The fishermen pulled up the anchor and immediately started moving. Ning jumped back onto the boat and looked around for people that were possibly injured.
He helped a few of them when he noticed weird looks given in his direction.
"What's up?" he asked the fishermen that were making weird glances.
"A-at the sea floor, was there no monster?" one of them asked.
"Monster? If you mean sea beast, then there were a few but they didn't attack," Ning said.
"No, no, the monster you know. THE monster?" the fishermen asked.
"I'm afraid I do not know what you mean," Ning said. "Either way, there was no monster. Your anchor was just stuck on some rock, that's all."
"See? I told you there was no Galthymore," another person said.
"Galthymore?" Ning wondered what they meant. He was about to ask the system what it was when the fishermen started freaking out again.
"What happened?" Ning asked only to find them scared because of his turtle.
"That's just my beast, don't worry," he said.
The people took a while to calm down after hearing it, but they did.
"By the way, how did you even get attacked by the beasts? Shouldn't you have some protection out in the sea?" Ning asked.
"We do, he's our recruit from the Summoning Circle," they said pointing to a young man at the end.
Ning saw that he was Rank 3 and got confused. "What happened to you summon?" he asked the young man.
"I— I sent it to the depth to dislodge the anchor from whatever it was stuck on, but it seemed to have disturbed some of the beasts which came to attack us," the young summoner said.
"I see. Well, you did what you could. No need to feel down." Ning looked at the rest of the fishermen and then towards the sun that was halfway down the ocean.
"You guys should return now."
Ning then jumped into the ocean and swam back to the turtle before climbing back onto the top.
He shook himself a bit to get rid of some of the water, but overall he was still quite wet.
"Are you okay? You were diving for quite some time," the queen asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," Ning said.
"What about those people? What was up with them?" the queen asked.
"Just some beast attacks. Apparently, the summoner lost his summon, so the sea beast saw them as a hostile threat and came attacking. Meanwhile, their anchor was stuck, so they couldn't leave at all," Ning explained.
"Oh, that must have been a traumatic experience for them," the queen said. "Being stranded in the sea, surrounded by beasts. I worry they would've died had you not been here."
"Most likely," Ning said as he turned to look at the fishing boat that was already far away. "They likely won't fish for a while now because of their fear."
"Also, they were quite scared actually," Ning turned to the queen. "They kept speaking about something called Galthymore. Do you know what it is?"
"Galthymore? The Burning Fish? It's a folktale around these parts of the ocean," the queen said.
"The Burning Fish? I'm curious now." Ning urged her to explain some more about the fish.
"Well, the story has been passed through many ears over many generations, so I don't know how accurate it is, but here it goes," the queen started explaining.
"The folktale speaks of a burning fish-like monster with many fins and tails that likes to dwell in the sea and kill passersby."
"From time to time, the people around here go missing and they blame it on the monster."
"It's supposed to be a nearly forgotten tale, but because of the missing people recently the folktale has reemerged and is making its way through the populous."
"Those people were probably scared that the monster was back and was going to attack them. The fear hasn't reached our kingdom yet, but the people that work in the sea are already speaking about it," the queen said.
"A burning fish? That's a weird creature to think about," Ning said. If it was burning, it couldn't be in the water. Maybe it was just glowing red or orange? Whatever it was, Ning would find out soon enough.
The sun finally set and the sea turned dark. The clouds still burned bright orange so Ning decided to return the people.
"I think you guys should return back now. If I keep you here for any longer, your people might start to get worried," Ning said.
"I—"
The queen was about to protest when she realized he was right. She wanted to stay with him a little longer, learn more about his powers and what beast it was that he was connected to.
But she also realized that if she was too desperate to have him join her group, that could backfire instead. Very badly at that too.
Besides, she had just got her legs back, not to mention her spiritual energy. So, she needed to focus on that for a bit. She wondered how happy her stupid husband would be when he saw her walk into their bedroom tonight.
The queen smiled and nodded. "Yes, let us return."
The return journey would take about 2 hours for all of them to return, so the queen got herself comfortable on the blue shell and—
Ning grabbed the three of them and instantly teleported.
"We're here," he said casually.
The queen's new feet nearly gave away when she realized that she was back in the palace.
"Ho-how? But… it's so far away!" she said as she looked around.
"Your highness!" the two servants of hers that were supposed to help move her around immediately ran up to her. However, when they saw the queen stand on her own feet, they couldn't help but show a shocked expression.
"I will return back, your highness," Ning said and disappeared suddenly.
The queen had many things to say but Ning was gone.
'I need to get him,' she thought. 'He will be a monumental force for our cause if I can get him.'
