Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 142

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

Episode 142: C-rank Dungeon – Southern Continent Expedition (3)
Whoooosh—!!
A downpour crashed relentlessly across the deck.
A dwarf of small stature stumbled about the ship’s heaving surface, buffeted by fierce wind.
“What in the name of—!”
Brinya, the expedition leader, seized the nearest sailor’s trousers and bellowed.
“You said the sea route to the Southern Continent was a Windless Zone!”
“…Please, let go first, ma’am.”
The sailors evaded the dwarf’s blazing gaze and moved with urgent purpose, activating the navigation instruments stationed throughout the vessel.
Whoooosh!
A curtain of wind billowed from the tallest mast, wrapping the ship in its embrace.
– Hehehehe!
– Let’s help the people!
– Everyone, focus!
Spirits, bound by contract to the sailors, began working to hold back the violent waves and winds.
At last, the ship that had been shaking ceaselessly found its footing again.
“Solmiran, I beseech you….”
Brinya stood on tiptoes, gazing out at the sea, wiping her rain-soaked forehead with her arm.
She had barely composed herself.
Yet the sailors kept their distance, knowing another outburst could erupt at any moment.
“…Captain—!”
Right on cue.
Brinya soon let loose a thunderous cry befitting her dwarven lungs.
A burly sea-elf sailor rushed over and bowed his head.
He was the ship’s finest warrior, responsible for the captain’s guard.
“You called, Expedition Leader?”
“Aira—! Not you, the captain! The captain—!”
“The captain is currently in the prayer chamber.”
“Why? Is he praying for a good place to go if we sink like this?”
Though Brinya had belabored the point endlessly before departure, the sea-elf sailor Aira repeated the explanation without complaint.
“He is offering prayers to the God of the Great Sea and Purification. Though this region is a Windless Zone, when the one who dwells in chilling blue sometimes grows wrathful, the weather turns treacherous.”
“…Was Shaethe always so terrifying?”
“Only occasionally.”
Of course, it was a lie.
Shaethe, God of the Great Sea and Purification, possessed a temperament that was always cold and measured.
Information Aira had deliberately withheld from his employer, the expedition leader.
“Then you should have warned me beforehand! I nearly became sea-monster feed before we even reached the Southern Continent!”
“…My apologies.”
“Get the captain, now! I need to lodge a complaint!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Aira picked up a communication device shaped like a seashell and spoke.
“Captain, the expedition leader is requesting your presence. You must end this now.”
– On my way.
Hearing that voice alone was enough to churn his stomach.
Captain Kiathe.
An apostle-rank Socialite who served the loathsome lord of the deep.
In this age, a Socialite was merely a disagreeable petty civilian, but Kiathe was a rare sort of filth.
“Has it ended?”
– To be precise, it’s already ended.
Kiathe clicked his tongue with displeasure.
– Next time, don’t bring those fragile Half-Elves. This one couldn’t last long before dying on me.
“…….”
The fair-haired Half-Elf who had committed a crime and become a slave—who had spoken so gently, so sickeningly—was dead.
For a moment, Aira’s chest lurched, but like a true sea-elf, he quickly steeled his mind.
‘Don’t play at guilt. Collaborating in this filthy work….’
He had no right to suffer for it.
Atonement could wait until after death, in hell.
“Come to the deck, sir. The expedition leader is waiting.”
– Very well.
As Aira tucked away the communication device, creases formed across his brow.
Whoooosh….
As Aira stood motionless, torrential rain poured down, and the sound of wind striking against the veil of air filled all directions.
“I’m sorry….”
Aira, leaning helplessly against the railing, cradled his head in both hands.
Kiathe was a fanatic who blindly pursued an extreme form of faith that exceeded the bounds permitted by the Church of the Sea God.
For years he had drifted across many ships, covertly creating countless victims.
And.
Aira worked beneath such a socialite because his daughter was dying from a curse.
“Meterdu, forgive me not, I beg you….”
The abominable socialite of the deep, specialized in corruption and depravity, possessed a Secret Art that absorbed all manner of horrors.
…And curses fell within the category of ‘horrors.’
That was why he had become a crew member to one who perpetrated such unholy deeds.
Though he might never set foot upon the fields of the one who commands all nature because he followed a socialite, it was enough if his cursed daughter could only live safely in a new life.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Thunder rolled with a sound so tremendous it shook the heavens.
Thunderous as a reprimand against himself for surrendering to reality.
– A great wave comes soon!
Just then, the wind spirit clinging to the mast issued a warning.
Soon the ship lurched violently, as if about to capsize.
“…It seems Shaethe is even more enraged because this socialite offered prayers!”
The expedition leader, gripping the railing, cried out with trembling limbs.
“Aira-!”
“Yes.”
“On the voyage back to the Eastern Continent, have the first mate command the ship! It was a mistake to trust a socialite!”
“…….”
For Brinya, there would be no ‘next voyage.’
The same held true for the expedition members and slaves.
From the moment Kiathe and his crew had been hired and boarded this ship, everyone’s fate was already bound to the deep abyss.
It was as he averted his gaze, unable to meet their eyes, watching the spirits battle fiercely against the waves.
“I heard you called for me.”
The captain came trudging forward.
As always, reeking of stench.
“Yeah-! Come here at once!”
“I’m on my way, so don’t rush me.”
Aira had given Kiathe a slight bow of his head and was about to head to the prayer chamber to clean up after this revolting faith, when—
“…….”
Aira froze for a moment, then seized the captain’s shoulder.
“Who are you.”
From the captain’s shadow, an uncanny presence stirred.
Despite being perfectly concealed, a murderous aura bled through.
Another crew member would have passed by without noticing, but Aira, hired as Kiathe’s guard and seasoned by countless experiences, sensed it naturally.
“What did you do to the captain?”
Aira conjured a Water Arrow in one hand, ready to pierce through the skull at any moment.
“As expected, you notice right away as always, don’t you.”
The captain then spoke with disarmingly polite words, leaning slowly toward Aira’s ear and whispering.
“That cute and precious Half-Elf from before.”
“…You?”
That familiar cadence.
The golden-haired Half-Elf dragged away as the object of the captain’s faith practice.
“If you’re going to pierce me with that arrow, please aim for the head. That’s where it tingles most.”
The Half-Elf wearing the captain’s form winked.
Aira flinched at the faint freshness that underlay the revulsion, and quickly murmured in a low voice.
“Be quiet. It’s dangerous if the other crew members find out.”
“Are you worried about me? A mere slave like me? You really are kind, aren’t you.”
It clearly wasn’t the captain.
Yet paradoxically, the thought came to him that it was the same person, merely more unhinged than usual.
Aira’s head swam. He squinted and took a step back.
“…What exactly are you?”
“You mean me?”
The Half-Elf in the captain’s form drew closer to the expedition leader and answered.
“I am Kar, a Half-Elf.”
Kar glanced back over his shoulder as he walked, offering a smile that felt subtly unsettling.
“And I’m exemplary enough as a Socialite that even Artein has acknowledged me.”
***
Siiiiigh.
Past and present Artein sent his will across to me.
‘I did acknowledge you, that much is true….’
‘But don’t go peddling my name while you’re at it.’
He’d be flustered and grumbling on the surface, yet secretly pleased all the same.
I had, after all, disciplined a fanatic who’d overstepped the line.
“So why did you call me here?”
At my oblique question, Expedition Leader Brinya huffed and stamped her foot.
“Why did I call you? Because you never mentioned that the Windless Zone sometimes becomes a dangerous sea!”
“We manage it easily enough, so I didn’t think it worth mentioning.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! You want me to beat you with my hammer?”
Clang, clang.
Her sharp rebuke cut through the howl of wind and rain, piercing my ears.
“If our ‘Solmiran’s Hammer’ weren’t so magnificent and formidable, this expedition would have ended before we ever reached the Southern Continent!”
“But here we are, intact and alive.”
To be honest, the act wasn’t satisfying me much.
Kiathe possessed an inappropriate personality that I, as the 6th District’s most upright Socialite, found difficult to emulate—which meant my words and manners inevitably rang hollow.
Without the Thunder Boom skill, wouldn’t Brinya have seen through the captain before her far sooner, recognized he wasn’t the Kiathe she knew?
“…This bastard, truly!”
The moment Brinya flared up and reached for her hammer—
– A large monster is approaching!
The wind spirit clinging to the mast cried out urgently.
Brinya, who’d been about to strike my knee, flinched and stiffened.
“A monster!?”
– Something… grotesque and enormous!
The dwarf, whose eyes had been blankly blinking, grabbed hold of my pants.
“You left out something again! You said there were no monsters in the Windless Zone!”
“Heh heh….”
“You’re laughing!?”
Clinging to Brinya’s hands as she shook my leg, I chuckled softly.
A few of the sailors nearby began to let out low chuckles as well.
“…This bastard, could it be…”
Brinya’s eyes narrowed as she fixed her gaze on me.
Only now did she seem to realize that Kiathe was a suspicious Socialite indeed.
Kuwaaaaang—!
The hull lurched violently, and from the left emerged a creature of tremendous bulk.
Countless thrashing limbs writhed uncontrollably.
A stench so vile it clouded the mind, and slime that fouled the surrounding sea with its corruption.
And upon its face, three eyes fixed on the sea monster.
《Fallen Divine Beast Kraken (Level 5)》
《A Divine Beast of foul-smelling Nadeusaf. It descended to the mortal realm long ago, but as Faith declined, its rank fell with it, degenerating into a mere monster.》
– Kuweeeeee!
Kraken.
At the roar of the loathsome deep-sea sovereign’s Divine Beast, the spirits wrapped around the ship cried out and scattered in panic.
Some brave ones held their ground without fleeing, but the moment the foul slime touched them, they were all summarily banished.
– Queweee!
The triumphant Kraken wrapped its countless limbs around Solmiran’s Hammer.
Crack-crack-crack!
Fissures began spreading through the wind barrier under the Fallen Divine Beast’s constricting grip.
The spirit clinging to the mast jolted and flew skyward.
– I’ll hold it! Five minutes at most, though!
– Queweeeee!
– Shut up, you ugly monster!
While the wind spirit held back the Fallen Divine Beast’s assault, Brinya fled toward the bow.
The true crew members, now showing their colors, began closing in on the dwarf Expedition Leader.
“Now I can finally crush that loud little midget.”
“Hehehehe….”
“I’m sick of waiting!”
Brinya ground her teeth and pulled out a communication device, bellowing into it.
“Expedition members, assemble on deck—!!”
Then she swept her gaze across the crew, myself included, and pointed accusingly.
“How dare you betray me! After I fed and sheltered you all!”
“You’re the fool for hiring a socialite captain without any suspicion in the first place!”
A seagull sailor with a violent expression cackled, tapping a thick cudgel against his palm.
First Mate White Feather.
A savage berserker in service to Nadeusaphe.
“What are you planning to do with me!”
“Can’t you see?”
White Feather pointed the cudgel toward the kraken.
“We’ll make you a sacrifice to restore the Divine Beast’s honor.”
The true purpose of Kiathe and the crew.
An offering ritual for the kraken.
They never cared about the Southern Continent at all.
White Feather turned to me next.
“Captain, what are you waiting for? Start now.”
“Understood.”
I nodded and raised my right hand.
“I hereby commence the ‘Discipline of Wayward Sailors’ ritual.”
“…What?”
Releasing my Transformation, I swung my right arm in a light arc.
Crackle-snap-snap!
Black Lightning erupted from my hand, incinerating the crew surrounding Brinya in an instant.
“…What are you!”
Some of the sturdier crew members, including White Feather, remained standing and revealed their hostility toward me.
Slash!
Rosalia burst from the shadows and severed the nearest sailor’s throat.
“…….”
Though he could have easily blocked both my attack and Rosalia’s, the Sea Elf Aira hesitated.
Such is the power of true love.
The passionate pursuit of the Half-Elf could plant seeds of affection even in the cold heart of a Sea Elf.
“Sailor… no, Aira.”
I spoke, looking him straight in the eye.
“If you help me, I will lift the curse constricting your daughter’s body—Boiling Blood. I stake the honor of Lidni on it.”
“…….”
《Don’t make such arbitrary bargains…》
Rosalia vanished back into the shadows, then erupted from beneath a sailor’s feet, wielding her dagger.
With the sun now hidden behind dark clouds.
There are few ways to stop the rampaging assassin of the Brithes Family.
“…What in the world is happening here!”
“We don’t know either!”
While Brinya and the First Mate floundered in confusion, I left the crew to Rosalia and walked past Aira.
“Let me assure you beforehand. Boiling Blood can be dispelled simply through dietary therapy using medicinal herbs.”
Though I walked past him completely undefended, Aira merely clenched his teeth and did not block my path.
His hand holding the Water Arrow trembled, then finally dropped.
“Thank you.”
I bowed respectfully, then climbed onto the railing.
Crack-crackle-snap!
I fired Black Lightning at maximum output toward the massive cephalopod.
The kraken’s attention, which had been focused on breaching the Windless Zone, finally turned toward me.
Our eyes met.
《You have been ‘enchanted’ by the Fallen Divine Beast due to Sin: Lust! And the kraken’s interest is beginning to concentrate on you.》
“Kraken, will you hold me?”
What magnificent, unwavering confidence!
I want to be enveloped and squeezed by those countless tentacles.
I want to rest upon that smooth head and share eternity together.
– Kuweeeek…?
“I’ll head that way.”
Without hesitation, I hurled myself into the sea.
The countless legs that had been coiling around the ship faltered for a moment, then surged toward me.
The true efficacy of Sin: Lust, as I understand it.
Drawing the enemy’s aggression, concentrating their attacks upon myself.
Crack-snap!
Every bone in my body, wrapped in those legs, crumbles.
My entire frame twists, shatters, warps.
Even submerged in water, I couldn’t stop laughing, couldn’t stop gasping it out.
‘My Demon Lord, the meal is now fully prepared!’
Please, savor this intense and exquisite surge of joy.

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