Chapter 14
Here’s the full English translation of the passage you provided.
“Too many people are hurt. Look, this is far too dangerous!”
Injured people lay sprawled across the deck, groaning.
Every time the ship lurched, broken fixtures and debris rolled about, making the deck an even more terrifying place.
The blue sea dragon spread its enormous wings, soared into the sky, then plunged down again to attack the ship—over and over.
Each flap of its wings produced such a roaring gust that it seemed to threaten to sweep away every living thing.
“Give the order to retreat. We’ll all die like this! We’ve been attacking without pause, and we haven’t even managed to scratch the dragon!”
“Damn it, damn it! Damn it!”
Elliot begged again, but Duke Rufellen could not be persuaded.
How much blood and sweat had gone into trying to cut down that dragon’s throat?
He was the Empire of Astria’s foremost swordsman, holder of the title Sword Master. Across the empire and the kingdoms, only Duke Rufellen could wield sword qi so freely.
And yet he couldn’t even inflict a single scratch on that damned dragon!
“Your Grace, please!”
The dragon’s tail whipped past, narrowly grazing the duke’s head.
“If it hits, it’s instant death! Think of something else—this isn’t the only chance, is it?”
“Ah….”
He wanted to take that beast’s life even if it meant giving his own.
But he could not let everyone aboard the Beltin die for the sake of his revenge and pride.
Rage and despair welled up from inside him, and the duke collapsed to his knees on the deck.
“I wanted to avenge my parents… Why! Why can’t I even reach you?!”
He wailed like an animal.
The dragon’s roar and the duke’s howl blended into a scene of chaos across the deck.
Then— the door to the cabin opened a crack, and a white shape peered out from behind it.
“…Jiana?”
He rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be mistaken, but that white shape was unmistakably Jiana.
The long-haired brunette slipped out onto the deck and casually wound her hair up into a bun.
“Jiana, are you crazy? I told you to stay in the cabin because this is dangerous!”
The duke leapt up and ran to her.
My girl never listens! Why does she always do the opposite of what I tell her?
“Go back inside, now! I’ll handle this….”
If I’d known she’d act like this I shouldn’t have brought her.
I should’ve had her wait safely at an inn. I should have told her I’d catch the dragon in a flash and that she should pray for my safe return.
Why did I drag you into this battlefield…?
Was I the one who’d dragged her into danger?
“You want to handle it? You nearly had my head lopped off, you fool!”
Jiana’s scolding snapped the duke back to his senses.
“…What?”
“Were you planning to drown us all in this sea yourself? Was your whole idea to sacrifice us so someone could kill the dragon for you? Were you going to make offerings to the sea god asking them to take our lives so you could get revenge? Are we some filial daughter like Simcheong or what?”
“Simcheong…what?”
“There is such a thing! Really—are you that clueless? If it’s dangerous, the commander should call a retreat. What were you doing letting things get this bad?”
Jiana poured out her complaints at the duke in a rush, her face full of anger.
Even amid the howling winds and crashing waves, shattered furniture and screams—the noises everywhere—Jiana’s words struck the duke’s ears like iron.
He stood there, dazed, listening as she berated him.
“Move aside. We’ll actually die like this. I want to live a long life, you know? When we get back to the Kingdom of Tian, I’ll collect hazard pay on top of everything—so you better be ready to open your wallet!”
Jiana straightened and strode forward with great confidence.
Her gaze fell on the blue dragon.
Duke Rufellen’s face went pale and he grabbed at Jiana.
“No, Jiana! You can’t take that dragon by yourself. You can’t even wound it!”
“You’ve been yapping long enough. Hey, Nox Rufellen, Duke. Instead of wasting breath, you should start thinking of something to thank me with later.”
Jiana planted herself directly in front of the dragon, and for a moment the beast that had been battering the Beltin into pieces stopped moving.
The blue dragon’s fierce eyes fixed entirely on Jiana.
It raised a forelimb and prepared to strike, but Jiana didn’t move to dodge—instead she stepped forward a half-step and lifted her right hand.
“Get out of the way, Jiana!”
The duke screamed, but his voice seemed not to reach her.
Jiana pointed her fingertip at the dragon’s face. For an instant a very thin beam of magical light shot from her hand.
The beam moved so slowly that Duke Rufellen felt as if time had stopped.
‘Isn’t he insane? Fighting to this point?’
I clicked my tongue inwardly as I looked over the deck, which had become a living hell.
It was a scene from the depths of purgatory. Not a single object that still kept its original shape remained; the ship was so badly damaged I wondered if it could still sail.
Injured people lay everywhere, groaning, and the duke’s uniform was soaked crimson. He must have been hurt some time ago.
‘And yet he still won’t give the order to retreat?’
Duke Rufellen saw me step out of the cabin and began to charge over, shouting something.
Elliot, the deputy commander, watched the duke with a stunned expression.
I immediately understood the situation.
‘That idiot is acting differently from the original story—clinging stubbornly to some pointless pride!’
Damn. Why is he doing this?
I didn’t want to die yet—already, it was obvious that if this kept going we would all be dead. The blue dragon’s ferocity had long since gone beyond what we could handle.
Retreating now would have been meaningless.
The dragon would have chased the Beltin to the ends of the earth and slaughtered us.
So I had no choice. I would have to use the magic I’d honed up to now.
‘We should’ve retreated before the dragon went berserk,’
I couldn’t understand why the original story kept changing in odd ways—like the princess still not having appeared, or the duke being wounded yet refusing to give the retreat order.
In the original, the dragon never dies by the duke’s hand. But now I stood at a crossroads where I had to break the original story to save my life.
‘Forget the side thoughts and focus on taking down the dragon.’
If I didn’t take it down now, I’d die. I didn’t care whether the story turned out different.
I slowly lifted my hand and aimed at the dragon’s mouth—more precisely, its tongue.
Choi Da-hye and I had written the novel Sad Song of the Sea together, and we also made a supplementary setting book.
Because two people co-writing creates little holes in the setting, we used the setting book to patch them up.
‘How about the blue sea dragon having a black spot inside its tongue?’
‘What? That sounds ridiculous. It would ruin the dragon’s dignity. Fine—let’s make that black spot the dragon’s weak point!’
We chuckled as we filled out the setting handbook. And right now I was extremely grateful for its existence.
A black spot on the inside of the dragon’s tongue. Who in their right mind would try to flip a dragon’s mouth inside out to find a little spot like that?
And even if you did find it, could you possibly attack a spot the size of a fingernail precisely?
‘But I can do that.’
I had used magic to pull fish from the sea and to pluck mussels. I’d once used four magic beams at once to defeat Karun’s gang.
If I could attack a nostril before, getting at something inside a mouth would be nothing.
“Go! Magic beams!”
I shouted the spell and stretched out my hand, firing a set of magic rays.
