Chapter 319

As the heat of battle subsided, everyone in the subjugation team was busy with cleanup and preparations to return. Amidst the excitement, I quietly made my way to a corner of the deck.

There, I found Marin, the mermaid who had initially provided information about the Kraken and sung the song that summoned the monster. While others were too preoccupied with the chaos of the Kraken battle to notice her, I hadn’t forgotten her presence.

“Great job! I’m really surprised. I had no idea Kurt was so strong. I thought you were just the party’s chef!”

“Chef? What are you talking about? More importantly, I can’t believe you’re the queen.”

“Ahem. Were you surprised?”

Marin puffed out her chest proudly, as if showing off.

“Yeah. I didn’t expect the queen of the mermaids to be so… airheaded.”

Even when she was underwater, her voice had a mysterious quality, but as soon as she came out, it became this lazy, ghostly tone, making her seem even more ditzy.

Is this really the leader of her race?

Mermaids… is this really okay?

“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“More importantly, that song you sang to summon the Kraken.”

“Ah! You noticed!”

“That wasn’t just a regular song, was it? It was magic, right?”

It must be a type of magic uniquely developed in mermaid society.

“Did you figure it out? That’s right! While humans on land use magic in peculiar ways, we mermaids channel mana through our voices and manifest magic through song!”

“If anything, it’s the mermaids who are the peculiar ones.”

“Is that so?”

Marin tilted her head in confusion at my words.

Is she really the queen?

Despite her ditzy demeanor, the fact that she could use magic was proof enough that she held the position of queen in mermaid society.

In beastkin society, being a mage holds special significance.

In fact, generally speaking, being a mage isn’t that extraordinary.

Mages, with the exception of wizards and fairies, are a rare minority in any race and are typically treated as high-end personnel. However, they aren’t so rare as to be completely unheard of.

After all, we have Serena in our party.

But if the race in question is beastkin, the story changes.

Beastkin, aside from sharing animalistic traits, vary so much in the degree and type of animal features that classifying them as a single race is almost meaningless.

However, there is one common trait shared by all beastkin.

That is, the entire race is hopelessly untalented when it comes to magic.

Lizardmen, harpies, minotaurs.

Cat beastkin, dog beastkin, wolf beastkin, tiger beastkin.

Whether they only have ears and tails or their entire skin resembles an animal.

Regardless of culture, diet, race, or temperament, there is one absolute rule without exception.

Beastkin cannot use magic.

Similarly, dwarves are another race lacking in magical talent, but their inability stems from their bodies’ inherent resistance to mana and their dull sensitivity to it.

However, beastkin, despite not having the same level of physical resistance as dwarves, are inexplicably untalented in magic.

It’s as if they were cursed from birth to never use magic, or as if they were designed that way.

That’s why, when I was young, I didn’t try to learn magic but instead sought out a mage outside my village.

But even among beastkin, occasionally, one in a generation or every few generations, a beastkin capable of using magic is born.

And even that is limited to larger or luckier races.

In smaller beastkin societies, the line of mages is often completely severed, leaving no one who can use magic.

If beastkin were more open, they might have accepted mages from other races through interaction, but their inherently closed-off nature prevents even that.

Thus, in beastkin society, a being capable of using magic holds a weight incomparable to mages in other humanoid races.

In beastkin society, a magic-user isn’t just treated as high-end personnel but is revered and respected, often holding special positions like priestesses or sages.

Their influence is on par with another leader in the society.

In medieval terms, if the leader of the race is the king, the magic-user is the pope.

For instance, my childhood friend Lakia, even as an apprentice, was treated like a princess in the Lizardman Village.

And now, Marin, the queen before me.

Honestly, it doesn’t seem like she became queen because of her political skills.

As I looked at Marin, the queen of the mermaids, I couldn’t help but think.

“No. This can’t be right.”

Watching Marin’s carefree demeanor, I snapped out of it and walked over, giving her a light smack on the head.

“Ow! Why did you hit me?!”

“Marin. Speaking of which, that Kraken! It was much bigger than you said!”

“Huh…? That can’t be… Maybe it grew…?”

“Grew? We almost had a massive casualty situation!”

“No, really! When I saw it before I drifted here, it was much smaller than that…”

“Ha! So you’re saying there are two Krakens in this sea?”

“I don’t know about that…”

Marin looked genuinely confused and wronged.

At least it didn’t seem like she was lying on purpose.

What’s going on? Did it really grow that much in such a short time?

I’ve never heard of Krakens growing that fast…

Is there something I’m missing?

As I was about to fall into deep thought, something felt off about my conversation with Marin.

“Kurt. The cleanup after the battle is mostly done. Let’s head back to Leila now.”

Regina approached me, having finished organizing the messy remains of the monsters and the broken ship fragments on the deck, and informed me it was time to return.

“Ah, already? Sorry, I should’ve helped.”

“No, it’s fine. You’ve already done more than enough.”

Regina waved her hand dismissively, her eyes sparkling as she looked at me.

Hmm.

I’m grateful she’s keeping it a secret that I dealt with the Kraken, but…

Her sudden, overly polite attitude is making me uncomfortable.

Just a while ago, she had dark circles and dead eyes from exhaustion, but now her eyes are shining so brightly it’s hard to adjust.

At least the anomaly has been dealt with, so now it’s just a matter of returning to Astram.

“It’s a relief we managed to defeat the Kraken without major casualties. Leila should return to normal now.”

“Yes. With the biggest threat to Leila eliminated, we can breathe a little easier.”

A brief silence followed her words.

Since it’s the last day and we’ve hunted the Kraken, maybe we should have a slightly extravagant dinner tonight.

Mari would understand, right?

Ah, right.

If we’re doing that, we might as well invite everyone and have a grand feast.

“Speaking of which, since we’ve defeated the Kraken, how about we all get together for a meal? I’ll cook.”

Gulp.

“Y-Your cooking, Kurt?”

Regina’s eyes sparkled as she unconsciously swallowed at my words.

But soon, she regretfully declined my offer.

“Kuh… I’m sorry. I appreciate the invitation, but I can’t. Not all threats have been eliminated yet. We still need to uncover the Drake Pirates’ plot. Until we figure out what they’re planning with their invasion of Leila, true peace won’t come to Leila. Especially since we mobilized a significant number of soldiers to organize this subjugation team, we’re short on personnel to investigate the Drake Pirates and monitor the captured crew members. Once we return, we’ll only take a minimal rest before reinforcing our forces…”

“Ah, I see. That’s a shame.”

As Regina muttered about immediately resuming the pursuit of the Drake Pirates after returning, I felt slightly overwhelmed and nodded.

Truly a workaholic…

Not even resting properly after returning and having to roll straight into the next task.

I shook my head, feeling a moment of pity for her subordinates.

Well, even if Regina didn’t accept my invitation, there are still plenty of people to feed… I mean, invite.

There’s Arisa’s party, Kirsh, Lakia, Bram’s party…

With the Kraken hunted, we don’t have to worry about running out of ingredients, so I can cook until everyone’s stuffed.

That’s when it hit me.

At that moment, I realized what that nagging feeling I’d been ignoring was.

The unease and foreboding I’d felt since talking to Marin.

The moment I realized the nature of that vague sensation, a chilling fear ran down my spine.

This is bad…!

How could someone like me forget something so important…!

This is unbelievable!

“The Kraken meat!”

I forgot to retrieve the Kraken’s body!

After hunting the Kraken, I was so preoccupied with checking on the injured and talking to Marin that I completely forgot.

A chef of my caliber forgetting something so important…

I’m completely disqualified as a chef!

And not just any ingredient, but the meat of a colossal Kraken!

But now isn’t the time for self-criticism.

Even as I stand here, the Kraken’s body is sinking deeper into the sea.

What should I do?

Should I dive in right now?

But the ship has already started moving away from where we fought the Kraken.

No, by now, the Kraken’s body must be deep underwater…

After all the effort to hunt the Kraken, are we really going to lose such a rare ingredient due to this ridiculous mistake?

Damn it…! I can’t let that happen!

Just as I was about to run to the edge of the deck in a panic, the Kraken I had been desperately searching for suddenly emerged from the sea.