Chapter 127
After taking Chohogi with me, I used the flag to head back to the elf village.
It was a little embarrassing to go back again just a day after visiting.
Chohogi's head had turned into a flowerpot, so I wasn't in any position to be picky.
The forest looked just as peaceful as it had yesterday.
After teleporting, I was in front of the World Tree's roots.
Maybe all the children had gone out to play, because the village was empty.
“Elder, are you there?”
I headed to the elf elder's house first.
The door opened, and the elder came out with a startled expression.
“What brings you here? Did you perhaps forget something...?”
“About yesterday's seed. It did sprout, though.”
“That's good to hear.”
“But there's a problem with where it grew.”
I held Chohogi out in front of the elder.
The elder stroked his beard and shifted his gaze to Chohogi.
“Oh...? This is?”
“This little one ate the seed.”
“Ho ho, I see. Earth spirits do that sort of thing sometimes.”
“So that's how it is?”
So Chohogi hadn't eaten the seed because it was greedy, but because it was the instinct of an earth-attribute spirit.
If that was the case, I could forgive it.
“Anyway, this thing grew out of its head... Is that okay? It won't even come off.”
I asked with concern.
This wasn't some kind of parasitic plant, was it?
Like that mushroom Pokémon in some game, where the plant ends up becoming the main body.
It would be a disaster if the roots kept growing until its body burst open.
But contrary to my worries, the elder looked completely calm.
“Oh...”
The elder stroked the sprout that had grown atop Chohogi's head.
The sprout trembled happily.
“Benefactor, you needn't worry.”
“Is it really okay?”
“This is actually a blessing.”
The elder said in a confident voice.
“This child is a spirit made of earth and sand, yes?”
“That's right.”
“For a plant to grow on a child like that means it has matured one step as a spirit.”
The elder pointed at Chohogi's body.
“Look. It has become much clearer and more solid than it was yesterday.”
Even with Insight Eye, it was hard to spot any meaningful change.
But now that he mentioned it, the sand skin did seem a little glossier.
“The roots will now spread throughout its body, like nerves or blood vessels.”
“There aren't any side effects, are there?”
“None at all. It's closer to a symbiotic relationship. The reason it felt such a strong pull was probably because it instinctively knew it needed this.”
“That's a relief, then...”
Only then did I let out a sigh of relief.
Good.
At least Chohogi hadn't turned into a flowerpot.
I patted Chohogi's hesitant little head.
Carefully, so as not to break the sprout.
“You heard that? Anyway, you're lucky.”
“...!!”
Chohogi scratched its head awkwardly.
I decided to clear up another question as well.
“By the way, what's this plant called? You said we'd know once it sprouted...”
“Hmm.”
At my question, the elder examined the sprout closely.
After looking at it for a while, the elder nodded.
“This is a plant called the Phoenix Fruit Tree. It's an extremely rare specimen.”
“Phoenix?”
Even the name sounded extraordinary.
“Yes. A phoenix hatchling must eat this fruit for a hundred days before it finally becomes an adult.”
“Can humans eat it too, by any chance?”
A phoenix, said to be reborn from flames even after death.
If it was a fruit eaten by such a bird, surely it would also be useful to humans?
“Of course. You can eat it directly, or process it and use it as a healing potion.”
It can make healing potions?
An unexpected jackpot had fallen into my lap.
I might have to start another company.
Its name: One Star Pharmaceuticals.
“Of course, it will take quite some time for it to bear fruit, but if you care for it with love and affection, it may grow a little faster.”
“If I praise it every day, will it grow faster?”
“Yes, that's right. You already knew?”
Why was this actually real?
I remembered the mean-words onion and kind-words onion experiment from elementary school.
An experiment to see which would grow better: an onion that heard kind words, or one that heard cruel words.
But because we set an onion beside a friend's face and hurled insults at it, or used it as a soccer ball, nobody could ever observe the results.
So I naturally thought it was a scam.
But if the elf elder vouched for it, then the experiment's results must have been real after all.
“This is pretty good...”
After hearing the elder's explanation, having a little plant on my head didn't seem so bad anymore.
It almost felt like I had equipped an item in my helmet slot.
“Thank you. That put my mind at ease.”
“Think nothing of it. Please raise that child well. It will surely become a magnificent spirit.”
After finishing our consultation, I left the elder's house.
Chohogi, who had heard the explanation too, didn't seem anxious anymore.
It kept touching its own head and grinning foolishly.
Seeing that, I couldn't help but sigh.
Fortunately, everything ended well this time, but who knew what kind of trouble it might cause next?
Maybe I really should be stricter with its training.
***
After returning home, I stuck Chohogi into the flowerpot and gave it plenty of water and fertilizer, then headed to the 43rd Floor.
[Entering the 43rd Floor (EXTREME).]
“What is this fog...?”
The sea on the 43rd Floor was blanketed in thick fog.
The fog was so dense that you could barely see one another even on the deck.
The ship was still moving forward without hesitation.
“Are we really going straight?”
“Of course.”
“Eek!”
I let out a scream before I knew it when I heard the sound from behind me.
To think I'd let out such a girlish scream. How shameful.
I shouted back to hide my embarrassment.
“Then at least say something before you show up!”
“That's why I spoke first.”
“This...”
Teach answered shamelessly.
One arm was wrapped in bandages, and in the other he held the lantern he'd gotten on the 42nd Floor.
The lantern, which emitted a pale light, flickered on at regular intervals and illuminated the surroundings.
“So, are we really going straight?”
“Yes. We have a compass and a lantern, so there's no problem.”
“How are the others?”
By “the others,” I meant the dozens of sand clones.
With the mast broken, we had to move the ship by manpower—no, sandpower.
Even now, I could feel the clones silently rowing below deck.
“They probably don't listen worth a damn.”
“I created a very innovative system: a five-team, three-shift schedule.”
A five-team, three-shift schedule.
It was the kind of shift system only used in welfare-rich Northern Europe.
And he was running it on a pirate ship like this.
This guy might actually be a great leader.
I pointed at Teach's bandaged arm.
The arm he'd badly injured when he was abducted by the harpy last time.
“How's the wound? It still doesn't look healed.”
“You don't know pirates very well. Stuff like this heals if you eat a few tangerines.”
Teach laughed heartily and shook the tangerine peel he pulled from his pocket.
Honestly, that kind of macho bravado was worth learning from.
“So where are we now?”
“We're probably in the Dead Man's Triangle.”
Teach scratched his beard and looked over the foggy sea.
“The Triangle?”
“Yes. There's a legend that everyone who enters this sea vanishes. Their compasses stop working, and they wander forever in the fog until they starve to death...”
“Isn't that dangerous?”
At my question, Teach answered with a grave expression.
“Captain. Make sure you remember this.”
“Wh-what?”
“Piracy is high-risk, high-return. If you want safety, you shouldn't be on a ship. You should be on land, digging in the dirt to get by.”
The line about digging in the dirt almost stung, but I held it in and asked again.
“Isn't the failure risk way too high?”
“They say if you fail, you're a pirate; if you succeed, you're the navy.”
“I've never heard that one before.”
“Haha! I'm only saying that's how the legend goes. Look. Our compass isn't working properly at all, is it...?”
“It stopped.”
“...Should we turn back?”
“Do you even know which way we came from?”
“...”
The 43rd Floor of the Tower. We were stranded.
***
A little time passed.
“It's not that bad, surprisingly.”
We wandered through the fog, but surprisingly, nothing much happened.
Aside from the poor visibility, the waves were calm and there was no wind.
An unnatural stillness.
I was wandering around the deck when it happened.
[The Sand Worm grumbles that it has nothing to do at sea.]
“Bored?”
The Sand Worm spoke up after a long time.
Come to think of it, it made sense. It hadn't had much chance to move around lately.
Should I take it for walks every so often?
The 40s Floors were probably terrain where the Sand Worm would have a hard time shining.
Just as I was about to comfort it.
Swoosh.
Something flashed past my eyes as I stood at the edge.
A huge shadow emerged from within the fog.
Another ship slipped past us.
“There's a ship?”
“Then we'll just take that one!”
“And use the crew as slaves!”
The crew rushed over in an instant after hearing my muttering.
As expected of pirates, every word they said was wicked.
Still, I agreed that we needed to move ships.
We couldn't keep sailing on a ship with a broken mast.
“Hey! Anyone there?!”
One of the crew shouted.
But there was no reply from the other ship.
Only that ominous silence hung in the air.
“Something's weird. Teach, hand me that lantern.”
Feeling that something was off, I controlled the sand to raise the lantern high.
The lantern flew toward the other ship.
The moment its light reached it, the fog parted and the ship's true form was revealed.
Tattered, torn sails. A hull covered in barnacles.
And in places, skeletons were strewn about.
“Eeek!”
“A-a ghost ship!”
The crew screamed.
“Ghosts are hard to deal with...”
Hunting spirits would require spending valuable faith points.
To confirm the situation, I swept the lantern around in a circle.
Then an even more horrifying sight appeared.
“Damn.”
“Looks like we're screwed.”
After checking their surroundings, the crew cursed.
And rightly so.
Because it wasn't just one ghost ship.
Dozens of wrecked ships and ghost ships were floating around us, as if to surround our ship.
A chill ran down my spine, as if we'd entered the middle of a graveyard of ships.