My Lost Soul

Chapter 26 - High Value

The explosion sounded through the floor, and it trembled as Enjō ate, making him drop his food.
"Oh come on! What is it now, the engine blow up or something?" People all over the passenger level began to panic.
"Nope, it's something else, or rather, someone." Uyama stood up, still rocking from the rumble of the explosion. "Well, we gotta go check it out, don't we?"

Omega nodded and followed Enjō and Uyama to the cafeteria, where the passengers poured out.  Once they all cleared out, all that was left was the yelling of the grisly-looking pirates. They were dressed in beige and puffy suits, their faces covered with gas masks.
"Take all the stuffs ya can!" One of them shouted, "Help 'em out, Jangle!" The trays of food were being shoved into a bag that a girl was carrying.

"Pirates with a girl? Hey, what're you doing with that kid?!" Uyama shouted, hushing up the room. The pirates all stared at them. One of them stepped up and sighed. "The kid's with us. Don't make us have to kill you three, cuz we didn't come to take y'all's stupid life's." Uyama felt spit hit his face.
Enjō ignored the pirate in his face and turned his attention to the kid, "Ay kid, you alright? These guys took you from your parents or something?"
The kid looked down, the bag in her hand slumping. The pirate in their face turned around to talk to her, "Hey, Daina. Look at me," he knelt down to her level and whispered, "You wanna help your family, dont'cha? You just keep stuffing in the food and we'll have enough for a long time, great, right?"

"Grooming pirates." Enjō blurted out and pointed at them. All of the pirates gasped and stopped shoving food into the bag.
The pirate's arms tensed up and he grit his teeth. "You're so fucking dead, boy! That's my daughter you're talking about!" Enjō's mouth made an 'o', "Jangle, my mace!" The pirate pointed to the bag she was holding. She opened the bag and held it out to the captain.
"Just how big is that bag?" Omega asked as a large, worn mace revealed itself from the bag. He ran at Enjō, swinging the mace with the ease of swinging a stick. As the mace met Enjō's breath, fire seemed to seep out of his pores as he flinched in place. The fire engulfed the mace, melting it immediately. The nearly molten metal dripped down in front of Enjō from the mace's pole. "Eh, sorry about that..." Enjō mumbled as he The pirate captain's jaw trembled as he lowered the stick.

"So, how about you just give up the food?" Uyama smirked, "Oh, and give yourselves up for that matter. You wouldn't want a fight right in front of your daughter, right?"
The pirate looked back his daughter, her bag was covering her face ever since he pulled the mace out.
"I don't know, Uyama..." Omega spoke up, "They don't seem to have bad intentions. They haven't taken any luxuries, they've only taken food. It's hard to call them pirates."
While the pirates seemed to be insulted by it, the captain's expression softened.
"Maybe not..." Uyama scratched his beard and inspected the captain closely, "Good call, kid. You're an interesting fella indeed."
"We're letting them go? What about the kid?" Enjō whispered into Uyama's ear.

"He wasn't lying, and I understand their reasoning now. They used to live on the Tugst islands before they were mostly destroyed. I've heard of them on land too, they're infamous for being 'radio freaks'." Uyama whispered back and Enjō furrowed his brow. "Basically, they're not accepted in JanuEri or Shacia."
Enjō stroked his imaginary beard and whispered, "Couldn't they just go to Eleftwald?"
Uyama nodded and looked at Omega, "Oh man, I got some heavy-duty thinkers on this team, don't I?"

"Get back to work, men." The captain walked back to his group, his head hung over his neck. Daina lowered the bag, revealing a worried look on her face.
"Hey, captain!" Uyama shouted, stopping him in his place, "Have you ever heard of Eleftwald?" The captain turned his head and eyed Uyama.
"It's a country to the east of here, you could get there if you go past the little territory that Shacia has there."

"I remember that territory. We tried to go into it, but they wouldn't let us."

"Just sneak past it, it's not too hard if you really think about it. You'll be safe there, and you won't have to worry about radiation."