Chapter 500 – The Minions of the Sea King

And so… several days passed as we monitored the designated sea area, conducted combat training, and maintained contact with the land.

“Your Highness Elham, please don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Fufu. You’re right. But I’ve been sleeping properly, so I’m fine. If I don’t sleep when I should, I won’t be able to work effectively.”

After replenishing her magical power and reinforcing her vitality through circulating ki, Princess Elham showed us a smile.

Though she appeared on the bridge to drink warm tea and take a breather… for the past few days, she had been working almost nonstop during her waking hours.

While the Golems were the ones doing the blacksmithing work, Princess Elham was controlling them, which consumed magical power. Since she couldn’t sleep during the work process, her vitality and concentration were also being depleted. She was also using magic beyond just the Golems to shorten the production time.

However, from what I could see, Princess Elham seemed to have considerable talent when it came to magic. This was partly due to her roots in Nahalbia, which was connected to Halvaronis, but she had also undergone proper training.

Her output was about average. She might not be particularly skilled in handling offensive magic, but on the other hand, her total magical power was quite substantial. Her control was also meticulous, making her well-suited for long hours of work.

This aspect seemed less about natural aptitude and more about the growth resulting from Princess Elham having been driven by necessity to learn magic. Creating reliable weapons on short notice appeared to be her specialty.

Even so, she still experienced exhaustion. We provided support by using magic to recover her vitality and replenishing her magical power with Magic Potions and circulating ki during breaks.

Well… she seemed to be exercising self-control by taking breaks and sleeping when her concentration waned. While this was likely to avoid a drop in performance, the habit of sleeping when necessary probably stemmed from her experience surviving the war alongside King Farid.

In any case… thanks to Princess Elham’s hard work, we had made significant progress in updating the weapons for the frontline military officers. The relaxed atmosphere that allowed us to take breaks like this was largely because we could see the end in sight.

“But… the sea is so beautiful. It’s hard to believe enemies might attack,” Sion murmured thoughtfully while looking at the monitor, prompting Sigritta to nod and Marceska to smile.

“…Thanks to that, monitoring isn’t so tedious.”

“The sea creatures are fascinating, aren’t they?”

They naturally caught our eye while we were monitoring. With night vision and Life Detection, we could observe various things, making what would typically be a monotonous surveillance task something we could do with moderate relaxation.

“Being too lax is no good, but… being able to talk like this and watch the sea creatures while monitoring might be a good thing,” Forset said, and Marl nodded with a smile.

“It’s possible because we’re all together on the Sirius. I find it enjoyable and fun.”

At those words, Marlene also showed a carefree smile and nodded repeatedly. Seeing Marlene’s reaction, smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.

“Mmm. I never get tired of watching fish.”

…Though I had a feeling Sheila was motivated in a different direction. Irmhild chuckled at Sheila’s comment.

Well, that’s true. In any case, with as many people as we had on surveillance, we would notice any abnormalities immediately, and we could take breaks when tired. The Familiars were also taking turns monitoring diligently, helping to ease the burden.

It wasn’t just surveillance from the Sirius; if anything abnormal occurred in the duchy, the shrine maidens at the temple would detect it through their prayers. Aianos had Caduceus on standby, and those locations were effectively under our surveillance as well.

Monitoring in this sea area had the advantage of being able to quickly reach any location where enemies were expected to appear, making it quite convenient in various ways.

In any case, waiting for the enemy could make one feel impatient, but staying tense the entire time wasn’t sustainable.

“…Theodore.”

Claudia closed her eyes, placing her fingers near her forehead as she spoke.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“A prayer has reached us from the shrine maidens at the duke’s stronghold. It seems… an envoy claiming to represent the Sea King has arrived. There don’t appear to be any battles occurring.”

“…So they went there after all.”

Rosemary furrowed her brow slightly. Suddenly, the atmosphere on the bridge grew tense.

This was within the range of scenarios we had anticipated. Grantios and Verdgar—especially the people of the duchy who engaged in trade—if the Sea King determined that the Mermaids were in this sea area, was searching for Queen Eldorene, and planned to attack upon finding her, it was conceivable that he might come to exert pressure—or rather, make demands—on the land to refrain from protecting Grantios’s people.

Alternatively, the Sea King might have considered the possibility that they were already under protection and sent someone to probe the situation.

We had thought that regarding the land, they would either move secretly or assert their own legitimacy… but perhaps because they saw that we were in the duchy’s coastal waters, the Sea King chose the latter.

If that were the case, then after achieving his goal of capturing Queen Eldorene, the Sea King might intend to keep the Mermaids under his control to continue producing water spider silk through trade, in order to obtain land resources.

He would likely argue that it benefits the land and warn them not to interfere, as it’s merely an internal sea conflict.

If we only consider trade… the Sea King’s side would probably offer quite favorable terms. That made sense. If the Sea King’s subordinates were to subjugate the Mermaids, it would essentially mean enslaving them and making them work, so they could offer better conditions by exploiting them.

“What shall we do?” Grace inquired.

“As planned, I suppose. We’ll use Teleportation Magic to rush over there with the predetermined members before those fools cause trouble. During that time, if the Sea King’s subordinates appear here, first contact us via the Communication Device, and we’ll decide how to respond based on the enemy’s scale.”

However, they chose to make contact with the land first and then act. In that case, I doubt they would conduct negotiations and underwater reconnaissance simultaneously.

Depending on the situation, they might be prepared to engage in battle on land, so if they anticipated combat there, they probably wouldn’t disperse their forces. If they truly thought the land forces weren’t worth considering, they wouldn’t have come to negotiate in the first place.

“Then we’ll continue our surveillance mission here as we are,” Elliot said.

“Thank you. Depending on the situation, we may join you or pursue them. I don’t think the enemy will appear in Aianos, but please be prepared for the possibility that we might rush there if necessary.”

“Understood.”

“Take care, Brother Elliot.”

“You too, Ashley.”

The siblings exchanged brief words. Elliot smiled back, and Ashley nodded.

Considering the possibility of immediate combat upon teleportation, we had Grace’s Cursed Tool in its Released Form.

“Then, we’ll expand our surveillance range here.”

“Please do.”

Then I bowed to Auria.

“Now, we’ll perform the teleportation.”

As Claudia said—following the predetermined plan, leaving the surveillance team behind… Duke Driscoll, Old Sigmund and his group. Along with the party members, we teleported.

Enveloped in light, when I opened my eyes, we were in the courtyard of the Moon Temple at the duchy’s stronghold. While contacting Queen Eldorene via the Communication Device, we spoke to Oscar and Vanessa, who had come there.

“It seems the Sea King’s subordinates have appeared.”

“Yes. We plan to guide them to the wharf, but we’re making the communication appear slightly delayed, stalling them in front of the water gate. The envoy group says they have 17 members total.”

“Hmm. That’s sufficient.”

The duke nodded at Oscar’s words. A total of 17 members. This… probably doubles as a reconnaissance team as well.

I’ll have Balor, whom I brought along, fly into the air to verify the truth with Life Detection from above. It would be troublesome if there were a separate unit.

That said… if they’re coming to negotiate first, we should at least hear them out.

“Well, well. I’m terribly sorry to have the noble who rules this land area come out personally,” said a man with tentacle-like or sea anemone-like beard hairs the moment we met. He narrowed his eyes… probably giving a polite smile.

We had moved to the wharf with the duke, opened the water gate, and welcomed the Sea King’s envoy group.

These individuals—were undoubtedly the Sea King’s subordinates. There were some resembling shark men; these were probably the warrior class.

One of them was an octopus-man magician type wearing a water spider silk robe with decorations, who had greeted us. He was likely the leader of the envoy group.

There was another Sea King subordinate wearing superior Equipment compared to the others. This one would probably be classified as the knight class?

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Owen Driscoll. My apologies for keeping you waiting. I was conducting an inspection within the territory.”

Without being discourteous, the duke bowed.

“Likewise, please forgive our sudden visit. I am Hybla, serving the great Sea King, His Majesty Waldom. I hope we can get to know each other better.”

Hybla’s behavior was almost gentlemanly, aside from his appearance. Unlike that shark man, he didn’t unnecessarily provoke us… but he seemed confident even on land.

“Without further ado, shall we guide you to the Castle?”

“That won’t be necessary. We are people of the sea. We cannot stray too far from seawater. While it’s regrettable that we cannot receive your hospitality, could we speak here?”

…Or so he said, but who knew the actual truth? Even Mermaids and Fishfolk could move about on land. The correct interpretation was probably that he recognized this as potentially enemy territory and avoided being led deeper in out of caution.

“I see. That’s understandable. Then, let’s proceed with our discussion here.”

“I appreciate your understanding.”

Hybla spoke quietly.

“So, what business brings you here? I must confess, though we engage in trade with the sea, we are not well-versed in the affairs of the sea nations, so I’m having trouble imagining what your purpose might be.”

The duke spoke. Regardless of how the negotiations turned out, we wanted to probe how much information they possessed through our conversation with them.

“Hmm. Then I’ll be direct. We are pursuing a group of traitors who have rebelled against His Majesty the Sea King. We suspect they might be hiding in these coastal waters.”

“Traitors… that sounds quite serious.”

“Yes. They are utterly intolerable individuals. Consequently, we will likely need to search these coastal waters. There may be combat between us and the traitorous group… but we don’t wish to cause you any trouble. We came to request that you refrain from offering them protection should they seek refuge on land.”

As expected.

“If… you were to accommodate our wishes, we could offer even more favorable terms for future trade.”

“Oh? That sounds interesting.”

“It shouldn’t be a bad deal for either side. It’s only natural that you might be taken aback by this sudden discussion where there was none before, but there is a reason for it. To those on land, we must appear rather menacing in form, no? Therefore, we had left trade and negotiations entirely to the Mermaids until now, but given the circumstances… To earn your trust, we decided to show you our unsightly appearances.”

…Well, well. Absolutely. What a smooth talker.

He probably suspected that we were connected to Queen Eldorene.

Did he assume the duke was the type of noble who would use such dirty offers to line his own pockets? Or did he think that by showing their menacing forms, we would be intimidated and accept their conditions?

Bringing his subordinates in droves to the wharf probably had an element of demonstration as well. He likely had in mind the possibility that we were already in contact with Queen Eldorene. Dangle favorable terms and military might to secure our acquiescence.

That might be one way to negotiate… but fundamentally, when he talks about “even more favorable terms,” there isn’t a shred of sincerity in him.

Why? Because these people don’t have control over the Mermaids’ persons. No matter what favorable terms he offers, he can’t even provide them at present. It’s almost equivalent to the kind of fraud that lures investors by promising guaranteed profits. Moreover, I doubted the Mermaids’ treatment would be anything decent.

“So… you’re saying that if we maintain non-interference in whatever happens in the ocean from now on, you’ll facilitate future trade for us, is that it?”

“You may understand it that way.”

“—I would like some form of substantiation for your claims.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well. While we have heard rumors of the Mermaid Queen’s country, we were unfortunately unaware of His Majesty the Sea King. As someone entrusted with this territory by His Majesty the King, I cannot make a hasty reply.”

“Oh—”

At the duke’s response, Hybla narrowed his eyes. A somewhat cold, tense atmosphere drifted between them.

The lack of any sense of hesitation was probably because he had anticipated that we might have dealings with the Queen as well.

“Are you implying that you doubt the majesty of His Majesty the Sea King? Certainly… His Majesty only recently ascended to the throne, so I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that last remark.”

“I was thinking… if you could perhaps bring a Mermaid negotiator with you to this meeting…”

If Hybla’s words and actions were truthful, that would be easy. The duke was subtly implying that they might actually be at odds with the Mermaids. Hybla shuddered.

“Oh. Then, one more point.”

“What is it?”

“His Majesty’s wrath is none other than the sea’s wrath. Should you do anything that disrespects His Majesty, it’s conceivable that towns and ships could be swallowed by waves and maelstroms.”

“Is that… a threat?”

“No, no. Even if we do nothing, His Majesty’s anger could affect the sea, and disasters might occur naturally. That’s just how great a being he is.”

In response to Hybla’s words, the other subordinates also curled the corners of their mouths.

No… That’s not it. As far as I could see through my monocle, I could perceive that Hybla himself was increasing his magical power as he spoke. This guy… was highly likely to cause a tsunami at some port after returning to the sea, to advance the negotiations advantageously and swiftly.

He was essentially saying: Land-dwellers cannot know whether the Queen or the Sea King has legitimacy, so don’t stick your noses where they don’t belong. Just keep quiet and watch, and you’ll benefit too.

However… having heard Marl’s testimony, Verdugal had no intention of recognizing the Sea King’s legitimacy.

“Duke. I believe we’ve heard enough.”

“Indeed.”

The Duke nodded at my words. How much they knew, whether they had separate squads – we’d obtained the information. It was sufficient.

“I’ll take over negotiations from here.”

I stepped forward and faced Hybla. Hybla turned her gaze toward me, but it was filled with scorn.

“I am Theodore Gartner, Otherworld Ambassador of the Kingdom of Verdugal. I have also been entrusted by His Majesty with negotiations with other races.”

“Oh? By the King himself?”

While we spoke, the Duke was withdrawing. After seeing him off, I said to Hybla:

“Do you truly believe Verdugal would recognize the sovereignty of those who caused disturbances in the distant past and invaded the surface world?”

“Oh? It seems you’ve been fed stories by the mermaids. And what do you intend to do about it?”

So she intends to maintain the position that the mermaids are lying through their teeth.

Ah. I see. If she won’t break from that pretext, then we’ll play along.

She’s calculating that even if we become hostile, with their base being at the bottom of the sea, we can’t do much.

But our response has already been decided. Since she suggested harming Verdugal’s citizens or the people of Grantios with whom we have diplomatic relations, we’ll treat her accordingly.

After all, this is Verdugal territory. And when suspicious individuals of questionable diplomatic status threaten criminal acts, it’s only proper to detain them and verify the truth of their statements.

“Having heard your previous statements, you must now undergo Magical Inquisition. Since there’s a possibility that you, rather than the Sea King, could be using magic to create massive waves and whirlpools, we cannot let you go.”

“…Ridiculous.”

Hybla shrugged her shoulders and took up a stance with her khakkhara. Evil energy-tainted magical power rose from her entire body. The other subordinates also appeared eager for battle, laughing as they brimmed with fighting spirit.

Fine by me. Every last one of you—I won’t be sending you back to the Sea King.