Yuma gracefully walked across the deck of the Resen Kingdom’s flagship.
Step by step—
As Yuma set foot in the Resen Kingdom, everyone’s eyes turned toward him.
“Th-thank you for saving me,” Yuma slowly nodded, and Baron Hans urgently introduced himself.
“I am Baron Hans of the Resen Kingdom. O, benefactor!”
Baron Hans bowed as deeply as possible.
He clearly saw it with his own eyes—the unbelievable event where the magic cannonball deflected by Yuma’s sword caused the next chaos.
The black dragons that shattered three pirate ships.
In that moment, Baron Hans instinctively thought,
Could that man be the God of War whose name is spreading across the continent?
“The Grand Duke of the Astes Empire, Yuma.”
Hans’s eyes widened.
‘Yuma…’
Yes, the name of the God of War was indeed that.
“You’ve been granted the title of Grand Duke. Congratulations!”
Yuma tilted his head curiously.
“You know me?”
“O-of course! Your name as the Dragon Slayer has already spread throughout the continent!”
Yuma quickly accepted that reasoning.
Well, the Information Guild does share information throughout the continent.
Killing the Black Dragon was certainly an achievement worth spreading.
Winning against the Conqueror King of the Barbarian Nation, Pineon, was also a feat that deserved to echo across the continent.
“Get up. And….”
Yuma briefly glanced at Hectos, the deceased leader of the Dust Pirates, who had fallen to Bell’s hand, then raised his head.
“The rest of this pirate crew’s fate is up to you, Baron Hans.”
Hans nodded vigorously in a daze.
“Y-yes, understood.”
Yuma had already heard how the Dust Pirates were faring in the continent’s pirate scene from Amon and the ship’s crew.
The pirate crew that ended the disputes among pirates.
And the reason the Dust Pirates were able to do that was indeed due to the existence of Sword Master Hectos.
Originally the eldest son of a knightly family in the Resen Kingdom, he became a pirate after his family was destroyed for treason.
He was essentially the only Sword Master pirate on the continent.
But now, he was just a cold corpse that had fallen to Bell.
Bell precariously placed her foot on the broken deck. There was a woman huddled at the edge of the deck. Her rags were in tatters, and her back bore severe burn marks.
“…She’s alive.”
The woman, Mary, was unconscious but still breathing.
“Uwhaaaah!”
Another pirate, not Bell, was also alive. His right leg was in shambles.
Only four others who desperately fled toward the escape direction after seeing the pillar of magic cannonballs were still breathing.
Bell didn’t care what happened to the rest of their lives.
She hoisted Mary over her shoulders and leaped off the deck. Then, she boarded the Resen Kingdom’s flagship once more.
And she placed Mary before the knights beside Baron Hans.
Hans stepped forward and bowed his head to Bell.
“Thank you. As she is a citizen of our country, we will take care of her.”
“We’re the citizens, so we will take care of it.”
“Uh-huh.”
Before long, Hestia had moved over to Bell’s side and spoke. Then she looked at Mary and said,
“This person survived against all odds.”
Bell glanced momentarily at Yuma in the distance.
“Yuma must have controlled the distance. She’s innocent after all.”
Hestia nodded her head vigorously.
“Right? The God of War doesn’t let innocent people fall into death.”
Hestia let out another strange remark.
Yuma stayed silent with a blank expression.
“I didn’t control the distance or anything.”
At the moment when [Absolute Counter—Bonsai] had to decide where to strike, he didn’t have the energy to worry about distance control.
Yuma’s eyes caught sight of Mary’s hand.
Blood was crusted under her fingernails. The skin on her fingertips had been horribly ripped, and blood was pooling there as well.
The woman named Mary, who had been used as entertainment by pirates, must have fought desperately to survive.
“Anyway, I’m glad.”
Though the road ahead would be tough, the living had to keep living.
Bell approached Yuma.
“I did well, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did well.”
Yuma patted Bell’s blue hair.
He surveyed the wrecked Resen Kingdom warship.
“Are we going to continue sailing?”
“Uh, this is a bit awkward.”
Bell scratched her head while looking at the scene of the ship she had created.
Baron Hans with brown hair shook his head vigorously at Bell. He didn’t know her rank but could tell she was someone of importance to the archduke. Even if she were a commoner, there was no way he could speak casually to her.
“Not at all. We’ll never forget the grace of saving us.”
Then he looked back at Yuma.
“Let’s postpone our sailing for now. We should return to the kingdom, make repairs, and then set out again.”
“Got it.”
“I’d like to offer some compensation for saving us, regardless of being an ally…”
“Then don’t think about giving it to me; send it to the Astes Imperial family.”
Seeing that there was a way to repay, his face lit up.
“Understood.”
Hans then looked at Bell again.
“I just saw you using throwing daggers…”
Suddenly, he pulled out a dark blade made of a metal called Rigeinen from a wooden box behind him and handed it to Bell.
“This is also a dark blade made from Rigeinen. It’s for throwing like you just did to cut off your opponent’s breath. This item was made by the kingdom’s finest blacksmith.”
“Oh!”
Bell’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she acquired a new weapon.
“I’ll leave the rest of the surviving members to you.”
At Yuma’s words, Baron Hans and his subordinates nodded repeatedly.
Yuma took Bell back to Amon’s warship.
“We’ll set out again now.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The captain of Amon’s ship bowed deeply.
Having survived in the north and having only vaguely heard of the greatness of the God of War, witnessing it with his own eyes made reverence swell from the tips of his toes.
There was nothing to do but accept it.
The ship sailed further north.
And six days passed. It was a time spent on a sea with calm, yet at times fierce waves.
In Yuma’s party’s eyes appeared a massive island.
A gigantic wall made of reddish-brown rock.
It seemed to be a wall that said to think twice before entering.
A blank space in the middle of the wall that looked like a main gate. The ship entered that space.
A dock was visible for the ship to moor.
Swoosh…
The captain, feeling tense, slowly docked the ship.
Yuma gestured with his chin.
“Everyone disembark.”
At Yuma’s words, everyone nodded without complaint.
If they were planning to attack, they would’ve done so much earlier.
Perhaps they’d decided against attacking after seeing the imperial flag hanging on the ship.
Over thirty mermen with skin as clear as the azure sky caught their eye.
In their hands, they wielded weapons similar to tridents.
Their muscular upper bodies were fully exposed while they wore leather shorts.
Among these twenty, the merman man who appeared to be the most commanding approached Yuma, who was the first to set foot on the Mullen Tribe’s island, and asked.
The mermen were all towering over two meters tall.
“Are you members of the Astes Empire who responded to our Mullen Tribe’s call for help?”
It was quite surprising that the language spoken by the Mullen Tribe was the common tongue of the Eghatorz continent, the one used by the Astes Empire.
Yuma nodded.
“Yes. I am Duke Yuma of the Astes Empire.”
“Yuma…!”
The merman man’s eyes widened.
As the guard of Mullen, he had firmly etched the name of someone who must be treated with utmost respect in his mind.
The blue-skinned merman fluttered his dark blue hair as he knelt before Yuma.
“I am Nereus, a warrior of Mullen.”
Yuma scanned Nereus’ body.
Long dark blue hair, sky-blue skin.
Blue eyes.
And on his wrists, fins that were a translucent shade of blue, matching his skin color, waved gently.
Three lines that resembled gills were etched on both sides of his neck.
The appearances of the other Mullen Tribe members were similar.
The only differences were in skin color. Most, like Nereus, had sky-blue skin, but out of the 30, two had gray and yellow-green skin respectively.
‘Most have sky-blue skin, but occasionally, mermen of different colors are born, it seems.’
There were many intriguing points.
“Please follow me. I will escort you all.”
Nereus stood up.
Thirty Mullen Tribe members moved in unison behind Nereus.
“Wow….”
Hestia perked up her cat ears and followed the men of the Mullen Tribe.
Bell’s pink eyes, and Cloney’s golden eyes were busy absorbing the scenery of the Mullen Island.
The ship captain and crew, who were cramped with tension, were also scanning their surroundings intensely.
Even though they were on land, the scenery that unfolded was different from that of the human world.
The trees, softly glowing in blue.
Various houses made from wood and grass.
Those living a life akin to nature.
Birds the size of pink-feathered parrots glided through the sky in flocks.
Chirp chirp chirp—
Everyone’s gaze, except for Yuma’s, followed the birds’ movements.
“Those are called Flumira,” said one of the Mullen Tribe warriors, perhaps impressed by the simultaneous attention of twenty pairs of eyes.
Bell, draped in a fur-coated cloak, spoke to the Mullen Tribe man who just shared the bird’s name.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“The Mullen Tribe is naturally very resilient to the cold.”
“Impressive.”
Neerus’s footsteps stopped at the place where the king of the Mullen Tribe, who could be described as the king of the merfolk, was located.
“King Yeerkur of Mullen is waiting.”
“Let’s go in.”
Yuma entered with Cloney, Bell, and Hestia.
Yeerkur appeared to be at least 250 cm tall, his massive frame hunched over as he sat.
“Greetings, Yuma. I am Yeerkur, King of Mullen.”
Yeerkur’s intense gaze landed on Yuma.
Yuma stared directly at the towering blue man.
[Lv.142] Yeerkur
Race: Merfolk
Class: Emperor, Martial Artist
Realm: Master
Inborn Traits: Royal Blood, Favored by the Great Sea
“Yes, nice to meet you. Duke Yuma of Astes.”
Yeerkur struck an image of a martial artist adept in fistfighting.
“Normally, we don’t stay on this island for long. We only come out about once a week to check the continental situation…”
Yeerkur continued while scanning Yuma’s group.
“But right now, we can’t comfortably stay in our underwater city.”
At the mention of the underwater city, something clicked in Yuma’s mind.
“Atlantis?”
Yeerkur chuckled lightly.
“The legend of Atlantis is very intriguing; it might even exist somewhere… but Mullen’s underwater city is not Atlantis; it’s an old friend called Hekaroon.”
Seeing Yuma nod, Yeerkur continued.
“Nevertheless, enemy invasions have become too severe, and not all personnel can remain in Hekaroon. Besides, they are spreading chaos across the sea.”
“Chaos energy?”
Yeerkur stroked his bushy beard and continued.
“Those black mists do not directly strike our Mullen Tribe. But they are slowly killing the marine life, our friends in Mullen.”
“Do you know who those enemies are?”
Yeerkur furrowed his brow.
“Not yet; they are still shrouded in mist, and I have not seen their forms. They keep sending only their underlings. However, if I were to speculate the massive shadow beyond the mist, based on what’s described in ancient tomes from a millennium ago… it might be Leviathan.”
Leviathan.
At that moment, Yuma understood the dark cloud looming over the Mullen Tribe.
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