A Hearty Breakfast and an Aerial Survey
While we ate a hearty and delicious late breakfast, Asne never stirred. The harbor had been quite noisy, yet she showed no reaction at all. It looked like Lei was right about Sirens being heavy sleepers. Either that, or the sound simply didn't reach her underwater.
“Hmm… this is troublesome.”
We were currently on an island. A lone island sitting right in the middle of the sea. What’s more, it was an uninhabited island with only traces of a former village remaining. I had planned to use Nohwado as my main base to grow the territory, but what was the point if I couldn’t even reach it?
“Minsoo? What’s troublesome?”
“I need to go check on Nohwado, but Asne is still asleep. There’s no way for us to get there.”
The only intact boats at the harbor were the small ones. The kind that would feel packed with just four or five people aboard. They did have motors, but taking one of those felt wrong. I wouldn’t even know the sea routes.
“My Lord, if that’s what’s troubling you, shall I carry you there?”
“You’ll help, Lei?”
“Yes. It might be a little uncomfortable, but I can take you anywhere.”
Lei, who had been watching me and Miya, spoke carefully. She was a Black-winged tribeswoman. My eyes naturally drifted to the small black wings on her back that seemed modest compared to her figure.
“By flying?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… it’ll be difficult with Miya too, won’t it?”
“It won’t be difficult, but the posture will probably be uncomfortable.”
Since her wings were on her back, I couldn’t ride piggyback. That meant I’d have to be held in her arms or tucked against her side. For now, we decided to test carrying both me and Miya together first.
“My Lord, is this uncomfortable for you?”
“Hmm… not exactly, but… it feels like… um… like I’m an item inside a shopping basket.”
“Then I’ll hold you tight so you don’t shake!”
She had both me and Miya tucked under her arms. Being carried like this was one thing, but…
This soft, heavy, and warm sensation pressing against my back… No! Don’t think about it anymore!
If I kept thinking about it, my body was going to react. I quickly changed the subject. Since I could still move my head, I turned to look at Miya on the other side. The sight that greeted me made me laugh despite myself.
You’ve probably seen an animal mother carrying her cub by the scruff of its neck at least once. Miya looked exactly like that—her arms, legs, and even her tail curled up into a ball, eyes wide and round. It was as if her body instinctively accepted the position even though her mind found it strange.
“Miya, are you okay?”
“Pii, pii, piit.”
She was so broken she couldn’t even speak properly, just letting out little beeps.
“Lei, can you put Miya down and carry us one at a time?”
“Understood.”
Lei set us down. Only then did Miya let out a long breath.
“Hwaaa… It felt incredibly cozy, but my body just wouldn’t listen. Such a weird feeling…”
Miya looked like her animal instincts had fought her reason and won. She kept glancing nervously at Lei’s arms, still confused.
“Alright then, My Lord, you’ll need to give me directions.”
“Right.”
Lei stood behind me and wrapped her arms around me. As I said before, her wings were on her back. Piggyback wasn’t possible. This was the only way.
I’m so glad I’m alive…!
I could feel an overwhelming mass pressing powerfully against me. No, it was definitely soft, warm, and squishy… Stop it. Good thoughts, good thoughts…!
I began mentally singing the national anthem while keeping my expression as stern, serious, and dignified as possible.
“Nyahaht! Minsoo’s face looks so weird!”
But no matter how hard I tried to stay dignified, the corners of my mouth kept loosening. Any man who felt this irresistible maternal warmth would be happy. It couldn’t be helped.
“My Lord? Relax your body. I’ll hold you tightly so you won’t fall.”
“Ah, yes. Got it.”
“Then shall we fly?”
“Yes. Fly. Sky.”
Lei looked completely unfazed. I felt like I was the only one overthinking it, so I switched back to strict-and-serious mode. Unfortunately, I ended up speaking like a malfunctioning robot, spitting out words one by one.
Lei paid no attention to my situation and lightly kicked off the ground. Normally, even a small hop would bring you back down due to gravity. But not this time.
“Ooh…”
She had barely jumped, yet in an instant Lei and I were soaring through the sky. The surrounding scenery spread out beneath us at a glance—the endless sea and countless islands.
“My Lord, where should we go?”
“Um. Turn. Check. Surroundings.”
“Huh? Oh! You want me to circle around so you can check the area, right?”
“Affirmative.”
The cozy sensation against my back had clearly broken my language circuit. Still, Lei understood me perfectly and slowly rotated while holding me. I calmly opened my status window to check the map and determine our position.
“This way. Straight line.”
“Understood~ My Lord!”
At my words, I heard the sound of flapping. But that only made things worse. When Lei’s wings moved, the recoil naturally increased the heavy pressure against my back. It was pure physics. Yet I had to desperately fight to keep my son calm.
The beautiful scenery rushing past didn’t even register. My first experience of flying with my own body felt like nothing but soft, squishy, bouncy, fluffy heaven.
While I waged war against myself during the flight, a large island soon came into view. An island that should have been beautiful was now completely destroyed.
So a Gate Break happened here too…
The miserable sight dampened my previously happy mood. I asked Lei to check all the surrounding islands. Sure enough, three different types of monsters had emerged from Gates on each of the three islands.
The Nohwado I had claimed as territory was occupied by trolls. Beyond the broken bridge, Bogildo was swarming with orcs. Soando was taken over by creatures that resembled Sea Groks but lacked webbing on their hands and feet.
“Sea Trolls, Sea Orcs, and Groks. Three types.”
Lei kindly provided the exact names. Trolls and orcs adapted to the sea, and Groks that lived on land. True to their aquatic nature, the trolls and orcs had barnacles covering their skin, making their already hideous appearances even more grotesque. The Groks looked like slightly sleeker frogs, except for the missing webbing.
I checked their grades through the Hunter app. Regular trolls were 7th-grade, while Sea Trolls were estimated between 7th and 8th. Regular orcs were only 3rd-grade, but higher variants could reach 8th. There was no data on Sea Orcs. Groks were listed as 5th-grade. It seemed information on sea monsters was scarce because the ocean was so dangerous.
“The Groks seem weakest and the trolls strongest. What do you think, Lei?”
“You’re correct, My Lord. Looking at where the bridge is broken, it seems the Sea Orcs destroyed it to stop the Sea Trolls from crossing over and invading.”
Lei pointed at the broken section of the bridge as she spoke. Sure enough, the part closer to Bogildo had been destroyed. The “Sea” prefix suggested they could move in water but weren’t fully aquatic. They appeared satisfied with their current territory for now.
However, orcs were monsters with insane reproductive rates. Once a Break occurred, they had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Otherwise their numbers would explode and sweep away everything around them. Even now, I could see baby orcs scattered across Bogildo. The orcs guarding the bridge to Nohwado would probably start hunting trolls once the young ones grew up. There was nothing scarier than sheer numbers.
The Groks on Soando seemed to be interacting with the Sea Groks in the water. In the large nests on land, countless eggs waited to hatch. If left alone, their numbers would increase dramatically too.
“Let’s head back for now.”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t expected this situation. But that was life. Things rarely went as planned. The old me would have gotten irritated immediately. But I was different now.
“Miya, do you know about Sea Trolls, Sea Orcs, and Groks?”
“Yep! They’re the trolls and orcs from the sea and the Groks from the land!”
I had territory residents, after all. And not just any residents—extremely powerful ones. Apex predators that treated most monsters as nothing more than food.
“Have you caught any before?”
“Yeah! They’re all weak! But except for the Groks, they don’t taste good!”
Miya explained that troll meat was tough and gamey to begin with, and the Sea Trolls had an extra bitter taste. Sea Orcs were supposedly decent, but the barnacles gave them a bitter flavor she disliked.
“The barnacles attached to both of them contain poison, which is why they taste bitter.”
“Heeeh! No wonder my stomach hurt after eating them! Lady Lei is so smart!”
Even though they were poisonous, the fact that the only side effect was a stomachache showed just how sturdy she was. The real problem was the sheer number of monsters. The mana stones could be used to expand the territory, but what about the corpses?
Selling a few at the market was fine, but if I flooded it with too many, people would get suspicious. There weren’t many cases of sea monster corpses being released in bulk. Storing them in my status window wasn’t feasible either—my grade was too low and the capacity too small.
Thinking about capacity reminded me of the whale-like Big-Mouth Saw. Asne was storing it, but it wouldn’t stay fresh forever. I wasn’t trying to hoard it, but I needed to use it before it went to waste. What a sad fate for something so precious.
Flying around the islands with Lei took about two hours.
“Asne? Are you awake?”
“Yeees… I’m awake nooow…”
When we reached the harbor and called for her, she came out rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“Nooo… Sirens do sleep a looot… but if something interesting happens… we can give up sleep… yawn… huuu…”
Asne approached with her words dragging out from drowsiness. She was staggering, so I thought about supporting her, but her swimsuit figure overwhelmed me and I froze. When she looked like she was about to collapse right in front of me, I reached out to catch her and our foreheads bumped together.
The two of us stood there in an awkward position, foreheads pressed together.
“Asne?”
“Sluuuuurp…”
“Looks like the Siren was really sleepy.”
“Miss Siren has fallen asleep.”
It was only the third day since I awakened. Here I was, pressing foreheads with a beauty. I really seemed to experience all sorts of things. Well, it didn’t feel bad. In fact, it felt nice, so there was no problem at all.
“Hwaam~ I’m… weak to sleep… I’m sorryyy…”
She woke up quickly, letting out an adorable yawn and stretching. Seeing it up close made me incredibly happy. My son, however, had gone through quite a lot. He might need some alone time.
I set aside that trivial concern and decided to have a proper discussion with my territory residents about the real problem at hand.