SOS CH 7 (Patreon)

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While Morgiana was apologizing to Noah who was facing a crisis of no food in sight…

Deep in the vestiges of space, in a system completely different from the one that Noah and Morgiana were stranded in, a few small drones were probing around the celestial bodies while analyzing the situation.

Further behind them, a small armada consisting of more than 10 ships, advanced menacingly— above them lay a black holographic flag that was swaying as if under the wind even though they were in deep space with nothing but the hollow darkness of space surrounding them.

The picture of the flag was that of a skeleton head with one eye forming a Four and the second one forming a Zero.

The Forty Thieves.

In the Grand Sea of Space, the Forty Thieves may be nothing but a small or medium organization at best.

But few people would dare to underestimate them in the whole galactic order.

The main ship at the helm had a completely round form, looking more like a floating ball than a spaceship.

This was none other than Omid's ship.

.

.

.

The interior of the ship was pretty standard all things considered. Decorations were sparse and all rooms had a purpose embedded in them rather than just being there for absolutely no reason.

Many screens were floating around one man who was sitting on the equivalent of a throne.

The man was huge in stature. Easily reaching nearly 3 meters in just height alone. His body was of a black ebony color while yellow-like tattoos could be seen covering most of his skin.

Those tattoos shone brightly, pulsating with life and a sense of energy.

He was wearing nothing but a pair of pants. But those pants seemed to be struggling to simply not burst open due to the massive size of the muscles of his legs.

Ignoring the seven screens floating around him, Omid listened to the report of his subordinates.

"Did you find any traces regarding her whereabouts?"

"Yes! Though faint, we managed to track remains of hyperspace breaking the Sea. We should be able to locate her in a few hours at most."

Despite his boorish appearance, Omid was anything but stupid. He looked at his subordinates quietly before giving him the final order…

"You have one hour."

"Yes, Captain!"

The man did not argue. He knew very well that doing so was useless in front of his captain. He knew his captain after all. Standing up, he gave Omid a salute and immediately left the room.

｢You are as boring as always. Your pirates are not very pirate-like.｣

From one of the seven screens that had been floating around him, the voice of a woman registered in Omid’s ears.

"Only discipline can create the strongest force. I already asked Cassim for permission to reform the whole alliance but he never listened to me."

A few chuckles filled the room and someone finally spoke up after a while,

｢My Captain believes in true Freedom.｣

It was another woman, her voice caused Omid to raise an eyebrow,

"Esther? Where is Cassim? You have been serving as his replacement for some time already."

｢Training.｣

"I see."

He nodded. This was indeed something Cassim would do. Even more in this situation.

"I am about to catch Morgiana. Any directives you guys want to share?"

｢Be careful. Morgiana is nothing but a bait at the moment.｣

"How could I not know?"

He gave the speaker of those words a bold smile, "She is a bait to lure me in. But once I capture her, she will be the bait necessary to pull in Alibaba and end this farce once and for all."

｢You should move fast then. The leader of the Emerald City might take action if you don’t move fast enough and capture her.｣

"Dorothy?"

This time his voice was less calm than before. Clearly disturbed by the content that he was hearing.

The Witch of Oz, Dorothy Gale. Supreme leader of Oz and the Emerald City.

She was a true big shot and one of the reasons she was so dangerous was her ability to manipulate space.

He couldn't help but frown when he thought of that crazy woman,

"Wasn't she at war with Princess Ozma?"

｢They entered a truce. The details of the matter are still unknown.｣

He cursed under his breath after hearing that remark.

The Emerald City was a behemoth even with those two fighting for the right to rule. Once the Four Witches, Dorothy, and Ozma stopped fighting, everyone would be in deep trouble.

"Shit."

He cursed again. Before sighing and standing up.

"Very well. The situation has changed then. The moment we find her I will descend myself and capture her as fast as possible and then flee."

He had planned to simply watch and let his subordinates do the job. After all, Morgiana did not have access to her full power at the moment so he didn’t need to do the heavy lifting himself.

But now, a too-big of a variable was interfering in the work.

He didn't know if the Emerald City wanted to interfere in their problem or if this was simply a personal matter but either way, he couldn't afford to waste time now.

｢Do not worry. We are already in place to stop her from advancing. Be it Dorothy or Princess Scheherazade, none of Alibaba's allies, will be able to attack soon. The rest is on you.｣

A complicated light flashed in his eyes at the mention of Scheherazade. But he simply dismissed those thoughts and focused on his work instead.

Recollecting old memories was nothing but a waste of time at this very moment.

It was time for action. And he needed to be swift and decisive in his execution.

As if on cue, the voice of his subordinate reached him…

"Captain! We have found her coordinates. We will arrive in three standard hours."

A large grin formed on his face at the content of his subordinates report.

"Time to go."

———

While the meeting between the higher-ups of the Forty Thieves was taking place, back on the planet where Noah and Morgiana currently were, Morgiana smiled helplessly as the young boy stopped talking to her, sulking to himself.

She had apologized about not being able to bring his food with her but she didn't have much of a choice.

After all — He was just too dangerous.

Morgiana did not think of herself as particularly smart. She had lived half of her life while being pampered and spent another good portion living as a slave.

Before finally escaping and going through many trials and shaping herself to be the person she was now.

Thanks to all of those experiences, Morgiana had developed a clear grasp of what could be dangerous for her.

She doubted there was anything more dangerous than a young-looking kid who could seemingly destroy half of a giant abyssal beast in one go and that too without her even being able to tell what happened.

She couldn't help but curse inwardly.

'I thought humans were supposed to be physically weak?'

This boy had nothing human outside of his appearance. Even for a Djinn like her, surviving in this cold place was hard without any equipment.

But the boy was running around with his willy out without fear of freezing his balls off.

‘Can I even beat him?’

The clear cut answer here was no. Perhaps if she had her mecha with her it would be possible or if at least her reserves were full then she could try putting up some semblance of a fight. But as she was now, it was nothing short of impossible for her.

While he was down, her reason and survival instinct fought against her morality as she wondered if she should kill him while he was out to avoid any danger or simply flee from this place to save her life.

But the boy had helped her and repaying kindness with evil simply because of suspicion and fear was an all-time low that Morgiana did not wish to reach.

'Argh!'

She fought the urge to scratch her hair. She knew that making emotional decisions in space was a ticket toward death.

But he had not attacked her while she was unconscious and she would not attack him while he was.

'In a way, I have repaid my debt, right?'

This was as far as she was willing to go. But there was one thing she wanted to ask the boy,

"This planet is tidally locked, right? Do you know how I can reach the bright side of the planet?"

She asked quietly, not expecting much of an answer. After all, for all she knew she could be deep in the icy tundra. It would be hard for indigenous tribes to know the geography of their planets.

"I know. It is not far from her."

Morgiana perked up. The bright part of this tidally locked planet was constantly bathed in light by the sun.

This place would undoubtedly be the best place for her to recuperate her energy.

"Can we go? Please?"

He looked at her and caressed his stomach. Analyzing the situation.

In the end, he just nodded his head.

"I want something in exchange."

"Ask away. As long as it's possible, I will do what I can."

This was normal. Nothing was free in this world.

His eyes shone as she answered,

"I want to know about what is above the sky."

He pointed upward,

"Tell me everything."

She shuddered slightly. For some reason— she didn't think this was just a mere request.