With that, Kay quickly stripped off his armor and clothes.
Sovell stopped hesitating, immediately conjured a blue-green pearl between his hands, and tossed it to Kay.
The Wind Pearl was naturally meant not for Kay, but for the drowning person.
If swimming that short distance could tire Kay out, he might as well surrender his title as the king of swimming.
In mere moments, Kay swam to the drowning person's side at an inhuman speed.
Just as Kay took the person's hand and prepared to swim back to shore-
Rumble-
Thunder?
Why was it so close?
"Stay calm. Don't be afraid. I'll get you back."
Kay reassured the drowning person behind him, but received no answer. The hand in his grasp was growing harder and harder.
He looked back and found that the person he had rescued had somehow turned into a pale blue horse!
The cold human hand in his grasp had also become a backward-facing hoof!
"Damn it, a Kelpie...? I fell for it."
Cursing under his breath, Kay immediately released the hoof and tried to smash the Wind Pearl against himself, intending to deploy a Wind Barrier and return to shore.
But a Kelpie's speed, senses, and other capabilities multiplied several times over in water. The creature twisted around and knocked the Wind Pearl from Kay's hand with its fish tail.
The Wind Pearl flew out of the water and vanished in a burst of fierce wind.
On shore, Sovell saw his Wind Pearl fly out of the water and instantly knew something had gone wrong. The lingering winds released by the pearl drifted back to his side.
The presence of a demon beast... no, a phantom beast!
Why was there a phantom beast in England's waters?
Had it migrated from Wales?
There was no time to think about that. He had to make a decision.
Sovell no longer hesitated. If magecraft had a chance of failing, he could simply overwhelm the opponent with absolute power.
"Lia, get back!"
"Huh? Okay. I'll leave it to you, Sovell."
Although Artoria did not understand what had happened, she could clearly sense something was wrong. She chose to follow Sovell's instructions and took several steps back.
Once Artoria was a safe distance away, Sovell mobilized the magical energy stored within him as quickly as possible, strengthening his body!
"Hiss... hoo..."
The boy steadied his breathing as dragon horns gradually emerged from his forehead.
"▇▇▇▇▇▇!!!"
A heaven-shaking Dragon Roar erupted from Sovell's mouth!
The splashing in the distant water immediately subsided.
In the blink of an eye, Kay floated to the surface. Sovell spread his Wind Wings, hit the "accelerator," and shot over to scoop him up.
"Lia! Catch!"
With that, Sovell threw Kay toward Artoria, who was waiting on shore.
Naturally, the girl caught her dear big brother without a hitch.
After confirming that Kay was largely unharmed, Sovell cast a Water-Repelling Barrier on himself and plunged into the sea to find the culprit.
With his Dragon Eyes activated, Sovell spotted a horse... a fish... in any case, a pale blue fairy with a horse's body and a fish's tail beneath the water. A pair of long, glossy black horns grew from its head, making it quite beautiful.
Sovell grabbed a hoof in each hand and hauled the entire fairy ashore.
"Is this... a Kelpie?"
Like Kay, Artoria recognized what kind of fairy it was.
The Kelpie was a kind of fairy that lived in freshwater.
Stories about it were especially widespread in Scotland, on the Island of Britain.
According to legend, Kelpies would take the form of humans or ordinary horses, either seducing humans into mating with them or allowing humans to ride on their backs.
Alternatively, they would drag humans into the water with immense strength that ordinary people could not resist.
In short, they lured humans into the water, drowned them, and consumed their souls. Some particularly vicious individuals even ate human flesh and blood.
That was why Kelpies were also called Water Ghost Horses.
Incidentally, whether in their true forms or their disguises, Kelpies always had backward-facing hooves.
"But Kelpies usually live in freshwater. Why would one appear near the coast?"
Artoria stroked the fairy's smooth coat as she asked the boy.
"Because this isn't an ordinary Kelpie. It's a subspecies, a sea Kelpie.
"The names of freshwater and sea Kelpies sound so similar that hardly anyone uses separate terms for them anymore. They're collectively called Kelpies.
"Sea Kelpies are fairies that live in coastal waters. Their habits are similar to those of freshwater Kelpies-they drown people and then feed on them-but they're much rarer."
After clearing the seawater from Kay's mouth and nose, Sovell cast a Calming Spell on him to dispel the stunning effect of the Dragon Roar, then explained the fairy before them to the girl.
"The way to distinguish freshwater and sea Kelpies is to look at the tails and manes of their true forms.
"A freshwater Kelpie's tail has the outline of a horse's tail but the structure of a fish's tail. It's thin and fragile.
"A sea Kelpie's tail is a fish's crescent-shaped tail fin, thick and powerful.
"Freshwater Kelpies have no manes. Instead, a smooth, shellfish-like carapace runs from the back of their necks all the way to their tails. The carapace on their backs is thicker than the shell along their flanks.
"A sea Kelpie's mane is made of loose, slender waterweed. It looks easy to break, but it's actually quite tough."
With that, Sovell reached out and tugged on the sea Kelpie's mane.
"Holy shit!"
A curse came from behind Sovell.
The girl looked over and found that Kay, who had been unconscious until moments ago, was now sitting up.
"Brother Kay, you're awake."
"Wait, wait, wait. My head hurts a bit."
Knight Kay patted his head, as if trying to knock the unpleasant memory out of his brain.
After all, diving in to rescue someone only to find a water ghost, then getting knocked unconscious by a Dragon Roar alongside the fairy, could hardly have been a pleasant experience.
Sovell snapped his fingers, and a breeze dried Kay's body and underclothes. He also gestured for the girl beside him to light a fire so Kay could warm himself.
As the moisture on its body gradually evaporated, the sea Kelpie's true form faded, turning into a tall, pale-coated horse.
The horse's mane was likewise pale, with a few touches of emerald green.
"Kay, Lia, I have an idea."
Looking at this beautiful horse-beautiful in Sovell's eyes, at least-Sovell told the two of them what he had in mind.
"What?!"
After hearing Sovell's idea, the girl cried out in surprise.
Beside her, Knight Kay challenged Sovell outright:
"You're saying you want to tame this Kelpie... no, this sea Kelpie into a mount?!"
"Yeah. What do you think? Great idea, right?"
Sovell gave his own idea a thumbs-up.
"First a Barghest, now a sea Kelpie. Sovell, what am I supposed to say to you...?"
Looking at his "deranged" future brother-in-law, Knight Kay could not help covering his face and letting out a long sigh.
"Grr... woof!"
From inside Sovell's neck armor, Barghest voiced her displeasure at Kay. Apparently, she felt offended.
Leaving aside what Kay and Artoria thought, judging purely by a sea Kelpie's capabilities as a mount, it really was not a bad idea.
Whether at sea or on land, a sea Kelpie possessed the strength of ten fine horses. Beyond its hind hooves, the two hard horns on its head could also serve as weapons.
Underwater, its tail could produce a sound much like thunder and possessed strength no ordinary fish could match. Knocking the Wind Pearl from Kay's hand with a single swipe earlier had demonstrated that.
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