Aboard the Clover.
Tris tried several times, but each time, he failed to convince anyone that the Sea Monster did not exist.
There was nothing he could do about that.
The Sea Monster was right before their eyes. No matter how eloquently Tris spoke, it was useless.
With one hand on his hip, he stood on the deck and watched as the Sea Monster tore the ship apart more and more.
He glanced at the dagger in his hand, then at the crowd to the side. Suddenly, he turned and charged into the rioters.
"Ho?" Morien tilted his head and let out a sound of surprise. "So you're not completely brainless after all."
Holding the dagger in a reverse grip, Tris rushed into the rioting crowd and swung his arm. A head flew high into the air.
Splat!
Blood sprayed everywhere as a grotesque head fell to the deck.
Since the Sea Monster Morien had created came from "emotions," and the Sea Monster itself would disappear as long as people's awareness of it vanished—
It was easy to reach a conclusion.
"As long as I kill all those spreading savage and malicious emotions, the only things that Sea Monster can receive will be wishes like 'I want to live' and 'I want to go home'!" Tris thought as he cut down one person after another.
Morien nodded silently.
That was right.
The solution he had presented at the beginning had only been half of it.
Now, Tris had found the other half.
He braced himself with both hands, leaped down from the cabin roof, and walked toward Tris.
Tris easily slit the throat of a gun-wielding rioter, then snatched a revolver from another rioter and fired several shots in succession. Every bullet took down a rioter.
The sudden change caught the rioters off guard, but those slightly farther away still raised their guns at Tris.
Tris's speed instantly surged to the limits of an ordinary human's. Anticipating their movements, he weaved through the hail of bullets, striking with his knife and firing his gun in turn.
Heads fell one after another, and bullet holes appeared one after another.
In just a few seconds, Tris, who had completely digested the Sequence 8 Potion, effortlessly dealt with all the rioters.
"Ha... ha... ha..."
He bent halfway over, gasping heavily.
Just as he had expected, the Sea Monster immediately stopped damaging the ship.
It lay quietly coiled around the ship, doing nothing.
"That's truly impressive." Morien applauded as he walked over to Tris. "You came up with such a good method in only a few seconds."
Right now, he looked exactly like a standard villain.
Hearing his voice, Tris immediately rolled forward and put some distance between himself and Morien.
Only then did he turn around, raise his gun, and look at Morien behind him.
Suddenly, the corner of his eye caught sight of the surrounding deck.
"You... wait... this ship..."
He suddenly realized that the entire Clover had become completely intact.
There were no torn-down railings, no shattered deck, no broken masts.
He had clearly seen all of those with his own eyes...
"Didn't I tell you from the very beginning that it was fake? I don't have the ability to create a real Sea Monster." Morien picked at his ear. "Who can you blame but yourself for not believing me?"
Tris opened his mouth to retort, but when the words reached his lips, he suddenly did not know what to say.
Indeed, Morien seemed never to have deceived him from beginning to end.
He had said that the Sea Monster was fake, that he could not create a real Sea Monster, and that as long as one did not believe in the Sea Monster's existence, it could not hurt anyone...
Something that had been false from the start naturally could not hurt anyone.
Whether they believed in it or not, it could not hurt anyone.
"So everything just now was an illusion?" Tris asked, holding his dagger as he looked at Morien.
"Oh, not quite." Morien pointed behind him. "At least that is real."
He was pointing at the corpses scattered across the deck.
Tris's expression immediately darkened.
"You used me as a weapon?"
"Yep." Morien smiled and nodded. "Who told you to be so stupid?"
He wanted to see whether Tris would lash out at him in humiliation and anger.
But Tris calmed down within seconds.
He straightened up, casually tossed the pistol to the ground, and revealed a kind smile on his harmless-looking round face.
"Oh?" Morien raised an eyebrow.
Tris said gently,
"Since you didn't attack me directly, we should still be able to talk."
Even if the Sea Monster had not been fake, a Beyonder capable of dragging everyone on the ship into an illusion was not someone he could contend against.
Most importantly, Tris could not really tell whether the man before him was real or merely another illusion.
"You're really good at keeping your cool." Morien teased. "I thought you'd be very angry."
"How could I be?" The smile remained on Tris's bloodstained face.
"Fine. Looks like you know what's good for you." Morien nodded.
"Of course. Emperor Roselle once said that harmonious coexistence is precious."
"Since you know what's good for you," Morien asked bluntly, "how much money do you have on you right now?"
Tris's expression did not change as he calculated silently for two seconds.
"A little over ten pounds," he answered. "About ten pounds and three soli."
Morien rubbed his chin and nodded.
"Fine. I'll leave you three soli. The remaining ten pounds will be the price of your life."
Tris's fingers twitched almost imperceptibly, but he smiled and nodded. "No problem."
He reached into his pocket, took out his wallet, opened it, removed three soli, and handed the rest of the money, along with the wallet, to Morien.
"Here. All my money is in there."
After a pause, he added,
"I didn't bring much money when I left this time. Most of it was taken by pirates, so there really isn't much left."
"Fine, I believe you." Morien took the wallet without counting it and put it straight into his pocket.
"You can go back to the cabin and stay there." Morien casually waved his hand and pointed his thumb at the cabin behind him. "There's nothing for you to do here."
"Alright, I understand."
Tris looked toward the sea behind Morien, then gave him another complicated look. Hiding his emotions in his eyes, he smiled and wiped the blood from his face. Without bothering with the corpses on the ground, he turned and left.
After Tris walked away, Morien turned to look behind him.
Not far away, the Blue Avenger rapidly approached the Clover from the side.
Alger was not standing at the bow. Instead, he had walked to the side of the ship.
As the two ships drew closer, Alger noticed two people and a field of corpses on the opposite deck.
One had a round face and held a dagger that was still dripping blood as he walked toward the cabin. The other wore a mask and strange clothing, standing where he was as though waiting for them.
Neither of them seemed to be Beyonders of the sailor pathway commonly seen at sea, because neither stood very steadily amid the huge waves.
This was far too unusual. Alger immediately raised one hand, signaling the crew to wait and not jump over in a hurry.
Soon, the Blue Avenger came to a stop, only a dozen meters or so away from the Clover.