Chapter 51: Into the Whirlpool (2)

Cale looked out through the small window on the boat. [1] The color of the violent water was not transparent at all. It was white and blue as it reflected the bottom of the sea, and became a darker and darker shade of blue as it got closer to the center of the whirlpool.

'You'd probably die if you get caught in it.'

Cale thought about the new magic bombs in the magic box back in his residence. He then turned his gaze toward the front and looked toward the smallest island of the cluster of islands in front of him.

"Young master-nim, it is that island over there! The whirlpool in front of that island is the worst! You'll need to say goodbye to this world immediately if you get caught in that one! Hahaha!"

The fisherman was really gutsy. He didn't even see the Vice Captain's face turn paler as he continued to speak.

Cale held back the feeling of needing to vomit and paid attention to the fisherman's words.

"There is a legend that says that the whirlpool appeared because of a thief who stole something from a god, but, aiya!"

The boat leaned to one side. Cale gulped after seeing the water crash against the boat's window.

"Aigoo, the boat almost tipped over. Hey punk, row properly!"

"Sorry dad!"

The fishing dad and son duo really were gutsy.

"That is why, young master-nim."

"Hey."

In the end, Cale raised his hand to stop the old man and sternly started to speak.

"Let's talk after making it to that island first."

"That is what lady Amiru said as well! We are almost there."

The old man skillfully started to row. The boat that was moving as he continued to row somehow twisted and turned to avoid all of the whirlpools. Cale observed each and every one of the whirlpools they passed.

'The marks of the wind vomited out by the Sound of the Wind.'

The ancient power called, 'The Sound of the Wind,' created wind, 'tops,' and spun them as strong as it could. And, as time went on, those tops created new tops, leading to the numerous whirlpools visible today.

"Y, young master, I, I'm supposed to be protecting you.. Ugh."

Cale ignored the Vice Captain's words as he clenched onto the boat's handles. He did not want to drown to death.

Finally, the boat arrived at an island and Cale could once again feel the ground underneath his feet.

"We have arrived. It was easier than usual."

The fisherman's son nodded at his father's words. Cale looked past the two of them to see the Vice Captain leaning over.

"Baaaarf."

The Vice Captain was suffering from such severe seasickness that Cale wondered if he may end up dying. Cale tapped Beacrox's arm as Beacrox walked by him and pointed to the Vice Captain. Beacrox frowned before taking out a pair of white gloves from his pocket and putting them on as he headed over to the Vice Captain.

Cale flinched a bit once he saw the white gloves.

'Aren't those the gloves that he uses for torture to keep himself clean?'

Beacrox seemed to have an endless supply of those white gloves. After observing the existence of these white gloves for the first time, Cale stopped looking at Beacrox and the Vice Captain and looked around the island.

There was no sand on this island, instead, it was surrounded by rocks. If you looked a bit farther in from the shoreline, you could see a small forest as well. Well, it is probably more accurate to call it a garden than a forest since they said you should be able to walk all around it in less than an hour.

"Old man."

"Yes, young master-nim."

"Continue your story from earlier, the one about the thief."

The old man stopped watching his son anchor the boat and pointed to the path they took to get here. He was pointing at the large whirlpool in front of this island.

"A long time ago, there was a thief who was faster than anybody else. The thief's steps were so light and cautious that, supposedly, he could walk on water without causing the smallest of ripples."

It really was the Sound of the Wind. Of course, walking on water was a bit of an exaggeration.

"Anyways, the thief supposedly stole something that belonged to a god. The legend says that the thief jumped off the Cliff of Winds with the items. You know which cliff that is, right? That was how the god's item and the thief disappeared from this world, as well as how the whirlpools came to exist."

The old man smiled as gently as the tanned wrinkles on his arms.

"That is why there used to be sacrifices in the past for the god's item."

"Not anymore?"

"If it really was a god's item, why would that god bother us humans instead of taking back his item?"

Cale agreed with the old man.

It was not a god's item. It was a human's power. That was why a god could not take it.

"Then I will look around the island now."

"Yes sir. I will be waiting for you here."

The old man headed toward his son as the Vice Captain jumped up.

"Young master-nim, me too, ugh."

He then curled back down. Cale clicked his tongue and motioned for Beacrox to come over. Once Beacrox arrived, Cale whispered in Beacrox's ear.

"Since you are Ron's son, I'm sure you are also not normal."

"And?"

Cale patted the not even slightly nervous Beacrox's shoulder and continued to speak.

"You hold the Vice Captain here."

"...Will you be okay on your own?"

"What could be dangerous over here? I also have my shield."

"Please be safe."

Beacrox agreed to follow Cale's order without much issue. This was why Cale had brought Beacrox with him. He needed someone around him for the time being, someone who was strong, but did not feel extremely determined to protect him. It also had to be someone he could boss around.

That was why Beacrox was perfect.

"I'll be back soon."

Cale headed to the forest at the center of the island.

"Please shoot your shield up into the air if you are in danger."

"Young master-nim, I will be right behind, ugh."

Cale just half listened to Beacrox and the Vice Captain as he walked into the forest. He then quietly spoke as soon as he was away from the others.

"What do you think?"

The Black Dragon answered back.

"As you mentioned, there is something underneath that whirlpool in front of this island. It was similar to the power from that cave from last time."

The Black Dragon was talking about when Cale earned the Vitality of the Heart. Cale leisurely entered into the forest. There was no reason to look inside. He really just came here to look at the whirlpool.

'I do need to know a bit about the terrain, since we will be flying back here at night.'

Cale asked one more thing.

"There's nobody here, right?"

"None."

There was nobody else other than Cale's group on the island. Cale could finally sigh in relief. He had been worried about the pod of whales from yesterday.

"But there is a corpse."

"What?"

Cale instantly froze up. He started to frown and looked up into the sky. The Black Dragon removed his invisibility and appeared in front of Cale.

"When I looked down on this island earlier, there were three corpses on the other side of the island."

Corpses were completely out of Cale's expectations. Cale took three steps back toward the boat. He had a bad feeling that something unlucky would happen if he continued to walk toward the other side of the island. However, the Black Dragon continued to speak.

"But the corpses were not human corpses."

Cale lifted his hands up to cover his eyes. If it was not human, that meant that they had a distinct feature. However, they also did not resemble animals.

'So they are similar to humans, but not the same.'

Then there was only one answer left.

"Were their hands and feet weird?"

The Black Dragon energetically nodded his head.

"That's right! The hand and feet were weird. They looked like fins!"

Fins. That was the symbol of the mermaids.

A pod of whales and mermaids. Cale was worried and full of doubt. The whales and mermaids were not supposed to show up just yet.

'No.'

Cale quickly fixed his train of thought. The battle between the Whale Tribe and the mermaids had a history that was even longer than the oldest human wars. However, the moment when this was revealed in the novel was when Choi Han became involved with the Whale Tribe.

Cale called toward the Black Dragon.

"Hey, you."

"...Do not call me you."

"Then what should I call you?"

"You will soon find out."

'What the hell is he talking about?'

Cale just thought that the Black Dragon who had been studying the human language lately would pick a name for himself, so he simply pointed toward the other side of the island with his chin.

"Are you sure there is nobody there?"

"There are no living presence. It is the same in the water."

"Then lead the way."

He had to go check out the mermaid corpses. Just to verify and keep himself out of danger.

"You have to be in front of me."

Cale pushed the Black Dragon in front of him as they headed toward the other side of the island. He then started to frown as soon as he came out of the other side of the forest and saw the corpses.

"...I was right."

As expected, they were mermaid corpses. To be specific, there were three corpses, all with their necks broken. Furthermore, their legs and arms were twisted as well. Cale frowned even more after seeing the appearance of the mermaids with his own eyes instead of just as text in a novel.

The corpses were completely dry, as if they were mummies. However, the mermaids really did look different from humans.

There were fins on their hands and feet, while their skin seemed to be covered in scales. They also had gills instead of ears.

"Why are you not getting closer?"

The Black Dragon curiously asked Cale, who was observing from a distance. Cale easily answered back to the Black Dragon.

"It's scary."

"...Right. I forgot that you are a weak human."

The Black Dragon nodded and headed toward the mermaid corpses. He then started to mumble to himself.

"It seems like they were flattened to death. They also seem to have died not too long ago. Furthermore, I can see some red blood underneath their fins. I think they were in a battle."

'It was a whale. A whale definitely killed these mermaids.'

The Whale Tribe had a small population, similar to the dragons, but they were the strongest existence in the ocean. That was how they were able to protect the ocean world from the mermaids.

The mermaids wanted to create a kingdom inside the ocean. However, the Whale Tribe did not accept sharing their territory with others. It was because they were a species that needed to migrate along with the weather. [2]

'The Whale Tribe is small in number, but they are too strong for the mermaids to do as they please. However, the mermaids suddenly started to get stronger.'

The mermaids started to get stronger, putting the Whale Tribe in a difficult situation. That was when Choi Han appeared and assisted the whales. At least, that was the contents of the novel by the end of volume 5.

Cale told the Black Dragon that they should head back and turned away from the mermaid corpses.

"Can we just leave them like this?"

"Yes."

A mermaid corpse will not dissipate on land, instead, it will just dry out almost entirely. In order for it to dissipate, it needs to be under water. Once that happens, the smell is spread throughout the ocean, signaling other mermaids to come to get the corpses.

That was why the Whale Tribe left them on land like this on purpose.

'I need to quickly take care of things and leave too.'

There was probably only one member of the Whale Tribe who fought these mermaids. If there were two of them, they wouldn't have left these corpses on land. They would have thrown them into the water in order to draw even more mermaids over and battle it out. They chose to act like this because they were alone.

Cale headed back to the boat and talked to the others.

"Let's go back. There's not much to see."

The Vice Captain, who was finally starting to recover from his seasickness, turned pale again, but Beacrox seemed to have bought a lot of fish from the fisherman, as he happily responded.

"Young master Cale, We will have roasted fish for dinner."

"Sounds good."

After returning to the residence, Cale was waiting for the time to pass with a stomach full of roasted fish. Once darkness finally descended on the small village, he took out some scuba gear from the magic box he got from Billos.

Cale stood on the window sill facing the Cliff of Winds and the Northeastern sea as he started to talk to On and Hong.

"Keep a good watch at home."

"We won't let anybody in."

"Have a safe trip."

Cale just nodded his head to respond to the baby kittens before looking toward the Black Dragon.

The Black Dragon looked toward Cale with confidence and casually called out a spell.

"Flight."

At that moment, Cale's body floated up into the air.

"Let's go."

The Black Dragon took the lead and Cale followed behind him. Cale was carrying a magic bomb as they flew high in the air in order to avoid getting noticed.

Cale's plan today was to hit the whirlpool accurately before running. By the time people came out in shock, Cale would have already disappeared like the soundless wind.

This Black Dragon's version of the magic bomb was scheduled to go off ten minutes later.

Teaser

1. It's a small boat that requires oars but has rooms and windows?! o.O

2. Guess we now know the truth about how the mermaids got control in the Little Mermaid.