Chapter 41: Smuggling
Ronan had assumed that carrying the two boxes on the motorbike would not be an easy task. He had fully prepared himself to hold on to the boxes like a spider clinging to its web. But it turned out Elicia had a solution for this, too.
From below the seat of the motorbike, she twisted out a metallic plate, one end bolted beneath the seat. It was as wide as the seat itself and extended backward to create more space. The boxes were placed half on the seat, half on the plate, and then tied down tightly.
"You will have to squeeze," Elicia said, looking at the reduced space on the seat.
"I will manage," Ronan responded.
But inwardly, he was pleased. He would have to squeeze, yes, but that meant pressing tightly against Elicia. And given how attractive and alluring she was, he was all too happy to do that. In fact, he was more than happy.
He squeezed himself in, his chest pressing against her back while he took hold of her waist. His heart was pounding, tempting him to let his hands wander towards her ass, but the rifle she had placed, in her lap, between her legs kept his impulses in check.
"Do not take liberties with me," she warned. "Otherwise!"
Ronan gulped, but there was no real threat in her voice. Ronan could tell that she did not truly view him as a threat.
"Are you sure that whatever method you are going to use to smuggle our stuff is going to be safe?" He questioned.
"Yes," she replied confidently. "Do not worry."
A part of Ronan’s mind was also considering the idea of registering himself as a legitimate business. He did not have any problem paying taxes.
But what troubled him was that registering himself and doing business in the open would put him in the limelight. And that was something he wanted to avoid as much as possible. But even so, he was not completely revulsive to the idea. Elicia continued to drive down the same road they had taken the other day before abruptly turning right onto an unpaved and uncharted path.
"Okay!" Ronan called out from behind, a tint of worry creeping into his voice. "Why have we left the road and taken this path?"
"What?" Elicia remarked sharply. "You want to smuggle things right through the main gates?"
"Oh!" Ronan replied in sudden realization. "I thought you were going to bribe the guards!"
"Even if I do that," she responded, "I would surely not be doing it in front of everyone at the main gate."
"Makes sense," Ronan replied.
They traveled in silence for a few minutes before the walls of Kovliar finally came into Ronan’s view. Elicia continued driving parallel to the wall before the motorbike came to a halt. There was still more than a kilometer’s distance between them and the walls.
Ronan was still unable to understand what the plan in Elicia’s mind was, but he remained quiet. He did not wish to appear like a fool by talking and asking nonsense questions. They climbed off the bike and started to wait.
Elicia had her mobile, what they called a communication device in this world, in her hand, and God only knew what she was doing on it.
"What exactly are we doing here?" Ronan asked after a few minutes, his patience running dry.
"Waiting," she replied, not even looking up from her device.
"That I know," he responded. "For who? Or for what."
"For our smugglers," she replied with a little smirk on her lips.
Ronan looked at her with his mouth agape.
"Do not tell me the smuggler is going to come leaping over the wall," he remarked almost sarcastically.
"Oh, no!" She responded. "Not over the walls. Not this time. But what do you think about under the walls?"
She had barely completed her sentence, and Ronan had barely comprehended her meaning, when the ground in front of him suddenly shook and trembled.
Though the spot where the ground shook was a few meters away from them, Ronan instinctively jumped back. He intuitively wondered if the ground below them was caving in, or maybe some underground abomination was attacking them. If those even existed, that is.
Elicia, on the other hand, was completely calm. She just placed the device back in her pocket, and apart from that, there was not even a change in her expression. She was just staring intently at the ground.
"What is happening?" He asked, his focus now glued to the ground as well.
Elicia did not respond. But Ronan did not need to wait too long. A couple of seconds later, a brownish coloured metallic panel snapped open in the dirt. It was a trapdoor.
His eyes widened in shock. And then realization struck him. They were going to smuggle their goods through an underground tunnel. It was not something entirely out of this world, but it was still not something he had been expecting. But the shocks were just beginning.
Another second later, three drones, literal drones, emerged from the underground tunnel.
The drones were not very large. They were probably about the size of the photography drones he was used to seeing in his own world.
Two of them had hooks attached to their bottoms, while the third drone looked far more advanced. It had at least four octopus-like mechanical legs and a gun mounted to it. All three drones had a glowing light on their heads. A camera most probably, Ronan concluded.
Elicia moved quickly. She untied the boxes and placed them on the ground. The drones with the hooks picked up both boxes and immediately flew back down into the underground tunnel. The drone with the gun was the last to move.
Its four mechanical limbs sprang into action as it clamped onto the panel, pulled itself inside, and slammed the trapdoor shut. Elicia used her boots to kick dust back over the panel, perfectly hiding it from view.
"Okay!" Ronan remarked in sheer bewilderment. "That was something. Something I had definitely not been expecting."
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