Chapter 266
Chapter 266
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: Hundred Legs, Ten Thousand Poisons (16)
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"How much do you want for it?"
At those words, the old man stared at me with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"...Did you actually hear what I just said? This is a cursed..."
"Yes. I heard you loud and clear. A cursed item."
"B-but..."
"It doesn't matter. I'll pay you handsomely, so name your price."
"...!"
The old man drew in a sharp breath and fell silent for a moment.
Let's see. In Solen, Night Lights go for about 20 silver each, right? That's for the lower grade ones, of course. Higher-grade pieces can easily exceed 50 silver apiece. It's a symbol of misfortune, but it's fairly rare, so it fetches a good price...
"You'll take a cursed item without a care?"
"Yes. I've got some solid backing."
"...Backing?"
"In other words, with someone watching my back, a Night Light's curse is nothing to worry about."
"Someone watching your back?"
"The goddess Rinshaka. You know of her?"
At my deadpan remark, the old man's face turned even more bewildered. In this pseudo-medieval land, who would dare call a 'god' their 'backing'? I could understand his surprise.
Of course, I wasn't actually planning to rely on Rinshaka to handle the Night Light's curse. Gods don't bother with trivial misfortunes like that in the first place.
No, I simply didn't buy into that vague sense of unease. If someone had truly carved a spell into a Night Light to make a 'curse' real, that would be different...
If curses truly existed, you'd fear the spell and the caster, not some mere 'material' like Night Light.
Separately from that, Night Lights were 'stones fallen from the sky' with the property of disrupting mana flow.
If I had to compare it to something, it'd be like 'radiation'...
A small Night Light might be fine, but if it's large, it can interfere with the mana flow in the surrounding environment. Most monsters are drawn precisely because of this effect.
Someone with a sensitive constitution might even be affected by a mere fragment. That's probably how the rumors of 'curses' gained credibility...
But this was all just superstition that held sway over ordinary folk without knowledge of mana or magic. You could tell from how Night Lights were casually bought and sold in Solen. Any decent mage knew it: the 'curse' tied to Night Lights was pure myth...
The previous owner of these Night Light beads was likely sensitive to mana disruptions due to their constitution. As a seafarer, mental fortitude was crucial, so when that faltered, an accident probably happened.
Of course, even if the superstition was fake, death itself was real, and its weight unchanged. I had no intention of dismissing the tragedy tied to this item.
"Is the person who sold you this memento still in the village?"
"Yes. A widow on the hill..."
So it belonged to her husband.
"...She probably let it go for a song."
"W-well, actually..."
"Hm?"
"She didn't take money. She just gave it back to me."
I see... I pondered silently while gazing at the Night Light, then spread my five fingers wide.
"Five gold."
"...!"
"What do you say?"
"Wh-what do you mean, what do I say...!"
The old man's jaw practically dropped as he stammered. Well, no wonder—offering five gold each for Night Lights that topped out at 50 silver apiece, even at the high end.
"Y-you're messing with me, right? Even all together, they're not worth a single gold!"
"I know. One gold covers the fee and the item's value—keep that for yourself. The remaining four go to the widow."
"T-to the widow...? Why?"
"To pay the price upfront, so that 'curse' doesn't grow stronger."
"...!"
"Let's end the curse here."
The curse doesn't linger in the Night Light. The 'curse' that killed the necklace's owner probably remains fully with the widow—in the form of grief and resentment.
"She probably couldn't even give him a proper burial, could she?"
"...Y-yes. The village was in bad shape back then..."
As expected.
It was easy to guess. They believed the superstition that Night Lights attract monsters, yet the necklace's owner went out to sea wearing one made of it...
An area teeming with monsters meant there were plenty of fish to draw them in that many.
So, the owner probably set out to sea with the Night Light, hoping for a full catch. But then the monsters attacked...
I pulled five gold coins from my leather pouch and handed them to the shopkeeper.
"Use this money to help give him a proper funeral. And tell her these cursed fragments have been purified in the embrace of Goddess Rinshaka."
"...!"
"So she can send him off with peace of mind."
The coral zone swarming with sea goblins had been cleared. There wouldn't be any more accidents like that. I could only hope it brought the widow some comfort.
"...Understood. I'll make sure this money reaches her."
If she holds a proper funeral and finds peace, the curse will finally lift.
I transferred the five Night Light beads into a small muslin pouch, then picked out a few more items: a skein of squid ink thread, five horns from white fang beasts for carving spells into, and two sheets of tough, spiny porcupine fish leather.
I'd offered to pay, but the owner stubbornly refused. Fair enough— one gold was profit enough for him already. Not that it's just about the money...
"Thank you. Hope to see you again sometime."
"I'll make sure to relay your words to her exactly."
With a brief farewell, I left the shop. As I did, Legion wriggled out from my inner pocket and clinked against the Night Light beads while chattering.
「Theo. Deep sea. Waste.」
"...Tch, that wasn't a waste."
「Theo. What then?」
"Call it... a form of healing."
「Theo. Hurt? That person.」
"No, not like that..."
「Theo. But. Healing?」
"It's a matter of the heart... You're too young to understand."
「Theo. Not young. Me.」
"You are."
「Theo. Mole. Young one.」
"Oh? So you're the big brother then?"
「Theo. Big brother. Me.」
I couldn't help but chuckle at Legion puffing out its chest proudly. Yeah, yeah. I brushed it off vaguely and headed back to the inn.
Returning to the inn for totem crafting, I was greeted by an empty room. The other four were probably still training hard on the beach.
I sat at the table by the window, unrolled my leather mat, and began preparations in earnest.
First, I ground down the white fang beast horns. They were closer to gray than white, rough and wrinkly, about the length of a finger.
But as I gently filed the surface, a creamy ivory color emerged, like elephant tusk. It took longer than expected—these so-called horns were so brittle that any extra pressure would snap them.
More tentacle than horn, they had some flexibility, which sadly meant low durability.
The finished white fang beast horns were a pale white, slightly shorter and thinner from the filing. I could carve spells into them like this, but they'd likely break, so secondary processing was needed.
I boiled blue millet, gray devil's grass, and the scraped innards of elephant cactus together with the horns. After boiling vigorously for a good while, I fished out the horns at the right moment...
*Clang!*
After one boil and a cool-down, the horns became incredibly tough. The juices from the blue millet and gray devil's grass, plus the elephant cactus innards, filled the voids and boosted strength. The nerve channels naturally hollowed out, perfect for threading.
Gripping a small carving knife, I etched the spell into the white fang beast horn. The tiny size made this the trickiest, most time-consuming part. I stretched my back now and then as I worked for ages...
"Urgh..."
「Theo. Here? Here?」
"Yeah, there. Give that a tap."
「Theo. Feels good? Feels good?」
"Y-yeah. Feels good."
Legion scampered across both shoulders, pounding away with its tiny fists. Not satisfied, it switched to smacking with its tail, looking smug. It was just so...
*Is this what raising a kid feels like?*
...Adorable. Too cute. It didn't actually feel good at all, but that little thing (though its true body was castle-sized) pounding my shoulders with its tiny fists (though its real fists could pulverize a troll) was just too precious.
Once the spell carving was done, I twisted the squid ink thread into cord. For this totem—a simple bracelet—I didn't need a long one.
But it absolutely couldn't break, so I twisted it tightly, tying knots periodically for strength.
The finished cord went into a boil of salt and mud water, then rinsed three times in Night Scandipsus extract. This stripped the black color, yielding a transparent, glassy, rock-hard thread that gleamed like spun glass.
With those two steps complete, the totem was as good as done. All that remained was stringing the spelled white fang beast horn and Night Light onto the cord.
I held the clear cord and carefully threaded it through the white fang beast horn. It was a close call with the knot, but it slid through fine. Next, the Night Light. I passed the cord through the smooth, round, jade-hued bead emitting a soft glow, tied a rabbit grass knot...
*Ching...*
*Chiriing...*
Riding the glass-clear cord, the white fang beast horn and Night Light began to slowly rotate.
[Totem: Eyes of the Night Sky has been completed.]
A new totem, complete.