“Wh-what news?”

Sevis’ face turned red as Silvia grabbed both his hands, but she was so excited by the increased amount of money in her possession that she didn’t notice the slightest change.

“Ta-dah! We got 30,000 gold! Surprised?”

Though he had heard the good news that they had obtained 30,000 gold at once, Sevis couldn’t react properly because he was conscious of the hands grabbing his. It felt like his heart was pounding and a fever was rising all over his body. He was sure his face was as red as a red radish.

‘Miss Sylvia’s hands were soft when we raided the dungeon, but now they’re full of calluses. I should have stepped up and scolded the shrimp boat captain first.’

“Sevis?”

Sylvia tilted her head to the side, wondering why he wasn’t answering, but his thoughts never came to an end.

‘What do I do while we’re together? I work hard at housework and cooking, but this is something anyone can do. Miss Sylvia is always working hard on everything. If I look away for a moment, she’s already in front of me. This time too, I just stood by her side while she solved the problem. Will she see me as a man if I help her more actively?’

It was a thought he could have because he didn’t know her rotten brain. Thinking that he should try harder to help her, he gently gazed at her clear green eyes without realizing it. Her eyes grew as wide as a large bell when she met his red eyes, which looked somehow patient due to the darkening environment.

“I didn’t steal it!”
“What?”

Her misunderstanding deepened when Sevis’ eyebrows wiggled slightly in confusion at her sudden words.

“I didn’t steal the money from the safe. Sevis. Why are you looking at me like I’m a suspicious person… No matter how much we’re short on money, would I steal from the sailors’ share? The sailors thanked me and gave me 30,000 gold even though I refused it!”

Perhaps Sylvia misunderstood his gaze. It was understandable. Because Sevis had never looked at her with such serious eyes for no reason. As Sylvia knew, most of the time Sevis looked at her quietly, it was one of two cases. When he already knew what she had done, so he was pressing her to tell him quickly, or when he did something vulgar himself.

Sevis sighed silently and ruffled his bangs. He didn’t know what to say.
Misunderstanding that Sevis was still suspicious of the source of the money, she poured out her words nonstop. Sevis belatedly tried to tell her it wasn’t like that, but she didn’t give him a chance.

“Go over there and ask them. You’ll see that I’m right. I also received a seaweed dress, but this… Well, I’ll show it to you later in battle. Anyway, I got this money fairly!”
“Yes, Miss Sylvia. I know.”

When he said, ‘Yes, you did a great job,’ and smiled softly, her expression became strange.

‘Did Sevis eat something wrong today? What’s with his gaze? Or is there dust in my eyes? He looks disgusted for some reason.’

Sylvia rubbed her eyes hard with her hands. Then, feeling embarrassed for some reason, she looked to the side and opened her mouth.

“Ahem… Do you understand now? You were being unfair. Then, if we add up the 30,000 gold given by the sailors and our share of the money taken out of the safe in the captain’s office, we have 70,000 gold in our possession!”
“Really? Miss Sylvia, you did well in getting on the shrimp boat this time. Our profits were big.”
“You’re surprised, right?!”

Sylvia shrugged and glanced sideways at him, and Sevis’ expression returned to normal. Relieved, she bragged,

“Really, that’s the thing with people. This is how important it is to make a quick choice! If I had decided to put up with it, we wouldn’t have had such a result! … Sevis, are you listening?”
“Yes, I’m listening.”

Sylvia had been bragging for a long time, and Sevis chimed in at an appropriate time and praised her.

At some point, the sun had completely set, and the surroundings had turned dark. It was time to eat. Since the captain and the pot-belly were gone and there was no one to watch them, the cook served the food with fresh shrimp and freshly caught fish. Thanks to this, the sailors and Sylvia’s group had a pleasant dinner while wishing each other a bright future.
That’s how the night on board passed…

Rumble— bang bang!

“Hey! Fix the cargo over there!”
“Let’s gather all the nets and move them inside!”

Until a storm at night caused a commotion on deck. They had encountered an unexpected storm. A heavy manatee, unable to see even one inch ahead, hit the deck. Sylvia and Sevis also helped the sailors in their raincoats as they moved around from place to place.

It was a ship that was supposed to be sold to a junkyard because it was old, so she was very anxious to see if it would be safe in the storm. The faces of the sailors were also filled with fear as waves as tall as houses threatened to devour the boat.

‘What if the ship sinks and I get a dead ending?’

No matter how many times she died, she would never get used to death. It would be better to just die. She thought it would be terrible if there was an ending like 〈held onto a piece of wood after the ship sank and floated away in the endless ocean, ending the rest of her life on a deserted island〉.
At that moment, the sky quieted down like how it was before the storm, and a roar came from the dark sea. At that sound, a sailor shouted in horror,

“Aaaah! Kraken! It’s the Kraken!”

When he finished talking, a huge octopus’ leg broke through the water and fell onto the deck with a thump.
The gigantic octopus’ leg, like the body of a 100-year-old tree, folding in half and unfolding again while scanning the deck, was terrifying.

“Let’s all attack it!”

Going inside their cabins would not solve the problem, so the sailors endured their fears and took up arms. Sylvia and Sevis nodded and took out the hammer and claws respectively. Just one leg was as big as if ten people were put together, but that didn’t mean they could die like this. They eagerly attacked the octopus’ leg, wondering if it would give up if they bothered it.

Thump thump, bang bang, swoosh swoosh— As they scratched the octopus’ legs with all their might, dark blue blood came out of the hideous body. It was a sight that naturally raised eyebrows, but it wasn’t a time for leisurely appreciation, so they focused on the attack.
Sadly, the giant Kraken was not something Sylvia could defeat in her current state. Like the rest of the crew, she had no choice but to attack only the Kraken’s leg.

‘After attacking Luca, I will be able to master fire-attribute skills. Then I might be able to defeat the Kraken with magic. But right now, I can only do basic physical attacks other than purification skills, so it’s impossible. On top of that, the sea is its area, so it can swing its limbs around. We’ll become fish food if we lose the boat, so it’s hard to attack to our heart’s content.’

After a long time of stabbing it, the octopus’ leg became tattered. The octopus’ leg, which was spewing blue blood, wriggled and staggered for a moment before slipping out of the boat. The sailors, who had been waiting for the Kraken to come up again, paused for a while. When the monster didn’t show any signs of coming out after a long time, they rejoiced, hugging each other and shouting, ‘We survived!’

Sylvia, who was relieved like them, wiped her face covered in blue blood with her hands and muttered,

“… Did the Kraken run away?”
“I hope so.”

Sevis took out a handkerchief from his bosom, wiping her face and then his claws. After fighting with the Kraken, the chaos above the sea became calm, as if nothing had happened. It was still raining hard, but the waves stopped. Sylvia let out a sigh of relief as she looked down at the sea.

‘The Kraken must have stirred up the sea and caused the storm earlier.’

Seeing that it was still quiet after a while, those who hadn’t let their guard down because they were afraid the Kraken would start attacking again began to clean the deck. Sevis and Sylvia also cleaned up the mess with them.

Sevis gathered a pile of seaweed that the Kraken had brought with it as it came up and threw it over the sea. Sylvia was dragging the cargo that had been pushed to the middle of the ship and tying it to a pole with a rope when the ship suddenly tilted with a loud thump. Sylvia turned her head in shock at the sailors’ screams and saw Sevis being dragged towards the sea, the octopus’ leg wrapped around him.

“Aaah! The Kraken has reappeared!”
“Dear heavens, Seo, Seo has been caught. What should we do?”

The sailors grabbed the weapons they had thrown at the sudden reappearance of the monster and stabbed its leg hard, but to no avail. Sevis hastily pulled out his claws and tried to hold on to the deck and not be dragged away, but it seemed hard to overcome the power of the Kraken.

While the sailors were fidgeting, not knowing what to do, Sylvia looked alternately between the rope she hastily tied to the pillar and the hammer she had just pulled out from her inventory. She didn’t have time to think for long.
She hastily secured the rope to the tip of the hammer and looked at the octopus’ leg that looked like it would drag Sevis into the sea. The moment the octopus leg holding Sevis went up into the air as if it had not been hit by any attack by the sailors, Sylvia inwardly 〈Boomerang Hammer〉 and threw the hammer hard.

“Go around the octopus leg!”

The hammer, which flew vigorously, wrapped the rope around the octopus leg floating in the air and quickly returned to Sylvia’s hand. Thanks to this, the Kraken couldn’t drag Sevis into the water and began to splash around.
Tugging on the rope with all her strength, she exclaimed,

“Pull it together, please!”

The sailors standing beside her soon realized her intentions and pulled the rope with all their might.
Thud! Even amid that, the octopus’ leg that collapsed on the deck again did not release Sevis.

“Please wrap the rope tightly around the pillar!”

After asking the sailors, Sylvia took the hammer and ran to rescue Sevis. The octopus’ leg, which had been briefly staggered by the impact of its fall, wriggled to escape, pulling the rope tautly again. In that struggle, the sturdy rope was loosened and began to hang narrowly.
The Kraken, which had just cut the rope, grabbed Sevis and was about to drag him into the sea.

Sylvia used 〈Hands Faster than Eyes〉 to get in front of the octopus’ leg in an instant. However, her plan to use her skills to knock down the Kraken immediately went awry. The Kraken’s level was higher than hers, so her skill was immediately detected.
After reading Sylvia’s movements, the Kraken pulled another leg to the surface and threw her away. Sevis’ face turned blue.

“Miss Sylvia! Are you alright?!”

–