Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 125

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 125
Levai’s eyes narrowed in shock, his expression bewildered.
What was she saying?
The unexpected words had left him completely dumbfounded.
Calypso, meanwhile, remained composed.
“Why so surprised? Nothing in this world is free.”
Her face was undeniably beautiful, like a porcelain doll.
Yet something about it—why did she look like an unscrupulous employer?
“If I helped you, you’ll repay the favor, won’t you?”
…She had the face of someone who would readily demand overtime.
I couldn’t explain where this impression came from.
I had heard nothing about this Noble Lady except rumors and the servants’ comments.
It was more of an intuition.
‘Did the pain cloud my judgment for a moment?’
Well, if I misjudged her, so be it. Her words about wanting repayment for helping were reasonable enough.
Levai lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes.
“You speak as though you desire something.”
Levai suddenly remembered something he’d forgotten in his pain—Calypso had definitely….
‘She called my name.’
He recalled how she’d called him by a name he’d never told her. And she’d done so quite familiarly.
Normally, he would have noticed immediately and been on guard, but the pain had left him too distracted.
A mistake.
Levai let out a low sigh.
Just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of someone plopping down on the sofa.
Opening his eyes, he saw Calypso sitting right in front of him. Levai jumped in surprise.
“What are you—!”
“Shh, keep quiet. We need to stop the bleeding first, don’t we? Oh, the bandages fell on the floor, so I grabbed them. Want me to use them?”
“….”
“Smart, but your first aid is terrible.”
Bandages were held in Calypso’s hands.
Levai frowned as he felt the loosely wrapped cloth fall away from his wound.
…He couldn’t fathom why this Noble Lady was so skilled at bandaging.
Were orcas accustomed to brawling, making this second nature?
No.
With countless retainers and physicians under her command, why would she do it herself?
This person was definitely strange.
It wasn’t a misperception born from pain.
Levai hadn’t intended to keep Calypso here this long.
Anxiety flickered across his eyes.
Ever since meeting Calypso, everything had deviated from his expectations.
For someone as sharp as Levai, who could typically discern the flow of events and predict outcomes with his keen intellect, this was an unfamiliar sensation.
And he did not welcome this strange feeling.
“…Noble Lady. Your treatment is complete, so please return.”
“Hmm? I have something to receive.”
“Yes, I will repay you without fail. I can even swear by the Sea’s oath. Just please leave for now.”
“Hm?”
Calypso tilted her head instead of answering.
She certainly looked like an adorable girl, yet even through his pain, Levai felt his nerves bristle.
Her azure eyes gazed at him without a trace of warmth.
This lasted only a moment before her eyes curved into crescents.
“Why? Did you hide some treasure at home?”
At least the rumors didn’t seem exaggerated.
It was a pressure that one wouldn’t expect from someone her age—the presence of an orca.
He had seen it before in Baian, Sorte, Atlant, and Bellus when they were her age.
But this was different.
“I’m not sure what you mean, but I don’t appreciate strangers lingering long in my home.”
“Ah, my father is the same way. That’s why even his subordinates can’t come here anymore.”
Calypso parried his words with ease.
Levai noticed that Calypso’s hands, which were wrapping the bandages, clearly slowed down.
As if she were curious about what he was hiding.
His hasty attempt to dismiss her had instead ignited Calypso Aquasiadel’s curiosity.
A miscalculation.
“…If you’re worried that I might flee or disappear like this, I already told you I would swear by the Sea’s oath.”
“I wasn’t thinking that.”
Calypso tilted her head.
“You’re not going to run away anyway.”
“…”
“You hate owing debts too, don’t you?”
Again. That tone as if she knew him well. This time, it was no misunderstanding.
“Do you know me?”
“Yeah. I know you well.”
Calypso smiled brightly.
“How does such a noble lady come to know a mere retainer of the humble Dolphin house?”
“Right? Wouldn’t it be nice if a noble lady took an interest in you?”
“Pardon? Are you… joking?”
“Am I?”
Calypso smiled with her chin resting in her hand.
“I have a hobby of keeping track of handsome people like you.”
“…Pardon?”
He was startled once by her impudent tone, and startled again by the girl’s face drawing slightly closer.
Because I was lying down, there was nowhere to retreat.
If Atlant hadn’t grabbed Calypso’s shoulder….
Levai would surely have displayed an unprecedented depth of bewilderment across his face.
“Stop it.”
Atlant frowned sharply.
“Don’t you see he’s flustered? You’ve completely reverted to your old tone of voice.”
“Oh.”
Calypso blinked as if realizing something.
‘With Atlant here and Levai as well, I must have unconsciously slipped back into the past.’
Calypso recognized her own mistake.
The way Levai had approached her with such warmth—whenever she saw him, that familiar teasing tone and attitude naturally flowed out.
This was all because that fool’s flustered expression hadn’t changed one bit from the third cycle.
‘I’ve discovered it’s actually fun.’
Calypso shrugged her shoulders.
Then she glanced at Levai and smiled wickedly.
“You’re blushing?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying your cheeks are turning a lovely shade of red.”
Hmm. I had intended to stop now, but seeing that expression, I couldn’t resist teasing him.
“You’re too close, way too close!!”
“Ah, fine. I understand, so let me go.”
“Hey, how many times do I have to tell you that tone of voice is the problem?”
“Why? Because I said you’re pretty? Second Brother, you’re pretty too. There, satisfied?”
“….”
Atlant roughly wiped his face with his hand.
“…Damn it, I’m an idiot for following along because it seemed good.”
“You say it’s good while doing that anyway.”
As Calypso and Atlant exchanged light banter, Levai regained his composure.
“If there is anything you wish to ask of me, I would rather you speak quickly now and depart. This is beyond my capacity. Surely you don’t intend to watch me lose consciousness.”
Calypso’s gaze turned toward Levai.
She skillfully read the anxiety evident in Levai’s expression.
She knew well why he wore such a face.
She nodded as if she didn’t understand.
“You’re quick to pick up on things, aren’t you? That’s right. I do have something I want.”
Levai’s expression relaxed with relief.
So he was that desperate to get rid of me.
‘I know he has no memories, but it’s becoming a bit lonely.’
Calypso gazed at Atlant for a moment, then turned her attention back to Levai.
“Yes, what I want is….”
Calypso slowly erased the smile from her face.
It was a completely different expression from when she had been playfully teasing me moments before.
With round eyes that I’d never seen on a killer whale, and a smile that never faded, an overwhelming pressure I couldn’t have imagined descended upon Levai once more.
“You know where the ‘living cure’ is, don’t you?”
Levai flinched at the words flowing from Calypso.
Because such an unexpected statement had slipped out, he didn’t even think to hide his surprise.
“What do you mean by that…”
“Your panic is written all over your face.”
“….”
* * *
An expression as if struck at the heart flashed across his face for a moment.
“No matter how much maintaining composure is your specialty, it’s difficult to maintain when it hurts this much, isn’t it?”
Despite saying this, his poker face was excellent.
He probably thought he’d revealed his shock, but there was barely any change—so much so that Atlant standing beside him hadn’t noticed.
‘Wow, this guy was still like this at his age. I made the right call bringing him here.’
The reason I could recognize it was because I had spent more than a decade with him.
Right now, he was probably thinking—
‘How on earth did this Noble Lady find out? A secret I’ve staked my life on.’
That’s what his face looked like.
The worldview of this place has land animal demihumans and aquatic animal demihumans in opposition, but it has another characteristic.
Namely, the power between these two forces forms an antithesis, or symmetry.
For example, the killer whales, who are the leaders of the aquatic animal demihumans, are given the ‘power of water.’
The lion, who is the male protagonist of this novel and the leader of the Imperial Court and land animal demihumans, has the ‘power of earth’ similar to ours.
Literally, it’s a power mediated through the earth. In other words, both have power rooted in the source of life.
And the squirrel demihuman, who is the female protagonist of this novel, possesses the unique and unparalleled ‘power of healing’ among land animals.
Then, does that mean there exists a demihuman among aquatic animals with a similar power?
Exactly so.
‘In my previous life, I only learned this long after becoming the Matriarch…’
There is no demihuman with healing as their specialty.
Except for the aquatic animal demihuman who becomes the antithesis to the female protagonist of the novel.
To be precise, they possess a similar power, not an identical one.
Because I was so focused on the novel’s content, I had momentarily overlooked this fact.
‘I never thought the uniquely irreplaceable female protagonist would have a similar ability.’
And unfortunately, when I learned this fact in the third cycle—
‘It was already too late.’
They had all been extinct for a long time.
By the killer whales? No, even the killer whales didn’t know about it.
They had died and vanished at the hands of the sharks, a force just as vicious as the killer whales.
So, if I hypothetically had encountered Father alive in the third cycle—
Even if I had made up my mind to cure his illness, it would have been impossible then.
Because the only person who could have healed him was already dead.
I learned this fact by chance as well.
“Matriarch, may I leave behind a final wish?”
“Don’t speak such inauspicious words, before I leave you my will instead.”
“…There is a grave I have been tending to all this time. It’s a child like my younger sibling, and there is no one else to care for it if not me. I will tell you the location, so please look after it without fail?”
My strategist and right arm, Levai, spoke these words before his final battle.
What kind of grave he had been tending to. Whose grave it was.
It was a beastkin of which only a single individual remained in the world—an extinct beastkin.
Levai only managed to voice his long-held regret the day before his death.
That he had failed to protect that child was the sorrow of his entire life.
‘Since he looked so regretful, I wanted to help in this life.’
It was a promise I wanted to keep, even if I returned to Earth.
If I could not do it myself, I had planned to ask Father instead.
But since I have decided to live here, I will meet you myself and resolve this.
I emerged from my memories and slowly lifted my head.
“The great whale, or was it called the white-bearded whale?”
“Snow-white silver hair and the largest build are said to be its characteristics.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Gray eyes too. I heard.”
“…”
I remember it clearly.
The alternate name you told me was…
“A living cure, and you are protecting it.”
The moment I finished speaking, a loud crash—thud, thud, thud!—echoed from somewhere inside the house.
Levai’s eyes filled with embarrassment as I let out a laugh.
“I thought you lived alone?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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