Sea Monster Stew Chapter 9

‘…What a strange woman.’

 

Kisa scratched his head and turned his back. He walked down the corridor, leaving the hastily fleeing woman behind, when a familiar voice came from inside a suddenly opened door.

 

“Kiki.”

 

A man’s wrinkled face appeared in the gap of the open door. 

 

It was Hawk, Kisa’s godfather and the Captain of the Crocus pirates. 

 

Hawk made eye contact with Kisa and whispered. “Kiki. Come in here for a moment.”

 

“I told you not to call me that.”

 

Kisa entered the room with a disgusted expression. It was a storage room stacked high with sacks of flour and oak barrels. Hawk locked the door and gave him a mischievous smile.

 

“If I can’t call Kiki ‘Kiki’, what should I call you?”

 

“Stop it. It sounds like a kid’s nickname.”

 

“This brat, acting like an adult…”

 

It had been years since he came of age, yet he was still treated like a child. Kisa sat on a nearby wooden crate and frowned.

 

“Why the sudden summons?”

 

“Must be quite a feeling, meeting the young lady after so long, Kiki.”

 

“Young lady…?”

 

“Hildert’s assistant… Don’t tell me you don’t remember?”

 

The probing tone of voice was unpleasant. Kisa glared at Hawk’s playful face, then shook his head.

 

“I don’t remember.”

 

“Hmm, well… I guess it wasn’t a particularly memorable memory for you.”

 

Captain Hawk stared intently at Kisa, then chuckled.

 

“You showed her your face earlier, didn’t you?”

 

Had he been watching the whole scene? Kisa, feeling a pang of guilt, hesitated before slowly nodding.

 

“It was a mistake.”

 

“The fact that you are ‘Live Skinner Kisa’...” Hawk’s eyes swept over the assistant’s uniform Kisa was wearing and he snickered.

“…seems to be safe. So, you’re being mistaken for a lover now, without any room for denial?”

 

“You find it funny that your godson is being mistaken for a colleague’s lover?”

 

“Hilarious. If it weren’t for the familiars Hildert has placed all over the fortress, I’d be laughing out loud.”

 

Kisa narrowed his eyes. He quickly scanned the dim storeroom and lowered his voice.

 

“…You’ve noticed it too, Godfather? The number of the Boatswain’s familiars loosed in the fortress and on the ships has increased drastically lately.”

 

“Yes. Moose, who also uses familiars, says it’s excessive too.” Hawk nodded, sitting on an oak barrel opposite him. Kisa recalled the Boatswain’s familiar legion, whose numbers had recently skyrocketed.

 

At first, most were small animals like squirrels or cats, but now ones taking the form of large beasts like sabertooth tigers or lions were also commonly seen.

 

The servants and sailors were happy, saying it meant more helping hands, but Kisa found the ever-increasing number of familiars unwelcome.

 

Those things were loyal to Hildert, not Captain Hawk. How could he consider familiars that didn’t obey the Captain’s orders as reliable assets?

 

“I get the feeling those things are watching me everywhere,” Hawk muttered, frowning. Kisa furrowed his brow in response.

 

“You suspect the Boatswain?”

 

“I never trusted him in the first place. I only accepted Kalikso’s son into the crew for the sake of harmony with Whecoca.”

 

“Then why did you put Hildert in the Boatswain’s position? A seat as Admiral would have been enough.”

 

“It’s safer to keep him close and under surveillance.”

 

Hawk had a point. The Admirals, including Kisa, were each given their own ship and island. Kisa himself would soon have to leave the main island for the one he governed.

 

The Boatswain’s residence, on the other hand, was the North Tower of this fortress. Moreover, he had no personal ship, so he always had to board the flagship, the Nile, with Hawk.

 

“I thought the uselessness of that young lady had been proven five years ago, but judging by Hildert’s behavior, that doesn’t seem to be the case either.” Hawk smiled contentedly and lowered his voice to a whisper. “That assistant is Hildert’s only weakness. Depending on the situation, we might have to use her as a hostage.”

 

Hearing this, Kisa narrowed his eyes.

 

“What are you asking me to do about it?”

 

“Get close to her again. Use that pretty face of yours to win her favor, like you did when you were kids.”

 

“Win her favor?”

 

What was their relationship that he was being told to get close again, to win her favor like when they were children? It was as if they’d had some deep connection. Kisa tried to recall, then subtly frowned.

 

“How?”

 

“Hmm… Well, how about using that outfit?” Hawk indicated the shirt Kisa was wearing with a jerk of his chin. “It’s an unexpected opportunity, isn’t it? She mistakes you for one of Moose’s male lovers.”

 

“So, use a sense of kinship as a weapon?”

 

“If it’s to break down her guard…” Hawk’s gaze dropped pointedly to the carelessly worn shirt. His eyes sparkled with cruel mischief. “…there’s no easier way than forming a common bond. Approach her as a fellow ‘lover’ who serves at night, and become her friend. How about it?”

 

“Damn it… If you weren’t my godfather, I’d have kicked you long ago.” Kisa let out a deep sigh and rubbed his throbbing temple.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Biche rubbed her puffy eyes and finished straightening the bed. She had to hurry and finish arranging the bedding, not knowing when Hildert would return to his room. 

 

The bed was so large that just spreading and smoothing the blanket taut was exhausting.

 

“That rotten…”

 

Whenever she thought of the ash-haired boy she’d reunited with after five years, tears welled up. 

 

She couldn’t believe he had forgotten her completely. She felt pathetic for having missed him and longed for their reunion all this time.

 

She was the only one who had cherished those memories. He didn’t treasure the short time they had spent together on the pirate ship.

 

Biche glared at Hildert’s plush pillow, then punched it hard. To think that the few people in this pirate den she had given her heart to had all turned out like this.

 

The boy had tarnished the precious memory of five years ago, and the mage who had acted as her protector now harbored unwanted desire for her.

 

“These traitors.”

 

Her fist sank into the innocent pillow once more. Biche fumed for a while, then gently smoothed out the pillow to erase the fist marks.

 

Fortunately, and almost disappointingly after the tension, Hildert hadn’t laid a finger on her. 

 

As if he had never revealed that intense desire, he treated Biche once again as an ordinary assistant.

 

The heated look in his eyes, the raw emotion he had displayed—all had vanished without a trace. He had returned to being the indifferent, brusque Hildert.

 

Just then, a *tap, tap* knock came from the window obscured by thick curtains. 

 

Biche approached the window with a puzzled look. As she drew the curtain aside, her eyes met a pair of intense amber ones.

 

“Hello.”

 

The ash-haired man waved nonchalantly from the other side of the glass. He rubbed his arms and yanked the window open.

 

“Whoa— It’s cold.”

 

“What are you? How did you get here…?”

 

“I climbed up. ‘How’ is ‘how’? Ugh, the night air is still chilly.”

 

“…If you’re cold, put on some clothes…” Biche stared at him, dumbfounded, as he stood there wearing only pajama pants. 

 

Today, he’d even tied his ash-grey hair back loosely, making his bare torso even more exposed. The rumors that Admiral Moose only favored well-built men were no exaggeration.

 

“This is Boatswain Hildert’s room, why are you…?”

 

“Why? I came to hang out with you.” The man grinned slyly and perched on the windowsill. Biche’s eyes widened involuntarily. 

 

A flicker of hope rose within her. ‘Had he remembered me after all?’

 

“The night is long, and whether your master summons you or not, we’re both bored, aren’t we? Right? We’re both in the same lonely boat, so let’s be friends from now on.”

 

Seeing his smug smile, her hope crumbled miserably. Of course. The man still didn’t remember Biche. 

 

The sheer audacity of him showing up like this, suggesting they be friends, left her speechless.

 

“Lonely, my foot…!”

 

Just as she was about to snap in anger, she sensed movement outside the door and quickly grabbed the curtain. 

 

Fear of being misunderstood, even though she’d done nothing wrong, gripped her.

 

“Go away! Don’t ever come back!” Biche whispered harshly, then drew the curtain over the window. 

 

Through the curtain, she could see the large shadow that had been hesitating turn away with a sound of disgust.

 

Shortly after, the sound of the window closing came from behind the curtain. 

 

Biche breathed a sigh of relief.

 

‘He must be crazy. Daring to sneak into the Boatswain’s bedroom… Why is he so fearless?’

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hildert often left the main fortress without notice. 

 

But his absence didn’t mean his assistant, Biche, could enjoy any leisure. Just sweeping and cleaning his study took the entire day.

 

‘What do ordinary girls do at this time, and where?’

 

Walking blankly down the corridor, Biche found herself drawn to a window as if enchanted. 

 

The view of Karabas’s main island spread out before her. She stared vacantly at the toy-like sprawl of the village under the evening glow.

 

It was her fifth year since being brought to this country, yet she had never set foot outside the fortress. 

 

Hildert strictly forbade Biche from going out. His thorough surveillance had kept her trapped inside the main fortress, repeating the same daily routine.

 

As she stared blankly outside, she felt a presence right beside her. Sensing a gaze fixed on her, Biche turned her head.

 

A one-eyed child was staring intently up at her. It was one of Admiral Moose’s familiars.

 

“Boatswain’s Assistant. What were you doing?”

 

She had encountered it a few times when visiting Moose’s study on errands, but this was the first time it had spoken to her, and she was flustered. The familiar blinked its single, oddly charming eye and stood on tiptoe to peek outside.

 

Whether the scene was mundane to a familiar that could freely come and go from the fortress, soon a question appeared in the child’s large, russet eyes.

 

“There’s nothing out there.”

 

“There’s the sky, and clouds. I can see the town and people…” Biche murmured, turning her gaze back outside. “Look, see the pillar of white smoke coming from the red-roofed house’s chimney? Are they already cooking dinner?”

 

“Hmmm…”

 

“For example?”

 

“Like seeing a house on fire and people burning to death… Something like that. That’s much more interesting than this boring view, right?” The child familiar offered a chilling example that didn’t match its cute face and shrugged its shoulders.