Early Evening - Early Summer : Downtown Spiall

- Liv Sigmond ~

"Haah.." I let out a deep sigh as I leaned back in my chair. -I'm not sure whether to count myself lucky or unlucky..-

At that point in time, I was on temporary probation. Put simply, I was forced to stay at the headquarters and work on regulated paperwork, all while under the attention of the current head probation officer.

For what I did, this was an extremely light punishment, but it wasn't without reason.

After learning about the existence of the lone 'hunter' in the mountains, the Commander got extremely greedy. -Although I'm not too sure what he is planning, I'm sure it has to do with ‘him’..-

But for whatever reason, he didn't want what actually happened during my last expedition to be known to the public or the other squadron leaders and decided to give me a punishment that didn't require a formal reason or a mark on my criminal record. -Just what did I get myself involved in..-

Before I could give it any deep thought though, a knocking came from the door. *knock-knock*

"Who is it?"

"The guild master. He says it's an emergency." The voice was the probation officers.

Immediately tensing up in my seat, I sat up straight and tried to quickly tidy my desk. -An emergency from the guild master?! Why now?!- "Please send him in."

*Click*

As the door swung open, my eyes met with a tall and intimidating demihuman man. "You are Captain Liv Sigmond, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Although I tried my best to hide it, I was incredibly nervous.

"Alright, let's get straight to business then. As I'm sure you are aware, several days ago, the Commander and squadrons 3 through 7 left and headed west."

"Yes, I am aware." Not quite sure where the guild master was going with it, I just followed along.

"Well about an hour ago now, I received a report from some mercenaries that were commissioned to scout that area for a noble-looking to settle a new town.

"Okay?" I raised my eyebrows as he walked up to my desk. -What is he doing..-

*flap* Setting a stack of papers in front of me, he backed up and crossed his arms.

He continued to speak as I quickly read through it. "In this report, it is stated that they came across a field of mutilated bodies, all unrecognizable, and specifically stated that they didn't stick around to check for survivors. They said quite explicitly that the chance of a single survivor was basically 0. They also left before confirming what city or town they belonged to, but I don't think that's much of a question currently."

I couldn't help but blankly stare at the report as all the dots connected. "So are you saying the Commander and all of the soldiers were killed?"

"Although I didn't want to believe it either, it was reported by extremely reputable mercenaries. I do find it hard to believe there is a monster strong enough to do all that without the capital knowing though."

-No.. it's completely possible.. all too possible...- I shivered as I thought back to the inexplicable feeling of inferiority I felt when I kneeled to the dragon. "Haah.." I let out a deep sigh in an attempt to ease the weight off my chest but it didn't help. -I guess this marks the end of my probation..-

Continuing to discuss the matters with the guild master for a moment, he, as someone with comparable political power to the duke, called for 'military play' and promoted me to the position of Commander until the state of the current Commander is identified. [1]

But a military play promotion was beyond just a promotion in name since it sets who is to become the next Commander in stone. -I've really become the Commander of Spiall while still in classes in the capital..- Although I felt a bit nervous about taking on such a large responsibility, I was excited to now be considered as one of the ‘prodigies’ in my class in the capital.

As he finalized the military play promotion, the guild master started telling me some smaller details he knew of that weren't in the report and I gathered squadron 1 with a few strong scouts from the guild.

-Well.. I think that's everything.- With everything in place, it was time to embark on the trip that would decide the fate of not only me but the entire city of Spiall. -Sh*t.. well, here goes nothing..-

- Vasilias ~

It had been a little under 3 weeks since I started absorbing the Kraken's mana core now, and I finally finished it, but I was also currently in the middle of an intense battle.

"Hah.. hah.." My muscles were burning from exhaustion and I was struggling to continue.

I had been in a fight for about 10 days at this point but had nothing to show for it, I was yet to land a single hit.

-oh.. my god.. HOW MUCH STAMINA DO YOU HAVE YOU LITTLE SARDINE BI*CH?!-

Lunging at the fish with all my might, I got as close as a few centimeters before it darted away. *Ploop*

Whenever I would get close, it would simply dart away again, but was beyond what could even be considered fast.

-HOW DOES YOUR TINY FU*KING BRAIN NOT GET SQUISHED FROM THAT ACCELERATION?!- I genuinely couldn't believe it. The fish would simply wait till I got close, and wait till I had hope of catching it, then dart away at half-mach.

It was a speed I simply couldn't reach while underwater with how much drag my body produced, but the little sucker would let me get so close, that I truly believed I could catch it without magic.

After 10 straight days of an intense game of cat and mouse though, I was yet to land a single hit and my body had reached its limit.

-Ugh..- Finally realizing I was slowing down from exhaustion, I stopped the fight and just sat down.

As if to mock me, the little sardine swam up right next to my face and just stared at me.

-Are you trying to get me to attack you again?- Although I previously had no evidence, it now became a bit more clear why it was letting me get so close.

-It's having fun?!- Something about that idea was upsetting but instead of using magic to kill it, I just laid down. -In any case, the core is fully absorbed and I've long since adjusted to this depth’s pressure..- As I contemplated going even deeper, I looked over towards the now mostly eaten Kraken corpse and noticed that most of the smaller scavengers had been replaced with larger predators.

They mostly minded their own business, with each taking a tentacle or two, but they were each getting to the main body now. -They'll probably start fighting here soon..-

As I got comfortable and prepared for the show though, all but one of the 'predators' eating the corpse simultaneously swam off.

-Did the others give up to that guy? Is there something I'm missing?- The smallest and what I saw as the weakest of the predators was the only one left.

Just as I started to think the little predator had a trick up its sleeve though, I turned and looked out into the abyssal black water and saw the outline of something big.. really big.

-Is that.. a whale?- Finally coming close enough for me to really see it, I locked eyes with a massive, nearly 150-meter-long whale with 4 front fins and two tails.

Immediately looking away from me, it made it clear that it didn't want to fight and instead turned to the Kraken's corpse.

But, as if not even knowing the whale was there, the fish eating the corpse simply continued.

-To shove his mouth full of good food before it dies.. I respect that.-

Almost as if my instinct predicted it, the whale quickly charged at the fish and bit down on it.

*Crackle-Cruunch* The fish could only squirm for a moment before it was crushed and ripped apart.

-..man.. is this what aliens would think if they looked at earth? Everything on this damn planet is a freak of evolution..-

I continued to watch it for a while after that, observing its countless other abnormalities before it finally swam off and left the scavengers to clean up its scraps.

Seeing that the bigger and more interesting predators weren’t going to come back, I slowly lost interest and turned to practice magic before quickly losing track of time.

Before I knew it, a few more days had passed and I felt comfortable enough to go even deeper!

Looking back now though, I can say with confidence that it wasn't the best idea.