"Tell me what the favor is first, then I'll consider whether to help you," Elias said, crossing his arms.
In this world full of treachery, especially when facing an old sea dog like Crowley, the person who showed their hand first often ended up losing everything down to their shirts.
"Heh, young man, that's not how the rules work."
Captain Crowley tapped his pipe, a light known as shrewdness flashing in his eyes.
"A trade is all about the order of things."
"You ask first, and after I've answered, I'll mention my business."
"After all, I hold the initiative right now. You're the one who wants the answers, not me."
"..."
Elias clicked his tongue.
What he said made so much damn sense that it was impossible to refute.
"Fine."
He shrugged, no longer obsessing over the order.
Elias then continued:
"One last question: why are there so many monsters in the waters of Moon Bay?"
This question had troubled him for a long time.
Logically, even if there were transcendents in the coastal areas, they shouldn't be this densely packed.
After listening, Captain Crowley pondered for a moment, seemingly organizing his words or weighing what could be said and what couldn't.
A moment later, he nodded.
"There's no problem with you asking this; it doesn't involve any core secrets."
The old captain stuck his pipe back into his mouth.
"Let's put it this way: Moon Bay is a wicked place. Do you catch my drift?"
"No!"
Elias answered decisively.
Why did this old man think that counted as an answer?!
Captain Crowley glared at him in dissatisfaction and tried a different way to explain.
"Actually, there are monsters everywhere, not just in Moon Bay."
"There are so many in the deep sea that they're impossible to count."
"The reason Moon Bay seems to have so many is mainly because part of the company's business has a high degree of overlap with the habitat of the sea-folk."
"Business overlap?"
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"Like the whale oil you use."
Crowley pointed in the direction of the lighthouse.
"Whaling ships are active in these waters, and whaling more or less affects the sea-folk, even creating a competitive relationship with them."
"The sea-folk treat phosphor whales as their own kind, or as food."
"We hunt the whales, so naturally, they aren't happy."
"Isn't it only natural that they want to come ashore and cause trouble?"
Captain Crowley's answer seemed to explain everything.
It was a closed logical loop, well-founded and reasonable.
It sounded plausible.
But Elias always felt something was off.
If it was a simple competitive relationship, how did one explain spirit world creatures like the dream demon?
And that whisper.
There seemed to be a deeper reason behind it.
However, looking at Crowley, he probably was only willing to say this much.
"Fine, I'll believe you for now."
Elias nodded, not offering much judgment.
His eyes darted around, and before the old captain could react, he spoke again.
"I have one more question."
"Give you an inch and you take a mile, eh?"
Crowley shot him a sideways glance.
"Just one! Pure curiosity!"
Elias leaned in a bit closer and asked in a low voice:
"What Scale of transcendent are you?"
Elias was curious about who was more powerful: this old guy or that old Edmond who only knew how to brag.
Captain Crowley chuckled and pulled down the brim of his hat, his wrinkled old face looking mysterious.
"You just said it was your 'last question.'"
"What's there to hide about this?"
"It's not like I'm asking to borrow money!"
Elias grew anxious.
"I don't want to say."
Crowley answered crisply, giving him no face at all.
"For some things, maintaining a sense of mystery is better for everyone."
"Knowing too much sometimes makes you die faster."
As he spoke, he turned and patted the side of the skiff.
"Alright, questions are over. Get on the boat first."
"We need to make it back to Hastings Port before dark; I don't want to spend the night at sea."
During their conversation, the two had reached the side of the schooner, the massive hull casting a large shadow over the sea.
Malcolm had already lowered the rope ladder and was standing on the deck, looking down at them coldly.
Captain Crowley urged him to climb the ladder.
"Fine, if you won't say, then don't!"
Elias curled his lip and simply gathered his things, grabbing the rope ladder to climb directly onto the ship.
Since the old man refused to reveal his hand, he would ask again when he had the chance.
In any case, he couldn't leave the lighthouse for too long until the curse was resolved.
...
On the deck of the schooner.
The sea breeze was much more violent than it had been on the skiff, making the sails flap loudly.
The sailors were busy adjusting the sails and tightening the ropes.
None of these people looked like pushovers; they all had dark skin, fierce gazes, and weapons tucked into their waists.
This was an armed supply ship.
Elias found a relatively quiet corner, leaned against a pile of ropes, and watched the white lighthouse receding in the distance.
"I've been listening for a while. What is this 'company' you're talking about?"
At that moment, Edmond's voice suddenly rang out in his mind, carrying a hint of belated confusion.
"The Wayland Shipping Company. You don't know?"
Elias was somewhat surprised.
He responded in his mind: "It's the company that pays my salary and tricked me into coming here."
"Capitalists! Black-hearted merchants who sent your good buddy here to die!"
Elias was a bit confused.
He had known Edmond for so long; logically, the old man should know more about this place than he did.
"Why should I know about that thing?"
Edmond asked back righteously.
"So, you were sent here by this company to be a keeper?"
Edmond asked again.
Elias froze for a moment.
He suddenly realized a major problem.
Old Ed had been dead for fifty years.
In those fifty years, it might have been just a blink of an eye for a transcendent world, but for human society—especially the Kingdom of Velen, which was in the midst of an industrial revolution—it was enough for earth-shattering changes to occur.
Many things had changed.
Just as Old Ed didn't know about revolvers or alchemy buoys.
This meant that fifty years ago, the one who sent Old Ed to guard the lighthouse wasn't the company at all!
"That's right," Elias admitted, his brow furrowing slightly.
"It seems a lot has happened in fifty years, Old Ed."
"Since it wasn't the company, who sent you here?"
"The Fortville family."
Edmond gave a name, his tone carrying a trace of nostalgia and awe.
"Does that mean Moon Bay is no longer managed by the Fortville family?!"
"An ancient family? Sounds interesting!"
Elias walked past the burly crew members on the ship and found a spot sheltered from the wind to continue chatting with Edmond.
"The Fortville family has always been a major family in the Moon Bay region. In the past, this family provided the dukes for this entire area," Edmond began to recount.
"Their family has worshipped the Lord of the Raging Sea for generations."
"The Fortville family also continued the family tradition of guarding Moon Bay."
"They would train their own vassals and select qualified transcendents to serve as Firebearers guarding the lighthouses."
"Back then, becoming a Firebearer was an honor, a recognition of your ability."
Edmond paused.
"As for the question you asked earlier, the abundance of monsters in the Moon Bay region has indeed existed since ancient times."
Edmond continued.
"It's as if there's something on the shore attracting them."
"This situation rarely occurs in other coastal areas of Velen, which is why lighthouses needed to be established here, and why Firebearers were needed to guard them."
"It wasn't just to guide the way, but to defend."
Elias rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"So that means in the fifty years since you died, the organization responsible for the lighthouses became the company."
"That's easy to understand."
He analyzed it with a modern mindset.
"The nobility declined and could no longer maintain such high expenses."
"And the emerging capitalist companies took over the development rights for this sea area."
"To cut costs and maximize profits, the company naturally wouldn't spend a fortune to hire transcendents."
"They hired nothing but ordinary people."
"It would seem so."
Edmond sighed, appearing to lament the decline of the times.
"However, it's also possible that the advent of alchemy buoys increased the company's confidence in de-transcendentalizing the lighthouse keepers."
"After all, if there are cheap and effective alchemy tools that can block most monsters, who would be willing to spend money to hire expensive transcendents?"
"True."
Elias nodded.
This was the optimization of jobs brought about by technological progress.
Even a high-risk profession like guarding a tower was being squeezed like this.
As the two were chatting.
Looking at the busy scene on the ship, Elias felt another strong sense of déjà vu.
Including Old Ed's words; it was as if he had heard them before.
Every word, every pause, even the frequency of that sigh was so familiar it was maddening.
"Wait..."
A sudden, inexplicable chill rose in Elias's heart.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
This feeling was like he was watching a movie he had already seen; even though this was happening for the first time, his brain was frantically sounding an alarm, telling him that all of this was a repeat.
Just then.
The 【Malice Perception】 in Elias's mind, which had been quiet all along, began to frantically warn him without warning!
"Buzz—!!"
That wasn't malice directed from a single direction.
The malice came from all directions, drowning him like a tide!
"Elias!"
"You little brat!"
Then, Old Ed's anxious voice came from his mind, no longer in the relaxed tone of their chat, but filled with terror and urgency.
"Wake up! Wake up quickly!!"
"It's fake!!"
His logic told him something was wrong, but his physiology told him everything was normal!
The sea breeze was still the same sea breeze, and the deck was still the same deck.
But that malice was real!
Elias suddenly scrambled up from the deck, his hand instinctively reaching for the revolver at his waist.
However.
The moment his hand touched the grip of the gun, the world around him suddenly became like a watercolor painting soaked with water, violently twisting, fading, and dissolving.
That's not right!
The gun shouldn't be at his waist, should it?
There was no schooner.
No Captain Crowley.
No Malcolm.
Looking closely again...
How was he on a ship?!
At this moment, night had fallen.
He was clearly standing on a desolate stretch of shallow beach at the edge of the harbor!
His legs were halfway submerged in the bone-chilling seawater, he was soaked to the bone, and he was shivering uncontrollably from the cold.
And before him...
Four dark figures, radiating undisguised malice, were surrounding him in a fan shape.
"What the hell is this?"
Looking at this completely unfamiliar scene, Elias's brain stalled for a second.
One second he was chatting about history on a ship, and the next he was being cornered on a shallow beach?
"Infinite Tsukuyomi?!"
Rate on N.U.
