Chapter 47: Slave ship?
"Jess, maybe we shouldn't piss off the guy who can open holes beneath our feet?"
Alora was a little scared, reasonably so but logic and quick thinking were never her strong suit anyway.
"I wouldn't worry so much, he can only use his power with his hands. He's most likely using a status board or menu that only he can see. As for his power…"
I tapped the ground with my feet trying to reconfirm my suspicions. The ground was solid, but it didn't seem unbreakable.
"He has the power to rearrange matter into solid objects… Organic? Infused with magic? Doubtful. I'm betting his limit lies in turning grass into drapes and refining the minerals in the earth to create stone. Scratch that… shiny stones. Polished even."
Alora looked at me surprised but still a little worried. Even the kid looked at me like he didn't expect me to figure it out so soon.
"What… makes you think that?"
I looked at the mini king and chucked, "I thought you were able to create your own dungeons at first, after all, dungeons are the only creatures capable of doing something like that. But they can also summon monsters to protect them. Yet here you are completely defenseless, with no monster to defend its master. Am I wrong?"
The kid looked at me expressionless until he corrected me, "You are."
He proceeded to scroll through his status screen until finally the ground started to glow. Tell tale signs of a magic circle. After a few seconds the first thing that popped out of it was a tiny fish person. It was super ugly, but kinda cute in an ugly way… Fugly? Yeah it was fugly.
I looked around the room trying not to keep eye contact with anyone while pursing my lips until I gave a light cough and spoke up.
"Technically… this was my first guess."
"Jess…"
I could tell Alora was looking at me disappointed. I could feel her eyes on the back of my skull.
Embarrassment aside. His ability is incredibly rare, grandpa told me that he once knew a young Chinese granny that could create dungeons as well but she was never in control of them. If I recall she passed away of old age years before I was born. She's also responsible for forming the dungeons in our home country.
"I've heard of others with similar abilities but I've never known anyone to actually control the beast they summon."
I continued looking at the fish-like creature, it reminded me of a kobold with a fish head. It even had little whiskers, I guess that makes him a catfish?
"Can we eat em?"
I looked back at Alora shocked that she would say that. Even the little fish guy looks panicked, he's trying to hide behind his master now.
"He's edible, yes… But summoning creatures takes a lot of DP… Dungeon points. So I would rather… not waste them."
I nodded my head in understanding. This kid is pretty interesting, but definitely the silent type.
"Hey I'm curious, can you create dungeon cores?"
"Hmm? No."
So he can just mold the terrain? Then where is the dungeon core?
"Are you the dungeon core?"
The kid looked at me for a few seconds without saying anything but I could tell I was right. I'm such a great detective, forget my last mistake that was a fluke. He may look human but it's not the first time a monster has been capable of transforming into a person. It makes even more sense when they used to be a person already.
I just dropped the topic because it didn't lead anywhere. I was really hoping he could make his own dungeon cores. It would help gramps a lot.
…
After a few minutes of watching him summon several fish monsters I figured it was time we were on our way.
"Your Majesty, it's time we set off. I would like to give you a parting gift before we leave."
I sent him an invitation to my Demon Shop after explaining to him what it meant. However after I was done it was his retainers who spoke up.
"Your majesty! Do not trust this man, he'll make you a slave using his powers!"
"He's right! That man is clearly trying to deceive you!"
I was about to silence these two idiots as they've clearly forgotten who was in charge, but before I could the fish-men hit the both of them right behind the knees to shut them up.
They stayed silent after having a bunch of ugly cat fish smack them around for a few minutes.
As for the other elves… they didn't have much to add after seeing that.
"Well… Your Majesty. We'll be going. Bye."
"Mhm."
This was the most awkward conversation I've ever had with someone.
Alora and I walked out the castle with light hearts feeling like we did something good until I realized we were missing just one last thing.
I walked over to the pier and looked at the crazy SYFI boat and threw it into my storage before heading off on our own ship.
This thing might be biased towards Makoto but that doesn't mean I'll turn it down. After all, it officially belongs to me. I have the papers to prove it.
This time Alora didn't say anything, she just followed behind me even after we got on the ship and told Makoto to set sail.
"You were gone for a while, how'd it go?"
"Oh you know, staged a coup against the queen, stole the kingdom's greatest treasures and liberated the people from a tyrant obsessed with her hair and became King regent while enslaving the souls of the people."
Yeah that about sums it up.
"Hmm, are you sure you're not King's son? You're starting to sound like him."
I thought about it for a second before replying, "Pretty sure. So, are you ready captain?"
"Ready when you are."
After settling down we were ready to set sail. I can't say the island was that memorable or unique but I still conquered a whole kingdom (as small as it was) within hours and that's all that matters.
I threw most of the useless stuff up for sale like the curtains, jewelry, silverware and stuff like that. I like to keep food on hand at all times in case of rainy days though.
I saw the items get sold rather quickly, it was surprisingly easy. I guess that's the benefit of having so many trade partners.
I received a few trade offers for silver and gold as well as food and ores. Other than that, there was nothing special.
"I saw you grab the boat. Can I see it?"
"Sure after we get further out to sea. I'd rather not rub it into the townsfolk's faces more than I already have."
After a few hours of sailing we reached a safe enough distance for me to pull the boat out of my storage. We were pretty high up on our ship so the thing fell down with a splash.
"Hello beautiful!"
Makoto really loves his boats huh?
We boarded the fancy boat and started looking around inside. The place looked much nicer now that we could tour the place.
The rooms all had automated sliding doors with scanners that you had to swipe your hand over. After a few minutes of walking around, there wasn't much to see except for the control room and the cabins.
There was a shower in the back but for now it's best to go to the control room. I'm curious about the psychic translation function. The technology is far more advanced than what my world was capable of after all.
"Makoto, do you know how to work this thing? Or at least, can we expand the communication range?"
Makoto was messing around with the console for a minute with his eyes closed. I don't know how his ability works but he seems to have a lot of understanding of boats and ships.
"Not exactly no, but Selene has told me where the part is located and it just so happens that's is pretty small."
"Selene?"
"That's her name. At least it's what she wants to be callled. I'm going to open this up and grab the device."
Mokoto proceeded to open up the large console and poke his head around its insides. Sorry 'Selene's insides.' I forget I'm addressing a 'lady.'
I waited for him to finish up and when he did, he came out holding something that looked like a small USB drive but flatter.
"How can something so small allow people to communicate through the mind?"
"Well that's the problem. It doesn't."
The hell? Then what are we supposed to do with this thing? I can't negotiate on a boat every time I have a business deal… Especially further on land.
"This chip… I think I recognize it. I think it's Atla technology… They specialize in psionic energy and telepathy. Most of their supers are psychics."
"Oh I've heard of them. They were around before the U.D.E…"
Basically every 120 years there is a bid from the 'outside,' stating who gets a taste of our world's resources. The U.D.E has been the winner of this bid war 3 times in a row, but before them it was… Atla technology… This explains a little but I thought this boat belonged to a reincarnated individual?
"The star elves implied the boat came from another world. Did they mean Atla? That can't be right, 'Offworlders' don't mingle with the natives."
"I can check the logs but I have a feeling it's a mix of both 'offworlder' and 'otherworlder.'"
After a bit of time Makoto finally found the ship logs and found out the history of the boat.
…
After an hour of searching Makoto finally found out what was so special about this boat.
Basically long story short, Atla technology was hiring natives, specifically 'Otherworlders' a.k.a reincarnated people to do their job of negotiating with the natives… Among other things…
"So this was a guise for a slave ship?" After staying silent for a while Alora finally spoke up in disgust. Unfortunately she was wrong.
"If only it were so pleasant… This wasn't a slave ship. It was a laboratory, well not this one. Our 'girl' here was more like the home for the lead scientist. Apparently there were 6 other ships just like this one but bigger… And I know where they are."