Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28 When delving into mythology, one often encounters stories of treasures wielded by the gods.
A staff that summoned flames capable of boiling a river dry with a single swing; armor that rendered even a god invulnerable; a pitcher that poured an endless stream of the elixir of life to resurrect the dead…
These magical artifacts of the Frea Divine Clan, known as "Holy Relics," numbered only a few dozen across the entire world.
Of course, not every item was overwhelmingly powerful, but some were treasures that even the heads of Great Families would guard with their lives, passing them down through generations as ultimate heirlooms.
And yet, a mere merman held captive by common pirates claimed to know the location of such a thing?
"Impressive. If a prince knows of such a thing, I can only imagine what magnificent treasures the Mermaid King himself must possess," Turan remarked, his voice laced with irony.
Whether he caught the sarcasm or not, Armani's azure skin flushed a deep, bruised purple—a physiological reaction much like a human turning red with shame or rage.
The self-proclaimed prince shouted, "It is not a lie! I truly found the place where one of your gods died in battle! It was inside a cave! I originally intended to tell my father and claim it for myself, but I was tricked by your kind and captured before I could…"
"You found a god who died in battle? Explain. In detail."
As Turan leveled a piercing, serious gaze at him, Armani stammered, looking visibly intimidated.
"He—he was a man with blue hair. He died with his body pierced by the fang of a Great Sea Serpent. But he had also pierced his enemy's head with his bare hand. Everything else had decayed with the passage of time, but the round piece of iron at his waist was perfectly intact, without a speck of rust. It must be a treasure among treasures."
"Why didn't you take the item immediately?"
"I couldn't touch it! Whenever I tried to get close, an unknown force pushed me away…"
"And why are you so certain it was a god?"
"Because among your kind, the only ones capable of killing a Great Sea Serpent are the gods!"
The Great Sea Serpent was a race the merfolk had once worshipped as deities—massive snakes, as their name suggested, with bodies stretching dozens of meters long. However, they had long since vanished into the annals of history.
Regardless, to remain underwater in the exact state of a battle with a beast revered as a god, without even their form being disturbed by the currents? Whether it was truly the remains of a god or not, if his words were true, something extraordinary certainly lay in that cave.
Turan realized his pulse was quickening. He took a deep breath to steady his mind and coolly retraced his thoughts. He questioned whether he was being enchanted by the merman's voice or if he would reach the same conclusion with a sober mind.
As he organized his thoughts, a sudden question occurred to him.
"Come to think of it, you said you were tricked and captured? How exactly did that happen?"
Upon hearing the question, Armani suddenly clamped his mouth shut and lowered his head. Though they were different species, their facial structures weren't that different; Turan could read the faint sense of shame emanating from the boy.
"Well... you know that trick your land-dwellers use to lure those who live in the water out? The one where you tie a line to a metal hook."
"Are you... talking about fishing?"
"Yes, that. Usually, it's not hard to recognize, but when I'm in my transformed state, my instincts... they tend to take over..."
In other words, this mer-prince had been caught by pirates because he couldn't resist a baited hook while in the form of a fish.
It was an utterly ridiculous story, but it made a certain amount of sense. The pirates had likely been shocked when the fish they caught suddenly turned into a merman and decided to lock him up. Even ignorant thugs, if they had heard the rumors common among sailors, would know that merfolk royalty fetched an eye-popping price on the black market.
Whether it was the truth or a convenient excuse, that was the only reason to keep a male merman—who couldn't even show off a beautiful transformation—locked away instead of killing him.
"Did you tell the pirates all this too?"
"I did, but they wouldn't even listen! They just told me to stop talking nonsense about dead gods."
That was the normal reaction. Turan had felt the reality of the Frea Divine Clan's existence through his meetings with the Librarian in the Orem Library, but to ordinary people, gods were merely mythological entities found in scriptures. Even Turan was half-doubting whether the merman was just spinning a tale to survive; why would pirates risk their lives for a myth when they had a guaranteed profit in hand?
"What about the sailors who found you earlier?"
"I didn't—no, I couldn't. As soon as they saw me, they ran out shouting that there was a merman."
That meant only he and Captain Pires knew this information. Turan glanced back at Pires, who had been listening with a dazed expression. Sensing Turan's gaze, Pires spoke with a stiff face.
"I didn't hear a thing."
It seemed he thought Turan might kill him to prevent the secret from spreading. Of course, Turan had no such intention. It wasn't that he trusted Pires's character, but rather that he trusted his own strength. While there were many nobles stronger than Turan back on the mainland, on this sea, he was one of the absolute strongest—unless he suddenly ran into the Carmine family or a powerful noble of similar bloodline.
"You don't need to be that tense. For now, I'd like to keep this fellow alive a bit longer. What do you think?"
"I don't think it will be a problem. If he were dangerous, those pirates wouldn't have been able to keep him locked up in the first place," Pires replied, though his expression remained grave.
As he said, seeing as he was captured by pirates who were mere ordinary humans, this merman boy likely possessed no combat ability to speak of.
"Come to think of it, those pirates were fools too," Turan mused. "They could have become rich just by selling this merman, yet they lost their lives playing at piracy."
"Greed is the engine that moves such men. Besides, they probably never imagined a noble, let alone a knight, would be on a ship of this size."
Turan tilted his head at Pires's words. "Was I too excessive?"
"Yes. The others probably don't know because they've rarely seen a knight fight, but I know. It's usually impossible to remain unscathed against those numbers."
The reason Pires was suddenly revealing that he had guessed Turan's identity was clear. He was appealing to the fact that he knew how powerful Turan was, and therefore had no intention of doing anything foolish like coveting a legendary treasure in his presence.
Turan gave a slight nod to show he understood the implication, and the tension visibly left Pires's shoulders. Having smoothed over the potential for conflict, Turan turned his gaze back to the merman boy.
"Do you know roughly where those divine remains are in the North Sea? If I show you a map, that is."
Turan spoke, though he doubted the merman would understand what the "North Sea" meant. There was no way they would have seen a human map. However, contrary to his expectations, Armani tilted his head and innocently revealed what he knew.
"It's not very far. About five hundred kilometers south of here?"
"Five hundred kilometers south?"
Turan's eyes widened. First, how could someone locked in the dark hold of a ship know their current location? And second... how could he use the same directions and units of distance that humans used?
When he voiced these questions, the answer he received was somewhat disappointing.
"I don't know. It's just what we've always used. Was this something created by the people of your land?"
"Probably. Did you know about this, Captain?"
"It's news to me. Usually, people don't ask merfolk about such things. Perhaps the high-ranking nobles who keep merfolk as pets might have known."
As far as Turan knew, everything from the calendar to the units of measurement used by humans had their origins in the Old Empire. Perhaps these things were legacies from an era even before the Empire, when humans were slaves to other races. History from that time was almost non-existent; even the Orem Library had nothing on it. The fact that they spoke the same language as humans might be related to this as well.
"Anyway, if it's five hundred kilometers south..."
"That's not far from Miguel Island. Even considering the margin of error, it shouldn't be more than a hundred kilometers away."
Miguel Island was one of the largest islands in the North Sea Archipelago. It was where the Blue Marlin would resupply and sell off the captured pirate ship. In other words, it was within a distance worth visiting if they took a little time.
"Let's keep him locked up for now and think about it. I'll handle him personally, just in case he tries to spread any strange rumors."
After much deliberation, Turan decided to postpone his decision. It was too early to commit when he knew so little about this merman.
*
In truth, Turan didn't fully believe Armani. After all, weren't his kind, like the Dark Elves, one of the races that had captured and enslaved or eaten humans in the distant past?
However, what he did believe was the boy's desperation. Any being with reason no different from a human's would give anything for their own life.
"Here. Today's meal."
"Thank you, kind devil."
It was the second day since Armani had been captured. After learning that Turan was a mage, and a noble at that, Armani had begun calling him a devil. Come to think of it, the Dark Elf Necromancers he had met before had called Asiz and Turan the same thing.
When he asked what it meant, he received a peculiar answer.
"It is because your ancestors were devils who came from the outside and destroyed our perfect world."
Despite saying that, Armani nonchalantly swallowed the meal Turan brought him without much resistance. Turan had wondered if he needed to catch fish for him since he was a merman, but fortunately, he ate human food just fine.
"If you can eat this kind of food, why do you bother eating humans?"
"I'm not sure. I've never eaten a human... perhaps the lower-class members of my race do it because they lack food? I'll ask my father when I return."
Even though Turan had never promised to release him, Armani spoke as if it were a given that he would return to the Mermaid Kingdom. Every time he heard an answer like this, Turan felt a complex mix of emotions. The boy's manner of speech and behavior were so human-like that it was hard to simply dismiss him as a man-eating monster—unlike those Dark Elves who had tried to kill Turan on sight.
Over the next few days, Turan shared various conversations with Armani. They talked about the differences between merfolk customs and the social systems he had read about in books, the existence of the legendary mirror connecting the two Mermaid Kingdoms of the North and South Seas, and even the ancient myths of the merfolk...
"Ah, by the way, how far are we now? From that place."
"About sixty-five kilometers to the west?"
Through their conversations, Turan had learned how Armani knew their location. He said that merfolk could instinctively sense direction and position while in the sea. Thus, they could find their way back to any place they had memorized at any time.
In the middle of their conversation, a tapping sound came from the wooden planks above.
"I'll be going now."
"Have a safe trip!"
Looking at the way Armani waved him off, no one would have thought Turan was the one keeping the merman locked in this hold.
When he climbed out from the bottom of the sailing ship, Osban, the first mate who had been put in charge of the pirate ship, greeted him.
"Sir Knight, we've arrived at Miguel Island!"
"Is it that time already? I should head up then."
"Yes, sir!"
After firmly sealing the entrance to the hold where Armani was kept with iron chains, Turan went up to the deck. Beyond the dark night sea, he could see a large island and several sailing ships moored at the pier.
*
After the two ships docked, Turan made a few light leaps to cross over to the Blue Marlin. Captain Pires, whom he hadn't seen for two days while staying on different ships, gave a light greeting before getting straight to the point.
"So, have you reached a conclusion?"
"Yes."
The question was simple: would they believe the merman's words and go looking for the mysterious treasure, or would they simply sell him off to the local authorities?
Instead of answering directly, Turan posed a question of his own.
"How long do you plan to stay on this island?"
"If nothing special happens, about a day or two."
Resting the crew, who were exhausted from the nine-day voyage, was an essential task. While it was unlikely now because of Turan's presence, it was common for a captain to be killed in a mutiny if the crew were pushed too hard.
"That's perfect. Could you find me a small boat? One large enough for two people will do."
"Could it be...?"
"Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be very far from here," Turan said, looking out at the dark horizon. "I intend to make the trip tonight."
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