397 - The Moon, the Hill, and the Shaman #3

Luna said that the island where the Tatari Tribe lives has many raccoons.

Raccoons as big as people, she meant.

"If you wear this, you can use animal mimicry voodoo magic! We'll pretend to be raccoons and infiltrate Hill Island!"

So Luna handed us several raccoon pelts she had brought. Brown fur pelts with good texture and no wounds.

Elfriede's expression crumpled as she took them.

"Ridiculous. Animal mimicry voodoo magic, and it's just wearing pelts?"

"If it ended with just wearing pelts, it wouldn't be voodoo magic! You have to mimic raccoons too!"

"...."

At Luna's words, Elfriede made a disgusted face.

Before such an Elfriede, Luna casually took off the long dress and pheasant feather crown she was wearing, then put her arms and legs into a raccoon pelt with buttons opened at the belly.

The sight was quite cute, like the animal onesies that were popular long ago. Actually, since Luna is pretty, she'd be cute in anything.

Srrrk.

Finally, Luna, with a raccoon-shaped hood on her head, placed her four paws on the ground and moved around.

Then she shuffled back and forth.

"Keong, Keng Keng-!"

And she even barked a few times, and indeed, with the darkness of the night, she looked exactly like a raccoon.

"Alright, this should be enough! What are you doing? Everyone, put them on quickly! Everyone will wake up in about ten minutes. We need to get out fast before then!"

At Luna's urging, Elfriede also finally put her body into a raccoon pelt. Luna spoke towards Elfriede.

"Now, just walk on all fours and bark occasionally. Be careful not to bark too much, or you might get caught!"

"...."

Of course, even though she was wearing a raccoon pelt, Elfriede didn't seem to have much desire to perform a ridiculous act.

I said.

"The size doesn't fit me."

The raccoon pelts Luna brought were just the right size for Luna and Elfriede. If I tried to force one on, it would clearly tear.

At that, Luna spoke as if she had no choice.

"Hassan, you already have fur, so just pretend to be any animal! Actually, a furry body is what's important. They say Chrome's eyesight isn't good."

Chrome seemed to be the name of a monster residing on Hill Island.

"Doris, if people wake up and look for us, tell them we just went out for a bit! Keep a good watch so nothing happens!"

"House owner, be careful...! I'll attach a small honeybee here, so if a crisis arises, send this fellow flying into the sky...!"

Doris attached a honeybee about the size of a pinky finger to Luna's back. I wondered what good it would do to send that thing flying into the sky in a crisis.

But then a scientific thought occurred to me: bees communicate over long distances with pheromones, so perhaps Doris could sense Luna's danger.

Indeed, thinking that way, Doris's honeybees were quite useful as a temporary communication system.

Is this the Nymph of Honey Water?

I seriously considered whether I should evolve Paranoy when I returned, as he was a Nymph of the Muddy Water with no other special abilities.

Next to Luna was the Nymph of Honey Water.

Next to Hippolyte was the Nymph of Tears, helping with household chores or providing various abilities, but why me...?

No, I decided not to think such thoughts.

By now, Paranoy was surely working hard in his own way.

I told my companions, clearing my thoughts.

"Then, let's go."

* * *

"That's Hill Island over there."

Luna, standing on the beach, pointed her finger at our destination. Under the dark moonlight, the steeply sloped island looked like a single giant rock shelter.

Sss-sss-.

The wind blowing from Hill Island was quite eerie and chilly.

The air was so cold that if Luna and Elfriede hadn't been wearing raccoon pelts, they might have shivered from the cold.

"If possible, don't cause a commotion on the island. The Tatari Tribe kids are terrifying, so it'll be troublesome if we get caught."

Luna told us what to be careful of on Hill Island.

"Keep a close eye out for traps underfoot, and it should be enough not to touch anything carelessly. And after we go up Moon-Viewing Mountain, try not to make any sound if possible!"

Infiltration, huh.

When was the last time I infiltrated somewhere?

The Pluto Cult meeting and the Thieves' Guild.

Only those came to mind, and neither was a good memory. They were like tightrope walks where my neck could have been severed at any moment.

But this time, with my companions, I felt quite reassured.

Deureureuk-.

Luna pushed a long, slender boat nearby and brought it to the beach. It was a boat that suited the name 'canoe' well, and it probably was a canoe.

Elfriede, Luna, and I sat on it, then rowed towards the dark and gloomy Hill Island, visible about 100 meters away.

In the meantime, I thought it necessary to objectively assess our combat strength, so I grabbed Luna's and Elfriede's wrists respectively.

Diling-.

『Name: Elfriede Desmund Lv. 37 → 38

Strength: 12 → 13

Agility: 12

Stamina: 13

Quirks: 《Sadism》 《Separation Anxiety》 《Atheist》

Conditions: 《Cold Hands and Feet》 《Irregular Menstruation》』

Diling-.

『Name: Luna Noxdoti Lv. 29 → 32

Strength: 8 → 9

Agility: 13 → 14

Stamina: 8 → 9

Quirks: 《Flailing》 《Love of Bad Food》 《Nocturnal》

Conditions: 《Voodoo Magic Obsession》 《Raccoon's Resentment》』

Between the last time I checked and now, everyone's levels had risen quite a bit, as if they had accumulated karma well.

It was impressive that Elfriede, who already had a high level, had increased her strength, but what was truly astonishing was Luna's growth rate.

Level 32, she was.

She must have experienced a lot on the island over the past month.

But what is "Raccoon's Resentment"?

I didn't really get a sense of it.

As I was having those thoughts, we had already approached quite close to the place called Hill Island. We were about twenty meters from landing.

Hwareuk, Hwareuk.

However, when unfamiliar lights and torches suddenly lit up one by one from the bushes on Hill Island, I felt that the situation was quite unusual.

The Ideope archipelago was at war due to a shortage of supplies, I remembered. So, it was obvious that there would be Tatari Tribe guards protecting the coast.

Then Luna covered us with a blanket and spoke.

"Everyone needs to be quiet now. We have to talk to the kids who are guarding Hill Island."

Indeed, Luna, who had lived on this island for a long time, knew the dangers and concerns I had thought of better than I did.

She was going to talk to the Tatari Tribe guards and resolve the issue.

Was she trying to bribe them?

Chambang-.

MnZBMElkRjFKc3ZCR0RiWklQRlA5WlZINzRaZThhUzZ1cnMyS01IbEgxYWMrUFlvQVFNTmlKVVR4Y2JRODBwYQ

Luna jumped into the sea, then swam and landed on the island alone.

Luna's back disappeared among the bushes, and a rustling sound was followed by faint voices.

Sss-sss-.

I focused all my attention on my hearing. My ears, growing increasingly sensitive as I awakened my divinity, were almost as good as a bat's radar.

Because of that, I was able to find and hear Luna's familiar voice.

━"Let us pass today too. I just want to dig up some monkshood and hashish grass growing on Hill Island."

━"Luna-ya, today Chrome said to strengthen the island's security. The Orthos that Chrome raises came back injured, so Chrome is really angry. So, it's difficult today."

━"Can't you make an exception? I'll give you one health orb. A panacea, I mean. This is precious. Naru, you've tasted its effects many times, so you know it well, right?"

━"One orb... with one orb, I think I can manage thirty minutes."

━"What? Last time, it was one hour for one orb."

━"The market rate for time has gone up. If you want to dock your boat in the area I'm in charge of, you have to pay two orbs per hour. I'm putting my life on the line too. I need that much to break even."

━"Ugh, alright. Then one hour it is. Oh, and the fellows in the boat are here to help dig for herbs today, so you don't need to worry about them."

━"Okay, fine. Just don't make too much noise. If you get caught, never mention my name. And don't forget to walk around wearing the raccoon pelts."

━"Got it, Naru! Thanks!"

Paseuseuk.

With that, the conversation seemed to end, and Luna waved at us.

I rowed the canoe appropriately onto the beach and finally stepped onto Hill Island.

Luna seemed to have an acquaintance on Tatari Island too.

From what I heard, she often secretly entered Hill Island like this to collect ingredients or hand over elixirs or health orbs she had made.

Luna returned to us and whispered.

"We got one hour. But they won't even imagine we're going to Moon-Viewing Mountain. So we need to move as fast as possible!"

* * *

Tatari Island was utterly barren.

The bushes were mostly thorny thickets, the ground was swampy, and venomous creatures like centipedes and vipers lurked in the trees above.

Mushrooms clung to the grotesquely twisted trees like parasites.

Their colors were a reddish-purple, so mottled that I thought if I took a bite of one, my insides would surely twist.

I had thought the jungle on Crescent Island, where the Nox Child Tribe lived, was harsh. But compared to this place, it was nothing short of a paradise.

Somnia, the Cult voodoo magic user who was a member of the Tatari Tribe. She had once chided Luna for living on a rich and fertile island and being ignorant of the world.

Indeed, now I understood her meaning.

Girls living on such a barren, high-altitude island would naturally become brave. They would have no choice but to plunder other tribes for food.

"Ah, Hassan, watch your step there. There'll be a thin thread. If you step on it, a trap will fall from above!"

At Luna's warning, I snapped out of my thoughts and looked down at my feet. As Luna had said, a small rope-like thing was stretched taut beneath my ankle.

When I looked up, a spiky wooden board-like object was dangling above my head.

The thought that if I had carelessly stepped on that rope, that ominous thing might have knocked out our entire party, sent a chill down my spine.

Walking for a few minutes, paying attention to the surroundings.

Perhaps bothered by the unusually quiet surroundings, Elfriede spoke.

"No animals appearing, no people. No 'Eunjambi' either. Isn't something wrong?"

"That's because this is a path no one usually takes. It's the path Naru of the Tatari Tribe told me about."

"Can we trust that Naru fellow? What if she betrays us or leads us into a trap?"

"She's an old friend of mine. I was a bit of an outcast in the village, so I actually got along well with kids from other tribes. Naru, Luna. Our names were similar, so we became friends quickly."

"...."

When Elfriede fell silent for a moment, the surroundings quickly became quiet. The black silence of darkness, with nothing but the chirping of insects.

We took advantage of the quiet and began to climb the mountain.

━"Every day, guard duty. Guard duty. Ah, it's tough. So tough."

Of course, it wasn't quiet the whole time.

Moon-Viewing Mountain seemed to be considered quite an important stronghold or sanctuary by the Tatari Tribe, so there were many patrolling fellows.

Most of them were girls with skull Masks and lean, muscular bodies. Girls like Amazoness, reminiscent of Antiope or Hippolyte.

━Grrr-ooooh-.

Of course, the leashes they held and the beings tied to them would have made a real Amazoness like Hippolyte or Antiope recoil in horror.

It was a dog.

To be precise, it was a dog like a patchwork golem made by stitching together parts of various creatures. That must be the Eunjambi.

I knew well the terrifying nature of those Eunjambi, those zombies, having faced Somnia in the underground waterway.

━Grrr-ooooh, Keong, Keong Keong-!

━"What? Why is the dog barking?"

━"It's probably a raccoon. There are so many fucking raccoons on this mountain. The dogs barking isn't a new thing. Just leave it."

━"No, it seems to be barking too much for that. I'll go check quickly."

Paseuseuk-.

Rustling through the bushes, figures approached us. At that, Luna, who had been waddling forward on all fours, shouted.

"Keng, Keng-keng-! Gyareureung-."

It was truly an amazing raccoon mimicry.

...Actually, I don't really know.

I'd have to have seen a raccoon bark to know.

Anyway, Luna seemed to be putting her heart and soul into her acting, and whether it worked well or not, the figures approaching us stopped.

━"What, it really is a raccoon."

━"Stupid raccoon bastards. Their meat tastes bad. They just howl loudly every night. Why do only raccoons live on our Hill Island?"

━"Right? I heard there are wild boars on Crescent Island. The kids who infiltrated to scout earlier said that in their village, they caught pigs and had a dance and festival today."

━"A festival, you say. That pisses me off. We just sit around gnawing on tree roots every day. Ah-. I want to get off this damn island too. Will it be better on the mainland?"

━"Shh, what if Chrome hears you? That guy's eyesight is bad, but his hearing is good. If you carelessly say you want to leave the island-."

━Keong, Keong Keong, Keong Keong-!

━"Shh, dog, stop barking!"

Paseuseuk, Paseuseuk-.

The figures moved away again. Only then could we, who had been completely stiff, breathe a shallow sigh of relief.

If we had been caught, there would have been a commotion in many ways.

Luna said.

"We're almost there now. Just past that cave. If we go through that cave, we can get to the summit of Moon-Viewing Mountain."