After soothing Sugar—who was throwing a tantrum and demanding to be taken along—with a promise of "when you're a bit older," Krieg set off.
He loaded Sigma, Gin, and their essential supplies onto the small boat he'd built, hitched it to Magatsuno, and departed Faust Island amidst a chorus of farewells from the other residents.
By the way, when he'd asked the now-cured Flevance survivors about their future plans, many had expressed a desire to stay and work on the island.
Consequently, Krieg had contacted Tesoro to arrange moving the headquarters of "Stella Productions" from Sabaody to Faust Island, providing them with stable employment.
After a few breaks along the way, they reached Red Port. There, Krieg transferred Magatsuno into a custom-made pressurized tank.
He felt a twinge of regret leaving his handmade boat, the Lorelei, behind, but as much as he'd put his heart into building it, it was—in the end—just a simple boat.
They took the Bondola up to Mary Geoise, moving with extreme caution to avoid the Celestial Dragons.
Fortunately, most of the "World Nobles" were currently confined to their newly constructed manors under a form of house arrest, so they didn't run into any.
After picking up an Eternal Pose along the way, they headed straight for Sabaody Archipelago to meet Tesoro. Having been notified in advance, Tesoro was waiting in front of the Stella Productions building, looking fully prepared but slightly irritable.
「Good grief, Krieg. I'm a busy man, you know? Between prepping the headquarters' relocation and everything else...」
Tesoro's face was sour, likely due to the short notice, but Krieg brushed it off.
「Sorry about that. But this won't work without you.」
「Hmph. Just so you know, I can't be away for long.」
「Don't worry. I'm thinking a week, maybe two at most. By the way, how's the training with your ability going?」
Tesoro had consumed the Gold-Gold Fruit (Golu Golu no Mi) and had been refining his mastery of it alongside his business duties.
「It's fine. I can manipulate it without any issues now,」 Tesoro said, absentmindedly stroking the gold rings on all ten of his fingers. These rings were made from gold bars he had... "found" (liberated) from the Royal Plaza in Flevance.
「Excellent. Stella-san, I'm leaving things in your hands for a while. I've secretly assigned a few units on standby to act as your guards.」
「Thank you, Krieg. I've organized the paperwork; all that's left is to notify the various departments,」 Tesoro said, before following Krieg toward the harbor.
Krieg chartered a new, larger boat and hitched it to Magatsuno. With a massive haul of supplies and his team—Tesoro, Gin, and Sigma—onboard, plus Cotton and Kafu on his shoulders, he climbed onto Magatsuno's back.
「Objective: Merveille! Flagship, full speed ahead... wait, no. Magatsuno! Go that way!」
At Krieg's command, Magatsuno surged forward with terrifying power.
Thanks to Magatsuno's top speed, they arrived at Merveille in just two days—faster than expected. The group took a temporary rest on the beach.
Sigma, a native species of this island, seemed delighted to be home, so Krieg told him he could wander around for a bit. He then turned to Gin.
「There are some incredibly tough beasts on this island. It's the perfect place for you to sharpen your skills.」
As Gin and Sigma headed into the forest, Krieg gave instructions to his airborne unit.
「Cotton, take Kafu and keep watch from above. Keep track of those two and let me know if you spot a large pond or a lake.」
With the scouts away, Krieg spread out the nautical charts and maps with Tesoro.
「So, Tesoro... do you know the legends of the Sky Island?」 Krieg asked as he sat down on the sand.
「That's a loaded question. Only the ignorant treat it as a 'legend' these days. Those who know what they're doing understand it exists. But if you're asking, I assume Sky Island is our destination?」
「Exactly. Normally, the official route to Sky Island is through High West via the Summit of the High West.」
「But this island is quite a distance from that route, isn't it?」
「I never said we were taking the official route. We're using a different path. Besides, the High West route is a joke—they say out of ten people who try it, only one actually makes it.」
「A different path?」
「Yeah. The most famous alternative is riding the Knock Up Stream—a vertical current that blasts you into the sky...」
「Are you insane?! That's not a route, that's a natural disaster!」
「You're right. I can't drag my entire unit into a gamble like that.」
「Oh, but it's okay for me to go?! Don't give me that!」
「...Relax, I'm not taking that dangerous route either.」
「Don't scare me like that! ...So, how are we getting up there?」
「From right here, on this island,」 Krieg said, pointing to a specific spot on the map.
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