Chapter 26: Ancient Language

“What the hell, what kind of shameless b*stards are they!?”

And instead of the thoughtless Paul, there was someone else who got angry.

It was Caravan, whom he had met only a few hours ago.

He raised his voice in disbelief at the sight of the explorers shamelessly shouting that they were the ones who had played.

“When did they ever play! Paul-nim did all the playing!”

Regardless, the explorers were now bickering and fighting amongst themselves.

Because of this, the sirens were confused.

They had clearly heard only one instrument, but the number of people claiming to be the player was double that, so they exchanged opinions on what to do.

[What should we do?]

[Someone is lying.]

[Who is it?]

[We only need one person.]

[That’s right, in the end, we’re only taking one.]

At that moment, Caravan approached Paul, who was standing there blankly.

Feeling wronged and angry for no reason, he pushed Paul’s back against the railing.

“Paul-nim, Paul-nim. Why aren’t you saying anything?! You should say something!”

“Uh, I’m really… okay with it…”

At that, Paul waved his hand with a bewildered face.

He didn’t want to get involved in that farce, and besides, with Khan by his side, where would he go?

Looking at the current situation, it seemed like he would be dragged into an underwater adventure by those mermaids or sirens, but he honestly wanted to decline.

“But you’re the one who played, Paul-nim…?!”

It was when Caravan was getting heated at that reaction.

[Be quiet—!]

The confused sirens couldn’t stand it anymore and screamed.

Thanks to that, the people on the ship took widespread damage.

At the sudden attack, players and NPCs groaned and collapsed here and there.

“H-How…?!

“Mermaids have never attacked players before…!”

Here, for a moment, the players were mistaken about one thing.

Mermaids and sirens were similar, but they were strictly different beings.

Mermaids were NPCs, but sirens were monsters capable of dealing damage like they just did.

It would be easier to understand if you thought about why a system message like <Be careful of the singing!> appeared.

“I was wondering what kind of stupid thing you were doing from the beginning, but you’re completely crazy! You people, I know what you’re mistaken about, but sirens are monsters!”

An NPC sailor, annoyed by the players’ actions, shouted while bleeding from his ears.

He had clearly said they were sirens from the beginning, but they obviously hadn’t listened.

And what was the result of that?

[System: The favorability of the crew of ‘Pamp No. 4’ has decreased.]

The above notification appeared for most of the players.

And a more threatening warning message was sent to the explorers who were the cause of this incident.

[How dare… how dare you!]

[Who dares to lie to us?!]

The sirens’ pupils split vertically, and their beast-like eyes glared at the people.

Savage teeth were revealed, and a song filled with clear hostility echoed through the waters from their mouths.

The tune was so gloomy that it was reminiscent of a funeral dirge.

Everyone, without exception, covered their ears.

And in this situation, only Paul was completely fine.

‘Ah, so this is how not being attacked first by pre-emptive monsters works? This is interesting.’

He was really glad he had changed his title beforehand.

Paul thought blankly as he looked at the people covering their ears.

Looking to his side, it seemed Khan wasn’t particularly affected either.

“Caravan-nim!”

Instead, he was startled when he saw Caravan.

He was not in a state to hear Paul’s words due to the continuous siren attacks.

In the first place, he couldn’t hear any sound other than the singing.

He was worried because he had become quite friendly with him on the ship.

‘What should I do,’ Paul wondered, and then remembering the title he had, he grabbed the railing and shouted at the sirens.

“Stop it!”

At that, the curse-filled song came to a halt.

At the same time, sharp gazes were fixed on Paul all at once.

However, the atmosphere was quite light, unlike a moment ago.

[What are you?]

[Oh my, what a cute child!]

[What’s your name?]

[For some reason, I feel like we can talk!]

At the sudden change in their demeanor, the people on the ship, bewildered, cautiously lowered the hands that had been covering their ears.

The title effect had worked properly, and the sirens felt a sense of familiarity with Paul.

“I’m the one who played!”

Fearing they wouldn’t believe him because of the people who had lied before, Paul quickly took up his instrument and played the song he had played a little while ago again.

[That’s right!]

[That was the sound.]

[It was you!]

[Come with us!]

The sirens sang excitedly, saying they had finally found him.

Then, the wounds of the people on the ship began to heal.

“Wow… they give you the disease and the cure.”

Caravan was dumbfounded by the sirens’ quick change of attitude.

He shook his head at the sirens who were singing a song like a gentle breeze and approached Paul, standing next to him.

“Paul-nim, this is a good opportunity! Since those sneaky b*stards were trying to get something by using people, the reward will surely be good, right?”

“Haha, but I really don’t need it. I’m not interested either.”

Even the small whisper with Caravan was heard by the sirens with their excellent hearing, and they caused a commotion.

[You’re not coming?]

[What a strange kid…]

[Everyone wants to come with us.]

[You don’t want to?]

“Uh, I mean… I’m sorry! I can’t go!”

“What a waste… This is an event right now. The rewards will be amazing…”

Caravan sighed as if he were the one who was disappointed.

At that moment, Khan, who had been quietly standing next to Paul, muttered gloomily.

[…■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■.]

It was the sirens who understood that strange voice.

The moment the sirens were about to say something in surprise, Khan approached Caravan in one step.

And he grabbed the unsuspecting Caravan by the scruff of his neck.

While Caravan and Paul were flustered, saying “Uh, uh?”, he easily threw him off the ship.

“Aaaaargh!”

Splash—!

[What the…!]

[…Ancient language?]

[There’s something scary on the ship!]

[There’s something to be afraid of!]

[We must inform the king!]

The startled sirens shouted continuously.

And they began to move away from the ship as if they had seen something terrifying.

One by one, they disappeared into the sea, and the last remaining siren looked at Paul and said.

[Well, it’s a shame, but I like this too!]

Saying that, what the siren suddenly pulled out from the sea was Caravan, who was coughing continuously from spitting out seawater.

If it was a relief, it was a relief, I guess the siren pulled him out before he drowned.

“Cough! Cough!”

[Let’s go to the world under the sea~!]

“W-Wait a minute…!”

[Let’s go!]

Plop—!

“…”

Once the sirens disappeared, only silence surrounded the ship.

At that moment, when no one could open their mouths at the situation that had happened in the blink of an eye, Paul grabbed his head with both hands and shouted in horror.

“…He threw a person!”

***

At that time, Nicholas was a little dumbfounded by the current situation.

This monster with his face really only resembled him in the face and body!

His personality was completely different.

‘A monster is a monster, so he has no mercy in his hands. Well, that was the setting, so what can I do… but isn’t it a little troublesome that he doesn’t recognize what’s wrong with doing such a thing?’

‘It’s understandable since he has no memory, but really…’

From Nicholas’s perspective, he could also understand what Khan was saying.

[…Then you can go.]

‘No, but you’re just going to throw a person like that?’

Nicholas was dumbfounded.

‘How can you just throw a person like that? That’s violent!’

…Of course, the person who created this <Arcana Chronicles> was not one to talk.

But ignoring that situation, Nicholas lamented.

If he could have moved freely, he would have already been clutching his head like Paul.

Khan was annoyed by Caravan, who had been chattering away next to Paul since a while ago.

But now, with the sirens also making a fuss, telling Paul to go with them, it seemed his patience had reached its limit.

He was very displeased with the unfolding situation.

Nicholas also naturally knew that.

Then, before he could even put a stop to it, not knowing where the incident would fly, he had thrown the player named Caravan!

Until now, Nicholas had been making very minor interventions on the ship.

Minor interventions that would only make Khan think ‘Huh?’ even if he noticed.

It was Nicholas who had moved Khan’s line of sight to discover Caravan selling motion sickness potions on the other side, unable to watch Paul suffering from motion sickness, and who had made him catch Paul, who was about to fall, and hold him.

He had only made such minor interventions.

…It was Khan’s will to lift Paul up or to wrap his arms around him from behind.

Fortunately, Khan felt a sense of unease but didn’t pay much attention to it.

But he thought that was it.

Even if he had a gap in his memory, perhaps because he was classified as a special NPC, he quickly noticed the identity of the unease.

Even Nicholas couldn’t guess how long this would last, even if he didn’t care for now.

So he was slowly switching back to spectator mode…

[How! Could! You! Throw! A! Person!]