***

On a night shrouded in deep darkness.

A quiet voice commanded from inside a carriage running through the forest path of the Rabius private estate.

“Zipfel, report.”

“Additional interrogation confirms there are nobles collaborating with Kaiman.”

At the report from the coachman’s seat, Richard’s blue eyes turned cold as steel.

Kaiman. The mad monarch of pirates who had seized control of the Crocker Archipelago.

Certainly, until the time of the previous Admiral Aquilus, pirates and sea monsters were separate enemies for the navy.

Sea monsters were hostile to all humans, merely beasts that rampaged without reason.

However, thirteen years ago, when Kaiman appeared with the ability to control sea monsters, this dynamic was completely reversed.

Every year, civilian and naval casualties caused by him exceeded dozens.

“The identity of the collaborating noble?”

“I apologize. The informant died before we could extract it.”

“The Colonel’s interrogation skills shouldn’t be that lacking.”

“Kaiman had taken precautions. There was a curse that would destroy their brain if they tried to reveal information beyond a certain level.”

At the mention of a curse, Richard briefly glanced down at his own hand.

Kaiman’s informant had been disguised as a marine.

Initially, they were recorded in reports as someone who had made a mistake during cannon transport.

However, Richard personally interrogated them due to suspicious elements, leading to the discovery of their true identity.

If nothing unusual had happened, they would have extracted more information during that interrogation.

That is, if sea monster energy hadn’t been detected near the Naval Headquarters fishing spot that day.

“…Any connection to the Rabius noble lady?”

“Nothing confirmed yet. But it’s clear that woman is suspicious.”

Yes. While her refusal to leave the fishing spot despite orders could be explained away as the ignorance of a central noble lady.

From the moment she avoided Richard’s hand when in danger of falling into the sea, her behavior became clearly suspicious.

At that time, Richard was the only one capable of dealing with the sea monster lurking beneath without causing a commotion.

But after diving into the sea, he witnessed a Kraken-type monster gently trying to pull the Rabius noble lady as if handling a baby.

It was truly a shocking sight.

Richard clearly remembered how that Kraken had killed his subordinates.

Swinging its massive tentacles mercilessly to kill.

Crushing bones by constricting the entire body to kill.

Killing them by spraying toxic ink that poisoned them.

Most of his subordinates who faced that monster became corpses too mangled to even give proper funerals.

Yet clearly.

That same hideous monster, identical in appearance, tried to take the Rabius noble lady away as carefully as if handling a delicate glass ball.

“Of course, we haven’t found any evidence suggesting House Rabius is working with pirates…”

“It’s equally baffling that the monster treated her with such care.”

Therefore, at first, Richard had assumed she was at least someone who could control monsters like Kaiman.

However, strangely enough, despite the monster’s goodwill, the noble lady appeared to be on the verge of drowning at the time.

Unlike Kaiman, who was nearly half-monster and could breathe underwater.

He thought that whether she was a foolish collaborator or an innocent civilian, questioning her would reveal her identity.

That’s why he drove away the Kraken and brought the noble lady to shore.

When the Rabius noble lady regained consciousness after fainting, she was shocked to see him.

The emotion that filled those green eyes was clearly fear.

Richard knew this well, having seen such eyes countless times.

“I must be seeing things. I should probably faint again.”

She seemed to be speaking her thoughts aloud due to her disorientation, and afterward, even while thanking him, she avoided his gaze.

She showed signs of trying to leave the place by any means possible.

Moreover, even after being caught knowing about Richard’s curse at the residence, she couldn’t properly explain the source of her information.

“I’m not exactly sure, but perhaps the Sea God! I think the Sea God told me!”

Although he pretended to believe this obviously hasty excuse for the sake of leading questioning, it lacked credibility.

“Zipfel. What did they say about the noble lady at the Sea God’s temple?”

“They said she had never visited even once. It’s doubtful she even knows that the Sea God’s name is Islea.”

His aide, though somewhat biased, was not one to report falsehoods.

“Far from having any plausible connection to the Sea God that the Duke’s daughter mentioned, there are widespread rumors about her conflicts with the saint who serves the Sky God in Rainfeld.”

“…Investigate that aspect as well.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

Callia Rabius. She was an entity full of suspicion.

That was largely why he had agreed to her bizarre proposal of a contract relationship. She herself was aware of this.

“Feel free to monitor me. Whether I’m truly suspicious or not, whether I’m a villainess trying to use the Admiral or not, whether I reveal the existence of the curse to others or not.”

Even that in itself was suspicious.

Richard, having control over maritime rights, frequently met merchants with skilled rhetoric.

Yet even to him, Callia’s persuasion sounded quite plausible.

It seemed somewhat strange for someone supposedly known as a stupid and violent villainess who committed all sorts of evil acts.

“My worse reputation will protect you from people’s approaches.”

So he had tentatively concluded to keep her close and monitor her, as she herself suggested…

“…How did you find the Duke’s daughter during today’s direct observation?”

“….”

Richard rubbed his face with his hands instead of answering as he reflected on the day.

“…She was strange.”

“So she revealed her suspicious true colors…!”

“Not suspicious, strange.”

Showing up in winter attire in the middle of summer in the south.

Because of that, struggling with the heat, then smiling like a child over a single sherbet.

Overwhelming the young lady of House Manehil in an instant.

And then…

“What a waste. When it’s so delicious.”

Richard opened the carriage window with somewhat rough movements.

The moment when she suddenly licked his cheek like a young animal was bewildering, but what confused him more was what came after.

“Is she fearless, or does she have too much fear…”

While linking arms was one thing, but those fingers that kept writing apologies on the back of his gloved hand…

Richard looked down at his own hand.

He was wearing the black leather gloves Callia had gifted him.

Though sturdy due to the craftsman’s careful work, that was all there was to it.

Snap.

A linden tree branch passing by the window broke. The span-long branch was still giving off a raw scent.

But as soon as it touched the bare back of his hand without the glove, it withered and twisted.

Just like the red hydrangea bouquet from a few days ago, the curse remained damnably strong and solid.

Yet still. Even after witnessing it with her own eyes. Despite trembling with fear.

“…Perhaps it was a strategy to lower my guard.”

It was a first.

For someone who knew about the curse to initiate contact with his hand.

Even if he was wearing gloves.

“….”

Richard looked down at the branch touching his skin.

Then, as if to rid himself of the lingering sensation on his hand, he tossed it out the window without a second thought.

It was a first, but it should also be the last.

“If that woman continues to disturb your peace of mind, Admiral, I will dispose of her when the time is right.”

“No. My emotions are my own business. You focus on investigating the relationship between Duke Rabius’s daughter and the saint of the Harnelia Grand Temple as I ordered earlier.”

At any rate, Duke Rabius’s daughter had been faithful to the contract today.

She had blocked all those trying to approach Richard as she promised.

Only, her methods were more radical than imagined.

Even while spending the entire day in the bustling Viselium Street, he hadn’t once had to worry about being wary of people’s contact.

Half of it was… more accurately because he hadn’t had the chance to mind it due to the Duke’s daughter’s eccentric behavior.

Richard continued staring at the trees passing by before closing the window.

“I’ll personally find out if she’s up to anything suspicious.”

***

At the same time, on Eihaz Island in the Crocker Archipelago.

Inside the black sea-eroded cave, there were several large and small cavities.

At the entrance of the largest cavity located deepest inside, hung a long curtain made of woven garnets.

Beyond those sharp blood-colored jewels lies a space thick with incense smoke.

And in the center, on a massive stone chair covered with black wolf fur and deep red velvet, sat a man leisurely.

“….”

Ill-fitting for his large, imposing physique, what he held in his hands was a wooden sword and a doll that looked like children’s toys.

From the back of his hand to his fingers, covered in dense ancient numerical tattoos, the massive hand played with the worn-out toys.

Tick-

Tack-

With each light collision sound, the dozen or so pirates kneeling to his right trembled and flinched.

Some even wet themselves, unable to overcome their fear.

“M-my lord. It was a mistake. We found the relatives and returned the body, so please forgive us just this once…”

Whoosh.

The wooden dagger spun like a pen in his large hand.

Their lord, Kaiman, who hadn’t even glanced at the kneeling pirates, opened his mouth.

“Octa, what’s the matter?”

His languid, sticky voice echoed through the space.

Soon after, from the right side of the cavity, the surface of the deep pool filled with seawater began to swirl violently, followed by the sound of something massive dragging its body.