Sea Monster Stew Chapter 3

The bluntly delivered explanation pierced Bicche’s heart like a finely honed blade. She muttered in a trembling voice,

“…You don’t mean humanoid sea monsters, do you?”

 

“Huh? I’m not sure about that part, but…” The boy scratched his cheek with a puzzled expression. “Probably? Since they look human and even talk, it must’ve felt disgusting and unsettling, like she’d committed cannibalism.”

 

“…”

 

“The wife couldn’t forgive herself for being satisfied after eating such a filthy monster.”

 

The fear and sorrow welling inside Bicche grew steadily. Her heart began to pound as if it might leap out of her chest. The boy’s casually tossed words kept clawing at her heart.

 

‘Would I have felt nothing hearing this if I were just an ordinary human?’

 

The more she dwelled on the riddle, the more her heart ached. Bicche identified as both human and sea monster. Thus, the riddle treating her kind as mere dirty lumps of meat felt like a sharp dagger.

 

Doubts about herself resurfaced. She agonized over the suspicion directed at her existence—neither fully human nor fully monster.

 

‘I can never truly blend in with humans.’

 

As she crawled back under the blanket, newly aware of her predicament, the boy tapped her shoulder and asked, “Not fun?”

 

Bicche defiantly pulled the blanket over her head. “Not fun.”

 

“Really? The pirate uncles all laughed and said it was thrilling when they heard it.” The boy mumbled awkwardly. Though he had intended to cheer her up, the eerie riddle only made her feel more complicated.

 

A moment later, she sensed a slight movement outside the blanket. Bicche lowered it slightly with a confused look.

 

The boy was lying on his side beside the blanket, staring intently at her with his amber eyes. Startled by his sudden action, Bicche instinctively flinched.

 

“Wh-What are you doing? Go back to your spot.”

 

“You still haven’t answered my question. I asked why you were crying earlier.”

 

Bicche looked at him flustered. First, he tells a horrifying riddle to cheer her up, and now he lies stubbornly beside her, determined to find out why she was crying.

 

He was an utterly unpredictable boy. She felt that evading the question or lying would be pointless. After hesitating briefly, she cautiously spoke.

 

“…My mother…”

 

“Okay. Your mother.”

 

The boy echoed her words in a slightly kinder voice. His gaze was no longer cold or indifferent. Unexpected warmth mingled in his amber eyes as he stared at her. His calm expression felt comforting.

 

“There was a precious locket necklace my mother gave me…” Bicche confessed in a trembling voice. The boy listened silently.

 

“Captain Hawk took it… and still hasn’t returned it.”

 

“Captain Hawk?” The boy asked, puzzled. Bicche recalled the moment the captain snatched the necklace and burst into tears.

 

Even when she begged, saying it was precious, the captain ignored her, merely examining the locket intently.

 

“I thought he’d return it when we disembarked on Sanshakrit Island…” Bicche mumbled, wiping her tears. The helplessness she felt when the necklace was taken made her nose sting again.

 

“So he didn’t let you off the island and still hasn’t returned your necklace.” The boy muttered blankly before suddenly springing to his feet. Bicche panicked as she watched him stride toward the door.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going to confront the captain.” The boy glanced back at her over his shoulder. “With luck, you might get your necklace back.”

 

His voice held a resolute determination. His initial indifference had completely vanished.

 

“Wait, if you provoke him for no reason…!”

 

Bicche scrambled up and rushed toward the door, but the boy had already slipped out. She peeked outside and looked around, but the long corridor was empty.

 

By the next morning, the boy still hadn’t returned. Even as Bicche changed into clean clothes brought by a sailor and filled her stomach with a warm meal, he was nowhere to be seen.

 

‘Could he have been severely punished by the captain?’

 

Her anxiety refused to settle. Though he was just a stranger whose name she didn’t even know, the subtle connection they shared kept troubling her heart.

 

Unable to suppress her worry, she cautiously asked the sailor who brought her food.

 

“Um… I haven’t seen the boy who was brought back onboard with me since yesterday.”

 

“Huh? Oh, you mean the lanky kid?” The sailor nodded as if remembering. “He’s working as a hand in the captain’s quarters. But why?”

 

“I was worried since he suddenly disappeared…”

 

Bicche breathed a sigh of relief. At least he hadn’t been fed to the sharks. But her anxiety didn’t fully dissipate.

 

“Um, where is this ship headed now?”

 

“Huh? Didn’t the captain tell you?” The sailor scratched his tousled hair and answered offhandedly. “We’ll soon arrive at the Karabas Archipelago.”

 

“Karabas…?”

 

The name made her breath catch. Bicche’s eyes widened.

 

‘Karabas.’ It was the infamous stronghold of the Crocus Pirates. Her slim hope shattered completely.

 

As soon as the sailor left, Bicche buried her face in her hands. Her chest tightened painfully.

 

‘They say the Crocus Pirates value chivalry? What a lie!’

 

She seethed inwardly, swallowing her frustration. Her faint trust in the pirate crew had shattered to pieces.

 

‘I have to escape.’

 

As if entranced, she rose and approached the round window in the crew quarters. Beyond it, the blue sea waves surged.

 

Firmly resolved, she placed one knee on the windowsill. Now, the only way was to leap into the sea and swim aimlessly.

 

Though she didn’t have gills yet, the sea monster blood in her veins might protect her.

 

“What are you doing?!”

 

At that moment, a voice made her jolt. The gray-haired boy appeared, firmly grabbing her from behind.

 

“Are you insane? Were you trying to kill yourself?!”

 

He pulled her away from the window, his voice mixed with anger and confusion. Dangling in the air, Bicche muttered awkwardly, “I was trying to escape from here…”

 

“What? You were going to run away and leave me behind? How treacherous!”

 

He set her down roughly among the hammocks, his expression fierce. “You traitor. I thought we were comrades.”

 

Though his tone was fierce and rough, his twisted face couldn’t hide his disappointment. He seemed genuinely betrayed by Bicche’s attempt to leave without a word.

 

Bicche bowed her head deeply, avoiding his gaze. “Sorry…”

 

“All my back-breaking work to get this back feels wasted now.”

 

He sighed shallowly and held out a silver necklace to her. Bicche’s eyes widened at the sight of the swinging round locket. It was her mother’s necklace, taken by Captain Hawk.

 

“How did you…?”

 

“I got it back in exchange for polishing the captain’s quarters floor spotless.”

 

As he fastened the necklace for her, he looked like an angel. Tears welled in Bicche’s eyes as she looked up at him.

 

It was the first warm kindness she’d felt since being kidnapped onto the slave ship. A warm emotion bloomed in her chest.

 

Overcome with emotion, she pulled him into a tight hug. He looked down at her, flustered, as she buried her face in his chest.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Thank you so much…” Bicche mumbled, trying to compose herself.

 

He hesitated, then carefully pushed her away. “That’s enough. Step back.”

 

Bicche obediently stepped back, wiping her tear-soaked face. When she glanced up, the boy’s face was bright red, his ears and neck flushed. It seemed he wasn’t immune to this kind of embrace either.

 

“I returned your necklace, so stop your blubbering.” He grumbled, comfortably lying on a nearby hammock. Bicche clutched the locket tightly and approached the hammock.

 

Now that she thought about it, though they’d been captured together on the pirate ship, they still didn’t know each other’s names. She wondered about the name of the benefactor who had retrieved her precious necklace.

 

“What’s your name? Where’s your hometown?”

 

When Bicche cautiously asked, the boy clasped his hands behind his head as a pillow and shut his eyes firmly.

 

“…I have no home or family to return to.”

 

Bicche’s heart sank at his answer. She worried she might have touched a painful subject.

 

‘But at least his name…’

 

However, his tightly closed eyes held irritation, making it difficult to ask further.

 

At that moment, the door burst open, and Captain Hawk appeared. Bicche hurriedly tucked the locket necklace into her collar.

 

“Come out.”

 

The captain didn’t even glance at the startled Bicche, jerking his chin toward the door. His eyes, filled with anger, remained fixed on the gray-haired boy.

 

“Let’s go, then.”

 

The boy sighed and leaped down from the hammock. The captain glared at him as he left the room before turning to Bicche.

 

“Sorry to startle you. Rest well.”

 

With that, the door slammed shut.

 

 

* * *

 

 

As he stepped onto the deck, the sound of slapping waves greeted him. Kisa yawned lazily, stretching his arms across the wide railing. The moment he turned toward the noisy stern—

 

“Kisa, you brat!”

 

A fist came flying from behind with a whoosh. Kisa tilted his head familiarly, dodging the punch Captain Hawk had thrown.