Chapter 358: The Lost World (13)

The shout came from below.

"..."

I looked down. Something no bigger than a finger was yelling furiously at Gilaut. On closer inspection, it was an old human man, wrapped in a crude scrap of red cloth. A bush of white beard swallowed his entire face.

"You... you're the ferryman?"

He held what seemed like a toothpick. It was tiny as a splinter, but unmistakably shaped like an oar. As he moved that toothpick, the massive oar attached to the stern of the boat moved exactly the same way.

Down. Up. Down. Right. Perfectly synchronized.

Telekinesis? Or something worse...

"Yes. Are you crossing?"

His voice was absurdly small for how loud it was. There was no going back. Only the river waited behind us, vast and black.

"We are crossing, but..."

"Payment first." He eyed my wrist-bone. "3,000 kruna per trip. Doesn't matter how many get on, that's the price each time I move the boat."

"Oh. I see."

The number on my wrist read 6,000.

"Those things earlier were acting like they were doing us a huge favor... but two boat rides and it'd all be gone?" Gilaut grumbled. "Also... isn't that too expensive?"

The ferryman snorted sharply.

"Hmph! Per trip means per trip. You've got a whole crowd with you. You should be grateful. Most would kill for that price!"

"Mm..."

Truthfully, I'd never spent kruna before. I had no sense of whether this was expensive or cheap.

Hard to even haggle when I don't know the value...

I turned my gaze toward the unseen darkness beyond the river, recalling the scouts' words. "Once we cross, will we find the auction house? The shop that takes kruna?"

"That's right. Heading there, are you?"

"That's the plan."

"Well. If you're going, you'll need coins there too." The ferryman nodded knowingly, rubbing his fingers together. "If you're going round-trip, I'll do it for 5,000 instead of 6,000. And if you cross right now, without wasting time, I'll cut it even further, to 4,000. A rare discount. I only offer it once a month."

He said it like he was granting divine mercy.

"Hmm... that's..."

"If you're confident, swim instead. There are hungry things below this water. This boat is magically protected. You are not." His voice dropped as he twisted the red cloth around his arm. Then, he slowly pointed upward with his tiny oar. "Or you can wait here... But you see that? Up there?"

Dimly glowing circular tunnels pierced the cave ceiling. They were easily over ten meters across.

"A burrower the size of a house chews through those tunnels," he said casually. "Right now it's away... but who knows when it comes back? Rock is rock. But flesh... Ah, flesh and bone? That beast loves the taste."

"..."

Is he telling the truth or bluffing? I couldn't tell.

My Detection was too weak to confirm.

"So? Crossing now, or not? This is no ordinary river. Honestly, I don't like ferrying anyone. Takes strength to maintain the boat's protection, see."

Gilaut whispered beside me, "If it counts as a one-way, it might be worth it. We're not coming back this route anyway."

That's a strange kind of logic, but not wrong.

Our choices were few. Either turn back; walk into a bottomless, pitch-black, monster-filled underground river; or pay the fee. Neither of which was pleasant.

Clatter.

[1004 wants to kill the ferryman and steal the boat.]

[Interpreting what 1004 intends to say.]

[—Boss, should we drown him?]

I stared at 1004, speechless.

Were you an orc assassin in life? Absolutely not.

Killing the ferryman in a place like this would be idiocy.

The old man suddenly brightened. "Hmph. Your face is pleasing. Fine. 3,000. Final offer."

I exhaled slowly. We'd clearly have to take the boat.

Suddenly, the tiny ferryman recoiled in terror, eyes going wide. "Hiik!"

A huge shadow loomed behind me.I had recovered my Detection skill, yet someone had gotten behind me without my noticing. Startled, I turned.

A man draped in a snow-white robe, hood pulled low over his head, was grinning at me. He said nothing, simply toying with a spiral seashell hanging from his neck. The shell spun slowly, radiating a strange aura.

A human?

"We're still in the human realm," he said quietly, his voice slipping cleanly into my thoughts.

"What?"

It sounded as if he were replying directly to the questions in my head. Then, a third hand slipped out from inside his hood, casually ruffling his hair. Definitely not human.

"Who... who are you?" the ferryman stammered. He had finally recovered from his shock.

"We'll be crossing," White Hood said.

"Hmph! Crossing... Don't tell me you've been standing back there all this time?"

The man shrugged lazily. "Who knows."

"Damn! Then why spook people like that? Anyway, for you it'll also be 3,000 kru—"

The man cut him off with a soft laugh. "Don't joke. Even after being replicated, the River Without Borders profits the ferryman the more passengers he takes. Charging fares makes no sense."

The ferryman's face hardened. "H-hah... w-what nonsense are you spouting?"

His voice broke at the end.

"Of course, business aside, a ferryman can charge whatever he wishes." White Hood sniffed the air theatrically, wrinkling his brow. "But this boat reeks of the ledger. The owner-lord of this vessel entrusted it to the ferryman. Should you really be doing that?"

The ferryman sagged, defeated, and gestured for us to board. "Ghh... Just get on."

Gilaut let out a long sigh. "Well, at least we aren't paying for it."

We followed White Hood aboard.

Just as we settled in, the man murmured, "Ten thousand kruna."

The ferryman flinched. "What? I told you, it's fine, just ride..."

"I don't like riding for free."

"What?"

"If Ereshkigal hears that the boat she entrusted to a red-cloth ferryman has been used for fraud, that won't end well, will it? Silence is gold. Silence must be purchased."

"You dare threaten...!"

Flash!

The ferryman seized the massive, rune-covered oar, lifting it as if it weighed nothing. It had been as tall as a boulder, submerged halfway in the water. Decoration? No. That thing was real. The oar brimmed with sigils and monstrous motifs, each containing a magical presence strong enough to prick the skin.

If we fought him, it wouldn't end well.

The ferryman bellowed like thunder, "This is a Hell-Coral Oar! One thrust upright, and the beasts below will rise to devour you!"

"Ah, so the oar itself is genuine," White Hood said mildly.

Then he dipped one hand, then two, three, four, five, into the water.

"...?"

The inside of his hood couldn't possibly contain that many arms.

"But the creatures of Vipersound aren't here, nor those of Crocodile Gorge. The dimensional breach hasn't fully opened yet."

"Who are you?!"

The man produced a charm from within his sleeve. "If you make this more troublesome, I will report you."

Four hands moved swiftly, turning it into an exquisitely crafted paper bird, its crimson characters glowing faintly.

"W-wait..."

White hood flicked the bird aside. The ferryman watched helplessly as a small metal token clattered at his feet. The number 10,000 gleamed in red. After that, the ferryman shrank away.

Thus, we ushered the skeleton soldiers aboard.

"Thank you," I said. "We're getting a free ride thanks to you."

White hood merely tilted his head, his many hands hidden back inside the robe. He kept staring at me. Before I could say anything, however...

"Ten thousand."

"Ten thousand?"

"That's the fare you would've paid: 3,000. Plus 7,000 for information."

Gilaut snapped. "That makes no sense! You're worse than the ferryman!"

And I didn't even have that kind of money.

The man curled his hands several times and chuckled. "I don't need compensation. But good information should be paid for. It's better for you in the long run."

"Wait..."

Vwoom.

I opened my inventory and pulled out a 10 seiron coin.

"I don't have kruna on hand. Would human currency work?"

Everything stopped.

"You!" White Hood seized me with four hands. "What was that? I shouldn't miss anything."

"H-hey! What are you doing?!" Gilaut grabbed the man's wrists, but the man calmly lowered them, letting more arms slip from the hood to replace them. "You bastard!"

Gilaut twisted another wrist, but the man simply let his arm bend. His grip on me didn't tighten, yet I couldn't escape. Rather than strength, it was as though he was holding the position my body was supposed to occupy.

What is he...?

If he intended to kill me, the fight would already be over. There was no sense of his limits. No imagined strategy led to victory. A suffocating helplessness, like when I first faced Naneow and Leandro, crept up my spine.

Rattle!

Skeletons 1002 and 1017 charged with weapons raised. Yet White Hood didn't even move. Their attacks simply missed. No parrying. No deflection. Their blades struck the deck harmlessly, as though gravity itself had betrayed them.

"Argh!! You idiots! My boat!!" the ferryman screeched.

By then, the man had more than ten arms exposed. His expression flickered. I saw annoyance, then amusement, then boredom—before it all settled into a smile as he released me.

The fight ended instantly. Gilaut and the soldiers stepped back, their fighting spirit smothered.

"Since the show was amusing, consider that adequate payment," White Hood said lightly. "Don't mind me. Just rest. We have a full day's journey ahead."

"A full day?"

He nodded, then folded each arm back into the robe, leaving only two to toy with the spiral conch necklace. "Yes."

Gilaut leaned toward me, whispering, "What is he...?"

I had no answer. Even approaching him felt unwise. The man radiated a pressure that silenced not only himself but everyone nearby, as though dragging the space around him into quiet meditation.

Shyaa... shyaa...

The ferryman resumed rowing, dejected. We found our seats.

A full day on this boat...

I opened my status window. Yuchirin's Regret glowed there, still locked, since I hadn't advanced to Death Knight yet. Its perk allowed Stats redistribution. If I raised Wisdom now using Ashton's books, then later converted it into Strength or Agility, my combat power would spike dramatically.

Shwaa...

The ambience was perfect.

Time to read.

I pulled out one of the books filling my inventory titled, On the Major Variables in 7th-Century Imperial Military Campaigns. It was about a period overlapping Isaac, a timeline erased by the world.

Maybe there's a clue here...

Rustle.

I adjusted my posture and opened to the first page.