as Skadi met and greeted an old man wearing simple garments.

He noticed that she gave him a small pouch of Solaris, and shook his hand to confirm their deal. Afterwards, she headed towards one of the rooms near the stable where they would then ride the carriage out of the town.

Inside one of the rooms, Cetas’ eyes squinted in familiarity.

..Isn’t that?-

Inside the stables, there were three-unique individuals near one of the wooden but sturdy carriages.

Each of them donned a pristine white coat with gold rims. Now looking closer, Cetas could see that they had an insignia on their left chests.

The design of it was quite simple: two mountains covering the sun which looked to be rising up towards the skies.

Three rays of sunshine emanated from within it and the colors from the bottom to the top of the insignia was a gradient of silver and gold.

Moreover, one particular individual with bright blonde-hair had a different insignia.

It was not that much different though as the gradient of the symbol on his left chest looked to have gold overpowering the silver, mixing along in the middle of the insignia.

The members of the Church of Helios!

Cetas tried to avert his gaze, however, it didn’t take 5 seconds for the three members of the Church to notice Skadi’s crew.

And yet.. they didn’t possess any hostility towards the crew..

Instead, one of a lanky stature acted friendly, showing a bright smile on his face, "Greetings! Are you here to buy a carriage too?"

He walked towards Skadi’s crew while raising his hands to offer his gentleness.

Reid was naturally cautious, moving his arms to form a defensive position in case of anything going awry.

Cetas, too, seemed wary. However, after seeing Skadi’s resolute face, his wariness began to dwindle down.

After the lanky man made it halfway towards the two groups, the man with a different insignia stopped him and said, "Careful, Levillius. Those are pirates."

Levillius immediately turned around, "Pirates?!"

From an outsider perspective, the 6 of them looked like innocent merchants going about their ways to travel Helios.

There was no way that every single one of them were notorious criminals that wreaked havoc across the world!

Of course, Levillius believed the Deacon, instantly stepping back and putting his guard up.

Umbra, the black-haired member of the Church, remained stoic. However, her hand reached for the insides of her white coat.

Stepping forward, Malfeith glared at Skadi and the others, contempt filling his eyes.

"Filthy Pirates, you dare taint these innocent lands?! Helios will surely punish you all! Wretched spawns of the Leviathans!"

Malfeith reached inside his coat, bringing out a flintlock pistol and aiming it towards Skadi.

Skadi merely gazed at him with indifference, not making even an inch of her skin move.

"Captain Skadi of the Aegir Pirates! Today is the day that you-"

Suddenly, Skadi cut his words off, "I.. what? Today is the day that I..?"

Raising her eyebrows, she stated with a compelling tone, "Be certain that you will be responsible for your own words."

The winds inside the stables grew stronger, blowing the dried leaves inside and fluttering Skadi’s golden hair.

Before anything else could happen, Malfeith clicked his tongue and slowly put the flintlock inside of his coat.

"Bastards," He clenched his jaw and spat on the ground."

After that, the three of them left the stables, vanishing towards the streets filled with the nightly gaze.

A few seconds after they left, Skadi let out a disappointed sigh, "This is why I don’t want to garner any attention.."

As the winds died down, the atmosphere of the crew seemed downhearted.

However, Cetas opened his mouth and stared at the distance, "Hypocrites.."

Every member of the crew stared at him, looking dazed and perplexed.

"They are hypocrites, after all.."

The corners of Skadi’s lips curled as she placed her right hand on Cetas’ head.

Astonished by this, Cetas turned around and stared at Skadi, noticing that she had a warm smile on her face.

"That’s right, they are truly hypocrites.."

Somehow, the mood lightened around the crew. Their bodies no longer showed any signs of discomfort as each of them breathed long sighs of relief.

Due to this, Skadi stepped up and softly declared, "Let’s be on our way then!"

*

At night, two horses ran on a dim-lighted road, carrying a distinct wooden carriage behind them.

Lengthed at around 7-8 feet , the carriage looked spacious enough to host 8 people at least.

Furthermore, behind the carriage was a wagon with a cloth-covered roof, supported by wooden beams. This carried the supplies that the crew purchased in their quick stop at Lakalan.

Furthermore, Galkan stayed on the wagon behind as per Skadi’s orders.

The reasoning behind it? Well..

He was too..

Big.

Nevertheless, Skadi knew that they had too much weight on their supplies so.. she helped the horses by lifting the carriage and the wagon centimeters in the air.

It would, at least, help the horses carry a lighter load and become less exhausted.

After setting off from Lakalan, Cetas inquired a little on how the carriage worked and its properties.

He learned they were mainly coined by the King of Helios: King Apollos des Helios the First.

Developed as a way to easen farming and made solely for the purpose of utilizing cows to transport goods, the carriage was seen as a mere tool for agriculture.

However, King Apollos devised that ’if it can carry supplies at farms’, why shouldn’t it also carry people across the continent?!’

So, in a mere year, King Apollos engineered and constructed the very first carriage made for humans.

And in the same year, he mass-produced the transportation tool and spread it across the kingdom!

Actually, most of the agricultural advancements were due to King Apollos’ bright mind.

He made sure that the kingdom prioritizes its farmers as they serve as the cornerstone of any nation or kingdom!

And he was right... Due to King Apollos, Helios is much more prosperous than the previous’ King’s rule!

Due to his prioritization of farmers, new technology boomed from its roots, developing to become a greater aid for the people’s quality of life!

Cetas became lost in thought.

So even devices such as a carriage have a long history to them. Humanity is quite interesting.

He looked above, gazing at the bright stars in the distance.

I wonder what other intricacies have been developed by humans - what History lies behind them..