When Turan had encountered a storm aboard the Marlin, he had exhausted himself trying to save the imperiled ship. He had needed to catch sailors flung about by the wind and waves, warm their bodies, and keep the enormous sailing vessel balanced.

His circumstances were far better now. For one thing, the boat he had to protect was dozens, if not hundreds, of times smaller and lighter, while his own mana had grown severalfold.

Most importantly, he had two wizards of his own caliber or better with him, rather than sailors who needed protecting. A storm like the last one was hardly anything to fear.

The problem was that this storm was far fiercer.

"Wow, I thought I was going to die..."

"Don't be so dramatic."

Once the storm passed, every last one of them lay groaning on the deck.

Whenever waves several meters high came rolling in, they had held the boat steady with telekinesis to keep it from capsizing. Against larger waves over ten meters high, they had pointed the bow straight ahead and split them open to pass through. Whenever the wind grew strong enough to heel the boat over, they had countered it with a continuous headwind of their own...

After doing all that without rest for an entire day, they were not only drained of mana; their heads throbbed from the strain of concentrating so hard.

Had the Marlin encountered a storm like this, it would certainly have sunk long ago. Turan would have been left floating on the sea waiting for someone to rescue him, or swimming to the nearest shore himself.

[Tired?]

"Pretty... Are you all right? You've been flying all day."

[Yes! I'm fine!]

Vije, who had stayed aloft to avoid the storm, looked every bit as lively as her writing suggested. Flying long distances without rest with several people dangling from her was exhausting, but apparently spending time gliding at a comfortable height was nothing to this black eagle monster.

Vije wrote by tapping her talons into the deck.

[Should I carry this wood?]

"Even you would have trouble with that. But thank you for offering."

Powerful monster though she was, Vije would struggle even to get airborne with a boat weighing thousands of times as much as she did. After chatting with her and recovering some of his energy, Turan sat up, then burst out laughing at the sight of his two companions.

"What?"

"You both look a complete mess... Though I probably look much the same."

Having spent the entire storm on deck controlling the boat with magic, all of them looked like drowned rats. The other two were even sprawled flat on the deck, utterly drained, which only made the sight funnier.

Solif lowered his head back onto the deck as if to say, So what? Maysa, on the other hand, hurriedly sat up and fixed her hair.

A little later, once they had recovered, they took turns washing in the cabin below deck, ate, and attended to their bodily needs before looking for a nearby island. It was hard to tell how far the storm had driven them off course.

Vije circled the area and reported a fairly large island a short distance east, so they steered straight for it. Before long, the island came into view, and Turan let out a disbelieving laugh.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just can't believe we ended up exactly where we meant to go."

Of course, they had been heading this way when the storm struck, so it was not entirely a coincidence. Even so, they had certainly been lucky. They had reached their first intended destination: Miguel Island.

* * *

Miguel Island looked much as it had several months ago. Merchant ships packed the spacious harbor, drunken sailors brawled, and prostitutes flirted with them...

The only real difference was that, unlike his previous visit in winter, it was now the height of summer, and people wore much less.

After mooring the boat, they spoke to a harbor official, who exclaimed at the sight of their fishing boat.

"You came all the way from the mainland in this? Goodness. Ordinary folk like us wouldn't dare try that even if we had ten lives... Truly remarkable."

Between their visibly expensive clothing and their arrival on an island in the middle of the North Sea aboard such a tiny boat, the official had guessed their status and remained exceedingly deferential. Turan nodded and asked what he wanted to know.

"The storm we ran into was certainly no joke. They aren't usually this bad, are they?"

"There has been plenty of talk about the weather getting worse lately. And the merfolk are more aggressive than before, so far fewer ships are choosing routes through these waters."

Looking around the harbor again after hearing that, Turan did feel it was somewhat less lively than before. It was still crowded, but there was something faintly empty about it.

Once they finished the formalities, the party decided to find lodgings farther into the island and rest for a while.

As they walked down the street, a flushed-faced sailor eyed Maysa and called out to her.

"Hey, pretty girl. How much for a day? I'll go up to five silvers—argh!"

The hand he had casually reached toward her chest bent at a right angle to his arm with a crunch. Maysa, who had merely swatted it away on reflex, looked startled for a moment. Then her face hardened, and she snapped coldly at him.

"Fuck off!"

"Th-this crazy bitch is attacking meee—!"

Seeing the sailor's furious companions come running, Turan sighed softly, then snapped his fingers to produce a flame, just as he had before. Naturally, the sailors stopped dead in their tracks, as though turned to stone.

"W-we're sorry!"

He gave a quiet snort as the sailors bolted, then looked around to find quite a few people watching. If nothing else, word that wizards had arrived on the island would certainly spread.

Maysa was staring at the hand with which she had struck the sailor. Turan spoke to her.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. Being looked at that way... It feels a lot worse than I'd imagined."

Come to think of it, Maysa could hardly have experienced such crude advances before. Not only was she Arabion's heir, but objectively speaking, her appearance had not been particularly attractive either. The closest thing had been House Valtas's marriage proposal, and even that had been far more courteous.

After offering her some comfort over this unfamiliar, unpleasant, and confusing experience, they found themselves good lodgings and spent roughly a day and a half lounging about, recovering from their grueling voyage.

The next day, Turan led his companions to the finest tavern on Miguel Island, which he had visited before. The dining room at their lodgings was not bad, but he remembered the food and drink here tasting better. In particular, Maysa could still eat only a handful of food at each meal, so he wanted to give her something delicious whenever possible.

"Welcome, honored guests. Is there anything you would like?"

The doorman from his previous visit had failed to recognize him and needed another lesson, so the server addressing them could not have been more polite. As before, Turan ordered snacks such as ham and dates, along with a distilled liquor made from wheat.

As they washed away the lingering fatigue of their voyage with good food and drink, they casually discussed their plans.

"Still, the monster hunting hasn't gone as well as I expected."

"Honestly, I thought we'd find at least one right away."

Turan shook his head at their remarks.

"Well, all we can do is keep looking patiently. We may have to be prepared to stay here for a few years. Or explore somewhere else."

"Personally, I still think that other place would have been worth a try. The Sky Mountains, was it? West of those."

When they left House Nagin's territory, one of Solif's suggestions had been to venture beyond the Sky Mountains, which marked the western edge of the world. With Vije along, a tall mountain range would hardly be an obstacle.

Although the suggestion had been tempting, Turan had rejected it and flown east for two main reasons. First, so few explorers had returned that even the librarian did not know what lay beyond. Their group ranked among the most powerful wizards in the world, but it was not difficult to imagine unforeseen dangers in a place so thoroughly unknown.

And second—

"You were the one who wanted to see the god's remains here in the first place."

"Oh, right."

"That's half the reason we came. How could you be the one to forget?"

At Turan's rebuke, Solif nodded with a sheepish laugh. Just then, someone stopped beside their table, bowed politely, and spoke.

"Pardon me, honored guests. The master of this island would like a moment with you. Might you spare the time?"

Surprisingly, the man addressing them so politely was a middle-aged man who appeared to be the tavern's manager. At his request, Maysa and Solif turned to Turan.

"The master of the island?"

"Do you know who that is?"

"No."

Pires, the Marlin's captain, had once told him that Miguel Island's master was a reasonably capable wizard. He thought he had heard the name as well, but could not quite remember it.

Yet even when he extended the Holy Relic's senses, he detected no powerful wizard. All he could feel were a few knights, presumably hired to guard the ships. Of course, with the island spanning several kilometers, its master was more likely simply outside his range...

"I'd prefer they came to us."

The manager's eyebrow seemed to twitch slightly at Turan's reply, but he dipped his head.

"Very well."

As soon as he left, Solif asked the question he had been holding back.

"Did something happen the last time you were here?"

"Nothing that comes to mind. Apart from selling a pirate ship here, I suppose."

"You sold a pirate ship?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

They drank as Turan recounted how he had defeated the pirates and captured their ship. Midway through, he sensed someone approaching nearby and fell silent. Then he immediately rose.

"Let's go."

Rather than ask why, the other two stood at once. Experience had taught them that Turan always had a reason when he acted like this.

They left roughly enough money for their food and drinks on the table, then promptly left the tavern and headed toward the outskirts a short distance away.

By the time they reached a deserted alley, two figures with their hoods pulled low stepped into their path.

"What's this supposed to be?"

Solif looked incredulous as he spoke. Understandably so: with early summer setting in, those hooded figures could scarcely have looked more suspicious. Most of the sailors were even walking around shirtless.

Turan studied the two figures, then pointed at the smaller one.

"Armani?"

"... How did you recognize me?"

Armani, the merfolk prince, threw back his hood and exclaimed in astonishment. Turan gave a simple answer.

"A feeling."

Of course, he had recognized him immediately thanks to the Holy Relic's senses. The blue light spreading through his webbed ears and the gills on his neck was the distinctive merfolk presence Turan had seen before.

He had been startled to suddenly sense merfolk in the middle of the island, but the figure's height and build were so similar to Armani's that he had been able to make a reasonable guess. The only difference was that the flame within him, presumably whatever mana-like power they used, had grown considerably stronger. Apparently they, too, gained strength as they grew older.

"I-it has been a long time, kind demon."

"That 'kind demon' business again... Well, good to see you."

But the reason Turan had hurried his companions outside was the other person beside the merfolk boy. Or rather, the other merfolk.

"So, is that your older brother? Or your sister?"

"You must be the one who saved my little brother and took the demons' treasure."

Answering his question with another question, the figure removed her hood, revealing a merfolk woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties.

The light burning within her was far more intense than Armani's. He judged that she must be merfolk royalty, and someone of considerable standing even among them.

Turan likewise replied with another question.

"Was taking off your hood supposed to answer my question?"

"You may take it that way."

"Then I believe my conversation with him just now answered yours."

It was an exceedingly sharp exchange for someone addressing her brother's savior, but this degree of distance was appropriate between humans and other races. After all, merfolk were notorious for preying on people along the coast for a very long time. Perhaps aware of that, the merfolk princess did not reproach him.

"I am Rowina."

"Turan. More importantly, the manager mentioned this island's master earlier. Is its ruler a lackey of the merfolk?"

"Something like that. Did you think a place like this could survive without our permission? It would soon become a feeding ground for the lower classes."

By the lower classes, she clearly meant the ordinary merfolk who attacked and ate humans. Turan nodded and asked quietly,

"Thank you for that useful information. So, what did you want with us?"

"The object you took."

Unexpectedly, Rowina pointed directly at the Mimic Holy Relic hanging around Turan's neck, even though his clothes must have concealed it from view.

"I must reclaim it."

A frigid silence settled over the back alley at her words. Naturally, the Mimic Holy Relic was Turan's greatest asset, making a demand for its return unworthy of even a moment's consideration. All the more so when she imperiously spoke of 'reclaiming' it without even mentioning compensation.

Perhaps reading the readiness to fight in their eyes, Rowina also shifted into what looked like a combat stance. At that moment, Armani hastily spread his arms and stepped between them.

"W-wait! Sister! You are only stating what you want! Let me explain properly!"

"I see no need to say more."

"Turan is a kind demon! And that object was his reward for saving my life! If we are to reclaim it, we must explain why!"

Rowina looked decidedly reluctant, but eventually snorted and nodded. Armani quickly bowed to Turan and his companions.

"I am sorry..."

"You've nothing to apologize for. Not yet, to be precise. So, what's going on?"

This Rowina apparently thought she could take it by force, but in truth, Turan's party held the overwhelming advantage. The mana he sensed in her placed her, at best, among the stronger upper-tier nobles, a full tier below Turan.

In that sense, it was fair to say that they were the ones showing mercy by leaving room for discussion. The only possible complication would be if merfolk were vastly stronger than wizards with the same amount of power.

Oblivious to that fact, Armani looked pleased with himself, as though he had prevented a terrible fight. Then he made a shocking statement.

"Well, after that object you took went missing, the great sea serpent came back to life."

"What? You don't mean the one that was there?"

"I do."

Turan still remembered the presence of that creature sleeping beneath the sea, a creature of mythic proportions. An enormous serpent that must have been a hundred meters long...

If that monster, which had fought the Freyans as an equal in ancient times, returned to life, no one in the present age would dare stand against it. Hadn't Ymir said that even the surviving gods would be no match for an ancient god restored to full strength?

He turned to Maysa and Solif, who looked equally horrified, apparently thinking much the same thing. Seeing their expressions, Armani hurriedly added,

"No, not truly, completely alive! I mean, those things that die and come back... In your terms, it has become something between a wraith and a spirit."

"A wraith and a spirit?"

"Yes."

Armani went on to explain that shortly after Turan took the Holy Relic, the great sea serpent's lifeless corpse had begun to move again. It had become something akin to what people commonly called a wraith and rampaged through the sea. In the process, it had merged with a storm spirit, acquiring the ability to disrupt the North Sea's weather as well.

"A storm spirit?"

"Yes. In any event, we merfolk have a duty to defeat the creature disturbing the sea. My royal father says that to lay it to rest, we need the object you took."

But Armani was the only one who knew what Turan looked like, and they had no idea where he had gone. For months, merfolk royals had been infiltrating islands throughout the North Sea, waiting for someone matching his description to arrive. Then word had reached them through the commotion Turan's party caused, and they had come straight over.

"So that's what this is about."

"Yes! So please return it. It is essential to restoring peace to the sea! I will ask my royal father to compensate you with something similar for your loss!"

At Armani's plea, Turan briefly exchanged glances and opinions with his companions, then declared,

"I'm afraid that won't be possible."