## Chapter 964 – Sea

“Oh my, they want to pay with land?”

I went back and told them the story.

“That’s what they say. Is this a good deal?”
“It’s good to have land, but… this place is too far from the capital. It’s a bit difficult to utilize. It’s always better to keep land within your sight. Or you have to send a trusted subordinate to manage it, but that’s difficult for us right now, isn’t it?”
“Oh.”

Liztina explained it very meticulously.

She was right. This place wasn’t near the capital, and even if we had land, it was clear we wouldn’t be able to manage it properly.

“So, in the end, cash is better.”
“Cash is always good. It’s best to trade in cash whenever possible… but let’s try to negotiate a good deal.”
“You’re the best, Liz. Will you do it?”

Let’s leave this matter to Liztina.

“Leave it to me. This is my specialty.”
“Liz Unni is so cool.”

Winia seemed to trust Liztina quite a bit.

“Hehehe, of course. Managing money is a skill, a skill.”

Liztina puffed out her chest and said boastfully, and Winia nodded at her words. Winia had a slight tendency to overspend.

“Maybe Karin should learn from her too? You didn’t even save much money while running the 검사 (Geomsa) Guild, did you? That’s all because you managed it so carelessly.”
“That’s true, but I was a bit like that back then.”

Lying sideways on the sofa, Karin picked up a snack and answered.

“Like what?”
“Well, I just wanted to let go of everything and live leisurely… but in the end, I didn’t really find leisure. But I saved quite a bit. It was Isbant, of all places, wasn’t it? That’s pretty good, right?”
“Hmm… is that so? Anyway, come with me when I go to negotiate. Even if it’s just Karin standing behind me with a sword, it’ll be effective.”
“Alright.”

The two of them had been sticking together a lot lately, and they really did make a good combination. Both of them were strong to begin with, and one was good at managing money while the other was a complete gangster. No one could mess with them when it came to money matters.

“Ah, but. I saw a mermaid earlier, you know?”
“Mermaid?”

Cloudy tilted her head.

“Yeah, a mermaid. So I talked to the officer there for a bit, and apparently, those mermaid bastards are a more vicious race than I thought.”

I told them the explanation I had heard from the officer, about the information that the mermaids were attacking fishermen and supporting pirates.

“They’re a completely inhumane race…! How could they do such a thing!”

Hilde slammed the table with her fist and trembled.
This was a story worth getting angry about.

“There are so many bad people in the world. Right?”
“Winia?”
“Why? No, 깜둥이 (kkamdoongi). There aren’t many women as kind as me.”

With those words, Winia poked her upper chest with her finger.

“A woman’s kindness comes from here.”
“I admit it.”

I admit that.

“So, Katt. You found the mermaid and came back?”
“Yeah. It’s a bit suspicious.”

I explained the circumstances of finding the mermaid again. It was a bit of a suspicious matter. Since there was still some time left before we went back, I was paying attention to try to resolve any doubts.

“Anyway, it looks like we’ll be a bit late going back, so let’s just rest here for a bit. We have to finish the work and go back.”

Now, with the sea god’s corpse, things had happened.

“Haa. It’s nice to rest, but the beach is all controlled. It’s so annoying, really. Fishmen and sea gods are all crazy.”
“I agree. My heart aches so much.”

Hilde agreed with Winia’s grumbling.
Both of them were in a languid state.

Those fishmen bastards.

“Then, Father. Do you have any separate work to do?”
“Well… I’m just going to go down to the beach and catch some fishmen. To pass the time and also to check on the sea god’s corpse.”

The sea god’s corpse was so huge that moving it was out of the question. No matter how strong we were, we couldn’t move something like that, and there was no space to move it to.

“깜둥이 (kkamdoongi) is diligent as always.”
“Katt. It would be nice if you just rested without worrying about it.”
“I’ll decide after looking into it a bit.”

In that way, I spent fairly leisurely days.

* * *

I was still spending my days defending the sea god’s corpse, beating the invading fishmen to death with my bare hands, when one day, I woke up early in the morning and went down to the site, and the officer called me.

I immediately followed him and listened to what he had to say.

“Paladin-nim.”
“Speak.”
“Yesterday, we received several observation reports about mermaids… They said that something like human heads were seen from time to time in the distance.”
“I knew it.”

Those bastards must have something going on.
That’s why they’re sticking their heads in here.

“Are the mermaids coming close?”
“Probably… according to the current reports, they only seem to be visible near the beach where the sea god’s corpse is. They seem to be aiming for the sea god’s corpse.”

That’s probably it.

“But after you left yesterday, Paladin-nim, an incident occurred.”

The officer said with a troubled expression.

“Incident?”
“Yes… well, one of the workers who was dismantling the sea god’s corpse… seems to have been kidnapped by mermaids.”
“What?”

A worker was kidnapped?

When I expressed my doubts, the officer immediately explained.

According to his explanation, a mermaid suddenly appeared, and one of the workers who was working on the side where the waves were crashing was kidnapped. The workers nearby were terrified and ran away to inform the soldiers.

What they saw was a worker being dragged into the water.

Literally, that mermaid bastard boldly came all the way up to the land near the corpse, even with soldiers nearby, and dragged a person into the water.

“So the workers are afraid to work now.”
“Goodness.”

The incident happened in the late afternoon.

I had done a few hours of work in the morning yesterday and went up for lunch… so it was after that.

They should have been more careful with the work if mermaids were being observed, but the lord had hired the workers, so there was nothing I could do.

“Mermaids kidnapping people. Does this happen often?”
“I don’t think so. There are so many people on the beach, and they openly came and kidnapped a worker… there must be a reason.”
“A reason to advertise that they kidnapped someone?”

And they kidnapped a worker who was working on the sea god’s corpse.

There seemed to be a message.

Anyway, it would take some time to properly finish the work here. In the meantime, should I do some simple chores?

“I need to look into this a bit. About the sea god, and the mermaids…”

And the prophecy that sang of the destruction of the land.

There were suspiciously pagan parts.

“You’re going to look into it for us! Thank you!!”
“But don’t expect too much. I don’t know much about mermaids.”
“Of course! We will definitely support you so that you don’t feel uncomfortable!”

The officer expressed his joy excessively.

“Is it that good?”
“Of course it’s good that Paladin-nim is helping us. Above all, the mermaid kidnapped a person. We have to punish them properly.”

He was a mermaid hater with a long history.
It couldn’t be helped.

Anyway, I decided to help with the work. Let’s start making a concrete plan from now on. So I stayed at the beach, watching to see if the mermaids were coming, and spent my time like that before going home.

Of course, I had to tell them this news too.

“You couldn’t stand it and you’re going to work again?”

Risha said, touching my face.

“It would be nice to just leave it to the soldiers.”
“I’m a bit interested in mermaids. And it’s not that difficult.”

The vacation was longer than expected, so I had to make some excuses to the Saint.

“Katt. I’ll help you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not really doing anything, just looking at the beach.”
“Still. Katt will have a hard time alone.”
“Hehehe, I said it’s okay. You’re here to play, so rest.”

I stroked Cloudy’s head.

Those mermaid bastards… what the hell are they doing?

* * *

Several corvettes were mobilized.

The patrol ships had come to investigate and prepare for the mermaids’ ominous movements.

Nevertheless, because they were ships floating on the water, the fishmen still used the underwater to invade. They didn’t get tired. Well, and of course, just because they mobilized wooden ships didn’t mean they could catch mermaids who freely roamed underwater.

“Give me a small boat.”

Let’s ask for a boat.

“I need to go out near there for now.”
“That’s…! It’s dangerous!”
“Does the officer think this Paladin is in danger?”
“It’s not that… well, I’m sincerely advising you, but land dwellers aren’t used to the sea…”
“Don’t worry.”

So I got a small boat and launched it on the beach.

I just requested it because I wanted to have a floating platform. More than anything, I had to go and see where the mermaids were appearing. It wasn’t fun just watching from the beach.

ㅡSplaaaash.

So I sailed the small boat alone, patrolling the coast.

Of course, I wasn’t doing anything dangerous. I was just calculating the distance I could swim to escape.

ㅡPlop!

When I got out far enough, I jumped off the small boat and dived to look at the seabed with my own eyes.

Unfortunately, my efforts didn’t pay off. I did reconnaissance and exploration like that, then climbed back onto the small boat to breathe, and repeated the work in another place.

It was a series of that.

I sailed the small boat at a set time for several days.

It seemed that the mermaids hadn’t appeared since the kidnapping of the worker.
I couldn’t see them, and the soldiers hadn’t reported anything either.

Did they run away after seeing us mobilize the ships?

The sea god’s corpse was still on the beach?

“Those fuckers.”

So I rowed the boat again today to conduct reconnaissance. If those mermaid bastards didn’t come, there was nothing I could do. I was thinking that as I put the oars in order and put them in the boat, then jumped into the sea.

ㅡPlop!

The cold seawater clung to my whole body. In that state, I opened my eyes and looked around and below. The water was very clear, and I could see the bottom and the reefs below. And the seaweed and all kinds of life.

It was a truly beautiful sea.

It would be fun to play around with this feeling of scuba diving.

I was thinking that as I seriously watched all around, when.

“…”

Something.

Something was swimming towards me quickly.

I immediately looked at that place in detail.

ㅡ…!
ㅡ…!
ㅡ…!

Oh, shit?

For a moment, I felt absurd.

The things that were swimming quickly towards me all had long hair, and were made up of men and women. I could tell roughly. The women were covering their breasts with something like fish leather bras, and the men looked roughly burly.

Those fucking mermaids.

More than ten mermaids appeared in a group.

Their target was obviously me.

That’s because they were coming towards me very quickly. And in a straight line. They were even holding tridents. More than anything, their expressions were fierce.

I quickly climbed back onto the small boat.

“Oh my, you fucking bastards.”

I had been waiting for those mermaids for the past few days, but I was a bit flustered that they suddenly appeared like that.

Okay, so these bastards will reach my small boat soon.

What should I do?

A moment passed.

ㅡCrack!

The blade of the trident pierced through the bottom of the small boat.

“You fucking ball sacks.”

It wasn’t difficult to avoid. I had already expected it. Immediately, seawater began to fill the hole in the bottom.

These bastards are attacking my boat now?

“Dare to attack first?”

Then there’s only one thing we can do.

Thinking that, I waited quietly.

Soon.

ㅡCrack!
ㅡCrack!
ㅡCrack!

More tridents began to strike my small boat. As a result, the seawater began to fill up more quickly, and I decided what to do and immediately abandoned the boat and jumped.

ㅡPlop!!!

So I could see properly what was happening to my boat after I fell into the water. The mermaids holding tridents were stabbing my small boat like crazy. It felt like angry residents were stabbing Dong Zhuo’s boat with forks.

ㅡ…!

Then, one of the female mermaids looked back at me, pointed her finger, and opened her mouth. From that point on, the mermaids who had been meaninglessly destroying the small boat all looked at me.

ㅡScreeeeeech!!

They all aimed their tridents and rushed in like torpedoes.

Exactly sixteen mermaids.

ㅡBubbling!

Bubbles formed as they moved.

ㅡPatzut!

I immediately created 권기 (gwonki).

You’re just pushovers.
Did you think it would be different underwater?

ㅡScreeeeeech!!

I knocked away all the tridents of the mermaids who were rushing in, grabbed their drooping hair, and broke their necks. The superhuman body showed perfect movement and dealt with the attacks, even though it received some penalties underwater. Since they attacked first, the only exchange left for us was this.

ㅡBurrr!!
ㅡBuburururur!!

The mermaids tried to attack me while screaming, but as expected, it was useless. I roughly understood. Your skills.

Let’s catch a few of these bastards and drag them away.
Then I can find out something.

ㅡPatzutzut!!

As soon as I made up my mind. I wrapped my whole body in mana and descended downwards. The mermaids seemed to be wondering why I was going down instead of up.

So I came down appropriately.

ㅡPaaat!

I straightened my body in a straight line.
And fired it upwards.

ㅡScreeeeeeeeech!!!

At a very fast speed. I shook my waist and legs like crazy while looking at the sky, shooting my body out like a torpedo, just like the mermaids from before. It was literally instantaneous for me to reach the surface of the water.

ㅡPuhwaaaaaaaaak!!!

It was a movement like a dragon soaring.

My body, freed from the water, soared high into the sky. I had jumped by gaining momentum by swimming from below.

“Catch him!!”
“Raise your spears!!”
“Close ranks tightly!!”

At the same time, the mermaids who had followed me to the surface of the water shouted in human voices, making a formation with their tridents. They seemed to be planning to pierce me with their spears as I fell, but.

“Behold.”

I wasn’t someone who would be affected by that.

“This power of the 천마 (Cheonma).”

Behold, and feel it clearly.

“천마군림보 (Cheonmagunrimbo).”

ㅡTuquaaaaaaaaang!!!!

As I fell and stepped on the surface of the water, an inhuman explosion occurred and the water splashed very powerfully. The mermaids, who had formed a formation, all dropped their spears and fell away, and the ones in the center exploded from the impact, scattering red blood and guts.

Following 천마 (Cheonma) and 지마 (Jima), my name was 수마 (Sooma) Kim Katt.

I was the slaughterer of the mermaids.