Chapter 121
The next day.
The funeral of the overall Chief proceeded as scheduled.
Wearing white mourning clothes, Stark knelt before the enormous coffin and bowed.
"..."
Watching from nearby, Gahen's gaze shifted toward the seats reserved for the individual faction chiefs.
Every one of them was empty.
Just as planned.
Ha.
It's almost over.
Finally....
Gahen lowered his head, struggling to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising.
How could he not?
At long last, the dream he'd desired for so many years was within reach.
A memory from childhood surfaced.
In these seas, if you didn't kill, you were the one who had things taken from you.
Gahen had been an orphan with no parents, no family, nothing.
Naturally, he didn't even know the faces of the people who had given birth to him.
He had committed his first murder at the age of five.
...Oh?
You solved this formation?
You have talent for someone so young.
It had happened during a party aboard a ship.
The drunken overall Chief had handed a formation manual to Gahen, who was merely carrying food, and told him to solve it for entertainment.
Then...
I've finished.
First, this formation works like this....
Gahen had been around six years old.
Without hesitation, he continued his explanation.
...And that's everything.
The drunken look vanished from the overall Chief's face.
His eyes became cold and sharp.
He took back the manual.
Have you ever learned to read?
Where did you learn formations?
"...Never."
"I've only done menial labor ever since I was born."
"But if someone teaches me..."
"I can do better than this."
Those weren't the eyes of a six-year-old.
Everyone who survived these seas developed a certain look eventually.
But Gahen's eyes were different.
There was ambition inside them.
Something far greater than survival.
The overall Chief saw it and burst into laughter as he stood.
Kuhahaha!
You've got nerve.
A man ought to have that much.
Fine.
Learn whatever you want beneath my shadow.
And make yourself useful.
Back in the present.
From the day he'd been taken in until now...
Gahen had never once stopped dreaming of this moment.
The day when a nobody, an orphan with no bloodline or backing...
Would swallow the entire Sea Dragon Stronghold.
Fwoooosh.
He watched the coffin burn inside the flames, his expression perfectly composed.
There was no guilt left in him.
That old man had killed plenty of people himself.
Taken their wealth.
Their women.
Their property.
Don't feel too wronged.
You brought this on yourself.
Maybe because death was approaching, the overall Chief had suddenly decided to hand everything to his useless son.
A foolish decision.
The coffin blackened under the flames.
Gray smoke scattered through the air.
The corpse would soon be completely gone.
And with it...
All evidence that Gahen had poisoned him.
The funeral was nearly over.
Tomorrow...
Gahen would finally become the true ruler of the eastern sea.
Come to think of it...
Who the hell were those people?
The human he'd met in Dark Elf territory.
Not only had the man stood among Dark Elves as though it were perfectly natural...
He'd also used Stark to force Gahen into a deal.
Gahen had been made to hand over Current Stone, a first-class controlled resource.
Enough to reinforce the hull of a large ship.
The loss had been enormous.
Judging by the man's actions, he was probably one of those newly arrived beings called Players.
It doesn't matter.
Once I become ruler of the eastern sea, none of that will mean anything.
There was an upcoming summit.
Once that began...
He would subjugate the remaining two seas.
Then unite all three.
Humans would monopolize the Current Stone.
And the physically superior Dark Elves and Merfolk could be reduced to slaves.
"May you find peace even in the next world, Chief."
After a brief moment of silence, Gahen smiled and turned away.
Then...
Rustle.
"...?"
The world suddenly tilted.
His perfectly healthy body staggered.
Darkness began spreading across his vision.
"Ugh...."
Oh! Hyungnim... this bas... tard is waking....
Yeah. Fin... ally....
Muffled voices reached his ears.
For some reason, his body wouldn't move.
It felt as though something tough had bound him tightly.
The darkness slowly faded.
His sight began returning.
And when he finally focused on what stood before him...
"You're awake."
"...!"
A man stood in front of him while he knelt bound in ropes.
Lee Suhyeok.
"H-How...."
Gahen's eyes shook violently as he hurriedly looked around.
The coffin that had been burning moments ago was completely untouched.
His men had all been subdued.
The situation had already ended without him even realizing it.
And more importantly...
"Seeing your face again is disgustingly satisfying, you rotten bastard."
Gahen flinched.
How?
How was he still alive?
Gahen had been thorough.
He had ordered every deputy chief to bring back the heads of their respective chiefs.
He'd personally checked them.
"Keugh!"
Someone grabbed Gahen by the hair.
The Red Dragon Chief grinned viciously down at him.
"Kukuku."
"Surprised I didn't die like you planned?"
Gahen was too stunned to speak.
He looked toward Suhyeok, his eyes demanding an explanation.
"Let him go."
The Red Dragon Chief's face immediately reddened with rage.
"Let him go?"
"I'd feel better tearing him apart right now!"
"This bastard killed the overall Chief!"
"He repaid the man who raised him like a son by-"
"Red Dragon Chief."
Suhyeok's voice turned cold.
"What I just said wasn't a request."
"It was an order."
"Did everyone forget?"
That single question instantly chilled the atmosphere.
The previous night...
Suhyeok had made the same offer to the half-dead Red Dragon Chief and every other faction chief.
If they wanted to live...
They would follow the contract.
At first, they'd refused.
They didn't even know the exact contents.
And they weren't the kind of men who would beg pathetically for their lives.
But the contract had been surprisingly simple.
Restore the Sea Dragon Stronghold to normal.
And Suhyeok would help them take revenge.
"If you want the contract fulfilled, following my instructions is the most basic condition."
"So let go."
