Chapter. 15. Can someone who has seen the end of the world plant an apple tree? (34)
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“Are you here? “Fishing… I guess you still have some free time?”
“Oh, is that you? “How are you feeling any better?”
“Well, as you can see? “Did the treatment of that troll named Notum go beyond the bounds of common sense?”
The Rakshasha responded by jumping onto the railing where Otman was, as lightly as a cat.
Rakshasha was the head of a group of assassins, and as such, she often got hurt a lot, so her knowledge of injuries was quite extensive. Based on that knowledge, it was safe to say that her injuries were life-threatening.
That is, until Notum got their hands on it.
“Rather than treatment… it felt closer to being entrusted with repairs, right? “Have you never even dared to imagine that type of treatment?”
“Hehehehe. “It’s only natural since there are very few humans who have ever experienced the healing magic of forest trolls in the first place.”
Nigmi was trapped by the snakes that grew from his arms and his entire body was crushed to the point where his femur, one of the hardest bones in the human body, was broken. It was a wound that was not only life-threatening, but would also have fatal aftereffects even if he survived.
At that time, I was barely able to maintain consciousness thanks to terrible pain and strong willpower.
As her senses gradually faded, the Rakshasha could suddenly clearly feel a hand grabbing her backside.
‘I can’t go any further. ‘Wait here.’
I’m still not sure if it was a dream or a fantasy, but the memory was as clear as ever.
So, this troll shaman captured the soul that was just leaving the body in his soul jar, then healed the body where the soul had left and put it back inside.
“It was a sight that made me, who was watching from the side, lose my soul. “When I asked how far it was possible, I was told that the connection between the spirit and body of a dead person was severed, so even if you put them back in, they would bounce right out.”
“Then… on the other hand, doesn’t that mean that if you don’t die, you can be saved?”
“Notum was originally a very talented guy. It was a talent so great that you couldn’t believe it even with your own eyes…”
It was so great that the troll ancestral spirits from the southern forests of the Greenskins’ hometown came all the way to Roderick in the middle of the inland, clamoring to teach him.
A talent that reaches the sky. Innate intelligence. In addition, there were enough trials and a great teacher to hone those wonderful ingredients.
Notum was also a soulmancer. What this means is that while the rest of the empire admired the professor who dropped the evil sound and Gainax who split it and opened the sky, Notum saw the three families of the Teldemire family through the eyes of a soul mage. He was watching their last moments.
That was the moment when Notum’s talent, capable of growing in any direction, decided its path. As a soulmancer who wields the natural magic of forest trolls. As a good being who has engraved deep in his heart what direction and how to deal with it.
“Gerrrrrrrr!”
“Kikreuk!” “Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
While the two were talking, the Hatchling siblings’ laughter was heard from the edge of the deck. With Rakshasha’s recovery, Notum came out of the cabin and came up with her brother and sister clinging to her like lizards.
“You seem to get along well with them?”
“Geuuu. The cub is cute. “It sticks next to young creatures and protects them.”
“It seems like maternal love sprouted after what happened in the empire. Notum said that once this incident is over, once Mute is sorted out, he plans to return to his hometown and start a family.”
“….thank god. I wondered what they would do if I made a mistake. “Is it reliable?”
The Rakshasha seemed to be at a loss as she saw the two siblings crawling on her shoulders and back, as if she were not afraid of the ferocious-looking Notum.
Otman found it a little difficult to understand the Rakshasha, who looked at the siblings with parental eyes.
“Can you tell me what your relationship is with them?” “…What do you mean?”
“No, there is no particular reason. I’m just curious. Their tax revenue is more than five times that of mine, but I don’t think I’m simply taking care of them as a duty arising from taking over the position of head of the Moon Shadow… um…” “Is the
affection too much? “Overly devoted?”
“Well… it has to look like that, right?”
Snap!
Ottman said humbly, turning his head towards the trembling fishing rod. On board Nulak’s flagship, Otman himself was too anxious to see it with his own eyes, but according to the sailors, even though the blood-covered Rakshasha was captured by the snake woman, he stubbornly saved the two siblings by throwing them into the Dry Oasis.
Isn’t it too much to say that it is simply an act of duty?
“Well, it’s a little hard to explain, isn’t it?”
“If it’s something you want to hide, there’s no need to talk about it. “I just needed something to talk about.”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that it’s really hard to explain.”
The Rakshasha, leaning on the ship’s railing, looked at the Hechling siblings playing on the large troll’s body and chasing each other’s tails.
“…Otman? “You like the sea, right?”
“I love you. So much so that I tie my whole life to that word.”
“Then can you explain why you fell in love with it?”
“That’s…”
“Yes, it’s difficult. “To me, that’s what their existence is like.”
It might have been the influence of his lineage as a member of the Moon Shadow for generations, or something from another desert might have made it that way.
What is important is that the moment Rakshasha became a member of the Moon Shadow, he saw with his own eyes the royal blood that he had only heard about. Their history and the meaning of the moon shadow’s existence were not even heard of.
“I knew it the moment I saw it. Ah, they are the heart of this desert. The basis of all living things crawling on the sand is alive and breathing before my eyes. I have to protect these people. “You just felt that way?”
“…Is this a blood-related contract? Passed down through the family?”
“Maybe so? From what I heard, my ancestors were given the honorable task of serving the kings of the desert kingdom a long time ago, and the Moon Shadow’s protection of the royal blood is an extension of that task. But now it’s been too long since I spent time with them to simply dismiss it as something like that.”
Otman looked into the Rakshasha’s eyes as he looked at the two hatchling siblings. Eyes filled with a kind of pure peace that doesn’t hide its true feelings with its usual captivating, half-moon smile.
“…I don’t know if hatchlings have some mechanism that stimulates women’s motherhood. “You consider yourself their mother.”
“Maybe so. Hmm… wouldn’t the professor hate her for being a woman with a child? “I know he’s a man with a big heart, but… it just happens to be a case?”
“Hehehehe! “Isn’t it trivial to worry about in this situation?”
“Is it something so trivial that I have to worry about it the most in my life?”
“Please take back what you said in front of me. Well, that’s important. “It’s an important issue… heh heh heh.”
Otman burst into laughter at the Rakshasha’s sincere concern.
“If it were someone else, I would have to think about it… but if it’s that guy, the professor, there’s no need to think.”
“…Is it still difficult?”
“No, I will fight against that. With that grumpy face, he asked, ‘Should a lizard keep its body cool or warm? ‘What do Rakshashas eat?’ “You must say something like this.”
“really?”
Otman nodded deeply to the Rakshasha, whose eyes were sparkling.
“I can guarantee that because of his personality, if you praised him for doing a good job, he would praise you and not say anything. Due to that guy’s personality, he may have picked up one or two kids that he couldn’t get past. “Maybe somewhere in a quiet country, there might be a bunch of adopted daughters who call that professor and that friend their father?”
“As expected, isn’t it?”
“As expected. A match made in heaven. A match made in heaven. “Hehehehe.”
Snap. Snap, snap, snap!
Ottman nodded, looking at the fishing line that was constantly shaking.
****
“Notum! Let’s go over there! “The water wizard is doing something strange again!”
“Gwok. That’s fishing. fishing. “Catch fish.”
“Hmm? “Wasn’t fish caught with a net?”
“Here is the sea. “It’s not a shallow place like an oasis.”
While Rakshasha and Otman are having a conversation. Notum finally gave up trying to remove the two lizards that were stuck to his body and approached the railing where they were with Senika and Aldar hanging from his body.
“Gwok. Old man, we have a lot of food. “There is no need to fish.”
“hmm? I thought earlier that all the water had come into the dock and everything was useless… Was there any food that was loaded separately?”
“there is. “What the pig man gave me and ran away.”
“Pig man? Ah Nulag? “If Nulak gave it to you… Notum, is that a box with red thread?”
“right. Pigs were included as a standard for human consumption. One month if you eat sparingly. “If you eat your fill for a week.”
When Otman cleared his throat questioningly at Rakshasha and Notum, who were talking about something that only they knew, Rakshasha continued his explanation.
“Each boat has a box to prepare. “It is a box wrapped with red-dyed cloth. It is a box used when an unexpected accident breaks a taboo and the target that the taboo is tracking is confirmed.”
“Maybe put it in there and throw it away?”
“I heard that there are quite a few cases like that. Usually, it is used to launch a coastal ferry and float a taboo object on it, right? “It’s like a dinner for a comrade who will have to wait for death alone on the sandy sea with a box full of the best food and alcohol on the ship.”
“Oh my. then…?”
“yes. Perhaps, Nulak, who decided that the taboo object in the battle at that time was the entire Dry Oasis, left it behind when he expelled the people on board the flagship. “This is our last loyalty as allies. This means that you should eat this and die among yourselves, right?”
“If we had sent the best food, based on that person’s standards, as a dinner meal… it would have been enough to feed us all.”
“Geuuu. So, there is no need to worry about food yet. There are a lot of fish that old people eat, so give that to the kids. “I’ll play with it.”
“hmm? “Ah, this doesn’t work.”
“Gwoowok. “A shameful old man.”
“That’s not what I meant… This is not a fishing rod to catch fish.”
Snap, slap, slap –
Otman waved his hand as he watched the water rippling as the fishing rod became more and more turbulent.
“Hmm, you wizard. “My knowledge is short, so it’s hard for me to understand what that means. If you don’t catch fish with a fish-catching tool, what are you doing?”
“Hehehe. Oh my… Little Highness I mean…”
“There is no need to be respectful. “He may be of royal blood, but he is nothing but an incompetent person.”
“What are you saying? In terms of age, aren’t you a few years older than me? Of course, we must respect it. By the way, it’s hard to understand… Would you mind looking around for a moment?”
Aldar turned his head to the Rakshasha with a grumpy face, thinking that the old wizard was turning away because he didn’t want to hand over that fishing rod. If possible, I was thinking of asking for another one.
“….mealuk?”
Unlike him and Senika, who couldn’t understand what they were talking about, even the sailors who had been listening to their stories as they went back and forth between Notum and Rakshasha were frowning as if they had sensed something.
“Uh… Are Senica and I too stupid to understand? Everyone seems to know something…”
“Hehehehe.” Rather, it’s because everyone has someone that comes to mind when something incomprehensible happens. “It is something that you will naturally come to know as you move along with us.”
The Rakshasha’s forehead wrinkled at Otman’s extremely relaxed tone of voice. Now that I think about it, the person who should be the loudest on the boat was nowhere to be seen.
“…Didn’t you go towards the wreck with the sailors?”
“If that were the case, it would have been noisy there. “Something is flying and breaking.”
“Then… really?”
Rakshasha’s sharp eyes glanced at Otman. A smile that subsides like a calm sleep. As if imitating that peaceful appearance, the mana quietly settled around the wizard.
What looked like fishing line was a thin stream of water connected from the end of the fishing rod.
“You’re saying you sent that person down there alone!”
“Rakshasha. “Professor, how much do you know about that friend?”
Just as Rakshasha realized where the professor had gone and raised her voice, Otman’s low voice cut her off.
“It’s been a little over a year and a half since I went out with that guy. What a friend. Pleasant. He is an eloquent person who has no intention of giving up on telling a joke even if the sky is falling. “He is meticulous and wise beyond his appearance, but he is also reckless and reckless, as he appears to be.”
“But… have you ever seen that friend get angry?”
fury. The professor looks angry?
‘Ahh! ‘That damn bastard!’
‘Fuck you! ‘Damn it!’
‘Ah-oh!! Really, if you take one thing, you get another one…!’
The Rakshasha, who was about to answer, swallowed his words at Otman’s sunken gaze.
“No… right?”
“yes? When something makes me cry, I spit it out right away, but it’s too light to be considered as if I’m truly boiling inside. “I’ve only seen him vent his anger once.”
When the professor lost his mind in Baekryeong. The professor, who seemed so frightened that he could not control himself, lost his mind and even tried to kill his teacher.
Except then, when he truly let himself go, the professor never showed his anger outwardly.
“Is it because I don’t get angry easily? No, the madness and violence he showed at that time were close to his essence. The violence that has grown to rise up from the infinitely thick layer of anger and fear… This is a friend who has a lot of past that we don’t know about yet. “The professor is a very angry friend.”
“Then why…”
“It’s the same way that people in areas where there are a lot of mosquitoes don’t care about one or two mosquitoes.”
People who are not bothered by mosquitoes on a regular basis get irritated by even a small mosquito, but people in places where swarms of mosquitoes are visible seem to be oblivious to them.
“I haven’t lived as long as our royal family, but having lived this long, I’ve seen and heard quite a lot. Do you know what soldiers talk about when war breaks out? ‘If you hang the water bag on your stomach instead of on your waist, the water you drank in the morning will flow out through the cracked belly skin and fill you up, so there is no need to refill it.’ He laughs. People are so self-deprecating. Professor, those kinds of things are evident in that friend’s jokes. This guy, much younger than me, was so angry and frustrated about what had happened that he couldn’t help but lose his sense of humor. He is always lively and cheerful. I smile even when I’m sad, and I smile even when I’m angry. “I don’t know how long I’ve endured it, but that grinning look is stuck on my face.”
After encountering the true feelings of the professor who had lost his temper in the Margrave’s territory, Ottman was able to see the professor’s actions from a different perspective from that day on. The professor was already showing a certain level of maturity as a human being.
“Rakshasha, do you know that the professor went to see Notum while he was treating you before you came to your senses?”
“….”
“You were truly miserable. The person’s limbs are bent like a broken doll, and blood is pouring out of the mouth. When the professor sees that, he immediately says that he should go down and have a look. When I asked if I wanted to go with him, he said something like, ‘I can’t do it because you’re going to play Hellele in the sea.’ He is grinning like a street person and is extremely cheerful. “The eyes shouldn’t look like they’re going to cut a few people alive.”
So I didn’t stop him. Even if I dry it, it doesn’t look like it will work.
“That guy blames me for everything. So, if someone nearby gets into a bad situation, they just grumble and run away as if it’s no big deal. And as we all know. “Smash it alone, explode it, and cause chaos.”
Snap, slap, snap!
With distant eyes, Otman looked down at the wavering stream of water extending from the tip of his fishing rod. The end of the stream extended all the way down to the deep sea.
No matter how sensitive the professor is, he still cannot surpass his teacher, Ottman.
It was natural that he didn’t notice the small patch of water he had left just before going down.
“Since we can’t stop that guy, Professor… I guess we have no choice but to drag up the guy that this reckless guy is looking for?”
Sam was probably thinking of jumping into the middle of the enemy lines alone again, so he wasn’t going to let that happen this time.
“That guy named Falcatus is only looking at the professor. I need to tell you that if you have a narrow view, you will be in trouble.”
Otman smiled happily as he watched the thin stream of water fluctuate
.
Looking at the reaction, it looks like something is going on.
‘Ask. Professor, since he is a water magician, he won’t be caught easily, so the moment he gives up his stealth and attacks is probably the moment he faces the right enemy.’
Ottman, who had cast his fishing line on the gently shining blue sea above the rolling sea, waited patiently.
The enemy takes the bait. The moment he bites the fresh bait called the professor, he looks forward to the moment when he will catch up the entire surrounding sea, including the professor and his enemies.
****
Boom!
‘Got caught!’
Euddeuk, euddeuk, euddeuk!
If you grow a moray eel hundreds or thousands of times, would it look like this?
The guy with glistening eyes was constantly looking around and shaking his beard, probably because he couldn’t feel the piece of meat that should have been ground up between his teeth.
‘I’m trying to catch people’s attention with that beard!’
[What happened was that something delicate, like a sensing organ, was attached to something that was made to look like a decisive battle weapon!]
‘It’s not a joke! I guess they mixed it up because it looked good in the queen’s eyes!’
Whatever the queen’s mute production system, what is important now is that the giant bearded moray eel did not hit me with its persimmon and put me where I was, but clearly located and attacked based on sensory evidence.
The long, elastic dragon’s beard showed its flexibility, fluttering even in the slightest wave.
‘After entering the house, I moved a little rashly because I thought the outside view was blocked. I was also surprised. ‘We identified that movement as a living thing and attacked it.’
Although it had sensitive whiskers, it seemed to have no organs that could be called eyes. What that means is that if you look like this, you’re an opponent that can be easily avoided.
‘….maybe?’
[If you’re wrong, you’ll have to go back to that house. Mixed with stone dust and pieces of meat.]
Crunch clunk! Phew!
His long, muscular body passed in front of me, who was still and motionless. It hovered around the site of the house for a while, its large gills scattering the stone-dusted house.
[….Goes. I really didn’t know!]
‘Luckily, I avoided being caught at all.’
Did my earnest prayers work? The bearded moray eel that had been hovering around the spot where I was for a while seemed to have lost interest and soon began to leisurely swim away.
So I tried to move away.
Guuuuung-
.
.
.
.
.
Grump
-‘….! …! …..!!! .!!!!’
[Don’t even make a squeak! Shut up!]
‘The Lord is dead! Suddenly it died!’
A bearded moray eel the size of about three gunships lined up suddenly disappeared with a puff.
No, it hasn’t disappeared. Suddenly, a tremendous force crushed him and crushed him. A living creature turned into a plane before my eyes. The thing that was 3D suddenly became 2D!
[Hey… what’s coming out of that?]
‘… It’s a house. ‘It’s a house in that guy’s stomach.’
In an instant, stone debris came out of the bearded moray eel’s body, which had become a fish bag mixed with blood and sewage, and quickly began to return to its original form along with other sunken pieces of stone. Except for the fact that the coral and barnacles disappeared during the reassembly process, it looks exactly like the desert house with the original sacred text engraved on it.
‘…Did we touch anything while we were in there?’
[Let’s not touch the moon. Don’t even think about fighting or doing anything.]
It was obvious even without looking where the power that made the bearded moray eel like that came from. It must mean that the Sunken Moon was very upset with someone who destroyed his collection.
‘It was a good thing I didn’t come here on behalf of others.’
[right? Even if we’re flattened like that… we’ll probably survive, right?]
‘It’ll be like a scene from an old arcade game.’
Although it was a somewhat scary scene, it also meant that we had come to the right place.
The light of the sunken moon penetrating through the coral forest reached the feet of the professor as he sank deeper and deeper.
It was divine power. However, dozens of different types of divine power were mixed together to the point where it was impossible to tell what was what.
[….I don’t know if our Moon will accept door-to-door sales.]
‘Looking at Falcatus and that house, he won’t kill us.’
[Or break it into pieces and then reassemble it and display it.]
‘Don’t think unluckily.’
Gurgling –
Even though I said that, the sinking speed did not decrease.
After all, it was clear that all the answers were down there.
****
