Chapter 175
Chapter 175
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: True Rulers of the Sea
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All races have their own specialties. Elves excel in spirits, archery, and affinity with nature, while dwarves are outstanding with earth and fire mana, as well as metalworking.
Beastkin vary depending on their base animal form, but they generally boast superior physical attributes.
Yoma, the mixed blood of demons and humans, are born with traits related to emotions and the mind—twisted power, perhaps, but each race has its own characteristics.
So what about the merfolk?
"You fool!"
The merfolk man sneered, drawing in the water mana scattered all around him.
To bare your teeth at a merfolk in the ocean—no, at one who carries the king's blood—was utter folly!
Even though their numbers were far fewer than humans', they weren't called the true rulers of the sea for nothing.
Unlike humans, who couldn't venture into the open ocean without ships and couldn't even properly hunt a single sea monster, merfolk were the strongest race wherever water existed.
A single well-trained merfolk warrior could stand against dozens of mediocre merchant ships.
If they stayed in the water and just smashed the vessels, who could possibly withstand them?
And it wasn't as if they were individually weak, either.
'No matter that you're an aura user!'
There's no way you can handle me in a place like this.
The black-haired man deflected the probing water arrows with his sword, while something invisible bounced them off the blond man behind him.
'They must be confident in their skills to have made it here.'
Well, unless you're a merfolk who can freely navigate underwater, no ordinary human could cross that whirlpool zone, so they weren't ordinary.
But this small island had the sea visible no matter where you went, and the beach was just a few steps away.
To point your sword at merfolk in a place like this—no, at those who carry the king's blood.
"You're sick of living, huh?"
The merfolk man grinned ear to ear and thrust his hand toward the black-haired human man, Kane, who was charging at him.
Water mana draped over his pale blue skin in an instant.
As he clawed at the empty air like he was wearing sharp gloves, the mana threads split apart, unleashing an attack toward Kane.
When there's water nearby—especially the sea—merfolk are nearly invincible. Even severe wounds could be healed given time, as long as they clung to life.
They had almost no talent for aura, which involved drawing in ambient mana, accumulating it inside the body, and shaping it to their disposition. But when it came to external mana—
That is, manipulating water mana—they were unrivaled among all races.
He gathered the water mana itself into a massive cannon-like blast and shoved Kane back as the man sliced through the mana threads and closed in.
'In this narrow cave, there's no dodging it.'
That would push the blond human behind him out as well, and once he chased them to the sea teeming with water mana, it would be an easy victory.
"Gah!"
But his judgment of superiority lasted only a moment.
He had fired a cannon-like blast that filled the narrow cave with mana pressure, yet what was this human who burst through it and grabbed his throat?
"Grk!"
A crushing grip that lifted his heavy body with one hand while squeezing his neck.
The merfolk man flailed, attacking the hand with mana-charged nails, but it neither shattered in an instant nor even suffered a scratch.
'No way! At that age, not just an aura user but a master?'
No matter how much one's aura realm advanced and slowed aging, it usually stabilized in the thirties or forties.
The man before him looked, at most, early twenties.
'Humans are this strong?'
The merfolk man's eyes widened in horror. He tried to shout that it made no sense, but his throat, gripped so brutally, only rasped like rusted metal.
At the same time, the grip tightened further. Trembling, he glanced down at those golden eyes, which held no emotion whatsoever.
Except for the murderous intent that seemed ready to snap his neck at any second.
'I'm... I'm gonna die!'
The moment terror made the merfolk man's body convulse—
"Don't kill him. Bring him."
"Got it."
The fingers that had been poised to crush his throat relaxed just a bit, allowing him to breathe.
* * *
Anyone who's played a game with racial concepts—even a decent one—knows this.
They're elements designed for fun through matchups and quirks.
'Like beastkin getting bonuses to strength or stamina, or elves and fairies getting boosts to mana or nature affinity.'
So what about humans?
In the original story, they called themselves the most fundamental form on this continent, a race of infinite potential.
They couldn't handle spirits or bows as well as elves on average, but they could work iron.
They weren't as physically durable as beastkin, but they could possess mental traits like yoma.
While other races specialized more in one area, humans had shallow but broad talents across the board.
In game terms, no standout maxed-out parameters, but evenly balanced stats overall.
But no matter the race, individuals could surpass their racial limits and exhibit even greater talents.
'Like Kane.'
"Grk."
I opened my mouth as I watched Kane holding up the merfolk man by the throat, the guy making sounds like he was foaming at the mouth.
"Don't kill him. Bring him."
"Got it."
He wasn't trying to kill him by pretending he couldn't control his strength, was he?
Very suspicious.
I shot Kane a cold glare and gripped my codex.
I wanted to rush to our shocked healer and ask if she was okay, but...
'I trust in the power of clichés.'
As Kane dragged the merfolk I'd bound with bindings, I nodded toward the back of the cave.
"Bring him along. She must have been really startled—be polite."
This kind of thing is best left to the hero, the protagonist.
Subtly, under the pretense of swapping the mana stone embedded in the codex's spine, I generated a light and angled it wide to illuminate the air. Perfectly haloing Kane's face.
And then, the scene inside came into view.
The end of the narrow cave: walls that should have been pitch-black, covered only in moss, and a puddle of stagnant water below.
And in the deepest spot, what looked like a huddled figure.
The moment I confirmed it, I unwittingly opened my mouth and let out a sound.
"...Huh?"
* * *
"Miss... Shall I reheat the tea?"
"No need."
Gadia sat in her chair, swallowing the now-cold tea while reading her book.
Or rather, not reading so much as tracing the shapes of the letters with her eyes.
'I never imagined things would turn out like this...'
With her mind in such turmoil, how could she focus on the words? She let out a faint sigh, making the new maid from the main house flinch.
Someone sent from the main house would have received not just standard training but mental conditioning as well. Yet she was reacting to Gadia's sigh, which meant her unease was plain for others to see.
"Go rest."
"Yes, miss..."
It hadn't even been a year—no, not even half a year.
That woman called Violet, Lily, and Fian.
She hadn't served Gadia for long, but she'd grown too accustomed to her.
Gadia rarely sighed as she touched her own hair, which had only been brushed.
"My wastrel little brother, and his subordinates too."
They'd stirred up a storm at the academy before leaving.
If even Gadia, who was insensitive to others' affairs, felt it, that said it all.
How desperate must they have been to seek her out, knowing the rumors that she hated men, just to ask about Violet?
'Are you sure that's really Violet? She didn't go back to your main house, did she?'
'Senior. No, right? Please tell me no... Please.'
'Violet left after receiving a note from someone before she died? Who was it!'
The academy was larger than most towns.
A place that size was bound to have multiple unused warehouses on the outskirts.
'Miss. I think that's all for me today. Don't be too shocked—if you miss me, contact me through Boss for a while.'
Leaving those words, Violet had bundled up late at night and gone out.
And at the academy's outskirts, in an unused warehouse, the door had been locked from the outside, and a fire broke out. Only one casualty.
The blaze had been so fierce that only a few bone fragments remained.
What proved the charred corpse was Violet were the academy pass, enchanted not to burn easily, and a necklace someone had gifted her.
The necklace, a low-grade artifact, had melted in spots but retained about half its shape.
The pass had a spell that registered it as lost the moment it was taken by another, so everyone knew the partial corpse was Violet's.
Logically speaking.
But people don't always act rationally.
The evidence was clear, yet at first, those who couldn't believe it denied it.
Violet couldn't have died.
If the door was locked from outside, someone must have killed her—but who would want to kill sweet Violet?
So it couldn't have been her.
But time and again.
Not just one or two, but dozens of nobles anonymously ordering reinvestigations brought in temple priests, academy overseers, and even imperial investigators multiple times before they accepted it.
'The remains clearly belong to a woman in her mid-twenties. And among those who entered, left, or resided at the academy that day, the only missing person is a woman named Violet.'
Denial upon denial. All hopes of "no" crumbled.
What remained was rage.
Selfish, greedy young nobles with ample power, and the widespread fury among the academy's servants, who had little else.
Who killed Violet, why, and for what reason?
'It made the academy seethe.'
Gadia could feel it in her skin.
At first, she couldn't believe Violet had infiltrated to check on Bervert.
But now she was certain.
No, at this point, it wasn't just checking.
'They mean to uproot him completely.'
Gadia alone in the academy knew Violet was alive, but not how she escaped a locked, burning warehouse without a trace.
All investigators said no one could have survived that blaze.
Violet had known it was a trap before leaving that night, yet she went anyway.
'Is she really alive?'
If even Gadia doubted it, others must more so.
And however Violet connected that doubt and rage to Bervert—
If she did?
'Could Bervert withstand it?'
Gadia closed the book she could no longer focus on and turned her head.