Chapter 33

===================

Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

With the appearance of the massive hull, violent waves surged all through the dock.

Tie, who turned her head, narrowed her brow.

“……Ugh. A villain came again.”

Standing high above, holding up the mast, was Karl.

Looking down below, he smiled viciously.

“You’re not planning to go and conquer that magic stone on your own, are you? Just in case, I’ll tell you now, I already marked that one for myself!”

“That’s right! Just give up on the magic stone! The conqueror of the first magic stone to rise from the sea will be our Lord Karl!”

It was when the Death Hound mercenaries all chimed in and burst into provocative laughter.

“Nobody asked, so why are you doing that……”

Tie muttered with a sullen face.

Several of Death Hound’s mercenaries flinched.

Because ‘nobody asked’ sounded almost like a spell.

But in the meantime, Tie planted her hands on her waist and looked up at the large ship.

“Fiiine! Work hard! Ugly Karl!”

At the words ‘ugly,’ a vein throbbed across Karl’s forehead.

But Tie kept talking.

“This Necromancer King will specially yield that magic stone to ugly you!”

Murmurs spread among the Death Hound mercenaries.

And for good reason, because they had naturally assumed Agabert would move to conquer the magic stone.

But now he was saying he would yield the magic stone to Death Hound?

“You do it all! Of course, I hope ugly you sinks glug glug under the sea! But if you conquer the magic stone, that is actually good! The townspeople will be happy!!”

Karl’s hand, gripping the mast, trembled slightly.

“‘Is that bastard making fun of me right now?'”

If not, then how could anyone speak in that kind of tone?

And yet his expression alone was serious and dignified, which somehow made a person even angrier.

Forcing a twisted smile, Karl replied.

“You acted all tough in every possible way. So in the end, you’re scared too? Is your mercenary company only that much, huh?!”

“Yes! How did you know!”

But once again, an unexpected answer came back.

For some reason, the Necromancer King was scratching her head very confidently.

“We still only have four members! So if a monster that looks like a Tyrannosaurus comes out, that’s a little scary!”

“……”

“But ugly you has lots of members, so it should be okay! Now that I look, your boat is super cool too! Fighting!”

Karl’s expression went blank.

While he stared down at the Necromancer King, speechless, the latter turned away from him without the slightest hesitation.
As though Karl no longer interested her at all.
Then she called out warmly to Basto and Veil, “See you later~!” and held the governor’s hand affectionately.
“Guv’nor~ shall we go to the government office instead of getting rained on~?”
It was the complete opposite of how she had behaved toward Karl.
“That is an act……?”
If so, then wasn’t she really, sincerely, chillingly insane.
“C-Commander. What should we do?”
At his side, Vice-Captain Rekar whispered.

Karl trembled as he stared at the back of the Necromancer King’s head, then spat out the words as though chewing them.

“Leave them alone. From our standpoint, there’s nothing to regret.”

“Then the operation you mentioned a little while ago……?”

“We proceed with it as planned.”

Karl’s eyes shifted from the Necromancer King to Basto.

On a boat smaller than the one Karl had bought, Basto was busily inspecting the helm.

“……That irritating bastard. This time, I really will kill him.”

Karl had given him chances several times, but the one who had ignored them was Basto.

If he had thrown away his pride and obediently followed Karl, it would never have gone this far.

“Do as I ordered after sunset.”

Karl intended to kill Basto while everyone was distracted.

If Basto died in battle, then Agabert and the Necromancer King would also suffer a severe blow, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

“‘That bastard mainly worked as a front-line fighter.'”

For a mercenary company, a front-line fighter was an extremely important human resource.

And if a newly created mercenary company that hadn’t been around long lost such a resource, the damage would be enormous.

“With no Necromancer King to interfere, this actually works out even better.”

All the preparations had already been completed.

Watching Basto pull up the anchor, Karl grinned.

* * *

“What the hell are those bastards doing?”

Holding onto the railing of the rocking hull, Veil frowned.

Through the violent rain and wind, he could see a huge ship following them at a fixed interval.

The sailor beside him answered.

“I’m not sure. Since they said they would conquer the magic stone once the rift opens, maybe they’re conducting a preliminary survey?”

“Then they should do that near the magic stone. Why are they chasing our backside around? It’s not like they’re dogs desperate to take a dump!”

At Veil’s irritated voice, the sailors glanced nervously at him, and Basto spoke from beside them.

“Don’t pay attention to them, Veil. Our objective is the governor’s two sons.”

Holding the rudder, he was busily scanning the surroundings.

“Keep securing the surrounding field of view. Mr. McTaren and Mr. Jin, please check whether any rescue signals are coming in.”

The sailors moved busily.

The boat they were on had been slowly circling the Pearl City coastline for a while now.

They were checking whether the boat Raul and Enzo had ridden might have docked on some lonely stretch of coast.

But there was no trace of Raul and Enzo anywhere.

“Just in case…… look for things like bodies too.”

Without answering, Veil nodded.

“‘If they died, they’d probably already have been swept away.'”

Even so, he intended to make as much effort as possible for the sake of the governor, who was desperately searching for her children.

“For now, I don’t see anything nearby. I want to check behind us too, but……”

Muttering, Veil spat out another curse.

“Those damned bastards, where the hell did they get a stupidly huge ship like that?! It’s bad enough that they’re useless, and now they’re blocking the whole view!”

“From what I can see, it looks like they bought an entire passenger ship. One of the shipowners on that side was the first to run this morning. It might be that man’s boat……”

“This is driving me crazy, seriously. It’s already hard to see because of the weather, and that ship is blocking the view, so……”

Unable to bear it any longer, Veil hissed through his teeth and headed somewhere.

He climbed the ropes to the stern, then shouted loudly toward Karl’s pursuing ship.

“Get lost! Just get lost already-!!”

Then a voice answered from the other side.

But without even trying to hear what it was saying, Veil bulged the veins in his neck.

“What the hell are you babbling about-! I’m just telling you to get lost from behind us?! Move! Can’t you hear me telling you to move right now, huh?!”

Then, by his own standard, he pointed to the sea on the left, where the magic stone had risen.

“Seriously, are you blind or something! Your destination is over there! That magic stone over there……”

At that moment, Veil closed his mouth.

After standing frozen for a moment, Veil jumped down from the stern with a grave face, then began climbing up the mast this time.

When he reached the crow’s nest, his expression went blank.

Before long, breaking the silence, Veil shouted down below.

“Basto! The magic stone!”

Basto frowned and looked up.

The sailors also stared at Veil as if wondering what he was saying now of all times, but

“There’s a boat with its anchor fixed to the magic stone! The current over there is so strong it’s just about to get swept away!!”

At last understanding the situation, Basto quickly turned the rudder.

Beside him, a sailor securing his view with a telescope shouted.

“I-It is true! It’s hard to see because of the waves, but there really is something hanging from the magic stone! It looks like a small fishing boat……!”

Veil climbed down from the mast.

When he turned his head, Karl’s ship too was following Basto’s ship after it changed direction.

Veil muttered.

“Basto. Don’t those bastards seem a little strange?”

“In what way.”

“The feeling’s a little strange. Them following behind us and all.”

“I know.”

“Sunset is a little while away. If the sun sets like this……”

Basto’s expression sank.

As Veil said, once sunset began, the rift in the magic stone would open.

Then all sorts of bizarre monsters would come pouring out from inside.

Since it was their first time dealing with a magic stone in the sea, it was not easy to predict what kind of monsters would come out.

“Shouldn’t we run even now? If you ask me, this……”

“You said it was when you were two. When you were separated from your parents.”

Veil closed his mouth.

“Our Lilia had never been apart from me until she was seven. Not even once.”