Sea Monster Stew Chapter 69

“I won’t beat around the bush. Make sure you return to me within ten days.”

 

He brushed off his hands and continued calmly.

 

“Your friends’ names… Calante and Fui, was it?”

 

His cold gaze fell upon the trembling Biche, who kept her head bowed low.

 

“Don’t you want your two friends to be safe?”

 

“I… I…”

 

“Remember this. Ten days. If you aren’t back by then, I’ll kill Calante and Fui, and I will reveal your true identity to Kisa.”

 

His two feet, floating in her vision, vanished without a trace. 

 

‘How long had she been clutching her chest, gasping for breath?’

 

Biche slowly raised her head. Hildert was already gone.

 

“Arco!”

 

At that moment, Kisa’s voice echoed from the other end of the passageway. 

 

Biche clutched her throbbing chest and slowly turned her head.

 

Kisa was rushing toward her, a long sword drenched in blood in his hand. 

 

He dropped the sword as if throwing it aside and grabbed Biche’s shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace.

 

“Arco, are you hurt?”

 

“Oh my, it’s true. Just as Kisa said, there really was a spy hiding.”

 

Admiral Moose, who had followed him, saw the body lying in the passageway and urgently covered her mouth. 

 

Her eyes widened at the sight of the man’s hand, marked with deep bite marks.

 

“But you didn’t just let him overpower you? You didn’t actually crack this guy’s skull open, did you?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

Kisa clenched his teeth and frantically stroked Biche’s back.

 

“It must be Hildert’s doing. He probably decided this bastard couldn’t get Arco off the ship safely.”

 

“Discarding useless pawns immediately? That’s just like Hildert.”

 

Biche exhaled a trembling breath within Kisa’s broad embrace. 

 

He had known the truth all along—that there was a spy aboard the ship.

 

‘Had he noticed? Is that why he was so wary of me leaving the captain’s quarters?’

 

“Kisa, do you really think he would want you after learning your true identity?”

 

Hildert’s mocking voice flitted past her ear. With tears welling in her eyes, Biche stared blankly up at Kisa.

 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

 

Kisa’s face, as he checked her for injuries, looked more sorrowful than ever. 

 

Biche blinked her stinging eyes, then buried her face in his embrace. 

 

Not understanding why, Kisa just held her tighter.

 

“Arco?”

 

“…Just stay like this for a moment.”

 

She rubbed her face against his broad chest like a child seeking comfort. 

 

His arms tightened around her, his grip growing firmer.

 

Ten days. Hildert had granted them a mere ten days. 

 

Fighting back tears, Biche clung tightly to Kisa’s neck. 

 

From afar, the sailors’ cheers of victory began to echo.

 

* * *

 

The sea was rough from early morning. 

 

A milky mist drifted over the horizon, and the sea breeze, laden with salt, whipped across the deck.

 

“Move it carefully!”

 

The Duke’s knights barked orders at the sailors in rough voices. 

 

The sailors grunted as they hauled the massive glass tank onto the deck.

 

Calante lay submerged inside the tank, his body tightly bound in chains. 

 

He shook his lower body, identical to a shark’s tail, and looked up at the sky.

 

“I’m nothing but cargo now.”

 

All that remained was to be transferred to Hildert’s ship. 

 

Amidst the knights, Hildert’s men clad in black robes approached.

 

“It’s the Holy Body.”

 

One of the men marveled at Calante trapped in the tank. 

 

He was a handsome young man with neatly trimmed silver hair.

 

“Male sea monsters in their adult form are quite rare… Lord Hildert will surely be delighted.”

 

“Why? Does he plan to make me his familiar, too?”

 

Calante crossed his arms and sneered, but the humans couldn’t hear the voice he had uttered underwater. 

 

Next, the tank holding Fui was hauled onto the deck. 

 

The silver-haired man tilted his head, observing Fui snoring soundly inside.

 

“This one certainly… looks like a sea lion.”

 

“Take it away.”

 

Urged by the Duke’s knights, Hildert’s subordinates nodded and began moving the tank. 

 

It was transferred from the Duke’s merchant ship and settled onto the deck of the massive warship.

 

Calante sighed, gazing out at the blue sea stretching beyond the deck railing.

 

“If only I could be out at sea… that would be my world.”

 

At that moment, Hildert’s men, who had boarded the ship, simultaneously pulled back their hoods. 

 

The silver-haired man who had shown interest in Calante drew his sword and shouted.

 

“Fire the cannons!”

 

A thunderous explosion echoed instantly, and the Duke’s merchant ship shook violently. 

 

Calante’s eyes widened as he watched the Duke’s crew panic.

 

‘Had Hildert betrayed the Duke?’

 

“Just make sure they can’t follow us!” the man yelled.

 

The silver-haired man’s command ended as cannons fired toward the merchant ship. 

 

*Boom!* 

 

With a deafening crack, the merchant ship’s hull shattered into pieces. 

 

Fui jolted awake, eyes flashing open.

 

“Wh-what? What just happened, Master?!”

 

“We should head inside now.”

 

The silver-haired man approached Calante’s tank and grinned. 

 

Calante stared intently at the man’s face before narrowing his eyes. 

 

It was a face he knew well, yet why had he only just recognized it?

 

“You… You’re the Resistance commander.”

 

“Huh? What? Your mouth keeps moving, but I can’t make out a word you’re saying.”

 

The Resistance commander chuckled playfully, pretending to press his ear to the tank. 

 

Calante glared at him with utter disgust.

 

“Why are you helping us?”

 

“Ah, why am I helping you?”

 

The resistance commander read Calante’s lips and chuckled. He grabbed a sailor rushing past nearby and began moving the water tank into the hull together.

 

“Well, the Duchess of Akstain asked me to take care of you.”

 

“…Arcobicche?”

 

“It’s a pity that Live-Skinner Kisa stormed the wedding hall first and kidnapped the lady, but that doesn’t mean I have no chance at all.”

 

The commander chuckled as he pushed the tank into the hull. 

 

Calante read a secret longing in the man’s blue eyes.

 

“Well, whatever. No more tank life for me now! Master!”

 

Fui waved his tail excitedly inside the tank. 

 

Calante glared at the commander, who was humming to himself, and sighed.

 

“This isn’t the time to be happy, Fui.”

 

‘Looks like another bastard’s come to take us hostage.’

 

He swallowed the rest of his words along with a sigh.

 

“Hey.”

 

Calante pounded his fist against the tank wall. 

 

The Resistance Commander, who had been humming while moving the tank, met his gaze.

 

“Where do you plan to take us?”

 

The Commander read Calante’s lips and smiled calmly.

 

“To Whecoca first. The lady is heading there, too.”

 

“…Arcobicche, too?”

 

“That’s great!”

 

Fui flapped his short front paws in a mimicry of clapping. 

 

Calante sighed and looked around the tank where Fui was confined.

 

“This isn’t something to be happy about, Fui. The fact that we’re trapped by humans hasn’t changed.”

 

“But these guys seem like they’re friends with Arcobicche…?”

 

“I don’t trust the lust and desires of male humans.”

 

Fui tilted his head, seemingly not understanding Calante’s words.

 

“What does that mean, Master?”

“It means that silver-haired man probably has lustful intentions toward your benefactor.”

“Huh? Humans! They’ve got nothing but that on their minds!”

 

Calante muttered, “I agree,” and nodded. 

 

The Resistance Commander, unaware of the conversation happening across the tank, just grinned.

 

“First Hildert, and now the Resistance Commander… She really does attract strange men.”

Calante recalled Arcobicche’s utterly innocent expression and clicked his tongue. 

 

Was her unique heritage—a half-breed of sea monster and human—somehow stirring a possessive desire in men?

“…Wait. Live-Skinner Kisa kidnapped Arcobicche, didn’t he?”

He recalled the enormous face of “Live-Skinner Kisa” he’d once seen in a newspaper.

 

The image of that sinister giant with his thick, black beard abducting Arcobicche to satisfy his lust made his skin crawl.

 

Why would someone who despised sea monsters so intensely lay a hand on Arcobicche?

 

“…Phew. Once we reach Whecoca, we’ll rescue Arcobicche and make our escape.”

 

“Huh? Is that even possible? These guys seem incredibly tenacious.”

 

“It doesn’t matter. As long as there’s water nearby, it’s my world.”

 

He couldn’t hand over Fui’s benefactor to that perverted old giant. 

 

The same went for that lust-addled silver-haired man, and for Hildert, too.

 

“First, we’ll take care of that bastard… then smash Kisa’s skull and make a clean getaway.”

 

Calante glared at the resistance commander’s back, his resolve steeled.

 

Of course, that steely resolve melted away the moment he arrived at Whecoca and saw Kisa’s true face.