Chapter 13: Legends of Treasure

Chapter 13: Legends of Treasure

On the deck, an extra layer of asbestos had been placed beneath the grill to prevent sparks from the coal from being blown loose by the wind and scorching the wooden boards.

The plump chef wore an apron and a white high hat invented by Roselle. With a fine-bristled brush, he continuously coated the long strips of pale, tender fish meat with a secret seasoning mixed from basil, fennel, sea salt, pepper, lemon juice, and other ingredients. From time to time, he flipped the meat to ensure that both sides were evenly heated.

The flesh from the murloc’s belly was rich in fat. Droplets fell one after another, making the coal beneath the iron mesh sizzle and sending tongues of flame leaping upward.

A strange and tempting fragrance gradually spread. Klein inhaled again and again.

Before him, a round table and chairs had already been set up. On the table sat a bottle of wine with a distinctive shape. The wine was golden-red in color, and when it swayed, it seemed to carry a faint viscosity.

“Sonia Blood Wine. It is brewed from the sap of sweetwood trees native to the region around the Golden Spring. It is like thin honey mixed with blood. The taste is sweet and smooth, but it is very easy to get drunk on. If there is a lady who catches your eye and you wish to treat her to a drink, you may consider this one. It will make her drink too much without realizing it. Haha, of course, the premise is that your own capacity for alcohol is enough to withstand it.” Noticing Klein’s scrutiny, Captain Elland Kag introduced it in a half-joking manner.

As expected of a former boatswain. He has bawdy jokes built into him… Klein sat down and maintained his cold demeanor.

“A qualified adventurer does not indulge in alcohol.”

Beside him, Cleeves nodded.

“Only after returning home is an adventurer allowed to drink.”

“What a pity.” Elland turned toward Donna and Denton, who were curiously sizing up the Sonia Blood Wine, and laughed. “This is not something underage children should experience.”

“I have drunk it before. It really tastes good!” Donna immediately retorted. “It’s just—just that afterward, I somehow fell asleep without realizing it, and slept for an entire afternoon…”

“I remember you had two glasses that time!” the young gentleman Denton said with envy.

Elland did not satisfy their longing. He instructed the sailors to give the siblings a glass of sweet iced tea each, then casually explained, “There are many southerners on this ship.”

Denton withdrew his disappointed gaze and looked at the murloc, whose valuable ingredients had already been taken away. With a touch of childish innocence, he said, “Actually, actually, it isn’t that frightening. It is just a bigger, especially ugly fish with four limbs!”

Donna glanced at her younger brother.

“Congratulations. You have finally understood its essence.”

She then looked eagerly at Cleeves and Elland.

“Uncle, uncle, are there many monsters like this at sea?”

Murlocs did not possess extraordinary abilities beyond imagination. In the eyes of ordinary people, they were roughly equivalent to fierce beasts of the sea, the biological prototype behind legendary monsters.

Elland chuckled.

“No. Along the main sea routes and in the surrounding waters, monsters like this rarely appear. They were more or less cleared out long ago. For you to encounter a murloc and see such a creature means you are quite lucky.

“Think about it. If monsters worth two hundred pounds or even more could be hunted often, I certainly would not be the captain of a passenger ship. I would organize a hunting vessel of my own and chase after those gold pounds!”

That makes perfect sense! Klein inwardly applauded him.

Based on his observations just now, the Beyonder material from the murloc should be its swim bladder. Its blue, water-like radiance made it look as though one were staring at a gemstone.

Cleeves picked up the black tea a sailor had just delivered, first sniffed its scent, then took a sip.

“Only by deviating from the main routes and venturing deep into oceans often shrouded in fog or storms does one have a decent chance of encountering such monsters. But that is extremely dangerous.

“Apart from murlocs that can climb and are covered in scales, legends say those waters also contain nagas with upper bodies like humans and lower bodies like giant pythons. They have six arms and move with great agility.”

Elland took over the topic.

“There are also enormous octopuses whose spit can corrode many people clean away, terrifying sea monsters that can overturn a ship with a gentle nudge, mermaids whose singing intoxicates people and makes them unwilling to ever leave, blue dragons that can create lightning, and great birds that can stir up hurricanes by flapping their wings. Heh. I have never seen any of these. They are all legends of the sea, and no one knows whether they are true.”

Mermaids… Klein’s expression did not change.

“How interesting.” Donna praised with a face full of yearning.

Denton looked left and right. Seeing that Klein did not speak, he asked curiously, “Uncle, you are an adventurer too. Have you seen such monsters before?”

Klein was stunned for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

“I have, once. At the time, there were five of us. We unexpectedly encountered one—a murloc. After an intense battle, we finally dealt with it.”

This was his true experience in Tingen City, and it had been the first time he had directly faced an official Beyonder who had lost control.

Back then, he and Old Neil, at the request of Swain, the owner of the Evil Dragon Bar, had helped eliminate a mutated “Sailor.”

Thinking of that matter, Klein felt a touch of nostalgia and melancholy. The coldness and sharpness he had forcibly put on softened quite a bit.

“Five people?” Donna secretly counted the number of people who had participated in the previous battle as she asked.

One, two, three… She realized that only three people had acted earlier to kill the murloc.

Before Klein could answer, Elland spoke with slight surprise.

“You unexpectedly encountered it?”

“Yes,” Klein answered calmly.

“Were there any casualties?” Elland asked another question.

Klein shook his head.

“Some light injuries.”

“You unexpectedly encountered one and solved a murloc with only five people… You were very capable,” Cleeves gave his evaluation.

His companion Cecile also nodded, displaying her astonishment.

The battle just now had been brief and swift, and the murloc had seemed unable to withstand a single blow. However, both she and Cleeves were well aware that, without the prepared bait in advance, without the hallucinatory effect of the peppercorns and the subsequent exhaustion, without the deadly threat mint paste posed to murlocs, and without the two borrowed rifles, who knew how many people present would have died before a single murloc could be killed.

“Indeed. Very capable.” Elland looked at Klein thoughtfully.

That was a team made up of four Sequence 9s and one Sequence 8… Klein half smiled, half sighed.

“At that time, I was still very young. I had not even experienced much combat. I was purely support.”

“Uncle, you are still very young now!” Donna nodded her head forcefully.

I like hearing that… Klein keenly noticed that Captain Elland had relaxed quite a bit because of what he had just said.

At that moment, several sailors brought over a large ceramic platter. On it lay fish meat fried to a golden crisp, sprinkled with basil leaves for color. The alluring fragrance rushed straight toward their noses.

Elland lifted his glass filled with Sonia Blood Wine and delivered a toast.

“A beautiful night. The storm is with us!”

“A beautiful night!” Donna and Denton cheered, each taking a sip of their sweet iced tea.

Klein chose to clink his cup of black tea with the captain’s.

He speared a piece of meat from the murloc’s ribs with his fork. He felt that it was firm and tight, with little fat. Yet after absorbing plant oil, its excessive dryness had been compensated for, and as he chewed, it released an endlessly lingering springiness and meaty fragrance.

It really is a little worse than the cheek meat beneath the eye, but it is still good enough. It surpasses every fish I ate in Backlund and Pritz Harbor… Klein praised it with satisfaction.

Elland set down his knife and fork, took a sip of Sonia Blood Wine, and continued the earlier topic with a sigh.

“At sea, the most dangerous things are not monsters, but pirates.

“They steer their ships wherever they wish, and no one can make preparations in advance.”

“Captain Uncle, will we run into pirates?” Denton asked with some worry after swallowing a piece of fried murloc meat.

Elland laughed.

“The route to the Rorsted Archipelago is the safest in the world. Every two or three days, there are colonial islands where we can dock. Along the way, ships of the Royal Navy and the Church of Storms often patrol.

“Even if some pirate crew strays into this region, they will not go too far. After seeing our cannons, at most they will extort some compensation.”

Seeing the two underage children settle down, Elland added, “But once we head south from the Rorsted Archipelago, or continue east, we will have to rely on the Lord’s protection.

“Many pirates are active in those waters, playing hide-and-seek with the navy and the Churches’ ships. If we are lucky, we will arrive at the Southern Continent and every destination very smoothly. But if we are not lucky enough, we may encounter extremely powerful pirates, including the seven pirate admirals, and even the fleets of the Four Kings.

“However, you do not need to worry too much. Ever since Nast became the King of the Five Seas and established certain rules that apply across the ocean, most pirates only plunder your money and do not do anything too excessive.

“Among them, the one we fear encountering most is the captain of the Black Tulip, Admiral Hell Ludwell. He will have his subordinates kill everyone on the ship and throw those innocent people into hell. Next is Admiral of Blood Senor. He loves blood and indulges his subordinates in every evil act. Many young girls are violated by them and then sold to different islands…”

Donna shivered at the description and instinctively changed the topic.

“I heard—I heard there are many treasures at sea!”

“There are legends of treasure, but the vast majority are false.” Elland glanced at Cleeves and said, “There are six with the most stories and the greatest fame. Ranked first is Death’s Key. According to legend, at the end of the Fourth Epoch, Death, who had unleashed the Pale Disaster, was killed by the seven deities but did not fall on the spot. He attempted to return to the Southern Continent. He stirred up violent winds and waves, creating an impassable barrier that completely severed the sea route between the Northern and Southern Continents. This is the legend behind the origin of the Berserk Sea. However, He ultimately failed to return to the Southern Continent and disappeared within that ocean.”

At this point, Elland sighed with a trace of longing.

“It is said that, in some hidden place within the Berserk Sea, the treasure left behind by Death waits for the one who holds a specific key to find and open it. But what that key looks like, and where it will appear, no one knows.

“Ranked second is the Fountain of Youth, somewhere deep within the Sonia Sea. Rumor has it that one of the Four Kings, the Immortal King Agalito, once drank from its waters.”