Volume 8 Chapter 8 Operation Escape…
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”What the hell…?”
The bells were ringing.
Not one, but two deep metallic tolls throbbed through the night, echoing across the sleeping town. It was pitch-black beyond the inn windows, midnight when everyone should’ve been asleep—and yet the air outside was rattling with the noise of a crowd.
”…I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”
The second he stepped out, the scene hit him like a slap. People were running. Not just one or two—dozens, scores, streaming through the streets with wild eyes, shoving furniture onto carts, slinging bags over shoulders, tossing children up onto horses. They rushed by like a river breaking its banks.
”Hey, what’s going on!?”
He yelled at the closest blur of a man, but the guy only sped up.
”Hey! What’s this bell for!?”
”Run! They said we gotta get out before the soldiers break through the gate!”
”Move it! Or the merfolk will eat you alive!”
Another man shouted it while getting smacked on the butt by a red-faced elder sprinting behind him.
”…Hah? Eat us…?”
Klock’s baffled voice vanished into the chaos. Everyone he called out to just showed their backs as they fled.
”Hey! What’s happening!?”
”They’re gonna eat us! We gotta run before they do!! Those fish freaks are coming to eat us all!!”
A passing woman yelled that over her shoulder. She was just one of many who’d burst from their houses after hearing the commotion, just like him. The same frantic call-and-response was rippling all over the town.
”…What the hell…”
Running people. Klock standing frozen. His legs wouldn’t move. Should he follow the herd? Should he run? He couldn’t tell if that was even the right move.
”Klock.”
”…Cianie. Do fishmen… eat people?”
She was behind him. Somehow he’d expected her to be. It didn’t surprise him.
”Dunno. I’ve heard the ‘demons will eat you’ story when I was a kid. No idea if it’s real.”
Just a bedtime scare. Adults told it to keep kids from wandering off alone beyond the gates. Like saying, “We found you under the bridge,” half-joking.
Or maybe… just plain prejudice. A rumor twisted wrong, that Monsters eat humans.
”…Whatever. Let’s park that. The real question is why this whole escape plan just kicked off.”
The bells still clanged. The people still ran.
It was probably the mass breakout he’d suggested two days ago… but this wasn’t how it was supposed to look. He’d planned a quiet strike, a surprise. This was the opposite—yelling “we’re escaping” to the whole ocean.
”Klock. There’s a lot of magic signatures coming from the sea.”
”…Figures.”
He sighed at her warning. Fishkin, for sure. The soldiers who’d been waiting out on the waves must’ve started landing.
”…Someone with real authority is pulling this. But why like this?”
Ringing bells right in front of the enemy. If they ran now, the enemy would just chase them. That’s why it was supposed to be a surprise. That’s why they needed time to quietly spread word, to coordinate. Without that, it’d be chaos.
He’d only floated the idea two days ago. Did they really jump this fast just because of the “we’ll get eaten” rumor?
Even with the time crunch, there hadn’t been nearly enough hours to get word through the whole town. The bells had to be a last-minute broadcast to make up for it.
”Klock. They’re close.”
”…Damn it. This is a mess.”
Maybe it wasn’t even his plan that sparked this. Maybe someone else decided. But the “we’ll be eaten” part—it sounded like someone had mangled the original idea about feeding Monsters and spread it wrong.
He had no clue how it got to this. Maybe they were forced to act early. Maybe the plan leaked.
”…They wouldn’t do this *on purpose*, right?”
Nobles and merchants weren’t idiots. If Klock could see the flaws, they definitely could. So if they’d done it anyway, they must have their reasons.
Either way, it was a bad call. Too many people would get left behind. Even if they made it out, how would they live? The ones running probably thought the masterminds had some plan. Klock wasn’t so sure.
”—Klock!!”
Someone ahead crumpled.
Blood sprayed. A spear tip jutted from his stomach, its shaft quivering from where it had been hurled.
Webbed feet slapped stone.
Fishkin soldiers were charging up from behind.
”—Shit!!”
Klock’s hand darted for his knife—only for a pale hand to block his view.
”Stay back. It’s fine.”
Cianie gripped half of an old scissor blade. The other half had been reforged into a crooked knife that hung at his own belt now. It kinda looked like a sword, in a cursed sort of way.
She vanished.
Or—moved so fast it only *looked* like vanishing.
Fishkin heads burst open in fountains of blood before they even touched her.
”Should we pull back?”
”No. We’re going to Boit’s shop.”
Normally he’d be the first to run, but Boit’s hairy mug flashed in his mind. After accusing him of ditching them, he couldn’t ditch Boit now. And never mind Boit—the man’s daughter wasn’t even ten. He couldn’t leave her.
He sprinted straight through the chaos with Cianie guarding his flank.
Boit was just stepping out of his house, reins in hand, when they got there.
”Oi! What the hell is going on!!”
”Like I know!! And you had time to prep a wagon!? Real chill, huh!?”
”Moron, go out empty-handed and you’ll die in a ditch!!”
The kind of guy who’d burn alive going back for his wallet during a fire. Klock, who thought money could always be bummed off someone else, would probably outlive him.
”You heard anything from the guard captain?”
”Hah? No!! The bells woke me up too!! Look, we’re bailing out of this town!! No waiting around!!”
So even Boit had no clue. Or maybe knowing the backstory made it even less understandable. What could’ve twisted things this far?
”Good evening!!”
”Ohh, still got spirit!! Gotta be tough to greet people at a time like this!!”
”I can’t get all weak! I have to take care of papa!!”
Nora clung to Boit’s fat gut as he led the horses, her voice squeaking like a trumpet. The wheels rattled on the cobbles as Klock and Cianie clambered up onto the cart. It lurched toward the town gates.
With Boit handling the reins, Klock had his hands free—until he realized he didn’t need them.
Cianie was already calmly scanning their surroundings. Just her being there made it impossible to feel tense.
”Cianie!! While we’re heading out, can you trip up some of those fishmen chasing us!?”
”—Got it. But… will you be fine?”
”Yeah. I’ve got your blessing, right?”
He drew his crooked blade.
That weird twisted metal. It wasn’t just a knife anymore—not with her power sunk into it. Enough that even Klock could count as a real fighter now.
Cianie nodded once—and vanished.
A heartbeat later, a pressure wave slammed them, rocking the wagon as if a storm had struck it from the side. She must have leapt. One moment she had been right in front of them—and then nothing. The night swallowed her whole. Maybe it was just that she was too fast for their eyes in this darkness, so fast it only looked like she had blinked out of existence.
Boit and Nora both blinked dumbly when he glanced forward again. Nora’s face was all round surprise, while Boit’s was this complicated scowl like he couldn’t decide if he should be impressed or worried.
”Klock, you even got a destination in mind!?”
”Hell no! I don’t even know the damn geography out here!! I was gonna ask you!!”
”If we’re going anywhere, Barreith’s safest! It’s a mining city to the northwest! But it’s damn far, and the Gassano Plains are basically a blind date party for Land Crocodiles these days!! Without horses and food we’re dead meat!!”
So that’s why Boit had rolled out a wagon. He’d actually been thinking ahead, unlike Klock, who’d mostly lived off spur-of-the-moment schemes his whole life. Same breed of bastard, but a different species entirely.
”By the way, Klock!! We’re stopping by the shipyard on the way out!! My merchandise’ll all die pointless deaths if we don’t!!”
”Haah!? If you care that much then just release them already, you pain in the ass!!”
* * *
”—ttch.”
A black blade drew an arc through the dark.
”Ghhah!?”
Blood spun up into the night like ribbons, scattering across the dim sky. Fishkin flopped on the cobbles, writhing as more and more poured in, surging like water flooding down a slope. They just wouldn’t stop.
”The hell is she!? She’s crazy strong!!”
The ones who’d rushed in to put down the riot stopped dead in the main street.
Not a word, just that cold stare and the sweep of her blade. She stood there like some sunlit goddess, but with killing intent so sharp it froze their bones. It made the fishkin soldiers forget how to step forward.
They were supposed to be the ones ruling this town.
And yet somehow, staring at her, they felt like prey.
”…Tch. Fine, hit her all at once with water magic—”
”Don’t.”
The word cracked out like a whip.
They all jerked.
One soldier, who had started to raise his hands, flinched like he’d been caught stealing. The voice that stopped him was fierce, female.
”That’s enough. Fall back.”
”Lady Primrity! Are you sure!? They’re defying us—”
”Fools. Even if you don’t know who she is, you can *feel* it. That’s not someone we can fight, even all at once.”
The voice came from the back ranks—belonging to a woman with fins like shattered rainbows.
The gray-haired girl didn’t even glance her way, just kept staring at them. Primrity grimaced, then waved her hand. The soldiers obeyed, shuffling backward in unease.
”—Ah, Lady Primrity!! That swordswoman, she’s gone! This is our chance—”
”Silence. I said retreat. Back to the ships.”
”Eh—But… what about the townsfolk!? They’re revolting!”
Confusion spread down the line. Orders rippled through the street, and the fishkin began slinking back toward the shore, the sound of their wet feet slapping stone filling the midnight air.
”She was beautiful. Like ice.”
”…Ma’am?”
”Skin white as snow. Eyes like blue crystal. And that gray hair fits the stories.”
Their bare feet flicked water as they ran. The ones wearing shoes thudded on the cobbles. All the sounds of their retreat tangled together under the stars.
”Someone you knew?”
”The power rolling off her… matched a sea dragon. No—more. There’s no mistake. That was Hero Anna. The one who cut down Lady Primjune three months ago.”
”A… a Hero!? That woman…!?”
The soldiers reformed near the piers, where torches crackled and threw orange light across their scales. The rainbow-finned commander turned, voice cutting through the din.
”Listen, all of you!! This is no mere uprising!! A Hero is behind this!! Lady Primjune told us: if it grows too dangerous, we are to ignore the Demon Lord’s Army’s orders and prioritize our clan’s survival!! We retreat, as the High Priest commanded!!”
The name alone sent ripples through the troops. Hero. Even the word made their fins quiver. Everyone knew what that meant—what it *cost* to face one.
”Primlena.”
A splash, and another mermaid vaulted up beside her, droplets flying off scales the color of sunset. Her lower half rippled and twisted mid-leap, turning into smooth human legs as she landed on the dock.
”I heard, Primrity. Hero Anna’s come back to the Human Continent. The one who cut down our sister… our hated enemy.”
”Yeah. So we go. There’s no point throwing our clan’s future away in some war the warmongers picked. She didn’t chase us—she’s busy covering her people’s retreat. If we leave now, we can still make it home.”
Primlena nodded once, and at her older sister’s signal the retreat began in earnest. Soldiers filing back. Sails snapping up. Ropes falling. Anchors groaning out of the deep. The Demon Lord’s Army was leaving.
Primrity stayed at the rail, eyes locked on the town, her face stiff with tension. Only when the last formations cleared the streets did her shoulders drop the tiniest bit.
”At least we’ll get home. Damn Dainheorl and Bandanzine, dragging us into this mess. Anyway—Primlena, good to see you lively again. Everyone’s been worried, said you’ve just been staring off lately. Did something happen?”
The orange mermaid stood at her side, quiet, looking out at the town like she was peering at something far away and sad.
”…No. Don’t worry, Primrity. Just lost in thought. But—let me ready one small unit before we go. Give them flying fish, and Black Mana Stones.”
”What? You’re forming Obsidian Riders? Wait. You’re not… thinking of fighting the Hero, are you!? Don’t. We can’t. I knew the second I saw her. The stories were true—Lady Primjune *was* nearly killed in a single strike. She’s beyond us.”
”I know. Relax. I won’t fight her. I’m just going to take someone.”
”…Take? Who?”
Primlena’s tone was too smooth. Too calm. It made Primrity frown.
Above them the moon hung bright and silver, the night clear and the sea-breeze soft—and still, the air felt like the edge of a storm.
”I remember his voice. His footsteps. He won’t escape. Mermaids never let land men walk away from their debts. We’ll make him pay, even if it takes our whole lives.”
”…Primlena?”
”…I’ll chase him. Until he turns to bubbles.”
—
The mermaid-sister politics: Primrity = pragmatic commander, Primlena = revenge-poisoned and quietly plotting.
Notes:
• Cianie – A noble girl with a fluffy white and light blue dress, indicating her high status. She has a hesitant and flustered personality but is kind and courteous. Her relationship with Klock begins as an accidental encounter and develops into a romantic interest. She has a fiancé but expresses feelings for Klock, complicating their relationship.
• Boit – A merchant involved in human trafficking, with a villainous face and a loud, obnoxious voice. He is pragmatic and willing to help Klock escape the country in exchange for something. His relationship with Klock is business-like, though both are aware of each other’s illicit activities.
• Primjune – She is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, appeared as a scaled and finned figure, known for executing the saint’s kidnapping plan.
• Anna – The legendary Hero, chosen to defeat the Demon Lord. Her past life is Sylvia Croce. She is described as a heavenly being with overwhelming skill and a merciless attitude.
• Bandanzine – They are one of the Four Heavenly Kings, appeared as a warrior with a dignified gaze, known for their frontline combat prowess.
• Dainheorl – He is the conqueror of the Demon Continent, appeared as the council leader, known for his godlike strength and four horns.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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