Beckett's Suspicions

Beckett wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he always felt that Mera was looking at him strangely.

Especially during breakfast, Mera was no longer surprised by his astonishing appetite as usual; instead, she felt a pang of inexplicable... heartache.

Beckett wasn't entirely sure either.

Because when he asked Mera what she meant, she would smile gently, shake her head, and say no.

At these times, Woz, who was still perfecting the "Mother Box Energy Impact Project" in the bracelet space, would pretend to push up his glasses on his nose and seriously take out a copy of "A General History of Love" to study it carefully.

He meticulously recorded Mera and Beckett's reactions, matching them one by one with the descriptions in the book, to ensure that the two did not go astray.

This is a book that Woz discovered while connecting the world's database in the library.

There are houses of gold and beauties in books.

No wonder Lord Thanos values knowledge so much; Woz, who is currently reading a lot, wholeheartedly agrees.

Only by reading more books and absorbing more knowledge from this world can it better help His Highness Beckett shine.

Woz adjusted his glasses, silently cheering himself on and offering encouragement.

"Wait, Beckett! Where are you going? When you arrive, you'll be right here."

Holding the map that Woz had given her early that morning, Mera followed the map to the corresponding location and then called out to Beckett.

"Here?"

Beckett looked back with some doubt.

The house in front of me looks dilapidated and has been neglected for years. How can anyone live in such a place?

"That should be right. The author who collected all the legends about the Golden Trident, as marked on Woz's map, lives here."

As she spoke, Mera knocked on the door.

"Coming, coming! Who is it?"

The dilapidated wooden door was opened, and a man with an extremely decadent appearance appeared before Beckett and Mera.

Mera couldn't immediately determine his real age from his messy stubble. His slovenly clothes gave him an air of world-weariness, not to mention his unkempt hair.

I don't know if it's naturally curly or permed.

"Who are you?" The man, who hadn't had any guests in his little house for a long time, put on his glasses and finally saw the faces of the two people in front of him.

He was quite certain he didn't know them.

"Montgomery?" Mera tentatively uttered the man's name.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Montgomery suddenly felt a sense of panic.

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous, Montgomery."

"Listen, we mean no harm. We're just very interested in the legends you've been investigating."

"Do you remember? Many years ago you self-published a book called 'The Collection of Obscure Myths,' which mentioned the ancient Atlantis and that Golden Trident."

Mera quickly raised her hand to indicate that she meant no harm and then swiftly stated her purpose.

Atlantis? The Golden Trident?

"I remember, so what?"

The dejected man asked in confusion, then suddenly seemed to remember something. "Wait, you're not trying to prove that Atlantis really existed, are you?"

Montgomery scoffed, using what he thought were ruthless words to shatter the beautiful woman's childish fantasies.

"Atlantis is just a myth—"

"Roll."

The cold words rang out, the rambling voice abruptly stopped, and the intense killing intent emanating from Beckett almost suffocated Montgomery.

"Woz, begin scanning."

The flickering red dot on the azure screen directly identified what Mera wanted—an old parchment scroll and a sketch.

On the ancient parchment scroll, a man clad in golden armor holds Golden Trident and stands atop a colossal beast that devours the heavens. The entire underwater world trembles at his feet, his power boundless.

"That's... the first king of Atlantis!" Mera, with her sharp eyes, immediately recognized the figure in the painting.

And the giant beast beneath the feet of this king of the ocean is the legendary ancestor of the Trench Clan, a mythical creature passed down through generations in the seven underwater kingdoms: Carlson.

As for the other sketch, Mera recognized the monster depicted on it—a member of the Trench Clan.

Where did you get these two things?

The matter was of great importance, so Mera put aside her complaints about Beckett and instead asked, holding up the two paintings.

"This is... this was given to me by my teacher..."

The dejected young man, Montgomery, was terrified by Beckett and stammered out the origin of the two items.

His teacher was a huge fan of the Atlantis legend.

As a renowned scholar, his teacher dedicated his life to searching for evidence that Atlantis truly existed.

Then, his teacher found the parchment scrolls and maps left on land by the first King of Atlantis.

Following the map, his teacher encountered not the king, but the monster depicted on the sketch paper.

His teacher went completely insane after that.

"Where's the map?!"

"The map, the teacher said the map was destroyed by that monster..." Mera's persistent questioning made Montgomery almost cry with anxiety.

He had been here for so long, and finally managed to give his teacher a proper burial, only to run into two idiots obsessed with the legend of Atlantis.

"Destroyed..." Mera remained silent.

"Why don't you just go find this Trench tribe?" Beckett found Mera very strange.

This clearly indicates that the Trench Tribe is the problem.

Otherwise, how could someone be so lucky as to bring a map, lose it, and then come back?

"You don't know Beckett. Although the Trench Clan is also counted as one of the seven underwater kingdoms, they have actually degenerated to the point where they live entirely on biological instincts."

"According to historical records, after Atlantis was fragmented, the members of the Marine Trench Kingdom began to degenerate in order to protect themselves due to the deterioration of their living environment."

"Now, every single one of them can be considered Beast without any sense of reason."

Mera informed Beckett about the current situation of the members of the Marine Trench Kingdom.

Now, Marine Trench Kingdom has become a place of exile for the other six kingdoms.

The former King of Atlantis Atlanna of Atlantis was exiled there and has not been heard from since.

"And what about it?"

Beckett raised an eyebrow and pointed to the colossal beast Carlson depicted on the parchment scroll.

"Carlson is said to have disappeared along with the first king of Atlantis."

"So, Marine Trench Kingdom is now an unknown country that no one knows about?"

Beckett's fighting instincts told him that something was fishy going on.

Why do you think that?

"If you were about to die, and you were worried that your weapon would be taken by a distrusted Inheritors, what would you do?"

With his eyes narrowed, Beckett uttered a conjecture that completely overturned Mera's worldview.

The first King of Atlantis did not have a high opinion of his Inheritors, so he wanted to choose another successor.

However, for some unknown reason, the second King of Atlantis, who was appointed by the emperor, learned of the first king's thoughts, and thus a secret battle for the throne began.

The second king, who struck first, severely injured the first king, who then fled to the Marine Trench Kingdom, the nation of his steed, in order to protect the Golden Trident.

Carlson, the leader of the Marine Trench Kingdom, was willing to sacrifice the future of the entire nation to protect the Golden Trident from falling into the hands of thieves.

"Are you serious???" Mera was dumbfounded.

"Otherwise, give me a reason why the first King of Atlantis disappeared without a trace, and why the entire Trench Clan degenerated into Beast, turning the Marine Trench Kingdom into a place of exile."

Beckett sensed a conspiracy and retorted confidently.

Atlantis split into seven kingdoms, and the entire Marine Trench Kingdom, where the first king's mount once lived, degenerated into Beast.

The first king held immense power over the seven seas, but ultimately disappeared without a trace.

Are you kidding me!

Beckett's extensive combat experience told him that there was something fishy going on.

One more chapter will be later.

Tonight I'm riding in my friend's 86 to go have a ride (ω`)

I'll come back and write Chapter 3 after a few more laps~ (￣▽￣~)~