Chapter 79 - Fishfolk (1)

The day after Alexion appraised his treasures, Alon followed Radan aboard a ship bound for the last fleet isle, the Sea Wolf's stronghold.

"We're setting off."

Evan spoke as the ship began moving shortly afterward.

"You look comfortable."

Unlike a few days earlier, Evan seemed free of seasickness. His expression was scarcely different from when he was on land.

"Thanks to her."

Evan glanced toward Penia. A short distance away, she was talking with Pelin, looking quite well herself this time.

"... Impressive. To think she made a potion that neutralizes seasickness in just three days."

"From what I heard, it stimulates some part of the body with mana so you temporarily can't feel seasick. Honestly, I had no idea what she was talking about."

Listening to Evan, Alon marveled anew at Penia's genius. He knew all too well that this sort of magic was not something one could simply create on the spot because of a little discomfort.

'Is she talented at alchemy as well as magic?'

Alon looked at Penia with a touch of envy.

'If this body had even half of Penia's talent... No, I'd have no complaints if my mana reservoir were even half the size of hers.'

He watched her wistfully for a moment. She was saying something to Pelin, but the moment their eyes met, she smiled awkwardly and waved.

"Oh, come to think of it, why is the deputy tower master coming? She doesn't really need to accompany us, does she?"

Alon turned his attention back to Evan at the question.

"I asked her to come."

"... You did, my lord?"

"Yes. She might prove useful in the battle ahead."

'Though I've already unsealed all my artifacts in case something unexpected happens.'

As Alon answered with that thought in mind, Evan hummed and nodded before speaking again.

"Still, it's strange."

"What is?"

"The deputy tower master. Doesn't she obey you a little too readily, my lord? She's also remarkably nice compared to what the rumors say about her personality."

"... That is true."

"This is another example. She has nothing to gain, so there's really no need for her to take part in this battle, is there?"

Alon nodded at Evan's words.

"You're not wrong."

Normally, she would indeed have had no reason to join them here. Since she had come to investigate the fishfolk, there was some connection, of course, but she should not have needed to involve herself in a dangerous war just to conduct her investigation.

'Honestly, I thought there was little chance she'd come... I never expected her to agree so readily...'

Watching Penia wave, Alon recalled the previous day.

["Deputy Tower Master, would you care to join us in tomorrow's battle?"]

["Join you... in battle?"]

["Yes. Given the disparity in strength, it shouldn't be dangerous, but I thought it would be better to have additional forces in reserve. Didn't you say you were investigating the fishfolk?"]

["Yes, th-that's right?"]

["They say the Blue Wolf is connected to the fishfolk, so there should be plenty to investigate if you go. What do you think? Of course, if you don't want to go, you're free to—"]

["I-I'll go."]

["... Are you sure?"]

["Yes, yes, absolutely...!"]

As Alon recalled Penia nodding furiously, Evan continued.

"Seriously, though, what happened to make the deputy tower master obey you like that?"

Alon's expression grew peculiar.

'I don't really know myself.'

Now that he thought about it, he had known her for several years, yet he still had no idea why she followed his words so faithfully.

Still, the relationship did him no harm. More importantly, after so many years, this dynamic had naturally become established, and he thought it would look a little odd to ask about it now. That was why he had paid it no mind.

'... But perhaps I should ask indirectly, just once?'

As Alon considered this, still unable to understand why she obeyed him to such an extent...

The pirate lords sailing beside the White Moon, who governed the other six fleet isles under Radan apart from the First Fleet Isle, were clicking their tongues at Alon in displeasure.

"Tsk."

Luna Bloodsail, ruler of the Second Fleet Isle.

Sabina Ghostcrown, ruler of the Third Fleet Isle.

Tariq Thundercrush, ruler of the Fourth Fleet Isle.

Garrett Deathsea, ruler of the Fifth Fleet Isle.

Jackal Darksteel, ruler of the Sixth Fleet Isle.

All of them were loyal to Radan and commanded their respective isles' forces. Every one of them was watching Alon with an uneasy expression.

"Tsk. What the hell does the boss see in that petty noble to keep taking his side?"

At the words of the red-haired Luna Bloodsail, ruler of the Second Fleet Isle, the green-haired Tariq Thundercrush of the Fourth Fleet Isle spoke from beside her.

"I don't think you should speak so carelessly, but I agree on that point. Frankly—I don't like him."

"..."

"Agreed—"

"Same here."

Sabina Ghostcrown remained silent, while Garrett Deathsea and Jackal Darksteel nodded in agreement. They had not shown it when everyone gathered to attack the last fleet isle, but here, away from Radan, their discontent had grown considerably.

It was hardly surprising. The pirates resented Count Pallatio, who had suddenly appeared among their crew and begun enjoying Radan's favor.

Of course, rumors circulated even when one was holed up on these isles, so the pirates knew that Count Pallatio might not be just another petty noble. But those were only rumors.

"Doesn't all that sound made up to you?"

Like the other people Alon had encountered before, the pirates present did not believe those stories. Each of them possessed considerable skill in their own right.

"You said he only looks third- or fourth-tier, right?"

When one of the pirate lords asked Sabina, the only mage among them, she broke her silence with a nod.

"That's right. That's the most I'd give him. His mana capacity is second- to third-tier at best."

"... Tsk. Why does the boss keep sticking up for someone like that?"

Bloodsail muttered as though she could not understand it.

Tariq Thundercrush, who had merely been watching Count Pallatio until then, spoke up.

"Don't judge him by appearances alone. If rumors have spread that far, he may well have a trick up his sleeve."

"But she said he's third- or fourth-tier at best."

"There could be more to him. Not just one or two rumors, but so many follow him wherever he goes."

Bloodsail gave Tariq a skeptical look before replying.

"You don't seem to have much faith in the count yourself, though."

"..."

Tariq fell silent.

Despite what he had said, he, too, harbored doubts about Count Pallatio. Contrary to the rumors... the count did not seem particularly impressive.

Still, Tariq knew how foolish it was to judge someone solely by what showed on the surface.

"..."

Rather than answer Bloodsail, he looked back at Count Pallatio.

... Of course, a faint trace of distrust lingered in his eyes, just as it did in the other pirates'.

####

There was someone else who distrusted Count Pallatio—or, more precisely, still had unanswered questions about him.

Pelin Kraisinne.

Even if he had grown up studying nothing but magic in the Blue Magic Tower and knew little of rumors, he was not so ignorant that he had never heard those about Count Pallatio. Moreover, he had seen his only sister—a woman who could aptly be described as believing herself supreme in all heaven and earth—floundering before the count.

Yet he still could not shake his questions.

People naturally believed what they could see, and Count Pallatio felt terribly weak. Pelin could measure that with his own eyes. Yet the reactions around him consistently contradicted his judgment.

His revered sister, Penia Kraisinne, still fumbled nervously around the count, while the mages who had returned from the magic symposium praised Count Pallatio's greatness.

What he saw and how everyone reacted were completely at odds.

'What in the world is going on...?'

Just as Pelin's confusion over Count Pallatio was reaching its limit...

"It's the Sea Wolf!!"

The sudden shout snapped Pelin out of his thoughts, and he looked ahead.

Then he saw them: dozens upon dozens of pirate ships, silhouetted against the twilight, blocking the White Moon's path to the last fleet isle.

"Prepare for battle!"

Luna Bloodsail, ruler of the Second Fleet Isle, shouted, her leisurely expression gone.

"Prepare for battle!"

Relayed from voice to voice as though through a loudspeaker, the order spread among the pirates in an instant.

At that moment, something came into view for everyone, including Radan.

Tertogan stood on the deck of the ship at the center of the fleet. Then, as though everything had been prepared, he snapped his fingers.

"A trap!?"

"The fishfolk...!"

The other lords immediately frowned, their faces tense at the thought that they might have fallen into a trap. Strangely, however, nothing out of the ordinary happened after Tertogan snapped his fingers.

Just as the pirates began to wonder...

"Aaaagh!"

The sound came from the Blue Wolf.

A scream.

Not just one person's scream, but several. Radan and the lords were all puzzled.

Then, in the next instant—

"!"

They saw the slaughter unfolding aboard the Blue Wolf's many pirate ships—

No.

"..."

The feeding.

Radan.

The lords.

The pirates.

Count Pallatio and Evan.

Even Penia and Pelin. Everyone stared blankly at the scene.

Countless pirates were being devoured by fishfolk aboard the Blue Wolf's ships.

Heads were bitten off amid screams. Limbs were torn apart as their owners struggled desperately. Bloody foam rose where others had jumped overboard.

It was a scene of sheer, brutal slaughter.

To the White Moon, it could only look like a sudden outbreak of infighting. Amid the gruesome feeding, the water had become a sea of blood.

Tertogan, who had been smiling until moments before, seemed to have been waiting for precisely this. The instant all the pirates under his command were dead, he twisted his lips and raised the object.

"At last!!!"

His voice was steeped in madness.

At that moment—

CRRRAACK!

His body began to undergo a strange transformation.

CRRRAAASH!

"The sh-ship!"

The fishfolk that had devoured the Sea Wolf's pirates began swarming the White Moon's ships in an instant.

Then—

CRRRAAASH!!!

The ships began to sink.

####

"Aaaaaagh!"

"Here! This ship is sinking!"

"Do something—anything!"

A scene of utter chaos unfolded before Pelin's eyes. Ships were foundering and beginning to sink, pirates scrambled frantically, and—

CRUNCH!

Fierce battles raged both above and below the water.

Pelin frowned amid the chaos, where fishfolk's teeth took pirates' arms and, in return, the many blades thrust into them took the fishfolk's lives.

This was his first battle, and panic would have been only natural. Yet the cool judgment he had cultivated as a mage allowed him to cling to a sliver of reason. Even so, no matter how he considered it, the battle was going badly.

Pelin's gaze turned beneath the surface. More than dozens of fishfolk corpses burst from the sea with sprays of red blood before falling back into it.

It was the work of Radan, whose near-divine martial prowess Pelin knew well.

A single swing of his trident sent pillars of water surging upward, and a throw of his weapon pulverized fishfolk. His might was nothing short of astonishing.

Likewise, the pirate lords mercilessly slaughtering the fishfolk clambering onto the decks were powerful, even if they fell short of Radan.

Despite that, the battle still went badly.

'There are too many...!'

Pelin gritted his teeth.

Even as the man called the Sea King displayed his unbelievable might, the ships continued to sink. The fishfolk had come in such overwhelming numbers that even Radan's incredible abilities could not cover them all.

Given time, Radan and the lords were strong enough to kill every last fishfolk. Unfortunately, out on the sea, they were not afforded much time.

And before long—

"W-we're sinking!"

Just as he had feared, the fishfolk had done something beneath the hull, and Radan's ship soon listed sharply as well.

The moment Pelin felt the ship about to capsize and squeezed his eyes shut, he heard a quiet voice.

"Bitter Cold."

Everything came to an abrupt halt.

"...?"

Then—

'It's... cold?'

Feeling the chill of the air filling his lungs, Pelin cautiously opened his tightly shut eyes, his expression dazed.

Then he saw it.

Ice stretched out beneath the collapsing ship.

"..."

Pelin stared blankly at the sight.

No, he was not the only one.

The pirates who had been screaming moments before.

The pirate lords who had been slaughtering the fishfolk.

All of them were watching the scene.

The ice that had formed around the ships had spread across the sea.

The fishfolk leaping toward the ships had frozen.

The sinking ships had frozen.

The sea of blood, stained crimson, had frozen.

And at its center stood a man, his back to the twilight.

Clad in an ink-black coat, with gray and ink-black mana coiling around his left hand, he watched the grotesquely transforming Tertogan with an impassive gaze, as though this situation stirred no emotion in him—

Count Pallatio.

"..."

He stood aloof upon the frozen sea of blood.