"Whatever, I just don't want to know anymore, alright?"
Elias said as he walked into the wooden cabin, carrying the bag that was still dripping with orange-scented seawater.
The interior of the cabin was still dark and damp, the air filled with an old, musty smell, but this actually made him feel at ease.
He threw the flopping "black sea bream" onto the table.
Thud.
The fish tail slapped against the tabletop.
Elias pulled a dagger from his boot and took a deep breath.
Although his logic told him this was a blind salmon, in his vision, it was a damn black sea bream that looked just like the ones from the seaside in his previous life, staring back with eyes that refused to close even in death.
To dig out the eyes of a fish that looked perfectly normal felt a bit perverse to him.
"Sorry, brother. For my path to transcendence, I'm going to have to borrow your eyeballs."
Elias muttered to himself while his hand rose and the blade fell.
Under the influence of the hallucination, the process seemed exceptionally bizarre.
There was no spray of blood; instead, it was like cutting open an orange filled with pressurized air, making a hissing sound.
He carefully used the tip of the knife to pick out those two cloudy, white-filmed crystals and placed them into the glass bottle he had prepared long ago.
"Two eyeless eyes, done."
Elias shook the bottle, watching the two eyeballs bobbing in the liquid, finally feeling a bit more grounded.
"Just listen to me!"
The spiritual body named John had clearly not given up, his voice echoing in the room like an insurance salesman.
"There's no harm in listening, and I can tell you some other things as well."
Elias corked the bottle containing the eyeballs, turned around, and let out a helpless sigh.
"First, tell me what you can actually tell me?"
"Wealth is transient, but power is eternal."
John's voice immediately became profound and mysterious.
"How about the formula for a Scale One spirit vision potion?"
"And the corresponding ritual for the Lord of the Raging Sea, if you need it?"
Elias shook his head.
"Regrettably, I already have the formula."
"I've even prepared the materials."
But then his tone shifted.
"However, the ritual is somewhat interesting!"
"Hey, hey, hey?"
As soon as Elias finished speaking, Edmond in his mind blew a fuse first.
"I was here first, why are you trying to butt in?"
Old Ed's voice sounded like an old dog guarding its food.
"What?"
"Did you promise this fellow a ritual for your Moon Lord?"
John retorted sarcastically.
"What use is that pathway of yours?"
"A man should have faith in the storm! That is power! That is destruction!"
"Watch your mouth!"
Edmond was furious.
"Is your Storm Judge faith pathway useful?"
"If it's so useful, why did you have to go and steal things?"
"Storm Judge!"
"Listen to how majestic that name sounds! And the result?"
"You turned it into a Storm Thief!"
"I stole things because I have the skill!"
"That's tactics! That's the art of infiltration!"
John was clearly poked in a sore spot, his voice rising an octave.
"Buddy, don't listen to this old fossil!"
He turned back to try and win over Elias.
"Our Lord of the Raging Sea faith pathway is the strongest. If you believe in the Lord of the Raging Sea, I guarantee you'll crush other transcendents of the same Scale!"
"Once you become a Storm Judge, you'll own the place on the high seas!"
"Hah! Aren't you ashamed to say that?"
Edmond immediately switched to mockery mode.
"What would the Dawn Heralds of the Dawn Church think?"
"Or do you think you can fight better than a Knight of Combat from the Order of Eternity?"
Two ghosts, one in his head and one in the air, were arguing incessantly across Elias, the living human.
It was like two salesmen fighting over a customer.
Elias felt like the folds of his brain were buzzing.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
He slammed his hand onto the table, the loud noise instantly silencing the room.
"This is so annoying!"
As he shouted this, the image of a certain monkey involuntarily flashed through his mind.
"Two transcendents!"
"Acting like two old ladies fighting over discounted bread!"
Elias rubbed his temples and said irritably.
"John."
He spoke toward the void where John was.
"Tell me, what favor do you want from me?"
"Let's get this straight first: I won't do any killing or arson. As for petty theft... that depends on my mood."
"A small favor."
John's voice became fawning again.
"Absolutely a small favor."
"Help me go to Hope County and retrieve a transcendent item from a corpse."
"Wait, Hope County?"
Elias's movements paused, his gaze instantly becoming sharp.
Hope County.
That was the original owner's hometown.
It was the place where Arthur and Charlotte lived.
It was also the industrial city in the original owner's memories.
This was too much of a coincidence, wasn't it?
It was so coincidental that it felt like a forced plot point from a second-rate novel.
"Do you know me?"
He asked out of the blue, his tone carrying deep suspicion.
He couldn't be blamed for overthinking; in this bizarre world, he felt anything was possible.
"I don't know you. Who are you?"
John answered bluntly, his tone full of confusion.
"Are you famous?"
"..."
Elias was choked up for a moment.
"Then never mind."
It seemed it really was a coincidence.
Or perhaps some kind of arrangement of destiny?
"Hope County?"
Edmond heard this and suddenly burst into laughter, his laugh full of schadenfreude.
"Then you're going to be disappointed, Mr. Great Historian."
"This kid is cursed by a dream demon; he can't leave this place for more than ten days!"
"Even for his shift change, he wants to go home. Where would he find the time to go to Hope County?"
Uh... is it possible... Elias thought to himself.
I forgot to tell this old fogey exactly where my hometown is...
"What?"
John's voice sounded very surprised.
"A dream demon curse?"
"You actually provoked one of those things?"
"That's tricky then."
John mused.
"A dream demon, while physically a total weakling, has a curse that is indeed very troublesome."
"For an average transcendent, it might not pose a threat."
"After all, as long as one has enough spirituality or specific spells, they can definitely run away if it appears, or even kill a few of them."
"But for an ordinary person like you, there's no way around it."
"The main issue is the inability to observe it."
John was right about that.
At least in Elias's memories, the original owner had indeed never seen the dream demon.
That poor guy didn't even know what was driving him insane until the moment he died.
But he suddenly thought of a key point.
Since Old Ed, as a transcendent, could see the dream demon and even accurately judge its position and intent.
Then why didn't he run away back then?
Didn't he say he was a Scale Two transcendent?
These past few days Elias had been too busy bickering and hadn't thought about this.
Combining this with what Old Ed had told him at the beginning.
'I set traps to prevent the carapace husks from coming onto the island.'
'I insisted on writing the log.'
This old guy—could he actually have been some kind of war hero?
Elias suddenly felt a trace of respect for this boastful old ghost.
"So if you can't help, then there's nothing for it."
John said with some disappointment, his voice sounding as if it were drifting away.
"It seems I can only go check out the remaining few lighthouses."
"I hope I can run into some unlucky bastard who is still alive and can move freely."
"Wait!"
Elias abruptly called John to a halt.
"Kid, don't forget the Scale Five Remove Curse!"
Edmond grew anxious.
Elias ignored Edmond's shouting.
His mind was racing.
This was an opportunity.
An opportunity to escape his current dead end.
"I can help you retrieve the item."
Elias said to the air, his tone firm.
"But the reward needs to be different."
"I don't care for some ritual of the Lord of the Raging Sea."
"Go on,"
John's voice replied.
"I want a way to break the curse."
Elias said each word deliberately.
"I want a way to break the curse that takes effect immediately."
"Because I'm not stupid enough to wait until the day I reach Scale Five to leave this place."
"Scale Five is just a backup plan, but it's not the best one."
The air was silent for a few seconds.
It seemed John was weighing the pros and cons.
A moment later, that voice rang out with a hint of a smile:
"Deal."
"I will help you find a way."
"Although the dream demon curse is troublesome, it's not completely unsolvable."
"I happen to have some ideas; perhaps it can be handled without needing Scale Five."
John agreed without a second thought.
To actually do someone a favor just for a verbal promise?!
Inside the spirit world space, Old Ed couldn't help but sigh; Elias was still too naive.
However, there was no rush for now. It wouldn't be too late to remind him when it was actually time for him to go.
"Also, I can't leave here anytime soon, at least not until the shift change at the end of the month."
Elias added.
"As you know, it's impossible to row to Hastings Port in just a small boat, let alone the fact that I've recently provoked a siren."
"If I leave now, I'd just be delivering myself as a snack to the sirens."
"A siren? You're a brave one!"
John first gave a sincere compliment.
Then he hesitated for a moment.
"The end of the month?"
"If things change, I will notify you in advance."
"If the plan stays the same, I will wait for you in Hope County."
Elias nodded, thought for a moment, and said again:
"This transcendent item won't have any negative effects on me, will it?"
This was important.
He didn't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
"It won't."
John gave his word, his tone full of assurance.
"You can rest easy!"
"Fine."
Hearing the other party agree so readily, Elias felt much more settled.
"Then, gentlemen."
John's voice gradually drifted away, as if scattered by the sea breeze.
"I want to go check out the other lighthouses and learn some history."
"I'll take my leave now!"
With the disappearance of the voice, the feeling of being watched finally dissipated.
The wooden cabin returned to the peace of one man and one ghost.
"That guy left."
Edmond reminded him at the right time, his tone carrying a hint of leading inquiry.
"I always feel like something is off."
"He claims to be a scholar researching the history of Moon Bay."
"But he stole a containment object from the Seventh Agency, making him a thief."
"Those two identities seem completely contradictory no matter how you look at them."
"What is the Seventh Agency?"
Elias asked casually while cleaning the fish on the table.
"The royal supernatural investigation agency,"
Edmond explained.
"The department specifically responsible for handling supernatural incidents."
"Oh, oh, oh!"
Elias understood instantly.
"Like S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Men in Black!"
"What the hell are those?!"
Old Ed instantly lost his composure.
"A supernatural investigation agency."
"I shouldn't even have asked..."
Rate on N.U.
