Retire 493
by Cristae493 Aerial Aquarium (5)
He still wanted to blame his guild member for not simply trying to initiate a normal conversation, but, as troublesome as that guild member was, he had to admit the method was effective.
So effective, in fact, that Hong Seok-young began to worry the monster might attack. Even a beast possessed the instinct to protect its young.
But…
“………….”
“&#^%#$”
“………….”
“!$%^%%)$~#”
Predictions always missed the mark.
Hong Seok-young stared blankly at the monster “conversing” with Hope.
A conversation? It must be, right? Honestly, only one voice could be heard, so he couldn’t be certain, but Hope wasn’t the type to talk to himself for no reason. He talked a lot, yes, but only when there was someone to listen. So, it had to be a conversation with the monster.
If he strained his ears, he could faintly hear a humming sound coming from the monster. It was nothing like the birdcalls Hope made.
“Hey, Han Tae-kyung.”
“Yes?”
“Can you make out what it’s saying?”
“Hmm…”
Han Tae-kyung furrowed his brow slightly.
“I can’t hear it clearly. I just get the general sense of what it’s saying.”
“So you can’t understand it?”
“That’s not it.”
Han Tae-kyung scratched his head.
“I think it’s just a species that communicates like that. If you’d talked with creatures like that before, you might pick up on it better. Alex is just more used to it than I am. Still, I can get the gist.”
“…What are they saying now?”
“Introductions?”
At that, the monster turned its head toward Han Tae-kyung.
One of the monster’s feathered scales was bigger than Han Tae-kyung himself. No matter how bold he was, even he faltered when a monster of that size fixed its gaping eyes on him, and he instinctively edged behind Hong Seok-young.
He really had no idea what his cheeky guild members thought of their guild master. He’d told his son the same thing: if they needed to, they could use him as a shield as much as they liked… But still! Honestly, these kids!
…Well, if he could handle things himself rather than see anyone else get hurt, that was for the best.
“(!!$@@#~^”
Hope, who had also been watching Han Tae-kyung, chirped in a high voice. The monster hummed again and turned its gaze away—if it could be called a gaze at all.
Han Tae-kyung cleared his throat and translated the exchange.
“So, it thought the sounds Alex was making were suspicious, but it wanted to check anyway. For something that looks like that, it has a gentle heart.”
“…And?”
“It said, ‘living…’ What was it? Oh, ‘the ones living here’… So, I think it means us humans. Natives, maybe? Something like that.”
Was it a monster that had never encountered humans? Or did its language simply lack a word for “human”?
He didn’t know how Hope had explained things, but there was no sense of hostility. Which only made him more uneasy. Asking to “talk” had turned into “please save me.” Even knowing it was a lie, why did things feel so peaceful?
“Anyway, it says it didn’t mean to frighten anyone.”
“Then why did it come here in the first place?”
Perhaps hearing Hong Seok-young’s question, Hope looked over and raised his voice.
“)+$$@$^”
“So… It followed the scent of water, but now that it’s here, it can’t find any. That’s what it’s searching for.”
“Water?”
There was a massive artificial lake near Las Vegas. By car, it was only about thirty minutes away. For something that size, it was practically within reach.
Maybe that was what confused it. If it couldn’t sense the lake so close by, it must definitely be blind, but if it could smell water, then its sense of smell was keen.
Or was it the opposite? It could detect the scent of water, but not well enough to distinguish between the lake and the city’s water. In that case, it was rather dull.
“It even apologized for startling us. And now it’s politely—well, as politely as it can—asking where the water is. That’s the gist of it.”
Truly, life was full of surprises. A lost monster asking for directions.
“What should we do?” Hope asked, turning around.
“What do you mean, what should we do…”
They had confirmed it had no intention of attacking, but there was no guarantee that would last. It could abandon its docile behavior at any moment. In fact, that seemed more likely.
And what if it found the water?
What if, true to its appearance, it dove in?
The monster had been bleeding for hours, staining the city with its blood. Depending on the species, monster blood was often toxic. Most Awakened would be unaffected by such a mild toxin, but ordinary civilians could suffer stomachaches, vomiting, chills, and other symptoms.
If it were just the city, they could manage. But if the lake was contaminated? Lake Mead, near Las Vegas, stretched 185 kilometers in length—a truly massive body of water. If that were polluted, no one could handle the consequences.
Hong Seok-young looked at the wound where blood was oozing out. Up close, it was clear that someone had gouged it out violently. There were slash marks all around the wound.
“Ask it why it left its dungeon and ended up here in the first place.”
Whatever happened, he had to prevent it from getting into the water.
Better the city be destroyed. First, they’d have to sever its fins and tail to keep it from changing direction…
“@$@^ Ugh, really? &**$%%^~=!”
Hope jumped in surprise at something he’d just heard.
“Oh.”
Even Han Tae-kyung’s expression turned strange.
“Why? What did it say?”
“Well, um…”
Han Tae-kyung trailed off, looking uneasy. Hong Seok-young, unable to restrain himself, was about to press him when Hope answered in a tone of disbelief.
“It said it got kicked out!”
“What?”
“It said someone came in, so it drove them out.”
“…Who?”
“The golden furball.”
“What?”
“…So that’s how it happened, Hee-jae.”
“What do you mean, that’s how it happened?”
“That’s how it happened, senior.”
“So what exactly happened?”
“I told you, that’s how it happened!”
“What on earth—”
He almost shouted in exasperation, but held back.
No, calm down. Calm down, Woo Hee-jae. You can do this.
The explanation had bounced all over the place, but he understood the situation well enough. He understood why his father had made that decision, and he would have done the same.
That much he could accept.
On the way here, Kim Chae-min had also suggested they try using someone on their side who could communicate with monsters.
He’d agreed.
If it were inside a dungeon, that would be one thing, but fighting a flying monster in the open, especially near the desert, called for caution. If they could avoid a fight, so much the better. In any case, if they waited a few months, it would die of dehydration on its own.
Yes… They were civilized people. Solving things through conversation? Excellent. Nothing could be better.
“Why…”
But why did the result of that conversation…
“Did it end with just giving the thing some water?”
“Everything grows better with water.”
“Is it a plant?”
His father chuckled. Even after several sleepless nights, he shouldn’t have been tired, but somehow he looked old.
Not that he was truly old… He just seemed like a father worn down by fatigue.
Still half-laughing like a man half out of his mind, his father gestured at Han Tae-kyung, who looked distinctly unhappy.
…Was it because of Han Tae-kyung? Well, if he’d been told to take Han Tae-kyung and Hope on a week-long overseas trip, he’d have lost his mind too. He suppressed his irritation one more time.
That was the fate of a guild master. If his father ever retired, he’d dissolve the guild on the spot. He was not cut out to handle Han Tae-kyung and Hope.
“Mr. Han checked—the fish’s blood is filthy.”
“…You mean it’s toxic?”
“No. I mean it’s literally dirty.”
His father shook his head.
“No toxins. But there are parasites in the blood.”
“Parasites?”
“According to Han Tae-kyung…”
“They’re eggs. They haven’t hatched yet. But I doubt they’ll stay unhatched forever. It’s best to take care of them now. The city’s hunters checked, and purification magic works. Healers can handle it too.”
Now he understood why Daniel had been called away so urgently the moment they arrived.
“But what does that have to do with giving it water? Are you saying—”
“It says it can only heal its wounds if it’s in water.”
“And you… believe that?”
His father shook his head.
“I don’t believe it. But we have to stop its blood from falling on the city.”
“……”
“Isn’t it better to spray it with water than to let it get in? We don’t need much. Just enough to stop the bleeding.”
If they fought, blood would inevitably be spilled.
For now, the area contaminated by blood was small enough for magicians and healers to handle, but if a real battle broke out, there was no guarantee. If they fought outside the city in the desert, the blood would soak into the sand…
The worst-case scenario was failing to kill the monster in one blow. Parasites laying eggs in its blood? Those things were monsters too. It would be like releasing hundreds, thousands, an uncountable number of monsters. While waiting for them to die off naturally, the damage would be catastrophic.
“Isn’t this too dangerous?”
“Hee-jae, I know what you’re worried about. I’m worried too.”
“And yet—”
“The monster likes Alex, so it should be fine. It was just quietly minding its own business until it got kicked out of its home. Ha, at least it’s not rampaging like someone else. And when Alex asked, it even told us exactly where its dungeon was. Isn’t that lucky? Haha, a golden furball. I was surprised at first, but when you think about it, human hair is fur too. Don’t you think so, Hee-jae?”
“Human hair, fur… What? The monster likes who?”
It was too much information.
Too much, and none of it made sense. What was going on?
Suddenly, he remembered an old incident report he’d received from Han Tae-kyung. Was his father becoming more like Han Tae-kyung, or was Han Tae-kyung becoming more like his father? Either way, it was horrifying.
“When Alex lured the fish, he pretended to be a child. So the monster saw him as a poor, fellow creature exiled from its dungeon, just like itself. Since it’s blind, it must have judged by smell.”
“…But Hope is human now.”
“He’s been sticking close to Han Tae-kyung, so he must have picked up Han Tae-kyung’s scent! Thanks to that, Han Tae-kyung is being treated like a baby too. With two little ones, I guess it’s got some kind of maternal instinct?”
“……”
No wonder Han Tae-kyung looked so unhappy.
He let the tension drain from his shoulders. He shouldn’t have blamed his father from the start. In fact, things had gone better than he’d feared.
“All right… So how are you planning to give this monster water? Did you get the magicians to cooperate?”
“Oh, about that.”
His father smiled awkwardly.
That was the face he always made when reporting after making a mess…
“I wasn’t sure how to explain to them that we needed to give water to the monster.”
“……”
“I’m counting on you, son!”