Chapter 81: The Eye and the Ruler of the Sea
According to Eve, someone was controlling the Leviathan.
“I-Isn’t that bad?”
“Very bad. Even if I fought with everything I had, I don’t think I could beat it.”
“…Should we run?”
If Levia kept attacking, the Luresian Empire wouldn’t survive unscathed.
By tomorrow, the empire might even vanish from the map.
Before that happened, we needed to climb into the camping tank and get out of here.
Today it was Luresia. Tomorrow it could be us.
When I suggested escaping the empire, Hijiri nodded.
“That’s probably the right call. Let’s get ready to leave.”
“I’ll go find Raphiel!”
I jumped out of the camping tank and hurried toward Luresia Castle. In one of its corridors, I found Raphiel wandering around with tears in her eyes despite her usual expressionless face.
“Raphiel!”
“Eight! I’m sorry. I became lost while searching for Hijiri… I thought I would never find my way back…”
“O-Oh. I see.”
No wonder she had taken so long.
“We’ve already met up with Hijiri, so let’s head back.”
“Underst—”
At that moment, the space between us warped.
A hand reached out of the distortion, grabbed my arm, and yanked me away.
Huh? What was happening!?
“Be a good boy and stay still.”
“Whoa! The exhibitionist!?”
“Who are you calling an exhibitionist!? …It’s been a while, boy. Not since the orphanage in the royal capital.”
“Oh. It’s you, Orvier.”
For a moment, I thought a pervert wearing a robe over a micro-bikini had appeared out of nowhere, but it was only Orvier.
…Maybe because we were near the sea, she didn’t look quite as out of place as usual.
“Um, could you move back a little?”
“Sorry, but I can’t. If I let go of you, that Saintess will attack me.”
“Yes, but… your chest is pressing against my back…”
Orvier had one arm around my neck and was pressed tightly against me from behind, ready to choke me the instant I resisted.
Unfortunately, that also meant something very soft was squashed against my back.
With the way she was dressed, I could feel it far too clearly.
W-What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t move carelessly.
“What are you thinking about at a time like this…?”
“I mean, come on…”
“…Eight, why do you look so pleased?”
“I-I don’t!”
“Whatever. Boy, give this to the Dragon King.”
Orvier placed a crystal about the size of a golf ball in my hand.
“What’s this?”
“If you give it to the Dragon King, she should be able to stop the Leviathan rampaging through the harbor.”
“What?”
Without offering any further explanation, Orvier shoved me toward Raphiel.
I nearly fell, but Raphiel caught me—with my face buried squarely in her chest.
“Nnh… Eight, you pervert.”
“T-That wasn’t my fault! More importantly, where’s Orvier!?”
“She’s already escaped. It vexes me that she got away, but we should rejoin Hijiri and the others.”
We returned to the camping tank.
“Welcome back. Could I ask you to treat my leg first?”
“…This is a serious injury.”
“That indecent woman got the better of me.”
“I see. Orvier appeared to be injured as well.”
“Oh? You ran into her?”
It seemed Orvier was the one who had wounded Hijiri.
While Raphiel began healing his leg, I approached Ryu.
“Here you go, Ryu.”
“…Where… did you get this…?”
“Orvier asked me to give it to you. She said it would let you stop the Leviathan.”
“…Mm…”
Ryu took the crystal—and immediately pressed it deep into her own empty eye socket.
W-Wait!?
The sudden act of self-mutilation made me recoil. Hijiri, who had been watching, went pale and grabbed my shoulders.
“Eight-kun, what did you give her!?”
“A crystal-looking thing Orvier told me to hand over…”
“Oh, no.”
“…Did I do something wrong?”
“You did. No exaggeration—you may have just done something irreversible.”
The instant Hijiri clutched his head, an overwhelming pressure poured from Ryu, so intense that I forgot to breathe.
Even more startling was how her body had grown.
Until moments ago, she had looked about the same age as Luka and the others. Now she appeared thirteen or fourteen.
“…Mm… I think… I can defeat… the ruler of the sea… now…”
“Seriously?”
“…Mm… I’ll go… play for a little while…”
Ryu casually stepped outside.
As I wondered what she intended to do, she rose into the air.
“—Perish.”
One word.
Her eye glowed with an eerie light, and a chill ran down my spine as that dreadful presence spread around her.
Then silence fell.
Until a moment ago, thunderous crashes had echoed from the harbor as the Leviathan rampaged. Now everything had gone still.
Eve grimaced.
“Onii-san, this is bad. The Leviathan’s presence disappeared.”
“What?”
“Ryu killed it just by looking at it.”
“Like when you killed an entire group of dragons with killing intent alone?”
Eve shook her head.
“No. That eye possesses the very concept of granting death to whatever it sees.”
“…Isn’t that bad?”
“Very bad. Though I think I could withstand it through sheer willpower.”
Well, if the Luresian Empire was no longer going to be destroyed, I supposed that was something to celebrate.
Still…
The Leviathan attacking the harbor had probably been Levia.
I had only cooked for her once, but it still felt awful to know someone I had met was dead.
At the very least, I should pray for her soul.
“What are you doing?”
“WAAAAAAAAAH!”
Levia was suddenly standing beside me, and I collapsed onto the ground in shock.
“L-Levia!? Are you a ghost!?”
“Who are you calling a ghost?”
“Then what was the Leviathan Ryu just killed!?”
“A different individual, obviously. It was one member of the pod I lead. I came to investigate because it was acting strangely, only to find it dead. Quite the surprise.”
“Hold on. Are Leviathans a social species?”
On Earth, the Leviathan was a singular monster from mythology.
There was only supposed to be one!
“Of course we are. How would a single creature produce descendants?”
Well, she had a point!
Still, imagining a whole pod of Leviathans living on the ocean floor was terrifying.
“And look carefully! That one was male, while I’m female!”
“You look exactly the same to me!”
“We look nothing alike! I have the finer figure and am far more beautiful!”
I had no idea how Leviathans judged beauty.