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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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Yuma walked gracefully along the plank onto the sailing ship of the Resen Kingdom.
*thud*─
As Yuma stepped majestically onto the Resen Kingdom’s ship, all eyes turned toward him.
“Th-thank you for saving us.”
When Yuma slowly nodded, Baron Hans hastily introduced himself.
“I am Baron Hans of the Resen Kingdom, my benefactor.”
Baron Hans bowed as deeply as he could.
He had witnessed it clearly with his own eyes.
Though he couldn’t understand the principle behind it, he saw what happened after the magic cannon shells were deflected by Yuma’s sword.
The black dragons that destroyed three pirate ships.
In that moment, Baron Hans dared to intuit.
That this man might be the Martial God whose name was spreading across the entire continent.
“I am Yuma, Grand Duke of the Astes Empire.”
Hans’s eyes widened.
‘Yuma…’
Yes, that was indeed the name of the Martial God.
“C-congratulations on receiving the Grand Duke title.”
Yuma tilted his head.
“You know of me?”
“O-of course! Your name has already spread across the entire continent as the Dragon Slayer.”
Yuma could soon accept the reason.
Indeed, they said the Information Guild shared intelligence on a continental scale.
The feat of killing a Black Dragon was certainly worthy of spreading across the continent.
Achieving victory against Paineton, the barbarian nation where the Conquest King resided, was also an achievement worthy of continental recognition.
“Rise. And…”
Yuma briefly gazed at Hectos, the Dusk Pirates’ leader who died by Bell’s hand, before lifting his head.
“The remaining treatment of these pirates is yours to decide, Baron Hans.”
Hans frantically nodded at Yuma’s words.
“Yes, understood.”
Yuma had already heard from Amonga’s ship’s crew about how Dusk was known in the continental pirate world.
A pirate group that ended conflicts between pirates.
And the reason Dusk was capable of this was because of the existence of Sword Master Hectos.
There were rumors that he was originally the eldest son of a knight family in the Resen Kingdom but became a pirate when his family was destroyed for treason.
He was known as effectively the continent’s only Sword Master pirate.
Of course, now he was just a cold corpse killed by Bell.
Bell carefully stepped onto the broken deck.
There was a woman crouching at the edge of the deck.
Her already ragged clothes were even more tattered.
And there were severe burn marks on her back.
“…Still alive.”
Bell noted that the woman, Mary, was unconscious but breathing.
“Arghhhh!”
Besides Mary, another pirate was also alive.
Though his right leg wasn’t in good shape.
Only four people who had desperately fled to the far end, judging the direction of the magic cannon pillar, remained alive.
Bell didn’t care what happened to the rest.
Bell only hoisted Mary onto her shoulder and leaped off the deck.
Then she landed back on the Resen Kingdom’s sailing ship.
She placed Mary down in front of the knights beside Baron Hans.
Hans stepped forward and bowed to Bell.
“Thank you. She’s a citizen of our country, we’ll take care of her.”
“Mm.”
Hestia, who had somehow made her way to Bell’s side, spoke.
Looking at Mary, she said:
“This person managed to survive, impressively.”
Bell briefly looked over at Yuma in the distance.
“Yuma must have adjusted the range. Since she’s an innocent person.”
Hestia nodded emphatically.
“Right? The Martial God… doesn’t let innocents get caught up in death.”
Hestia said another strange thing.
Yuma maintained an expressionless face.
‘I didn’t adjust anything.’
At the moment when [Absolute Counter─Division] had to determine its strike point, there wasn’t any capacity to think about range adjustment.
Mary’s hands caught Yuma’s eye.
Blood was clotted under her nails.
The skin at her fingertips was brutally torn, with blood pooled there too.
This woman named Mary, who had been used for the pirates’ entertainment, probably survived because she fought desperately to live until the end.
‘Well, that’s fortunate.’
Though the path ahead would be harsh, the living must live on.
Bell approached Yuma.
“I did well, right?”
“Yes, you did well.”
Yuma patted Bell’s blue hair.
Yuma surveyed the thoroughly wrecked Resen Kingdom sailing ship.
“Will you continue your voyage?”
“Um, sorry about this.”
Bell scratched her head while looking at the state of the ship she had created.
Brown-haired Baron Hans shook his head vigorously at Bell.
Though Hans didn’t know Bell’s rank, she appeared to be close to the Grand Duke.
Even if she were a commoner, it wouldn’t be appropriate for Hans to speak casually.
“Not at all. We will never forget the debt of gratitude for saving our lives.”
Then he looked at Yuma again.
“We’ll have to postpone the voyage for now. We should return to the kingdom for repairs before setting out again.”
“I see.”
“We’d like to offer compensation for saving us, beyond our alliance…”
“Then don’t think about giving it to me, send it to the Astes Imperial family.”
Hans’s face brightened at the possibility of repayment somehow.
“Understood.”
Hans then looked at Bell.
“I noticed you were using throwing daggers earlier…”
He suddenly pulled out some dark-colored daggers from a wooden box behind him and offered them to Bell.
“These are also dark-colored daggers made of Ligenen iron. They’re meant for throwing to strike vital points, just as you did earlier. They were made by the kingdom’s finest blacksmith.”
“Oh!”
Bell’s eyes sparkled with curiosity at acquiring new weapons.
“Handle the remaining survivors as you see fit.”
At Yuma’s words, Baron Hans and his subordinates kept bowing their heads.
Yuma returned to Amonga’s sailing ship with Bell.
“Let’s set off again.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The captain of Amonga’s ship bent at a right angle.
Having survived from the northern end and only vaguely heard of the Martial God’s greatness.
Now that he had witnessed it directly with his own eyes, reverence couldn’t help but well up from his toes.
The ship continued north.
And 6 days passed.
It was time spent on the sea, sometimes calm, sometimes with fierce waves.
A massive island came into view of Yuma’s group.
A gigantic wall made of brown-colored rock.
It seemed like a wall meant to warn against casual entry.
The ship entered through an empty space in the center of the wall that appeared to be the main gate.
A dock made for mooring ships came into view.
*swoosh*
The captain nervously guided the ship slowly into the dock.
Yuma gestured with his chin.
“Everyone disembark.”
Everyone nodded without argument at Yuma’s words.
If they were going to attack, they would have done so already.
They seemed to have abandoned thoughts of attack after seeing the empire’s flag flying on the ship.
About 30 male merfolk with skin that appeared to be a pure sky blue came into view.
They held weapons that resembled tridents in their hands.
Their muscular upper bodies were completely exposed.
For lower garments, they wore leather shorts.
From among these 20 men, the one who appeared to be their leader approached Yuma, who was the first to set foot on the island of the merfolk, the Mullen clan.
The merfolk men were over 2 meters tall.
“Are you the members of the Astes Empire who responded to our Mullen clan’s request for aid?”
It was quite interesting that the words coming from the Mullen clan member’s mouth were in the common language of the Egatorz continent, the same used by citizens of the Astes Empire.
Yuma nodded.
“Yes. I am Yuma, Grand Duke of Astes.”
“Yuma…!”
The merfolk man’s eyes widened.
As a gatekeeper of the Mullen, he had the name of one who should be treated with utmost respect engraved in his mind.
The blue-skinned merfolk man, his navy blue hair flowing, knelt before Yuma.
“I am Nereus, a warrior of the Mullen.”
Yuma surveyed Nereus’s body.
Navy blue long hair, and sky blue skin.
Blue eyes.
And on both wrists, transparent fins the same blue as his skin fluttered.
Three lines that appeared to be gills were drawn on both sides of his neck.
The other Mullen clan members looked similar.
The difference was in their skin colors.
Nereus and the majority had sky blue skin.
But among the 30, two had gray skin and light green skin respectively.
‘While the majority have sky blue skin, it seems some merfolk are occasionally born with different skin colors.’
There were many fascinating points.
“Please follow me. All of you in the party. I will guide you.”
Nereus stood up.
The 30 Mullen clan members moved in unison behind Nereus.
“Wow…”
Hestia’s cat ears twitched as she followed behind the Mullen clan men.
Bell’s pink eyes and Cloney’s golden eyes were also busy taking in the sights of Mullen island.
The gazes of the captain and crew, who followed while tensely hunching their shoulders, were equally busy moving about.
Even though it was above the sea rather than underwater, scenes very different from the human world continued to unfold.
Trees with a faint blue tinge.
Various houses made from trees and grass.
Those living as if one with nature.
Pink-feathered birds about the size of parrots flew through the sky in flocks.
*chirp chirp chirp*─
The eyes of everyone in the party except Yuma followed the birds’ flight paths.
“Those are friends we call Plumi.”
Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the birds.
Bell, wearing a fur-lined coat, asked the Mullen warrior who had just named the birds:
“Aren’t you cold?”
“The Mullen clan is naturally very resistant to cold.”
“That’s amazing.”
Nereus’s footsteps stopped at the place where the clan chief, who could be called the king of the merfolk, was located.
“The King of Mullen, Yercur, awaits.”
“Let’s go in.”
Yuma entered with Cloney, Bell, and Hestia.
Yercur had a massive frame that looked to be easily 250cm tall.
That huge body sat with a slight bow.
“Welcome, Yuma. I am Yercur, King of the Mullen.”
Yercur’s gaze fell upon Yuma.
Yuma stared directly at the massive blue man.
“Yes, pleased to meet you. I am Yuma, Grand Duke of Astes.”
Yercur appeared to be a martial artist who used his fists.
“Originally we do not stay on this island for long periods. At most we come out once a week to observe the continent’s movements…”
Yercur continued speaking while examining Yuma’s party.
“But now we cannot stay comfortably in our underwater city.”
Something occurred to Yuma at those words about an underwater city.
“Is it Atlantis?”
Yercur chuckled.
“While the legend of Atlantis is quite fascinating, and it may exist somewhere… the Mullen’s underwater city is not Atlantis. It’s called Hakarun.”
Yercur continued speaking as he watched Yuma nod.
“In any case, the enemy’s invasion has become too severe for all personnel to remain in Hakarun. Moreover, they are spreading chaos energy throughout the sea.”
“Chaos energy?”
Yercur stroked his thick beard as he continued.
“Those black hazes have no direct impact on us Mullen. But they are very slowly killing the life in the sea, these friends of Mullen.”
“Do you know who these enemies are?”
Yercur furrowed his brow.
“We haven’t yet seen their form, hidden in the mist. They only keep sending subordinates. But if we were to guess at the massive shadow beyond that mist based on the monsters drawn in thousand-year-old historical texts… it would be the Leviathan.”
Leviathan.
That was the moment Yuma learned what dark cloud hung over the Mullen clan.
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