Chapter 73
*Don’t Tell Me the Plan if You Want Me to Stop You*
“Make it come back sooner?”
“Yes! We’ll lure it with food!”
Food? What could we use as bait?
Birds ate grains, right? But there weren’t any grains around.
It didn’t have to be grains. Ravens and eagles ate meat. And there was plenty of meat around.
All those zombies the phoenix had attracted.
“Old man, are phoenixes carnivorous?”
“Of course! Have you ever seen a herbivorous phoenix?”
“Then they’ll eat zombies too, right?”
“Uh? Uh…”
I took the rope I had used to tie up the old man and wrapped it around my arm. Then I ran towards the zombies. Capturing them wasn’t difficult. They were milling around aimlessly after the phoenix had disappeared. I grabbed them and tied them together with the rope.
I gathered the string of zombies, formed them into a ball, and tied the rope tightly.
Groan…
Stacking, bunching, and tying various types of zombies together, I created a giant zombie ball.
Taking a step back, it looked like a bizarre piece of art. This should tempt even a phoenix, right?
“What have you done?!”
The old man asked, rushing towards the zombie ball. As you can see, I just made a ball out of zombies.
“Do you think the phoenix will come for this?”
“Good heavens. You tied up all these zombies to lure a phoenix?”
He stared at me, eyes wide. I just shrugged. This was easier than gardening and simpler than removing stains from laundry.
“Now we just have to wait for the phoenix. Phew.”
When would it come? The sooner, the better.
I climbed onto the zombie ball to get a better view, like scaling a rock wall. The old man also started climbing, groaning. When I reached the top, I pulled him up.
“Waaaaah!”
Thump! He landed on his bottom and shuddered. He seemed uncomfortable being in contact with the zombies. Since I hadn’t killed them, the ball was still shifting and changing shape slightly. But it was easy enough to maintain my balance.
“Is there a way to summon the phoenix immediately?”
“I’ll help you, even though your actions are absurd.”
He pulled out a small bottle from his pocket and sprinkled its contents over the zombies like salad dressing. I sniffed, but I couldn’t smell anything.
“What is that? Dressing? I can’t smell anything. Do phoenixes eat zombies with dressing?”
“It’s a scent only phoenixes can smell. A secret I discovered after years of research. Combined with the disgusting smell of zombies, it will lure the phoenix.”
We sat on the zombie pile, waiting. I worried about the young master becoming phoenix food. After a while, the phoenix suddenly appeared, flying towards us as if drawn by the scent the old man had sprinkled.
“Oh no! It’s dangerous!”
Startled by the phoenix, the old man tried to jump down.
“Wait! I have a good idea!”
I grabbed him and pulled him back onto the zombie pile, then quickly untied the rope. The zombies tumbled down. The old man, losing his balance, clung to me and screamed.
Holding him securely with one arm, I threw the rope towards the phoenix. The phoenix, which had been coming to eat the zombies, flapped its wings in confusion. But it was too late. The rope had already wrapped around its neck.
“Alright! We’re riding this thing!”
“What?!”
“We needed transportation anyway! Right? A phoenix is much cooler than a carriage!”
I jumped onto the phoenix, my skirt billowing. I ignored it. I secured the rope around the phoenix’s chest, the old man still clinging to me. The phoenix, seemingly confused, shook its head.
“Good bird! Let’s go to your nest!”
“A phoenix wouldn’t listen to such nonsense!”
“Of course not! How could it understand me? But if it doesn’t even realize what’s happening? It’ll just fly back to its nest.”
I pulled the old man’s head down and ducked as well.
The phoenix tilted its head, then pecked at the zombie pile. It picked up a couple of zombies in its beak and started flapping its wings.
“It’s about to take off!”
“I want to get down!”
“No way! We’re going together!”
“Why?!”
“Because I said so!”
As soon as I finished speaking, the phoenix took flight. I held onto the old man tightly and pressed myself against the phoenix. It was surprisingly soft and warm, like a cozy blanket warmed by the spring sun. The wind whistling past my ears was also pleasant.
“This is nicer than I expected. Should I tame it and use it regularly? The young master would like it too.”
“Waaaaah! Help me, mage!”
As expected, the phoenix flew towards its nest, which was easy to spot. It was filled with phoenix feathers and zombie bones.
The phoenix landed in the middle of its spacious nest, seemingly unconcerned about us, and swallowed the zombies it had brought.
“Ugh.”
This wasn’t the time to be disgusted. I had to find the young master first.
“Young Master! Young Master!”
I called out to him. The mark on my hand had long since disappeared, which meant he was nearby!
I soon heard rustling from the edge of the nest, and a familiar head of silver hair popped out.
“Estella. You came?”
His hair was messy, but his face was flushed, and he was smiling brightly. Was he happy to see me? No. He was holding an armful of phoenix feathers, eggs, and talons.
I rushed to him, brushed off his shoulder, and glared at his strange collection.
“Young Master, what is all this?”
“I gathered some potential ingredients for the elixir. This should be enough. Don’t you think so, old man?”
He asked the old man, who was trembling nearby. He couldn’t take his eyes off the phoenix, then hurried over and hid behind me.
“I’m not making any more elixirs! I’m scared! The phoenix is terrifying! You have to see it tearing apart zombies with your own eyes!”
He shuddered, as if reliving the experience. The young master ignored him and dumped the collected materials on me. I held up my apron to catch them and glared at him.
“This all looks like trash to me.”
“Just throw it away. You’re going to throw it away anyway.”
“Liar.”
“You’re right. I’m lying.”
He grabbed the old man, pulled him up, and pushed him towards the phoenix. The old man shrieked in alarm.
“What are you doing?!”
“I think there’s a warehouse or a laboratory nearby where you stored the elixir.”
“…”
The old man’s eyes darted around nervously. It was clear that the young master’s guess was correct. I tied up my apron, gathered the materials, and approached them. I couldn’t miss out on this interesting development.
“Is it like a treasure vault? Is it full of expensive and wondrous things? Is anyone guarding it?”
“There won’t be anything left.”
The old man said dejectedly.
“They came and took everything! The materials and the elixir. Although it wasn’t the completed elixir.”
“If it was incomplete, it must have been full of side effects.”
The young master moved closer to me and pointed towards the zombies. The phoenix was eating them and sticking their bones into its nest, its expression strangely innocent.
“Are the zombies appearing on this island a side effect of the elixir?”
The old man didn’t answer. He seemed to have decided to show us instead of explaining. He gestured for us to follow him and cautiously moved towards the other side of the nest.
The young master naturally started to follow him, but I stopped him.
“Young Master, do you think he’s planning to feed us to the phoenix?”
“It’s annoying how little you trust people.”
“But it’s suspicious!”
“Let’s just follow him. There’s too much evidence to ignore.”
I stared at him.
“I only see you.”
He flinched, poked my cheek with his finger, and frowned.
“Don’t just say things like that out of the blue.”
“Why? Does it make you flustered?”
“…”
“You don’t want to admit it.”
He turned away without answering. What else could I do? I followed him.
“Young Master, wait for me!”
The phoenix’s nest was located at the edge of a cliff. Hidden in the cliff face was a cave covered in withered vines and phoenix feathers. The previous Count and the old man had built their laboratory here and developed the elixir.
“What a mess.”
The young master’s first impression of the cave laboratory was blunt. He was right. The lab was a disaster. Shredded pieces of paper were scattered everywhere, and the floor was stained with the corrosive residue of broken flasks.
“Oh, my precious materials…”
The old man rushed to the desk and frantically searched for anything that was still intact. The young master followed him like a predator stalking its prey.
As expected, he grabbed the old man roughly by the shoulder and scanned the desk.
“Where is the elixir? The medicine that can save the dying, where is it?!”