CH 56

I narrowed my eyes at Hanu, then relaxed and slowly crouched down in front of the bluehead.

“Are you a shark demibeast?”

“What is it to you what demibeast I am?”

“Haha, you must have not been hit enough.”

When I sent him a nasty smirk, he opened his mouth and spluttered in a startled and faint voice.

“So what if I’m a shark demi… beast… ah.”

Based on that reaction, it seemed him being a shark demibeast was correct.

‘So even though I saved you, you glared at me as if I’m an enemy and stole my pouch and ran away.’

I shrugged.

“As you have heard, I am not a killer whale, but a penguin.”

“…How can I believe that?”

What a funny guy.

Talking as though I have to prove I am a penguin?

“If you don’t want to believe it, don’t believe it. However, you have to apologize for running away because you mistook me for a killer whale even though I saved you, and for stealing my money.”

“…That!”

The blue-haired guy parted his lips as if he had something to say.

Apparently, when he thought about it, he probably thought it was too much to steal the money from the person who saved him, so he finally spat out the words of apology.

“…Sorry.”

But I grabbed him by the collar and shouted.

“You think an apology is enough?!”

“Uh… huh? You told me to apologize?”

In the first place, I didn’t intend to forgive easily even if I received an apology.

“It’s annoying that people hate me just because they think I’m a killer whale. These hate crimes make a good penguin like me suffer!”

…Well, I did ask the thief seagull I saw yesterday if he could die, but I asked very politely.

Objectively speaking, I asked really prettily.

Considering how he wasn’t a demibeast who was still, but a demibeast who was kleptomaniac.

Hanu, who was standing next, refuted my declaration a little.

“Lady Lia isn’t good…”

“Sir Hanu.”

When I called him, he quickly closed his mouth as if he had never uttered anything.

Moving on. I stood up, put my hands on my hips, and stared down at the shark.

“What happened between the killer whale and the shark that they fret and prey on each other like that?”

“Ha, how can I like them? Killer whales ruined my whole life.”

“…What?”

There were only two killer whale demibeasts left on the continent.

‘No matter how crazy Suradel is, he’s not evil enough to ruin other people’s lives for no reason.’

And there was no way Bella would be like that.

As I frowned in disbelief, he sneered and asked,

“Did you know that all existing shark demibeasts have no biological parents?”

“…What do you mean?”

Were shark demibeasts born from eggs?

‘No, it can’t be so. Even for bird demibeasts, they are born in human form.’

‘Besides, even if you are really born from an egg, your parents will still exist.’

It was a bit strange to say that all shark demibeasts do not have biological parents.

It was not like they reproduce by germination or binary fission.

As I was making assumptions, the bluehead continued.

“All shark demibeasts are raised by Mama because we have no parents. But Mama doesn’t think of us as her children.”

All the children called her ‘Mama’, but that Mama did not consider the children she raised as her children.

“Then?”

“Our entire lives, my siblings and I have been raised for the purpose of killing killer whales.”

“This does not make sense…”

“To Mama, we are just tools to get revenge on the killer whales.”

I frowned.

‘No matter how bad the relationship between the races is, isn’t it too much to abuse children?’

The eyes of the bluehead looking at me became ferocious again.

“How can I leave you alone when you are in front of me? You, who is known as a killer whale demibeast?”

If it was me, I would have done worse than stealing money.

‘Should I say he’s kinder than I thought, or should I say he’s timid…’

‘Well, whatever, I’m not going to forgive you for stealing my money.’

But there was an unanswered question.

“Before that, what do you mean all shark demibeasts don’t have real parents? It doesn’t match up with common sense.”

“That’s…”

He gritted his teeth and burst out in rage.

“Because that goddamn whale woman killed all the shark demibeasts in the past except for Mama and the little ones!”

…Could ‘that goddamn whale woman’ be Bella?

I glanced at Hanu, wondering what kind of madness this was, and he clearly averted his gaze.

It meant that it was true that Bella had killed all the shark demibeasts except for the younger ones.

For a moment, I was surprised to hear that she had done that.

But I believed Bella must have a reason.

‘I can’t just listen to one side and criticize the other.’

Moreover, if Bella really killed the shark demibeasts for no reason, there would be no reason why the sharks, the victim, couldn’t set foot on the island of Weil.

Since felons could enter the Weil territory…

‘They must have done something wrong.’

In the past, there were enough killer whales to form a village, so it might be related to the fact that there were only two killer whales remaining.

After thinking this far, a question came to my mind.

“I’m not trying to disregard this, I’m just really curious. Do the sharks have the power to kill killer whales?”

This one couldn’t even handle a single penguin.

Then, the bluehead’s forehead crumpled as if he was going to die from frustration.

“I’m not a fool, do you realistically think anyone can kill those crazy killer whales?”

‘What. You have that?’

The blue hair sighed and answered as if lamenting.

“The killer whale Bella. She was the one who single-handedly attacked and killed all the shark demibeasts before the whales even realized how to use magic.”

“…Huh?”

I knew that Suradel was a great wizard, but I didn’t know that Bella was such a strong warrior.

…Right, it was unusual to be able to cut a plate into two pieces with a knife.

(TL/N: if I remembered correctly, it happened in the first meal Lia had with the Weil family.)

“I shouldn’t even need to tell you that her son, Suradel, is praised as a great wizard.”

Fear clearly flashed across the blue-haired shark’s face.

“The ending is obvious. We will fail… and we will all die at the hands of the killer whales.”

Eventually, his face twisted and he grabbed his head.

“I don’t know why I’m even telling you this, but to be honest, I don’t know how long I’ll have to do this ridiculous thing.”

I calmly scanned his face.

A pretty handsome face.

Perhaps thanks to the blue hair and the bright sunlight, it felt refreshing.

Of course, having gotten used to Suradel’s beauty, I wasn’t as impressed when seeing a handsome squid.

What mattered was not how handsome he looked, but that his face was that of a complete adult.

‘It seems he is about the same age as Iprus and Hanu.’

“Why are you still under Mama? It might be so when you were a child who needed to be taken care of, but now you are an adult.”

“Do you think I don’t want to live my life?”

As if taken aback by my words, he spewed a reply out.

“On land, I am ignored as I am an aquatic demibeast, and I’m banned from Weil just because I am a shark demibeast.”

“Ah…”

“In this situation, where can I go? There’s only the island inhabited by shark demibeasts.”

Certainly, things didn’t look right.

A person called Mama raised him like a tool to kill killer whales since he was a child, so he couldn’t have received a proper education.

Maybe it was because he reflected the image of me in my previous life.

Deep pity crept up.

Also, he was not born as a shark demibeast because he wanted to.

As I stared at him without saying anything, he said in desperation.

“Now that you know I am a shark, what are you going to do? Are you going to take me before the killer whales?”

I pretended to pick my ears, then I casually asked.

“What is your name?”

“…Jerome.”

“Okay, Jerome. I’m just asking. You say it’s off-limits, but since you’re openly in, you’re familiar with the Weil family’s territory, right?”

“Naturally.”

“Then you are my subordinate from now on.”

“What?”

I raised one eyebrow when I saw him respond with a bewildered expression.

Why would I take Jerome to Bella and Suradel?

If Bella put her mind to it, she would be able to exterminate all of the shark demibeasts.

But not necessarily…

I mean, bringing Jerome to the killer whales might not make them happy, despite it being their enemy.

If it’s the killer whales, they might think of the sharks as a nuisance that could be dealt with at any time.

If so, it seemed better to use him personally than to let him be judged by the Weils.

Just nice, I needed the help of a local to find the raccoon demibeast.

Above all…

Something big might happen if we leave the killer whale-hating group alone.

It was one of the clichés in novels— ignore a conflict and then it explodes like a festering wound.

So, I concluded it would be a little reassuring to have Jerome, who had the potential for reformation, on my side.

I looked at Jerome’s dumbfounded expression and grinned.

“Please take good care of me, Subordinate Number 3!”