Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 294

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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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Side Story Episode 19
One hour before the incident.
The Aquasiadel domain was vast. The mansion Baian Aquasiadel occupied was equally expansive—so grand it deserved to be called a castle rather than a mere residence.
‘It’s practically its own nation. This place is a royal palace.’
The population of aquatic beastkin was correspondingly staggering. After all, didn’t they comprise half the continent?
Yet this world was one where that half faced ruthless discrimination from the other.
‘This time, I’ll smash that Crown Prince’s face to pieces.’
Line up the black panthers beside me. Show them it’s their turn next.
In any case, because the domain was so expansive, the remaining forces had scattered throughout, each claiming whatever space suited them.
Most buildings had collapsed, so they’d constructed barracks to live in instead.
During my travels, I came across a cemetery.
‘That place…’
It was familiar to Calypso. From childhood—where infants who’d succumbed to abuse were buried.
And also where the unfortunate aquatic beastkin that Baian had slaughtered lay entombed.
‘Most people don’t know about this.’
“Mama, what is that?”
Cali, nestled in my arms, showed interest, and I went over without thinking—that was the mistake.
Having lived three lives, Calypso had grown numb. I’d forgotten some common sense and had become insensitive.
So I brought the child to the cemetery.
And the child was clever enough to read the inscriptions on the tombstones as she looked around.
Ruba Beluga
Ruga Beluga
Roba Beluga
Cali froze as if nailed in place. Wait? Why is Ruga’s name here? Ruba’s name too, and Uncle Roba’s!
The child learned the meaning of the tombstones from a kind subordinate.
And…
She burst into tears like a sudden summer downpour.
“Waaaaaah! You won’t give him back, you won’t give Ruga back, Marie! Waaaaaah!”
Of all people, it had to be Matata the Crab Beastkin who’d kindly explained it. He was excessively talkative.
“Huh? Huh? No, well…”
I’m losing my mind. Why is she crying!
“You won’t give Ruga back, you said you wouldn’t give him back! You’re mean, Uncle! Waaaaaah!”
“No, I’m not mean… Rather, little one, this is, well, a cemetery, so it’s a place where the deceased find their rest, yes?”
“Waaaaaah! Liar! You’re mean! Bad crab!”
“Oh… why does my heart ache more than from any insult I’ve heard in my life?”
Her eyes were so large, and seeing this young child who even resembled the captain cry made his feelings complicated. Matata grew flustered.
Whoosh—suddenly a jet of water sprayed out. His eyes widened.
“W-wait? That’s water power, isn’t it? Hey, hey. Little one? Ahhhhh!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Matata dodged the water’s force drenching his head, left and right, yet couldn’t escape Cali’s vicinity.
The captain had given orders to stay together no matter what happened.
But as the commotion grew, the subordinates who had been unable to approach due to Cali’s shyness began trickling in one by one.
Since it still wasn’t resolved, Calypso eventually rushed back after briefly leaving the child to attend a meeting.
“Damn it, are you crying because you can’t watch one child? Do you want to die?”
“N-no, Captain, I feel so wronged….”
“Waaaaaah! Mommy! Liar! Bad! Bad crab!”
“Yeah, this bad crab.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but this crab is definitely bad.”
“Bad crab XX!”
The command headquarters subordinates who had rushed over didn’t understand either, but they cursed along anyway. Matata felt like crying.
“What’s with this kid? Why is she crying so loudly?”
The one who appeared, rubbing his stiff neck, was Atlant.
“My apologies for the late report, Captain. She’s Calypso’s daughter.”
“Huh? Hey, Camula. Are you trying to trick me again, thinking I’m stupid?”
“My goodness. What are you talking about?”
“…She does resemble her.”
The one who made that observation at the end was Bellus. Beside him, Agenor was looking as if he’d found an interesting toy.
“Wow, so this is what our younger sister would look like when she was small? Will she be strong too? Such a tiny thing already using the power of water?”
“Hey, Third Brother, if you touch the child under the pretense of experimenting, you’re dead.”
“Ugh, what a shame.”
Agenor obediently raised both hands and stepped back.
Calypso’s brow furrowed.
The three older brothers she’d recruited not long ago were completely unreliable.
That’s why she had deliberately kept her distance from her own brothers and brought them along, but it was all for nothing.
“So, listen. Younger sister. Why is she crying?”
“Not younger sister—call me your liege. You damned Second Brother. I’ll acknowledge you as my brother too.”
“…Tsk, so my liege, why is she crying?”
With Cali’s sobbing echoing from Calypso’s arms as background, I heard the situation from Matata.
“Ruga, Rugaaaa. Rubaaaa…. Sniff, waaaah….”
“Ruga, Ruba…?”
Calypso looked at the gravestone the child had apparently seen.
‘Beluga, white dolphin beastkin.’
She knew the family name but didn’t know much about them. When she asked the subordinates, surprisingly Bellus raised his hand.
“A clan that disappeared at the hands of Baian Aquasiadel.”
“There are dozens of clans like that.”
Levai joined in with the explanation.
“I’ve heard of them too. Beastkin as clever as dolphins. We lost contact with them seventeen years ago…but I never knew they had such circumstances.”
“….”
“I heard there was one outstanding warrior in this clan. His name was ‘Roba.'”
Hearing this again, I looked at the gravestone. My mood turned foul.
‘What a pitiful victim.’
The gravestone bore the names of Ruga and Ruba, along with the ages at which they died. They were far too young to have perished.
‘I did well to eliminate that bastard Baian.’
How on earth did Cali come to know this name?
“Waaahhhhh!!”
I thought it best to distance myself from this place first.
“I’m stepping away for a moment. Move on your own. We’ll hold the meeting elsewhere.”
“Hey, let me come too….”
Atlant tried to grab me with a theatrical cough, but I had already pulled away using the power of water.
“Tch. I wanted to poke him once.”
What Atlant had been aiming for was the child’s plump, adorable cheeks.
‘Poking the child?’
Of course, the orca…. The subordinates watching grew increasingly confused.
Would this place do?
Calypso arrived at a quiet, open plaza and set the child down.
“Splash….”
I had come to a place with some semblance of decorum. It should be fine, right? Though the fountain was rather worn.
“Mom… sniff, where is this?”
With the gravestone out of sight, the child seemed to have calmed down. Leaving was indeed the answer.
“Well… it’s not a place I know well either. Ah.”
Calypso observed the building and made a rough guess.
“It seems to be where my father lived. That man lived at the western end, probably?”
“Grandfather?”
Since I’m the mother, does that make Pierre a grandfather? Calypso thought with indifference.
“Let’s just call him Pierre. I said father for convenience, but we’re strangers.”
A man I’ve never even laid eyes on. He’s dead now, so I’ll never see him again.
“Sniff, Mom….”
What was the problem? Upon hearing this, Cali began to whimper again.
“Did you fight with Grandfather…?”
No, I’ve never even met him…
For some reason, my instincts were screaming.
If Pierre was truly already dead, the child would cry as sorrowfully as when grieving for those children, Ruga and Ruba.
Actually, crying wasn’t the issue.
The child’s eyes seemed about to swell shut.
‘We don’t even have a healer among us.’
Calypso brushed back the child’s sweat-dampened hair. Strangely, there was no smell of sweat.
The child’s natural body scent was comforting.
“You’ve been acting so mature until now. So you’re still just a child?”
“I’m not a child!”
Well, I suppose not.
Calypso smiled softly.
“That’s a compliment, a compliment. Now she looks adorable.”
“….”
“Children should cry when they can. Laugh a lot. Cry a lot. For many years to come.”
Cali stopped crying completely and looked up at Calypso, her cute little hiccups—hic, hic—lingering as aftereffects.
“Your mother must have raised you with such dedication?”
Calypso guessed that this child’s mother was likely already dead. Her father too.
Because not far from where she’d found Cali, a massive battle had taken place just before.
The defeated clan had lost all their household members along with them, or so she’d heard.
She’d ordered her subordinates to patrol that area daily. But there had been no word. If they were alive, they surely would have come searching for their daughter.
If the parents were dead, at least a relative would have come.
“My mom is amazing!”
“That’s right, she raised you so well.”
“Dad too!”
“Yes, your father too.”
“Second Father too!”
“Hm? Oh, yes….”
“Third Father too, and Levai Father!”
…Why is this Levai fellow even included here? Calypso wondered while answering.
“…Your mother certainly seems to have had quite the vigor.”

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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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