Chapter 51 : Are You Listening to Me?

There were many things to consider.

How did that strange appearance, which seemed to be a mixture of a human and a fish, come to be? And how did the ship with a northern pirate flag end up here? The one who held all the answers was currently lying helplessly, facing the brink of death.

After quickly moving him, Judith attempted to treat him herself.

“This isn’t the type of curse that will cause death. It’s more of a mutation. So, it’s close to domination.”

Tap, tap.

Judith flicked the syringe. Then she inserted it into the man’s vein and injected some unknown liquid.

The man, who had been gasping for breath, suddenly went limp.

“It’s a tranquilizer. It also works as an anesthetic. It looks like surgery is needed, so, Bersia, you stay.”

“Me?”

“Someone needs to write prayers for healing and purification. I’ll focus on the surgery.”

A cold sweat ran down Usher’s back.

At the very least, he had to consider the repercussions of using Bersia’s body to write prayers. At that moment, Bersia stepped forward.

“I will do it.”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t it about opening the body and examining its insides? For that, I am the most suitable.”

Immediately, Bersia gave Usher a blatantly affectionate look.

This was a gesture meant for Judith.

“I can’t let the saintess see anything so dreadful.”

“Ugh…”

Judith sighed in disgust and turned her head away sharply.

“Do it as you like. It doesn’t matter who.”

“Then, saintess, would you please step outside for a moment?”

Usher glanced at Bersia, filled with discomfort. However, the only thing he could do was nod.

In the end, Usher retreated and waited outside the operating room.

Several hours passed.

“I’ve roughly removed it.”

Judith spoke as if it were no big deal, having successfully completed the surgery.

“I used the purification prayer to push the curse out, and I removed the internal organs of the fish. After suturing, I finished with a healing prayer, so he won’t suffer any more from the curse. Of course, piracy will be difficult for him.”

As Judith said, the man no longer resembled a strange creature.

There were still scale-like marks scattered across his body, but unless you looked closely, they appeared as burn scars.

What was surprising was that the man was an elderly person.

And then,

“Haka? This guy, he’s Haka! The Haka who was a sailor on Kyle’s ship!”

It was Haka, the former owner of the northern archipelago, a retired pirate king’s crew member.

Felik clicked his tongue with deep regret and kept checking his condition.

Then, with a grim expression, he muttered to himself.

“Just what happened…”

The island’s defenses had already been spread out.

With no clues in the rapidly unfolding situation, his sigh deepened.

How much time passed after that, Haka slowly opened his eyes.

“H-Haka! Are you awake? Do you know who I am?”

“…Felik? Is that you?”

“Yes! It’s me, the ship mage Felik! Your old friend, Felik!”

“Ah… You found me…”

The old man, called Haka, smiled with relief at that moment.

After coughing several times, he forced himself to sit up and said,

“Felik, we need to find Lycas. We must unite our strength to stop Gon…”

“What happened?!”

“He was captured by the heretics. The islanders are being transformed into some kind of monster! He’s gathering an army to invade the mainland!”

Haka, breathing heavily, staggered and then fainted.

“He’s not fully recovered. He’ll be fine after taking some rest,” Judith reassured Felik.

Then they discussed the next steps.

The situation was becoming more urgent than expected.

Luckily, it seemed that they hadn’t noticed their gathering here, but it also meant that the enemy was ready to carry out whatever they had planned.

Felik was desperate.

But that desperation wasn’t of much help in the current situation.

“Let’s go immediately! I’ve already sent someone to Lycas! We’ll unite our strength and head west…”

“C-Captain! The ship! A ship from the west is approaching!”

“What…!”

There was only one implication.

The western archipelago was launching a simultaneous offensive against the other three islands.

Now, they had to focus on defending Lycas in the south.

With a sharp pain in the back of his head, Felik gritted his teeth as he moved forward.

“What if we break through and invade?”

“Huh?”

“Melvin can be sent south. We’ll head west straight away. With the speed of my knight, we’ll reach that side before the fight ends.”

“That’s…”

Usher’s brows furrowed.

Dispersing the forces felt like a bad idea, but, as Judith had said, it seemed to be the most plausible solution in this situation.

“It’s not that simple! They’ve tamed serpents! I don’t know how, but…”

At that moment, Judith smiled.

“Well, that’s good news.”

A look of confusion spread across the face of the messenger who had delivered the news.

Usher and Felik were the same.

However, Judith looked quite at ease.

“Looks like we’ve got something useful. I was worried about lacking firepower.”

She clicked her heels and walked outside.

Usher tried to stop her.

“Wait, it’s dangerous to go like that…”

“Dangerous? Do you think I’m Rubena?”

“Huh?”

“If I go out with some useless kid, I might be a bit off, but I’m not like him. What’s with you? Just quietly follow me.”

Usher was left dumbfounded.

Bersia whispered.

“It’s okay.”

“But…”

“She’s good. That kid.”

Judging by her expression, she seemed to know something.

Judith immediately headed to the dock and boarded Felik’s ship that was waiting.

She passed through the deck and moved to the bow, her black hair fluttering in the sea breeze.

Her pale face, with her sunken eyes and decadent features, made her smile even more ominous.

However, don’t be mistaken—she was in a rather good mood.

‘So they’ve tamed them.’

Sigh, the smoke from her cigarette filled the air.

The ship set sail, and before long, the western ship appeared.

The sailors on board were merfolk.

They were probably pirates from the west who had been transformed into merfolk.

And, as had been reported, a group of serpents was escorting their ship.

Giant sea serpents with shimmering blue scales.

They looked quite ferocious.

“Judith!”

A voice full of concern could be heard.

Judith, using it as background noise, took a long drag from the pipe in her mouth.

It wasn’t a regular cigarette.

It was a type of mana awakening drug.

As the medicinal smoke filled her lungs, fireworks exploded in her brain, and her cheeks flushed with a sense of euphoria.

Her eyelids relaxed, and her eyelashes fluttered.

Shivering slightly, she soon ran her red tongue over her lips.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

Facing the results of her research like this.

It was time to start.

She activated her magic.

“Fuuuh.”

The smoke she gently exhaled gradually turned violet and began to take shape.

It became a long spear of mist.

Inside it, a red lightning bolt was trapped.

Judith whispered.

“Swallow it.”

Piiing—!

The spear flew like an arrow and struck precisely between the serpents’ brows.

Then, they froze.

“Is… is it working?”

Bersia mumbled in confusion.

At that moment, the serpents opened their mouths wide and began gathering mana inside.

Bersia jumped.

“Wha-?!”

“Could you stay still for a moment?”

Judith said with a frown.

Crunch—!

Their heads turned toward the merfolk.

The spear of mist lodged in their brows gleamed brighter.

The beast’s mental domination.

The target had been hit perfectly.

On the ship, the merfolk could be seen frantically struggling.

However, even with that, there was no way to stop it.

KWA-AAA-ANG—!

The serpents’ breath engulfed the merfolk.

Bang! KWA-ANG! KWA-ANG!!!

Leaving behind the overwhelming scene, Judith turned her gaze toward the deck.

The crew looked up at her, awe in their eyes, with the serpents’ breath in the background.

Bersia was speechless.

Usher was grinning.

Judith scoffed and spoke to them.

“What are you doing? Haven’t we set off yet?”

Her smile was full of confidence.

She exuded composure.

Of course, all of this wasn’t at all special to her.

Just as high-ranking knights have nicknames, so did the Saintess.

Just as Bersia had the nickname ‘Divine Favor,’ Judith also had her own epithet.

Born as the daughter of the most prestigious magical family, with her brilliant intellect, she perfected the fusion and dissection of magic from an early age.

Later, after receiving divine revelation and devoting herself to the Church, she raised prayer to the realm of divine power—a genius.

The Wisdom of God, Judith Harroway.

She was so fervent in her research that people called her the ‘Witch of the Church.’ At the same time, she was a mage who had mastered a thousand spells.

“Hey~ Are you listening?”

Fuu, the smoke from her cigarette filled the air.