Chapter 207 – Decisions.
-Kurreuk.
The boiling cry of the beast, the light-reflecting scales and sharp black feathers sprouting sparsely, and the angular muscles that wriggle and wriggle with the slightest movement of the large body exert intense pressure. It was a sight that I had already encountered several times, but I still swallowed saliva and looked for gaps in the sight that I did not adapt to, but finding such a thing in a creature other than a human was more difficult than I thought. How can I tame him? I knew there was no proper way at this point, but I still thought about it, and I tried to read Hill Disbiny’s movements somehow while holding the sword in his hand.
“Evil!”
If he tried to move, he found himself falling out with a dull thud in his chest. Usher, who fell into the water, hurriedly got up, but the fishy smell with the salty taste that he had already become accustomed to as soon as he got used to it penetrated his mouth and nose. It feels like my stomach is rumbling and the things I ate are about to spill out.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to throw up.”
“I must have drank too much salty water. Get some rest.”
“But.”
“If you want to rest, rest.”
In the end, Usher managed to get up on the ground at Krikaliev’s words and lay him down. My heart was still lacking and I thought I had to get up, but my head was dizzy and my stomach was disgusting, so I couldn’t move. Just lying on the ground and idly, without knowing his heart, the clear sky came into his eyes. Even the pouring sunlight seems to scourge him as if urging him.
“Mister.”
“And?”
“You said you were also a paladin, right?”
“It was.”
It’s already been two days and I haven’t seen any progress. So it was.
“How do you use magic, Mister?”
“Why do you even want to know the trick?”
“Yes.”
Because it seemed like it couldn’t be done this way. At least I’ve tried to read his behavior, but I’ve never been successful. Whenever that happens, the clear sky you face only increases your impatience.
“Hmm, that might be a bit difficult.”
“Why?”
“Wizards’ spells are all about simply reciting or carving codes, but in the case of paladins, it’s a bit more complicated and abstract.”
At the same time, I felt like I was hitting Usher, and I felt a pat on his leg.
“For example?”
“Each person has individual differences, but you will have no choice but to earnestly wish for it while strongly recalling the image you want.”
Hearing his words, I think of magic, but something seems to come to my mind, but I can’t. I couldn’t concentrate because there were too many images I wanted. Because I had a strong idea that magic was omnipotent.
“Then, is there a case where you can’t use magic even after drinking the water from the Holy Grail?”
“There isn’t. I don’t know if it’s her taste or if it’s influenced by bypassing her authority, but I can’t use it without a fairly strong and accurate image.”
It was an intense and accurate image, so even listening to him, Usher could hardly get a clue about the magic. She’s tried, but I don’t think she’s ever had such strong thoughts. He was trying to alleviate his nervousness somehow, but it grew even bigger when he heard that he might not be able to use magic even though he was prepared for death.
“What is your magic?”
“Do you want to see it?”
“Yes.”
I was curious that it was his last resort, and if I saw him use it, I thought he might get a clue.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Why?”
“I can’t use it.”
Usher wondered if he had heard it wrong.
“I heard it’s a paladin.”
“It was.”
“Then can’t you write it?”
“I can’t use it now.”
Even so, the feeling of hitting him doesn’t go away.
“How did that happen?”
“I told you. You can’t use it without a fairly strong image.”
I wondered what the hell was going on, but my mouth didn’t drop. So, he said something that had bothered him from earlier, just to clear his awkward mind.
“But how long are you going to hit my leg?”
What the hell were you doing, you kept touching his leg. I wondered if it was just to see the state, but I wanted to keep hitting something.
“What are you talking about? Why am I hitting your leg?”
He tried to tell me not to flinch at his words, but suddenly realized. He lay down without thinking to rest his exhausted body, but Krikaliev’s voice came from above his head. However, he felt that he kept hitting his leg below.
“Then someone cut my leg…”
The moment Usher raised his head in wonder, what he encountered were the sharp eyes of a reptile with its mouth wide open as if it were about to bite his leg. As he freezes, unable to comprehend the situation, Krikaliev’s voice is heard.
“Oh, it’s rare that a sand crocodile is out there so openly.”
I turned to find Krikaliev’s voice, and he was fishing and watching Usher.
“Aaaaa!!”
As soon as Usher took stock of the situation, he pulled his foot out of the guy’s mouth and hurriedly backed away.
“Isn’t that a monster too?! You don’t have to kill it!?”
I asked while trembling at the thought that I had almost been eaten without even knowing, and he answered.
“What is a monster? A simple crocodile.”
Upon hearing him, Usher looked up at what had nearly eaten him. With its scaly hide with jagged spikes, two protruding eyes and nose, and menacing teeth, he looked shorter than Usher at best. The crocodile smacks his lips as if he regrets not having eaten Usher, and in a sense it is more frightening to see him creeping slowly on all fours into the sky where the water reflects.
“Usually, he’s the one who eats the corpses of trees and beads or other animals. Since you’re still, it looks like a corpse.”
“Hey, what about Hildisbini? Don’t you warn me when something like that comes?”
“Can a guy like that look like a predator in the eyes of these guys?”
After hearing his words, I looked at the place where the Hildis Beanies were, and I saw them grazing peacefully even though they were right nearby. It was absurd that no one, no matter how small, would treat a person who was still trying to eat him as a predator.
“How do people live here?”
“You’ll pass out later if you go to a place like Ragado. It’s okay to live here.”
“Is this place worth living?”
I couldn’t tell what was hiding under the sky anymore, and I was afraid to even dip my feet in it. I couldn’t figure out where else to live.
“Okay, now let’s go to Jeremiah’s house.”
“What about training?”
“Anyway, if I tried more now, it would only end up being beaten more by Hildisbini. And the information would have arrived soon.”
Usher had no choice but to follow his advice. But if there’s something on your mind.
“What if something like Pacitilla comes after me again?”
It was the fact that I had to put my feet in there again and walk back to the village, even though I didn’t know what things were swarming under the surface of the water that reflected the clear sky.
“You said it right.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s already spread all over the place. Let’s jump out.”
“…I really hate it here.”
Usher had to go, caught by him again. But he soon realized that Krikaliev was walking in a strange direction.
“Where are we going now? It seems different from the way we came yesterday.”
“I was going to take you there if possible, but I think I’ll have to hurry.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Then he slowly started walking towards somewhere in the mangrove forest.
“I thought it was strange yesterday too. I draw because the population of pacitillas has increased too much.”
Krikaliev said as he walked down the waterway illuminated by the light seeping in bits and pieces under the shade of the dark trees. But Usher was puzzled by his words.
“Aren’t monsters originally like that?”
Because monsters were originally those who had excellent fertility and were difficult to handle.
“That’s true, but how do monsters reproduce?”
“Yes.”
Only then did Usher realize. No matter how good a monster is, it is common knowledge that it can reproduce only when it has a host. Monsters seemed to have been completely eradicated, but secretly created hosts and quickly increased their numbers, so they were no different from humans’ natural enemies and main enemies.
“Pacitilla is a particularly outstanding monster among monsters with excellent fertility. It grows exceptionally well, becoming sexually mature on the third day after birth and fully matured on the fifth day.”
It’s a monster, but I didn’t know that Pacitilla would grow that fast. However, what he said next was more problematic.
“So all a normal person can see is a fully mature pacitilla. But today I caught a juvenile pacitilla.”
It is said that the young pacitilla cannot see the white skin covering the body. That is to say.
“There is a nest of them nearby.”
A nest with a host. Usher shuddered at those words.
“By the way, can we go to a place like that by ourselves?”
Anyone could tell that in such a place, there would surely be many of them guarding their nests. It was common sense that many knights were mobilized to get rid of such nests in Lantua. But is it okay for the two of us to invade such a place? Even Usher knew very well that he would be glad if he wasn’t a burden, let alone help himself.
“Sometimes hunters do this. Pacitillas are flawed in the first place, so it’s quite common for a small number of nests to be taken care of.”
So they crossed the mangrove forest. The darker and wetter space than before told us that this place was not underneath the Giganottogetus we saw yesterday, but rather a deep forest with mangrove trees growing one after the other.
“So it would be better to see it as a knight’s training.”
As you walk through them, the roots of the mangrove trees grow more and more densely, intertwining and narrowing the walkable waterways, gradually reducing the frequency with which the fragmented sunlight seeps in. By the time the trees grew taller and came into the shadows, Krikaliev was already stepping on the ground of tree roots and debris.
“It’s better to prepare in advance at this point.”
Krikaliev put Usher down for a moment, holding out something of his.
“Now, apply this enough to soak into the surface of your bandage.”
“What is this?”
There was something in the form of cream in a container the size of his palm.
“It’s a camouflage cream made by grinding coral. It’s meaningless to other monsters, but at least it’s useful to Pacitilla.”
“If there was something like this, couldn’t we have used it a long time ago?”
Then they wouldn’t have been chased by Pacitilla for nothing.
“That’s expensive man. And he said he didn’t rush like that originally.”
He then began to spread it on his leg.
“The effect is certain, but you don’t know, so if you find a place like this, don’t stand still and don’t touch the water.
“Ugh, yes.”
Usher trembled at the thought of it and spread the camouflage cream he had received over the bandages. The camouflage cream he handed over penetrated well into the bandages that were still wet and coated the surface.
“Then why are you only applying it to your legs?”
“Pacitillas are active in the water, so of course they are sensitive to the smell that spreads in the water. And you just apply it all over your body.
Somehow, camouflage cream was applied and they started walking again. The ground, made up of tree roots and debris, was damp, uneven, and easily drained, making it difficult to walk, but thanks to Krikaliev, who was ahead of him, it was not uncomfortable. Perhaps because Krikaliev was heavier, the roots of the trees and the ground where he walked were both broken and hardened at the same time, so he could walk along them comfortably. And it wasn’t long before. The fact that he stopped Usher with his hand while he was ahead.
“Is there a nest after all?”
“Are you there?”
“If you’re going to see it, you’d better be prepared.”
Usher sighed at his words, but sneaked out to see the nest he had found. I didn’t want to see it, but I thought it would be a sight to see someday if I had to become a knight. Because I thought we had to face each other. And the sight he faced was more terrifying than he thought. The first thing that caught my eye was the bright red mucus-like flesh wall that covered the surface of the mangrove trees, wriggling like the organs of a creature.
“Ah, ah…!”
“Huh, ang!”
It was a terribly insulting and insulting space where women who were captivated by the flesh moaned and showed important places with dizzying looks and gave their bodies to strange creatures with their legs spread.
