67. The Mulren Tribe (1)
67. The Mulren Tribe (1)
Yuma walked gracefully across the gangplank onto the sailing ship of the Resen Kingdom.
Jeobeok—
As Yuma gracefully stepped onto the Resen Kingdom's vessel, all eyes turned toward him.
"Th-thank you for saving us."
Yuma nodded slowly, and Baron Hans hurriedly introduced himself.
"I am Baron Hans of the Resen Kingdom. My savior."
Baron Hans bowed as deeply as he could.
Because he had seen it clearly with his own two eyes. Even if he did not understand the principle, he had witnessed what the magic cannon shell deflected by Yuma's sword had done next.
The black dragons that smashed three pirate ships.
In that moment, Baron Hans dared to intuit something.
That man might be the God of War, whose name was now known across the entire continent.
"I am the Grand Duke of the Astes Empire, Yuma."
Hans's eyes widened.
'Yuma....'
Yes, the God of War's name was certainly that.
"Y-you have received the title of Grand Duke. Congratulations."
Yuma tilted his head.
"You know me?"
"O-of course. Your name has already spread across the continent as the Dragon Slayer."
Yuma quickly accepted the reason.
Well, the Information Guild did share information on a continental scale, after all.
The incident of killing the Black Dragon was certainly something that would spread across the continent.
Winning victory against the barbarian kingdom Pyneton, where the Conqueror King resided—that too was an achievement that would spread across the continent.
"Stand up. And...."
Yuma briefly gazed at Hectos, the leader of the Dusk Pirates who had been killed by Bel's hand, then raised his head.
"You decide how to deal with the remaining pirates, Baron Hans."
Hans nodded his head in a daze at Yuma's words.
"Yes, understood."
Yuma had already heard from Amon and the crew of the sailing ship how the Dusk Pirates operated in the continental pirate world.
A pirate group that settled disputes among pirates.
And the reason Dusk could do that was said to be because of the presence of Sword Master Hectos.
He was rumored to have originally been the eldest son of a knight house in the Resen Kingdom, but became a pirate when his family was destroyed for treason.
He was called practically the only Sword Master pirate on the continent.
Of course, right now he was just a cold corpse killed by Bel.
Bel placed her foot precariously on the broken deck. At the very end of the deck was a woman huddled tightly. Her already ragged clothes had become even more tattered. And there were deep burn scars on her back.
"...She's alive."
The woman, Mary, was unconscious but still breathing.
"Kkeuaaak!"
Another pirate, not Bel, was also breathing, though his right leg was not intact.
Only the four who had seen the direction of the magic cannon's pillar and fled desperately toward the far end were still breathing.
Bel didn't care what happened to the lives of the others.
Bel slung only Mary over her shoulder and kicked off from the deck, leaping up. Then she landed back on the Resen Kingdom's sailing ship.
And she set Mary down in front of the knights beside Baron Hans.
Hans stepped forward and bowed his head deeply to Bel.
"Thank you. She is a citizen of our kingdom, so we will take care of her."
"Yeah."
Hestia, who had come over and was now beside Bel, spoke, looking at Mary.
"This person managed to survive somehow."
Bel looked over at Yuma, who was a short distance away.
"Yuma must have controlled the distance. Since she was an innocent person."
Hestia nodded vigorously.
"Right? The God of War... does not let the innocent be swept into death."
Hestia spouted nonsense again.
Yuma remained still with an expressionless face.
'I didn't control the distance or anything.'
Because at the moment <Absolute Counter—Disaster Split> had to decide the striking points, there was no leeway to worry about controlling the distance.
Mary's hand entered Yuma's gaze.
Blood was clotted under her fingernails. The skin at her fingertips was cruelly ripped, and blood had pooled there as well.
The fact that this woman named Mary, who had been made a plaything for the pirates' entertainment, survived was probably because she had struggled desperately to live to the very end.
'Well, that's a relief.'
The path ahead would be harsh, but the living had to go on living.
Bel approached Yuma.
"I did well, right?"
"Yeah, you did well."
Yuma stroked Bel's blue hair.
Yuma looked over the Resen Kingdom's sailing ship, which was now in a complete mess.
"Are you going to continue the voyage?"
"Hmm, I'm a bit sorry about this."
Bel scratched her head as she looked at the sight of the ship she had created.
Brown-haired Baron Hans looked at Bel and shook his head firmly. Hans didn't know Bel's rank or anything of the sort, but she appeared to be a close aide of the Grand Duke. Even if she was a commoner, the thought of speaking informally to her did not occur to him.
"Not at all. We will never forget the grace of saving us."
And he looked back at Yuma.
"We will put the voyage on hold for a while. It seems we must return to the kingdom, make repairs, and then depart again."
"I see."
"Regarding the reward for saving us, I would like to give it regardless of being an ally...."
"Then don't think of giving it to me. Send it to the Imperial House of Astes."
His face brightened at the fact that there was a way to repay somehow.
"Understood."
This time Hans looked at Bel.
"Just now, I saw you used throwing daggers...."
Suddenly, from a wooden box behind him, he pulled out several dark-colored daggers and held them out to Bel.
"These are dark-colored daggers made of a metal called Rigeinen. They are for throwing daggers to slit an opponent's throat like you did just now. They were made by the kingdom's best blacksmith."
"Oh!"
Bel's eyes sparkled with curiosity, having acquired a new weapon.
"Deal with the remaining survivors as you see fit."
At Yuma's words, Baron Hans and his subordinates repeatedly bowed their heads.
Yuma took Bel and returned to Amon's sailing ship.
"Now, let's depart again."
"Yes, Your Grace the Grand Duke."
The captain of Amon's sailing ship bent his waist at a right angle.
The grandeur of the God of War, which he had only vaguely heard of, living at the northern edge.
Having witnessed it with his own two eyes, awe could not help but rise from the tips of his toes.
The ship advanced further toward the northern edge.
And six days passed. It was a time at sea with calm and occasionally violent waves.
A very large island came into view for Yuma's party.
A massive wall made of pale brown rock.
It seemed like a wall that meant 'do not even think about entering recklessly'.
A hollow space in the center of the wall that appeared to be the main gate. The ship entered that space.
A dock built for ships to anchor came into view.
Chwaaah...
The captain, tense, slowly docked the ship at the pier.
Yuma gestured with his chin.
"Everyone disembark."
At Yuma's words, everyone nodded without a word.
Because if they intended to attack, they would have attacked earlier.
Perhaps after seeing the imperial flag hanging on the ship, they had abandoned any thought of attacking.
About thirty male Fishmen came into sight, their skin displaying a clear sky-blue hue.
In their hands they held weapons like tridents.
Their solid, muscular upper bodies were exposed, and they wore leather shorts on their lower bodies.
The Fishman who appeared to be the leader among these thirty approached Yuma, the first to step onto the island of the Fishmen Tribe—the Mulren—and asked.
The Fishmen Tribe men were well over two meters tall.
"Are you members of the Astes Empire who have responded to our Mulren tribe's request for rescue?"
It was quite fascinating that the words from the Mulren's mouth were the Egatorz Continental Common Language, the same language used by the people of the Astes Empire.
Yuma nodded.
"Yes. I am the Grand Duke of the Astes Empire, Yuma."
"Yuma...!"
The Fishman's eyes flew wide open.
As the gatekeeper of the Mulren, he had engraved in his mind the name of the one who had to be honored with the utmost courtesy.
The blue-skinned Fishman, his navy-blue hair fluttering, knelt before Yuma.
"I am Nereus, a warrior of the Mulren."
Yuma looked over Nereus's body.
Long navy-blue hair and sky-blue skin.
Blue eyes.
And on both wrists, fins the same color as his skin—blue and translucent—fluttered.
Three lines that looked like gills were drawn on both sides of his neck.
The other Mulren looked similar in appearance.
If there were differences, it was skin color. Nereus and the majority had sky-blue skin. However, two out of the thirty had gray skin and light green skin, respectively.
'Most have sky-blue skin, but it seems Fishmen with other skin colors are born occasionally.'
There were many intriguing aspects.
"Follow me. All of your party. I shall escort you."
Nereus rose.
Behind Nereus, the thirty Mulren moved simultaneously.
"Wow...."
Hestia, her cat ears perked, followed behind the Mulren men.
Bel's pink eyes and Cloné's golden eyes were both busy taking in the scenery of Mulren Island.
The captain and crew, hunched and tense, following behind with their gazes darting around just as busily, were no different.
Even though it was on an island and not underwater, the scenery continued to unfold differently from the human world.
Trees with a faint blue hue.
Various houses made of wood and grass.
People living a life in harmony with nature.
Birds with pink feathers, about the size of parrots, glided through the sky in flocks.
Jjaek-jjaek-jjaek—
The eyes of everyone except Yuma followed the flight paths of those birds.
"They are friends called Plumi."
One of the Mulren warriors, apparently finding the sight of twenty gazes moving simultaneously quite impressive, told them the name.
Bel, wearing a fur-filled coat, looked at the Mulren man who had just given the bird's name and said.
"Aren't you cold?"
"The Mulren are inherently very resistant to cold."
"Impressive."
Nereus stopped walking at the place where the Mulren chieftain—who could be called the king of the Fishmen Tribe—was.
"The King of the Mulren, Yerkur, awaits."
"Let's go in."
Yuma took Cloné, Bel, and Hestia inside.
Yerkur had a frame that looked easily 250 centimeters tall. That huge body sat with its form hunched over.
"Welcome, Yuma. I am Yerkur, King of the Mulren."
Yerkur's gaze landed on Yuma.
Yuma faced the giant blue man squarely.
[Lv.142] Yerkur
Race: Fishmen Tribe
Class: Emperor, Martial Fighter
State: Master
Innate Traits: King's Blood, Affection of the Great Sea
"Yes, pleased to meet you. I am Yuma, Grand Duke of Astes."
Yerkur appeared to be a martial artist who used his fists.
"Originally, we do not stay on the island for long periods like this. At most, we come out about once a week to observe the goings-on of the continent...."
"But right now, we are in a state where we cannot be at ease in the underwater city."
At the words 'underwater city,' something came to Yuma's mind.
"Atlantis?"
Yerkur chuckled.
"The legend of Atlantis is very fascinating. It may exist somewhere, but... the Mulren's underwater city is not Atlantis. It is a longtime friend called Hekarun."
Yerkur continued speaking as he watched Yuma nod.
"Anyway, the enemy's invasion is so severe that not all of our people can stay in Hekarun. Moreover, those bastards are spreading chaotic energy through the sea."
"Chaotic energy?"
Yerkur stroked his thick beard and continued.
"That black haze has no direct harm to us Mulren. However, it is very slowly killing the life of the sea, the friends of the Mulren."
"Do you know who those enemies are?"
Yerkur's brow furrowed.
"We have never seen its form yet, hidden as it is within fog. The bastard only keeps sending minions. But if we infer from the giant shadow beyond that fog, among the monsters drawn in ancient historical texts from a thousand years ago... it is probably Leviathan."
Leviathan.
That was the moment Yuma understood what the dark cloud hanging over the Mulren tribe was.