1581 Awake!
Uhmm~
Artemis moaned, still in a state of dizziness.
What happened?
'I recall we were under attack before... Savior!!!'
Artemis' eyes shot open in worry.
Did they succeed? Or were they now taken into captivity by the enemy?
"Your highness!" A thunderous cry cracked the air.
It was Payne.
His face quivered with emotion as he gripped Artemis' hands tightly.
"Your highness... It's good... It's good that you're awake. Quickly! Someone!... Tell those in the kitchen to get his highness' food ready!"
In a flash, one of the men in the room headed out while Payne and a few others assisted Artemis in sitting up.
They all breathed a deep sigh of relief, happy to see him in good shape after sleeping for so long.
Well... He had been asleep for 6 hours now.
The sun had already set, and the darkness had come.
~Hiss!
The pain at the back of his neck was still stinging, but he didn't care much about this.
If his men were alive and well, it meant the event was the one who lost.
"Savior..." He murmured the words with difficulty through his dry throat.
"Your highness, he's below deck, helping us with ship maintenance."
What?
They even stayed back to do this?
Artemis felt the debt he and his men already owed grow heavier.
"Tell me what happened. And don't miss a single thing out."
Everyone nodded, retelling all they saw.
Ridiculous, right?
The more they spoke, the more unfounded and disbelieving Artemis was.
Are you sure you're not telling him some folk tale but the actual relay of events?
In truth, even the giants didn't see much.
Their savior made a series of smoke and blinding lights that popped up every now and then, leaving them in the dark for the most part.
You have to know that they too were surrounded by enemies, though not a lot thanks to that first situation when their savior deflected the arrows to take down many beside them.
So they teamed up and targeted the remaining Morgs standing around.
From the earlier battle, they understood how tricky these Morgs were.
So they dared not lose focus until they slayed the bunch.
And when they were ready to help their savior, smoke and light bombarded them severally.
But after a while, things became clearer, and all they could see were the dead.
!_!
There!...
Their savior was on the lead enemy ship.
He had his face facing them and his front facing the kneeling Captain Long Bottom.
Bang!
The thunderous quake pierced through the sky, causing nearby dishes to flee.
Maybe it was because the silence leading up to the Bang was too quiet.
The effect was enough to give them goosebumps all over.
And that was it...
That was how they won the conflict.
....
Artemis' ball throbbed up and down his throat.
He cheered on his meal, asking them their thoughts on this stranger.
Yes. They were the ones who now spent time with him during his slumber.
So what do they think?
Giants were the most critical people, scrutinizing everyone that came their path. How they lived and all they've been had made them sense evil intentions faster than many.
The oppression placed on them wasn't a joke.
Everyone briefly exchanged stares.
In the end, it was Artemis' 2nd in command, Todo, who gave an opinion that well represented their thoughts.
"Your Highness. I've spent time with the skinny one... I don't think he's malicious towards our group. If anything, he keeps asking us to do weird jumps, saying he thinks we're the perfect fit for basketball."
"Basketball?" Artemis frowned. "What was the"
Some hidden assassination skill?
***[NBA players]: "Yes... Yes, it is. With this technique, you'll learn the famous Slam Dunk skill.
Artemis pushed the strange basketball thing behind him.
Listening to Todo, as well as seeing everyone else nod severally, he knew they all sensed no malice from the stranger.
"What about our location? Does he know where we are? Are we sailing towards the edges of the world? Can he help us get back home?... More importantly, where is he from?"
"Your Highness. He claims to know the way, stating that he is a dark guard from a continent called Pyno."
"Pyno?"
Never heard of it.
Was it some tiny continent the size of an island hidden away?
If Artemis knew that Pyno alone was as massive as Tenola, Zohl, Omania, and Veinitta put together, he wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Pyno was the biggest continent in Hertfilia!
It was exaggeratingly huge with enough landmass spanning gloriously.
This was why the Morgs loved taking slaves from Pyno.
Their population was just too much. So why can't they be generous enough to lose a few? Pyno's size was also why the Morgs made sure Pyno never advanced or grew to a certain level.
But even though Pyno was massive in number, most of their people weren't as strong-hearted and stubborn as the Omanians.
People in Pyno could easily turn to greed if offered the right price. But Omanians and their bloody stubbornness were quite irking.
"Your highness... The Skinny one indeed has proof of this place called Pyno."
**(The skinny one was how they described Landon. His strength was too contrasting to his slender physique. And the fact that the giants were already so huge made them see him like a twig. They called most foreigners like that. The skinny one... the small one... The short one... And so on.)
Artemis drank the porridge given to him, chewing on the softened pieces of grain.
But soon, he stopped after seeing the strange paper book brought to him.
What is this?
"Your highness... He called it a magazine!!!"
A magazine?
Artemis held the godly multi-colored booklet, almost raising it to the heavens in tribute.
How can paper be so smooth?
No matter how many times he ran his hands against the magazine, its smoothness left him in bliss.
The corners were finely cut, and the images on the magazine had him praising the Painter who did the portraits.
Pyno...
Just where was that?
