Chapter 57: What’s Wrong with the Sea? (3)
Midday, inside Daphne’s eting room.
Lord Cobalt, Third Young Master Malion, Commander Mulgybson, Manton, and even Beryl were gathered there.
Hardin, who had gone out to subjugate the Sahagin, had imdiately summoned this group upon his return.
Because of that, Manton and Beryl hadn’t even been able to wash the mud off their bodies.
‘Why did he call us?’
‘Why am I at this eting…?’
Just as everyone tilted their heads in confusion and stared at Hardin—
Hardin suddenly stood up from his seat and spoke with a grave expression.
“There’s a Kreveion in our territory.”
“Kreveion?”
“…A Kreveion?”
The mont they heard those words, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
Kreveion.
A monster also known as the “Phantom Spider Crab.”
A sailor’s terror—despair itself.
It had the form of a massive crimson-black crab, with a body the size of a house and glowing red eyes. Known for its thick, hardened carapace and the sticky spiderwebs it shot from its mouth, it was a vicious creature.
Every year, dozens of ships from the Fabian Empire were said to sink because of this thing.
Unless it was a colossal beast like the Kraken or Leviathan, the Kreveion essentially had no natural predator.
A normal knight’s sword couldn’t even pierce its carapace.
But such a monster… was in our territory?
“What are you talking about, Hardin? Explain yourself properly.”
“Just as I said. I confird that there’s a Kreveion on the rocky isle to the east.”
“The eastern rocky isle?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it. It’s nested there.”
At that, Cobalt and Malion sighed in relief.
“Huuuuuh… then I suppose that’s a bit of good news.”
“Indeed.”
Hardin furrowed his brows and asked back.
“What’s good about it?”
“If it’s on the eastern rocks, it’s far from the coast. As long as it doesn’t co ashore, it won’t pose much of a threat.”
“If we don’t provoke it, it should stay put.”
As Malion nodded at Cobalt’s remark, Hardin twisted his lips and responded.
“I don’t know… I think differently.”
“What do you an?”
“If we don’t take care of that thing soon… we’re going to get wrecked.”
“What do you an by that?”
“There are a ton of monsters out at sea right now.”
“Monsters?”
Hardin crossed his arms and continued.
“Yes. They probably fled from the Kreveion. For now, only Sahagins are coming up, but if this continues and they run out of food, those other things will co to land, too. Any monster capable of moving on land will.”
“…What did you say?”
“Are you saying a monster wave is coming?”
“That’s right.”
At that mont, everyone froze.
It ant that monsters displaced by the arrival of a predator were gathering at the coast—and once that concentration reached a certain point, they’d begin to flood inland.
The reason the Sahagins were recklessly surfacing right now was because they sat at the very bottom of the food chain.
If this situation continued… it was clear things would only get worse.
Manton, his face pale, trembled as he slowly raised his hand.
“Then, what’s going to happen to Mudside?”
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but it’ll probably get worse.”
“…You’re not misjudging the situation, are you, Young Master?”
“I wish I were.”
Hardin shrugged as he replied.
‘Honestly, I’m caught off guard too.’
It wasn’t unheard of for a Kreveion to nest on a rocky isle or an uninhabited island.
The problem was, such things usually happened deep in the middle of the ocean.
Given that it had no natural predators, there was no reason for it to live near humans.
Who could have predicted that such a creature would just settle nearby like this?
Anyway, one thing was certain.
This was… an absurdly unlucky situation.
‘We just finished the Territorial War, and now it’s a Kreveion and a monster wave.’
If they couldn’t take it down, not only would the port construction be scrapped, but even the mainland could be devastated…
Just as Hardin shook his head, Manton cautiously continued speaking.
“If what you say is true, Young Master… I think this is reckless.”
“What is?”
“It’s a Kreveion, isn’t it? You know what kind of monster that is.”
rchant guilds, pirate crews, renowned knights and mages alike—
Stories of people dying after encountering that thing in the sea were heard around here practically every day.
And now they were talking about taking it down? Them?
Manton bit down on his lip and clenched his trembling hand into a fist.
At that mont, Malion nodded.
“I agree with Instructor Manton. This is far too dangerous and reckless. And like my brother said, if the sea is teeming with monsters, wouldn’t crossing it itself be nearly impossible?”
“Hmm… I agree.”
“It certainly won’t be easy.”
Cobalt and Mulgybson also expressed their agreent.
Hardin furrowed his brow and asked again.
“Then, what? We just sit and do nothing?”
“How about building a barricade along the coastline? It’ll take so ti, but if we can seal off the shore before the monster wave hits, we can at least prevent things from getting worse.”
“Not a bad suggestion.”
Everyone seed to agree with Malion’s proposal.
It was definitely a valid point.
A way to keep things under control safely without taking unnecessary risks.
However…
‘It’s just a stopgap.’
Hardin let out a deep sigh, then spoke in a calm and composed voice.
“Then what about the people at the coast?”
“What do you an by that?”
“Manton.”
“Yes.”
“Those people—aren’t they still holding out and living there because they believe they’ll be able to return soday?”
"That is…"
“You alright?”
At Hardin’s question, Manton hesitated briefly, then forced himself to steady his voice as he spoke quietly.
“I think… I think it’s better than putting the knight order in danger.”
“Is that so?”
Manton averted his gaze.
Hardin rubbed his chin for a mont, then shrugged and continued.
“Well, then let’s set the villagers aside. No matter what happens, I’m going to build a port there.”
Cobalt hardened his expression and said,
“But Hardin, it’s too dangerous. I know you’re full of confidence, but…”
Anxiety, unease, worry, and trembling.
Everyone’s faces were full of negative emotions.
But frankly, none of that mattered.
“Don’t worry. Even if you don’t help… I still plan to get it done sohow.”
Hardin had not the slightest intention of just standing by in this screwed-up situation.
---
Late at night, inside Hardin’s room.
“Dammmnnnnnnn…”
Books taken from his eldest brother’s study were piled on his desk, and Hardin was tearing at his hair while reading them.
‘This isn’t easy.’
Subjugating the Kreveion—it was turning out to be more complicated than expected.
Even setting aside the matter of actually killing the Kreveion, just crossing that sea was no simple task.
The sea was crawling with marine monsters, and on top of that, even I could get swept away by the strong currents. There were obstacles everywhere.
“Damn it…”
Back in the days of the old family, sothing like this wouldn’t have been a big deal at all.
They could’ve used a mage to divert the currents, employed magical devices, or at the very least had ships large enough to ignore such flows.
But in the current state of the family, they didn’t have a single one of those things.
Nor did they have the money or influence to bring them in or produce them now.
In the end, he had to find a way to overco all of it barehanded. Feeling suffocated, he turned to the books stored in the archive.
The problem was, even here, there wasn’t any imdiately usable information.
“Uuugghhh…”
Well, in a way, it made sense.
The old family never had to deal with situations like this.
Kreveion, my ass—back then, even more terrifying things would appear and they still handled them without much fuss.
A wistful expression appeared on Hardin’s face.
“Dammmnnnnn.”
Since there were no answers, all he could do was think about the past.
Letting out a deep sigh, Hardin lted into his chair like a sli.
‘Sigh… this is miserable.’
Knock knock knock!
At that mont, he turned his head at the sound of soone knocking on the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Mulgybson, Young Master.”
“Co in.”
Creeeak.
The door opened, and forr Commander Mulgybson stepped carefully inside.
He was holding a tray with both hands. Steam rose from the teacup placed on it, and a few cookies were set beside it.
“Were you working?”
“Yes, I was preparing for the subjugation.”
“As expected. I figured you’d be doing just that, Young Master.”
“…So, what brings you here?”
Mulgybson gave a small smile, lifting the tray slightly as if to show it off, and continued speaking.
“I ca to show my support. I may look like this, but I’m a ‘forr’ commander of the knight order, after all.”
“Haha…”
When Hardin let out a weak laugh, Mulgybson carefully placed the tray on the desk and asked,
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“No, not really… not at the mont.”
“Hoho, that’s a relief. I’d have been in trouble if you had asked for anything.”
Hardin grinned and picked up a cookie, biting into it with a crunch.
Then, as if sothing had suddenly co to mind, he spoke.
“Ah, right. I’ve got sothing I’m curious about.”
“Go ahead.”
“That guy Manton—when we were subjugating the Sahagins… did sothing happen?”
“Why do you ask?”
Hardin scratched his chin for a mont.
– Young Master, you can’t! How do you plan to cross that sea?
– Ah, I told you I have a way.
– It’s a Kreveion, a Kreveion! There’s no way we can subjugate a monster like that on our own!
Right after the eting ended, Manton had persistently followed and objected. That image was still clear in Hardin’s mind.
He had made such a fuss that Hardin’s ears were practically ringing.
And besides… there was just sothing off…
“That guy… his attitude was a little strange the entire ti we were at Mudside. I an, we said we’d protect his village, but his reaction felt kind of negative…”
“…Ah, I see.”
“Did sothing happen?”
Mulgybson hesitated for a mont, lips parting slightly before he finally spoke.
“Have you heard that Manton led the knight order during the last Sahagin subjugation?”
“Hm? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
As Hardin tilted his head, Mulgybson’s expression sank into sothing bittersweet.
“Well, he’s from Mudside after all, and he was so eager at the ti that I entrusted him with command. Back then, he didn’t sleep, and he spent day and night thinking only about how to wipe out the Sahagins.”
“Hm? Then why is soone like him acting like he’s already seen the end of the world now?”
Isn’t that completely different from how he was back then?
Mulgybson took a mont to choose his words before he spoke heavily.
“There was a major mistake during that ti.”
“Mistake?”
“Yes. Perhaps it was due to the frustration of seeing no progress for months… He pushed the knight order into the sea, and quite a few ended up injured. Only after that did he finally give up.”
“…”
Hardin took a deep breath.
‘I get the picture now.’
Back when they were in Mudside, he had kept a long face, constantly muttering, “It’s not going to work.”
That must’ve been sothing he was saying to himself.
To desperately want sothing, to try your best to achieve it—only to fail in the end.
In such a situation, having your spirit broken wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence.
‘Seriously.’
Hardin slowly shook his head and blew out a strong sigh through his nose.
“What a pathetic guy. So timid.”
“Well, I can’t deny he has that side to him. Hoho.”
Mulgybson let out a warm laugh before continuing.
“But Manton is a good knight. He’s responsible, and back then, he threw himself in without hesitation to save Mudside.”
“You’re being pretty generous.”
“Hoho, am I?”
Placing his palm gently over his chest, Mulgybson spoke with sincerity.
“So please, Young Master, try to understand him a little. If you use him right, he can be a great help to you. That’s sothing I can vouch for as his forr commander.”
“…”
Hardin scratched his head, then pouted his lips before speaking.
“Alright. I get what you’re saying.”
“Anything else you’re curious about?”
Hardin shrugged.
“I think that’s enough for now.”
“In that case… I’ll stop bothering you and take my leave.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Mulgybson smiled, gave a small respectful bow, then turned and left the room.
Hardin let out a deep sigh and scratched his forehead.
“That guy… really knows how to get under soone’s skin.”
Gulp, gulp.
Hardin drank the steaming hot tea roughly, as if it were cold water.
After draining the cup—
Thunk!
“Damn, that woke right up.”
He slamd the teacup onto the tray, then grabbed another book beside him with renewed energy.
“Let’s do this.”
He had to pull this off.
Even if it was just so he wouldn’t have to look at that guy’s face.
Night deepened.
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