Chapter 129 : Chapter 129

Chapter 129 - The God of the Archipelago

The Third Daughter looked up at her older sister.

The being that had suddenly moved the body of the youngest who was lost in the ritual, and introduced himself as Enad.

Caution was necessary, but he didn't seem to have any intention of fighting.

Her sibling must have felt it too, as she did not act rashly.

Instead, she began with a question.

“Why are you looking for the blessed land? You, who are not the youngest.”

“Because this thing you call the youngest entrusted his work to me. Damn it. I don’t want to explain everything, so answer quickly.”

Harsh words that would never come out of the youngest’s mouth flowed out without hesitation.

He nervously swept his bangs back.

“That crazy Young Master. If he’s going to risk his life, he should risk only his own, why mine too. Huuuu…”

A hot sigh rose from deep within.

That irritation was contained in his bloodshot eyes and shot towards the young ladies.

“Pea-sized human. Answer the question. Or I will search this place myself.”

“If you’re going to look around dozens of islands in the archipelago without knowing their location, I won’t stop you.”

“…What do you want.”

By staying close to the Youngest Son, he had thoroughly learned how to converse with a Millesdusk.

With the quick progression, the Second Daughter also spoke without hiding anything.

“What kind of task did the youngest entrust to you? What does it mean that you risked your lives together?”

Enad put his hand into a spatial dimension and took out a bottle with red contents.

“To plant what’s inside this in the blessed land before this ritual thing ends. That is the job I was given.”

“Liquids don’t grow. Only solids like seeds—”

“That punk must have told you. He said he’d handle it.”

“…What about risking your lives?”

“Haa…”

Another deep sigh came out.

“I’d like to ask you instead. This ritual thing, what the hell is it?”

“That’s…”

“That mad ghost you call a god is trying to take not just the Fifth Son’s limbs but me as well.”

The expressions of the Second and Third Daughters, who had experienced the ritual, went blank.

“You? What are you that…?”

“…Hey. What kind of question is that.”

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important.

“That punk’s mind, as well as mine, is bound to the summit of that rocky mountain. I’m taking refuge in this body for now, but I don’t know when he’ll find me.”

Kwaaaang─!

Another loud roar echoed from the top of the rocky mountain, like lightning from a clear sky.

The swarm of lowly ghosts gathered like clouds roamed the sky in even greater disarray.

“…There isn’t much time. Pea-sized human. Where is the blessed land?”

“Follow me. And my name is Melisende.”

“It’s all the same.”

He held the gray ring up to the sky.

Charrrrrr─

The ghost ship’s anchor descended to the ground, welcoming the captain’s boarding.

***

He had temporarily handed over the control of the ghost ship to the younger big sister.

And he had a few words with the older big sister.

“When you wake up, a lot of things will have changed.”

The older big sister, Melisende, had said so, and for a moment, he felt a floating sensation.

At the same time, his body sank lower and lower, and his vision met the floor.

His eyes closed naturally.

And they opened just as naturally.

And then, a completely different landscape unfolded.

The dreary sky and the fiercely waving sea were gone.

“…It’s a more unpleasant place than I thought.”

Below a sky where ghosts formed the shape of cirrocumulus clouds, rocks were abound.

These rocks were either engraved with a spiral pattern or stretched out like a wall.

Others were so large and long, as if someone had carved them, that they looked like pillars.

The pillars stretched from side to side, creating a kind of path.

It was as if it was guiding him to a single destination.

“I was the last to arrive.”

It was a natural thing to say, having arrived in the middle of the ritual.

The reason he meekly handed over control of the Ashen Queen was to enter this space.

“The blessed land here is absolutely necessary, but creating a trade route through this sea is also an impossible task. The waste of time is too great.”

And who would make that round trip?

The only ones who could were Jubel and the Youngest Son, but there was no time to spare for a mere round trip by sea.

“I need to create another blessed land near the volcanic zone.”

The answer, as always, was simple.

It was just that the process of solving it was not.

Still, the first button was fastened quite well.

“I entered during the ritual and avoided the first turn, and Enad, once he knows the risks, will move as I said.”

His body was asleep, but a being that could move the body remained.

“Let’s go. To snatch the blessing.”

He walked along the pillars with his hands clasped behind his back, a habit of his.

Before long, something like a temple appeared.

Statues of a man with scaly skin, deer horns, and two pairs of arms, standing menacingly, were lined up on both sides.

The Youngest Son saw it and chuckled.

“The touch-up is severe.”

He entered through the entrance, which was hollowed out without a door.

The interior, which had been invisible like an endless pit, revealed itself as soon as he set foot in it.

The air became even heavier, as if the space had changed once again.

No, should I say it became more delicious?

“A good smell.”

He thought so unconsciously. It was indeed a good smell.

It wasn’t fragrant, but rather a smell that came from delicious food, a smell that induced hunger.

“It would have been much better if the ingredient wasn’t a person.”

He let out a shallow breath and went deeper inside.

Unlike the majestic temple-like exterior, the inside was just like a restaurant.

It wasn't a place that served high-class Western food, but it looked like a place where food would be made.

The appetite-whetting smell grew stronger.

Beyond the corridor, there were chairs that looked as if they were carved from stone, in a row.

The twenty seats in total were a kind of waiting area and an ingredient storage.

“There are about fourteen left. Not bad.”

He walked past the souls sitting in the waiting area.

Although they were in the same soul state, their minds were different.

The number itself was different, and the state of awareness that came from the number was also different.

“If Enad hadn’t instinctively hidden in my body, I would have been in the same state as these souls.”

Just sitting there blankly with the baseless expectation that they would be blessed.

The god would nonchalantly cut off a part of their body and put it in his stomach.

Blessing? There was no such thing.

At least, it wasn't received like this.

──!!

Another entrance near the waiting area.

A scream came from beyond the passage leading to the god’s kitchen.

“He’s very angry.”

It was the cry of a chef looking for the next ingredient.

But that ingredient was stuck to the Youngest Son’s body at the foot of the rocky mountain.

He had lived a persistent life; was he going to give it to some ghost chef?

Even from here, he could feel that determination.

“Hold on a little longer.”

He entered the passage where the scream echoed with a smirk.

And then, the kitchen proper appeared.

Knives of all sizes were scattered around, and the cauldron was overturned, but it was a kitchen.

In a word, in this mess, the chef was just crazily slamming a filleting knife on an empty table.

[Next!! Where’s the next one!!]

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG─!!

A thunderous sound exploded in all directions.

He didn't know for sure, but that sound would spread to the rocky mountain and confuse the tribe members.

[Hmm?!]

The chef’s eyes turned this way.

An ingredient the size of his knee.

It was not blank like the other ingredients, but was looking straight and proper into his eyes.

It even greeted him.

“Good day.”

[You’re the one who came in late, aren’t you? Why are you fine?]

This chef only collects the ingredients that enter his territory and doesn't pay much attention.

The same goes for what kind of body they came from.

The Youngest Son said calmly.

“I don’t know the reason for that either. Could it be because my desire to experience and feel the glorious ritual is too strong?”

[I’ll get around to eating you when it’s your turn. So get lost over there.]

The chef, huge but completely different from the statue, waved the knife in his hand.

Muscular? What nonsense. His belly was on the verge of erupting from how much he had eaten.

On his hideously protruding belly, the spiral pattern he had seen to his heart's content outside was visible.

His other pair of arms nervously scratched his rough, scaly skin.

[What the hell are the underlings doing! Do they think I need to eat them all before they come to their senses?]

The thing the Gu'an tribe called a god was a ghost that ruled the archipelago.

A creature created from the accumulated resentment of ghosts who died after being shipwrecked in the Sea of Monsters for dozens of centuries.

‘He’s probably about the same age as the Butler. There are only a handful of ghosts who can create such a space.’

Whether it was due to gluttony or whim, the creature sometimes ate the entire offering and sometimes only a part of it.

If it ate the whole thing, there was nothing, but the soul sent down after eating only a part receives the talent of a spirit.

Losing something in exchange for receiving something.

‘I don’t know if that pig ghost intended it, but this kitchen activates that offering effect.’

Then what happens if one passes through without losing anything?

The tribesmen call that being blessed.

The Gu'an tribe, which was formed by the shipwrecked people who washed up here, had a sorcerer among them who grasped the blessing.

When he sowed that blessing on the ground, he received land where whatever was planted would grow as fruit.

‘Very tempting.’

The Youngest Son floated in the air with a sly smile.

The ghost’s body freely rose into the sky and stepped onto the rough stone table.

It was a place where a soul had been butchered just moments before.

“Oh, God. Aren’t you getting tired of the food of this island by now?”

[…What?]

The creature, which probably had a quadruple chin, lowered its eyes.

Looking down in that state created one more fold of flesh.

[What do you mean by that?]

“If you appoint me as your apostle, I will sow the god’s blessing on the land across the sea and offer new food.”

[…….]

Swoooosh─

The archipelago ghost brought its face close.

[Warning]

[A probability of death exists ahead.]

Usurper of Death turned on its warning light.

[You look tasty enough, but. Do you know what it means to become my apostle?]

“Of course.”

He smiled gently.

It was a warm smile that made even the slightly revealed fangs feel safe.

“Doesn’t it mean a relationship of subservience, bound soul to soul?”

The Youngest Son had a face thicker than the ghost’s layer of fat.

“Facing such a great being head-on, I realized that my soul is nothing. Please, let me offer it.”

[Heheheheung. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a lowly creature that knows its place.]

“If you give me a chance, I can show you my specialty. Isn’t proof essential to become a god’s apostle?”

[Correct!]

The archipelago ghost, who slapped his own thigh that must have weighed hundreds of pounds, pulled his lowered face back.

At least it felt like his eyes were clearing up.

‘Probably around this time…’

Tiring─!

The sound he had been waiting for rang out like a celebratory cannon.

[A hidden quest has occurred.]

──「Apostle of the Archipelago God」──

[Description]

: You have caught the eye of the archipelago ghost, Goul. You, who wish to become Goul’s apostle, can put on a show to get into his heart as well as his eyes.

Or you could propose a bet to make the show even more spectacular.

*Upon failure, you will lose two body parts.

[Reward]

: Apostle’s Crest

: God’s Blessing

─────────────

There it is. The quest.

It was even kind enough to guarantee that the path I was taking was safe.

Of course, confirming that guarantee was up to individual capability.

“No fire in the world can burn me. That is my specialty.”

The Youngest Son’s hand pointed to a corner of the kitchen.

“Even the cauldron that the god uses. Even the firewood used to heat it will not be able to burn me.”

[Kahahahat! Nonsense!]

The archipelago ghost, Goul, laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

However, the face of the person who told the joke had no trace of a smile, unlike before.

He said with that dry face.

“With this specialty alone, I am confident I can win even against the god.”

[Against me, you say?]

The archipelago ghost brought its head close once more.

[Can you take responsibility for those words?]

“If the god would consent to let me prove my words.”

[Hmph! Fine! Let’s see how great this specialty of yours is! If you jump out of the cauldron before me, I will pull out your tongue and cut off your eyes and ears!]

“I am only grateful.”

The Youngest Son smiled once more.

Unlike before, it was a chillingly cold smile.

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