Chapter 52
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Turtle Island (1)
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Thud! Thud!
The relentless sound of something metallic slamming into the boat's underside with tremendous force echoed endlessly.
It was a fishing boat to begin with, not a warship.
It wasn't crudely built, but that didn't mean it was designed to withstand external impacts.
"We have to keep it from clinging to the hull!"
"Turn the rudder toward land, quick!"
The fishermen gritted their teeth and dashed across the deck.
"Kallon! Can we dodge it?"
Dominic asked urgently.
"We have to."
The voice was firm, but it wasn't the answer Dominic had hoped for.
'We might not make it...'
Damn it.
At this rate, they'd end up as turtle chow—forget the fish they'd caught.
"How many of them are there?"
"The impacts are steady. Just one!"
"Just one?"
"The rest of the pod must have moved on, but one stayed behind. Probably a male that got separated. Damn it! My mistake!"
Farmer Turtles lived in groups.
Naturally, when they attacked boats, a few would swarm together, tearing the vessels to shreds.
That was why the fishermen monitoring them had always kept track of the distinctive water patterns created by their formations as they swam in schools.
[What's that? The current's weird there?]
[That's not their usual formation. Must be a seal passing by.]
[Yeah?]
Since Evergreen Village was founded, Farmer Turtle pods had appeared multiple times, but one straggling from the group had never lived independently before.
Their past experiences combined with the poor surveillance—no telescopes, just watching the sea with the naked eye—had led to this disaster.
Bam! Bam!
"Is the sound getting louder, or am I imagining it?"
"Use the hooks to keep it from climbing the bottom!"
No one answered Dominic's question because everyone had already noticed the creature below was getting agitated.
"Why isn't the boat moving?!"
"The net frame's too heavy!"
To make matters worse, the boat's movements had slowed dramatically.
Crunch—!
Then, an ominous sound rang out.
"It's breaking!"
"No way—this boat's hauled fish for ages! How's it breaking so easily?!"
"We haven't maintained it in over half a year!"
"What?!"
"We never expected something like this!"
It was infuriating.
'If we get out of this alive, I'm making ship safety regulations right away!'
Dominic bit his lower lip, scanning for something to plug the small hole where seawater was bubbling in.
"...What are you doing?"
At that moment, Ian's face hardened with resolve. He stripped off his usual leather armor, leaving himself lightly clad. Then he swiftly cut the ropes securing the net frame and wrapped them tightly around his shoulders and waist.
"What are you doing?!"
"Lend me that sword."
Dominic was being ignored yet again.
Ian ignored him and grabbed a machete-like blade rolling around one side of the deck. It was for cutting ropes and long seaweed during fishing, rusted in spots from constant saltwater exposure.
"Knight!"
"We need to drag the thing out from under the boat. Otherwise... any chance of winning?"
He had a point.
There was no way to beat something attacking from underwater.
But they couldn't just stand by and watch a lunatic do something insane.
"Everyone, dump the net frame! Hurry! If we lighten the load, we can avoid sinking and make it back somehow. Come on!"
Dominic made the call.
Screw aquaculture. Push it back a year. Better financial loss than lives.
"Hold onto the rope tight."
Splash—!
But Ian jumped into the sea faster than Dominic could order the frame dumped. Hope lit in the fishermen's eyes, but Dominic wanted to lose his mind.
"That crazy knight!"
Acting tough when he couldn't even swim!
'He definitely can't swim.'
Dominic was certain.
Before they set out, when he'd asked if anyone could swim, the knight's pupils had shaken violently up and down. No need for further proof.
"Kallon, grab the rope!"
"What? Dominic, you don't mean—?"
"That's his lifeline! Don't let go! If something happens, I'll yank it—pull him up right away!"
The crystal-clear blue water filled Dominic's vision.
'Should I call it off now?'
The guy must have some plan if he jumped into the open ocean with just a rope, Dominic wanted to believe.
'I'm no righteous hero.'
He'd never dreamed of being one, nor was he overflowing with justice or courage.
Still, diving into this sea was because...
'Shouldn't have asked if he could swim from the start!'
...that nagging regret.
...And, though he'd hate to admit it, a touch of camaraderie.
Splash!
Forcing his reluctant feet forward, Dominic leaped into the sea.
'Damn, it's gorgeous even now.'
He opened his eyes underwater to rescue the knight and return to the boat, only to be met with a breathtaking coral reef sea that brought tears to his eyes.
The unpolluted ocean was impossibly pristine. In his past life, this would have been a scuba diver's paradise.
'There he is!'
His admiration was short-lived; he spotted Ian locked in mortal combat with the turtle, dancing through the water like it was air.
It was different from on land.
To Dominic, the knight's movements were incomprehensible—acrobatic flips and twists to counter the turtle.
His lightning-fast strikes were slowed by the water, but his fluid, curving motions blended seamlessly with it, unhindered.
'Thud!'
It would have been a dull metallic clash on land.
Underwater, Ian compensated for the reduced speed with mana, blocking the turtle's claws and teeth with the broad blade.
Despite the massive handicap, he was gradually overwhelming it.
'Huh?'
Even to Dominic, who knew nothing of combat, Ian was visibly tiring.
Humans can't breathe underwater.
No matter how great a knight's lung capacity, it was a biological limit.
Bubbles from Ian's mouth and nose increased. His eyes and lips, focused intently on the enemy, began trembling visibly—even from afar, to Dominic.
-Slash.
The turtle's dark blue blood and human red mingled, blooming like ink in the turquoise sea.
A desperate struggle transcending species raged beneath the waves.
'Create an opening?'
Like in the movies—countless times. The ally risks it all as bait, teetering on the brink in that do-or-die moment! Enemy down, emotional hug, the works.
'Ugh, I really don't want to.'
Still, he'd followed to the seabed.
If Ian couldn't finish it, neither of them was surfacing alive. Steeling himself, Dominic sliced through the current toward the turtle's rear.
Flail, flail.
Unable to shout, he thrashed arms and legs clumsily to stir the water behind it.
-?
The turtle sensed the unnatural ripple. In that split second, it lost sight of Ian.
-Slash!
Finally, the turtle's long neck was severed by the rusted blade gleaming with mana.
The body sank downward, but...
'Argh! Why's he sinking too?!'
Ian had struck the blow, then foamed at the mouth, eyes rolled back, and passed out. Overuse of mana? Running out of air? Or both? Unclear.
'Got him!'
At least the rope wrapped around him hadn't loosened.
Grabbing the line midway between boat and Ian, Dominic yanked hard to signal.
The rope tugged upward, reeling toward the surface.
'We're saved. Come on, pull faster—glub!'
Dominic was running out of air too.
As he tried to disentangle and hold on,
Wham!
'What...? A fish...?'
A fish suddenly smacked his cheek and shot away.
Whooooosh!
Stunned, then a gale-like wind blew through the sea.
A current.
'Wha...? Oh shit!'
Dominic's body floated sideways, tossed wildly. Ian fluttered like a leaf. The strong current must have complicated pulling from the surface.
The surface was right there!
Just a bit more... But the rope, Ian, and Dominic all drifted with the current.
Bam!
"What do you mean by that?!"
The Old Lord, who'd come to the galley for a meal, exploded upon hearing the bad news and rampaged wildly.
"Dominic and Ian vanished into the sea? And that's how you report it?!"
Bam! Bam!
Crunch!
The walnut counter Dominic cherished finally split in two.
"Launch the boats! I'll search myself! They must've washed up on some island—yes! They have to have! Launch the boats now!"
"C-Calm down, Old Lord!"
"What are you waiting for if not to launch the boats?!"
His men had never seen the Old Lord this furious in nearly a decade.
'Please, please be alive. Please!'
The Old Lord's fists trembled.
"There must be a spring somewhere."
While the Old Lord's eyes bulged with ruptured veins, Dominic searched for water.
It was just as the Old Lord hoped.
Tossed by the current, they'd briefly lost consciousness but luckily washed up together on an uninhabited island.
[Whoa, shit! Scared me... Ah, he's breathing. Thank God.]
Dominic came to first, face half-buried in fine white sand.
He immediately checked if the rigidly prone Ian—looking half-dead—was breathing. Tension eased.
[Huh? It's right there.]
Evergreen was visible from the beach.
It was the uninhabited island they'd seen from afar that morning, laden with the net frame. The one where Farmer Turtles often appeared.
"Was that really the last one? Looks like eggs hatched everywhere."
Every few years, when Farmer Turtles appeared near the village coast, they always camped near this island. He'd wondered if they laid eggs here—and it seemed correct.
Shell fragments resembling Farmer Turtle eggs littered the beach.
All broken, so the hatchlings must have followed the adults away.
"Signal for rescue later. Water first. Ugh, throat's parched. How much seawater did I swallow?"
Not a huge island, so circling it should reveal a spring quickly.
Unnerved about plunging into the interior alone, Dominic skirted the coast in a wide arc.
Springs flowing aboveground to the sea were common enough.
Strolling along, he suddenly halted.
"...So that's why the turtles came here."
Farmer Turtles, who loved warmth and only lived in temperate coastal waters.
They hated even autumn breezes, vanishing mysteriously southward once Evergreen's front sea cooled. Yet they lingered here to lay eggs.
This uninhabited island had something special.
"Jackpot."
Steam rose gently from the spring water flowing into the sea, like freshly boiled water.