204 Grey Powder

I licked my fingers clean of the chocolate, savouring the last bits of the delicious treat.

It's such a shame there's only one box of it, it would have been perfect if all the boxes here were also filled with chocolate…

Alas, that was not to be as all the other boxes I opened up all contained bags of flour instead.

Stepping away from the box, I looked around to see if there's a way out from here. It didn't make sense if there was no way out aside from the inlet since no one in this pirate group could fly, leaving me to believe there should be a path out within the cove itself somewhere.

Sure enough, I found a stone path that seemed to lead up towards the outcropping that the pirates had made their outpost.

What was unexpected, however, was the fact that the path led me directly to a solid rock wall.

I tried pushing against it but it didn't budge, even though I could clearly see that the wall outline of the wall showed that it was definitely not connected to the rest of the cave.

I'm guessing that there must be some kind of hidden switch or something that would open this wall up. Or maybe there was some other hidden entrance that I missed?

I spent a while trying to find a lever, a button or anything that could possibly be used to activate the mechanism to open the wall. Unfortunately, my efforts proved to be in vain as I found nothing even after combing around the place.

Well… I guess I have no choice but to go search up a walkthrough to find the answer… Just kidding~

I went up to the wall and planted both my feet firmly on the ground before pulling my fist back.

For good measure, I even used [Body Current] to increase the strength of my entire arm before I punched forward.

There was a loud crash as the stone wall was blasted apart, the entire thing shattering on impact and its fragments flying outwards from the shockwave.

Ha! If you can't solve the puzzle, then just destroy the puzzle and the problem is solved! Easy!

I stepped out of the cave to find Odeta and Emilia rushing towards me, both of them stopping when they saw me emerge from the rubble.

"Sister Aster! What happened?"

I gave her a thumbs up, "Hehe~ I found their secret cove where they stored their ship! It's right over here!"

Emilia came up to me and looked at the remains of the rock I smashed, "Did you have to do that?"

"What? I couldn't find the thing that makes it open up, so I just smashed it."

She then pointed to the grooves on the ground, revealing that the rock could simply be slid aside from the opening.

Oh… Umm… Same thing right? How was I supposed to know that anyway?

Odeta laughed, "Wahaha! Sister Aster is showing us how strong she's become! Not even a rock wall can stop Sister Aster!"

Yeah, let's just go with that…

The two of them followed me back into the cove where I showed them where I found the ship, causing Emilia to nod in appreciation of the vessel.

"A caravel I see. As expected of a pirate group like this, I suppose," She mused.

I turned to her, "Why so?"

"Fufu~ That's because caravels are fast and easy to manoeuvre. What's more, you don't need a large crew to sail it either so they can use it to easily catch up to the slower merchant ships to raid them and escape any unfavourable situations. What's more, these ships are able to sail through shallow coastal waters as compared to the larger ships, perfect for docking in a cove like this."

Odeta grinned, "Which means we can crew this ship on our own!"

"Umm… I don't have any sailing experience though…" I reminded them.

Emilia waved her hand, "Oh don't worry, I can teach you on the job, Lady Aster~ What's more, your Shadow Summons will also learn the same skill right? You can even just crew the ship with the summons yourself once you know how to do it. By the Gods, what I'd do to have that ability… Oh! Do you think you could teach me how to do it, Lady Aster?! I'll even pay you!"

"Umm… I'm not sure but I can try I guess? Though I'm surprised to hear you're willing to pay me for it."

"Ohohoho~ Just imagine how much more money I can earn if I were able to use this magic! I could be at multiple places all at once! I could even fire all my crew on the ship and use my summons instead, eliminating the need for wages! This would be a dream come true for me!"

Of course she would be trying to use it in a way to get her more money…

I was about to point out how she thought it was impossible to summon more than one Shadow Summon when Odeta picked up one of the bags of flour to inspect it.

"Sister Aster? What are these?" She asked.

"Hmm? Isn't that flour?"

Emilia suddenly ran towards her and snatched the bag away from Odeta, causing the Amrap to let out a yelp of surprise.

"This! No way!! This is Grey Powder! And there's so many of them too?! How lucky these guys must have been to have this much without getting killed for it?!"

I peeked over her shoulder, "Umm… Is that not flour?"

Emilia looked at me with wide eyes, "Lady Aster… Please tell me that you did not eat any of this?"

"Eww, no way. Why would I eat something like that when it's most definitely not a kind of sweet?"

Her gaze then shifted from me to the only empty box and she made a dash towards it.

"Umm… Those contained chocolate," I explained a little hesitantly, not really wanting to admit that I spent a good amount of time hiding here to eat all of it without leaving any for them.

Emilia reached into the box and ran her finger along the bottom, pulling back to inspect her finger critically before giving it a sniff.

She then tasted it with the tip of her tongue and immediately spat on the ground.

"Lady Aster! Did you really eat everything inside the box?!" She demanded while looking at me with a serious look.

"Ye… Yes?" I admitted.

She then looked me up and down before walking up to me to place her hand on my forehead.

Odeta frowned at her, "What's wrong with Sister Aster?"

The Nekomata stepped away from me, "Are you… An undead by any chance, Lady Aster? No wait… That's not possible… You're warm… So… I don't understand…"

I pursed my lips, "I'm going to guess that those chocolates had that what's-it-powder in them too? Is it a drug?"

She nodded, "It's called Grey Powder and yes it is… This doesn't make any sense… Do you… Do you feel anything weird? Some discomfort maybe?"

I shook my head, "Nope, I feel fine. What does it do? And why is it called Grey Powder when it's actually white?"

She then grinned and held out her hand, "Two Creas and I'll tell you all that I know about it~"

I coughed, "I found the ship so technically it's my spoils so if you want to get a ride on it…"

"Ugh! I get it! I'm sorry! Sigh… Where do I start then… Do both of you know about Grey Walkers?"

I turned to look at Odeta but the Amrap shrugged to show that she was just as clueless as I was about it.

Emilia continued, "The name refers to people with a very special ability where they are able to use their magic to travel to the In-Between Planes. I'm going to make a wild guess that you've never heard of this place before?"

The two of us shook our heads.

She sighed, "Ok… There's a whole debate going on about what that place is but the general consensus is that it's basically a different place that's not in this World. Grey Walkers are able to teleport themselves and bring others with them there with the help of special waystones around the World. From there, they are able to then teleport back to this World to another waystone."

I widened my eyes, "So you can actually teleport around the world using that?"

"Yes, there are Grey Walkers who work as teleporters to bring people around."

"They must make a killing from that then?"

Emilia shook her head, "Not exactly. There are risks to this of course. There's a chance that the Grey Walker would teleport to somewhere they did not mean to and get trapped there for the rest of their lives. So as convenient of an ability this seems, it is also a double edged sword."

"Ok… This sounds like something that I would really like to know more about but… What does this have to do with this Grey Powder?"

She hesitated, "It is said that ingesting this powder can make a person gain the abilities of a Grey Walker… But there have been no confirmed cases so far and almost everyone who tried ends up dead… Thus, it's pretty much an illegal substance in almost every country…"

…

Oh… Maybe those weren't powdered sugar on the chocolate I ate?

That would explain the weird texture and the fact that they didn't really taste like powdered sugar in the first place…