CH 56

[Fist-Swinging Saintess of the Sea]

What did he mean by the monster was the god of the sea?

For the time being, we calmed the old man down so we could ask him about the details.

Then, he slowly started talking, “There is a legend of mermaids in this town. They are a race of demi-humans whose upper body is that of a human and lower body is that of a fish. They are said to be the messengers of god in ancient times.”

Messengers of god…

This was my first time hearing that.

“I see. In other words, the girl you saw may be a mermaid, is what you’re trying to say, isn’t it?” Magmell asked.

The old man nodded “Umu, that’s right,” and continued, “for a moment I thought the girl was the god, but I then remembered that unlike humans, mermaids had fins on their ears. Which meant that the sea dragon that was carrying the girl was the real god, so I concluded. With that in mind, I’d been begging the people who had accepted the quest from the guild not to kill it, but…”

They turned a deaf ear to him, huh.

Well, if someone suddenly came up to you and told you not to kill the monster that was running wild in the sea because it might be a god, it would quite difficult to believe them.

“By the way, does that sea dragon has any special characteristic that set it apart from other monsters? Say, it is mystical appearance-wise, perhaps,” asked Zana.

“No, it looked to be no different from normal sea dragons according to what I saw. However, I found it hard to believe that a mermaid said to be the messenger of god would be following a monster and went around ruining fishing grounds no matter how I thought about it, so…”

“What if it was rampagin’ because it was in a bad mood or somethin’?”

“Not everyone is like you, you know…”

As Magmell casted an exasperated gaze on Ophir, the old man, “However,” said as if he just recalled something, “there is one thing I’m unsure about.”

“Something you’re unsure about?” I echoed him.

“Umu. If my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, I believe I saw that girl’s lower body was the same as that of a human.”

The same as that of a human?

Meaning, she had a pair of legs?

“Hmm, is she really a mermaid?” asked Arca.

“I’m not sure… But I feel that she isa mermaid, just a special kind. And since the sea dragon brought her, a mermaid, or in other words a messenger of god around, then the sea dragon can only be the god of the sea no doubt. Hence, we must not let it get killed.”

Certainly, if it truly was the god of the sea… no, the goddess of water—Sinus-sama, then we must not let it get killed.

But then again, I doubted human power could kill it if that was really the case.

“One more thing, has the girl been sighted since the start of the sea dragon’s rampage?”

“No, I think she only appeared recently as I heard the sea dragon had been rampaging by itself before. Or perhaps including me, there’s only a handful of people that have seen her, hence the information of her existence is not widespread.”

“Fumu, another unusual story, eh.”

As Arca was pondering with a mysterious look on her face, I nodded, “I see,” and said, “we understand the story. Then, we’ll try do some investigation on the matter.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. It’s pretty late, but we… or rather, these girls have special powers, you see. And people usually refer to them by ‘Saintess’.”

Hearing that, the old man raised a surprised voice, “What!? Is that true!?”

Ophir smugly said, “Hehe, it’s the truth y’know, Old Man? So if ya leave this matter to us, it’s gonna be solved before ya know it.”

Magmell nodded, “Indeed, although Ophir-san alone may not look like it, we are all saintesses. Therefore, please leave this matter to us.”

“Ohh, thank you! I’ll leave it in your capable hands, Saintess-sama!” The old man bowed deeply.

We all then gave him a big nod.

◇ ◇

And so, we rented a boat from the old man and immediately headed to the area of the sea where the sea dragon was apparently rampaging using wind-attribute Magic Art.

I had heard that the sea around here was usually relatively calm and the waves weren’t that high but,

――SPLASH!

“Oi, which part of this sea is calm!?” shouted Ophir.

Magmell replied, “Um, please don’t talk to me for now… Right now, I’m already at my limit, so… hupgh.”

The sea waves were violent, as if there was a storm raging.

But the cause of it was probably that.

“—Guoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”

A monster with a deep sea blue colored body roared while surfacing up from the sea.

Sea dragon type—‘Leviathan’.

“Fumu, it is nothing but a monster no matter how you look at it,” remarked Arca.

“Yeah. And the girl that the old man mentioned is nowhere to be seen. I think we should make it quiet for now,” suggested Zana.

I nodded, “You’re right. Even if it is Sinus-sama, it seems to have completely lost its reason, so albeit I feel sorry, let’s damage it and make it unconscious. —Zana, think you can do it?”

“But of course.”

We both drew our bows and aimed at the Leviathan but,

“—Behind you!”

““!?””

At Arca’s warning, we hurriedly looked back.

At that moment.

――WHAM!

“Uo!?” “Kyaa!?”

An attack was coming at us, so I instantaneously turned Hinokaguzuchi into dual swords to block it.

“You are…!?”

Then I saw.

“—I won’t let you harm my mother…!”

The figure of a girl throwing a fist at us with an angry look on her face. She had—fins on her ears.