Turquoise Bay lay less than 100 kilometers south of the White Mountain Peninsula. Although it was closer to White Mountain Island, it was sheltered by the east-west Green Mountains to the north, making it considerably warmer than the peninsula. The bay and its waters remained ice-free year-round.
Turquoise Bay was named for the pine forest stretching thirty kilometers along its shore. The bay and the entire forest to its north belonged to the Empire's northern neighbors, the Silver Pine Clan of the Elves—the clan Queen Natasha belonged to.
Two hundred kilometers southwest of Turquoise Bay lay the Empire's northernmost directly administered territory. Its capital, Dusk City, was governed by the Northern Count, the Empire's Northern War Marquis and Duke, Monston Douglas.
Situated on the border between the Elves and the Human Race, with a mild climate and the mouth of the several-hundred-meter-wide Mur River, Turquoise Bay was particularly prone to visits from the Merfolk. This was especially true now that the White Mountain Peninsula had been completely lost, and the Merfolk and Sea Monsters who had previously surrounded it had moved to the waters off Turquoise Bay.
On the night of the 22nd, five kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Mur River, the pine forests on both banks had almost entirely warded off the chill carried by the sea breeze. The young Knight Tierney and the Elf Yawenni Golden Moon, standing among the treetops, did not even need to wear special cold-weather clothing.
They watched as more than twenty Mid-Rank Merfolk, led by a High-Rank one, swam east. Less than five hundred meters behind them, an enormous creature gradually surfaced. A huge claw was visible in front of its brightly colored head.
"High-level Spear-Clawed Mantis Shrimp," Yawenni murmured. "This isn't good. There must be a Demigod Sea Monster following