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Chapter 5
Anyway, the boy explained that even though he had disguised himself with magic so no one could recognize his bloodline, he had apparently been followed from home and kidnapped in the end.
So Mom was right. The outside world really was dangerous.
Pulling a small pocketknife from inside her sock, Selli cut through the ropes binding both her wrists and the boy’s as she asked:
“Do you know where they’re taking us?”
Perhaps he found it strange how calmly Selli behaved like an experienced kidnapping victim, because the boy slightly raised an eyebrow before answering:
“The black market.”
Good grief. There was actually a market where humans with special bloodlines and magical abilities were sold.
‘The outside world really is terrifying!’
“I have a way to escape.”
The boy spoke suddenly.
Maybe because he was a dragon descendant, unlike Selli, he already knew how to use magic.
But then why did he look so doomed?
“But you’ll die instead. So leave before it’s too late.”
“…Huh?”
Where should she even begin correcting him?
First of all—
“You could just use magic so I don’t die too.”
“I can’t.”
“Uh… okay.”
Well, if he said so.
“You’re telling me to leave? But the prison door is locke— huh?”
Suddenly, warmth spread across her palm.
The flower-shaped mark appeared again and began glowing.
The chick in Selli’s front pocket let out a loud chirp.
“My fooood!”
A sprout had emerged from the sunflower seeds she had fed it earlier.
‘My kidnapping accomplices are rescuing me!’
Quickly understanding, Selli took out the sprout and placed it on the floor.
The sprout immediately began growing.
But unlike normal sunflowers, it didn’t just grow upward.
The stem intelligently squeezed through the bars and cracks of the prison door, growing at a frightening speed until it became as thick as a golf ball.
Startled, the boy instinctively pulled Selli behind him protectively.
Smiling reassuringly at the confused boy, Selli explained:
“I’m trying to open the prison door with a sunflower.”
“With a sunflower?”
His expression clearly said, There’s no way a flower can do that.
“When sunflowers grow huge, the strength of their stems can rival bamboo. You’d need a saw to cut them.”
Just as Selli expected, the bamboo-like stem pressed harder and harder against the door until—
BANG!
With a cracking noise, the prison door creaked open.
Clap clap clap.
“Thank you very much.”
Even though they could now escape, neither of them immediately left.
After all, they couldn’t exactly jump from a flying ship with their bare bodies.
“Could you maybe lower us safely to the ground too?”
Even Selli thought talking to an apparently empty palm made her look insane.
But after witnessing the sunflower’s power firsthand, the boy quietly waited for a serious answer.
Unfortunately, the mark did not appear again.
Apparently that was a no.
“Yeah… I guess even sunflowers can’t manage that.”
At the boy’s words, Selli nodded.
“Ugh… if we weren’t in the sky, there’d be so many more plants that could help us. Is there maybe a flowerpot somewhere?”
As she lamented—
Her eyes landed on several sacks of potatoes piled in front of the prison storage area.
‘…Potatoes?’
Meanwhile, the boy silently stared at the open door before suddenly walking out alone with the grim determination of someone marching to his death.
“I’ll handle things from here on. Stay here. And absolutely do not come outside after night falls.”
“Then when can I come out?”
“After sunrise.”
No, I have an entrance ceremony tomorrow at 9 AM!
Pressed for time, Selli also made her own dramatic declaration:
“I’m hijacking this ship immediately!”
And so the two children put their heads together.
To devise a strategy capable of defeating dozens of human traffickers.
At lunchtime, everyone except those guarding the helm gathered in the dining hall.
“Huh? This is it?”
The meal piled high on the table consisted of nothing but unpeeled potatoes.
“Boss, come on. We hit the jackpot twice today—show a little generosity.”
“Once we sell those rare freaks, I’ll stuff your mouths with meat. Until then, eat what you’re given!”
Thinking they were steamed potatoes, the boss grabbed one and aggressively bit into it.
Then he spat it out immediately and roared toward the tightly shut kitchen door.
“Hey, cook! These potatoes aren’t cooked at all! If you planted these in the dirt they’d probably sprou— huh?”
The potato in his hand had sprouted.
Leaves grew from it.
Potato potato poof!
…No, more importantly—
Flower buds bloomed at the end of the stems.
The moment the flowers opened, round green fruits rapidly grew in their place.
In the blink of an eye, the potato had transformed into a plant covered in clusters of green cherry-tomato-like fruits.
“Gweeegh!”
The boss let out a horrifying scream while staring blankly at the scene.
“Gweh! Gk! Ughk!”
Those sounds were caused by the potato vines suddenly wriggling like tentacles into his mouth and forcefully stuffing the fruits down his throat.
Gulp. Gulp.
Moments later—
THUD!
The boss collapsed stiffly like a log.
Most plants possess defense mechanisms.
Roses have thorns.
And potatoes have poison.
Potato poison—solanine—normally causes stomachaches after around eight hours in small amounts.
But in large quantities, it can kill within ten minutes.
People commonly knew solanine concentrated in potato sprouts.
But there was actually far more inside potato berries.
‘I learned that in biology… but there’s no way someone should become paralyzed and collapse this fast?’
Although Selli came up with the solanine strategy, the overwhelming speed and power were clearly thanks to the dryads.
‘Wow… I should absolutely never fight the aunties.’
As expected of the Great Chief Aunt, she never gave straightforward answers.
Instead of directly solving Selli’s problems, she lent her power and forced Selli to think of how to use it herself.
Like giving someone the world’s greatest fishing rod instead of catching the fish for them.
“Alright!”
Inside the kitchen, the cooks had already suffered the same fate as the boss after being attacked by the potatoes they were preparing.
With the pirates collapsing one after another from acute solanine poisoning, Selli and the boy left the kitchen and headed toward the helm.
“Take this!”
Roll roll.
“Huh? A potato? Gweeegh!”
THUD!
The men steering the ship were wiped out all at once by a barrage of potato grenades.
Mwahahaha! Pirate ship successfully captured!
Just as planned, the boy immediately rushed into the control room and sat in the pilot’s seat.
Selli didn’t know how to operate a flying ship.
Actually, she didn’t even know how to operate a normal ship.
Apparently the potatoes didn’t know either.
Thankfully, the boy claimed he had learned how to pilot airships.
And it seemed true.
The bow, which had begun tilting downward after the navigators collapsed, lifted back up the moment he took control.
“The last recorded location in the navigation system is Lake Thier…”
The boy spread open a map the pirates had apparently been using as a coaster after complaining that the hologram map system wasn’t working.
Selli wanted to help, but she knew absolutely nothing about this world.
While examining some sort of strange screen, the boy frowned deeply.
“What’s wrong?”
“The magical navigation system is dead too. I think there’s mana interference.”
“Interference? Like radio interference? Then does mana behave like waves?”
Her dormant science brain suddenly resurfaced.
“But there shouldn’t be anyone here using magic… oh. Except the potatoes!”
Selli had simply thought the fresh greenery made the ship’s air feel pleasant, like the forest she grew up in.
Apparently magical machinery disagreed.
“Thank you for your hard work. Please return to the soil and grow into fine potatoes.”
When Selli shook hands with the sprouted potatoes by their leaves, they saluted her with their leafy stems before collectively jumping off the ship.
The boy watched this with a completely dumbfounded expression.
Even so, the navigation system still did not recover.
“We need to return before the moon rises…”
The boy anxiously rubbed his face as he muttered to himself.
“If only we knew the direction somehow. If the fog would just clear…”
He muttered that if they could at least see the sun or nearby cities, they could figure out where they were.
At that moment—
An idea flashed through Selli’s mind.
“I have a way!”
