[Master. Master, master.......]

Tie took a small step back.

‘Something is strange with Tie’s ears.’

There was undoubtedly noise all around, yet the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) voice sounded so clear, as if she alone were listening to it in an empty auditorium.

[Master, I waited. I waited.]

The eerie voice repeated the same words again and again, echoing inside her.

Tie swallowed hard from tension.

In the distance, the battle was still raging.

Now the people on the ship were fending off not only Des Hound, but also the swooping Magical Beasts.

In short, it was a real battle. There was no time.

‘Who are you?’

She asked in her mind, and an answer came immediately.

[Master, we are your servants.]

Her eyes flew wide open.

Servants.

‘Servants are subordinates?’

But Tie had no subordinates in the black sea.

‘Tie doesn’t have servants. Tie’s subordinates are Uncle Basto, Bale oppa, and Grandpa Nordix......?’

[No. We were before. We have always been here. For Master. Only for Master.] 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

But the “subordinate of Tie” in the sea stubbornly insisted.

Tie thought seriously, then asked doubtfully:

‘Then can you help Tie right now?’

Her gaze had long been fixed on the distant sea where Basto and Bale were.

The ship the ruler had lent them was already half destroyed.

‘Will you do everything Tie asks?’

If this continued, the ship would sink, and everyone would end up in the sea.

Basto, Bale, the ruler’s two sons — all were in danger.

The answer sounded again.

As Tie replayed what she heard in her head, a relieved smile slowly spread across her face.

And soon, a quiet phrase slipped from the child’s lips.

“Then I... I need a boat right now.”

“Hey! Wake up!”

Raul’s eyes snapped open from a slap to the cheek.

His blurred gaze trembled, focused — and a face appeared before him.

White, round.

Large, slightly elongated eyes with pitch-black pupils.

He stared in shock at the astonishingly beautiful woman, but she immediately slapped his other cheek.

“I said wake up!”

“Hah—!”

Raul reflexively sprang up.

Because of the blow, the events before he lost consciousness rushed through his head like a whirlwind.

Yes, he had definitely been fishing with Enzo.

Then a storm suddenly struck, and when they tried to steer away from a whirlpool in the sea, the ship hit something.

“......The Magic Stone.”

“Yes, idiot! If you’ve already realized what kind of mess we’re in, get up quickly!”

Her rough manner of speaking did not match her beautiful appearance at all.

Raul opened his mouth in bewilderment.

He lifted his gaze — the sky was dark.

The downpour still lashed down, the wind was growing stronger.

“Why are you here?!”

The question burst out on its own.

He still did not understand what was happening, but the place he had ended up looked extremely dangerous.

Not a place for a fragile woman at all.

At that moment, the ship sharply tilted, and the left side of the deck shot upward.

Raul grabbed the nearest railing and reached toward the woman.

But she was already holding onto something herself, clinging with all her strength.

“We have to get to the big ship! Your brother is already there!”

Brother? Enzo?

Only now did he notice — a much larger ship was pressed against their vessel.

Flying Magical Beasts circled around the mast that rose into the sky, and below, a battle raged.

The strange part was something else.

“What are they doing?”

Why were people fighting each other?

Shouldn’t they be striking the Magical Beasts together?

Clinging to the railing and climbing upward, the woman answered irritably:

“You and your brother are the same. Even now you’re asking questions? Do you absolutely need to know that right now? Huh?”

She shot him a sharp look and quickly continued:

“Listen carefully, I won’t repeat this. Me, that big guy, that one, that one, and that one — we’re ordinary people who came to save you and are now about to die ourselves.”

“.......”

“And that bastard and the others with red armbands are Des Hound mercenaries. Those scum are the ones who caused all this, interfering with us while we were trying to deliver you safely to shore.”

Raul’s eyes widened.

The picture began to form.

‘These people are the ones Mother hired?’

And Des Hound attacked them and put everyone in danger.

His brows drew together on their own.

He knew that conflicts among mercenaries often flared up over profit.

‘But to do this when a Magic Stone has opened.......’

His gaze lifted to the Magical Beasts flying in the sky.

“Not only in the sky. If you want to live — keep your head working.”

He turned toward the voice.

From the opposite deck, something revolting was rising.

A glossy surface covered with hundreds of eyes.

Around twenty tentacles crushed the deck and climbed upward.

No one had ever seen such a Magical Beast.

‘......Damn.’

A chill ran down his spine.

When, before losing consciousness, he saw the Magic Stone that had risen from the sea, he had already guessed — but the situation was worse than he thought.

“W-we have to... get up......”

Raul nodded toward the stern of the small ship dangerously hooked to the large one.

At that moment—

Kuuuum—crash!

A wave struck so hard that the hull shuddered.

“Hey! You—!”

His body was thrown upward, his fingers loosened.

Raul blinked in slowed time.

‘Raul, Enzo. What is a knight’s duty on the battlefield?’

An old voice surfaced in his mind.

That day, when four squads were suppressing a large Magic Stone together, Father had asked the twins that question.

Back then Raul and Enzo, sitting by the campfire, laughed and answered:

‘What kind of question is that? Of course, to destroy the enemy.’

Father smiled gently, walked over, and sat beside them.

‘Usually — yes. But this father’s duty is a little different.’

‘Yes?’

‘My duty is to protect you. I promised your mother that.’

‘.......’

‘Perhaps for a knight it is not praiseworthy, but you and your mother are more important to me than anything. Do you understand?’

The hand stroking his head had been warm and soft.

Father ultimately fulfilled his duty.

He saved Raul and Enzo and fell while fighting on the front lines.

‘......Father.’

He had wanted only one thing from them.

That they survive.

The surging wave shattered in the air.

Icy water struck his face.

Instinctively, Raul understood.

It seemed he would not be able to fulfill Father’s wish.

In the slowly flowing world,

the tentacle of the monster he had seen earlier slid close by.

He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

“Ruler’s son! You mustn’t!”

Crash —

something instantly crushed both the deck and the monster.

Raul did not fall into the icy sea or into the monster’s maw, but onto something soft.

He opened his eyes — straw swirled in the air.

“What......!”

“Ruler’s son!”

Something suddenly filled his field of vision.

Wet, glistening hair.

Eyes the color of young spring leaves.

Plump cheeks and small front teeth between slightly parted lips.

“Ruler’s son! Now everything is okay! Tie came to save!”

A child.

‘What...... how did this happen?’

He had been a step away from falling into a sea teeming with monsters.

The ship was about to sink, there had been no escape.

And yet—

His gaze began to tremble slightly.

Raul lay on the deck of an enormous ship.

Slightly damp, strewn with straw.

In the distance, a torn flag fluttered.

Wooden pillars, deck, railings — in places rotted, with holes.

Yet despite that, the ship radiated overwhelming grandeur.

“Hey! You little—!”

At that moment, the same woman ran over.

Like Raul, she opened her mouth and looked around.

In the silence that hung between them, a bright, slightly embarrassed little voice sounded.

“Bale oppa! Tie boom-boom, um, found a sailboat!”