“Ye WHAT!?” shouted Captain Donald.

  “I killed the Kraken,” I said.

  “When??”

  “Just before noon,” said Vitaly, still staring at me. “How did you do it?”

  I smiled at him. “That’s a secret.”

  For a moment, he glared at me without moving before suddenly breaking into a wide grin.

  “I love secrets!” he exclaimed. “I have a few of my own, if you’d care to trade. Whaddya say, 2 of my secrets to one of yours?”

  “No thanks,” I said.

  “3?”

  “No.”

  “Aww, you’re no fun.”

  “How did you know the Kraken was dead?” I asked.

  “Ah, ol’ Krakky and I go way back,” he said. “I tried to kill him once or twice, one or two thousand years ago, but couldn’t quite do it. I did leave a tracking mark on him though. You can imagine my surprise when it suddenly disappeared yesterday.”

  “I imagine you would be quite surprised,” I said.

  “Yes, I was,” he said. “I was unfortunately quite busy at the time, and by the time I was able to investigate, you had already gone, and all you left behind was half a charred corpse. I assume you have the rest of it stored somewhere?”

  “I do.”

  “I’d love to buy it off of you.”

  “I’d love to sell it to you.”

  “Wonderful!” he said. “Then I suppose we should formally introduce ourselves. I’m Vitaly.” He held out his hand for a shake.

  “Ilsa,” I said, ignoring his hand.

  “An interesting pseudonym,” he said, pulling his hand back, seemingly unbothered. “How about telling me your real name? Relationships should be built on honesty, don’t you think?”

  With those words, the tension that had been dispelled by his smile returned in full force.

  “I would, but I don’t want to cause a panic,” I said. “Besides, you already know, don’t you?”

  A mage of his caliber would be able to see through my illusion, and a man of his position would certainly know what my fangs meant about my identity.

  “Huh, I didn’t think a Demon King would care so much about causing a panic,” he said, causing everyone within earshot to gasp. “Isn’t that basically your job?”

  “D-Demon King?” asked Donald.

  “That’s right, Donny-boy!” said Vitaly. “This here is the-”

  “Oi!” I said, cutting him off, as he grinned slyly. “If you’re not going to let it go, at least let me introduce myself.” I stood up straight and dispelled my illusion. “My name is Lucille, and I am the Demon King of Pride. Donald, I would say I’m sorry for deceiving you, but I’m really not. Rest assured though that I will not harm you unless you first try to harm me.”

  The grizzled captain gulped audibly while Vitaly laughed.

  “That’s right, Donny,” said Vitaly. “She’s not like those other Demon Kings. She’s honorable, and only acts in self-defense!”

  “Why so sarcastic?” I asked. “That is the truth.”

  “I know!” said Vitaly. “Always honorable, never harming the innocent, and only fighting in self defense, like when you went hunting for the Kraken, starting a chain reaction that will leave international trade crippled for an indefinite amount of time.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oh, not much,” he continued. “It’s just that the Kraken controlled a large section of the ocean, and pretty close to Rossini, the sea trade capital of the east, and you killed it without a second thought, so now there’s a large power vacuum that will start an underwater war over the now-vacant territory, completely destroying all the current, known borders, and making trade nearly impossible.”

  His tone remained cheery, the smile never left his face, and I could sense neither mana nor aura from him, but as he spoke, the world seemed to stand still, with even the sea breeze dying down as if to make sure his words were heard.

  I could see his point. The Kraken, and every other sea monster of its level, controlled a vast area, and entirely alone. Killing it was the oceanic equivalent of assassinating an entire nation’s leadership. The smaller creatures would rise up, trying to gain as much power as they could until the larger ones noticed the Kraken’s absence and moved in. And if they moved in and fought, then the loser’s territory would also end up vacant, creating yet another power vacuum, and so on.

  “Oops,” I said. “Sorry?”

  “It’s alright,” he said, not-so-reassuring. “We all make mistakes. Yours just happens to be one that will negatively affect most of the world.”

  “Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “Are you going to do anything about it?”

  “Me? Ha! Gods, no. Why would I do that? This is the most interesting thing that’s happened in centuries. I’ve honestly been getting bored. I can’t wait to see how it will all shake out.”

  “So you don’t care?”

  “No, why would I care about you destroying the business I’ve spent the last four centuries perfecting?”

  “Stop doing that,” I said.

  “Doing what?” he asked innocently.

  “Building up the tension only to tear it down a sentence later. You’re going to give Donald a heart attack.” I nodded toward the pale-faced captain.

  “Haha, you’re right, I wouldn’t want to hurt Donny-boy. And don’t worry. I'm not going to fight you. I’m still not sure how you managed to take down the Kraken, and I’d rather not find out the hard way. I will admit, I was pretty annoyed about the trade routes and stuff when it happened, but when I took the time to think about it, I realized that it’s way more fun this way, so I no longer care.”

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  “So you say…” I said.

  “So I do,” he agreed. “But enough of that. Let’s get back to business shall we? You currently have in your possession eight arms, a beak, one eye, and some skin from the Kraken, correct? How much do you want for them?”

  “How much are you willing to pay for them?” I asked.

  “That depends on their condition,” he said. “Are they all charred and gross like the parts you left behind?”

  “No, they’re completely intact,” I said. “You fought it. You know what its regeneration is like. Aside from the killing blow, everything was perfectly healed off.”

  “And quite a killing blow it was,” he said. “Hmmmmm… This is a tough one. I'll need to see it before I can make an offer. Here, follow me. I know a spot with enough room for you to take it out.”

  Without waiting for my answer, he leapt into the air and flew off past the harbor town along the island's coast. I watched until he disappeared over a small hill, then flew off after him. It crossed my mind that he might have just been trying to relocate so that we would be able to fight with less collateral damage, so as I flew, I set up a seven-layered shield around myself.

  I found Vitaly again on a long, sandy beach, waving at me as I descended.

  "Show me the goods!" he said as soon as I landed.

  I did as he asked, calling out the Kraken's corpse from my inventory, but my eyes never left him. He had already missed the best time to ambush me, but he could also have been waiting for me to expend [MP] summoning the corpse. He made no move to attack though, and instead turned his back to me while examining the tentacles that were now stretched out across the sand.

  "Mmmm, very nice," he said pressing his hand to the slimy, spotted piece of flesh.

  He flew up to get a better view before landing again, this time next to the beak. He walked all around it, rapping his knuckles on it, then flew up again to get a look at the eye. Once he was satisfied, he flew back to me.

  "It is very good," he said. "And worth quite a bit. However, I don't know what I can offer that might tempt you. Is there anything that you'd like? I am quite wealthy, so whatever it is, it shouldn't be a problem."

  “Money would be nice,” I said. “But no, there’s not really anything in particular that I want.”

  “Hmmm…” he mused. “I could just give you money, but the amount I would need to give you would be completely impractical for you to take with you, and you’d never be able to spend it all. It would be best to trade an item with you, but I have no idea what you would want. I’m sure I have something that would satisfy your needs, but it’s hard to decide. You’re going to Eos right? What will you be doing there? Maybe that will give me some ideas.”

  “I’m going to the Baek clan,” I said. “Beyond that, I cannot share.”

  “The Baek clan… Oh, I’ve got just the thing!” He held out his hand, and a sword in an ornate sheath appeared in it. “Behold, the sword of the founder of the Baek clan, stolen by a mysterious thief nearly seven hundred years ago. No, I was not the mysterious thief, but I did have a pretty good relationship with them, and they sold me this for an exorbitant price. It’s a fine blade, and on its own it would fetch quite a high price, but to the Baek clan, it’s nearly priceless. Show this to them, and they’ll give you whatever you’d like.”

  “Fascinating,” I said. “But I’m not sure if it’s worth a Kraken’s corpse.”

  “Half a Kraken’s corpse,” he corrected.

  “The important half,” I said.

  “True, but it is still not an intact corpse, and therefore loses value,” he said, shrugging. “However, you are correct. This blade alone is not quite worth it. So I’ll throw in transportation directly to the Baek Clan, since traveling by ship isn't really an option anymore, and one additional favor that you can call in whenever you’d like. It can be anything you want, as long as it’s within my power and within reason.”

  “Better, but I’m still not sure if it’s enough,” I said.

  “Favors are very valuable things,” he said. “Especially when they are from someone as powerful and important as myself. And in the worst case scenario, you can always just use your favor to ask me for money. This just gives you more options.”

  “Perhaps…” I said. “But still…”

  “And I’ll throw in a hundred thousand gold on top of that,” he said.

  “Deal,” I said.

  “Perfect!” he said, smiling so widely that I was certain I had been cheated.

  There wasn’t much I could do about it though. I still wasn’t quite familiar enough with the world, to properly negotiate for something so valuable.

  “Then, here you are,” he said, producing a small leather pouch from his pocket and handing it to me, along with the sword.

  I inspected it, and found that it was, in deed, a bag of holding, and inside were the promised 100,000 gold coins.

  “Shall I send you off now, then?” he asked. “You don’t need to sleep, so there’s no point in resting here, and you have no reason to wait.”

  I considered waiting anyways, so that I could go back and test out my [Divine Eye of Pride] on Wrath, but decided against it. Once in Eos, I would be able to teleport back freely, so it didn’t matter much whether I went now, or after he teleported me. Plus, by now, Donald's whole crew would know who I was, and soon, the whole island as well. Only Vitaly really posed a threat, but it would be annoying to deal with.

  “Sure,” I said, re-enabling my disguise. “Don’t teleport me into the middle of someone’s house or something though.”

  “Awww,” he said. “Fine.”

  He repeated the motion that I had seen dozens of times from Natalya and Anatoly, and soon a portal had been formed.

  “Have a good trip,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I said, stepping through.

  Once out the other side, I found myself surrounded by 8 armored guards pointing aura-infused swords at me. Fortunately, none of them seemed particularly powerful. The strongest of the bunch looked to be only about level 70 or so.

  “You are currently trespassing on the grounds of the Baek Clan Manor!” shouted the strongest, a man who appeared to be in his early forties. “State your purpose, and make no sudden movements, or we will be forced to subdue you.”

  I looked around and sighed. I had expected as much.

  .

  .

  .

  “I think I’m in love,” said Alexander, pointing the stump of what had been his right arm into the air.

  “With me?” asked the dark-haired woman laying across his other arm.

  “No, of course not,” he said. “With her.” A phantom with violet eyes appeared above them. “This illusion does not do her justice though. You should have seen her the other day. It was incredible. The absolute disgust in her face when I spoke… It was divine.”

  “It sounds like she’s not much interested in you, my lord,” said the woman, snuggling against him. “I’m sure I could provide you with more-”

  “You’re more attractive when you’re not talking,” said Alexander, causing her to wilt. “Do not mistake your position. I may have come back for seconds, but don’t think that makes you special. I know at least four dozen women alive today who are better in bed than you. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Now be quiet unless I ask you not to be.

  “Now, what was I saying? Oh yes, her face. It’s incredible, truly. Every time she looked at me, her eyebrows would crease, and her nostrils would flare and her upper lip would curl, revealing just a hint of her fang.” The phantom’s expression imitated the one he described. “Like this, but more. I truly can’t describe it. Something about being in her presence made every little movement seem all the more intense. It makes me want to reach out and just… make it mine.

  “But as you so astutely noted, she detests me, and she’s too much for even me to handle. So what can I do? If I try to take her by force, I’ll fail, but trying to do it any other way is even more impossible. It’s quite the paradox. This is the first time I’ve ever met anyone quite like her. I don’t know what to do. It’s eating me up inside.”

  He sighed, then sat up, pushing the dark-haired woman to the side.

  “Maybe if I go to her and beg… That should assuage her pride some… But it still won’t be enough. What can I do to make her mine? Money? No she would never sell herself out. But I would sell myself out! I can offer her a service she can’t refuse. Clearly, she had a way out of the prison, which is why she didn’t take my deal, but perhaps if I find something that she absolutely cannot do on her own… She doesn’t know who Sloth is yet, right? Maybe… yeah, that could work.”

  He turned to face the dark-haired woman, who was still lying where he had left her, a silent tear running down her face.

  “Oh, come on,” he said. “Are you really crying over that? Were you that attached to me? Are you stupid?” He turned away with disgust. “Well, don’t worry. I won’t be coming back. I have no interest in the weak-willed. Lucy would never…”

  He quickly dressed himself, and without another word, vanished.