With Alex's legs slowly recovering, he watches Benezia negotiate with the grumpy Galley-La foreman, Gerald.
"First of all," Gerald says, "you have no way to transport the Sea King to shore, so without us, you'll get exactly as much as you can carry—which isn't a lot."
"Wrong," Benezia instantly replies. "Look where we are standing. I've just obtained a large ship, capable of storing a lot of cargo, with enough rope on board to drag a large chunk of the Sea King with us, even without your fleet. Anything remaining, I'll just dump into the ocean to avoid flooding the market with fresh meat. Don't think we're in a desperate situation here. I hold all the cards in my hand, puny human."
"I... human? What?!" Gerald stammers, confused.
"Now, are you ready to negotiate properly?" Benezia asks, staring directly into his eyes.
"You... I don't even know how to respond to that. Let's just get to it. I assume you want to sell the ship as well?"
"Yes," Benezia replies. "Now let me tell you how this will go—"
However, before Benezia can finish her sentence, Alex spots a large shark—easily ten times the size of a normal one—tearing off a chunk of the Sea King, fresh blood dripping into the water.
"You continue," Alex says toward Benezia. "Tereza, let's go keep these pests away!"
"Okay," Tereza replies, transforming into her full bat form.
Alex quickly hops onto her back, Jewel staying perched on his head.
They quickly fly over to the part of the Sea King that's under attack.
Alex once again draws his [Enchanted Runeblade], casting Thundara, this time focusing the full potency of the spell directly onto the shark.
You have dealt 108 x 6 = 664 damage to Giant Shark
You have stunned Giant Shark
"Damn, that's effective! A crit and effective damage!" Alex yells.
"Dive down, Tereza. I just wanted to scare this thing away, but we can take it down, after all, it's stunned!" Alex orders.
As Tereza dives, Jewel is already preparing another Hidden Power, blasting the stunned shark with a wave of darkness.
Jewel has dealt 59 damage to Giant Shark
Alex doesn't hesitate and casts Thundara again and again, using up nearly all of his remaining MP in the process.
You have dealt 103 x 3 = 309 damage to Giant Shark
...
You have dealt 106 x 3 = 318 damage to Giant Shark
You have killed Giant Shark
With the giant shark now dead, Alex tries to put it into his inventory—without success. It's far too large to fit.
He grabs it and begins slowly dragging it back to the ship. With help from a few of the workers and several ropes, they manage to lift it up onto the boat. Alex then pulls it away from the others and begins to butcher it.
He chooses to do it the slow, careful way—preserving the quality of the meat and avoiding brute force. Instead of using his [Executioner's Blade R2], he takes out his familiar [Butchering Knife] and starts cutting the giant shark into five pieces.
It takes him almost an hour, but Alex finally finishes. To his surprise, the [Giant-Shark-Parts] are classified as Light Green items, satisfying him. He already sees the shark as a nice source of FC.
"Not bad," Tereza says, grinning. "This meat should be worth at least 20,000 FC. Menchi can usually salvage dozens of usable meat parts from a corpse like that. Now that we're gonna sell it, she can easily cook dishes worth twice as much, meaning 40,000 FC! Also... I always wanted to try shark meat!"
Princess Jewel wants the best part for herself! She also deserves to eat shark meat!
"Yes, little princess, you'll get your cut—only the best parts, of course," Tereza says, petting her.
❤️
I heard shark meat tastes like crap, but I won't ruin her mood for now. If Menchi's the one cooking, it'll probably still taste pretty good. More importantly, Light Green meat will create useful and expensive items! We're getting richer and richer.
"Yeah," Alex says, nodding, "this looks like a surprising gain. Next time we fish, we should just dump a large amount of Sea King meat into the ocean and use it as bait! We only used normal fish as bait before, with limited success. This is a great chance to catch more... Soon, Menchi will have enough meat to cook for years! She'll be practically printing FC for us! This is great!"
"The market probably won't be able to absorb all the dishes," Tereza argues. "She might have to dump some of it to merchants and NPCs in the Realm for low prices."
"Whatever, let's head back. Benezia should be done by now," Alex says, glancing at what's left of the shark—only a few small parts and a large pool of blood slowly draining from the ship into the ocean.
Back at Benezia, who looks as calm as ever, Alex immediately notices Gerald looking rather flustered. His cheeks are red, his hair ruffled, and sweat pours down his face.
"You! Fucking keep your woman in check! She is crazy—crazy, I tell you!"
"Silence, child. Didn't you learn not to disrespect your elders?" Benezia admonishes him, causing him to tremble in frustration.
"She is crazy! I don't even get what she's saying half the time, but it somehow all rings true... Anyway, we're done! Done, I tell you! Finished!" Gerald exclaims, his behavior growing more erratic by the second.
"So?" Alex asks. "What did you two negotiate?"
"Fifty million for the ship, fifty million for the Sea King, along with a new fishing boat. Of course, we'll help you dismantle this beast, and you can take as many cuts as you want," Gerald says, already backing off, ready to jump back to his own ship.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten something, child?" Benezia says sternly. "You'll also give us the full bounty, and anything that may or may not be contained inside the beast... along with the special item I requested."
"Fine, whatever!" Gerald barks before fleeing, leaping through the air and landing on his boat.
One of Gerald's men steps forward, politely approaching the group.
"We'll stay on board and sail this boat back to the city. We'll also use it to drag this damn beast with us. Even with all the ships, it's going to take a while. We've attached ropes to it, so we can only drag it slowly," the man explains.
Just like he said, it takes the group nearly an hour to make their way back to Water 7, the massive Sea King corpse making the journey painfully slow.
"You sure that was good enough?" Alex asks as the group sits on deck, relaxing. "I mean, don't misunderstand me—we got the full bounty of 108 million Belly, the one million we found, and 100 million total for the ship and Sea King. That's exactly 209 million! With our savings, that's 211 million! And Menchi still has some cash from selling all the fish we didn't want to keep. I just... thought the Sea King might be worth more, since it's rare to catch one this close to land. It's big enough to feed hundreds of thousands of people."
"I think she did great! Look, it's just a Sea King. There are so many. The Calm Belts are full of them," Tereza argues.
"I agree with Alex, to some extent," Benezia says. "Maybe I could've pushed for more, but I chose to secure a new ship and two additional rewards. One, we get to keep everything the Sea King contains, and two, we get all the valuable cuts. Menchi will be satisfied. Also, the second additional reward..."
"Wait... everything it contains? You mean it swallowed stuff? Do you expect to find gold inside?" Alex asks, suddenly realizing her intentions.
"It's certainly possible," Benezia states. "These beasts like to swallow ships, so there might be valuables in its stomach. That was the case with a certain other large creature—the giant snake Nola, the protagonists encounter in the sky. I distinctly remember the foolish protagonist stumbling across treasure inside of her. Creatures defy logic in this world—stomachs become vaults. I thought the possibility was worth taking a small gamble on."
She is kinda smart... gotta give her credit.
"I guess... that's a good idea. Good job. So, what was the last thing?" Alex asks.
"Plans... or, to be more accurate, old maps," Benezia explains.
Tereza immediately perks up, asking, "Maps of what?"
"Water 7... from a long time ago. Especially the lower levels," Benezia answers calmly.
"With a certain someone now able to dive and stay underwater for extended periods, I figured it was worth trying out more creative ways to create profit. Remember Little Garden—this world rewards exploration and ingenuity."
"Don't tell me..." Alex sighs, already dreading where this is going.
"Who else? Just man up and dig up some treasure!" Tereza says, grinning wide.
"It's not digging, it's fucking diving!" Alex complains, looking down.
Fine...
As the Sea King and the small fleet of ships reach Water 7, they slowly dock at Rocky Cape, where hundreds of workers—each carrying large knives and various tools—are already waiting. Among them stands an excited green-haired woman, smiling from ear to ear.
Alex, Benezia, Tereza, and Jewel quickly disembark the ship just as Menchi storms forward.
"You... did it!" she yells, her face lit up with joy as she throws her arms around Tereza, then Benezia, and finally Alex—who gets caught off guard as she kisses him without warning.
Enjoying the sensation, Alex starts to relax for a moment... only for the moment to end abruptly as Benezia bonks Menchi on the head, forcefully interrupting the kiss.
❤️ Good job, Benezia! Princess Jewel approves!
"... Petty spider," Menchi says, rubbing her head.
While the group continues to bicker, the workers all begin pulling on the ropes, their combined effort shaking the entire dock as they haul the Sea King in, slowly dragging it with them onto the Rocky Cape. Several stronger men and women among them push themselves to their limits.
A crowd slowly forms around Alex and the others—people cheering and clapping as they take in the sight.
"This is the second-largest Sea King I've ever seen! It fills up almost the entire Rocky Cape—its tail is still hanging into the water!"
"And you donated most of it to the city? You're heroes!"
"You're so cool!"
"I wanna be a pirate like you!"
Children, the elderly, women, and men—people from all walks of life—cheer for them. A few even throw flowers.
Behind the crowd, hundreds of bulls, small carts, and fishing boats wait at the outer edge of the water near Rocky Cape, ready to transport meat away. Galley-La employees stand guard, blocking the passage to prevent a full-on rush, securing the cape from all directions.
"This will be a feast! Our food reserves are secure for the next season!" an elderly man says, holding a large cleaver with both hands, looking truly satisfied.
Alex watches the crowd pulling at the ropes, considering lending a hand just to avoid all the attention, but then he suddenly freezes.
He spots two figures.
"Oy... you see them...?" Alex mutters, trying to look innocent.
"Who?" Tereza asks, looking around, confused.
"There... at the back... Rob Lucci... and Kaku..." Alex whispers, staring directly at them.
And in that same moment—both of them turn their heads and lock eyes with him, both clearly fixated on him.
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