Sea Monster Stew Chapter 4

The captain, as if he had expected it, nonchalantly twisted his hand and pulled hard on Kisa’s ear.

“Just because you dodged my punch doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.”

 

“Ah, I told you not to grab my ear!”

 

“I wondered why you suddenly volunteered to clean the captain’s quarters. So you were planning to sneak in and steal that girl’s necklace?”

 

“Wasn’t it you who took it from her in the first place?”

 

Kisa snorted and brushed off Captain Hawk’s hand.

“I just returned it to its owner. What’s wrong with that?”

 

“Since when did you become so uncharacteristically kind?”

 

Captain Hawk chuckled and pinched Kisa’s cheek.

“All I asked you to do was keep an eye on the girl.”

 

Kisa recalled the skinny girl who had been nervously hovering around him. Her disheveled golden hair, frightened pale face, and the way she stared at him with wide green eyes despite being completely cowed.

 

Though she was a pitiful, shabby little thing, somehow she reminded him of his dead younger sister. That’s why he had gone so far as to volunteer to sweep and clean the captain’s quarters. Kisa fidgeted with his calloused hands and let out a scoff.

 

“Calling her a ‘young lady’? She’s just a kid.”

 

“Don’t change the subject, you brat.”

 

The captain laughed roughly and messed up Kisa’s hair.

“She’s not that young. In her homeland, the Helio Empire, she’s actually at the prime marriageable age.”

 

“You even know her age and hometown!? For a slave we rescued?”

 

“Well~?”

 

Captain Hawk wiggled his eyebrows playfully before probing with a question.

“So, what did you think of that girl, Kisa?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Did she seem like a monster disguised as a human?”

 

Kisa shook his head as he walked alongside him.

“She’s definitely not a monster, but there was something… off about her.”

 

She didn’t carry the distinct fishy odor of sea monsters, but the blonde girl subtly exuded an otherness that he hadn’t sensed in the other slaves.

 

“Something off? Kisa, you…” Captain Hawk stared intently at Kisa, lost in thought, then grinned.

“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her?”

 

‘Fallen for her? That grubby little kid? Me?’ Kisa recalled the girl’s disheveled appearance and dazed expression, then let out a defiant snort.
“Are you insane? Only someone with a screw loose would fall for a snot-nosed brat like that.”

 

Captain Hawk laughed heartily and slung an arm around Kisa’s shoulders. He pulled him toward the captain’s quarters and whispered,
“Well, your secret mission ends here. Time to return to being ‘Live-Skinner Kisa’.“

 

“Already?”

 

“Look there.”

 

Where the captain pointed, a stark red reef jutted out of the water. It was a sign they were nearly at the Karabas Archipelago. Kisa gazed at the approaching reef, lost in thought.

 

“If I suddenly disappear, won’t that girl find it strange?”

 

“Since when did you care about that while skinning and roaming around?”

 

The captain chuckled, patting Kisa’s shoulder. He wasn’t wrong. Kisa nodded silently and summoned the giant’s hide into the air.

 

The skinned hide of a giant, clad in dark blue armor, stood imposingly on the deck as if alive. The broad back of the giant, with its long black beard, stretched wide. Captain Hawk whistled as he inspected the hollow interior of the giant’s body.

 

“That face is always terrifying to see, no matter how many times I look.”

 

“I deliberately picked a fearsome one to skin.”

 

Kisa stepped inside the giant’s hide and quietly closed the back. Simultaneously, the giant’s eyes snapped open.

 

“Ugh… Finally, the tedious mission is over.”

 

In his giant form, Kisa stretched and turned toward his private quarters.

 

‘I can finally get some proper rest.’ He hummed a tune, stepping lightly. The grimy blonde girl’s face was already fading from his memory.

 

A few hours later, the ship arrived near Karabas, but the gray-haired boy who had been taken by the captain still hadn’t reappeared.

 

Eventually, Bicche decided to search for the boy herself and mustered the courage to go up to the deck. Captain Hawk was directing sailors moving cargo. She cautiously approached and spoke to him.

 

“Um, Captain…?”

 

“Hmm? What is it, young lady?”

 

“That boy you took away earlier… where did he go?”

 

“Ah, that kid.”

 

The captain pointed with his fingertip at another pirate ship following in the distance.

“I sent him to another admiral’s ship. You probably won’t see him again.”

 

‘Sent to another ship? Why suddenly?’ Just as she was about to voice the mountain of questions piling up, a sharp scream rang out from somewhere.

 

“That brat… He’s finally caused trouble.”

 

The captain clicked his tongue and turned around. Bicche instinctively looked toward the sound as well—and quickly covered her mouth with both hands. A pool of bright red blood was spreading across the deck.

 

In its center lay a long-necked sea monster, split in half. The monster was massive, easily large enough to swallow a grown man whole.

 

Beside the pool of the sea monster’s blood stood a burly giant of a man. With his furrowed black eyebrows, he looked extremely fearsome.

 

The captain shouted at him.

 

“Kisa! What is the meaning of this?!”

 

“This thing bit the helmsman’s arm off, Captain.”

 

The giant shook the blood off his sword and jerked his chin toward the sea monster’s corpse. Bicche trembled as she looked at the lifeless body.

 

Clearly, a large shackle had been fastened around the monster’s neck. It seemed they had kept this sea monster alive to help with moving cargo.

 

“We can’t bring disobedient livestock to Karabas,” the giant said in an indifferent voice.

 

Bicche blinked as she stared at the monster’s corpse. This was the first time she had witnessed a sea monster being brutally slaughtered. The scene was more shocking than she could have imagined, and her body stiffened rigidly.

 

Then, she made eye contact with the giant as he sheathed his sword. He looked at her sideways for a moment before turning away abruptly.

 

As she stared blankly at his broad back, her body slowly tilted to the side. The captain quickly spread his arms and caught her.

 

“Hey, young lady! Get a hold of yourself! Hey!”

 

He shook her urgently, but Bicche gradually lost consciousness, as if being sucked into darkness.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Bicche slowly opened her eyes in the cozy blanket. A soft warmth enveloped her entire body, and the first thing she saw was the flames flickering in the brazier.

 

When her gaze fell on the young man reading a book beside it, she was so startled she almost stopped breathing.

 

‘Is he a pirate too…?’

 

Wary, she pulled the blanket tighter and curled up. The man was unbelievably handsome for a pirate.

 

His jet-black hair shone like silk, and his crimson eyes were as clear and vivid as burning flames. His appearance exuded a mysterious aura that seemed utterly disconnected from the violent world of pirates.

 

“You’re awake.”

 

The man closed his book and spoke in a calm voice. Though his expression was indifferent, his tone was soft and kind, as if addressing a child.

 

Bicche cautiously looked around. Besides the white bed she was lying on, three or four other beds were lined up.

 

“Wh-where is this…?”

 

“The infirmary,” the man said.

 

He slowly reached out and placed his fingertips on Bicche’s forehead, as if checking her temperature. His hand was ice-cold, yet it held a strange power that somehow calmed her.

 

“I heard you fainted at the sight of the monster’s blood. Is that true?”

 

Bicche nodded slightly. Then, in a hoarse voice, she managed to ask, “But… who are you…?”

 

“The pirate crew’s resident mage, Hildert.”

 

Captain Hawk’s voice came from a short distance away. He was standing in the doorway of the infirmary, arms crossed, watching Bicche.

 

“Though why a high mage from Wichoa ended up becoming a pirate is beyond me.”

 

“You still look pale. You should rest a bit more.”

 

Hildert extended his hand and channeled a cold energy into Bicche’s mind. She looked at the captain with wary eyes before gradually drifting back to sleep.

 

Hildert observed the deeply sleeping girl, falling into a turmoil of emotions. When the captain had rushed into the infirmary and dumped the girl here, he had been flooded with absurdity and fatigue.

 

‘Having to treat a mere lowly slave girl with my own hands.’ It was a moment that shattered the pride of a high mage.

 

“Drop the tone like you’re talking to a child.”

 

The captain chided Hildert as he looked at the deeply sleeping girl.

“This young lady is seventeen—a grown adult.”

 

Hildert examined the girl’s face with surprised eyes. With her chubby, youthful face and small frame, she didn’t look seventeen at all.

 

“By the way, didn’t you say you needed a human assistant before?”

 

“…You remembered.”

 

“What about this young lady? She looks perfect for an assistant.”

 

Hildert looked the girl over again at the captain’s words. He observed her with a frown, then showed a puzzled expression.

 

An anomalous yet unique energy was seeping from the girl’s small body. It wasn’t human.

 

It was clearly the distinct, fishy magical energy of sea monsters—something he had long studied and never ceased to despise.

 

‘…And a hybrid, no less.’

 

He wrinkled his nose as if smelling rotten fish. Instead of the gentle concern he had shown earlier, cold disgust now clouded his eyes.

 

“This child… Are you certain she’s an ordinary human?”

 

“If she were a sea monster, Kisa would have already beheaded her.”

 

The captain answered firmly, making a slicing motion across his own neck.

“I deliberately placed Kisa near her. The fact that her head is still attached proves she’s an ordinary human.”

 

The magical energy the girl emitted was too faint. It was natural that Kisa, who had never formally learned magic, hadn’t detected it.

 

‘A hybrid even the Live-Skinner Kisa didn’t notice… She’ll make a fine research subject.’

 

The faint sympathy that had welled up in him vanished completely. Hildert made a cold decision and nodded.

 

“Very well. I’ll take this child as my assistant.”

 

A faint smile spread across his lips as he tucked the blanket around the girl. It was a smile mixed with subtle contempt and curiosity.