After exiting the ship, and watching it sink to the bottom of the harbor, which wasn''t that deep, but enough to only leave the mast above water, Orion stared at the sea for any signs of life.


    *sigh*


    ''I guess it was too late.''


    Orion was about to leave, when he sensed something moving away.


    ''No, it seems like that helped.''


    His smile died down, as he turned to Vincent, who was next to him all this time.


    "Who was that man, Vincent? I''m sure his name was registered when he docked in Hocride right?"


    "I will have a look at it. Give me a moment."


    Taking the opportunity now that he was alone, he approached the edge of the dock, and crouched. He stood in a place where no one would be able to see past him.


    *Splash*


    Two heads popped up from under the water. Then three, then all of them ended up staring at Orion.


    "Was it enough to help you?"


    Many of the half-fish, half-human women began to tear up at his words, while the men look with intense gratefulness at him.


    "Yes, we cannot thank you enough for saving us. We were about to die if we had stayed in this ship any longer."


    "Can I ask a few questions before the guard returns?"


    The two in front nodded, so Orion wasted no time.


    "What are you? I have never seen members of a faction like yours, nor heard of it in Triazils."


    A few of them tilted their heads and looked at each other.


    "Factions? Triazils? Are we on another continent?!"


    Hearing that, it confirmed his thoughts.


    ''They really are from a different part of this world. No wonder we never heard of them.''


    One of the person behind the two spoke.


    "Umm... We are from the Siren species. Are we really on another continent? Not on Ganerdel?"


    With a nod, Orion confirmed.


    "This is definitely the case. You most likely were transported here by that criminal."


    For some reason, he wasn''t cautious about them, even though they looked human. The familiarity he had with half-beings, like beastmen, seemed to influence his emotions.


    And now that he had saved them, and that he confirmed that they were simply circumstantial victims, he felt horrible.


    ''Even if I killed that man, it doesn''t help them at all. We can''t have them being discovered, and we can''t send them back home either. No one besides someone from that same continent can lead them, but they wouldn''t help without a price.''


    ''At least, the man is dead and now fish food. Something like this would not happen again.''


    While thinking, he listened to the sirens.


    "What do we do now? We can''t go home, it''s way too dangerous swimming back."


    "Even worse, do you know the way home?"


    "How did this happen to us? What are we going to do now?"


    ''Yes, what happened to them?''


    Just then, he heard footsteps coming his way.


    "Everyone needs to remain hidden for now. I will ask more questions later, and find a way to help you."


    Quickly, their heads disappeared from his sight.


    "Did you find something, Vincent?"


    Orion turned around to see the man with a piece of paper in his hand.


    "Yes. The reception booth had everything about the guy. I will be frank, this was a mistake from our side."


    Giving the paper to Orion, he began to read it, while Vincent gave his take on the matter.


    "Iviera Baltras. Forty-two years old, merchant. Ex-pirate, and pillager, also known for abducting people."


    "How do you know all of that if it is not written on this paper?"


    Vincent brought another piece of paper from his pocket.


    "Here."


    -


    Iviera Baltras - Bounty - 15.000 TC. (Triazils Coins)


    Crimes committed: Abduction / Murder / Thief / Contraband / ...


    -


    The list wasn''t finishing.


    "You had someone like that with a bounty dock in Hocride? Kamala will not be happy about this."


    With a stern face, Vincent nodded.


    "That is for sure. The one on duty will most likely be severely reprimanded."


    "Thank you for bringing the man''s crime to a stop."


    Once again, Vincent went for a handshake.


    "No, I should''ve brought him alive for you to judge him."


    Shaking hands, Orion spoke, before watching Florian shook his head.


    "His judgment is not for us to decide. If he was caught, he would have been sent back to his birth land, and judged over there. He would have most likely escaped before then, and it would have been for nothing."


    "Ethically speaking, it is not great, but who cares, criminals like them deserve such an end. Also..."


    "Were they in such a bad state that you had to destroy the ship?"


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


    Vincent was worried about the beings that were inside.


    ''This is not so much a secret for him, since he saw them. I suppose I can tell him.''


    "I heard one whisper the word ''water'', so I simply gave them that. I also saw them swim away earlier so they are fine."


    He kept the fact that they were still here to himself.


    "That is a great thing to know. I have no idea what or who they are, but if they are still alive, I am happy."


    With a nod, he recovered the two papers from Orion.


    "I will send a notice to Lord Kamala, saying that after the incident, you took care of it, and that the ship sinking will pass as an explosion inside it. I will say that we saved abducted people, and that they returned to the sea."


    This seemed like a satisfactory summary of what had happened.


    "I will take my leave there, I need to confirm if the previous victim returned home safely, and return to my duties."


    "Sir Orion, thank you for the help, and good shopping."


    Vincent saluted, and then left the docks.


    ''Being a guard can be tough too, right?''


    Orion turned toward the sea, and crouched once again.


    "It''s safe. Let''s continue were we left off."


    *Splash*


    Once again, many heads came out of the surface of the sea.


    "How did you get caught?"


    Without waiting, because he had other things to do, mainly shopping, he asked.


    "That-"


    Since he went straight to the point, one of them answered, though it was apparent that it was a bothering matter.


    "We were caught in a storm."


    -


    The water was rough, moving in left and right as if it had a will of itself.


    Dark skies, torrential downpour, and worst of all, a typhoon and a whirlpool.


    Near the coast of Ganerdel, one of the largest combination of natural disaster happened.


    To be precise, more than that caused this situation.


    A meteorite fell in to the sea a few hours prior to that, disrupting the current of water in this part of the sea.


    The problem wasn''t the fact that all of these disasters happened at the same time, it was that this area was the living biome of the sirens.


    Twenty of the three hundreds sirens were sucked by the whirlpool, and in grave danger of suffocating and ripped apart from the incoming typhoon.


    At that moment, as if he was a hero, and most likely used to situations like these from his past as a pirate, Iviera noticed these poor people, and managed to save them all.


    The rest was being torture, and displayed as trophies until they were saved.


    -


    "We had no choice at the time, this was our only hope to survive. We knew some humans weren''t kind toward our species, but to think that we would end up in the hands of a man like him..."


    Orion closed his eyes.


    ''I should have known that other continents had problems with other factions, or species, in their case. But from the way they spoke, it seems to be a rare case.''


    After opening his eyes, he thought about his options.


    ''We can''t help them. There is no way for us to send them back.''


    But the reality was there. Orion didn''t even know the rest of the world. He only knew about Triazils.


    "What are you going to do, now that you are stuck on this continent?"


    This question was inevitable. It let the despair take over them, as the realization settled in.


    "We... don''t know. We most likely are considered dead by our pears, and I have a feeling we won''t be quite easily accepted as Ganerdel did."


    "Yes, we heard that the humans on this part of the world was full of conflicts, and that humans were actively hunting down the ones living on the same continent."


    "Is it true? Are we doomed even though you saved us?"


    Silently, Orion nodded.


    "Then..."


    The woman at the front spoke, before chuckling, dispirited.


    "We''ll try to survive before being found out."


    Something was pulling his heart. Knowing what would happen to these few sirens was obvious. Though, Kamala could protect them, another abduction could happen at any time in the harbor.


    With a single remaining idea, he asked.


    "What do you need to survive? Water? What about food?"


    One of them decided to answer, not understanding why he asked though.


    "We eat fishes. It can be seen as cannibalism, but we''ve always had that in our waters. Kelp is disgusting."


    ''I need Amelia and Karteira''s opinion...''


    Orion stood up, and pointed far in the distance, were the city was no more, and only the desert was.


    "Go out of this city, and wait at the coast. I will come see you later. And do not worry, I will not abandon you all of the sudden."


    Him talking alone, and pointing at somewhere made him look crazy in the eyes of the people seeing him from afar.


    But by doing that, he managed to hide them, and find a way to save them. Though, it would not depend of his own choice.


    "I have an errand to finish. Once it is done, I will meet you there."


    Following the little hope they had, they took the ''I will not abandon you'' part to heart, and believed in him.


    Looking at them slowly disappear from the surface and swim in the direction he pointed at, he made up his mind.


    ''Alright, let''s finish everything in a hurry, and pick up the girls.''


    His shopping went without problems after that. He managed to buy everything he needed, and was on his way to Kamala''s house.


    ~


    "I can''t believe we''ve finished and returned home before Orion."


    Amelia was shocked. Orion had still not returned from the errands around Hocride.


    They were all waiting, except Kamala, who had went inside to talk with Timothy.


    While this was happening, the full report on what had happened on the docks fell in her ears.


    "Orion is late because trouble happened at the harbor. He stopped a criminal that had abducted some people. Well, he killed him."


    Regrouping with the girls outside, Kamala explained what had happened.


    "He really can''t take a break. I''m sure he''s not been able to go to the weapon store yet, and probably will not go."


    Saddened, Amelia realized that problems seemed to follow him.


    "I''m sure he''s alright. We know Orion cannot tolerate people that don''t respect other''s lives."


    Knowing he acted on his own beliefs, Karteira was happy to know he still held criminals accountable. She would do the same too.


    "Hey! Here he is! Orion!"


    Drania noticed him walking toward them, so she waved at him.


    "He looks a little bit tired. I have a feeling something bigger is involved than a simple abduction story."


    Keen on understanding people''s emotions, Dramia made an assumption.


    They all waited for him to arrive. On the way, he waved back to Drania, and noticed the two bags they carried, similar to the one he had when he got his current outfit.


    "Hi girls, how was the shopping? Did you get something that satisfied both of you?"


    He stopped in front of the sisters, and patted their heads.


    "Yes! That man made us matching outfits, yet different in some parts. I like it!"


    Drania happily nodded, enjoying Orion caresses.


    "Like she said, the outfit is quite good."


    Sulking a little from being treated like a kid, Orion noticed the little smile on her face when she spoke of the outfit.


    "Then this is all that matters."


    Amelia and Karteira approached, with Kamala standing slightly away from them.


    "We heard what happened at the harbor. Are you tired?"


    He looked at them.


    "Slightly. But there''s something else we have to take care of. I''ll rest after that."


    "Also, I need both of you with me. I can''t do that alone."


    With questions on what he was talking about, they wanted more details.


    "What are you talking about? Didn''t you kill the guy already and saved the kidnapped people? It''s done isn''t it?"


    Karteira asked, worried about the words Dramia spoke earlier. Confirming her worries, he shook his head.


    "There is one matter left to settle, and I can''t let it unresolved. Would you follow me?"


    Orion past in front of Kamala without saying anything, and she felt that he was purposely avoiding her gaze.


    "Can I come too? Or am I unwelcomed?"


    After glancing at her, he understood that he might have rushed his thinking.


    ''If she comes to Horizon, that will most likely be revealed at some point. There''s no reason to hide it. She also need to know, as the Lord of Hocride.''


    "I never said you were unwelcomed. I might have been too hasty in ruling your opinion out, I am sorry about that."


    With an apologetic smile, he explained to her.


    "But yes, once I thought it over, you are also concerned. We''ll all go together."


    ~


    Once arrived at the shores were Orion pointed at, the sirens waited patiently for him.


    Two hours later, he finally arrived. But they noticed more people with him, and began to worry that he would also trap them.


    But... he was true to his words. He still came for them again, so they emerged from the water.


    "EH?!"


    Surprised, all the women made a strange sound.


    Orion then proceeded to tell what he knew about them to the group.


    ...


    "Sirens. Beings from another continent. And worst of all, they are stranded in my city..."


    Kamala, now knowing the full situation, had a grave look on her face.


    "I will have to strengthen the checking of cargos from now on. Crimes like these needs to be found."


    "I agree. Even us, fairies, would not tolerate something like this happening."


    Dramia had a colder expression than usual, but it wasn''t directed at anyone.


    After listening to that, Drania felt like talking to them, so she went an did just that, telling them that she was also another type of half-being.


    The sirens understood that the ones that followed being Orion were his companions, and that they were also trustworthy.


    "Orion, we can''t send them back home."


    Coming to the same conclusion, Amelia and Orion looked at each other.


    "I know."


    He closed his eyes, so she turned her attention to Kamala.


    "There is nothing you can do either right?"


    "Nothing. I do not hold any authority over the merchants coming from other continent except forcing them to pay fines for their disrespect toward the citizens or offenses in trading."


    That left the situation the same as it started.


    "I have a solution."


    Only that, Orion already had the solution. The only one that would help the poor sirens.


    "We transfer them to Horizon."


    Amelia and Karteira blinked.