Volume 12 Chapter 1 The Voyage And The Kraken
...The lake stretched out before us.
The calm water surface reflected the sky like a mirror.
Our boat glided smoothly across the lake's surface.
'...So, still no catch?'
I was enjoying fishing while sitting on the boat's edge.
The doll girl, Juju, sitting next to me, asked with a dissatisfied tone.
'Feed me seafood soon, please. I want to eat octopus.'
"Octopus, yeah... I think we'll catch some soon."
I replied casually while suppressing a yawn.
...It was a peaceful boat trip.
The warm sunlight was soothing, and the gentle rocking of the boat was making me drowsy.
I couldn't get tired of looking at the lake, which I was seeing for the first time in my life.
"Sometimes, it's good to take it easy like this."
Ever since I met Juju, I'd get caught up in some kind of incident wherever we went....
It was better than the "Noroa the Zero" era, where nothing happened, but sometimes I just wanted to take a break.
"Yeah, peace is the best."
I said, yawning.
"――Wait, monster!!"
...Yeah, our peaceful time was over.
The sailors' screams and the boat's violent rocking happened almost simultaneously, and water splashed up from all around us.
What appeared was――countless octopus tentacles.
The enormous tentacles, like giant trees, had somehow surrounded the boat.
"What, a Kraken?!" "A sea monster?!" "Why is there such a monster in the lake?! "
The people on the boat panicked all at once. The tentacles, as if mocking the bewildered people, started destroying the boat's hull.
"We'll never lose to those tentacles!"
The strong men shouted as they faced the tentacles, but they were no match for the Kraken in the water.
"Ah no!" "Aaaaah!""No way!"
The men were caught one by one by the tentacles. Their clothes were torn, and they were left in embarrassing states.
Yeah, they couldn't win against the tentacles....
"Hey, aren't there any other adventurers around!?" "Kraken is an S-Rank, we can't win against it" "Is there an S-Rank adventurer among the passengers!?"
The chaos on the ship intensifies further.
However... it's a Kraken. I never thought I'd run into one in a lake.
As usual, I have a bad luck.
'Hmm, looks like we caught a big one. This is going to be a feast.'
"Do you want to eat that?"
Juju is quite a big catch too.
And... it's not like we're in a situation to be fishing.
If we stay like this, the Kraken will eat us along with the ship.
'An S-Rank adventurer should be on this ship', but...
"...I don't want to stand out here..."
'Come on, hurry up and catch that octopus. The ship is rocking, and I'm getting really seasick.'
"Okay, okay."
I hand the fishing rod to Juju and head to prepare my equipment.
Even in the midst of this chaos, my equipment is taking a nap.
The twin sisters with blue hair, Ram and Sui, are sleeping with their shoulders touching, snoring softly.
"Sui, Ram, can I wake you up?"
As I hold their hands, the twins look at me with sleepy eyes, blinking slowly.
"Hmm... master?" "...Have we arrived yet? "
"No, a monster appeared, so I need your power."
"Monster... fight..." "...5 more minutes... I'll get up properly."
While giving a lazy response, the twins transform into a slimy state.
They change into transparent swords and shields, their shapes and properties changing freely.
That's the cursed equipment, Slime Sword and Slime Shield.
"Ahhhhh!" "It's all over!" "God, help us!"
The ship tilts greatly, and the passengers raise despairing voices. It seems the Kraken has bitten into the ship's hull. There's no more time.
"Sui, protect the ship's hull."
"...fuwa... I'll protect it."
The Slime Shield turned into a thin board and stuck to the ship's hull. It's an unreliable armor, but... the Kraken's fangs were repelled with a loud "clank" sound.
The Kraken was bewildered, trying to bite again and again, but the result didn't change. The hardness of the shield with a defense power of 3000 was no joke.
"Let's finish this quickly, then."
The Kraken's weak point is, of course, the area between its eyes――the spot between its eyebrows, to be exact. The Kraken has 3 hearts and 9 brains, making it difficult to defeat with a straightforward attack. However, if I destroy the magic stone located deep within its eyebrows, the Kraken will die instantly.
But even attacking the Kraken's eyebrows while it's underwater would be a challenge, considering its outer skin is as hard as rock.
It's not an enemy that can be defeated easily, that's for sure....
"Show me the Kraken's magic stone."
I gave instructions to the detection equipment, Compass Eye (Ra Shingan), to locate the Kraken's magic stone.
The target is big. There's no way to miss it.
"Ram, stretch out a bit."
"Got it!"
I extended the Slime Sword's blade towards the lake's surface.
It felt hard impact.
Right after that, the tentacles attacking the ship froze, and the red-tinged tentacles started to turn white.
It was proof that the Kraken had died.
"Mission complete, then."
I let out a yawn.
And soon, the tentacles lost their strength and fell into the lake with a "splash" sound.
"What...?" "The Kraken...?" "What just...?"
The sudden death of the Kraken seemed to have caused unnecessary confusion among the people on the ship... but at least everyone seemed to be safe. The men who were caught by the tentacles were also freed.
With this, the incident has come to a close, I suppose.
'Hey, Noroa! If we leave it like this, the octopus will sink! We don't have a net!'
"Ah... well, let's just give up on the octopus. It looks ugly, and it's not even delicious to eat"
'What's wrong with you! You don't understand the suffering of the octopus!'
"I don't understand suffering or anything."
'Apologize! You should apologize to all the octopuses in the country for calling them ugly!'
"What's your problem with the octopus?"
I'm too lazy to deal with it, so I'll just store the Kraken's corpse in Little Mimi for now.
Anything the Gluttony Mimic Bag eats gets stored in a subspace. That means I can eat a fresh, juicy Kraken anytime I want, but... I'm not really in the mood for it.
I'll just buy some octopus at the market later instead.
Thinking that, I tried to cast my line into the lake again.
"Sir Noroa..."
"Uh-huh..."
A girl with amber-colored hair came wobbling over.
It was Cirrul, who had been resting in the cabin. She had a captivating beauty that could mesmerize the people around her, but her complexion looked a bit off right now.
"Cirrul, are you feeling better from the seasickness?"
"Yes, I've calmed down a bit."
"You're calm after seeing a Kraken?"
"Well, when you say Kraken, you mean the rocking from earlier...? Ah, yes, I remember now. The sailor told me that ginger tea is good for seasickness."
"That's a fun fact!"
It's like she's not even fazed by the Kraken commotion that just happened.
She's acting like, "Kraken? Who cares about that? Let's talk about seasickness instead!"
I guess she's gotten used to this kind of chaos from traveling with me. The girl who was freaking out over goblins just a little while ago has really toughened up.
"Uh, the rocking..."
"Are you okay, Cirrul?"
"Yes... I'm just glad I got to see Sir Noroa before I die... It's really been a good life."
"You don't look so good, though."
'Pu-pu-pu! Who gets motion sickness, anyway?!'
"That's a great line you'd like to tell me from 2 months ago."
"M-Miss Juju too... You used to get carsick when you rode dragon, didn't you?'
'Aww, that's too bad~ But I've been doing fine lately, so it's all good!'
"I, I'm doing fine too, so it's all good!"
"No, no... You 2 are both out, so calm down."
I tried to calm them down, but they're not getting along. It's not like I hate it, but I don't want them to fight in public. It's just embarrassing.
"Anyway... what's wrong, Cirrul? Didn't you come to talk about the vomit?"
"Ah, that's right! Sir Noroa, it seems we're approaching our destination!"
Cirrul pointed excitedly towards the front of the ship.
There was only the horizon... no, something white was peeking out from above it.
It wasn't land――it was a city.
A pure white city was floating in the middle of the lake.
"...We've finally arrived."
――The Holy City of Sanctia.
The capital of the Holy Kingdom of Sonon, and a sacred site of the Goddess Faith.
And... our destination.
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