Sea Monster Stew Chapter 43

‘That’s right. I’ve heard there are many eccentrics among pirates who stuff and mount our kin or skin them to make spectacles,’ Fui added, nodding vigorously.

‘A creature who was captured and taken to the Crocus pirate crew with me also had its skin peeled off by Raw-Skinned Kisa and turned into a decoration.’

 

“I’ve heard of that one’s notorious reputation too. But I heard ‘Raw-Skinned Kisa’ intensely despises sea creatures and doesn’t even use them as decorations?”

 

‘Ah, that dead one was a land monster. A deer-like creature with huge antlers.’

 

Biche blinked blankly as she listened to Fui and Calante’s conversation. 

 

Various words tangled complexly in her mind. Crocus pirate crew. Taxidermy. Decoration. Land monster with huge antlers.

And… Raw-Skinned Kisa.

 

At that moment, she felt something hot trickling down her cheek. 

 

Calante, who had been talking with Fui, saw her face and his eyes widened.

 

“Why are you suddenly crying?”

 

“…Huh?”

She muttered dazedly and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. 

 

As he said, tears stained her hand. Tears were streaming down her chin, dripping steadily.

It was strange. She wasn’t sad at all, but tears kept flowing. Even though nothing was heartbreaking, her chest ached. 

 

She hurriedly wiped her tears and clutched her chest with trembling fingertips.

“I don’t know. It’s just… this area hurts…”

“You don’t have some chronic illness, do you? Yesterday you were complaining about your heart feeling strange too.”

“No. Hildert said my body was too healthy for its own good…”

“Hildert?” Calante frowned.

“Don’t tell me you mean the Vice-Captain and First Mage of the Crocus pirate crew?”

 

“Yes. I was his assistant.”

 

As Biche nodded blankly, he pressed his fingers to his forehead and muttered as if uttering a short complaint.

“Damn it… Why did it have to be him…?”

“Why…?”

Surprised by his reaction, his jaw tightening, Biche subtly tried to gauge the situation. 

 

Fui spat out a fish and said, ‘It’s because that mage Hildert took Master’s pet monsters and turned them into familiars!’

“Pets…? You mean monster-type sea creatures like you?”

‘Yes. There were nine others besides me, and Hildert took them all and killed them.’

“H-how can you make familiars out of creatures that are already dead?”

 

“He fills the empty bodies with demons bound to him by contract, turning them into familiars.”

 

Calante swallowed an irritated sigh and shook his head.

“It’s a familiar technique only high-level mages like him can perform. He’s even more despicable than Raw-Skinned Kisa, who breathes life into empty skins.”

He narrowed his eyes, staring at Biche, and asked.

“You didn’t, as his assistant, help Hildert turn my cute pet monsters into familiars, did you?”

“No. I swear on the sea, I never did such a terrible thing.”

Biche shook her head urgently. Then, suddenly noticing something odd, she quietly furrowed her brow.

“Wait a moment… Something’s strange. While living on the main island, I never once saw a familiar made from a monster-type sea creature.”

“That can’t be right.”

Calante also furrowed his brow like her.

“The pet monsters he kidnapped from me were large species easily capable of swallowing a whole ship. They weren’t a size you could hide anywhere.”

‘And it wasn’t just Master! My friends also had their pet monsters taken by that mage!’ Fui’s eyes widened as he slid into the boat. 

 

The boat tilted to one side from Fui’s weight. Barely keeping her balance, Biche asked, “How many are we talking about?”

 

“Easily over thirty.”

Calante moved to balance the boat as he answered.

“That’s a force large enough to easily topple a small country. For reference, I heard the number of monster-type sea creatures that destroyed the Paleon Kingdom in the past was only eight.”

“That’s impossible…”

Biche blankly searched her memory. 

 

Monster-type sea creatures large enough to easily swallow a ship. And not just one, but easily over thirty familiars made from such creatures.

If Hildert had that many troops under his command, Captain Hawk would surely have used the familiars as vanguards when annihilating enemies in naval battles.

Yet, she had never heard any stories about the Crocus pirate crew employing monster-type sea creatures.

“It seemed like none of the pirates knew Hildert had created such familiars. Even Captain Hawk seemed completely unaware…”

“He must have hidden those mountain-sized creatures deep in the sea.”

“But the familiars Hildert had on the main island were mostly small, cute ones…”

 

Biche recalled the familiars that used to follow her around in the forms of small bear dolls, squirrels, and piglets.

It was only recently that Hildert started keeping large beasts as familiars; until then, he had only kept small, insignificant beings as familiars.

He had no choice. For Hildert, familiars were merely servants for menial tasks. 

 

But familiars made from beasts and monster-type sea creatures were, by any measure, not servants but ‘troops.’

“Why on earth would he do that? If Captain Hawk found out he’d been hiding the existence of familiars that are practically weapons of mass destruction…”

“He’d become shark bait. I hear pirates tie up traitors and throw them to the sharks.”

 

Calante shook his head, his face full of indignation.

“Good thing you escaped at the right time. If you’d stayed on the pirate island, you’d surely have been caught up in the war and lost your life.”

 

“What do you mean? What war?”

“It’s obvious. That young mage, your former master.”

He picked up the oars he had set aside one by one and said coldly.

“That guy has finished preparing to seize Captain Hawk’s position.”

 

* * *

 

At dim dawn, Biche and Calante arrived at the eastern beach of Coral Bay, within the territory of Count Fion. 

 

Fui lay sprawled inside the small boat that Calante had pulled ashore.

‘Take care. I’ll wait here.’

Biche planted her feet deep in the white sand, suppressing the rising heaviness in her chest. 

 

Her homeland, returned to after five years, was unchanged.

 

The wind, mingling the scent of the sea and young grass, brushed past her cheeks. 

 

Beyond the fir forest encircling the low hill, the outline of a massive mansion appeared as if floating.

“This way.”

Calante tilted his head, watching Biche stride ahead confidently. 

 

He looked around the fir forest hiding the mansion and frowned.

“This is…”

“It’s the territory of Count Fion, my mother’s husband.”

Biche pointed with her fingertip towards the sunrise-colored roof peeking over the fir forest.

“I grew up in the Count’s summer villa. Instead of casting out my mother, who fell for a sea creature, the Count allowed her to live safely in that mansion, hidden from prying eyes.”

“That’s remarkable. Protecting a wife who committed adultery with a mermaid… It seems the Count truly loved your mother.”

“Still, judging by the fact he never granted me the Fion surname, I don’t think he intended to hide the fact that my mother bore an illegitimate child.”

“No matter how much he loved his wife, he probably couldn’t bring himself to introduce a half-breed into his family line.”

She didn’t know. Could that even be called love? Was it not just shallow pity and pride that led him to that choice?

As Biche dared to guess Count Fion’s feelings, she tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

The forest path was too desolate and quiet. 

 

The fallen leaves underfoot were damp, and the mist flowing between the trees carried a gloomy air.

“It’s strange. The fir forest in my memory was a very warm space full of birdsong. But now… it’s too quiet.”

“Perhaps you idealized the memory because you missed it so much?”

“Is that it…?”

 

Tilting her head, the moment they emerged from the forest, the mansion backed by a small lake came into view. 

 

Biche was startled upon seeing the mansion covered in brittle ivy.

The outer walls were weathered by wind and rain, and the window frames were shabby, their paint completely peeled. 

 

Moreover, there was no sign of human presence at all.

“It seems it’s been abandoned for a long time.”

When Calante pushed the rusted main gate with his palm, the large iron gate slid inward with a creak. 

 

The two passed through the desolate, unkempt garden and approached the mansion.