Sea Monster Stew Chapter 52

Orca stared at the portrait for a long time.

 

“To think this guy was the real Live-Skinner Kisa…”

Hearing his mutter, Camilla glanced at the newspaper and her eyes widened.

“My goodness… Is this Admiral Kisa’s real face? Truly?”

“It says he usually lived hidden inside the giant’s hide he controlled.”

Orca ground his teeth, lightly crumpling the portrait of Live-Skinner Kisa with his fingertip.

 

“Who would have thought such a pretty boy was pretending to be an old giant?”

“It’s a relief he looks young in his true form.”

Camilla let out a sigh of relief, smoothing her chest.

“He looks about the same age as the young lady the Admiral left behind, doesn’t he? I thought the Admiral was creepily involved with a girl young enough to be his daughter, and figured the old man had finally lost it.”

Listening to Camilla’s rambling, Orca’s expression grew increasingly distorted, but she obliviously adjusted her glasses, her eyes sparkling.

 

“That young lady from the Ducal house that Admiral Kisa left behind… She must have survived safely and heard this news by now, right?”

“…She must have survived safely.”

Orca recalled the woman standing on the deck railing on that stormy night and wrinkled his brow.

 

“Even if she’s a half-breed, she is a sea creature.”

“Then she must have survived that stormy sea safely, but how sad would she be to learn that her lover, Admiral Kisa, has ended up like this?”

“Why are you so sure? They might not have been lovers.”

“The way the Admiral looked at that young lady was truly affectionate.”

Camilla tapped Kisa’s face in the newspaper with her finger and sighed.

“If the Admiral, free from the giant’s hide, and the young lady stood side by side, they would have been such a picturesque pair. What a shame it turned out this way. That young lady was really beautiful too…”

Camilla, who had been sighing with her arms crossed, suddenly jerked her head up. Her face was shocked, her lips moving.

 

“Wait a minute… doesn’t that make no sense? How could Live-Skinner Kisa, who utterly despises sea creatures, possibly l-l-love… that young lady?”

Instead of answering, Orca scanned the newspaper once more with his eyes. He glared at Kisa’s handsome face and gritted his teeth again.

The more plausible this guy looked, the more he disliked him. 

 

It irked him somehow, thinking that this pirate, fancying himself a man, had sent his own woman fleeing outside Karabas just before the crisis.

 

While a deep part of him burned hot, a question kept circling in a corner of his mind.

‘Camilla is right. Was Live-Skinner Kisa and that woman really lovers? Is it possible for a man who hates sea creatures that much to hold her in his heart?’

 

Orca, who had been pondering for a while holding his now-warm ale glass, came to his own conclusion. 

 

That woman must have thoroughly hidden her true nature from Live-Skinner Kisa.

Orca unconsciously bit his lip. 

 

The characteristic bitterness of the ale mixed with a subtle taste of blood.

An inexplicable displeasure lingered on the tip of his tongue for a long time.

‘Displeasure?’

Orca found the word he had thought of himself amusing and let out a hollow laugh. 

 

‘Displeasure? How ridiculous.’

 

At first, he thought his irritation stemmed from the displeasure of an old giant meddling with a young woman. 

 

But when he learned that Live-Skinner Kisa was a handsome young man, the displeasure only deepened.

Just the imagination that the two might have really been lovers made a corner of his heart ache sharply.

“…Damn it.”

Orca deliberately gulped down the ale to swallow his sigh. 

 

Camilla, turning the newspaper page, let out the sigh Orca had swallowed for him.

 

“Even though the captain has changed, to think the Crocus pirate fleet would become Helio’s privateers too… Is this sea now completely falling into the Empire’s grasp?”

“…It was bound to happen someday anyway.”

 

Orca answered, setting his ale glass down with a thud.

“The age of pirates is over. We need to prepare for new winds too.”

He turned his head towards the window. Heavy raindrops were already beating against the glass pane.

It rained like this that day too. He thought idly, then stood up, crumpling Kisa’s portrait wretchedly. Camilla’s eyes widened.

“Where are you going?”

 

“To the Helio Empire.”

“Huh? Suddenly?”

“I need to find out the reason for this damnable displeasure.”

Orca pushed open the inn door and stepped out into the driving rain. 

 

Striding decisively towards the harbor where his ship was docked, he firmly resolved.

 

He would definitely uncover the source of this displeasure.

But the love between a half-breed with monster blood and a pirate? He would absolutely not get involved in that turbulent whirlpool.

 

* * *

 

Biche hadn’t been able to sleep for days now. 

 

Thoughts of Calante and Fui imprisoned in the dungeon, Count Fion being dragged away like hunted prey, and her mother’s death kept her from sleep.

Blinking her cloudy, bloodshot eyes, she curled up on the bed. 

 

The sound of the guards chatting in low voices came from beyond the closed door. 

 

The Duke had stationed guards outside her door some days ago.

They paid no mind to Biche huddled inside, happily chattering or laying down blankets to play cards and gamble.

“Did you hear? The Crocus pirate fleet is completely finished.”

“Captain Hawk is dead too, right? Seems the vice-captain or whatever started a mutiny.”

“After finally taking over the pirate fleet, he crawls under our Emperor’s command? What a spineless bastard.”

 

“Didn’t you hear? He started the mutiny with the Imperial Navy’s support from the beginning.”

“So it was all a setup from the start…”

“With one of the great pirates fallen and becoming the Emperor’s dog, perhaps the age of pirates will end soon.”

Biche, who had been crouching dazedly on the bed, found herself jolting upright. 

 

It was content she simply couldn’t ignore.

 

The vice-captain started a mutiny and destroyed the Crocus pirate fleet? And Hildert even became an Imperial privateer?

Hildert. Hearing the name she had tried to forget, her heart, which had been deathly still, began to beat again. Biche cautiously approached the door.

“…Excuse me.”

The guards, who had been noisily talking, fell silent for a moment.

“What is it, miss?”

“Is it possible to hear news from outside? If you have something like a newspaper…”

Hesitation was palpable from the soldiers beyond the door. 

 

After a moment, a crumpled newspaper was pushed through the small gap under the iron door.

“Thank you.”

With trembling hands, Biche picked up the newspaper. 

 

The heavily wrinkled front page bore a bold headline.

 

[Crocus Pirate Fleet Annihilated. Captain Hawk Dead. Hildert Gains Privateer Status.]

 

“Hildert, really…?”

Biche paced anxiously around the room before slumping into a chair at the table. 

 

She spread the newspaper on the table and began reading it carefully.

The guards’ chatter wasn’t false. 

 

Hildert had truly joined hands with the Imperial Navy, started a mutiny, killed Hawk, and taken over the pirate fleet. 

 

And for the merit of handing over the Admirals and officers to the Imperial Navy, he had acquired the status of a Helio Empire privateer.

“Most of the remaining pirates have been arrested or killed. Key officers are currently imprisoned on the prison island…”

Biche’s lips trembled as she looked down at Hildert’s portrait in the newspaper. 

 

A cold fear surged from the depths of her heart.

Below the article were crude illustrations depicting the scene of Captain Hawk’s execution and Hildert shaking hands with Imperial Navy officers.

Unable to look at Hildert in the article any longer, Biche flipped the page quickly. Fear constricted her throat tightly.

‘What if… Hildert, having gained privateer status, is formally invited to the Ducal castle…? Maybe he already knows I’m here. He might demand ownership of me from the Duke, seize my wrist, and drag me back into another darkness.’

 

“No!”

Biche cut short the endless train of thought, shouting out loud and slamming the table with a bang.

 

“After finally escaping that man’s clutches…”

A chilling sensation ran down her neck. 

 

If she met Hildert again, this time it wouldn’t end with just the pain of her back being torn to shreds.

As she flipped through the newspaper, Biche’s hand stopped abruptly. 

 

She stared wide-eyed at the portraits of the Admirals published in the article.

Beneath the portrait of an unbelievably handsome young man was written the name ‘Live-Skinner Kisa.’

‘This can’t be the face…?’

Biche recalled the giant, menacing, and vicious face of the giantess. 

 

The Kisa she remembered and the face in the portrait were completely different people.