He took a deep swig of wine, letting it drip down his coarse stubble.
He wiped his mouth, and his entire bearing changed.
The Golden Sail Merchant Guild captain who had carefully measured his every word and gesture before the lord vanished.
In his place stood an old sailor who had spent years braving the raging waves of the Endless Sea.
"Tricky? My lord, in the deep sea, 'tricky' doesn't begin to cover it."
Sea Wolf's voice took on the lilting cadence of a bard.
He looked around at everyone present.
"Some things are a law unto themselves."
Barrett lowered the wine cup he had just raised. Ola stopped absently stroking his beard, and even Tristan, who had kept his head buried in the records, looked up from his pile of parchment.
"Storm Colossal Squid."
"I don't mean the kind you hear coastal fishermen talk about, the ones that can capsize a fishing boat."
"I mean... monsters that can treat a three-masted warship like a toy in their grasp." He gestured with his hands, then let them fall in defeat, as though no gesture could convey such an unimaginably huge creature.
"Their hides are thick and tough. Ordinary blades won't leave so much as a pale mark on them."
"Once, off the Mist Isles, I watched from a distance as an elite squad of Many-Armed Folk attacked a Storm Colossal Squid. You know the Many-Armed Folk. They're born rulers of the water: agile, vicious, and perfectly coordinated."
Sea Wolf paused and lifted his cup, but merely watched the wine sway inside it, his gaze drifting into a distant memory.
"But that big fellow didn't care at all. It just hung there in the water, letting their bone spears and claw blades scrape across its body. It couldn't even be bothered