And so, in due course, twenty-one kraken corpses lay bobbing on the sea.
“What ARE you people… actual monsters…”
“Say, captain? I’d like to bring one kraken home. Whole.”
“Eh? What for? The bounty part is the eyeball — that alone gets you the guild reward. Five hundred gold a head, roughly.”
Ten thousand gold total, then.
Which almost exactly refunds what we sank into the shipping-company acquisition. Tidy.
The captain was already deep in are-these-people-serious territory — and then I pushed him deeper:
“What for? To EAT it, obviously.”
“EAT it?! A KRAKEN?!”
Well — plenty of countries back on Earth recoil at the concept of eating squid, too.
And viewed objectively, the appearance IS fairly demonic… but it tastes GOOD, is the thing…
As for safety: seagulls had gathered and were happily pecking at the kraken — so, ruled edible.
Maria has appraisal eyes, and her verdict: “no poison.”
Worst case, it becomes fertilizer. No downside.
So we lowered a boat, carved up a kraken, and stowed one entire specimen in the Item Box.
The innards are plentiful too — squid shiokara is on the table. I’ll taste-test, then buy salt in bulk before we head home.
Squid — organs especially — spoils nearly instantly, mind you.
This entire play only works because my Item Box stores things with time stopped.
The limit means only one comes home with us — but at multiple tons, we won’t be finishing it anyway.
We’d just finished collecting the last kraken eyeball when — it happened.
“UWAAAAH! A GREAT KRAKEN!”
I looked where the captain was helpfully narrating — and a kraken twice the size of the previous ones was swimming straight for us.
If THAT thing latches onto the ship, we’re finished. No ambiguity about it.
“Hm. Then I shall—”
Cornelia began — and Atomu-kun stopped her with a raised hand.
“Whoa… ‘little girl but STRONG’… that’s premium moe, don’t get me wrong — but fighting is a MAN’S job… Big Sis!”
This kid’s henchman-energy is achieving new densities by the day.
He’s adapted to our household’s frequency remarkably well, is one way to put it…
Anyway — Atomu-kun, Sage that he is, gathered his will and rose into the air.
“FLIGHT MAGIC!”
Ooh. He’s flying.
I’d harbored doubts, what with the beef-wall physique — but he really is a proper Sage.
Atomu-kun soared toward the Great Kraken.
“EAT THIS! HELLFIRE!”
From his palm, a massive fireball roared toward the Great Kraken.
Decent size, too — his claim of soloing a single palm-top rabbit suddenly looks… not entirely fabricated.
The giant fireball struck the sea, and—
“WHAT?! My Hellfire — EXTINGUISHED?!”
Yes. When you throw FIRE at the OCEAN, it goes out.
You could have reasoned your way there, son.
Then the Great Kraken surfaced.
“AN OPENING!”
Atomu-kun drew a dagger from his belt and plunged it into the surfaced Great Kraken’s head.
“It’s in… but he’s TOO BIG! It’s doing NOTHING!”
AGAIN — you could have reasoned your way there!
And then a Great Kraken leg rose from the water—
—THWAP!
“UGYAH!”
Airborne Atomu-kun was swatted out of the sky like a fly and dropped into the sea with a sploosh.
At which point I sank to the deck, fighting for my life against the laughter clawing its way up my throat.
This is the boy who repeated high school THREE TIMES… and there — “FUHA!” — the laugh finally escaped.
It’s no use.
—I love Atomu-kun.
Not as a little-brother character. Not as a henchman character.
As a certified idiot character… I love him a LOT.
That said — Atomu-kun was now tangled in kraken legs and genuinely, actually drowning.
“Guess it’s me, then.”
I took a ten-meter running start down the deck and long-jumped straight at the Great Kraken.
[Skill: Farm Labor Level 10, activated.]
Mid-flight air-kick. Trajectory: adjusted.
Then, timed to the instant its head broke the surface — one flash of the hoe, dead center on the Great Kraken’s crown.
[Skill: Farm Tool Handling Level 10, activated.]
—ZBYUHYON!
Something like a vacuum blade erupted, splitting the kraken clean from the point of impact — one stroke, two halves.
Broken as ever, this skill… I laughed, and leapt over to Atomu-kun.
Cut him free of the clinging kraken legs.
“Boss… you really ARE the greatest. Following you for LIFE.”
And so, with Atomu-kun radiating incoherent devotion the whole way, the two of us breaststroked back to the ship.