Ch#33
A massive ship hull appeared, filling the pier with surging waves.
Tiye turned her head, her brows furrowing.
“……Ugh. Villain showed up again.”
Atop the dizzying height, gripping the mast, was Kal.
He looked down with a sleazy grin.
“You’re not thinking of tackling that Mana Stone on your own, are you? Just in case, I’m telling you—I called dibs on it first!”
“That’s right! The first to subjugate a Mana Stone rising from the sea will be our Kal!”
It was then that the <Death Hound> mercenaries chimed in one after another, bursting into taunting laughter.
“Didn’t ask but why’re you here……”
Tiye muttered with a sulky face.
A few <Death Hound> mercenaries flinched.
‘Didn’t ask’ sounded just like a spell.
But in the meantime, Tiye slapped her hand on her hip and looked up at the huge ship.
“Go ahead! Have at it, ugly Kal!”
At ‘ugly,’ a vein popped on Kal’s forehead.
But Tiye kept going.
“This Necrolord hereby graciously yields that Mana Stone to you, the ugly one!”
Murmurs spread among the <Death Hound> mercenaries.
And rightly so—they’d assumed Agabert would go for the Mana Stone subjugation.
Yet here they were, yielding it to Death Hound?
“Go right ahead! Of course, I’d love it if you ugly thing sank kkororok to the seabed! But subjugating the Mana Stone’ll be cool instead! The townsfolk’ll be thrilled!!”
Kal’s hand trembled slightly on the mast.
‘That little shit, is she messing with me right now?’
Anything else, but how else with that speech pattern?
And yet her expression was so serious and solemn, somehow making it even more infuriating.
Kal forced a twisted smile and shot back.
“All that tough talk, huh. So you’re chickening out after all? That’s all your mercenary group’s got, eh?!”
“Yup! How’d you know!”
But once again, an unexpected reply came.
For some reason, the Necrolord was scratching her head quite proudly.
“We only got four members still! So if a T-Rex-lookin’ monster pops out, it’s a lil scary!”
“……”
“But you ugly have lotsa members, so you’ll be fine! Your ship looks super cool too now that I see it! Fighting!”
Kal’s face went blank.
While he stared down at the Necrolord, speechless, she turned away from him without a hint of hesitation.
As if she’d lost all interest in him.
Then she waved to Basto and Veil like ‘See ya later~!’ and amiably took the Governor’s hand.
“Governor lady~ Let’s head to the Governance Hall without gettin’ wet~?”
It was the complete opposite of how she’d treated him.
‘That’s an act……?’
If so, she was truly, genuinely creepy as hell.
“U-Unit Leader. What do we do?”
Vice-leader Recar whispered from the side.
Kal glared at the Necrolord’s retreating back, trembling, and spat through gritted teeth.
“Leave ‘em be. It’s no loss for us.”
“Then the plan you mentioned earlier……”
“We proceed as is.”
Kal’s eyes shifted from the Necrolord to Basto.
Basto was busily preparing the helm on a ship smaller than Kal’s.
“……Annoying bastard. This time, I’ll kill him for good.”
He’d given him chances plenty of times, but Basto had ignored them all.
If he’d swallowed his pride and followed obediently, it wouldn’t have come to this.
“After sunset, proceed as ordered.”
Kal planned to kill Basto during the chaos.
With Basto dead, Agabert and the Necrolord would take a huge hit too—one stone, two birds.
‘He mainly acted as frontline fighter.’
Frontline fighters were vital human resources for any mercenary group.
Especially for a brand-new group—they’d suffer massive losses losing one.
“No Necrolord to interfere either—perfect.”
Preparations were already complete.
Watching Basto haul up the anchor, Kal grinned.
* * *
“What the hell are those guys doing?”
Veil scowled, gripping the shaking ship’s railing.
Through the fierce rain and wind, a massive ship trailed them at a steady distance.
A crewman beside him answered.
“Not sure. They said they’d subjugate the Mana Stone once the rift opens—maybe scouting ahead?”
“Then go near the Mana Stone, not chase our asses. They ain’t desperate dogs needin’ to take a shit!”
At Veil’s irritated voice, the crewmen glanced nervously at him, but Basto spoke up from nearby.
“Ignore them, Veil. Our goal is the Governor’s two sons.”
He gripped the helm, scanning the surroundings busily.
“Keep securing the perimeter. Mr. Mactaren, Mr. Jin—check for any distress signals.”
The crewmen moved briskly.
Their ship had been slowly circling Pearl City’s coast for a bit now.
To check if Raoul and Enzo’s boat might’ve anchored on some deserted shore.
But there were no signs of Raoul or Enzo anywhere.
“Just in case…… look for bodies too.”
Veil nodded without replying.
‘If they’re dead, they’d have drifted away by now.’
Still, he planned to put in as much effort as possible for the Governor desperately searching for her kids.
“Nothin’ nearby for now. Wanna check behind too, but……”
Veil muttered, then spat another curse.
“Goddamn assholes, where the hell’d they get such a stupidly huge ship?! Not helping and blocking our view!”
“Looks like they bought up a whole passenger ship. One of their shipowners bolted first thing this morning—probably his.”
“Driving me nuts, seriously. Visibility’s shit from the weather already, and that ship’s blocking it……”
Unable to take it, Veil stomped off somewhere.
He climbed the stern using ropes, then yelled loudly at Kal’s pursuing ship.
“Scram! Get lost—!!”
A reply came from across, but Veil didn’t even try to hear it, veins bulging.
“What’re you yappin’—! Just get off our tail?! Move! Didn’t you hear me say move now, huh?!”
Then he pointed to his left by his standards—the sea where the Mana Stone had risen.
“God, are you blind?! Your target’s over there! That Mana Stone……”
That instant, Veil shut his mouth.
Frozen for a moment, he jumped down from the stern with a serious face and started climbing the mast next.
Reaching the crow’s nest, his expression went blank.
Soon, breaking the silence, Veil yelled down.
“Basto! It’s the Mana Stone!”
Basto looked up, frowning.
The crewmen stared at Veil like what’s new,
“There’s a ship anchored to the Mana Stone! Fierce currents over there—it’s about to drift away!!”
Finally grasping it, Basto quickly turned the helm.
A crewman securing view with binoculars shouted.
“I-It’s true! Waves make it hard to see, but something really is hanging off the Mana Stone! Like a small fishing boat……!”
Veil came down from the mast.
Turning, he saw Kal’s ship had turned too, following theirs.
Veil muttered.
“Basto. Those guys seem kinda off, don’t they?”
“What about.”
“Just a weird vibe. Chasing us like this too.”
“I know.”
“Sunset soon. If it gets dark……”
Basto’s expression darkened.
As Veil said, at sunset the Mana Stone’s rift would open.
Then bizarre monsters would pour out.
A sea Mana Stone being unprecedented, no telling what might emerge.
“Shouldn’t we bail now? To me, this feels like……”
“You said two years old. When you got separated from your parents.”
Veil shut his mouth.
“My Lilia never separated from me once until she was seven. Not even once.”
