Calabash Brothers
The wheels rolled over the gravel on the road, and the carriage was as lively as if it were Chinese New Year.
Lucy was counting on her fingers which seafood restaurant in Hargeon had the most expensive lobster, while Lisanna and Levy huddled together studying the dessert shop's menu, and even Wendy was drawn in and swallowed hard.
The girls chattered excitedly about whether to eat the grilled king crab first or show off their three-tiered strawberry cream tart, completely ignoring the person driving the train ahead of them.
Riyao, who was sitting at the front driving the carriage, rolled his eyes dramatically.
"I can hear you! If you dare to freeload again, I'll throw you all out of the manor!"
He gave the reins a sharp shake, and even through the curtain, you could smell the stench of money lurking inside, the kind that'd been eyeing his wallet!
Does he really think the coachman is deaf?
They all had voices as loud as people buying cabbages at a market, and they even had everything planned out perfectly, from ordering a few scoops of ice cream to packing some pastries to take back to the guild after the meal!
I originally planned to travel the world with Mirajane, but now I can only go and collect the Parasol Trees first, and send these unlucky kids back to the guild along with them. I'll find another opportunity to go later.
Riyao sighed, tilted his head to look at Mirajane sitting next to him, who was smiling and swinging her legs. The gloom in his heart dissipated a lot.
As the carriage climbed a gentle coastal slope, the view suddenly opened up, and the outline of Hargeon Port could be seen in the distance.
On the endless blue sea stands a towering tree, its roots as thick as mountains reaching deep into the seabed, its canopy blotting out the sky and disappearing into the clouds.
This is Parasol Tree.
Even from a distance of more than ten miles, the massive shadows of those golden and green trees filled half the sky, and seagulls circled around the tree trunks, looking almost like tiny insects flying around a giant's knee.
Sunlight shone on the broad leaves, refracting into rainbow-like halos that bathed the entire bay in a lush green glow.
If Makarov hadn't warned that the name might be taken back, the mayor of Hargeon would have wanted to change the port's name to Parasol Port.
This almost miraculous spectacle is undoubtedly the city's most distinctive feature, and the number of tourists visiting Hargeon has increased several times over.
I heard that in the past three days, newspaper reporters, poets, and tourists from all over the mainland have flocked here like locusts. Even the firewood sheds in the port have been sold at exorbitant prices, and street vendors selling Parasol leaf-shaped souvenirs have made a fortune.
As the carriage approached the coastline, the distant Parasol Trees scattered warm green light, sensing the approaching Riyao and the shared life force resonating with it.
The millions of leaves on the tree canopy moved without wind, rustling and creating a shower of emerald light, like a big dog wagging its tail to its owner, happily making its presence known from afar.
"Well, this is going to be a bit troublesome. Let's sneak over there."
Seeing the Parasol Trees so cheerful, Riyao was somewhat speechless.
He quickly suppressed the life force emanating from his body, rubbed his forehead with one hand and clicked his tongue, then pulled the reins and steered the horse toward a side path in the woods.
This scattered breath of life can heal all the residents of the city; backaches, fatigue, minor aches and pains are no problem.
If you sit under a tree and enjoy the sea breeze for half an hour, an eighty-year-old woman can carry two bags of flour up to the fifth floor in one go, a bedridden rheumatist can start tap dancing on the spot, and even a middle-aged man with hair loss can have black stubble sprouting again on his forehead.
If they went directly there and said they wanted to take back the Parasol Trees, the residents would be begging and clinging to their legs, refusing to let them leave.
At that point, not only the mayor, but the entire city's residents would probably form groups to lie under the carriage wheels and stage accidents, each clinging to an axle to prevent him from leaving the city!
Levy lifted the side curtain and looked at the towering tree, her eyes sparkling.
"I never imagined there would be such a big tree. Will the mayor be angry if we move it back to Magnolia?"
She leaned against the window frame, craning her neck to look up. Her neck ached from looking up, but she still couldn't see the treetops. Her glasses were filled with the golden-green shadows of the trees.
"He's overjoyed; this is a living advertisement for the city. He'll be laughing in his sleep every night."
Mirajane shook his head, the smile never fading from his face.
To avoid the throngs of people at the port, the carriage did not enter Hargeon Port, but instead took a detour along a remote path, traversing a series of winding roads.
The desolate coastal forest road was littered with exposed old tree roots and rubble pits. The wheels bounced up and down, making the whole carriage rattle and clatter like a lottery machine, and several cries of pain came from inside the carriage.
"My bones are about to fall apart. This path is so rough! It's full of potholes and rocks, it almost bounced me to death."
When the carriage finally came to a stop at a deserted bay, Lucy was the first to climb down, holding onto the door frame. She rubbed her lower back, blinked at Wendy, and seemed to want her to cast a Healing Magic.
Wendy obediently walked over, her little hands glowing with a soft green light as she patted Lucy's lower back, and Lucy finally let out a comfortable sigh.
Riyao jumped off the carriage, stepped onto the soft sand, and lazily stretched.
"It feels so good. Nowhere else can I find such fresh air compared to that smoky, polluted place in the guild."
A salty, damp sea breeze blew in his face, carrying with it the sweet scent of herbs and trees wafting from the Parasol Trees. Riyao spread his arms wide, and his bones cracked comfortably.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
It's smoky and chaotic, no doubt about it.
"There's no boat here, how are we supposed to get across? You cunning bastard."
Carla stood by the rocks with her arms crossed, gazing at the undulating sea, and didn't forget to tease Riyao after she finished speaking.
This remote beach didn't even have a decent plank of wood, and it was quite a distance from the big tree in the middle of the sea. Were they really supposed to swim across?
"Don't panic, don't panic, I have a brilliant plan."
Riyao shook his index finger and raised an eyebrow at Carla.
He took two steps forward and stood on the shallow beach where the waves were lapping at him. He raised his right hand towards the distant Parasol Tree, and a green light appeared on his hand. The Parasol Tree also felt the call.
Whoosh!
A thick branch extends from the seabed.
Riyao stepped on it, gesturing for everyone to follow.
Once Mirajane and the other startled girls had regained their footing, the branches beneath their feet retracted, carrying them swiftly across the sea.
The sea breeze whistled past my ears, and two white, billowing waves, each over two meters high, rose up on either side of me. The speed was even greater than that of a magic speedboat, yet the ground beneath my feet remained perfectly stable, without a single sway.
"Surfing on a branch, no one would believe that if I told them, right?"
Lisanna cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted excitedly against the sea breeze, her short, silvery-white hair flying wildly in the wind.
Wendy and Levy crouched down, curiously poking the rapidly passing sea with their fingers, splashing up a string of glistening water droplets.
Why are there so many ships over there?
Levy pointed to the sea not far to her left.
Hundreds of tourist boats and fishing boats adorned with colorful flags were densely packed on the sea, surrounding the main body of the ship in concentric circles. The bows of the boats were crowded with tourists holding up photo-taking devices, and the noise could be heard from two miles away.
"I guess they're all here to pay homage to the divine miracles performed by the deity."
Riyao stood with his hands behind his back at the very front of the branches, his back to everyone, his chin raised at a 45-degree angle, the hem of his floral shirt fluttering in the sea breeze, exuding the air of a hermit sage.
The others were speechless; they had no idea what had gotten into this guy again.
Lucy and Carla both rolled their eyes.
To avoid being mistaken for sea monsters or monkeys by the enthusiastic tourists, the branches carried everyone down into the sea, around the group of boats in front, and up the tree trunk to the canopy.
Mirajane waved her hand and cast a small spell to dry everyone's clothes.
A warm breeze swept by, and the damp ends of her hair and the hem of her skirt instantly became fluffy and dry.
Standing in the center of the tree canopy, which was even more spacious than a town square, Riyao looked at the six gourds—red, white, black, gold, blue, and yellow—on the branches and nodded in satisfaction.
The six palm-sized, brightly colored gourds hung side by side on a main branch, swaying in the sea breeze, each emanating a distinct magical energy.
This gourd was specially designed by him out of a wicked sense of humor.
When he devoured those guys, a childhood cartoon he watched in his previous life inexplicably popped into his mind, and he casually shaped the sealing container into this form.
As everyone knows, there are six gourds in the Calabash Brothers, no problem at all.
As for why one gourd is missing? The answer is that the snake spirit stole it, definitely not because there weren't enough people to make up the number!
"Could these be the original generation?"
Mirajane tilted her head; she didn't know how many people Riyao had swallowed in total.
She leaned closer to examine the gourd that emitted a soft golden light, sensing a familiar aura within it.
"Yes, Irene, August, Larcade, Mavis, Zeref, and Acnologia."
Riyao stretched out his fingers and pointed to the six gourds—red, white, yellow, gold, black, and blue—from left to right, rattling off a string of names that could terrify the entire continent, like pointing out radishes at a market. At the end, he deliberately took a deep breath and flashed a bright smile that sent chills down everyone's spine.
The air above the treetops fell silent for a second.
"What!!"
"What?! There's Black Dragon too?!"
Do you know what you're doing?
Everyone was startled by Riyao's words.
Lucy, Levy, and Carla's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The three of them huddled together and took three big steps back, pointing at the bright blue gourd, their tongues practically tied in knots.
How about hanging the White Mage, Scarlet Despair, the Wizard King, and the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse all on a single tree branch and raising them like gourds?