Monsters Wag Their Tails Only at Me

The instant Maril vanished, lightning flashed between the storm clouds. Thunder followed a few seconds later, rolling across the sea.

I swept my gaze around with tense eyes. Out on the vast open water, there was no human-shaped figure anywhere.

Wiping my wet hands on my clothes, I asked Varen,

"Haah... is the sea spirit really here?"

"Yes. It's right there."

"Huh? Where?"

"There."

Varen pointed into empty air. All I could see was the horizon.

Tilting my head, I asked again,

"Varen, what does the sea spirit look like? The one we met at the river looked like an old man."

"Spirits have no fixed form. They only manifest in whatever shape they want."

At his words, I stared again at the place Varen had pointed to.

The river spirit had taken the form of an old man with white hair and tattered clothes. Since it was a being that must have lived for ages beyond counting, that appearance had felt natural.

And I had heard that the river spirit was comparatively friendly toward humans. So it had made sense for it to appear before me in human form.

But after hearing Varen's explanation, an ominous feeling crept over me. I grew uneasy at the thought of what sort of form the still-unseen sea spirit might choose when it appeared.

Then, a moment later, the horizon Varen had pointed at began to ripple. Before I knew it, I had grabbed a fistful of his clothes.

"Varen, you don't know what the sea spirit looks like either, do you?" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"...I've never seen it either."

The ripples spreading across the horizon gradually grew more violent. The sea, gathering force, slowly began to rise.

From far away, a wall made of seawater advanced toward us. The waves had looked low from a distance, but the closer they came, the more their true height revealed itself.

"Aaagh! The boat, at this rate it's going to capsize, aaah, it is!"

Margon shouted while clutching the side of the boat. Varen and I, floating in the air, could not feel it, but the roughening sea was rocking the boat beneath us in a way that felt openly threatening.

The wave, tens of meters high, was overwhelmingly immense beyond description. Lightning flashed behind the transparent wall.

How weak were human beings before nature? Even though I had no fear of the deep sea, my whole body was trembling.

The approaching wave writhed as if it were alive. A large hole opened in the wall of seawater.

It formed eyes and a mouth in the wave, taking on the appearance of a face. The long slit of its mouth rippled.

'Foolish dragon. You have come to cross a mountain you cannot cross.'

The spirit's words did not enter through my ears. They rang directly inside my head. The utterly alien sensation brought on a splitting headache.

I squeezed my eyes shut on reflex and turned my head away. Then Varen pulled off the outer garment he was wearing and draped it over my head.

The astonishing thing was that the throbbing pain in my skull cleared the instant I was wrapped in cloth infused with a dragon's mana.

After making sure I was safe, Varen lifted his chin high. Then he spoke boldly to the sea spirit in the form of a wave.

"My name is Varen Dravergh. I am the last descendant of the dragon royal line."

At Varen's introduction, the holes pierced through the wave rippled. Then the sea spirit burst into loud laughter.

'Hahaha! A Dravergh whelp. You're a brave one.'

At the spirit's laughter, the vast sea surged. Margon screamed as he grabbed hold and struggled to keep the boat from overturning.

Varen looked down at him, then tilted his head slightly and whispered to me,

"Wait here, Ceryl."

"...Huh? Where are you going? Varen! Varen!!"

Before I could catch hold of him, Varen shot upward into the sky. He flew dozens of meters into the air and stopped at the spirit's eye level.

Then his body, swaying in midair, began to give off a faint glow. Despite Morpha's warning not to carelessly reveal his true form, he was trying to show part of it.

"Varen! They told you not to! Hey!!"

I shouted so hard it came out like a scream, but Varen did not stop.

A moment later, the light pouring from him faded. There, still in human form, hovered Varen, with golden wings and a tail revealed.

I stared at him blankly. Varen had brought out his tail plenty of times, but this was the first time I had ever seen him reveal even his wings.

"I came here on behalf of dragons and the magical creatures of this world."

'Oh? A mere whelp dares claim to represent magical creatures?'

"Yes."

Perhaps the spirit had developed an interest in Varen, because the waves churned violently.

Varen, slowly beating his wings to hold his height, continued with the speech he had prepared.

"Humans have ravaged nature for ages. And they have oppressed the magical creatures of the world. I intend to bring down the human king and restore the peace of the distant past."

'Hmm...'

"To do that, I need the help of you, the ruler of the sea."

It was a clean, efficient statement without a wasted word. Even so, the sea spirit only snorted, the waves rolling with contempt.

'A hatchling speaks of restoring the peace of the distant past.'

Even to the spirit, Varen was only a child. Under normal circumstances, words that wounded his pride like that would have made him flare up instantly. Admirably, he remained calm.

Instead, he brought up Maril, the unexpected treasure that had fallen into our hands.

"I rescued your child from the humans."

'......'

"I don't ask for much. Just once. Help me bring down the human king."

I bit my lip in anxiety as I watched the two of them speak.

When I had gone to Beljena, Ordin had shown mercy because I was the benefactor who had saved his child.

Please, let the same method that worked on a dragon work on a spirit too.

I clenched my fist and prayed inwardly.

But the sea spirit veered neatly away from my hopes.

'And yet you brought a human with you, while asking me to help you destroy humans.'

The holes gouged in the wave had no pupils. Even so, I could feel the spirit's gaze turn toward me.

It felt as though every cell in my body stood on end. An oppressive force crushed down on me so hard that I could not move even a finger.

Varen hurriedly spoke, his voice more urgent than before.

"The human below is my mate."

'...What?'

"The human who will become the mate of a Dravergh."

Even without facial muscles, I could feel the spirit's expression. The holes serving as eyes twisted, exposing its emotion.

'A dragon... taking a human as a mate...?'

Apparently even to a spirit that had lived for thousands of years, that sounded absurd.

It was a somewhat embarrassing situation, but I straightened my posture to put weight behind Varen's words.

I lifted my chin high and met the sea spirit's black eye-holes, dark as a void.

At that, the mountain-high wave trembled in fine ripples.

'Kahaha! How amusing, how very amusing! Dragons truly are naive and stupid.'

Once again the boat shook so hard it felt ready to flip. I was fine, suspended in the air by Varen, but Margon screamed as he clung to the hull.

Then the spirit asked Varen a question in a voice brimming with delight.

'Foolish dragon. Do you trust humans?'

"No. I do not trust humans. I trust Ceryl Aylos."

'My, my. And who knows what truths that sly thing is hiding inside himself.'

Varen had not reacted at all to being treated like a child. But the moment the criticism turned toward me, he immediately frowned.

"He is the one chosen by a Dravergh as a mate. Watch your tongue."

'Khk, how laughable. Stupid and young, and arrogant besides.'

The moment the spirit finished speaking, the storm clouds thickened even more. Heavy raindrops began striking the surface of the sea.

Morpha had said that rain sent by the sea spirit was different in nature from ordinary rain.

Whether that was true or not, I saw Varen flinch in midair.

Clutching at my pounding chest, I looked up at the towering wave.

The plan to negotiate by using Maril as leverage had dissolved into nothing. My confidence that I would somehow win the spirit over vanished in an instant.

I had come to the sea imagining a kind old man. But reality was a great natural being that humans could never dare approach.

Should I kneel and beg, even now? Should I plead for my life, if nothing else?

I was staring up at the wave, my limbs trembling, when the spirit's gaze turned to me again.

'I dislike foolish, arrogant dragons.'

"......"

'But I hate humans who hide secrets even more.'

The rain came down so hard it stung. It was almost impossible to keep my eyes open.

Then, a familiar voice rang inside my head.

'Ceryl, don't step in.'

Varen, floating in the air, began to shine again. In the dark sky packed with storm clouds, he shone like a dazzling morning star.

At once, the spirit made the waves writhe menacingly. The clash of wills between overwhelming beings continued.

But right then, Margon let out a scream that tore away all my attention.

"Aaah, aaah!!"

I whipped around in a panic. Margon, who had been clinging to the side of the boat as it lurched, had finally lost to the violent sea and was falling overboard.

That brief instant stretched out slowly.

Margon's eyes locked onto mine, as if asking for help. Behind him, a great wave reared up and swallowed him like a beast.

Cold spray exploded upward, and Margon vanished in an instant.

'Ceryl, don't step in...'

"Margon!!!"

Varen's voice rang through my head once more. But without the slightest hesitation, I threw myself into the dark sea.