True Love's Seventh Kiss

Ch.4 Captain Marion Cliffgard

While studying for this venture Marion's world exploded with information.

Although he had seen maps of the world, he was now given access to his parent's maps of the forest and their logs. Before this everything felt like he was in a class looking at history of places he had little to no frame of reference for since he barely made his way around the city let alone the port. Now, he was reading first-hand accounts of places he was going to go.

Since he was going to be going to the forest on a consistent basis, Count Novak entrusted him with certain aspects of the territory so that he could become more intimate with the land he would be running. Namely, the harvesting and processing of Charsis Mushrooms. Which were a valuable renewable resource found deep in the Cliffgard forests.

They were fairly common in the Cliffgard forest and grew plentifully so that the average joe could make a living on harvesting them. They were exclusive to the Cliffgard forest and hard to cultivate due to the nature of the forest's ever-present mana which prevented people from living inside it. Thus, they had a plethora of air ships of all kinds that docked at a cliffside port they used to float over the forest. Harvesting Charsis mushrooms was about as popular and lucrative as fishing around a normal by-water port town.

The only permanent structures that saw any use inside the forest were watchtowers that were constructed high enough to keep the guards and ship docks out of the danger zone. Only the more distant ones had 24-hour watches due to the dangers of the forests, but they were built more like floating islands that were tied down with tethers rather than proper towers.

The territory of the Cliffgard County rivaled the other Duchies. But due to seventy percent of the territory being uninhabitable or unmapped it remained a County. That said, the county maintained the largest fleet of active airships despite diminutive population and size. This was in large part to their ability to maintain them with the natural resources of the forest.

Wood was easily gathered even if they took a little longer to be processed. There were a few shallow mines that were close enough to ports to utilize. The Charsis mushrooms had about eighty percent of the potency of Mana crystal mined deep underground, but due to their availability they were the preferred power source in Cliffgard.

Since Charsis Mushrooms had to be foraged for, it was the perfect responsibility for Marion. He could both explore for the Elven spring and gather mushrooms, so he didn't come home empty handed. He was allotted his own smaller airship with a crew of four including himself and Kaliban.

For a month before Marion ever set foot on the ship studied maps, learned the basics of flying an airship, and learned how to fire and maintain a rifle. Sword play was secondary because a large enough portion of the animals and mana-beasts in the forest were skittish and had a tendency to run rather than fight.

Thanks to Count Novak's policies and the harsh environment, piracy was nearly nonexistent; it was just too easy and profitable to get a job. It was also too hard to remain independent in the forest so any that resorted to piracy were either shot down by patrols, reclaimed by corporations, or succumbed to the forest.

That meant that managing the dangers of the forest and its mana while looking for the Elven spring was Marion's greatest concern. That said, Marion had a hint that nobody else had. There was an underground world tree, which meant the spring may not even be above ground but, in a cave, somewhere.

So, unlike other expeditions that were shot in the dark, Marion paid close attention to the chasms and surface mines when he planned his first route.

When the day of his first journey arrived, he was dressed far too poshly. A sharp noble uniform with far too many needless tassels and decorations. He had a clockwork rifle slung over his shoulder and a knife strapped to his waist. Marion didn't care much for the colors which were a dark green with copper and nearly fluorescent blue. But they were his house colors so there was no use complaining.