Chapter 35
[Master. Master, Master……]
Tie took a small step back.
‘Tie’s ears are acting weird.’
The surroundings were deafeningly noisy, yet the voice sounded crystal clear — as if echoing inside a vast, empty auditorium.
[Master, I’ve been waiting. Waiting for you.]
That chilling voice kept repeating the same words again and again, echoing in her head.
Tie swallowed hard, her throat tight with tension.
The battle was still raging in the distance.
On the deck, people were now even fighting off flying monsters.
It was utter chaos — there was no time to waste.
‘Who are you?’
She asked silently, and a reply came immediately.
[Master, we are your servants.]
Her eyes widened.
Servants?
‘If they’re servants, that means subordinates, right?’
But Tie had no such subordinates speaking to her from the pitch-black sea.
‘Tie doesn’t have any servants. Tie’s only helpers are Mr. Basto, Brother Veil, and Grandpa Nordix…?’
[No. We came first. We have always been here — for you, Master. Only for you.]
But the “servants” in the sea were obstinate.
Tie hesitated, thinking hard, then cautiously asked with a hint of doubt in her heart,
‘Then can you help Tie right now?’
Her gaze had been fixed for a while now on the distant sea where Basto and Veil were.
The ship that the Regent had lent them was already half broken.
‘If Tie asks you to do something, you’ll do anything?’
At this rate, the ship would surely sink, and everyone would end up in the sea —
Basto, Veil, even the Regent’s two sons.
Then came the reply.
As Tie repeated the words silently, a sense of relief slowly spread across her face.
Soon, the child murmured softly:
“Then Tie needs… a ship right now.”
* * *
“Hey! Wake up!”
Raoul’s eyes shot open as a sharp slap struck his cheek.
Through his blurry vision, a face came into focus — pale, round, with large sharp eyes and jet-black pupils.
She was strikingly beautiful, but before Raoul could process it, the woman slapped the other side of his face.
“Didn’t you hear me tell you to wake up?!”
“Ugh!”
Raoul sprang to his feet instinctively.
As the shock jolted through him, memories rushed back.
Right — he had been fishing with Enzo.
Then, suddenly, a storm had hit. While trying to avoid the whirlpool that formed in the sea, their ship had crashed into something.
“…A mana stone.”
“Yeah, you idiot! If you’ve got your senses back, then hurry up and move — do you even realize what kind of situation this is?!”
Her rough tone clashed wildly with her graceful appearance, leaving Raoul stunned, mouth agape.
When he looked around, the sky was pitch-black.
Rain was pouring down harder and harder, and the wind howled.
“Why are you even here?!”
The words slipped out of Raoul’s mouth.
He didn’t understand what was going on, but one thing was clear — this was no place for a frail-looking woman.
At that moment, the ship tilted sharply, the left deck rising into the air.
Raoul grabbed the nearest railing and reached out to her.
But she had already grabbed onto something and was hanging on tight.
“We need to get to the big ship! Your brother’s already there!”
His brother — that must mean Enzo.
Only then did Raoul notice the much larger ship connected to theirs.
Flying monsters swarmed around its mast, while fierce combat raged on the deck below.
But something didn’t make sense.
“What are they doing?!”
Why were people fighting each other instead of focusing on the monsters?
As she climbed the railing, clearly irritated, the woman snapped back:
“You’re just like your brother — even now you’ve got questions?! Is that really what you want to know right now?!”
Her eyes flashed sharply as she continued quickly:
“I’ll say this once, so listen carefully. That big guy over there, him, him, and him — we’re all good people who came to rescue you, but now we’re about to die because of it.”
“…”
“And those filthy bastards over there with the red armbands? They’re members of the mercenary group Death Hound. They’re the scum who turned this rescue into a bloodbath by attacking us.”
Raoul’s eyes widened.
He could now piece together the situation.
‘So these people were hired by Mother.’
But for some reason, the Death Hound mercenaries had turned on them, throwing everyone into chaos.
He frowned deeply.
He knew mercenaries often clashed over money and power — but to start a fight in the middle of a monster outbreak was madness.
He turned his gaze upward — to the monsters gliding across the stormy sky.
The woman’s voice cut through the thunder.
“Not just above — if you want to live, you’d better pay attention everywhere.”
Raoul turned his head and froze.
Something horrific was crawling up the opposite deck.
Hundreds of eyes dotted its slick, glistening skin.
With twenty massive tentacles, it crushed and warped the wooden deck as it climbed.
It was a monster never seen or recorded before.
‘…Damn it.’
A chill of primal fear ran down his spine.
He had suspected things were bad when he’d seen the mana stone rise from the sea earlier — but not this bad.
“We—we need to get up there—”
Raoul gestured toward the stern of the smaller ship precariously wedged against the larger one.
Rumble—!
A giant wave smashed against the hull, sending everything lurching.
“Hey! You—!”
For a split second, his body lifted — and then his grip slipped.
Time seemed to slow as Raoul blinked.
‘Raoul, Enzo. On the battlefield, what is a knight’s duty?’
A voice from long ago echoed in his head.
Their father had asked that question the day four units had joined forces to capture a massive mana stone.
Back then, Raoul and Enzo had laughed beside the campfire as they answered.
‘Why ask something like that? Obviously — to destroy the enemy!’
Their father had smiled softly, sat beside them, and said,
‘Usually, yes. But my duty is a little different.’
‘Huh?’
‘My duty is to protect you two. I promised your mother I would.’
‘…’
‘It might not be the most knightly duty, but you and your mother are what I cherish most. You understand?’
His father’s hand had been warm as it ruffled their hair.
In the end, his father had kept that promise —
He had saved the twins and fought on the front lines until he died.
‘…Father.’
All he had ever wished for them was one thing:
That they would live.
A wave burst high into the air beside him, splashing his face with cold seawater.
And Raoul knew instinctively —
He probably wouldn’t be able to fulfill his father’s wish.
In his slowed vision, one of the monster’s tentacles passed right beside him.
He sucked in a deep breath and shut his eyes tightly.
Then—
“Young master! Nooo!”
A deafening KWA-BOOM! —
Something obliterated both the deck beneath them and the monster in one massive impact.
Raoul didn’t fall into the freezing sea or the creature’s maw — instead, he landed on something soft.
Gasping, he opened his eyes. Straw was flying through the air above him.
“What the—!”
“Young master!”
Something popped into view —
Wet, glimmering hair, eyes sparkling green like new spring leaves,
chubby cheeks, and a tiny gap between her front teeth showing as she beamed.
“Young master! Are you okay now? Tie came to rescue you!”
It was a little girl.
‘What… what is going on?’
Just moments ago, Raoul had been about to fall into a sea full of monsters.
The ship was sinking — there was no way out. Or so he thought.
His eyes began to tremble as he looked around.
He was lying on the deck of an enormous ship — one covered in a layer of straw.
The wood was damp and decayed, with holes here and there, and a torn flag flapped weakly in the wind.
And yet, the ship’s sheer presence was overwhelming.
“Hey! Kid, you…!”
The woman who’d slapped him earlier came running over.
She, too, froze in astonishment, staring around the ship.
Between them, the child’s bright, bashful voice rang out.
“Brother Veil! Tie made it! Tie pulled out a sailing ship— ‘Vroom-Vroom!’”
