Welcome to Ash Potato Village

  Population: 0, after I’m done with them.

  Weather: Rain of fire

  Wind direction: To hell

  Funfact: This place has the only library on the Boshi Plateau.

  Things you might want to know: There are cultists

  Is what a signpost read. Vinny and Yvonne were studying the signpost, as they had no idea what to do with the information on it.

  “There is no doubt. Agnis made this signpost, but as usual I only understand half of the stuff he says. Do you understand what this means, Yvonne?”

  “N…No but I hear people talking. I...it’s Hourai!” Yvonne hopped off following her ears. Vinny followed after Yvonne.

  “I don’t hear anything…” Vinny was wondering why all the adventurer parties had so much issues with this floor. He was aware that he was a legendary beast, but he had spent a lot of time under the humans and had a good idea how strong the average human was. Only the sisters and the magma route should pose a big problem.

  Looking through multiple documentations of parties going through this dungeon wasn’t something that Vinny had done. Nothing seemed like something that should pose a big risk to a well-organized party. Unless…

  “Yvonne! Not so fast! We might be missing something important. There might be something on this floor that makes this harder than it see…” Vinny looked on as some strangely dressed men had abducted Yvonne and carried her away.

  “Help!”

  Vinny bound the strange men, rushed at them and saved Yvonne.“Why didn’t you fight back? They should be no match for you.”

  “They would bring me to the p…potatoes.”

  Vinny’s eyes lit up.“Oh! Well, then lead us to them!”

  “They don’t understand m…modern Kaledonian, only Hourai, which is old K..kaledonian.”

  “Oh.” Vinny switched to old Kaledonian. “Can you tell me where the potatoes are?”

  “Ohh you can talk our language! My name is $!#@$ follow me!”

  “What? I didn’t catch your name. Was that really Hourai?” Vinny had the feeling that this guy’s name was in a different language.

  “Oh. My name is *&$%# over here!”

  “Huh how does that work? It sounded different, but I still didn’t catch that. Did… did Agnis forget his name…” Vinny thought about it deeply. He didn’t encounter anyone the day before that could speak. He thought this was intentional, but this guy can speak. And he has a name. If he has a name, that means that Agnis probably forgot his name.

  Vinny exhaled audibly. The man with the strange name led the two through some dark corridors. It was a short man with bronze skin and not wearing a lot. He had a strange symbol on something that looked like a tribal skirt. Vinny also smelled something akin to mana corruption. The longer he was here, the less and less he understood of this place.

  “Were here look!” The strange man pointed at a strange patch of burnt soil.

  ‘D…did you burn them?”

  “No they grow in fire!” The main said excitedly.

  “I...is that why they’re called Ash Potatoes?” Yvonne asked while trying to get a better look at these so-called Ash potatoes.

  “No? Where did you hear about Ash potatoes?” The strange man asked as he walked over to the patch of burnt soil and dug up something. It looked like ash.

  “There is a signpost that says that this is Ash Potato Village. Yvonne and I assumed that your village was named after the potatoes that you cultivate.”

  “Uhh no our village is named ^!&^$#%@ I have no idea what Ash potatoes are.” The man said proudly.

  Yvonne and Vinny looked at each other in confusion.

  “S..so there are no potatoes?”

  “They’re right here!” The man raised his hands filled with ash.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Right… this is the work of Agnis. I’m not sure what we were expecting. Let’s go Yvonne. I doubt that we can find potatoes in this village. Now that I think about it, I think I remember that his mother hated potatoes, he might take after his mother in that trait.”

  “O..oh right. It was well known that the em…empress hated potatoes and turned them all into ash!”

  “Wait… is that’s why it’s called Ash potato village?”

  “Oh… T...that might be the reason.”

  “Ugh, I was looking forward to discovering a new type of potato. I guess I can take this frustration out on this root!” Vinny said as his gaze shifted to the root.

  Vinny and Yvonne walked back to the root. Multiple men in strange clothing ran at them and tried to offer them piles of ash.

  “Taste our yummy potatoes!”

  “The sweet potato harvest was excellent this year! Have some!

  “Want some of my thick, juicy yams?”

  Vinny and Yvonne decided to flee as the villagers were extremely pushy and tried to load mountains of ash on them.

  “I...I can see why he didn’t like this place. They are a b..bit too forceful with the potatoes.”

  “Hey Yvonne, do you remember the words on that sign post? The weather was ‘rain of fire’ the wind direction was ‘to hell’ and the population was ‘0, after I’m done with them’ you don’t think…”

  “H...he burnt the village. I can’t use fire that well though…”

  “And you’re okay with that?” Vinny asked as he looked at Yvonne whose aura had changed a bit.

  “I trust everyone from Hourai. I might not be able to use fire, but I’m confident in using wind magic. I should be able to turn it to fire.”

  “You sound like Agnis… no maybe that’s incorrect. Everyone from Hourai seems to have this side to them...”

  “We learned how to use fire as wind users in Hourai and many other things.”

  Vinny shook his head. “Crazy place breeds crazy individuals…”

  The two waited till 10:30. Yvonne created a blaze with her wind magic, and Vinny fed the fire by growing highly combustible plants. Yvonne used the wind to focus all the fire to a small area and blasted a hole through the root.

  “So… is everyone from Hourai like this?” Vinny inquired.

  “What do you mean?”

  Vinny shook his head realizing that Yvonne probably couldn’t answer that question. “Never mind. Let’s get ready for the scene to change.”

  It didn’t take long or the scene to change and everyone was back at the town square.

  “Ugh, that asshole. That rap battle and breakdance battle was rough.” Toxic Donkey said while dusting himself off.

  Noelle grinned. “Oh, so how did it go? The Donkey vs. the Mole sounds something I wanted to see.”

  “Ugh, I first thought it was just Agnis, but is everyone from Hourai like this?”

  “Yes! Kyle I was thinking the same!” Vinny said, happy that someone else had also noticed.

  “Huh is there something with us?” The idols asked, confused.

  “You smell nice!” Io yelled as she approached the idols and sniffed them.

  “That’s not what I meant Io, but well lets clear the last 2 guardians.”

  “Lets burn them all! But wait weren’t there 3 left?”

  “The last one only appears after all the other guardians have been defeated. Lets send those who take heat well through the magma and Vinny, Yvonne and I will deal with Paul and Paula. Is that fine?” Toxic Donkey said while showing Io the last challenge on the floor on his tablet.

  Vinny agreed with that division of labor. Io and Giana had high heat resistance and Noelle had high resistances overall, meanwhile Toxic Donkey, Yvonne and himself would suffer greatly in such environment.

  “Let’s start try to defeat the guardians and roots at 11:30. I want to give you guys enough time to get there first. Is an hour enough?” Toxic Donkey continued.

  Io held up her hand. “Can I fly there?”

  “Uhh, I don’t see why you can’t” Vinny said, quite confused at the strange question.

  “Then it will be fine! I’m a dragon!”

  “Uhh, I’m a dragon too, but that doesn’t mean that I would be able to do such.”

  “You’re a strange vegetable dragon! Lets go!” Io, Giana and Noelle walked off. Noelle directed them at the best place to dig. Noelle refused to take the disorderly half collapsed tunnels and would rather dig down herself.

  Vinny stood still, frozen to the ground. “Vegetable dragon…”

  “I’m sorry about her, Vinny, don’t take it too personal.” Toxic Donkey said as he pulled the defeated Vinny with him.

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