Chapter 5
Anyway, the boy had disguised himself with magic so that no one could recognize his bloodline, but it seemed he had been followed from his house. In the end, he was kidnapped.
So what Mom said about the outside world being dangerous was true.
Celly pulled a pocketknife out from inside her sock and cut the rope binding her wrist and the boy’s together. Then she asked,
“Do you know where they’re taking us?”
Perhaps amused that Celly was acting like a well-prepared kidnapping victim, the boy raised one eyebrow slightly and replied,
“The black market.”
Good grief. There was actually a market where rare species or humans with magical abilities were traded.
‘The outside world really is a terrifying place!’
“I have a way to escape.”
At that moment, the boy spoke. Maybe it was because he was a descendant of dragons? Unlike Celly, he already seemed capable of using magic.
But then why did he have the same this-is-a-disaster expression as Celly?
“But you’ll die. So leave before it’s too late.”
“…Huh?”
Where should she even start correcting him? For now…
“Then just use magic so I don’t die.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Uh… okay.”
If he said so himself, then fine.
“You’re telling me to leave? But the prison is locked—”
Suddenly, a warm energy spread across her palm. A flower-shaped pattern appeared and began to glow. From Celly’s front pocket, a chick chirped loudly.
“Peep! My food!”
The sunflower seed she had given it as feed had sprouted.
‘Our kidnapping accomplice is here to rescue us!’
Taking the hint, Celly pulled out the sprout and placed it on the floor. It grew rapidly. But unlike a normal sunflower, it didn’t simply grow upward.
The sunflower’s stem slipped through the bars and door gap on its own and began growing at an incredible speed—until it was as thick as a golf ball.
Startled, the boy pulled Celly behind him as if trying to protect her. Celly smiled reassuringly at the confused boy and explained,
“I’m trying to open the prison door with the sunflower.”
“With a sunflower?”
The boy frowned as if to say there’s no way a flower can do that.
“A sunflower that grows huge can have a stem as strong as bamboo. You’d need a saw to cut it.”
Just as Celly expected, the door began to twist as the bamboo-like stem pushed against it.
BANG!
A cracking sound rang out.
At the same time, the prison door creaked open.
Clap clap clap.
“Thank you.”
They could escape now, but neither of them left.
After all, they couldn’t just jump out with their bare bodies like this.
“Could you maybe lower us to the ground?”
Even Celly thought asking her empty palm like that made her look a bit insane.
But the boy, having just witnessed the sunflower’s power, silently waited for a serious answer.
The pattern did not appear again.
That probably meant it couldn’t do that.
“I guess a sunflower alone won’t be enough.”
At the boy’s words, Celly nodded.
“Sigh… If we weren’t in the sky, there would be more plants that could help me. Maybe there’s a flowerpot somewhere?”
While she was lamenting this, her eyes fell on sacks of potatoes piled in front of the prison, which also doubled as a storage area.
“…Potatoes?”
Meanwhile, the boy stared silently at the open door and then tried to walk out alone with the determination of someone heading into battle.
“From here on, I’ll handle it. You stay here. Never come outside at night.”
“Then when can I come out?”
“After the sun rises.”
No, I have an entrance ceremony at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning!
Celly, who was in a hurry, also declared solemnly,
“I’m going to hijack the ship right now!”
From that moment on, the two children put their heads together.
Searching for a strategy to defeat dozens of human traffickers.
When lunchtime came, everyone except those guarding the helm gathered in the dining hall.
“Huh? Is this all?”
The meal piled like a mountain on the table was nothing but unpeeled potatoes.
“Boss. Come on, we pulled two jobs today. Show some generosity.”
“Once we sell those rare brats, I’ll stuff your mouths with meat! For today, eat what you’re given!”
Thinking they were boiled potatoes, the boss grabbed one and bit a corner aggressively—then spat it out. He shouted toward the tightly closed kitchen door.
“Hey, cook! These potatoes aren’t cooked at all. If you planted them in the soil they’d spr—”
“…They sprouted?”
The potato in his hand sprouted, leaves grew—
Potato potato poof!
…Well, not exactly.
A bud formed at the end of the stem.
As soon as the flower bloomed, round green fruits rapidly grew where it had been.
In the blink of an eye, the potato turned into a plant covered with clusters of green cherry-tomato-like fruits.
“Gweh!”
The boss, staring at the sight in shock, let out a strange scream.
“Gwek! Gwek! Grrk!”
Those sounds came from the potato vine forcing its way into his mouth like a tentacle and shoving the fruits down his throat.
Gulp. Gulp.
Soon the sound of the fruits sliding down followed.
Thud!
The boss stiffened like a wooden log and collapsed.
Most plants have defense mechanisms.
Roses have thorns.
And potatoes have poison.
Potato poison—solanine—in small amounts causes stomach aches after about eight hours, but in large amounts it can cause death within ten minutes.
Solanine is known to be abundant in potato sprouts, but there is actually far more of it in the fruit of the potato flower.
‘…That’s what I learned in biology, but it shouldn’t paralyze someone instantly like that?’
The solanine strategy had been Celly’s idea, but the effect was faster and stronger than expected thanks to the power of the dryad.
‘Wow… I should never fight with my aunts.’
Then again, it was just like the chief aunt who never gave direct answers.
Instead of simply lending Celly her power, she made Celly figure out how to use it herself.
It was like giving someone a fishing rod instead of taking them to catch fish.
And not just any rod—
The best fishing rod in the world!
“Alright!”
In the kitchen, the cooks had already ended up the same way as the boss after being attacked by the potatoes they had been about to cook.
With the pirates collapsing from acute solanine poisoning, Celly left the kitchen and headed toward the helm with the boy.
“Take this!”
Roll roll.
“Huh? A potato— GWEK!”
Thud!
The men steering the ship were wiped out all at once by the potato grenade attack.
Muahaha! Pirate ship hijacking complete!
As soon as that was done, the boy ran inside and sat in the captain’s seat as they had planned.
Celly didn’t know how to steer a flying ship—she didn’t even know how to steer a normal ship. Even the potatoes probably didn’t know that.
Fortunately, the boy said he had learned how to pilot an airship. And it seemed to be true: the ship’s bow, which had been tilting downward when the navigators collapsed, lifted back up as soon as he grabbed the wheel.
“The last recorded position in the navigation system is Lake Tier…”
The boy said the map hologram wasn’t working and instead opened a paper map the pirates had been using as a coaster to determine their position.
Celly wanted to help, but she didn’t know anything about this place.
While staring at some sort of screen, the boy frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“The magical navigation system isn’t working either. I think it’s because of mana interference.”
“Interference? Like radio interference? Then is mana a kind of wave?”
The long-dead science side of her brain suddenly resurfaced.
“But there’s no one using magic here… except the potatoes!”
Celly had thought the air felt fresh like her forest home because there were so many plants around. Apparently that wasn’t good for machines operated by magic.
“Thanks. Now go back to the soil and grow good potatoes.”
When Celly grabbed the leaves and shook hands, the sprouted potatoes saluted with their leaves and all jumped off the ship.
The boy watched the scene with a dumbfounded expression.
But the navigation system still didn’t recover.
“We have to get back before the moon rises…”
The boy muttered anxiously, wiping his face.
“If I just knew the direction, I could manage somehow. If only the fog would clear…”
As the boy muttered to himself that they could determine direction using the sun or the city, a thought suddenly flashed in Celly’s mind.
“I have a way!”
