Chapter 9.2: Atarashī dōryō

Ishi and Li-Jua had no other choice but to accept the deal Pil was offering them.

It was either that, or kill Miller.

And truth be told, both of them knew that if they let him live like this, neither would ever be able to look him in the eyes again, not while he carried that obscene, impossibly enormous protrusion between his legs, constantly looming, constantly pointing at them like a cursed relic of their own misfortune.

If anything, Miller would probably be better off dead.

Li-Jua sighed.

"Alright. We accept."

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one hip.

"Honestly, I wasn’t too keen on leaving you alone here at the mercy of the empire anyway."

The moment the words left her lips, Pil rushed forward—too quickly, Ishi thought—and seized Li-Jua’s hands in her own, gazing up at her with an almost worshipful intensity.

"Oh, thank you for your concern, my lady Li-Jua!"

Pil's voice was breathless, overflowing with devotion.

"I swear, on all the spirits of the forest, you will never regret this!"

She was too close.

Way too close.

Ishi gritted her teeth and stepped forward, yanking Pil away from Li-Jua for the third time that day.

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" Ishi snapped. "Just spit it out already! How do we save Miller?"

Pil, still smiling smugly, took a step back and tilted her head playfully.

"Oh, it’s actually quite simple," she said. “You're not finding a curse or an illness because he doesn’t have one."

The two women blinked.

"What?" Li-Jua said flatly.

Pil crossed her arms, smirking.

"He’s got a parasite in his brain."

A long silence followed.

A parasite?

In his brain?

Ishi and Li-Jua exchanged uneasy glances.

Pil continued, her tone overly casual, as if she wasn’t just dropping something incredibly disturbing on them.

"It’s a plant-based parasite, to be exact," she explained. "You two were so busy plotting your grand mission that you didn’t even notice that your friend here has started growing tiny leaves in his hair, kind of like little antennae."

Ishi and Li-Jua snapped their heads toward Miller.

Sure enough.

Among the tousled mess of his red hair, a pair of small green leaves had sprouted, soft, delicate, and unmistakably alive.

Li-Jua’s eyes widened.

"Wait a second… I know those leaves!"

She took a sharp breath, realization hitting her like a lightning bolt.

"That’s a Rafflesia!"

She clenched her fists.

"Dammit, it must have released spores when I killed it in the Doku Ryu Forest!"

Ishi furrowed her brows.

"Hold on. If that’s true, then why didn’t the parasite develop in your body instead?"

Pil shrugged.

"Rafflesias are smart little bastards," she said.

"If you killed the original one, the spore must have calculated that growing inside of you would be… well, a bad idea. So instead, it did what most parasites do, it looked for an easier host. They prefer idiots," she added with a smirk, motioning to Miller’s unconscious form.

Li-Jua’s face darkened.

"That explains it."

She rubbed her temples.

"The spore must have transferred from my body to Miller’s at some point, probably during one of the many, many beatings I’ve given him."

Ishi nodded slowly, crossing her arms.

"And when we entered the greenhouse two weeks ago, the humidity and warmth must have created the perfect conditions for it to fully develop."

"Exactly."

Pil tapped the side of her head.

"I actually noticed it the moment you guys arrived. But if I had warned you, I would have blown my cover, so I kept my mouth shut."

She tilted her head, looking down at Miller with an almost pitying expression.

"Normally, I’d have just eradicated the spore before it fully matured, I have that ability as a spirit of the forest."

She sighed dramatically.

"But unfortunately… it’s already grown to the size of a human baby inside his brain."

Ishi and Li-Jua stiffened.

"The size of a what?!" Ishi shrieked.

Pil shrugged again.

"Yeah. It’s big."

She gave Miller a light poke with her foot.

"If I just kill it now, I’ll end up frying his brain in the process. Which means…"

Her eyes gleamed with mischief.

"We have to negotiate with the Rafflesia and convince it to leave Miller's body of its own free will."

"And how exactly do we do that?" Li-Jua asked, crossing her arms.

Pil smirked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I can talk to the Rafflesia," she said confidently. "But we’ll need to offer it a good deal."

Ishi narrowed her eyes.

"A deal? With a brain parasite?"

Pil nodded.

"Yep. If you give these little things a steady food supply, they usually won’t be a problem."

She glanced down at Miller’s unconscious form, her expression darkening slightly.

"The bad news? They only feed on things with magical energy. That’s why they love eating humans."

Ishi and Li-Jua exchanged a tense look.

Magical food that isn’t a person…?

They both went silent, deep in thought.

After a moment, Ishi snapped her fingers.

"We can hunt some monsters. Low-level beasts, magical creatures, whatever it wants," she said firmly. "Tell it that."

Pil nodded and closed her eyes. A soft green aura began to radiate from her body as she extended her consciousness outward, reaching for the parasite’s mind.

For a moment, everything was still.

Then, Pil’s expression soured.

"No luck," she sighed, opening her eyes.

Li-Jua and Ishi tensed.

"What do you mean ‘no luck’?" Ishi demanded.

Pil crossed her arms.

"The parasite says it’s perfectly happy where it is."

Her voice took on an irritated edge as she mimicked the creature’s response.

"‘The boy generates a constant flow of magical energy to sustain his Megalopassive ability. And since I disabled it, I get to feed off his endless mana supply.’"

Pil scowled.

"Basically, a couple of monsters wouldn’t even come close to satisfying it. But if it stays inside Miller? It can grow to full adulthood without ever having to worry about food."

Li-Jua gritted her teeth.

"Tch. This thing’s gonna be tough to negotiate with."

For a few seconds, nobody spoke.

Then, Li-Jua’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wait! I have an idea!"

She snapped toward Pil.

"Pil, earlier, you said the Pao-Pao fruits were modified using magic from the forest nymphs, right?"

Pil blinked.

"Yes, that’s right," she said slowly.

Li-Jua’s smirk widened.

"Then they have magical energy in them, don’t they?"

Pil hesitated.

"Well… yes, but only a little."

Li-Jua turned to Ishi.

"Doesn’t matter. We have an entire cargo shipment of them."

Ishi's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh, shit!" she gasped. "I still have the entire stock meant for the Imperial Palace stored inside my pocket dimension!"

She grinned.

"We’ve got more than enough food to let that parasite grow to adulthood without needing Miller!"

The moment the words left her lips, before Pil even had a chance to relay the message—

Something moved.

Wet. Squirming. Horrible.

From deep within Miller’s skull, a grotesque, glistening tendril slithered its way out of his ear, dragging along with it a fleshy, writhing plant-creature that burst from his head with a series of sharp, high-pitched screeches.

"IIIIIIIIII!!! IIIIIIIIII!!"

Ishi, and Pil all recoiled in disgust.

"Well…" she muttered, grimacing. "It looks like it likes that idea." Said the nymph.

Li-Jua, meanwhile, squealed in delight.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh my GOD," she gasped. "Look at it!"

Ishi and Pil turned to her in horror.

"Li-Jua, what the hell are you—?!"

"It’s so cute!"

Pil gagged.

Ishi looked ready to pass out.

The Rafflesia, pale pink petals smeared with slime, dozens of tiny, razor-sharp teeth lining its central mouth, wriggled its tentacles excitedly, still screeching in its hideous little voice.

"IIIIIIII!! IIIIIIIII!!"

Ishi was visibly green.

"How the hell is that ‘cute’?!" she cried.

Pil nodded aggressively in agreement.

Li-Jua, however, was completely unfazed.

"I’ve decided," she said firmly, kneeling down and extending her hand toward the creature.

"This little thing belongs to me now."

"LIKE HELL IT DOES!!"

Pil and Ishi both screamed in perfect unison.

Li-Jua ignored them.

"Her name is Rafli."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN RAFLI?!!"

Pil and Ishi both screamed in perfect unison again.

Li-Jua reached out calmly, and as if understanding her words, the tiny Rafflesia eagerly extended its tentacles, wrapping them around her arm and climbing up to her shoulder.

Once perched, it puffed up proudly, waving its stubby appendages like a victorious champion.

"IIIIIIII!! IIIIIIIII!!"

Li-Jua beamed.

"See? She likes it!"

Ishi was hyperventilating.

Pil looked like she was actively considering running into the nearest fire.

Li-Jua, meanwhile, gently patted Rafli’s head, giggling as the creature rubbed itself affectionately against her cheek.

"She’s so adorable!"

Ishi, clutching her skull in absolute despair, let out a strangled, exhausted groan.

"I can’t do this anymore."

Suddenly, as if awakening from a long, enchanted slumber, Miller jerked upright, blinking rapidly.

His head was spinning, his body felt oddly light, and there was a strange tingling sensation in his skull, as if something had been crawling inside it just moments ago.

"Huh?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "What the hell is going on here?"

As his vision cleared, the bizarre scene before him came into focus.

First, there was Ishi, as radiant as ever, standing elegantly with her arms crossed. Next to her, a floating ethereal figure, an unearthly beauty with an almost divine presence woman.

And then there was Li-Jua.

With a monstrous, otherworldly creature clinging to her shoulder.

Miller’s eyebrows shot up.

"Okay, what the hell—"

Before he could finish, Li-Jua cut him off immediately.

"No time for your stupidity, idiot," she snapped, rolling her eyes. "We’ll explain on the way. Mission’s done."

Miller, however, raised a hand dramatically and shook his head.

"No need!" he declared in his usual over-the-top, self-important tone.

Li-Jua, Ishi, and Pil all froze.

"…Uhh?"

Miller folded his arms and nodded sagely, as if he had unlocked the secrets of the universe.

"I understand everything."

A long, painful silence stretched between them.

The three girls stared at him, baffled.

Ishi’s eyelid twitched.

Li-Jua visibly grimaced.

Pil looked like she wanted to leave the mortal plane.

Miller, however, looked beyond proud.

"It’s obvious!" he declared, pointing dramatically at Li-Jua.

"You—" he said, narrowing his eyes, "—brutish cave-gorilla—"

Li-Jua’s fist clenched.

"—realized that you’re no match for me, so you’ve partnered up with that hideous monster in a desperate attempt to defeat me!"

He turned to Ishi with a smug, knowing smile.

"The beautiful Ishi, always so gentle and caring, must have been deeply worried about me. She rushed here, hoping to witness me finally rid the world of you and your hideous beasts!"

Finally, he placed a hand over his chest and flashed his most dazzling, confident grin.

"And as for you, exquisite lady..." he said, addressing Pil, who immediately recoiled in disgust.

"It is clear as day." He nodded wisely. "The rumors of my overwhelming beauty and knightly charm have spread far and wide across these lands. You have traveled all this way just to confess your undying love to me, haven’t you?"

Dead silence.

Pil's eye twitched.

Ishi’s expression darkened.

Li-Jua’s fingers cracked ominously.

Then—

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

With perfectly synchronized fury, the three girls launched a devastating roundhouse kick straight into Miller’s smug, idiotic face, sending him flying backward like a human meteor.

His body crashed violently into the shattered remnants of the ruined Pao-Pao fruit warehouse, dust and rubble exploding into the air.

"Rafli," Li-Jua said casually, stretching her arms, "if you’re hungry, feel free to eat that moron."

From her shoulder, the tiny carnivorous parasite twitched in excitement.

"IIIIIIII!! IIIIIIIII!!"

With an eager wriggle, the Rafflesia launched itself forward, tentacles flailing wildly as it lunged at the fallen swordsman.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A panicked scream rang out as Miller desperately flailed his arms, struggling against the wriggling tendrils now wrapping around his face.

"GET THIS HORRIBLE THING OFF MEEEEEEE!!"

His voice was muffled as Rafli's tentacles wriggled excitedly, latching onto him like a predator claiming its prey.

Li-Jua watched with a smug grin, while Ishi simply sighed, rubbing her temples.

Pil just covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

“This is going to be fun.” Said the nymph.