Upper Yard was not far from Angel Beach. By Waver, a vehicle unique to Sky Island, the round trip took only a little over an hour.
For Loa, the distance was so short he could not be bothered to flap his wings. He made two Ice Wolves, and he and Robin rode one each across the Sea Cloud.
A full meal always left him a little drowsy. Loa lay back on his towering Ice Wolf, eyes closed as he rested.
"Do you remember the story I told you before?" Loa asked Robin without lifting his head.
"About Upper Yard? You said it used to be part of Jaya in the Blue Sea. Four hundred years ago, an upwelling current sent the whole thing into the sky, and it became sacred ground to the Skypieans."
"I've read Noland the Liar." Sitting sideways on her Ice Wolf, Robin opened her treasured notebook. "If what you said is true, then Shandora, the City of Gold that Noland discovered on Jaya, should be somewhere in the forbidden land of Upper Yard."
Curiosity stirred in Robin. "Lord Loa, was the City of Gold really made entirely of gold?"
If it were merely a heap of treasure, Loa would never have thought to ask Gan Fall to mobilize the people. The riches in the City of Gold had to be beyond anything ordinary people could imagine—so vast that even Loa wanted them.
This was no ordinary treasure hunt. Such immense wealth would probably tempt even the World Government!
"Yes. An entire city built of gold."
Too bad there's nothing left to see.
Loa recalled the images he had seen before. Five years earlier, Enel had found Shandora's ruins a month after arriving here. The vessel meant to carry him to Endless Vearth, the Ark Maxim, had