Selena's Mission
The study fell quiet once only the two of them remained. Documents lay scattered in every direction as if a storm had torn through, yet they were simply the backlog of unfinished work. Still, the minds of Razetta and Selena felt as if a real tempest had swept over them. The events from earlier refused to leave their heads.
Razetta was hardly the sort anyone would call unattractive. If anything, she embodied the very ideal of beauty. Yet not a single noble or high-ranking figure had ever confessed affection for her.
“...That insane lizard bastard.”
The words slipped from Razetta with a flushed face. Whether from the humiliation of a one-sided confession or pure resentment, she kept silently mouthing son of a bitch over and over.
“It must be nice. A dragon of all things confessed his love to you.”
Selena couldn’t resist teasing when she saw how adorably frustrated Razetta looked. In response, Razetta fixed her with a sharp glare.
“Do you want to die?”
Selena’s mischievous grin was stunningly beautiful. Her uniform did nothing to hide her voluptuous figure, which only made Razetta sigh. Why would he choose someone like me when he could have her?
Then Razetta stubbornly declared, “You go instead. I’d rather die than go.”
“What? How does that make any sense? Besides, he located Lady Razetta through his own power. What would be the point of me going? I’d count myself lucky if I only got scolded for trifling with a dragon.”
Razetta’s stubbornness crumbled completely under Selena’s sound reasoning. Annoyed, she called the woman unnecessarily clever and yanked on the long hair that reached all the way down Selena’s back.
“Ow, ow! That hurts. Unlike you, Lady Razetta, I have long hair. It took forever to grow this long.”
The way Selena always compared everything to her only deepened Razetta’s complicated feelings. She finally released the hair, then swung her legs onto a low table that barely reached her knees and leaned all the way back.
“Putting your feet on the table…”
“Quiet. I want to relax.”
“B-but still!”
“Ugh! Just shut up and sit on the other side already!”
Razetta’s emotions finally boiled over; she couldn’t hide her inner turmoil any longer. Normally sharing a table with the lord would be forbidden, but an order was an order. Selena took the opposite seat with perfect military posture, hands neatly folded on her knees, and watched Razetta breathe deeply as she tried to release the tension from her body.
Several minutes passed in silence.
In that hushed atmosphere, it was Razetta—who had finally sorted through her thoughts—who spoke first.
“What should I do?”
She wasn’t asking without expectation. Selena had heard the entire conversation, so she hoped for practical advice. Truthfully, without Selena’s presence she might have been forced to speak with that wretched dragon much longer. Though she couldn’t actually keep the promise, ending the conversation by saying she would go herself had been a small mercy amid misfortune.
Selena pondered the question for a long time before answering.
“What you truly want is to never see Sir Cyron again, correct? May I ask why? There’s no downside to building a connection with a dragon, is there?”
She had a point. It was a dragon, after all—the strongest creature said to stand at the pinnacle of all things. From Selena’s perspective, the Blue Dragon Cyron was perfectly acceptable in every way except his personality.
“I’ve never seen a dragon’s lair myself, but records say they store an enormous quantity of treasure. You wouldn’t have to live with him, but surely there’s enough value in making use of the relationship?”
Selena was calmly outlining a strategy to siphon off the Blue Dragon Cyron’s wealth.
“Selena, be realistic. I think that man would lock me away somewhere so I could never escape and treat me like a possession.”
Razetta’s imagination had taken a strange turn, yet Selena didn’t consider the possibility entirely unlikely. And if it happened, De Marinda would collapse without resistance.
Because—
“Then there would be no one left to handle day-to-day affairs.”
“Is that the problem?! Aren’t you worried about me at all?”
Razetta managed every practical matter in De Marinda. The towering stacks of documents were proof enough; just looking at them was enough to make one’s head spin.
“Not that. Isn’t there a more realistic solution? We have plenty of ways to earn money without using him. So please, just erase that lizard from your mind.”
Selena was no legendary sage, and Razetta was asking for quite a lot. Still, as a soldier, when ordered to think of something, she had no choice but to obey. After a while, Selena finally came up with another idea.
“Then what if you simply don’t go at all?”
“Yes, that’s what I want. Do you have a plan?”
“We stage it. He didn’t say he would come personally—he said he would send an underling. We handle it quietly.”
Razetta straightened her previously slouched posture, intrigued.
“You think that’ll work?”
“He mentioned Leviathan and Kraken, so it won’t be easy, but we can assign the subjugation to adventurers.”
“Hmm. But can the adventurers in our city actually defeat Leviathan and Kraken?”
That was Razetta’s main concern. De Marinda was not a city overrun with adventurers. Moreover, the opponents would be servants of the Blue Dragon Cyron, Lord of the Oceans himself.
Cyron earned that title for a simple reason: his lair lay somewhere in the distant sea, and he had created Leviathan and Kraken to guard it. Those absurdly massive monsters destroyed anything that trespassed into their designated territory on his command—including schools of fish that happened to swim through. In other words, falling out of Cyron’s favor meant not only the end of maritime trade but even stepping foot in the sea could be fatal.
“Ah, for them it would be nearly impossible.”
Selena referred to the adventurers with clear disdain. She knew their level all too well. The ones based in De Marinda spent their days dealing with Neo Sharks that attacked fishing boats near shore or the occasional venomous jellyfish monster, Abyssila, that got tangled in nets. With so many fishermen in the city, requests were plentiful, the work was easy, and the pay was decent. These were the pathetic adventurers of De Marinda—people content to imagine a quiet retirement with no further growth.
Both women barely suppressed their disgust when they thought of how De Marinda’s adventurers couldn’t even compare to half the quality of those in De Meca.
Amid that sentiment, Selena offered another suggestion.
“Alternatively, I will go myself. Mobilize the navy. After all, isn’t it our duty to eliminate creatures that invade our territorial waters?”
Selena truly seemed to live a life that didn’t suit her beauty. Beneath that lovely face, she was a soldier to the marrow of her bones.
As Razetta listened to Selena’s determination, one particular worry gnawed at her. But it felt far too cruel to voice, so she swallowed it like bitter saliva.
Selena, however, noticed her superior’s lack of enthusiasm and caught the fleeting hesitation.
“Go on. Don’t keep it bottled up inside.”
The words Razetta had tried to force down her throat suddenly lodged there. She alternated between sighs and dry coughs to soothe the sting before finally speaking.
“If Cyron learns that our navy was responsible… we may never see another wave touch these shores again.”
Selena listened, then gave a mischievous look that seemed to ask why Razetta was worrying alone.
“It’s fortunate the conversation partner is you, Lady Razetta. I can make sound judgments, but I can’t wrap up every loose end perfectly.”
That was the division of labor they both understood. Selena used her sharp mind to offer precise, situation-appropriate opinions. Razetta, guided by instinct and fate, weighed what truly mattered. Because each recognized the other’s strengths, real discussion was possible.
“Hoo… This stays between us. Since you have an idea, listen carefully.”
Selena let out a heavy sigh, organized her thoughts, and explained the plan to Razetta. After hearing it, Razetta wore a sorrowful expression but eventually nodded with no other choice.
Bagan couldn’t hide his surprise as he listened to Selena’s story. The sincerity of Razetta’s dilemma combined with Selena’s willingness to sacrifice herself was almost too much to take in.
“So that’s what happened.”
In the end, because she couldn’t act as a soldier to hunt Leviathan and Kraken, she had secretly organized monster hunters who operated under the guise of pirates. That way even Cyron was helpless. How could he completely eradicate pirates who struck quickly and retreated? Yet sealing off all sea routes would destroy Razetta’s livelihood. Could he truly bring utter ruin to the life of the woman he loved? Cyron was undoubtedly suppressing even that cruel possibility deep in his heart, leaving him with no viable options.
Thanks to that stalemate, Selena had been unable to leave this cave for years. No wonder her desire to rest burned so fiercely.
“So. Anything else?”
Utterly exhausted, Selena asked in a worn-out voice. Bagan felt genuine pity for her haggard state and decided not to press further.
“No.”
Selena no longer had the energy to explain more. She gave a small nod and waved her hand, clearly telling him to leave if he was done.
“Wait. There’s one thing I need to confirm.”
It might have nothing to do with Selena, but he had to identify the aura of sin Sally had sensed. She had specifically called it the scent of an unforgivable crime. That implied it was no ordinary transgression.
“Sally, guide me to where you sense the sin.”
At his words, Sally approached with a perfectly healthy-looking Arien in tow. Meanwhile, Bagan ignored his earlier statement about having no questions and asked again.
“What’s further inside?”
He meant the deepest part of the cave where Sally had first detected the energy. The current chamber was already deep within the cave—Selena’s resting area—but he had noticed there was another section even deeper. The innermost area was flooded, making exploration difficult, but he wanted to be sure.
“It’s a passage leading to the deep sea.”
Selena’s answer made it impossible for Bagan to dismiss the feeling that this wasn’t the end.
Is there something waiting in the deep sea?
Just then Sally and Arien arrived. Arien was fidgeting, her expression clouded with hesitation.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Arien reacted like a scolded puppy trying to read the room.
“Will you continue praising me in the future? I caused unnecessary worry by acting on my own.”
She spoke in a worried voice while nervously rubbing her fingers together. Though the situation didn’t exactly call for praise, Bagan gently stroked her head.
“I’ll praise you anytime. So cheer up.”
Arien’s expression immediately softened as she basked in the touch of that magical hand. Bagan genuinely began to wonder if some mysterious power truly resided in his palm. After stroking her hair for another several seconds, he signaled the now-delighted Arien to follow and headed toward the flooded passage.
The path was only ankle-deep at first. It gradually grew deeper, but even at its end the water only reached their knees. Nothing else of note appeared—until Selena spoke.
“Here. This is the entrance to the deep sea.”
Looking annoyed, she lifted her torch and shone its light into the water. Beneath the crystal-clear seawater where the bottom was plainly visible lay a mysterious pit whose depth could not be measured. Bagan’s heart skipped a beat; without the light he might have taken a single wrong step and fallen straight in.
“Shall we go, then?”
Sally and Arien nodded at Bagan’s suggestion.
“You’re really going down there?”
Selena asked, as if she had assumed they were only here to check.
“We came all this way following the scent of sin emanating from this very pit.”
Selena shrugged, clearly failing to understand. Then, with a subtle shift in expression as if some sudden thought had struck her, she added:
“Take me with you.”
Bagan studied her for a moment, then nodded. Whatever she was thinking, he would allow it for now.