The Four Adventurers and the Clockwork Beanstalk (2)
1523 Words
The four of us then exit the town, looking for the massive expanse of grass nearby – Caldito Valley, as pointed to us by Aloysius the red-masked mage.
As we make our pace throughout the dirt-laden road, we can hear a high-pitched whistle.
We immediately determine the source of the whistle.
It comes from a roving constabulary officer, who then quickly shouts “HALT!”
I've allied with a bunch of officers before, and now I'm on the receiving end of a simple “gotcha” by another officer.
The officer rushes towards us.
And it seems he's easily detecting the pouch we carry.
We ready ourselves for his questioning.
“Adventurers roaming this area I watch over, what do you have?”
Luningning replies...
“Seeds. Just seeds.”
“Well, no hard feelings here, but... I just need to inspect your pouch. Don't want any kind of illegal drugs and other illegal goods roaming throughout the kingdom.”
That takes me back to when I was told by the head-shot-happy cur about the existence of the so-called “ninja cops”.
Here's the context behind the ninja cops.
Two years ago, thirteen constabulary officers, feeling that their salaries weren't enough to fund their common vice that is chugging too much alcohol, decided to sell contraband goods they have seized in several operations they were involved in to the black market.
These contraband goods included gold bars, jewelry, opium-flavored bananas, lewd bromides, fake wooden model kits, fake cosmetics, and even fake rice (which is just plastic made to look like the usual grain of uncooked rice).
They have all devised a way for their activities to not get in their own superiors' radars: Invisibility magic.
Knowing that there are strict regulations on invisibility magic to prevent abuse by lawless elements (since by law, only soldiers, constabulary officers, and accredited adventurers can use invisibility magic or any magical device that facilitates invisibility magic), they simply took advantage of that legal loophole.
But one day, when they were going about their usual task of re-packing the illegal goods they acquired and then magically manipulating the boxes so that they still have the same weight, as if the goods were still there...
A civilian unknowingly peeked on their activity, and promptly tipped off the constabulary chief.
Following speedy court martial proceedings, the thirteen ninja cops were forced to comply with the following punishments, lest they would be sacked:
Making 13 gold bars out of any gold things they exclusively have (they can't borrow nor steal, but they can buy), wearing their wives' or girlfriends' jewelry on-duty, wearing armbands with the picture of a banana embroidered in them, replace their badges with pocket-sized copies of lewd bromides, buy 13 real wooden model kits, wear cosmetics on-duty, and plant and harvest rice for a period of 13 months.
Talk about unlucky.
We cooperate by presenting the seeds as well as the instruction manual that is handwritten by Louis himself.
“These seeds are weird, alright. And based on the magical illegal drug detection device I have... there are no traces of those prohibited substances. And to be honest, I've never seen these seeds before. Where'd you get them from?”
I answer the officer...
“We got them from Mr. Cou'thegvac the farmer, and he said that the seeds fell from the sky.”
“OK, I believe his story. The seeds are harmless, anyway.”
The inspection is thus carried out completely.
“Thanks, adventurers. Now you can all proceed.”
We all say “thank you” in response to the officer before he and us part ways.
We continue walking...
...and walking...
...and walking...
...hoping to find the perfect spot to plant these seeds without inconveniencing everyone else.
After an hour of searching...
...we can't find the valley we're looking for.
Instead, we end up in what is called “The Crying Mountains”.
These mountains are named as such because they are home to several waterfalls and their tributaries.
We can also spot lush greenery, consisting mainly of palm trees and banana trees.
In other words...
We're all traveling the wrong way.
Naturally, there's someone to blame.
The red-masked mage, Aloysius.
Luningning, Sergei, and I don mean stares at him.
He can only say in a stuttering way...
“W-Why the s-stares, huh?”
I quip...
“Ain't it obvious?”
Luningning follows...
“We're all in the wrong place.”
And Sergei tops it off with the following:
“Directionless.”
If our mage here is really a native of this town I'm currently in, he must know the places nearby.
I'm smelling something fishy here.
“H-Hey! Quit it with those stares! I admit! I admit I have no freaking sense of direction, you all hear?”
Aloysius eventually admits his little wrongdoing.
“I can't navigate to save my life without a map in my hands! And I always carry so much Mana Potions with me that I don't have enough room in my bag to fit one!”
Really?
That's another example of skewed priorities... one of the most notorious mistakes an adventurer commits.
If only adventurers like him invested in magical satchels that are quite expensive but will do away with item management issues in the foreseeable future...
“Hey.”
I tell the mage.
“If you want, I can lease some space in my magical satchel for your Mana Potions so that you can buy a map and not drag us all into your no-sense-of-direction fumble again.”
“Uh... OK.”
“Good.”
The rest of us shrug as we all use our own Teleportation Feathers to go back to Pum Quoc.
Without saying a word, we troop to the item shop to buy a map of Dinggiff Prefecture for a low, low price of 250 guintos.
And before one asks...
No, I don't carry around maps myself.
But I try my best to be adept in the entire kingdom's geography.
That's why I feel comfortable narrating about the ins and outs of towns and stuff.
And according to the newly acquired map...
Caldito Valley is actually a grass field situated southwest of this castle town. It still is surrounded by mountains that border the two prefectures.
So off to the southwest we go.
After I store Aloysius' Mana Potions in my satchel as agreed upon.
Twenty minutes later...
We're now at the valley.
The coast should be clear now.
Without any further ado, Luningning takes the initiative (with my blessing, of course) and plants the seed in the grass field's rich soil.
“Mizubig.”
It's then watered thanks to Aloysius' water magic.
One note about spell-casting: If an offensive spell is used for a non-offensive purpose such as lighting a stove, the invocation can be omitted.
Two hours pass.
A beanstalk starts to grow.
Slowly.
As in one centimeter per hour.
Sergei frowns at this development.
So, he's an impatient person, huh.
He then decides to hasten time.
Nope, not with the Heisbilis spell.
Instead, he brings out a red, beetle-shaped gadget from his own magical satchel and attaches it to his belt via a magical magnet.
“HENSHIN!”
He shouts a word that is not in the galdr lexicon.
As I and the rest of us wonder what exotic language that word is in...
...he nonchalantly inserts the gadget into his belt.
The gadget's mechanical voice answers back “Henshin” and makes him transform into a masked, armored warrior.
He then flips the horn part of his gadget, exposing a transparent part, while shouting “CAST OFF”.
Now that's two words the rest of us understand.
But what exact thing is he “casting off”?
The gadget answers back “Cast Off” and makes some pieces of his armor fly off.
We all dodge to avoid getting hit by those weird armor pieces.
Sergei's face now looks more like a beetle with the gadget's final voice prompt of “Change Beetle”.
Naturally, we are all surprised by Sergei's act throughout the length of his “transformation”.
It seems he has his own adventurer gimmick, like my own weapon summoning skills.
And we're even more surprised when he shouts “CLOCK UP!”...
...and the growing of the beanstalk hastens to Mach 1 after the gadget's declaration of “Clock Up”.
In less than a minute, the beanstalk is now fully grown.
It looks more like a mechanical tower when compared to a normal plant.
Well, I think a normal hastening spell won't affect nor effect this... uh... clockwork beanstalk.
Sergei then nonchalantly demorphs himself, keeping the gadget in his bag.
Naturally, the first thing on the minds of the rest of us is...
“Where did you get that thing?”
He simply replies...
“Oh, this? Simple. From a guy who knew a guy who had an uncle.”
Feeling content with his answer, we all decide not to press him further.
We all instead start to climb the beanstalk that touches the heavens.
- Writer
