On Cloud Lake, the only water source near Eagle Rock City, a series of bubbles rose as black square objects suddenly burst from the water one after another.
"Ah, wonderful—we've finally arrived!" A satisfied smile appeared on Harpy leader Zhuoya's face. She then called to her clanspeople flying nearby, and they dove together toward the lake's surface.
The harpies cast down more than a dozen large nets, each one catching one of the objects. Four harpies hauled up each net and strained into the sky, carrying the huge black crates toward Eagle Rock City.
Landen hovered in the air, Magic Web Sword in hand, controlling Wind Elements to bring himself closer to the hard-flying group. Yet when he looked into the nets beneath them, he saw that they contained his own Magic Pattern Cargo Containers.
"Hm? Our containers shot from the bottom of Ice Lake to the surface, then got netted up and flown away by a flock of harpies?" The sight before him struck Landen no less hard than Ice Lake had earlier.
At that moment, Harpy leader Zhuoya had landed on a newly formed sheet of ice and begun speaking with a girl who had emerged from beneath the lake's surface.
Only after Landen flew over the lake did he recognize that the person speaking with Zhuoya was Oskaya, the High-Rank Priest of the Finless Porpoise Clan.
"Priest Oskaya, what an unexpected pleasure to see you!" Landen greeted the acquaintance with a smile. "Those crates just now looked awfully familiar!"
"Of course they looked familiar. They're the Magic Pattern Cargo Containers we bought from Night-Kirin City," Priest Oskaya said without concealing their origins in the slightest. "They're loaded with Breyak's seafood. The winged folk around here love marine produce!"
Seeing how forthright the finless porpoise people were, Landen