Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 248

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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 248
It was an instinct I felt as someone who had encountered dozens, hundreds of whale beastkin—a number beyond precise calculation.
As the leader of all whales, and once a leader myself, I recognized this sensation.
The young boy was now trembling with excessive fear. This wouldn’t do.
I removed the sharpness from my voice to calm the child, who looked ready to bolt at any moment.
“I apologize again for startling you.”
I lowered my body, kneeling on one knee to meet his eyes. Only then did his youth truly register with me.
When I lifted the robe that had hidden my face to reveal myself, I saw a faint glimmer of fear fade from the child’s eyes.
“Are you a whale beastkin?”
Hesitation flickered across his small face, but a nod soon followed.
I barely managed to keep my expression composed.
Instead, indescribable emotions ignited within me—a spark that threatened to become a raging inferno.
‘This is… he’s going to run.’
Watching the child’s wariness return, I reached into my pocket and produced something.
“Why are you here in this place?”
The boy alternated his gaze between the candy and me before cautiously reaching out his hand.
His gaunt appearance made it obvious he had gone without food for a long time.
“Because… because I was no longer useful….”
I sensed my companions’ presence drawing near behind me.
The child’s guard went back up upon seeing them.
“Were you in that place?”
When I casually pointed toward the center of the city, the boy’s eyes darted between the research facility and me before he nodded once more.
“Were you alone?”
“No, with Mother, Father…. And my younger sibling….”
The child’s voice grew quieter with each word. I had to clench my fists so tightly that I needed to control myself to keep my hands from trembling.
It felt as though destroying everything in sight would not satisfy the rage building within me.
“Do you know who brought you here?”
“….”
The boy shook his head.
I needed to be careful.
“So you suddenly opened your eyes and found yourself in this city?”
When the child refused to open his mouth, I reached into my pocket once more and produced another candy.
Though fearful, the boy hesitantly took the candy.
“G-Grandfather said…. to go to a good place….”
“Grandfather. Do you know his name?”
But at this point, the child clamped his mouth shut firmly.
After much coaxing and consoling, I finally managed to extract a single name.
The moment I heard it, a laugh escaped me.
At the end of our conversation, I called out to someone.
“Hauser.”
The Young Boy glanced nervously before hastily unwrapping a candy and popping it into his mouth. I had suggested he was welcome to eat it.
“…Yes, Matriarch.”
“What does it look like to you?”
Despite the incomplete phrasing, Hauser answered with the composure of someone who had heard the entire question.
“A gray whale beastkin, ma’am.”
Distinguishing between types of whale beastkin was not an easy task for ordinary people.
But for Hauser, at least, it was simple.
“Is ‘Keron’ currently the leader of the gray whale beastkin?”
“No, ma’am. He is the former leader. He died during the Second Rebellion, and his second son took his place.”
At the mention of the Second Rebellion, Loreille’s presence stiffened.
It was only natural. The Second Rebellion had been instigated by her mother, Heila.
“No wonder they held out so well, despite leading such a ragtag bunch.”
I had thought their strength was quite remarkable, but it seemed the rot was buried here as well.
Filthy Imperial Palace strings attached.
“I apologize.”
“What do you have to apologize for? Can we possibly know everything that happens in this world?”
Just because I’m a Returner doesn’t make me an omniscient god.
Besides, I myself didn’t know that the young lion had memories, did I?
‘Ah. I should have just let myself be sold to the Black Panther family once and come back.’
Then perhaps I could have learned something. Well, it’s a meaningless hypothetical anyway.
Watching the Young Boy tremble, my mouth turned bitter.
That such irrational thoughts could arise in me.
It must be because I feel a sense of responsibility toward these people.
‘If only I had been thinking from the start about beating up the Imperial Palace bastards instead of planning to return to Korea…’
Just as the silence was about to stretch longer, a voice reached my ears.
“It is not the Matriarch’s fault.”
“It’s not Calypso’s fault.”
The voices overlapped, but it wasn’t difficult to discern whose voice belonged to whom.
“No, it is my fault.”
I’ll take responsibility. It will be more helpful for what comes next.
Instead of rising from my seat, I turned my attention back to the Young Boy.
“We’re changing the plan.”
“…Yes?”
“Whale, can you look after this boy for me?”
“…”
Someone’s voice trailed off, and Whale answered gently from within that silence. He would do so.
“It seems that in our city, which prided itself only on its integrity, the stench of corruption was buried deep where no one could see it.”
I know this well. If someone is killed and disposed of in an ordinary room.
Even if it’s cleaned up and looks spotless, tiny droplets of blood scatter across the floor and carpet.
The stains that cannot be erased catch the investigator’s eye and serve as pieces that reveal the complete picture.
So this child was a very small blemish that had been hiding.
Perhaps the perpetrator believed without a doubt that they would never be caught in their lifetime.
“Those rebels. Sending them to the mines instead of killing them was quite merciful.”
In reality, the mines in this city, which didn’t particularly need them, were an excellent means of making criminals suffer effectively for life.
But even that seemed to be a luxury.
“So it’s no longer someone else’s problem?”
My words ended as a question, but no one answered.
“I apologize.”
Someone’s apology followed, but it was meaningless. Even I hadn’t known.
I turned my head toward the child and reached out my hand. Or rather, I tried to reach out.
“You know, if you don’t mind, would you come with us? That older brother over there…”
But my words couldn’t continue. Pitter-patter. The sound of footsteps came in an instant.
At the same moment I lightly caught something extending toward me, I opened my mouth.
“Stop.”
“…”
“No one use your strength.”
Before me stood a man holding the child in one arm and extending the other toward me.
A snarling face. I saw the thick fur covering his neck, then the blade caught in my hand.
The back of the hand holding the blade was also covered in thick fur.
‘A Gorilla Beastkin?’
Surely the leader of those monkeys would be a Gorilla Beastkin?
Whether they were on intimate terms with the child, the child’s face was bright.
“Mister…!”
“What are you doing? Why are you doing this to this child!”
Because I had grabbed the blade with my bare hand, a thin trail of blood flowed from my palm.
At the same time, a blue shimmer rippled and lifted the man into the air.
I clicked my tongue while holding the sword.
“Ekion, don’t do that. Your identity might…”
I ordered him not to use his strength for fear his identity would be revealed. And this only applied to those who wielded the power of water.
“I’m fine.”
This didn’t apply to Ekion.
Moreover, the leaking aura was unusual. It was still manageable.
“I’m not badly hurt. It’s just a scratch. So…”
Just as I was about to dissuade him with that flat, emotionless voice.
A fist came crashing down on the unfamiliar Gorilla Beastkin with a thud.
“…Hauser.”
I held my forehead with a groan.
“Master, my strength won’t reveal anything.”
Hauser spoke calmly, having just sent the massive human flying into the wall.
And that was that.
I opened my mouth in disbelief.
“Since when have you been acting so arbitrarily? If you’re going to do that, you handle it yourself.”
“…Well, I stepped forward because I was worried Ekion might lose control.”
“Don’t use Ekion as an excuse. Do you think I didn’t notice you stepping forward as if you’d been waiting for this? Do you have a death wish?”
I turned my head and glared at both Ekion and Hauser simultaneously.
“…I was wrong.”
“I will correct my behavior.”
The two of them flinched like scolded children.
Fortunately, the empty street remained devoid of people.
The noise wasn’t particularly loud, but it could have become a commotion.
When I turned my head, the young boy had already thrown down his candy and positioned himself in front of the Gorilla Beastkin.
The Gorilla Beastkin grunted while trying to embrace the boy with his thickly-furred arms.
“N-new subordinates? How do you know about us…?”
Now this is peculiar. His words are rather odd.
“Cough, cough, even if you’re hunters, I know this city better! Cough, cough, besides, this kid is already a failed one, so there’s no point taking him away…”
I looked around and made a decision.
“I’d like to hear more details about that.”
At the same time, my face felt refreshed, and a translucent barrier appeared, enveloping those two and our group.
Then the barrier became transparent. While our forms wouldn’t be visible, it would still perform its function perfectly.
Preventing our appearance from being seen from outside, and preventing sound from leaking out.
In exchange, I had to reveal my face.
“By any chance, how many of our people—ah, how many of our subjects are in this city?”
The moment I removed my hat without hesitation, the Gorilla Beastkin’s eyes widened.
“You, you are…!”
“Answer the question I asked.”
Looking at him quietly, that face seemed quite familiar. Yet it wasn’t a face I knew. Why was that?
“How many aquatic animal beastkin are in this city?”
The Gorilla Beastkin was endlessly astonished, but soon quickly composed himself.
The range of his emotional shifts was certainly not that of an ordinary person.
The one who steadied himself while staggering gazed at me again.
“Could it be that you’ve come to rescue the captured person? Really?”
“I didn’t permit you to ask questions.”
Even as I said this, a stream of water flowed out, helping the Gorilla Beastkin regain his composure.
As befitted a Gorilla Beastkin, when he straightened his posture, his frame was quite imposing.
The man quietly gazed at the water stream, then spoke with a determined expression.
“Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Loreille.”
“…Loreille?”
I remembered.
Yes, the leader of the monkeys and the name those bastards all called the “Director”—it was Roland.
“I am currently the lord of this city and the younger brother of the research facility’s director-general.”

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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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