Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: The Lone Scout
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"How annoying, really."
Just send some idle fools instead.
A branch member of the mermaid royal family, Nibiz clad in white shark skin, cut through the currents with a scowl.
'Baruk's too finicky. Thinks he's all that just because he's the eldest?'
Ever since that group of humans breached the barriers and stole the Storm Pearl from Levina, his paranoia had spiked.
'Can't even earn his keep.'
Sweeping back his dark green seaweed-like hair, Nibiz ground his teeth.
Baruk, the massive merman.
He'd inherited the most royal blood over the longest lineage, making him the strongest among the siblings born in the spawning grounds, and they'd unanimously made him king.
'But he's not true royal blood anyway.'
It pissed him off how Baruk acted like proper royalty and bossed everyone around.
Sure, Nibiz had traits perfect for scouting, but they weren't in a real war, and no dangerous enemies had shown up—yet here he was, being sent out like this.
'Just wait till those trinkets or delicacies he gives me aren't shiny enough.'
True to his nickname "sea crow" among the merfolk, he loved flashy, glittering things.
As long as they ended up in his hands. He'd pile them on and roll around in them.
Nibiz grinned imagining jewels, then suddenly glanced around.
'But... why's it so quiet?'
This area had an island with constant storms, and merfolk came and went trying to breach its barriers.
That's why there were usually few sea monsters nearby—just small fry, mid-to-small armored turtles, or maybe the occasional lost young sea serpent or kraken.
'But this is too quiet.'
Right now, aside from schools of fish swimming by, even the small monsters were nowhere to be seen.
This kind of silence was more typical of deep-sea territories claimed by massive monsters.
'...Did a nest pop up nearby or something?'
Nibiz slowed his swim and scanned his surroundings. He focused mana into his eyes, meticulously sweeping every corner.
"...What the hell is that?"
It was distant, and the storm-churned waters made it hard to see clearly, but something was definitely floating on the surface.
A ship.
Nibiz swam lazily underwater and nodded.
"Humans again?"
The Storm Pearl was already stolen, so they wouldn't come back for more scraps.
Plus, the humans allied with the merfolk weren't due for a while yet.
So these must be different humans—not allies like last time?
'No way the one who went to fetch Levina got caught by humans?'
No fleet of warships—just one fairly large vessel. No chance.
Even an idiot wouldn't try that. Against the merfolk in this sea?
Nibiz snorted with laughter. Bubbles rose in a stream from her mouth.
'Probably parked there swiping booze or something?'
Yeah, that guy was pretty laid-back; it could happen.
Nibiz grabbed a large passing fish, locked eyes with it.
"Human ship sighted. Humans. Ship. Humans."
Might as well send a mid-report with three or four fish and scout a bit more.
She loaded the message onto three or four fish and sent them to the palace, then swam toward the island.
'See if they've still got Levina locked up here or moved her to that ship.'
If she's here, I'll just grab her myself. Let that idiot play around with the humans.
Nibiz giggled slyly as she surfaced into the raging wind and rain, took a deep breath, and began stepping onto the sand one foot at a time.
She unwrapped the white cloth around her body, now legs instead of a tail, and ran a hand through her hair as the rain washed away the salt.
'If I bring back Levina, maybe Baruk'll pile on extra jewels?'
Happy thoughts.
Snikt—
The moment she turned toward the cave, the world spun.
What she saw next was a headless merfolk body slowly toppling forward.
'Huh...?'
No sound came from Nibiz's mouth as she tried to speak without realizing it.
"You showed up after all."
Those were the last words she heard as her vision went black and her ears filled with muffled silence.
* * *
"This, this can't be right! There has to be some trick!"
"What are you talking about? The game's fair. Right, Luna?"
"...Well, for now."
Levi squawked in protest while Rachel smirked and snatched candy. Luna nodded with a subtle expression.
"Lies! You must've used mana on the sly!"
—Well, yeah, anyone new might suspect that at first.
"No way, Levi junior. Nobody lifts the edges just a tiny bit with mana. If you get caught, it's five times the candy penalty."
...Ah, so you guys have played rigged Jenga before?
With the storm giving us a brief lull, I'd pulled out some kids' games and board games, and even given Levi a bottle of candy as startup funds.
Now, after collapsing Jenga four times in a row, Levi—who'd mindlessly munched a few at the start—was down to less than half a bottle, and it was eating at her.
So she was throwing a tantrum, flailing her soft body and ranting about conspiracies.
'But no matter how I look at it, aren't those fingers the problem?'
I eyed her plump, waterlogged-rice-cake fingers and reached a perfectly logical conclusion.
The others were starting to turn pro at Jenga, too.
"How about dice next instead of moping."
I grinned at the veterans who'd halved the newbie's candy bottle and suggested a new game.
Dice came from pressing a button, so those fingers wouldn't be a handicap.
Levi's eyes sparkled anew at the fresh game, and as the others watched her fondly, I sat by the magic heater sipping tea. Even in the storm-tossed cabin, I could drink steadily now—humans really are adaptable creatures.
The hot water made me drowsy.
The scene before my eyes was heartwarming, too.
Laughter and fun. Time not spent on guard against surprise attacks or killing monsters herded by the Evil God cult all night.
In the original story, their conversations grew colder over time. Questions like whether they even needed to keep the humans alive, or what made the cult different from other humans.
Cain kept putting it off, saying they'd deal with the cult first, then think later—delaying and delaying.
'Looks good now.'
Watching them enjoy themselves like this made me feel warm inside.
"So why aren't you playing?"
Levi piped up while drawing a golden key card, and I shrugged.
"Wanna play together?"
Jenga was tough with my inferior physical stats against these monsters.
But Monopoly was different.
Everyone grimaced at my grinning suggestion.
"Yeah! Let's play together!"
"If Levi wants to, of course we have to."
As I chuckled and squeezed in, the others—except Levi—fixed me with challenging glares.
Some might think Monopoly's just luck.
'Sure, luck plays a big part.'
But there's strategy to Monopoly, too.
Using beneficial golden key cards at the right moments, prioritizing completing a color set over scattered properties sometimes, or grabbing spots here and there at others.
Instead of cheap estates everywhere, concentrate on high-traffic spots.
I'd earned some cash and properties—let them try poisoning a few with hotels hoping I'd land there?
If I hit a warp gate—like a space trip on Earth—strategically head to deserted island and wait for them to self-destruct.
Of course, that's even better if I own most of the prime 6th, 7th, and 8th spots post-escape.
And if a party member is about to hit my land soon?
Sell off some cheap properties elsewhere, use a golden key building card to slap a hotel on a prepped spot.
"...Waaah! Bankruptcy!"
I patted Levi's round, teary head and pulled out a fresh candy bottle.
"Not giving you one this easy next time, okay?"
"Yeah!"
Look at that infinite trust sparkling in her eyes over one lousy bottle.
I passed out a bit to Luna, Zero, Leaf, and Rachel, popped a green grape one in my mouth—when someone opened the cabin door.
"You got back quick."
"I'm back."
I let out a low hum seeing Cain shake rain from his hair sooner than expected.
He was supposed to return from the island after the storm, so coming now meant...
"How many scouts?"
"One."
So the merfolk hadn't fully grasped the situation yet.
I clapped the guy's shoulder as if to say good work and spoke.
"Then we've bought about two days."
"Storm's the real issue, though."
I placed an apple from my subspace onto Cain's extended hand as he nodded, then sipped more tea.
"Yeah. We should've set sail by now, really."
Rescuing someone is a race against time. We couldn't afford to be stalled like this.
But the exit was a whirlpool formation on the scheduled storm day. Circling back meant traversing deep into merfolk territory.
"Tomorrow, maybe?"
"Or the day after."
Outside howled with ghost-like winds and rain battering the whole ship.
Dark as night even in daytime, sails fully reefed, using another rocky isle—not Levi's deserted one—as a windbreak, yet the ship still felt pushed by the gusts.
"They won't come today, at least."
Tomorrow this time at soonest, day after at latest—who knew how many more.
"Better to go out and fight than let the ship get smashed."
I nodded at Cain's words and twisted Krueger's ring.
"Worst case, grab Levi and bail without the ship."
Since Levi was the target, if we took her and ditched the vessel, they wouldn't chase the ship itself. Even if they did, not in huge numbers.
We'd shared plenty of magic stones, so once past the whirlpools, burn them for pure speed—we'd outpace the underwater merfolk temporarily.
'The ship'll take a beating.'
Survival first.
Meanwhile, Cain, Zero, and Rachel could hold off the merfolk while Luna, Leaf, and I carried Levi to drop her on some island.
'My best spell's the beam cannon, and I can't go underwater.'
Levi'd be useful elsewhere, but here she'd just draw aggro.
"I'd love to get you treated right now."
"I'm fine as is."
Cain shrugged indifferently as I watched Levi gleefully roll dice.
This guy had no sense of self-preservation.
"Levi's still lacking in reflexes and precision."
He'd said focus was hard on a rocking ship.
Makes sense—original story and game both specialized in AoE heals and buffs over single-target.
I hadn't known it was due to poor fine control.
"Once we're out and hit land, we start treatment."
Plus some nourishing green juices. I grinned, and suddenly everywhere went quiet.
A glance showed everyone but Levi sneaking peeks at me. I beamed even brighter.
"Get hurt, and it's extra green juice."