A Battle of Wits and Courage

Why does he get to soar through the ranks while I’m still just a frontline combatant?

We joined at the same time. He’s just a little bit stronger than me, that’s all.

Inside his private quarters, the Siren pirate propped his head on his hands, getting angrier the more he thought about it. In this latest raid on the merchant caravan, he was the one who should have taken the top credit. He had strongly advised the Captain to return immediately, but she listened to that guy instead, taking a detour to the Sea of Mists to scavenge.

The Sea of Mists—an ocean at the end of the world.

The surface is permanently shrouded in fog, and all compasses fail there. No matter which direction you enter from, you eventually find yourself spat back out, never reaching the other side. Legend says the mist originated in ancient times, a cursed array laid down specifically to imprison humanity.

Of course, that was all baseless superstition. More importantly, the value of that sea lay in the things that occasionally drifted over from “the other world.” Or rather, the Human World.

Rumor had it that humans possessed extraordinary skill in magic formulas, applying the technology even to everyday items. If you were lucky, you could make a fortune scavenging there. However, salvage in the Sea of Mists was usually a bad business; most returned empty-handed or with worthless junk. At worst, you were attacked by the mysterious Kern Tribe, leaving your ship a shattered wreck.

But this time, someone hit the jackpot.

The Brigadier had sharp eyes; he actually fished a human out of the Sea of Mists!

This wasn’t just a “good deed” anymore. If they could successfully sell a human, the sum would be beyond belief. Forget being a pirate; you could spend every day throwing gold around and live a life of ultimate luxury. Everyone knew the Vampires were desperately short on blood; a healthy human could fetch a heavenly price, let alone one that drifted over from beyond the Mist.

“Dammit, why does all the good luck go to him!”

The Siren grit his teeth. He didn’t mind being poor, but he couldn’t stand seeing someone else get rich—especially a rival.

It was at that moment the alarm was raised. “Emergency! Something’s happened in the cargo hold!”

The Brigadier immediately ordered all units to assemble and head to the deck to suppress the riot. The Siren stood up lazily. What does this have to do with me? The one tasked with guarding the ship was the Brigadier, not him.

Besides, the moment the Captain left the Brigadier behind, the riot became a certainty. A human was worth more than the entire cargo combined. With that kind of money on the line, which of these scummy pirates would still want to do this back-breaking work?

He waited until the obedient crew members had mostly left before donning his armor and picking up his trident. He slithered slowly toward the cargo hold. The commotion on the deck was likely a distraction; those guys were probably preparing to steal the human.

He wasn’t being arrogant—with the Captain gone and the Brigadier busy on deck, there were very few people on the ship who could beat him. Underlings were just underlings; even a group of them was just a delivery of corpses. He was simply curious: who had the guts to try this?

“…”

However, when he actually arrived at the cargo hold, he didn’t see a single fellow Siren. In the pitch-black, chaotic hold, there was only one small figure.

A hooded cloak, a long braid reaching down to the waist. Even the grime couldn’t hide her jade-like face; her crystalline black eyes shone like agate. For a moment, he was reminded of a geisha he had seen in a previous cargo shipment, but this girl surpassed her in both beauty and grace.

Top-tier merchandise.

The Siren’s pupils shook. If he could catch and sell this human himself, he’d be swimming in gold! His heart leaped, and he tightened his grip on his trident. As long as I deal with the ones escorting this human, all of this will be mi— wait.

There was no one else.

His eyes darted around, his thermal organs working overtime, but he sensed nothing. A fact slowly surfaced in his mind: the human was alone.

What’s going on?

He narrowed his eyes, becoming cautious. Lowering the tip of his trident into a ready stance, he slithered forward slowly.

“You’re making quite a fuss,” he said casually. Before attacking, he wanted to bait some information out without startling his prey. “With a mess this big, even someone as valuable as you won’t be easy to sell off.”

Of course, that was the Captain’s problem, not his. He moved carefully, scanning the hold. Did this human cause the chaos? No, she should have been locked in a cage with her hands and feet bound. But if someone intentionally started this riot, where are they? This hold was guarded—did they take out the guards too?

“…”

There was no response. The human just stared at him intently, silent.

Doesn’t understand? Ah.

The Siren remembered then—humans didn’t speak their language. It looked like he’d have to confirm things the hard way. He flicked the tip of his trident, preparing to lunge.

“Just one person?”

A single sentence made the Siren’s body freeze like ice.

“You think far too little of me.”

It wasn’t Common. The words that reached his ears were in his own Tribal Tongue. He understood them perfectly, which made his heart race.

A human… can speak our language?! How… why is that even possible?!

Shocked, he entered a full combat stance as his mind raced through possibilities. For thousands of years, the chaos of the world of Chaos had never ceased. Conflict was constant, and the most terrifying participants were humans. Strength was one reason, but their sheer, stomach-turning cruelty was the main factor.

And the human before him had drifted from beyond the Mist.

Gulp.

The trembling Siren swallowed hard, clutching his weapon. Learning our language in such a short time is impossible. Once he dismissed that, another thought surfaced: a legendary ability to kill enemies and gain their power and knowledge by devouring them. He remembered the difficult battle they had; if not for the Captain and the Brigadier, he would have been nutrients for someone else.

No, no, no!

He shook his head violently to stop the worst-case scenario. He brandished his trident, pointing it at the girl.

“Cheap tricks! Stop trying to bluff me!”

His words were less of a threat and more of a self-consolation. This human was a fortune; if he missed this chance, he’d never see another like it. He had to catch her alive, no matter what! Greed outweighed his fear of death. He roared at Renee:

“I’m in a bad mood today! Crawl over here yourself, or I’ll rip the tendons from your limbs!”

A human couldn’t cause this much trouble alone, and there were supposed to be guards here. If there was an inside man, it was about time for an ambush! Although his vision and thermal sensing only showed the human, he was convinced an accomplice was hiding in a corner. He pushed his senses to the limit, prepared to counter-kill the moment an ambush began.

“…”

But the human ignored him.

She sat down slowly, propping her cheek on one hand and pointing to the floor near the Siren’s feet with the other. In a nonchalant, airy tone, she said:

“If I were you, I wouldn’t take another step forward.”

She looked at him as if he were an ant—trash.

What does that mean…

Baffled, the Siren followed the direction of her finger. He nearly died of fright.

A skull lay right next to his snake tail.

He shuddered, twisting his waist to retreat, only to bump into another mass of foreign matter. The floor was painted crimson. It was a mangled mess of scales and meat—the remains of a snake tail that could barely be called a corpse. Deep wounds had crushed the bone, and the signs of flesh being torn and shredded were clear.

It looked exactly like the handiwork of a savage beast.

M-monster… this creature is a monster!

His mental defenses finally crumbled. His vision blurred, and he nearly dropped his trident.

“This ship of yours is a nightmare to navigate. I took a few turns and ended up back here,” the human said with a small smile. “I’d like to visit the maintenance room first. I’m sure you… will tell me the way.”

A chill crawled up his spine. Terror spread through his body to his very fingertips. The trident felt impossibly heavy, and his thermal sensing was a jumbled mess. I can’t fight her… I absolutely cannot!

“O-out the door and turn right, then at the third corner…”

The Siren’s heart was screaming so loud he could barely speak clearly. Whatever it takes, get her away! Far away! While stammering out directions, his brain was already planning his own escape. To hell with this, I’m here for money, not to die! Once I’m gone, whoever wants to deal with this freak can have her!

“Oh?” The human arched an eyebrow. “I just came from that direction. Are you sure?”

AARGH! Why did I have to run into this one!

His lie was seen through instantly. Terrified for his life, the Siren dropped his weapon and prostrated himself on the floor.

“The maintenance room is out the door and to the left! Go straight and turn right at the first room! P-please, have mercy! Spare my measly life!”

“Is that the truth?”

“The absolute truth! I’ve worked on this ship for ten years! Forget the maintenance room, I know every hole in the floorboards!”

“…”

The human went silent. Even though he heard nothing, the Siren didn’t dare move an inch from his face-down position. He had been in many battles; on a pirate ship, pride was meaningless compared to staying alive. Besides, the human wasn’t trying to escape—she was going to the maintenance room? That place was just where the hired craftsmen lived. What could be there?

It doesn’t matter if I told her, he rationalized.

But while his head was down, he wasn’t just being submissive. He knew that usually, once you give up information, the next step is being silenced. What kind of ability can do this to a person!

Ignoring the overwhelming smell of blood, he stared at the carnage of the corpses. No matter how he looked at it, the broken bones and shredded skin pointed to one reality:

This was the work of a giant beast.

Transformation or summoning—those are the two possibilities!

Carefully, he tilted his head at an undetectable angle to peek at the human. If she made a move, he had to interrupt the “spell”!

What he saw shocked him. Through the gaps in the cage, the human—who had been sitting so elegantly—was now clutching her head, looking like she was in agony.

Is she… preparing to transform?

Yes, that must be it! You couldn’t mangle a body like that without becoming a massive beast! Now isn’t the time to hide!

Thinking fast, he lunged upward, grabbing his discarded trident. He saw her eyes lock onto him. No choice, I have to do this! He swung the trident, sweeping a heavy metal lock that had been lying on the floor.

CLANG!

With a sharp metallic ring, the lock flew through the air in a perfect arc toward the human. It’s going to hit… I have to retreat while she’s still at a distance!

He didn’t think; he just turned to bolt. Dammit… dammit! I thought Lady Luck had finally smiled on me, but I almost lost my life here! My money! My gold! His face was a mask of agony as he retreated—partly from the joy of survival, partly from the pain of losing the “prize.”

Perhaps to confirm she wasn’t chasing, or perhaps out of a lingering attachment to the gold, he glanced back one last time.

Thud!

The lock hit the human… in the back? She tumbled forward, face-planting hard on the ground.

Hahaha, good! That’ll buy me some time to—

“…?”

Then, it clicked. If this was a powerful human, shouldn’t she have caught that attack easily before charging at him?

As the immediate sense of mortal peril vanished, he noticed things he had missed. Wait… wasn’t that cage over there a bit large? I remember our cargo had a long-whiskered behemoth in it this time…

He remembered the day they intercepted the merchant ship. He had discussed what to do with that specific beast with the other crew members.

Is it possible… that human was just a fox borrowing a tiger’s terror?

The moment the thought appeared, linked to the fact that she was worth a fortune, the Siren spun around.

Eyes met.

The human, scrambling up from the floor in a panic, and the Siren, who had been about to flee. Their gazes locked.

…Crap, he figured it out.

You brat! This human was faking it!

Renee was the first to react, bolting deeper into the cargo hold.

“YOU FILTHY HUMAN! AHHHH!”

His hair standing on end from rage, the Siren raised his trident and charged after her.