Desolate, truly desolate was what Hiro thought as he gazed upon the scenery below from the sky ship he was on. Akarn was a desert this was old news but deserts weren't devoid of life, but this one aside from human settlements there was nothing to be found aside from sand across the whole of Akarn be it plant or animal, there was nothing. There were oases but they were just as devoid of life as every other place, being nothing but sources of water.

  "I assume you know where we're going?"

  Asked Hiro as he turned around facing Aleus and his personnel, among which was Nubel.

  "Of course, I know where we should start it's only a matter of where clues lead to afterwards."

  Answered Aleus, evidently they had already left. And their transport a sky ship, it was closer to a boat really. It's design was already familiar to Hiro but this one had more features than what he had seen from the first, most prominently the air ship like balloon roughly its size with turbines on its flanks fixed above the ship, along with another turbine right below the ship itself. Aleus had introduced it as his ship, and according to record this sky ship was among the top nine of speed oriented sky ships on the whole continent.

  (Fast indeed.)

  Hiro internally noted just after they entered into another kingdom. The day hadn't even past, it could be said to be an hour's flight at most Hiro guessed.

  (As expected this place is no different.)

  He thought as he took in the scenery, as far as he could see this region was also desolate, no vegetation in sight as far as the eye could see. It wasn't a desert but had plenty of sand. Considering it was mostly concentrated around the border of the two kingdoms, Hiro assumed that it had blown over from Akarn.

  "Is it okay to just enter foreign land like this?"

  Asked Hiro with caution observing that they would soon be landing.

  "There's no need to worry sir Hiro. This kingdom is one of the fallen kingdoms, without a monarchy its remaining inhabitants are indifferent to the coming and going of rune practitioners."

  Nervously answered Nubel who was just a few steps away and was in fact currently acting as helmsman.

  "Okay."

  Hiro acknowledged, he was already aware of this for quite some time, he had learned of it from the old village chief, at the time he was made aware of two types of fallen kingdoms. First those with a perished monarchy, second those whose monarchy was reduced to common folk in terms of living conditions and had to wander or rely on other kingdoms.

  And it was because of this information that Hiro had introduced himself as prince of a fallen kingdom, at the time he wasn't sure of the social standing of rune practitioners (don't forget he went to Akarn's palace under such an identity) or how he be would treated for that matter. So making use of information that would be hard to confirm in a short amount of time (him being a prince of a fallen kingdom), Hiro was ensuring he wouldn't be ignored at the very least. It ended up being useless but not wasted effort, presently this identity was used to justify his treatment in the palace.

  "Nubel I trust you can land the ship, we've reached our destination."

  Said Aleus while looking down from the ship smiling, but all Hiro saw was uneven terrain not suitable for landing. He saw nothing to smile about only curious how they would land the ship.

  The sky ship began to descend and the reason became clear to him, he smirked in astonishment.

  (To think there are such places, and here I was beginning to think I was lied to, the existence of rune ecosystem. How many such places are there going unnoticed even to me.)

  Hiro thought as they entered the illusion concealing the area, enabling everyone to see what's within without any special methods. The desolate appearance they saw from outside was no more instead replaced with the true scenery of this place. A verdant mini forest with abundant life, plants, insects and large animals they were all living here, of course it was only the species that fit the environment with a very limited number of each kind. And from within the illusion the periphery of the mini forest was an illusion of what was beyond it, a chasm spreading for miles, so deep the bottom could not be seen only a darkness like that of the abyss.

  (To discourage animals from going beyond, I suppose but what about animals doing so accidentally or the birds who can simply fly.)

  Hiro wondered what their solutions were for this and many other obstacles that such an environment faced but it wasn't important so he didn't ask, burying the thought as they left the sky ship after disembarking.

  "Being in a rune ecosystem always sparks awe within me at how wondrous life used to be, but now... returning to such flourishing times isn't just a dream."

  Said one attendant as they moved across the mini forest to one exit. Hiro was also assessing this environment and seeing how abundant life was in it an image of the first village appeared in his mind. Rune practitioners chose to preserve such lifeforms at the cost of their fellow men in hopes that if the world was to be restored then be it rune practitioners or ordinary people they would not be left with a desolate land, with all prior lifeforms being extinct. And in such a case the ordinary would become a burden to practitioners as they were during the deathly continent age.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Soon they stepped out of the illusion and faced the sun, undoubtedly even though this wasn't Akarn it was relatively hot. Now that they were not on the sky ship protected by the ballon's shadow among others they felt its might.

  "The border town Oasis is only a thirty minute walk from here, we should prepare relevant runes for our journey starting now."

  Suggested Aleus before they stepped back into the illusion, away from the sun and began to rummage within their respective pouches and bags. Hiro watched with curiosity as they all retrieved rune pens from their belongings and began to engrave their shoes and clothes. On their shoes the rune of walk was engraved while on their clothes cold rune was engraved. Aleus was the first to finish and he approached Hiro with an extra pair of shoes and a cloak.

  "I can't engrave what you are wearing so you'll have to make do with this."

  Hiro didn't ask what they were for putting on the shoes but the cloak he refused while he said.

  "The heat isn't a problem for me I have my methods."

  Similarly Aleus didn't ask instead he nodded and gave Hiro a bag to store his shoes. After making adequate preparation with their runes they left the illusion once more making their way to the border town.

  (Like I thought the runes on the shoes help with moving across sandy terrain. As for the cloak definitely for keeping cool under this sun, useless to me since I have both this dragon gear and hero's blessing, nature's affinity.)

  Thought Hiro as he looked at every spot he walked on, it felt rock solid enabling him to walk with great ease unlike how it normally would be to walk across a desert. If he closed his eyes and was told he wasn't walking on rock solid ground he wouldn't believe it, his senses of touch and hearing would be totally deceived.

  With the effectiveness of the runes they reached their destination, border town Oasis, within ten minutes. The condition of the town was several times better than that village thanks to rune practitioners that managed the rune ecosystem they had just left. But at present they had left for Akarn not knowing why they had been summoned. But their recent absence wasn't enough to make this place change for the worst.

  "It's a shame the rune experts stationed here have already left, we'll have to rely on the locals for clues."

  Said another attendant.

  "Correct Leandro, now where do you suggest we start."

  "Your Highness, I believe it is clear we should start at a tarven that is where information is likely to be concentrated since this town doesn't have a chief."

  Aleus praised as he asked Nubel with their map to lead the way, it was actually their first time at this border town as such chose to be low-key not arriving directly with their sky ship and causing a commotion, as for having a prince among them no one would recognize him. And them being rune practitioners this was something all to familiar in this town, unless Aleus revealed himself to be a rune master.

  (Traveling while making full use of our statuses does have its advantages but right now the the disadvantages outweigh them.)

  Hiro assessed as they took a turn and their destination was now within their sights.

  Clink, Clank.

  A bell rang as they pushed the door and entered, the tarven owner only took a single glance to recognise they weren't ordinary people and immediately sprang into action. He was familiar with wandering practitioners. They were carefree and would often give more than they received during these difficult times, thus acting to please such people had become second nature.

  "Welcome sirs, to the tarven of Oasis. What can I do to be of service?"

  He asked as he welcomed them with a warm subservient attitude. There was no one present at this time except for them, whether this was his normal attitude to customers only he knew.

  "Good to hear, we're looking for information on any recent female master or practitioner fitting this description."

  Informed Nubel after a brief nod while he handed over a piece of paper describing Aleus's master in great detail. Soon as the tarven owner scanned through it his eyes brightened as he thought.

  (Oh, this is my fortune to think that miss would still continue to be my blessing to this day. If I play my cards right I can definitely get more than ten fold the rewards than my information is worth. She's a rune master and they are acquainted with her, they are bound to have a considerable fortune compared to us common folk, what's ten rune tablets to them but champ change.)

  He grinned as he internally drooled thanking himself for this luck before he spoke.

  "I believe she did pass by this town but it was over a few days ago, I'm afraid my memory is a bit fuzzy on the details."

  Shing!

  The tarven owner heard drawing his attention to someone on one edge of the group, this person had drawn their sword he observed and was glaring at him with a cold gaze, their eyes met.

  "On what grounds do you think you can haggle with us? Know your limits."

  The tarven owner took a step back a cold sweat running down his back while his heart sank. In the end his idea of them was wrong, they were not wandering practitioners in any way but simply sheltered young lords of Akarn.

  (What luck they don't have her kindness, what relationship do they have with her? Worse yet they might actually be the rare wandering lawless rune practitioners)

  This thought was further reinforced with the fact that the town's rune experts had left not too long ago but not earlier either, if anyone wanted trouble now was the opportune time.

  Of course the wariness that was developing was unnecessary, Leandro didn't intend on harming the man. He was simply the type that could not act the part, even after they traveled with their identities concealed he wanted treatment that wasn't so different or rather expected people's attitude towards them to remain the same, especially towards the prince, Aleus.

  "Leandro calm yourself. I'm sure our friend here is just used to a give and take kind of relationship. Besides we're not so poor as not to return something in exchange for his services"

  The tarven owner's hope was restored as he subconsciously found himself drifting towards Aleus's side.

  "I am ashamed Sir's words are correct, living in such times kindness existence in memory for us common men. Please forgive me for overstepping my bounds"

  He said still wary despite Aleus's attitude now fearing offending them. After a brief pause he continued informing them of everything he knew and who likely knew more within the town.

  "We're not thieves we'll pay for the information."

  Said Aleus tossing several rune tablets as they walked out. Immediately after stepping out of the tarven he frowned, everything he was informed of he already knew, made aware of before leaving the palace. From this he was sure his master's colleagues had left no stone unturned. Meaning this town really was where the trail began to go cold with no further leads.