Chapter 394

394 – The Jungle Island, Ideope’s Tears #6

The next morning.

The morning of Ideope was hazy with the mist that had rolled in from the damp marshlands and the sea. Even inside the rooms, it was no clearer.

Lost amidst a sea of fog where visibility was zero, I flailed my hands around when I felt something soft and heard someone scream.

“EEEEEK!”

It was a sharp and high-pitched scream. What is it?

As I felt around even more, I encountered something soft like hair and then long ears were pulled.

Finally, Elpride emerged from the fog.

“What is it, Elpride? What brings you to my room this early in the morning?”

“…”

Elpride’s face looked like d*ath itself in the morning.

Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger, and after hesitating if she should say something, she eventually let it go.

Then she said,

“While rummaging through the elder’s library yesterday, I came across an interesting fact. I found out why this island suffers from a lack of food and why there are so few men here.”

“Really? Is that true?”

“That’s because of a curse.”

“Hmm, isn’t that something we already know?”

I yawned slightly, feeling a bit disappointed.

According to what Luna said, Ideope Island was cursed. Men who stayed on the island quickly became weak and withered, and it wasn’t just men—livestock and plants suffered the same fate. The island didn’t bear fruit, and the livestock couldn’t reproduce, causing the gradual decline of the island.

As a result, Ideope’s scarcity of men and food placed the island in imminent danger of collapse. The people struggled fiercely over limited resources, tearing each other apart.

And because Luna had proven to be quite a strong asset, she couldn’t leave her duties, and thus had to become the successor to the elder. Everything seemed like a well-arranged puzzle, all the pieces fitting perfectly.

At that moment, Elpride spoke again.

“But I suppose you didn’t hear how the curse came about, did you?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“According to the history written in the book, a hundred years ago, Ideope endured a decade-long war. The islands were fighting over a single treasure. This was when the voodoo and curses of the island developed.”

Out of Elpride’s long explanation, one keyword caught my attention.

“Treasure?”

“Yes. The treasure was a woman. All the men of the island fought a bl**d feud over one woman. Night, darkness, and despair cursed the island after witnessing the violence.”

“A war over a woman? What kind of war is that?”

“Apparently, she was incredibly beautiful. The war Odysseus and Achilles fought in was also over saving a woman. Here in the Gaia Continent, it’s a common occurrence.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“That’s how the curse came about. Afterward, the islands made what’s called the Pact of bl**d, to avoid such bloodshed in the future. But yesterday, someone broke it, remember?”

“So what happens now?”

“A war is coming. Nothing is as brutal and fierce as humans who are starving and emotionally dried out.”

Elpride is from Albrheim, the continent known as the land of winter. Her words resonated deeply because they stemmed from personal experience, not empty talk.

So it was a curse brought on by war.

When Luna said she had come to the mainland to alleviate the island’s curse, I had felt nothing in particular and just let it go. Now I began to understand the gravity of the situation. I began to grasp the determination with which Luna had endured hunger and undertaken low-class requests on behalf of Sodomora.

She had often complained about the tiring island, but she still loved it because it was her birthplace, right? Of course, this was my assumption.

Elpride asked,

“What are you planning to do today?”

“Hmm. I thought I’d help Luna with some wine making, and perhaps take a stroll around the village.”

“I’m going to practice seeing souls. You shouldn’t bother me unless it’s urgent.”

“Alright then.”

Though I said I would help Luna with the wine, she was nowhere to be seen, it seemed she had a lot of things to do that morning.

I figured I might as well explore the village while I was at it, but…

“Hey, you! Just don’t go causing problems.”

People from the Nox Child Tribe kept reminding me wherever I went. In fact, they scrutinized my every move as some unwelcome outsider. Their eyes, however, didn’t carry only caution.

Ah, so this guy is from the mainland.

He was rumored to be absurdly strong. I’ve heard he can crush ironwood nuts like they’re nothing.

Nah, maybe the shell’s as hard as turtle skin.

Wait! Don’t they say he’s the son of Pluto and the god of wine?

Son of Pluto and the god of wine? That’s quite a tall tale, isn’t it? No one would believe exaggerations like that.

Men from the big land are known to boast to charm women. It’s the same story.

Still, he does seem strong. He’d probably do well with fieldwork or quarrying. He must be telling the truth about his strength. His spirit glows with a luminous aura.

As the Garuru tribe girls took an interest in me, so did these Nox Child Tribe women, though not to the same extent.

Still, I could hear whispers from behind fences and tree trunks whenever I passed.

We could use someone strong. Maybe we can fix the village fortifications. It’s tough to move the logs ourselves, and it might take us a week. With him, it would probably take a day.

Oh, right! The elders told us not to engage with him directly. We’d get in serious trouble if we were caught!

Ah, so the elder must’ve warned them not to speak to me first.

The elder I’d met yesterday seemed quite cautious and perceptive.

It was understandable, considering his role in the village.

Pazh-jit!

At this moment, a brilliant thought came to me, sparked by my increasingly divine intellect, which rivaled the wisdom of the gods.

After all, I might have to stay on this island for a few days. Maybe earning some goodwill from the locals could help me when I return here with Luna, or even in learning more about Nectar.

If the villagers are forbidden from speaking to me first, there’s nothing wrong with me initiating the conversation, right?

So, addressing a group of ponytail-wearing girls behind a pillar who were whispering about me,

“Could I help you with anything?”

“…”

They jumped back at my unexpected approach. One of them reminded me of Luna, and she appeared quite adorable.

I continued pleasantly,

“I had a good breakfast and I’m full of energy. I’d like to move around a bit to help with digestion. Is there anything you’d like me to do?”

“…”

Despite my friendly tone, the girls were wary, like little squirrels or fawns. Eventually, one of them spoke up,

“W-well, you could help repair the village barricades!”

The girl was immediately scolded by others, but I was grateful for her boldness.

“Alright then, I can certainly help with the repairs.”

I gathered the logs nearby, neatly arranged them, bound them with thick ropes, and erected them into walls.

Just as I was about to lift it, someone from behind said,

“It’s ironwood soaked in seawater, so it’s incredibly heavy and strong. Usually, the whole community has to pull together to move these things, are you sure you can do it alone?”

“Guess I’ll see…”

When I lifted it up…

Thud.

“Ugh…! This is heavy!”

Had my strength not been an impressive 16, it might have broken my back. The weight of the barricade was immense, as if lifting a slab of steel the same thickness as the wood.

But despite the surprise, when I gave it all my might, it stood up with a creak, and that was it. The girls, who had been watching nervously, were now astounded.

“Heaven’s sake, thirty regular villagers couldn’t carry this up, yet he lifted it alone!”

“Wow, his strength isn’t an exaggeration. He really can crush walnuts with his bare hands!”

“This is incredible!”

Their mouths were wide open in astonishment, having forgotten any words other than exclamations of amazement.

However, I wondered why the village barriers were so large and sturdy, almost like a nuclear bunker, given the pink-haired population.

“Aren’t the fences a bit too robust?”

One girl with a pink ponytail replied,

“We need them solid to resist the monsters. They come every time the moon is shrouded by clouds. They bring zombies and attack our livestock.”

Zombies and monster dogs? That explained why the houses of the Nox Child Tribe were built on elevated platforms.

I heard places where komodo dragon lizards appeared often had elevated entrances. Here, it seemed even worse with zombies and monster dogs.

“That’s the monster dog’s mark.”

Sliding my finger towards where a girl pointed, I looked up at a relatively intact section of the barricade.

There, I found enormous claw marks, as though a raging bear had scratched them. Estimating their size, the creature must’ve been as large as a mid-sized car.

What kind of dog is that? Perhaps a queen alien rather than a dog. Such monstrous beasts were worthy of their name.

Just then, the white furs hanging from my back started to bristle.

Judging from how the remnants of Romulus, the son of Echidna, reacted, these furs too were highly alert to the traces of the monster dog.

The truth about the monster dog came to me during lunch, courtesy of an unexpected source.

“Aaaaaah! Core thief! The one with the black hair—I was looking for you! Something terrible has happened!! A really terrible thing!”

It was Doris.

Nymph Doris of Honey Water approached me with a very worried expression. She paced erratically, as though walking on hot flames, and couldn’t settle her nerves.

Nymphs are known for their over-the-top nature, and this situation seemed to have exacerbated that aspect.

There was no need for bloodlines to calm nymphs.

Applying the ultimate technique I discovered while traveling with Paranoi for a month—nymph petting—I stroked her chin, cheek, and locks of hair.

Bassrack, bassrack…

“To think that you wouldn’t feel any better by being petted…”

Being a nymph under Luna’s dominion, Doris showed no signs of calming down from my petting. Instead, she got even more excited, even foaming at the mouth, shouting,

“Right now, a very bad dog is stealing all the honey I’ve worked so hard to collect. It’s honey for the poor Ideope friends’ winter, heartwarming honey, and now it’s all being stolen!”

She even grabbed and tugged on my arm.

“The thieving black dog not only kidnapped my friend Core but now it also wants to steal the honey I’ve worked so hard on for the adorable pink-haired Cores. Hurry up, hurry up, follow me to the salt quarry!”

Though nymphs tend to be restless and unfocused, Doris seemed on the verge of fainting from pure excitement.

Following the nymph who looked like she would lose her breath at any moment, I headed towards the so-called salt quarry, located near the sea.

There, on cliffs, I discovered a gigantic beehive, and a large black beast that had its head buried deep into it.

BZZZ, BZZZZ…

The bees were trying hard to counterattack, but the creature’s thick skin rendered their stings ineffective.

“There! That’s the guy stealing my honey, mercilessly harming the bees! Such a nasty little mongrel, worse than honey badgers or hornets!”

The honey nymph Doris swore more than any other nymph.

But if you think about how much honey was stolen after a month’s worth of hard work, it wouldn’t be strange to curse.

When the dog, seemingly alerted by our commotion, pulled its large snout out of the honeycomb.

Snouts?

The reason I described the scene using the plural form was that the black beast had not one but two heads on either side of its body, approximately the size of a mid-size sedan.

Torr… Roll…

I recognized it.

The golden-tier beast that the Sacred Knight Order’s Anitope fought to her last breath.

The legendary two-headed hound, Orthos.

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