Chapter 108
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 108
Several hours had passed since Onil’s body was discovered.
The members of the subjugation squad immediately placed their fallen commander on a killer whale magical beast and rushed to the Abacha main house to report his demise.
Naturally, the Carmine family was thrown into an uproar.
Despite a reputation tarnished by his vile personality, Onil had been a powerhouse whose mana capacity ranked among the elite, even within the main family’s nobility. For such a man to die while hunting a mere magical beast was unthinkable.
An investigation team was immediately formed to uncover the truth. Among its members was Jemel Carmine—Onil’s father, the younger brother of the family head, and one of the family’s absolute strongest figures.
“It is here, Lord Jemel.”
“Hmm.”
The subjugation squad members trembled as they watched the man approach with an expression of utmost solemnity. The son of the investigation leader now lay before them as a headless corpse.
Even if Jemel decided to hold them responsible for his son’s death and execute them on the spot, he would likely receive nothing more than a few harsh words from the family head before the matter was dropped. Compared to knights or mid-ranking nobles, the existence of such high-ranking nobility was precious beyond measure.
Whether he was aware of the squad’s anxiety or not, Jemel looked down at his son’s body with a consistently expressionless face. After a moment, he asked a question in a completely dry, hollow tone.
“Why was the head severed?”
“It... it appears to have been bitten off during the battle, judging by the fact that it was found inside the magical beast’s mouth.”
“An octopus’s teeth are sharper than I thought. I didn't know that. Is it because it was a magical beast?”
The way he touched the severed surface of Onil’s neck made him seem like a man who had become numb, as if his grief over losing a child was so profound it had turned into apathy.
“Explain the sequence of events in detail.”
“Yes. We departed smoothly from the operational area and were heading north...”
The vice-captain delivered her report, carefully distorting the truth. In reality, Onil had done nothing but drink heavily and act like a tyrant, but she framed it as him ordering the restoration of damaged areas or actively devising operational plans.
Jemel clicked his tongue and interrupted.
“Stop. He was my son; do you think I don’t know him? There’s no need to flatter him. He was undoubtedly drinking himself into a stupor.”
“I-I am sorry.”
The vice-captain was shocked by how remarkably objective he was about his own son, but she quickly pivoted to the truth. Having had her mind read once, she laid out the subsequent events honestly.
She described how he had shirked his command, telling them to do whatever they wanted while he threw drunken tantrums; how he had stayed back during the battle, merely pretending to fight while using his whip to 'save' knights; and how he had charged in alone at the end, claiming he would deliver the finishing blow since the beast was already dying...
She wondered if it was really okay to say all this, but Jemel and the other high-ranking Carmines simply wore expressions that said, 'Of course he did.'
“He charged in alone?”
“Yes. He threatened to kill anyone who followed him, so no one could go to his aid. I am truly sorry.”
“Hmm. He was braver than I thought. I didn't expect that. Perhaps I misjudged him...”
Hearing him mutter to himself, the vice-captain’s eyes widened in surprise. Until now, she had thought he was acting cold because his grief was too great, but this was a level of detachment worse than one might show for a dead pet dog.
Her surprise was short-lived; as Jemel’s gaze returned to her, she quickly lowered her eyes.
“However, it seems there is no mana left in Onil’s body?”
“It was likely absorbed while his head was being eaten. The magical beast itself was too heavily wounded to digest the mana, so...”
“So the excess evaporated when the beast died mid-absorption. Everyone, project your mana.”
Jemel ordered the nobles of the subjugation squad to project their mana. After confirming that none of them had grown significantly stronger, he nodded. Thanks to this, they were cleared of the potential charge of plundering the mana remaining in Onil’s corpse.
While Jemel spoke quietly with the other investigators afterward, the subjugation squad members bit their lips and nails, feeling like prisoners awaiting a death sentence.
A moment later, the verdict was delivered.
“I believe none of the nobles who participated this time have reached their growth limits. Is that correct?”
“Y-yes, that is correct.”
“The mana from the magical beast will be distributed among the four of you. Absorb it immediately.”
The subjugation squad members, and even the other investigators, looked shocked by Jemel’s decision. One of the squad’s nobles muttered in disbelief.
“W-what about our punishment?”
“There is no punishment. You did your best, and realistically, you couldn't have stopped Onil anyway. If anything, I am the one who should apologize to the family head. I raised my son poorly and put you all in danger.”
“Lord Jemel...!”
Seeing him calmly confess his own lack of virtue despite his son’s death, several members of the subjugation squad were so moved they even shed a few tears. How could such a degenerate son have come from such a magnificent father?
While the nobles of the squad absorbed the mana, Jemel stepped back to observe Onil’s body once more. The others kept their distance, showing respect so the father could spend his final moments with his son.
“Hmm... surely this isn't a fake? He’s my son, but looking at him like this, I can’t really tell. It might have been better if he hadn't bloated so much.”
Jemel muttered as he touched Onil’s water-bloated face and body. The idea that parents know their children’s bodies well was a story for commoners. Having left Onil to servants since he was a child, Jemel had no way of knowing his son’s specific physical traits. He hadn't raised the boy with enough interest to care.
“Jujak said he felt something extraordinary about him, so I wanted to try raising him properly... Tsk, to think he’d die like this.”
Onil had been a decent enough asset in his own right, and more importantly, he was a spare body to be used in an emergency if one of them died in an accident. It was a genuine shame.
But to put it another way, that was all he was. He was merely one of the hundreds of children Jemel had sired so far, and one of thousands more he would have in the future. One had simply died.
With that thought, Jemel erased Onil’s face, name, and their few memories from his mind. One of the secrets to living a long life was to clear out unnecessary information in a timely manner.
*
After tossing Onil’s appropriately water-bloated corpse to the subjugation squad, Turan had remained hidden, carefully observing the final stages of the process.
If Jemel or anyone else in the investigation team had dug too deep into Onil’s death and uncovered the truth, he wouldn't be able to use this body-swapping strategy a second time. Fortunately, the Carmine nobles accepted the play he had staged.
If they had investigated the corpse meticulously, they might have found a flaw or two, but most people didn't bother looking for a complex and difficult truth when faced with a clear and obvious conclusion.
After confirming that Onil’s body was finally placed in a coffin, Turan, now a free man, disguised himself as an ordinary fisherman and bought a boat from a nearby island.
“Now, where should I start looking...”
The reason Turan had come out to the North Sea instead of returning immediately to the southern reclamation site was to find the merfolk. Specifically, the royal merfolk of the faction Armani belonged to—the ones who had fought alongside him against the Great Sea Serpent’s spirit.
Seeing the recent attack by the octopus magical beast, Turan had concluded that it was likely not a natural phenomenon. The way the octopus had attacked the city seemed less like an act of rage, hunger, or curiosity, and more like it was carrying out a task assigned by someone.
When he relayed this through the mirror, Solif asked with a worried expression.
[You’re going to meet the merfolk alone? If they’re using the power of the Great Sea Serpents, it’ll be difficult on your own.]
“I’m not going to fight them. I’m just going to find out if they really are driving the magical beasts toward the coast.”
Once he uncovered the truth, he could simply return with Meisa and Solif when they were free and crush them. There was no rule saying only the other side could use the power of a faction.
Having finished his report, Turan sailed alone across the North Sea, his boat gliding over the water.
‘Traveling alone by boat really is lonely.’
When he was with Solif and Meisa, it might have been a bit tedious, but they had passed the time talking and laughing. He also missed watching Bije’s cute antics.
Fortunately, he wasn't entirely without things to do. He had several books he’d received from Asiz in his high-capacity pouch, so he spent his time reading. Navigating the North Sea using the power of his Shoal bloodline to move the boat while holding an open book, Turan looked like a scene from a painting.
“Ah, found them.”
After three days of searching, he came across a pack of merfolk attacking a ship.
Judging by their appearance, the crew were pirates. Having lost their will to fight, they were jumping into the sea only to be caught and eaten alive by the merfolk. Even if they were villains, Turan had no stomach for watching cannibalism, so he decided to intervene immediately.
With a wave of his hand, the seawater surged up, instantly transforming into dozens of ice spears that shot toward the merfolk.
“Ky-aaaah!”
The precisely aimed spears tore through the merfolk’s limbs in an instant, leaving them with nothing to do but roll across the deck, screaming shrilly. The pirates, their bodies mangled by bites, reached out to Turan with desperate expressions, but he ignored them.
He had left the recovery potion artifact with Meisa, and even if he hadn't, he had no intention of saving pirates who were essentially wolves in human skin.
Using telekinesis to drag one of the merfolk over, Turan spoke in a threatening tone.
“Bring me one of your royals. Anyone will do. Otherwise, you die.”
However, the only response to Turan’s question was a beastly hiss and frantic struggling. He tried using the standard torture techniques he’d learned from Reto, but even those didn't work. Every single one of the merfolk did nothing but snap their jaws and drool at the mere scent of human flesh; meaningful conversation was impossible.
“Tsk.”
Turan finished off the merfolk and searched the ship. As expected of a pirate ship, it was much older, shabbier, and more damaged than the ones he had sold before, so he simply abandoned it. He didn't have a convenient way to sell it off like before, anyway.
He encountered merfolk several more times as he traveled across the North Sea, but their reactions were always the same. It wasn't until his seventh encounter that he finally met a merman capable of speech.
“Y-you... are...”
A merman who spoke even as drool leaked from his mouth. Judging by the fact that he possessed slightly more power than the others and had a sturdy build, he seemed to be of the noble class.
“Hey, can you understand me?”
“Y-yes... no, you... you look so delicious... why...?”
“Are you a merfolk noble?”
“That’s right...”
Perhaps because he was of the nobility, he was able to control his impulses enough to hold a conversation. Turan grabbed him and pressed for answers.
“Where do I have to go to meet your royalty?”
“Our... our royalty... they fled, beyond the mirror...”
“Beyond the mirror? Do you mean the mirror that leads to the Southern Sea?”
At Turan’s question, the noble merman wore an expression that asked how a human could possibly know that.
“Humans know more than you think. So, did all the merfolk royalty go down there? Is there no one left in the North Sea?”
The noble merman clamped his mouth shut, unwilling to answer, but after screaming from the sensation of ice spears creatively piercing his claws, he eventually spilled everything. It seemed that as their instincts weakened and their reason grew stronger, their tolerance for pain decreased as well.
“The... the Clan of the High Priest has been resurrected... The royals fled because they didn't want to be killed by them...”
The explanation was long and rambling, likely due to the conflict between his pain and his hunger, but after asking several times, Turan was able to grasp the general outline.
According to the explanation, once the merfolk royalty of Armani’s faction obtained the power of the Great Sea Serpents, the other merfolk fled to the Southern Sea, fearing a purge. Only the 'chaff'—the lesser nobles and commoners—had been left behind.
“Why are the magical beasts attacking the coast?”
“Magical beasts...? Probably, the High Priests... dominion...”
Turan’s face hardened at the mention that the bloodline of the Great Sea Serpents had the ability to control magical beasts. The possibility that his prediction was correct had grown even stronger.
After asking a few more questions, Turan ended the noble’s life.
“Spare me...”
“If you wanted to live, you shouldn't have tried to eat humans.”
To him, a different race that harmed humans was nothing more than a wolf trying to take a sheep. No matter how 'virtuous' they might be among their own kind, it didn't matter.
*
Regrettably, even after interrogating the noble merman, he couldn't find out where Armani’s kin were. That noble had been under the command of a different royal faction.
According to the interrogation, the merfolk currently belonging to that faction were likely engaged in a fierce power struggle deep within the ocean. Those who came above the water, like the one he’d met, were all either commoners or nobles who had lost their backing.
At that point, Turan decided to stop his investigation of the merfolk and return. His objective had been achieved once he learned that the merfolk—specifically those from Armani’s side—likely played a significant role in the magical beasts' invasion of the coast. He probably wouldn't be alone the next time he came here.
Instead of calling Bije, Turan steered the boat himself toward the southwest. Unlike him, Bije lacked tracking abilities, so he would have to explain his location to have her come to him, which would likely result in her getting lost in the vast North Sea. It was better to reach the continent himself and then call Bije from a suitable meeting point to ride her back down.
‘I might as well stop by Kalamaf while I’m at it.’
As it happened, heading southwest from his current position made it highly likely he would land in the Gray Zone. If he went straight south, he would hit the Enril Desert.
After about five days of steady sailing, Turan finally made landfall. Perhaps because he had been on the water for so long, he felt a strange dizziness, similar to when he had disembarked from the Blue Marlin in the past.
“Excuse me, is this the Gray Zone? I got caught in a storm and I’m not sure where I am...”
“It is. You’ve got some bad luck. I heard the winds haven't even been blowing much lately.”
After confirming his location at a nearby fishing village, Turan changed into ordinary traveler’s clothes and moved inland. Kalamaf was the westernmost city in the Gray Zone. If he followed the main road and kept his direction, he would naturally reach it.
[I’ll be there soon!]
“Right. If you get there first, wait for me carefully.”
Of course, there was little danger for a high-ranking magical beast like Bije, but Turan smiled as he saw her through the mirror, holding a stone tablet.
After about three days of traveling at a brisk pace through uninhabited areas, Turan arrived at Kalamaf. He looked upon the city he had saved with a sense of deep emotion.
“Everyone seems to be doing well.”
From the city walls, which had once been half-collapsed but were now newly repaired, to the clothing of the people passing by, nothing seemed much different from when he had last left. That alone told him that the lord who had contracted with him was governing the city quite well.
Before meeting Bije, Turan passed through the city gates, intending to take a quick look around the interior, when he realized something unexpected.
‘Wait. My statues are gone.’
Though he’d thought he would die of embarrassment, he had secretly felt a bit of pride, but the statues of Turan that had been installed next to each city gate had all been removed. Had the family ruling this place removed them because they felt his influence interfered with their own?
It was a bit unpleasant, but not entirely incomprehensible, so Turan clicked his tongue and walked toward City Hall. He intended to check if they were doing a good job with things like magical beast hunting, as per their contract, before leaving.
However...
“Ha.”
A large notice was posted in front of City Hall. Turan burst into laughter as he read the text at the bottom, which stated that new taxes were being implemented for various reasons and must be paid.
[I declare this in the name of Turan, Lord of Kalamaf.]
Naturally, it was not a laugh of joy.