Chapter 48: The Inner Sea and the Kraken
Having safely protected the ship and crew, I decided to fly to a roof and leave the scene as is. If I stay here, it looks like it’ll become a bit troublesome.
“Y-You there, wait a moment!”
I hear a voice stopping me from behind, but I’ll pretend not to hear it here. If I stop poorly, I’ll lose the reason to escape. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it and leave the port quickly.
◆
“Is it okay if I come this far?”
Having escaped to a deserted place, just in case, I took out a jacket of a different color from the one I’m wearing now from my magic bag and changed. After that, I should just walk boldly through the town and meet up with Liliela. They probably won’t think the me who escaped would be walking boldly through the town either.
◆
“I was panicked because you suddenly jumped out and then just disappeared.”
“Kyuu!”
Reunited with Liliela, I was immediately scolded by her.
“Well, sorry.”
Since I’m the one in the wrong, I apologize honestly.
“Kyuuu?”
Fluffy slapped my head repeatedly as if wanting to say, “Are you really reflecting on this?” Sorry, sorry, next time I’ll pass you to Liliela more gently.
“If you’re going to do it, I wanted you to say a word.”
I am truly very sorry.
“Phew… well fine. More importantly, what was that just now? I’ve never heard of a monster that swings around a giant battleship like a toy.”
As expected of an adventurer, Liliela seems curious about its true identity. Encountering unknown existences is one of the joys of an adventurer, after all. Well, for me, it’s not my first encounter with that thing, so I’m not particularly happy about it though.
“I think that was probably a Kraken.”
“Kraken? Kraken, you mean that giant squid monster!?”
Liliela raised a voice of surprise upon hearing the name Kraken. Kraken, it’s an existence that cannot be left out when talking about sea monsters.
“Yes, it usually lives quietly in the deep sea, but it’s a super-large monster that occasionally surfaces and uses its huge body to devour prey.”
Hearing my explanation, Liliela gulped.
“To think we could meet the legendary monster Kraken…”
“Eh?”
Liliela is saying strange things. If you go out to the offing, you encounter Krakens normally, don’t you? At least in my previous life, Krakens appeared commonly, so fishermen used to complain that when they cast nets, Krakens would get caught in droves, you know?
“No matter how new the battleship is, if the opponent is a Kraken, there’s nothing it can do.”
Come to think of it, the battleship made into a toy by the Kraken was touted as the newest state-of-the-art ship. But that Kraken, why did it throw the ship? Normally, a Kraken would…
“So, what are we going to do now? Are we going to subjugate that Kraken?”
“Umm, let’s see. First, let’s head to the Adventurer’s Guild. We might learn something about that Kraken.”
First, we have to start by gathering information.
◆
So we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild in Fizio Town.
“Somehow it’s a strange guild.”
The Adventurer’s Guild in Fizio Town had a different shape from any guild we had been to so far.
Surprisingly, this town’s Adventurer’s Guild has no walls, and the inside is completely visible from the outside. And a square counter is installed in the center of the guild, and four staff members were dealing with adventurers from inside the counter.
“How should I put it, rather than an Adventurer’s Guild, it feels like a shop, doesn’t it?”
Yup, it’s just as Liliela says. Actually, the people at the guild window are also dressed more casually compared to the staff in the Royal Capital or Hekiji Town.
“But well, it seems they are working, so shall we check the request board first?”
“Right.”
We pulled ourselves together and headed to check the requests posted on the request board.
“…Hmm, there are many requests recruiting people who can use projectile weapons or magic as ship escorts.”
Certainly, long spears aside, swords and axes aren’t suitable for attacking enemies at sea.
“Other than that, it’s just cargo loading and night patrol jobs around the port.”
Other than that, it’s similar to requests recruited in other towns.
“Ah, found it. Kraken subjugation.”
I discovered a request form posted in the most conspicuous place on the request board.
“S-Rank monster Kraken subjugation, the reward is apparently 1500 gold coins.”
Heeh, if the subjugation reward alone is 1500 coins, it seems it will increase further if we include the material purchase reward.
“Huh? But Kraken is S-Rank?”
Strange, I remember Kraken’s strength being at most around B-Rank monster level. Did Krakens also become stronger without me knowing?
“Oi oi, you better stop getting involved with that guy.”
The one who spoke to us was a stern-looking man.
“You are?”
“I’m Ronzen, a fisherman in this town. Though, my ship was wrecked by that bastard.”
It seems this person is a victim of that Kraken from earlier.
“Many adventurers have challenged it so far, but not a single one could win. You guys saw it too, right? The sight of a battleship made by the military being treated like a toy.”
Well, in a sense, we saw it from special seats.
“Has the Kraken been inhabiting this area since that long ago?”
Curious about when the Kraken appeared, I asked Ronzen.
“No, that guy appeared just recently. Suddenly appeared and started attacking ships in the Inner Sea. Thanks to that, ships in this Inner Sea have to run along the shore even at the risk of running aground.”
I see, so Krakens can’t attack shallow waters along the land. But as Ronzen says, shallow waters are dangerous for anything other than small boats. The problem the townspeople were talking about was also caused by that Kraken, huh.
“Didn’t you try to hire a large number of mages to subjugate the Kraken?”
To Liliela’s question, Ronzen shook his head.
“Yeah, certainly such an operation was also planned, but when things get dangerous, that bastard dives to the bottom of the sea. And then it comes back up when its wounds are healed. Just in case, it doesn’t come out immediately after getting injured, so everyone sends out ships during that time, but that costs too much money anyway. We were utterly at our wits’ end.”
Ah, true, if it’s like that, you have to hire a large number of mages every time the Kraken appears.
“We were expecting the military’s battleship to do something about it this time, but it was a huge letdown.”
Ronzen dropped his shoulders and sighed.
“Thanks to that guy, we can’t carelessly go fishing, business is really dead.”
It seems the townspeople are also troubled.
“In that sense, I’d like to expect something from that brother earlier, though.”
“Eh?”
“What, you guys didn’t see it? That amazing brother who caught that battleship. That was incredible! If he had that superhuman strength, I think he could drag that bastard out of the sea! I couldn’t see in detail because it was from far away, but there’s no mistake it was a young brother. Even so, I wonder why he disappeared.”
Ah, yes. That’s right. I think he probably didn’t want to stand out. The other party was a knight, after all.
“Ah right, even if you take the request, it’s useless because the town’s fishermen are afraid of having their ships destroyed by that guy and won’t send out ships. After all, even the newest battleship was no match for it.”
Saying just that, Ronzen quickly disappeared into the crowd. Did he perhaps tell us various things out of worry for us?
“So, how about it? Do you have a plan to defeat the Kraken?”
After Ronzen disappeared, Liliela asked me.
“Umm, according to that person’s story, it seems it’s useless even if we send out a ship.”
Yup, if the ship gets capsized or destroyed, that’s the end. Also, even if we attack with magic, if we fail to finish it off and it escapes, it’s probably over.
“But you have some good plan, right? That’s why you were looking for the request form, weren’t you?”
…Sharp.
“Well, it’s not like there’s no method.”
Actually, there are several patterns for subjugating a Kraken. The important things are two: to defeat it in one blow, and not to let it escape. However, in that case, we have to refrain from large-scale attack magic to secure proof of subjugation. If we turn it into charcoal, they won’t believe we subjugated it.
Then, the only way is to aim for a vital point with pinpoint accuracy in one blow to take its life, or create a situation where it can’t escape. Considering it’s big enough to treat a battleship as a toy, it would be quite difficult. Furthermore, since we can’t have fishermen send out ships this time, it will be even more of a long-distance battle.
Therefore, I decided to choose an old-fashioned simple method.
“Well, since we came all this way… shall we try Kraken extermination?”
“That’s the spirit!”
Thus, we ended up doing Kraken extermination.
◆
A few days later, having finished preparations, we came to the port for Kraken extermination.
“Then shall we begin Kraken extermination?”
Saying that, I took out tools for Kraken extermination from my magic bag.
“Oi oi, what’s this?”
Fishermen and sailors who were working nearby came over, perhaps interested in the Kraken extermination tools.
“What is it, what is it, do you guys seriously intend to do Kraken extermination?”
And among them was Ronzen, whom we met the other day.
“Yes, since we came all this way, we thought we’d try challenging it.”
“Well, that’s your freedom, but what on earth is this? A small boat tied with a rope? No, but to call this a boat is…”
At Ronzen’s question, surrounding fishermen and sailors also nodded in agreement.
“Besides, the anchor at the tip has a strange shape. Rather than an anchor, isn’t it more like a hook?”
Everyone tilted their heads looking at the small boat I prepared.
In fact, it wasn’t meant for humans to ride. It’s just a substitute carved from a log to look like a boat. It’s made just well enough to float on water. And a thick rope is passed through that small boat, penetrating it. Furthermore, the rope extending from the small boat was connected to a single thick, long log.
“Well, please watch.”
I floated the small boat and activated wind magic.
“Control Wind!”
This is magic favored by mages aboard sailing ships, literally magic to freely manipulate wind. It’s not wind usable for attacks, but using this magic allows moving sailing ships freely even during calm. It’s handy magic when in a hurry or caught in strange tidal currents.
And with this magic, I guided the small boat to the place where the military battleship was attacked by the Kraken the other day. And so, it was a while after the small boat reached the target sea area.
“!!? It appeared!”
As the fisherman said, suddenly the small boat shook unsteadily, then it was lifted into the air by tentacles that appeared from the sea.
“Alright!”
The tentacles wrapped around the small boat, crushing it with a creaking sound. And just like that, the small boat was dragged into the sea.
Confirming that, I hugged the end of the log I had placed beside me. And soon, the rope connected to the log began to be dragged into the sea.
“Aaalright! Looking good.”
Confident that the plan is going well, I hug the log. And when the rope completely sank into the sea, the connected log was pulled towards the sea.
“Nnngh!”
I opposed the power trying to drag the log into the sea with Body Enhancement Magic.
“W-What on earth is that brother doing!?”
Not understanding the situation, the surrounding sailors are confused.
What I’m trying to do, that is pole-and-line fishing for Kraken. Super big game fishing with a giant log pole where the log is the rod, the rope is the fishing line, the small boat is the float and lure, and the anchor is the fishhook.
“Nunununu!”
Enduring the force trying to pull it to the bottom of the sea, I conversely pulled the log rod. In normal fishing, you would worry about the fishing line, but this rope is a fishing line I reinforced with magic. A mere monster won’t be able to tear it off. And perhaps tired of moving around, the Kraken’s power weakened for an instant.
“Now!!”
Sensing the momentary chance, I pulled up the log rod with all my might.
“”””I-It came out!!””””
The fished-up Kraken danced in the air, and the sailors raised their voices. Its figure was exactly a giant squid.
“Wait, this is bad!?”
Ronzen raised a voice mixed with surprise and impatience. Because the Kraken’s huge body was flying towards us while dancing in the air. Well, since I fished it up, naturally it would come towards us, right?
“Everyone step back!”
I threw away the fishing rod and prepared to intercept. If this continues, the lively Kraken will land on the port.
“Eat this! Hydro Zamber!”
With the activation of magic, water rose from the sea surface. From our perspective, it was just a line, but if there was someone who saw it from the side, they would probably have seen a scene where a great sword of water cut the Kraken in two with a single stroke.
Hydro Zamber, magic that releases an ultra-thin, ultra-high pressure water sword utilizing water pressure.
The Kraken, cut in two right down the middle, separated left and right and slid into the port. I defeated it, but if it lands on the port like this, it will be a disaster in itself, so I perform further processing.
Just before the Kraken lands, I cut its internal organs with sword wave attacks and separate them from the body. And after finishing collecting the internal organs with the magic bag, I took out two long spears and pierced the Kraken’s body sliding on the port to stop its movement, separating the tentacles and torso.
Finally, if I cut the body and tentacles into appropriate sizes and store them in the magic bag, it’s done. After that, I recover the log rod and wash away the port ground with water magic, and the case is closed.
“Okay, Kraken extermination complete. Shall we return to the guild and have it assessed?”
I turned to Liliela, who was observing from behind, and urged her. She looked at me with a dumbfounded face, but for some reason sighed with a wry smile.
“…I thought you would manage somehow, but you solved it with outrageous brute force again this time.”
No no, if you enhance your body with Body Enhancement Magic to this extent, anyone will be able to do it, you know? Besides, if you’re going to subjugate a Kraken, pole-and-line fishing using a lure is basic after all.
“Kyuu!”
Fluffy, who jumped out from Liliela’s arms, clung to my leg.
“Fluffy? …Ah, I see.”
Sensing Fluffy’s desire, I took out small portions of Kraken meat from the magic bag and gave them to it.
“Kyuu!”
As if to say, ‘As long as I get food, I don’t care about the rest!’, Fluffy snatched the Kraken meat from me and started eating avidly. Good grief, what a calculating fellow.
“Then shall we return?”
“Yes.”
“Well then everyone, sorry for the disturbance.”
We walked through the sailors who remained frozen in silence and started walking towards the guild.
“””””…Wait, he fished a Krakeeeeeeen!?”””””
Hmm? It’s somehow noisy behind us.
