Chapter 247: Divine Spirit’s Whistle (6) (1/2)
Terms used in this episode:
Buster Call – a reference to the manga, One Piece. It is used by the Marines to summon/call their entire fleet in order to destroy a dangerous criminal or organization.
The battle with the Kraken was literally short and massive.
The actual fight itself only took around twenty minutes.
But during that short period of time, the damage suffered by the sirens was massive.
Nearly half of the troops were injured due to the various wide-area attacks of the Kraken.
“It’s fortunate that the death toll is small.”
More than 30 sirens were killed out of the hundreds who were injured, and the group that received the most damage was the cavalry who was in direct contact with the Kraken.
Some were directly hit by the Kraken’s legs or tentacles, while others were strongly affected by the Kraken’s mental attacks because of their close distance to it.
“We’ve been too complacent.”
Iliana, the queen of the sirens, felt responsible.
Stop the Kraken’s movements and then concentrate their attacks to kill it.
The operation itself was simple and seemed possible to do, but the reality was completely different.
They did stop it, but could not completely confine it to the seal, and the firepower the sirens prepared was not enough to kill it.
‘Is this the reason why they had no choice but to seal it…’
The reason why the elves of the ancient kingdom of Perigeo only sealed the Kraken.
It was impossible to kill it with just a fair amount of firepower.
‘Perhaps it’s impossible to completely defeat it even if we used the Sea God’s Trident.’
Because it was so powerful.
If it weren’t for Jude and Cordelia, the Kraken might not have been sealed again.
Many sirens would have been killed by the Kraken who would have eventually destroyed the Sealing Sword of Light, and begin to move freely.
“It’s not Your Majesty’s fault.”
There was no way for the sirens to fully know the Kraken’s power.
They didn’t know how powerful the Kraken was until they fought it themselves.
“We were able to seal it again because it was crouching inside the seal. If we had neglected it, our country would have been devastated without us being able to do anything against it.”
Malthias spoke as if to comfort her, but Iliana shook her head.
“Indeed, that would have been the result. Still… as the leader of a country, I should have investigated the Kraken a little more, and prepared even a little more firepower.”
That was the responsibility of a leader.
At Iliana’s words, Malthias felt both frustration and joy.
Her frustration came from the fact that despite their victory, Iliana was distressed because of her strong sense of responsibility. Her joy was due to the feeling of serving an intelligent and benevolent monarch.
“My queen, we still won, right? The injured will also recover in no time. If we guard the seal well, the Kraken will no longer be a problem.”
Malthias said with a smile, and Iliana also a smiled a little. She did it for Malthias’ sake.
“Yes, we’ll have to thoroughly guard the seal this time to prevent something like this from happening again.”
In fact, the sirens had barely paid attention to the Kraken’s seal until now.
For hundreds of years, no one had thought that someone would break the Kraken’s seal.
‘We also need to find the culprit who broke the seal.’
As Malthias had said, guarding the seal was necessary, but finding the culprit who broke the seal in the first place had to be prioritized.
Iliana made up her mind on what to do in the future, and shifted the topic to a more pleasant one rather than troubling Malthias with depressing stories.
“So Malthias, where are our heroes now?”
It was obvious that she was referring to Jude and Cordelia, who made the biggest contribution in sealing the Kraken, so Malthias replied with a broad smile.
“They’re resting in the house of the Gallas’ family. Both of them are tired, but they’re not injured, so they’ll be attending the victory celebration tonight.”
“That’s good then. We’re indebted to the two, so we’ll have to properly compensate them.”
“But… Your Majesty. I think they’ve already taken a lot.”
Because the two had already taken a lot of things in the name of summoning the Spirit King.
‘Wait, now that I think of it, they didn’t even summon the Spirit King in the end.’
Were we deceived?
Did they not plan on summoning the Spirit King in the first place?
If Cordelia had heard Malthias’ thoughts, her conscience would have been pricked and she would be at a loss on what to do. But if it was Jude, he would have calmly said, ‘No, you’re wrong. We tried to summon it, okay? But the situation was just different from what we expected, okay?’
But it was at that moment when Malthias recalled his shamelessness.
“We can’t do that, Malthias. And most of the items they took were used to activate the seal, right?”
“They did, but…”
There were many items that they took but didn’t use like the lightning trident.
But even Malthias had a conscience so she decided to not question such things like that.
She was a bit upset since she was in charge of the country’s financial affairs, but it was true that Jude and Cordelia helped them overcome a huge crisis.
“But you have a point. It’s also true that we’ve already given a lot, so we don’t have enough to compensate them now.”
The battle was short, but the expenditure was big. A huge amount of money would also be spent on the recovery and rehabilitation of the injured.
“Then…”
“But we can’t just thank them in words. So I think…”
Iliana stopped speaking for a moment, but smiled and spoke of the item that she had thought of as a reward for Jude and Cordelia, and Malthias’ expression turned strange.
They would be able to save on their immediate expenses if Iliana handed over what she thought to Jude and Cordelia, but in the long run, something much bigger might happen.
“Malthias, I’ve already made a decision. Please follow it.”
“I understand.”
Because the queen was quite stubborn in this regard.
‘And… it’s true that we’re indebted to them.’
Their country would have been devastated if not for the two.
Malthias thought of them nicely as she turned her gaze towards the direction of the Gallas’ mansion.
***
At the same time.
In the Gallas’ mansion.
Jude and Cordelia, the key players in today’s victory, was sitting down together and busy giving compliments.
“We would have been in big trouble if it wasn’t for Melissa.”
“Melissa is the best.”
“As expected of a genius! An expert of the ancient elven kingdoms! An amazing being who could understand and use the sealing system that the sirens instantly gave up on!”
“That’s right, that’s right! You’re pretty, nice, cool, and reliable!”
Jude’s praises were specific, and Cordelia’s compliments were simple but sincere.
And Melissa responded to their barrage of compliments with a standard response.
[Hmph, I’m not a child. I’m not so simple as to fall for those words.]
But despite saying that, her voice sounded strangely excited.
The gem part of Moonlight seemed to be glowing red, perhaps because of her mood.
Therefore, Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances and began to fuss about it.
“No, what are you saying? We’re not flattering you. We’re just listing the facts. Right, Cordelia?”
“He’s right, he’s right. It’s all true. Our Melissa is good, pretty, nice, and reliable – aren’t all those facts?”
“Without Melissa, we wouldn’t have been able to implement Plan B.”
“That’s right, too. Melissa completely saved us. We wouldn’t have lived without Melissa.”
[Ahem, ahem.]
It worked. If she was a person, she wouldn’t have been able to stop her chest from puffing up, and her smile from appearing.
“Melissa, thank you very much.”
“Yes, thank you. Not only the two of us, but also the entire country of the sirens are indebted to you.”
[A-a bit more.]
Melissa eventually revealed her true feelings after continuously being baptized with praise.
She had always been hungry for interest and affection, perhaps because she had lived alone waiting for her masters that never returned for more than a thousand years, or perhaps it was her natural personality.
Jude and Cordelia nodded and continued to praise her again.
“Melissa is good.”
“Melissa is pretty.”
“Melissa is reliable.”
“Melissa is smart.”
[Aheeem, ahem.]
At the sound of Melissa trying to suppress her cough, Cordelia giggled and looked at Jude.
‘Good, good. She heard you too. Melissa is feeling really good now.’
‘With this, she’ll be relieved for a while.’
‘Huh? What do you mean by for a while?’
‘Won’t Lady Cordelia from the Chase family forget her again?’
‘No, I won’t? I’m going to talk to her really often, okay? We’re going to chat every day, okay? We’ll be having girls talk, okay?”
‘Okay, if you insist, then so be it.’
‘Argh, seriously.’
Anyway, Jude and Cordelia succeeded in placating Melissa, and the two smiled again afterwards.
The fact that they were able to argue with each other like this was also because of the victory in this battle.
“Huaaa… it was tough.”
Cordelia mumbled and hugged Moonlight as she sneakily leaned on Jude’s arms as if she had collapsed, and Jude hugged her shoulders, touching his lips on her head.
“I’ll sleep for a bit.”
“Sleep soundly. I’ll wake you up later.”
“Okay.”
She was exhausted from pouring her mana into the seal.
Unlike Jude whose stamina was constantly being replenished because of the Sphere of Life, Cordelia needed to rest in order to regain the mana she discharged.
[Sleep well.]
“Yes, Melissa too.”
Cordelia closed her eyes, and Jude adjusted his posture so that Cordelia could sleep comfortably. He closed his eyes and tried to restore the power of the black sun that he had used up in the battle.
***