After a direct trip of several months the family of four was about to reach one of the largest islands in the lower area: New Tensis.
The little ones had celebrated their fourth birthday among the considerable number of followers they had acquired. Sigurd, a nerthus. The 6 voidmaws, 5 dwarves, 4 canogons, and 3 yintrecks that joined them at Kinzoku. In addition to the newest members: 6 quinoids, who were also on the direct flight to New Tensis. 25 people in total.
Darthañan and Frigglene were no longer surprised when the quinoids asked to serve the little ones. What made them curious was knowing why children were so easily able to gather followers. But nothing they theorized made sense, not even the fact that they possessed the blood of royal vampires.
“Mushi, Mushi look he is Sigurd!” Theodor yelled, running across the living room of the ship.
There were so many individuals in their group that soon the other passengers stopped visiting that specific place.
"Sigurd, Sigurd look this is Mushi," said Tod hitting him with his kidcom in the face.
Sigurd's face appeared distorted on the screen.
On the other side Mushi was being dressed by his two servants in a military outfit.
"It seems to me that he looks the same as last time," Mushi said trying to stay still so he could be dressed without problems.
Unlike how he had started to behave, the little lepiot kept his innocent and shy attitude towards his only three friends.
"No, no, his horns grew. I'm sure of it,” said Theodor, pointing the kidcom at Sigurd's ornament.
"I don't know," Mushi replied.
“Hello Mushi. How are things going there?” Sigurd greeted.
Before leaving Kinzoku Theodor had introduced him to his two friends who were in Lhimkio. And from what he had heard the tensions between the island and other baronies reached such a point that a war broke out.
In Jagulbud, wars were not prohibited. However, the rank of the nobles determined over how many islands they could exercise sovereignty. Every time confrontations like these began, no matter how minuscule they were, there was a chance that a Getuie would appear.
The Getuie were creatures under the service of the Jagulbud royal family. Their bodies were made up of a mixture of energy, metal, and flesh. Six feathered wings protruded from their backs. They looked like angels, but instead of a head they had a halo on their shoulders that resembled a runic formation.
The common people called them the king's witnesses, because when they appeared they limited themselves to fly over the place where the battle was taking place.
But the nobles knew well what it was. These creatures, both angelic and terrifying in appearance, were the representatives of the king and if the monarch saw it necessary, they would act in the dispute to generate the result that the royalty considered more profitable.
Bottom line: The king would not let his enemies increase in power.
"Hello Mr. Sigurd," Mushi greeted.
“Everything remains the same. Although my dad told me I had to lead a battle today.”
“Wow! I want to lead a battle too,” Theodor exclaimed when he heard the words of his friend.
“It’s not fun. You have to be sitting all the time telling them what to do to the wooden dolls. And Latispora always shows up to scold me.”
At that moment a new image appeared.
“Hello Mushi,” Elizabeth greeted.
“Hi Eli, how are you?” replied the little lepiot.
“Very well. Look,” said the little girl showing her new hairstyle.
“They are braids. Nessa told me they looked very nice on me.”
Nessa was one of the quinoids who decided to serve the little ones. She had the characteristics of a cavalier dog and was increasingly enjoying helping Frigglene grooming Elizabeth. The adorable girl had unknowingly become this woman's doll.
“It suits you very well.”
“Sigurd Why don't we men have long hair?” Theodor asked when he saw that his friend and sister said that the braids looked good.
" Men can also have long hair, but the custom is that we usually have short hair, " replied Sigurd.
“But with short hair I cannot have braids.”
Sigurd laughed at the boy's comment.
" There are many men who decorate their beards with braids, " said Sigurd, amusing himself with the subject.
" But I am bald in my cheeks, " replied Theodor touching his cheeks.
At that moment, the door to Mushi's room opened.
" Mushi, say goodbye to your friends, it's about time, " said Latispora in her usual monotonous tone.
“Bye Eli, bye Tod. I have to go.”
“Bye Mushi,” the two answered at the same time.
Mushi turned off the kidcom and placing it on the desk in his room he ran after his sister.
Upon reaching the war room Mushi encountered the familiar chaos. Young people, teenagers, and children ran around the place shouting orders and asking for help.
Helvella had commissioned Latispora and the other little ones to handle the war as long as it continued to be aerial. Unlike their enemies, Lhimkio's forces could use boats manned by technomagical puppets.
This way of managing military efforts was thanks to a large number of resources available to them.
They were not the best at creating technological or technomagical gadgets. They did not have powerful magicians either, but their peculiar arts that united technology and magic with nature gave them an advantage that beings of another nature had trouble understanding.
Mushi hit his cheeks twice and the cold gaze he was known for, returned. The little lepiot went to his cubicle and placing his hand on the recognition device emitted a small charge of energy. At the beginning of the war, his brothers had taught him the first steps to manage his internal energy.
“Mushi, if you complete this mission, dad will buy you a new game that came out on the imperial island. Brevi says it is a lot of fun and can be played from different places.”
“Can I play it with Lutza, Eli, and Tod?" Asked the little one, the emotions he felt were reflected briefly in his eyes.
“If they also buy it, there would be no problem.” replied his sister.
Determination filled the small body of the lepiot.
A holographic cube appeared on his cubicle accompanied by a small screen. One of the young women charged with managing the macro direction of the war began to give Mushi the details of his mission.
“Jangalee ships were sighted surrounding the combat zones by an alternate route. We believe their goal is to land at Lhimkio in one of the furthest parts of Vorpiax. We need you to find and intercept them before they reach 15,000 kilometers from Lhimkio.”
The security zone around Lhimkio formed a circumference around the island with 15 thousand kilometers in all directions. This imaginary delimitation was the range of actions of adults.
Every time one had to act, points were subtracted from the general evaluation of all the participants.
The awards were both for groups and individuals, but the penalties were for everyone. In war the mistake of one could condemn them all.
“Understood,” Mushi replied.
“In the area that we estimate they could be arriving we only have four DDLs (Dandelions). We do not believe that any of our fastest vessels will arrive on time so you must act as if no reinforcements are to arrive.”
“Understood,” Mushi said again.
Four floating spheres appeared in the holographic cube. These were the representations of the famous DDL's. Its name came from the flowers commonly known as dandelions because of the way they looked and worked.
These huge ships floated in midair serving as an anchor point for some 150 to 200 hovercrafts known as their seeds. Neither the main ship nor the seeds required fuel. They ran on power loads. DDL was loaded with a large amount of energy before takeoff and could remain in the air for up to six months if its seeds were not used. Hovercrafts within the DDL are recharged with its energy and can fly 5 hours on each charge.
The seeds could move quite fast, but the DDL's moved at the speed of a person walking.
“I’m going to start,” Mushi said to warn his sister.
“I trust you,” Latispora replied before walking away.
Mushi slipped on the headphones he had won last week and played the music Rivularis had said was Fusca's favorite.
It was time to hunt down his enemies.
