“Light!” Remian threw up a barrier as another volley of Ashdalian cannons hammered down on the Red Fang. From inside, Mindy exclaimed, “Fire!” The Red Fang’s cannons unleashed a broadside volley onto the nearest pursuing Frigate. Twelve Adventurers and three survivors on deck armed themselves for hand-to-hand combat. Phoebe had taken up Mindy’s Runic Nagamaki, but had put it down as she helped Remian put on his ME Suit. Despite taking on fire, a cluster of grappling hooks were fired out from the pursuing frigate’s cannons. Remian flicked out a hand on that side too. “Light!” Grappling hooks bounced off the light barrier, but one or two caught on the deck. “Lighten!” Sandra cast a lightening spell on one. Gammie grabbed it by hand and easily lifted it off the rim of the deck and tossed it overboard. As for the last one, Phoebe chopped at the attached cable with Mindy’s Nagamaki and… And nothing. That chop failed to cut through the cable

Sir Stout welcomed Mindy and the gang as they arrived carrying a stretcher with Remian unconscious on it. “That’s my ex-husband.” Mandy pointed. “Right, right.” Sir Stout nodded absently. “Aide, hand me your rifle...” “And that’s his new girlfriend.” Mandy added, pointing. He looked up and totally forgot about the rifle. Sir Stout was a man who was accustomed to beautiful women. Born in the upper class of Ashdale aristocracy, he practically grew up around the daughters of the rich and powerful, girls with easy access to high quality cosmetics and skilled beauticians. He had seen, spoken to, met and… interacted… with hundreds of dolled-up beauties in his twenty-five year lifetime. But today, he took one look at a girl and froze. Dolled-up beauties thick with make-up and wearing jewelry might not be able to move him any more, but there in front of him was a battered belle marked with ash and soot, fresh from the battlefield with the light of violent combat still flickering in her

“Mandy! I need to show you something!” Mindy was so excited, she was basically jumping up and down. “What? Where?” Mandy wasn’t sure what to make of it as she followed Mindy down the road. “This!” Mindy said, taking out a runestone and tapping it on the heavy ornate doors of the mansion they were passing by… Wait. They weren’t passing by. Why weren’t they passing by? Why was Mindy… The doors opened. “Mindy…? What did you do? What did you DO?!” Mandy panicked. “You can’t just illegally enter people’s houses with home-made runestone keys! That’s trespassing! That’s burglary! That’s… I don’t even know what that is!” “Relax! It’s fine!” Mindy said, taking out a sheet of paper. “See?” This was a heavily magicked sheet of paper, with a layer of mana protection, and sealed with nine different kinds of runes… “What is this?” Title, area, registry number… and the words ‘Property Deed’. Mandy read the paragraph that followed. “This is to certify that… Ardent Gale Mansion… belongs to Mind

“This is Commander James Eddings of the Home Logistics Department, Sir Stout’s immediate superior.” Mandy introduced the man that the Ashdale military had sent to talk about the Wasps.” “Good to meet you.” Remian shook his hand. “And I, you.” James nodded. “I understand that I also have you to thank for saving the life of one Private Ryan from certain death behind enemy lines. He passed your offer up the chain of command, something about agile aircraft that requires us to go to the Wildlands to buy? It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but now Sir Stout has urged me to consider it, and here I am. I assume this is the very topic we are here to discuss.” “Yes, it is.” Remian nodded. “It came to my attention that Germat has a glaring weakness in their airships. They have heavy armor and heavy weaponry and taking them down with conventional airships is difficult and costly.” “Thus, the agile, light fighter idea.” James nodded. “But I have my doubts that a small craft could carry

Days since last Beast Tide: 80. Current Kill Count: 9917 (696 since yesterday). “We can’t just let you go, so… you can either serve, or die.” George summarized his offer to the guards of the dead bully’s airship. “What would it be?” Despite the clarity of the offer, half the guards actually tried to attack. “Fire.” Song Chen instructed. Crossbows twanged on every side. A dozen men were riddled with bolts before they could make three steps. “Hey!” George protested. “That guy wasn’t even moving!” “He was holding on to a wand. He didn’t drop it.” Song Chen explained. “The ones that surrendered dropped their weapons.” “Oh. Never mind, then. Empty the airship’s cargo, and load it with munitions. Prepare it for battle.” George waved at it vaguely. One lynxmouse poked its head out from a side port. [Not much cargo. Just some food and munitions.] “Well, load up the crossbow bolts and get a crew on it.” Song Chen instructed one of his subordinates. “Fifth Crossbow Squad, Ninth Crossbow