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Chapter 355: Seabird Spirit

Yes, it’s the seabird spirit from Lady Roza’s place. He looked like a macho seagull — well, he’s gesturing with those arm-like thick wings. Can he even fly? Really, with those wings? — the thought momentarily crossed my mind, but then I realized that it’s a spirit.

『Your mana is quite yummy, but… 』

And he’s the type to grumble, it seems. I already crushed the seventh person.

『Ah, right, we already talked about this. 』
The spirit who took him here nudged the seagull, effectively prompting the bird to talk about the main topic now.

『My job is to carry voice messages to the place that humans call Sattar. I fly like this — flap, flap — to the second tallest chimney over there, and deliver the voice message there. I may look like this, but I’m a shell spirit, so keeping voices within me is my forte, you know. 』

Shell!? — When I unwittingly turned to the other spirits, I saw the spirit that brought the seagull here fervently gesturing “that’s not true ” beside him.

『Well, I’m kidding. I wanted to tell you that’s how good I am at delivering voices. It’s just that I can’t stay far from the sea for too long, so another spirit takes over from there. 』

Hmm, this spirit is one peculiar being, alright. So, does that mean shell spirits are great at keeping sounds? I don’t really get it, but maybe it’s like how we hear the sea waves when we put a shell by our ears? Or maybe it’s something else? Oh well, let’s just not think too deeply since it’s about spirits.

『How about I demonstrate the latest voice mail that I delivered? 』
『There are many unrelated folks here, so how about we do that tomorrow instead? If that won’t work, then I can go outside now, but… Here we go again. 』
Everytime an Earthkin collapses, another one comes immediately, so there’s no time for me to take a breather at all.

At first, the possibility of acute alcohol intoxication crossed my mind when I saw them fainting like that, sending me in a fluster, but soon I realized that the Earthkin have the tendency to lose their consciousness before their bodies reach toxicity levels. They would then wake up all recovered and feeling refreshed, apparently.

『You seem busy too, boss, so I’ll come again tomorrow. I just delivered a voice message recently so I don’t think they’ll be summoning me anytime soon. Let’s consider this meeting as being acquainted to each other. 』
『Yeah, thanks. Sorry I can’t prepare anything for you guys right now, but just help yourselves if you want to eat something from over there. Right, is there anything you prefer? I can take it out for you if it’s something that I have. 』
I belatedly realized that the menu is a little bit too partial to my guests, so I added that last sentence.

『I’ll have a bit of wine, thank you. 』
The seabird spirit floated — well, technically, it’s ‘flapped’ — towards the wine casks.

The spirit who brought the seagull here has cute and bright round eyes, and it’s quite adorable. She bowed her head before happily clinging to the whole roasted carrot.

I thought she’s the spirit of the sea breeze, so why the carrot? Spirits sure are mysterious.

After that, the other spirits also started swarming the food in a blink of an eye, and the food and wine rapidly disappeared. I prepared some water and fragrant flowers that most spirits enjoy The Earthkins were either lying flat on their faces because the wine got through their head, or else were dead drunk, so I bet no one would care even if a strange thing or two happened to our town.

Well, I do think the Earthkins would still accept whatever weird occurrence it is even if they’re sober. That trait of theirs is kinda similar to that of the Changelings. Maybe Ruf’s descendants might actually be the Earthkins, we don’t know.

「Sorry, I, my stomach is already at its limit. 」
I don’t get drunk, but my tummy’s capacity is a bit… you know?

「Soleil of the Island, it’s because you’re like that that yours doesn’t get big enough! 」
「Wait, Gamri of the Black Steel Pit. Soleil of the Island is different from us Earthkin; he’s a human. Even if he’s the man who obtained the Giant Tree of the Goddess, he won’t come close to this splendid bellies of ours! 」
「Bellies of ours! 」
The Earthkins repeated the ending words of the other two and chortled afterward.

What, so that’s what you’ve been talking about! Well, it’s true that everyone’s bellies are splendid, but I never want mine to become that big.

The Earthkin who talked to Gamri must be Gridd of the Red Silver Valley. Well, everyone’s faces were already beet red from all the alcohol they drank, so it’s pretty difficult to tell everyone apart now, because of their beards and hair.

Before chaos erupted, I told the Earthkin that the banquet was finished, then I sent them back to the Northern Continent via 【Teleport 】.

I handed the Red Silver folks to their wives, helped the few folks of the Sulfur Valley lie down, then tossed the Black Steel Pit folks into their places. I left two casks and one large coin in each of their dwellings.

Since the Earthkin said they won’t accept payment if I agree to entrust the Giant Tree of the Goddess, I compensated them by giving them the extra branches when I requested them to work on my furniture fixtures. The wine casks and gold coins are my way of expressing my gratitude to them because they did a magnificent job.

「Wait, Soleil of the Island. I’ll bring you the rope. 」
Gamri tottered a bit as he disappeared into the depths of the tunnel.

I told Gram about the sturdy rope and reminded him about the office desk too before I got him drunk. He readily agreed. They made the desk free of charge. The Earthkins told me that they received way too many branches from the Giant Tree of the Goddess.

Well, it’s true that the cross section of the Giant Tree of the Goddess had almost the same diameter as my tower, and getting even just a single branch was already overwhelming as it is given its insane value. Still, I believe that the branches are something the Earthkin must possess, and besides, it felt useless keeping them as raw logs.

Gamri returned with the rope — turns out, it was a cord that had been created by the ancestors of the Earthkin. They actually promised to give some to me.

I do think it’d be nice if Riche had more toys. Ropes probably have a particular feel when gnawed so I plan to search for more things that could potentially become his toys.

Will Riche like it?