50 — Chapter 50

Kevin got down on all fours and timidly peeked over the edge of the cliff.

Far, far below—at a height so dizzying it made his head spin—black waves roared as they crashed and shattered against the jagged rocks. He didn’t possess even a shred of the courage required to climb down there.

“Mother’s… memento…”

The mother who had given her life to bring him into this world.

That ring was the only bond connecting him to the woman whose face he had never even seen. Furthermore, the ring was the proof of his status as the next Lord. It was the only thing that acknowledged and demanded that he, despite being sickly and small for his age, be the son of a Margrave—and yet.

“…”

Tears welled up in Kevin’s precocious eyes. However, he did not let them fall.

It’s my own fault.

“…I suppose this means I’m not fit to be the Lord…”

Instead, a self-mocking smile etched itself onto his young lips.

Kevin had lost the ring because he had no other weapon and had lost his cool. Why did he have no weapon? Because he had used them all to attack Elma, the person who had actually saved them. Why had he lost his cool? Because he had attracted the Demon Moths himself and cornered his own sister.

Every bit of it was his own doing.

“…I’m sorry for losing it—and for attacking you.”

“Kevin…”

As Kevin wiped his eyes and offered a curt apology to Elma, Deborah stared in surprise, her brow furrowing with pity. Lucas and Irene exchanged a quick glance, shrugging with a bitter aftertaste.

But then.

“—It is I who should apologize.”

For some reason, Elma suddenly knelt on the spot and bowed her head deeply.

“Had I restrained the Demon Moths a moment sooner, this situation could have been prevented.”

“…No, that’s not—”

“It is. I was preoccupied with sorting the males and females into separate bags for efficient breeding, which caused a delay… I am terribly sorry.”

“You were doing that!?” Kevin blurted out in shock.

Elma ignored the retort and lightly clenched her fist.

“As an apology, I shall go find the ring.”

“Huh!?”

At this, everyone—not just Kevin—let out a cry of pure astonishment. Deborah and Irene, in particular, scrambled to stop her.

“Wh-what are you saying, Lady Elma!? The ring has sunk into the ocean!”

“Exactly! You don’t actually plan to jump into the sea, do you!?”

In the world of stories, this is what they call “foreshadowing.” Elma’s glasses glinted as she nodded.

“Yes, that is exactly what I plan to do.”

“You idiot!”

Irene screamed, her voice half-cursing.

“You—listen to me! Do you understand!? It’s the ocean! The ocean! The sea is wide! It’s vast! There’s no way you’ll find it—hey! Don’t you dare start jumping off that cliff right now!”

Seeing that Elma was already a woman of action, kicking off her shoes and socks, Irene descended into total panic.

“Don’t show your bare feet in front of gentlemen! Aaaah, don’t lift your hem!”

“—Stop it, Elma.”

Lucas also knit his brows and grabbed Elma’s arm. From point-blank range, he told her in a low, stern voice:

“I feel for Kevin, but you are under no obligation to find it for him. Snap out of it. Besides, there’s no way you can jump from a cliff like this and walk away unscathed, right?”

His irritation was born from genuine concern. He knew Elma possessed freakish physical abilities and had seen her do many bizarre things, but that didn’t mean he was going to stand by while a girl threw herself off a cliff.

It was a sheer precipice with jagged rocks exposed everywhere. If she jumped, she might be smashed against the rock wall instantly, or be impaled by a reef jutting out from the surface. She could be sucked into the churning currents and become nothing more than sea foam. To search for a tiny ring when they didn’t even know where it sank was nothing short of madness.

“But I have some confidence in my swimming—”

“Even so. Listen, let me tell you now: swimming hundreds of miles in the ocean is not ‘normal.’ If you swim through this sea just to find a ring, your ‘normal’ certification will vanish instantly. Are you okay with that?”

Knowing it was a low blow, he used the one trump card most effective against Elma to stop her.

Elma pulled back her chin slightly and pressed her lips into a firm line. Behind her thick glasses, her eyes were likely staring straight up at him.

Lucas felt a profound sense of relief that she was wearing those glasses right now.

If he had been forced to look into those beautiful dawn-colored eyes while she gave him a pouting, upward glance, he might have accidentally blurted out, “Fine, it can’t be helped! Should I jump in instead?”

“…Understood.”

After a long, long silence, that was finally Elma’s reply.

Lucas, along with Deborah and Irene who were listening nearby, let out a collective sigh of relief.

However, in the next instant, Elma uttered words no one expected.

“In that case, I shall search for the ring using a different method.”

“Huh!?”

She still wasn’t giving up?

Seizing the moment while Lucas was caught off guard with his brow furrowed, Elma shook off his arm and retreated several paces. Before the eyes of the onlookers wondering what on earth she was doing, she took a light preparatory step—and then—

“Hah!”

With a burst of momentum, she hurled herself off the cliff!

“…!”

“KYAAAAAAAah!”

The men gasped in horror; the women shrieked.

They rushed to lean over the edge of the cliff. Beneath their frantic gazes, Elma performed a series of mid-air somersaults as she fell, before executing a perfectly smooth, “no-splash” entry into the water.

“That… that idiot…!”

“ELMAAAAAAAAA!”

“Not a single splash—a perfect ‘rip-clean’ entry! How exhilarating! No, that’s not it… Lady Elma…!”

Only Deborah—who was now a total devotee—couldn’t help but praise her even while worrying.

Kevin stared at the sea in a daze from behind the three people who had turned pale while peeking over the edge. He covered his mouth with his hand, the blood draining from his face.

The black waves roared as they shattered against the cliffs, sending up clouds of spray. It was a ferocious swell that looked capable of dragging a small boat straight to the seabed.

A person had just jumped into that.

A petite girl who, though older than him, wasn’t even an adult. And she had done it for him.

“…”

Kevin let out a sharp, ragged breath.

What had she done?

What on earth had he done?

“Damn fool! Even if she didn’t hit the rocks, with a current like that, there’s no guarantee she won’t drown…! Curse it, I’m going down the mountain to get a boat. Irene, you stay here and keep eyes on her—shout to me if you see her!”

“Y-yes…!”

Irene nodded frantically, her hands clasped together.

“Please, hurry and pull Elma out…!”

She cried out like she was in a trance, mostly because Elma hadn’t surfaced. Even if she had dived deep and was coming back up, it was taking far too long.

What if she had entered the water with great form but was drowning underneath? What if she had struck her body against a submerged rock? Or been attacked by some monster of the deep?

A dozen terrifying possibilities raced through Irene’s mind, making her tremble.

“Elma… it’s okay if you aren’t ‘normal,’ just swim back to us… please come back…!”

She prayed, gripping her hands so hard her knuckles turned white.

Just then—

“Ah!!”

Deborah, who had been on all fours searching for the silhouette of her “Apostle” (Elmael) at the base of the cliff, gave a shout.

“Look! Over there…!”

At her joyous voice, not only Irene but even Lucas—who had been about to sprint down the mountain—whirled around.

In the distance, amidst the swirling waves…

“ELMA!!”

There she was, her upper body visible above the water. Ignoring the spray crashing around her, and without even letting her glasses slip an inch, she calmly raised one hand.

At the tip of her slender fingers, something glinted.

A ring, attached to a thin chain, sparkled as it caught the sunlight.

It was Kevin’s—his mother’s memento.

“Elma…!!”

As Elma held up the ring just as she’d promised, Irene and Deborah let out cries of pure admiration. Lucas, however, noticed something odd and narrowed his eyes.

“…?”

At first glance, Elma seemed to be merely bobbing in the waves. But in reality, she was moving toward them with uncanny smoothness. No—more than smooth, she was closing the distance at a remarkable speed.

As she drew closer to the cliff, her entire body gradually rose above the surface, and the truth of her situation became clear.

She was holding onto something shaped like a triangular pennant.

No, that wasn’t right. She was standing on something massive that had a pennant-like handle attached to it.

It wasn’t driftwood.

It wasn’t the wreckage of a boat.

It was something far more slick and glossy—something enormous, its entire body undulating dynamically…

A whale.

“…!?”

Lucas couldn’t help but scream as he clung to the edge of the cliff.

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU RIDING ON?!”