Chapter 51

# Chapter 51: <Into the Whirlpool>

Despite this, Kale looked out through the small window on the ship.

The actual whirlpool was different from what he had imagined. The swirling sea was not at all transparent. The surface of the sea was a mix of white and blue, and as it approached the center of the whirlpool, it turned into a dark indigo, much like the night.

'If I get caught in it, I’ll just die.'

Kale thought of the new magic bomb he had stored in the magic box at his lodging. At the same time, he turned his gaze forward. He could see the smallest island among the numerous large and small islands.

"Master, that’s the island! The whirlpool in front of it is the most terrifying! If you get caught in it, you’ll have to say your final goodbyes to the world! Hahaha!"

The fisherman was truly bold. He continued speaking, oblivious to the deputy captain’s increasingly pale face. Kale, trying to suppress the urge to vomit, listened to his words.

"Back then, there was a legend that this whirlpool was created because a thief stole something belonging to the gods, but oh my!"

The ship tilted slightly. Kale swallowed hard as he watched seawater hit the ship’s window.

"Oh, we almost capsized. Boy, you need to row properly."

"I’m sorry, Father."

The fisherman and his son were remarkably calm.

"So, Master."

"Hey."

Kale finally raised his hand to cover the old man’s mouth and said firmly.

"Let’s go to the island first, then we can talk."

"Master Amir also said that! We’ll get there soon."

The old man rowed skillfully. The ship, which had been swaying and precarious, cleverly changed direction to avoid the whirlpools. Kale observed all of them.

'The traces of wind produced by the ancient power 'Sound of the Wind.''

Like a spinning top, the ancient power 'Sound of the Wind' periodically produced tops and spun them forcefully. As time passed, when the top, the whirlpool, lost its strength, it would throw a new one.

"Master, I should have been more careful. Ugh."

Kale ignored the deputy captain’s nearly fainting voice and gripped the ship’s handle tightly with both hands. He didn’t want to drown.

Finally, Kale was able to set foot on the rocky ground.

"We’ve arrived. It was smoother than usual."

The son nodded at the fisherman’s words. Kale looked over their shoulders.

"Ugh."

The deputy captain was suffering from seasickness, looking as if he might really die. Kale tapped Vicros’s arm, who was standing next to him, and pointed to the deputy captain. Vicros’s brow furrowed, and he put on white gloves from his inner pocket before approaching the deputy captain.

The moment Kale saw those white gloves, his shoulders slightly twitched.

'Those are the gloves he wears to avoid getting dirty during torture, right?'

Vicros’s special white gloves, of which the number was unknown. Having actually seen them, Kale turned his gaze away from the deputy captain and Vicros to look around the island.

There was no sandy beach; the island’s coastline was lined with rocks. Looking a bit further inland, there was a small forest. In fact, it was more like a fairly large garden, one that could be toured in about an hour.

"Old man."

"Yes, Master."

"Continue the story about the thief from earlier."

Kale’s words made the old man turn his gaze from where his son was docking the ship to the sea path they had taken. In front of the central island was a massive whirlpool.

"Long ago, there was a thief with the fastest feet of anyone. His steps were so light and careful that even when he ran on the sea, there was no ripple or splash of water."

The Sound of the Wind was correct. Of course, running on the sea was a bit exaggerated.

"Anyway, the thief stole something, and it was said to belong to the gods. Holding it, the thief jumped off the sea cliff in front of us. As a result, both the god’s item and the thief disappeared from the world. After that, whirlpools began to appear on this coastline."

The old man, whose skin was deeply tanned and etched with the wrinkles of time, smiled softly.

"So, in the past, they used to perform rituals for the god’s item."

"Do they not do it now?"

"If it really belonged to the gods, why wouldn’t the gods come to retrieve it and instead torment humans?"

Kale agreed with the old man.

It wasn’t a god’s item. It was human power. Therefore, the gods couldn’t possess it.

"Then I’ll go explore the island."

"Yes, I’ll wait here."

Kale brought Vicros along because he needed someone by his side for a while. Someone who felt little obligation to protect him but was strong and could be commanded.

Vicros was perfect.

"I’ll be back."

Kale headed towards the forest on the central island.

"If it’s dangerous, immediately raise the shield."

"Master, I’ll follow soon, ugh."

He listened to Vicros and the deputy captain’s words lightly as he entered the forest and spoke in a low voice.

"How is it?"

The voice of the black dragon echoed.

"Like you said, there’s something under the whirlpool in front of this island. It felt similar to the power we encountered in the cave last time."

When he gained the vitality of the heart. That’s what the black dragon was referring to. Kale strolled leisurely through the forest. There was no real reason to explore inside; he had only come to confirm the whirlpool.

'I need to get a rough idea of the terrain since I’ll be flying here at night.'

Kale asked one more question.

"Is there no one else here?"

"No one."

The island was empty except for Kale and his party. This fact finally put Kale at ease. He had been worried about the whales he had seen yesterday.

"But there are corpses."

"What?"

Kale’s steps stopped abruptly. He frowned and stared into the air, where the black dragon, who had dispelled his invisibility, appeared and spoke.

"But the corpses are not human."

Kale covered his eyes with his hand. If they weren’t human, they must have had a peculiar appearance. And if they weren’t animals or specific beings, it meant:

'They look like humans but are different.'

There was only one answer.

"Are their hands and feet strange?"

At Kale’s question, the black dragon nodded vigorously.

"Yes! Their hands and feet were strange, like fans."

Fins. The symbol of mermaids.

Whales and mermaids. Kale felt a chill and a sense of suspicion rising. The whales and mermaids shouldn’t have appeared so early.

'No, that’s not right.'

Kale corrected his thoughts. The conflict between the whale clan and mermaids had a longer history than human struggles. However, the moment it appeared in 'The Birth of the Hero' was when Choi Han got involved with the whale clan.

Kale’s thoughts returned to the present. The black dragon observed the mermaid corpses and said:

"They seem to have been crushed to death in one swift move. They don’t seem to have been dead for long. Also, there’s red blood under their fins. They must have been fighting and got blood on them."

It was the whales. The mermaids were killed by the whales.

The whale clan, with a population as scarce as dragons, was the strongest in the sea. This allowed them to protect the sea world from the mermaids.

The mermaids wanted to establish a kingdom in the sea world. However, the whale clan could not tolerate dividing the sea into territories due to the migratory nature of marine species.

'Because the whale clan was strong despite their small numbers, the mermaids couldn’t freely pursue their goals. But they suddenly started getting stronger.'

The mermaids grew stronger, and the whale clan found themselves in a difficult situation. That’s when Choi Han appeared and sided with the whale clan. This was the content of Volume 5.

Kale turned away from the mermaid corpses and told the black dragon to leave.

"Is it okay to leave them like that?"

"Yeah."

Mermaid corpses do not decay on land; they just dry out. They would only decay in the sea, and as the decay progressed, the smell would spread, attracting other mermaids.

The whale clan must have left them there on purpose.

'I need to deal with this quickly and leave.'

There was probably only one whale. If there were two, they wouldn’t have left the corpses on land but would have gathered more mermaids for a bigger fight. Being alone, they must have prepared for any contingencies.

Kale returned to where the ship was docked and told his party:

"Let’s go back. There’s nothing to see here."

The deputy captain, who looked like he was about to die, turned even paler, but Vicros, who seemed to have bought quite a lot of fish from the fisherman, replied simply:

"We’ll have grilled fish for dinner."

"Good."

Back at the mansion, Kale had a hearty dinner of grilled fish and waited for time to pass. When darkness finally descended on the small seaside village outside his window, he put on a diving suit from the magic box he had received from Villous.

Standing on the windowsill with a view of the Wind Cliff and the northeastern sea, Kale said to On and Hong:

"Take care of the house."

"We won’t let anyone in."

"Have a safe trip."

Kale nodded in response to the kittens’ greetings and looked at the black dragon. The black dragon, with a confident expression, said casually:

"Fly."

At that moment, Kale’s body lifted off.

"Let’s go."

The black dragon led the way, and Kale followed, flying high to avoid being seen by people. In his arms was the magic bomb.

Today, Kale planned to act swiftly and accurately. By the time people were startled and rushed out, he would already be gone like a silent wind.

The black dragon’s version of the peculiar magic bomb was set to explode in 10 minutes.