10

A translucent right arm grew from the empty right sleeve that had been fluttering in the sea breeze.

Ains took the white glove fastened to his right shoulder and fitted it onto the unnatural right hand.

At the same time, the sea groaned loudly.

After a short while, a huge white magical beast appeared from the groaning surface of the sea.

The kraken, covered in thick-looking white skin, glared with its round eyes at Ains, who looked down on it.

The kraken had appeared from the sea’s surface in a form where it had been thrust up from below by the ice pillar Ains had manifested. The kraken, thrust higher than the sea’s surface, stretched out all of its numerous tentacles to capture Ains and crush him.

“I thought you were timid because you were shy, but you have quite a bit of nerve.”

Ains jumped down from the ice pillar toward the kraken visible directly below.

“Restriction Release: Mechanical Magic Eye.”

That right eye, dyed red like blood, was sorcery that peered into the abyss of whatever it faced.

“…Your weak point is there.”

With that red eye, Ains completely grasped the location of the kraken’s heart and dove straight toward it. The kraken freely stretched out its tentacles to crush him, but with just a careless swat from Ains’s right hand, they were blown to pieces.

The tentacles blew apart into fine chunks of flesh, leaving only light bursting sounds behind. Of course Arabetta, whose mouth hung open on the embankment, had likely never seen such a thing before, but neither had the kraken itself.

The tentacles had raged violently, crushed countless ships docked in Elias’s harbor, and sunk them into the sea, but before it knew it, everything beyond the roots growing from its body had vanished.

The kraken’s instincts as a living creature, having scattered blue blood along with its tentacles, kicked in. It desperately struggled atop the ice pillar, trying somehow to flee from an opponent it could not defeat.

“It’s already too late.”

The two large, round eyes. Between them, on its thick white skin, Ains placed his right hand flatly.

“There is no way I, who am touching your body, cannot take your life.”

With a loud, dry bang, a large hole opened in the kraken’s body where Ains’s right arm was touching.

When he pulled out the kraken’s core, an enlarged mana crystal, from there, it writhed violently and let out a great death scream.

Ains, who held the mana crystal covered in sticky blue blood with his right arm, and the kraken, whose mana crystal had been extracted, fell into the sea at the same time.

As for Ains, he landed on the icy ground he had made on the sea’s surface.

By contrast, the kraken sank into the sea once with a violent splash, and after a while, it floated lifelessly back up to the surface.

Ains, soaked with seawater from the splash the kraken had raised, headed toward the embankment where Arabetta waited while wearing an unpleasant expression.

“Lord Ains…”

“Was that good enough? There should be no effect on the fish.”

“Y-Yes. It does not seem there will be.”

Arabetta was bewildered by the sheer enormity of what had just happened before her eyes.

“Then that’s good. Here, I’ll give this to you.”

The kraken’s mana crystal was offered by Ains’s right arm.

The right arm that had been empty until just moments ago.

From Arabetta’s perspective, it was an abnormal and strange right arm. An inorganic right arm that had opened a large hole in the kraken’s body with just a touch.

“I-I thank you, Lord Ains.”

Arabetta accepted the mana crystal timidly.

Ains, by contrast, did not seem concerned about anything.

“There is one thing I would like to ask of you, Lady Arabetta.”

“!? A request, you say?”

What would a mage with that much skill, a mage who had overpowered the kraken that Arabetta and the others had been helpless against with an unknown magic, desire from Arabetta, the lord of the harbor city Elias?

Arabetta, unable to calm herself, peered at Ains’s face, trying to read his expression, but Ains had an entirely carefree look, and she could read nothing from him.

(As expected. A mage this outstanding can even skillfully use a poker face…)

While feeling fear toward Ains, Arabetta waited for him to state what his wish was.

“I just arrived in Elias, and I want to eat fish dishes, so could you tell me which restaurant you recommend, Lady Arabetta?”

“…”

Arabetta was dumbfounded by the words she had not expected.

“Huh? As I thought, are you unable to tell me the restaurants used by the lord?”

“No, that is not it. …Hehe, so that was all it was, Lord Ains?”

“That is not all it is, Lady Arabetta! Right now, this is my reason for living!”

Seeing the childish innocence of Ains, whom she had feared, Arabetta felt the tension leave her and laughter well up inside her.

“If your wish is only that much, then it is easy. You helped us through this crisis, so I shall at least give you that much thanks!”

“What do you mean? You will tell me the restaurant?”

“No, come to my manor. They may not be equal to the cooks employed by the royal family, but the cooks of the Elias family shall put their skills to work!”

“Really!? That is a wonderful proposal. Please, right now!”

Ains leaned forward as he spoke, and Arabetta told him something he had forgotten.

“No, what will you do about your companions, Lord Ains? Those two are still running around the city, are they not? Besides, I still have the aftermath to deal with.”

Arabetta said she would have a subordinate guide him to the manor, but asked him to wait a little longer.

“…Sophia and Talidge are late.”

Ains released his right arm and fastened the white glove to his shoulder.

Ains waited for Sophia and Talidge, but because of his hunger, he pressed a hand to his stomach and desperately endured it.

In the meantime, Arabetta gave orders to the remaining knights to move on to subjugating the remnants that had entered the city and ensuring the residents’ safety.

Arabetta then left the area with the kraken’s mana crystal in hand.

“Yo, looks like you’re done.”

“It seems you and the others are done too, Talidge.”

Ains was called out to from behind.

The one who called out was Talidge, with Sophia walking beside him.

Judging from the fact that both of them had returned their swords to their sheaths, the battle seemed to have ended safely.

“Did you subjugate all of them?”

“Most of them, though not all. Because we subjugated them, the knights gradually managed to recover their formation.”

“We came back because we figured it’d be fine now. Besides, the knights who stayed over here joined them too.”

The city had suffered damage. How many of the residents had been injured, or perhaps lost their lives?

Even so, with Ains and the others’ cooperation, that damage should have been held to a minimum.