Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Aquarium Holding a Whale (2)
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“Sierra. What is the meaning of this?”
“I’m truly sorry, Your Highness.”
The question was brief, but the sharp glint in his eyes suggested he was thoroughly displeased.
But it was all for a reason.
“You’ve been lenient with my impertinence up until now. Couldn’t you perhaps overlook this just one more time?”
“Why should I?”
“Don’t you want to slay the Sea Dragon Halo?”
I had Gerbera’s story in mind. The Crown Prince’s eyebrow twitched slightly upward. I quickly stepped closer to him and pressed my case.
“No one knows more about sea dragons than mermaids do. Mermaids select a king each generation, and in my view, this fighter is a candidate for this generation’s mermaid king.”
“And?”
“To become the mermaid king, one must defeat the sea dragon.”
I deliberately omitted the part about the king’s proof you’d obtain from defeating Halo. I intended to claim that item for myself. I had no desire to hand it over to Enbi—or to the Crown Prince, for that matter.
“So? Are we playing twenty questions now?”
The Crown Prince asked in an irritated tone, as if his interest was already waning. I smiled and replied.
“I plan to ask this mermaid named Enbi. May I step in and speak with him?”
The Crown Prince snorted and sheathed his sword.
“Do as you like.”
With his permission granted, there was no time to hesitate. I recalled my dark days briefly dabbling in multi-level marketing and approached Enbi. Enbi glared at me fiercely, eyes blazing.
To meet Enbi’s gaze at eye level, I crouched down. Enbi snapped his head aggressively, as if ready to bite me at any moment, but fortunately, the seaweed bindings kept his teeth at bay.
“This must be frustrating. Losing in battle like this.”
Enbi’s eyes widened at my words.
“Why the surprise? If you hadn’t lost, you wouldn’t be tied up like this. You lost.”
Mmmph, Enbi furrowed his brow indignantly. I could guess what he wanted to say without asking. It was an ambush from behind, so it wasn’t fair; this isn’t a defeat, it’s betrayal—something along those lines.
But I knew Enbi’s personality well.
In the game, Enbi had won the heroine’s favor because, to put it bluntly, he was an idiot. He loved fighting but didn’t enjoy harming others. He relished duels but wasn’t a thug who reveled in brawls, and having lived his whole life immersed in sea battles, he was naive to human logic.
In short, Enbi was a fool who fell for tricks. In the game, the heroine, fighting a pod of orcas at sea, discovers that their leader, Enbi, is actually a good guy and lowers her guard. She then shares various episodes on land with him, coming to realize his idiocy… no, his innocence.
I knew this from playing through the heroine’s perspective with Enbi multiple times. This guy was a simpleton who fell for even the flashiest nonsense.
“Didn’t you say the sea is your domain? That means you hold a superior position here. Unlike us pitiful humans. If I’m right, nod.”
“…….”
Enbi nodded as if he had no choice. I suppressed a deepening smile and pressed on with my nonsense logic.
“You challenged our Crown Prince to a duel. But unlike the mermaid world, humans are tightly united. Ten of us are as one. So, you essentially challenged the entire crew of this ship, including His Highness.”
“…….”
Enbi’s expression softened slightly. It was like watching an innocent wild animal step into an inescapable snare.
“At first, we were too intimidated by your majesty to act. So only our brave leader, Crown Prince His Highness, stepped up for the duel.”
“…….”
“But don’t feel too hard done by. You were just too strong. In the end, you showed an opening, and we, your duel opponents, mustered our courage to fight. It was tough, but we succeeded in capturing you.”
“…….”
“Now I get it. What you meant by the sea being your domain. It’s true. It was an incredibly difficult battle. To corner strong humans like us so badly…”
I carefully peeled away the plant clogging Enbi’s mouth. My hands trembled with tension, fearing those sharp teeth might snap at me. From behind, Destrudo’s laughter rang out, as if he were dying from amusement.
Meanwhile, Enbi behaved obediently without biting and spat out the plant fragments from his mouth before staring straight at me. I tensed, wondering if he hadn’t bought my ridiculous story, but his gruff voice eased my nerves.
“Listening to you, it does seem like you’re right.”
What a relief. Enbi really was an idiot.
“To lose a duel so anticlimactically. And against humans, no less—I must not have grasped the rules properly. This kind of defeat is a disgrace to me.”
“No need to call it a disgrace. Instead, didn’t you prove to us that you’re the master of the seas?”
Enbi nodded to my inconsistent drivel. In this harsh world, his innocence made it hard to survive alone, which was probably why he lived with his orca pod.
“So, you admit your defeat? You’re in no position to deny it, after all.”
“I admit it.”
This was what I’d been waiting for. Actually, I had a different conversation in mind.
“It’s only natural that the victor receives a reward. We’ll claim what’s due for our victory.”
Enbi nodded readily, his eyes sparkling. Just hearing the word “duel” seemed to lift his spirits.
“What do you want? Treasures from the ocean depths? I can tell you where they’re buried.”
“Nothing so grand. It’s enough if we can handle the monster plaguing the human world. With our own hands.”
“Monster? What monster?”
“Halo.”
My throat tightened, unsure of Enbi’s reaction. What if he refused? Halo was the monster Enbi absolutely had to subdue to become mermaid king. Even as payment for a duel, he might refuse to hand over Halo.
If so, I’d have to resort to extreme measures. Like cutting off Enbi’s dorsal fin to prevent him from functioning as a mermaid, or killing him.
I might have to become a true villain.
“We want the Sea Dragon Halo.”
“…….”
Enbi didn’t answer right away. He fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“You can’t?”
Anxiety crept into my voice. The Crown Prince, watching the scene, turned to leave.
“This is boring.”
“Wait…! Just a moment, Your Highness!”
The Crown Prince’s indifference only added to my pressure. If I couldn’t secure Halo, I’d have to make a decision. And for that, I’d need his permission. I couldn’t let him leave so easily…!
“We can’t catch Halo.”
Enbi, who had been mulling it over silently until now, spoke quite firmly. The Crown Prince halted and shot him a subtle glance.
“I want to catch Halo too. But it’s impossible right now. Do you know Halo isn’t just one creature?”
“Not just one?”
I’d thought it was a single special monster you caught to become mermaid king. Was it like common fish swarming everywhere?
“Halo travels in packs, like us orcas. They’re mindless, violent fish that don’t reason.”
Mindless, violent fish. It almost sounded like his self-introduction. If Enbi called them that, what kind of beasts were they?
“They grow their pod by feeding on demonic energy from their leader. To rule as the leader of the mermaids, who protect the ocean’s order, you must kill the Halo leader who defies that order.”
“The leader…”
“I want to eliminate Halo too. But the ones you saw are surely just the small fry. Unless you kill the leader, Halo will keep coming back. They’re born from demonic energy.”
“Then where is that leader?”
“That’s…”
Destrudo suddenly poked his head in from behind and interjected.
“This idiot doesn’t know, that’s why he’s caught here, right? And if he were the real deal for mermaid king, he’d be way stronger than this. The fact that I could subdue him proves he’s unqualified, doesn’t it?”
“Hey!”
Enbi lifted his head indignantly at Destrudo’s taunt.
“I haven’t lost yet! I just haven’t faced him properly. It’s not my defeat. To summon the leader, I need my mother’s pearl, and that process is complicated.”
A new keyword slipped from Enbi’s mouth that I’d momentarily forgotten.
‘Mother.’
Racking my memory, one thing came to mind.
Holy Beast.
This world had a few sacred beasts. Not monsters, more like guardian deities? They were usually extras briefly mentioned as NPCs that gave the heroine trials or good items.
A holy beast guarding the sea…
“Elsenohte.”
Elsenohte was a massive clam called the Mother of the Seas. Why a clam of all things for a holy beast? That was a question for the game devs.
Anyway, Elsenohte was a holy beast that purified the ocean, hiding in a mysterious temple somewhere in the depths. This temple could only be accessed by Enbi, the mermaid king candidate. It required a special item to enter.
That special item was the “Elsenohte’s Flute.”
“Haa…”
A sigh escaped me naturally.
Elsenohte’s Flute was a special item you received only when Enbi’s affection was maxed out. Enbi progressed a romance with the heroine, giving her Lagia first, and later Elsenohte’s Flute. The heroine could then go to Elsenohte’s temple and obtain an extraordinary item that boosted all her stats.
‘So, to defeat Halo now, I need Elsenohte’s pearl, and to get that pearl, I need Elsenohte’s Flute?’
In the end, I needed to max out Enbi’s affection too.
“The power of the sea is weakened now. There are too many monsters for Elsenohte alone to purify the ocean.”
Enbi said worriedly.
“Is the problem the number of monsters? If so, solving it is easy.”
“Really?”
“Your orca pod alone couldn’t manage. Hunting them endlessly must have been exhausting. But we’re a fleet prepared to subjugate the monsters of Susuri Strait. With you, Sir Enbi, we can wipe out every last monster.”
“Really? You’ll help me?”
Of course, with conditions attached.
“In exchange, hand over the right to handle Halo exclusively to me, Sierra Gluttony. To me alone.”