Sea Monster Stew Chapter 8

“Dammit!”

Kisa tore at his long, loose hair inside the stiffened hide.

“What is the meaning of this, Moose!”

“It’s a punishment for a brat who’s still wet behind the ears, putting on airs like an adult by talking about ‘rolling around wildly’ and such nonsense,” Moose replied, amused.

“Why this pointless… Dammit, I can’t get out of the hide now!”

“I didn’t harden the area between the legs. It might look unsightly, but why don’t you come out through there?”

“No way! Hell no! Anyone who sees that would be utterly mortified!”

 

Moose laughed, her dry, wiry frame shaking, then suddenly turned serious.

“It would be in your best interest to go and apologize quickly.”

“Apologize? To whom? That woman?”

“To Boatswain Hildert, you fool! Do you think that stoic man won’t be angry that his cherished woman’s elbow got hurt?”

 

Kisa cursed the familiars hidden throughout the fortress. Some of them must have witnessed the moment the woman got that small scrape on her arm.

Those blabbermouths, they reported it right away? And why is it my fault she got hurt falling down in shock all by herself?

“He’s kept her hidden, a treasure he sampled alone, no matter how much the other Admirals coveted her. If she gets a scratch, even the Boatswain will be upset. Go apologize before it’s too late.”

Moose left, leaving behind a thoroughly amused smile. 

 

Kisa gritted his teeth in frustration. He kicked the hide enclosing him with a thud, but it was useless.

His magic didn’t work either. With his untrained magical abilities, it was impossible to overcome Moose’s spell.

 

After grunting and struggling inside the frozen hide for a good while, Kisa had no choice but to take the ‘unsightly’ escape route Moose had told him about.

He stomped down with all his might on the area between the giant hide’s legs, where the craftsman had even sloppily attached genitals.

With a crunching sound, the area between the giant’s legs collapsed. Kisa, unprepared for landing, tumbled onto the sticky floor amidst the hide fragments.

Sticky? Puzzled by the unpleasant sensation, he looked down. Kraken blood was spread widely across the floor like a squelching swamp. It had dripped from the weapons of the Admirals returning from battle.

“Damn it.”

Muttering curses, Kisa sprang up from the spot. His blood-soaked pajama pants felt so disgusting he didn’t want to take a single step.

He was grinding his teeth when a presence nearby startled him, and he quickly turned his head. Several young sailors were staring at him with baffled expressions. Kisa gestured vaguely towards one who was roughly his size.

“You there.”

“Me?”

“Take off your clothes.”

“Huh? My clothes…? Uh, who are you…?”

“Stop asking questions and strip, quickly!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

 

The large sailor, intimidated by Kisa’s imposing manner, quickly took off his clothes and handed them over. Kisa shooed the sailors away with a roar, then stripped off his own blood-soaked pajama pants and threw them aside.

As he pulled on the large sailor’s pants, he started worrying about the familiars who might be watching this scene. He couldn’t exactly hunt down each one to silence them.

“Nothing goes right,” Kisa sighed deeply and slung the shirt on roughly. His skin still felt sticky with blood, and the borrowed clothes smelled strongly of herbs. But it was better than the disgusting, blood-caked pajamas or being naked.

“Um, excuse me…”

Just then, a flustered woman’s voice came from behind. Kisa screamed internally as he turned around.

A blonde woman was looking up at him, blinking her surprised eyes. It was the same woman he had wrapped in a curtain and left in a corridor corner.

He glared at her in dismay. He hadn’t expected to run into her again in such a ridiculous state.

‘It’s just not my day.’

He clicked his tongue and was about to turn away when the woman grabbed his wrist with both hands.

“Wait!”

Kisa looked back at her, not bothering to hide his annoyance. The woman stared blankly up at his face, then her eyes widened.

“It is you!”

“What?”

“Seeing you in the light, I’m sure now. Where have you been all this time?”

 

‘She recognizes me?’ Kisa felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he slowly scrutinized her face. Her pale face did seem somewhat familiar. The peculiar discomfort and wariness piercing his gut also felt familiar.

Whenever he wanted a break from his duties as the 2nd Ship’s Admiral, he would take off the giant hide and wander around Karabas. 

 

During those times, hiding his identity, he had met various people.

The innkeeper who mistook him for a pirate crewman and tried to seduce him, the village girl who claimed love at first sight and followed him around, the chef who offered food and acted overly familiar…

He’d shown his real face to many people, but last night was the only time he’d encountered the Boatswain’s assistant.

 

‘Where have I seen her?’

As he stood there lost in thought, the woman took a step closer and gave him a happy smile.

“Last night was too dark, so I wasn’t sure… I’m glad you look well.”

Kisa barely registered her words, desperately trying to cover the giant hide. This was no time to stand around pondering. He couldn’t let her discover that his publicly known face was a ‘fake’.

But completely hiding the giant hide was impossible. It wasn’t long before the woman noticed its presence.

“Ah, Kisa…”

Her face turned ashen in an instant.

“…Sir.”

Then, cautiously checking his reaction, she clumsily changed her form of address. 

 

Was the motionless, angry face of the giant hide that frightening? The woman turned pale, just like when she fainted, and began slowly backing away.

“Admiral Kisa is in a state of extreme rage right now.”

Feeling this might work to his advantage, Kisa pressed her with feigned nonchalance.

“If you don’t want to incur unnecessary wrath by loitering around here, I suggest you get lost. Quickly.”

“But he’s not moving at all…”

“I am… I mean, Admiral Kisa originally… doesn’t move a muscle when he’s angry. Just mind your own business and go on your way.”

Kisa shoved the hesitant woman towards the opposite corridor. The giant hide was now completely hardened, boasting a transparent gloss.

It looked exactly like a giant standing with arms crossed, glaring silently into space.

‘It’s all ruined. I just want to get back to my room and wash up, hide and all.’ 

 

Kisa sighed and moved to leave. He had not the slightest desire to summon a new giant hide in front of a maid.

“Hey, wait! Hold on a second!”

But then this troublesome woman started following him, dogging his steps. Her face, examining his back, grew increasingly pale.

“You… you became Admiral Moose’s assistant. So that’s where you’ve been all this time…”

The woman stared fixedly at his back and muttered blankly. Kisa felt dizzy, as if he’d been hit by a massive rock.

“Admiral Moose… you said?”

‘Did she just say ‘Admiral Moose’s assistant’?’ Kisa stared blankly at the hide pants and shirt he’d roughly thrown on.

They looked like perfectly ordinary sailor’s clothes. It was strange to hear such a thing from the Boatswain’s mistress while wearing these clothes.

“What are you talking about? An Admiral’s assistant?”

“This here…”

The woman pointed at the back of his untucked shirt as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She even dared to poke his back, hidden by his long grey hair.

He flinched at the unfamiliar sensation for a moment. Kisa quickly took off the shirt to check the back. Only then did he see the large red rose embroidered prominently in the center of the back.

It was the same pattern as the tattoo covering Admiral Moose’s hand. In other words, the large man he’d taken the clothes from wasn’t an ordinary sailor, but Moose’s assistant.

“GAAAH!”

A scream of fury erupted from Kisa’s mouth. 

 

Unlike the Boatswain, who had only one assistant, Moose was a woman who commanded a full twelve assistants. 

 

In truth, they were all her cherished lovers, a fact known to everyone in the pirate crew.

“Ah! Why are you screaming all of a sudden?”

“Uuugh… Damn it…”

With Moose’s mark blatantly displayed on the clothes, it was no wonder the woman felt a sense of kinship with him.

Kisa took a quiet look at the Boatswain’s mistress. She seemed too frail to be physically involved with a man of the Boatswain’s stature. Just seeing how she kept fainting in terror at the giant hide gave him a rough idea.

“Um, I’m just asking because I was wondering…”

The woman, who had been watching his reaction, muttered with a timid face.

“You… you don’t remember who I am, do you?”

Kisa’s eyes swept over the woman’s messy blonde hair and thin cheeks, then frowned. That seemed to be answer enough. The woman’s eyes filled with tears.

Pouting face, just like last night. Kisa narrowed his eyes and stared intently at her desolate expression.

“You don’t remember this?”

The woman fumbled with her collar and pulled out an old necklace chain. An oval locket dangling from the silver chain swung limply in the air.

‘What does she want me to do? ‘Don’t you remember?’ Is this a locket I gave her?’ 

 

But no matter how hard he racked his brain, he had no memory of ever giving this worn-out thing to her.

Kisa glared at the heavily scratched locket, then lowered his gaze to the woman’s pale face.

She’s the first woman the Boatswain has taken in. 

 

The Boatswain’s affection for her seemed quite deep, too. The magic plastered all over her radiated an incredibly intense possessiveness.

‘So why was she crying alone in the middle of the night? Did they have a fight or something?’

The moment his curiosity suddenly spiked, the woman’s face flushed red. Shame and anger flashed swiftly across her distorted expression.

“…Forget it. Just go to your Admiral Moose.”

She spat out the words curtly, stuffed the locket back into her collar, and ran at full speed down the corridor. Kisa stared after her, his brow furrowed.

That woman was oddly irritating. Seeing her hurry away like that made a sadistic wildness inside him scream.

His instincts were shrieking at him desperately. Telling him to chase that woman down right now and eliminate her…