Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: King Squid
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31
6
“Eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion?”
The girl who’d introduced herself as Sophia nodded at my words.
But she was already gripping forks in both hands, scarfing down the food.
She must have been starving enough to just acknowledge me and focus on eating.
Even Lewis, who’d opposed it at first, took pity on her and slid his seafood-less risotto her way.
Grumbling all the while, but making sure she had everything she needed.
Lewis really was twisted like that.
“So… a big monster suddenly appeared, right?”
“Yeah, so the boats can’t even set out.”
Sophia explained the situation in Bayford City between mouthfuls of risotto.
“Even when they fish, they can’t catch much… Everyone’s been starving for days.”
“That’s serious.”
Sophia nodded glumly.
The nobles had money, so they were probably fine.
But for fishermen living day-to-day off their catches, it had to be a huge blow.
The way she casually said they’d gone days without food from a child’s mouth meant things were seriously wrong.
Whether Bayford was supposed to face this issue originally was unclear.
At least in Broken World, I’d never heard of Bayford suffering a famine.
Whether it was meant to happen or not, it was tragic either way.
“Sophia!”
Lost in thought, a gravelly old man’s voice shook the restaurant.
With no other customers, it wasn’t an issue.
“Ah, Grandpa!”
Sophia waved happily.
A white-haired old man, clearly her grandfather, rushed to our table.
“Didn’t this old coot tell you not to go off with strangers…!”
“But…”
His face was the picture of a weathered fisherman, full of wrinkles.
Sophia hung her head before his gruff tone.
Anyone would react that way finding their granddaughter eating with strangers.
He was openly wary of me and Lewis.
“Please don’t be too hard on her, sir. We asked her to recommend a good restaurant. She was just helping us out.”
“Who might you be?”
“Just travelers. We came to Bayford for sightseeing.”
“Sightseeing in times like these…”
The old man’s eyes counted the plates on the table.
As locals, they’d know the current prices better than me.
The meal on this table alone had cost hundreds of thousands of gildings.
“Are you nobles, by chance…?”
His tone suddenly turned polite.
I was a noble, so I nodded.
He immediately knelt before me.
“This old fool has been rude… My granddaughter is still young. We’ll pay for the food somehow, so please don’t take her… She’s the last family this wretched old man has left…”
“What? What are you talking about? We’re not taking the girl.”
“During famines, nobles pretend to be kind while hauling off commoners to enslave them. It happens all the time. Didn’t you know?”
When I didn’t get it, Lewis explained curtly from the side.
People like that existed…?
I couldn’t comprehend it, and my mind went blank for a moment.
“Sir, there seems to be a misunderstanding. We have no intention of taking Sophia anywhere. We just wanted a restaurant recommendation, and we ordered food we liked. No need to worry—please stand up.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, I swear it on the honor of the Agrit family.”
I helped the old man to his feet by the shoulder.
He still looked half-doubting, but I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding.
Plus, he’d know more about the situation than Sophia.
So I pulled over an empty chair from the next table.
“If you haven’t eaten yet, sir, please join us. I have a lot of questions about Bayford City.”
7
“King Squid, huh…”
I sat by the docks, gazing out at the vast ocean.
The emerald sea was utterly calm.
But somewhere out there lurked the King Squid.
King Squid—what a ridiculous name.
It was short for King of Squid, after all.
The naming sense was seriously flawed… but hey, it was a trash game, so I’d forgive it.
According to Ivan, Sophia’s grandfather, the King Squid had appeared out of nowhere, making it impossible to launch boats.
It wasn’t just about poor fishing—it was attacking the boats.
A King Squid would do that.
As a proper boss monster, it was over ten meters long, not counting its tentacles.
Tall as a three- or four-story building, with ten long tentacles lined with suckers for one-sided attacks. And to top it off, it had three hearts—you had to stop all of them to kill it.
“Small wonder the city’s half-dead…”
The King Squid wasn’t something you could hunt easily.
Of course, Bayford handled sixty percent of Tekat Kingdom’s fishing, so once the king caught wind of the anomaly, he’d dispatch knights.
But who knew when.
Maybe tomorrow, maybe next month.
Even if knights came, identifying the King Squid as the cause and preparing a subjugation would take two or three months at least.
The silver lining was that the King Squid blocking sea routes meant couriers couldn’t reach Bayford before the festival either.
Of course, the crisis could resolve suddenly too.
So I decided to stay in Bayford through the weekend and watch developments.
Which was why I was fishing to pass the time right now.
Plop!
The bobber sank.
I yanked the rod reflexively, but nothing was on the hook.
Not even bait left.
“Ugh.”
Right beside me, Lewis ostentatiously reeled in a big fish.
His bucket already had nearly double digits swimming in it.
“Tch…”
Why was only this guy catching anything?
His smug look soured my mood.
“That’s the ‘why only me’ face.”
“You read minds too, senpai?”
“Just a hunch? I can share the secret to fishing.”
“Then spill it.”
Lewis smirked confidently as he baited his hook and cast far out.
“Fishing’s all about timing. Reel when the fish bites.”
“What’s that differ from saying you paint by dipping a brush in paint and stroking the canvas?”
“That’s exactly right.”
“Annoying.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
This guy was waiting for that?
Gritting my teeth, I rebaited as Ivan peered into Lewis’s bucket in admiration.
“Even pros can’t catch properly these days, and here a young man’s doing great.”
“Just used to it. Grew up by the sea as a kid.”
Was that casual line from Lewis true?
Or classic spy disinformation.
“Young noble, fishing is about patience. Get hasty, and you ruin a good catch.”
“I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
As Ivan said, fishing was about biding time.
Patience, patience… This time, I’d wait and yank.
I cast far out again.
And as I stared blankly at the endless sea…
Far off, a half-sunken ship like a ghost vessel approached the harbor.
8
Up close, the ship’s state was wretched.
Holes everywhere, twisted like it’d been wrung out—ready to sink any second.
A miracle it reached the harbor intact.
“Isn’t that Benjamin’s boat?”
“Who else took one out lately? Said he’d catch something no matter what, and look—ruined the boat for nothing…”
Not just us—Bayford locals crowded the docks.
Amid worried murmurs, a few fishermen staggered off the boat.
“Everyone okay?”
“King Squid again?”
A man who looked like the captain—probably Benjamin—stepped forward and nodded grimly.
“We’re done for… With that thing around, we’ll never fish again…”
“It crumpled our boat like paper… Follows us like a ghost no matter where…”
The other fishermen muttered, teeth chattering.
Meeting the King Squid had left serious trauma.
Given the boat’s state, it was understandable.
“That’s why you shouldn’t have gone out to sea…”
“But if we don’t push ourselves, our families starve! What choice do we have…!”
Benjamin squeezed out the words.
The harsh reality no one wanted to face left the crowd silent.
In that hush, scrawny kids ran to Benjamin and hugged him.
Families embracing, whispering—it was endlessly cruel.
Kids begging parents not to risk the dangerous sea even if it meant starving, parents vowing to bring back food even at the cost of their lives.
Seeing it stirred memories.
Not just Felt and Lewis from the slums, but even child spies in the Karmut Federation—and right beside me, Sophia clutching her cat.
The world of Broken World was, as the name implied, broken.
And I knew that better than anyone.
This was a world far too harsh for children to live innocently.
Unknowingly, my fist clenched tighter.
“…With things like this, is the mayor doing nothing? If Bayford falls into crisis, nearby lords will suffer too. Couldn’t ask them for help?”
Lewis asked the surrounding fishermen.
They nodded reluctantly.
“Local nobles don’t want the hassle, and the mayor has autonomy but no authority over knights… He said he’d request central aid, but with tensions rising with the Karmut Federation, we can’t expect much.”
Everyone knew the easy fixes, but circumstances were too tangled for them.
Even as an enemy spy, he was human after all.
Lewis’s expression darkened.
“Senpai, you said you grew up in a port city as a kid. Ever eaten squid?”
“Grew up on it. Why the squid talk?”
“Rumor has it King Squid’s a delicacy. Chewier and richer than regular squid. All this King Squid chatter has me thinking—how about King Squid for dinner?”
“That the real reason?”
Lewis narrowed his eyes.
No need to answer, so I ignored him.
I’d wondered about King Squid’s taste even playing the game.
How many meals from one giant?
Enjoy the flavor, sell the rest…
Time to satisfy that curiosity.
Savor the delicacy, solve Bayford’s problem, ensure the courier arrives safely, then handle things securely myself.
A three-birds-one-stone win—why not.
I scanned the horizon far out on the boundless sea for the King Squid.
“Squid dish? Gotta be stir-fried squid.”
And so, tonight’s menu was decided: stir-fried King Squid.