Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 158 Earrings and Hunting Tent

Although Old Man Gerta and his young sailors encountered a rather strict but polite inspection upon leaving Wolfskin Town, the fact that the entire caravan consisted of purebred orcs, coupled with the absurd accident that occurred the previous night, meant that they were not delayed for long and did not attract any extra attention.

Shortly after they left the town, they encountered a traveling carriage parked by the roadside.

As Shenba gently shook the reins, the traveling carriage slowly began to move, traveling side by side on the not-so-wide road in Gerta. The people in the two carriages shared stories about breakfast and the interesting things that happened at Tears Lake that morning.

However, compared to the "unexpected joy" brought by breakfast and the Yafuso corpse mushroom, Cheng Lang was currently holding up a small mirror that belonged to Yun Lan, examining the unexpected joy on his ears.

It was a black earring, firmly embedded in the cartilage of my right ear, right next to my ear canal.

To use a more professional and accurate description, the black earring was pinned to the tragus of his right ear.

"I've tried, but I can't get it off."

Yun Ji straightened up and said, "It's like it's grown into your ear. If you'd like, I can cut it off along with part of your ear."

"Never mind, let's have breakfast."

Cheng Lang said weakly, he thought he might have caught a cold, he had no strength at all, but at the same time he was starving and felt anxious.

"Why are you wearing this earring? Have you washed it?" Yun Ji asked as she handed Cheng Lang a breakfast.

"I didn't put it on."

Cheng Lang took the long bread roll filled with various grilled meats, sausages, and vegetables and took a big bite. Then, while wolfing it down, he said, "I didn't even notice it when I woke up. I only noticed it when Yavso told me about it."

"Didn't you feel anything?" Yun Lan asked curiously. "I mean, didn't you notice when it appeared on your ear?"

"no"

Cheng Lang swallowed the food in his mouth. "I'm pretty sure I put it with the boat bottle last night. Also, if I have to say what I feel, I feel very weak."

Also, do you have any extra breakfast? Please give me another serving; I'm starving, I've never been this hungry before.

"Very weak, and very hungry?"

Yun Lan handed the food she hadn't had time to eat to Cheng Lang, "Are you sure it's one of these two feelings?"

"Did you think of something?"

Cheng Lang took the food handed to him and took a big bite. He had already finished his own portion in just a few bites.

"I think we need to re-establish camp."

Yun Lan said, "If my guess is correct, our captain will be eating a lot of things next."

"You're not talking about that, are you?" Yun Ji asked in surprise.

"At least it matches what I've seen in the records so far."

Yun Lan replied, "I can't think of any other possibility."

"So what are you talking about?"

As Cheng Lang spoke, he took another big bite, realizing that he seemed to get hungrier the more he ate!
"Moth-eaten earrings"

Yun Ji explained, "The woodworm is a type of borer that lives in the core of the sacred, verdant tree."

These scale insects feed on the sap of the sacred, verdant tree.

Yun Lan added, "It's also the kind of pest that the elves hate the most but also want the most."

What is it that you most want to get?

As Cheng Lang spoke, he finished his breakfast, which was originally Yun Lan's. Yun Ji immediately handed over her breakfast, which she hadn't even had time to touch yet.

"Just like you are right now."

Yun Ji explained, "She feeds the insects with her own flesh and blood. When her body is in danger, the insects will feed her in return to ensure her survival."

If one is well cared for, like that viscount, even in death, the body will not easily decompose.

"Doesn't this have any downsides?" Cheng Lang asked, growing increasingly impatient as he ate.

"Your current state is one of the downsides."

Yun Lan said in turn, "In addition, I am usually a bit weak, and my appetite increases."

“Most importantly, after death, the soul will merge with the termite and become one with it,” Yun Ji said.

"Turn into an insect?"

That's how it is in theory.

As Yun Ji spoke, Ya Fu Suo handed her breakfast to Cheng Lang—her breakfast had already been partially taken.

"Let it change, I'm starving to death right now."

As Cheng Lang spoke, he had already taken a third of the breakfast that Yafuso handed him, and swallowed it without even chewing it properly.

"Captain, here you go!" Shenba said, already opening a keg of beer and handing it over. At this moment, Yafuso had already taken over his driving duties.

"Thank you!"

Cheng Lang hugged the beer barrel to his chest, took the wooden cup handed to him by Shenba, scooped out a full cup, and gulped it down.

While he was busy filling his seemingly bottomless stomach, the two carriages had already returned to the location where Cheng Lang and the others had camped the night before.

After setting up the hunting tent again, Yavso, Gerta, and Yunji, along with all the young sailors, began their busy work.

Amidst the rising smoke and gradually spreading aroma, plates of roasted meat were the first to be placed on the table, ready for Cheng Lang, whose appetite was whetted, to eat.

Every now and then, he would pick up the beer that Yun Ji had poured for him and gulp it down—he was too hungry to chat or even listen to what they were saying.

"This is the first time I've ever seen something like this."

As Yun Ji spoke, she smashed a vial of golden healing potion and poured it into Cheng Lang's beer glass. "Didn't they say that the Elf Kingdom would never allow scale insects to exist?"

"But even a minor viscount can own one."

Yun Lan said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the lush sacred tree was riddled with holes by termites."

It is said that…

“That’s right,” Yun Lan nodded. “It’s said that the Valkyrie also wears a worm-eaten earring.”

"Both are right ears"

"Yes, it's the right ear too."

As Yun Lan pushed the beer laced with the golden healing potion towards Cheng Lang, she sighed, "Is this the web of fate? It seems so."

"This net will be torn apart."

Yun Ji smiled and poured a vial of golden healing potion—something she would never normally use—into the second beer.

"he?"

“We’re here too,” Yun Ji said confidently.

“This is what a princess should do,” Yun Lan said, filling the second glass with beer.

That morning, Cheng Lang couldn't remember how much he ate. He only knew that he finally filled his stomach around noon.

By this point, he had consumed only three vials of the golden healing potion and a paltry ten vials of the green healing potion.

Even so, he only survived because he kept all of these things on his own person; otherwise, Yun Ji might have mixed them into his beer and made him drink them.

"Set off"

Despite having eaten a lot and being completely stuffed, Cheng Lang rubbed his still-empty stomach and finally, with a satisfied burp, gave the order to break camp. "I should have bought more food in Wolfskin Town this morning," Gerta said regretfully.

"How long can our food last?" Yun Ji asked.

"If our captain eats the same amount as before for his next meal, it should be enough to feed us for about two days."

Gerta said, "If it were breakfast size, we might have to turn Krug into food."

"Why me?" Krugki's eyes widened, and his furry ears practically flew up.

"Because you little guys are the tastiest."

Cheng Lang's smiling face immediately made Krugki shudder, and he hid behind Shenba as if his fur had been pricked up.

While having fun teasing the little sailors, the two carriages began their journey towards the Beast Relic Territory. At a fork in the road halfway there, they released the rented carriage, and everyone squeezed back into the travel carriage.

Continuing towards the Beast Remains Territory from here, the mountains covered in green vegetation become increasingly less dense. As you enter the mountains, the temperature becomes warmer, and even thick fog appears all around.

"If we continue forward, we'll reach the last small town before entering the Beast Corpse Territory."

Gerta, who was driving, said, "That town is in the middle of Funeral Valley. It doesn't have a name; everyone just calls it Funeral Valley. It's about a three- or four-day drive from there."

"What's the origin of names like Funeral Valley and Beast Reef?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"The Beast's Bone Territory was originally the battlefield where the Valkyrie and Poseidon fought their final battle. In the battle against Poseidon, the orcs, elves, humans, and dwarves all lost a great many warriors."

This time, it was Crook who was in charge of explaining: "After the battle, everyone brought the fallen warriors, the slain siren and sea monster here for burial."

Because of these corpses, this place got a new name: the Holy Remains Territory.

From then on, many people considered it an honor to be buried here, but because this area belonged to the orcs, it naturally had the most orc burials. Therefore, the Holy Remains Territory gradually became the Beast Remains Territory.

"Doesn't anyone come here to dig up corpses?"

Cheng Lang asked a question that made everyone's eyes widen, "What kind of eyesight do you have for having so many half-blood sea monsters?"

"The Valkyries and the last dwarf were responsible for burying those warriors."

Gerta explained in a kind tone, "So even if we have that beetle, we can forget about digging up those corpses from back then. As for those buried later, orcs don't need coffins and luxurious tombs like humans do. They mostly just throw them naked near the lairs of wild beasts. So even if we find them, they'll just be skeletons."

By this point, everyone had taken off the fur coats they had bought in Frostflower Town, as the temperature here was getting warmer.

"Can anyone come in here?" Shenba asked, voicing his curiosity. He saw a group of orcs walking in the same direction.

"certainly"

Gerta said, "They all had a premonition that they wouldn't live much longer, so they decided to go into the Beast Corpse Territory."

For orcs, this was a very honorable thing. So if they encountered a corpse on the road, they would try their best to carry it away.

“There’s no extra room in our car,” Shenba couldn’t help but say.

He didn't want to share a carriage with a corpse. Not only him, but the others also subconsciously spread out a bit, making the already overloaded carriage seem even more cramped.

"This is voluntary."

Gerta smiled and reassured them, "After passing through the Valley of Funerals, we'll have to follow the treasure map, and the carriage might not be usable then."

"At worst, I'll just use that Beetle to get around," Cheng Lang said nonchalantly.

He now not only has the ring that houses that ugly thing, Van Hart, and the ring that keeps his clothes dry underwater, but also a necklace that holds the burrowing beetle, and even an extra parasite earring.

Next, he even began to wonder what else would appear on his body. Surely it wouldn't be a bracelet?
Amidst these random thoughts and idle chatter, the traveling carriage wound its way around one verdant mountain range after another shrouded in mist, and the sky above gradually darkened.

After putting away the carriage, the group left the rugged mountain road and entered the dense forest, eventually stopping in a relatively flat clearing in the woods.

Soon, Kruk and Shenba set up their respective hunting tents, and then together with the young sailors, they cleared the open space.

As night fell, scattered lights appeared along the mountain path outside the dense forest; these were campfires lit by people preparing to enter the Beast Corpse Territory.

Cheng Lang and the others, who had already taken refuge inside their hunting tents, naturally didn't need to light a campfire outside. At this moment, they were gathered around the unlit fireplace, enjoying various delicacies brought from another hunting tent that served as a makeshift kitchen.

Of course, they didn't know that in this mountain range, which was almost entirely populated by the dead, there were also some people who didn't need to light campfires.

On the edge of the Funeral Valley, which they had to pass through, in a cave halfway up the mountain where the sunlight occasionally reached the entrance, a hunting tent was also set up.

However, this hunting tent was much more luxurious than the two that Cheng Lang and his group used, and even the interior area was two or three times larger.

But inside this spacious hunting tent, the curtained partitions were removed and replaced with three-tiered wooden beds.

Each of these wooden beds is covered with scavenged clothes, clothes that the orcs who came to the Beast Corpse Territory to die had taken off and discarded before their deaths.

In addition to the nearly 20 dark elves of varying ages and genders, most of whom were not yet adults, there were also fewer than 10 adult "legitimate" female elves in the somewhat crowded tent.

They were busy washing clothes, cooking, and taking care of the dark elves, but they rarely allowed them to step out of the tent.

As night fell, several legitimate male elves carrying elven weapons such as spider bows returned.

They brought back either captured prey, a boat bottle filled with water, or bags of grain, salt, spices, or even precious elven potions from who-knows-where traded.

"It's been so long, I wonder if Mr. Erlin is still alive," one of the male elves who had just returned sighed.

“We can’t all rely on that family,” said a female elf.

“I’m not counting on them,” the male elf who had just spoken said. “I’m worried about them.”

"Berg is back"

Just then, the elf on guard outside the tent let out a joyful cheer, and then a silver-haired male elf who looked no more than an adult slipped into the luxurious hunting tent.

"I received the latest news in Frostflower Town."

As Berg spoke, he first glanced at his sister, and seeing that she was alright, he took out bottles of elven potions from his bag and said, "The hunters seem to have found traces of Mr. Erlin's family."

"Are they still alive?" an elf immediately asked.

"do not know"

Begg shook his head and said with a strange expression, "But it is said that the Green Hunter Captain guarding Frostflower Town sold all his men to a pleasure boat, and it is a pleasure boat owned by the royal family of the Duchy of Murfita."

"puff"

One of the elves sprayed the water that it had just put into its mouth out of its nostrils.

"And then what?"

"Then, it is said, when the hunters who dared to go there redeemed them for the exorbitant price of five cups of Poseidon's blood per hunter, those fools were trembling as they walked."

After Begg finished speaking, more elves sprayed all sorts of things that should have been in their mouths out of their nostrils.

"So this was made by Erlin?" Finally, an elf asked the question that everyone was most concerned about.

'No one knows'

"But I also received news that a few days ago, a lot of poisonous mushrooms inexplicably appeared in Wolfskin Town, and many poisoned elves and werewolves did things that violated the rules and laws," Berg said.

It's said that the expressions on those people's faces as they repented and reminisced by the Lake of Tears were quite peculiar, and on my way back, I already saw some elves and werewolf beastmen heading towards Frostflower Harbor.

"Are you sure all of this is true?" one of the elves asked with a strange expression.

“It’s 100% true,” Berg said. “I swear.”

"I wouldn't be surprised if I heard the evergreen sacred tree withered next."

The elf murmured, "Who did this? Mr. Erlin certainly couldn't have done this."

(End of this chapter)