TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 94

Lead-gray clouds slowly pressed toward the coastline. Seabirds flew low overhead, and the Sea God’s raging waves crashed against the reefs and shore as sharp winds howled through the air.

The sky grew dimmer and dimmer, the waves swelling higher by the minute. It looked as though a torrential storm was about to break. Fishermen hurried to haul in their nets and return to shore, while tourists also began making their way inland.

Yet a white figure ran against the flow of the crowd.

“O!” Albin shouted, quickly spotting that deep navy-blue figure, as profound as the depths of the sea itself.

“Sorry, I’m late.” Albin lowered his head apologetically, then grabbed his arm. “It’s about to rain. Let’s head up first.”

His appearance softened the Sea God’s originally cold expression somewhat, though not by much.

The Sea God, Ocean, allowed himself to be tugged along uphill. His chilling gaze fell upon Albin as he let out a cold scoff.

“Get lost. Don’t expect me to teach you how to swim ever again.”

It was true that he found the brat somewhat pleasing to the eye, but he was the mighty Sea God—how could he tolerate being neglected by a mere human?

Since the weather clearly made swimming impossible anyway, Albin pulled Ocean beneath a shelter to wait out the rain. He had rushed out in such a hurry that he hadn’t taken a carriage, only to discover halfway there that the sky had suddenly darkened.

“Then how about I show you around instead?” Albin blinked at him obediently. “Think of it as my apology. Dinner’s on me tonight! I’ll treat you to something delicious! Please don’t stay mad at me anymore.”

He lifted Ocean’s hand and pressed it beside his cheek, fluttering his eyelashes as he said, “You can squish my cheeks!”

Ocean sneered. What a joke. Did the mighty Sea God look like he lacked money? Why would he need a minor to treat him?

Still, he casually pinched the boy’s cheek, thinking disdainfully:

What’s so fun about this?

This brat wasn’t like the Holy Sons of his era, whose faces were plump with flesh. Though the boy was quite cute, in Ocean’s mind, a fuller figure was the clearest sign of wealth and status.

This little brat probably didn’t even have much allowance money. Later, when he ran out of cash, he’d probably end up crying in embarrassment, spinning helplessly in place while looking pitifully at him.

Staring at the young boy whose cheeks he was pinching, Ocean imagined the scene.

…Actually, that didn’t sound too bad.

Since the brat wanted to curry favor with him, Ocean would reluctantly grant him a chance.

But if the boy failed to amuse him, he would dispose of this disrespectful human without hesitation.

Though dark clouds filled the sky, rain stubbornly refused to fall. Albin muttered in confusion, but the locals seemed used to it.

The weather by the sea was as unpredictable as the ocean itself—temperamental and ever-changing.

There was still some time before dinner, so Albin dragged Ocean through the marketplace. Since the area was both a vacation destination and a prosperous trade hub, it was exceptionally lively. Local goods and foreign imports alike filled the stalls in dazzling variety.

“This hair tie looks nice!” Albin held it up and compared it against Ocean. “Can I try putting it on you?”

It was a black braided hair tie threaded with golden strands.

Ocean folded his arms with an indifferent expression, but he didn’t refuse.

Ocean’s hair curled messily like ocean waves. Albin enthusiastically gathered part of it into a tiny ponytail from behind and tied it up.

“You look so much fresher like this.”

Standing behind him, Albin failed to notice the trembling stall owner facing Ocean. The man looked utterly terrified—he had clearly recognized the man before him as a priest of the Sea God’s Temple.

The stall owner had just opened his mouth to speak when Ocean shot him a glance, instantly silencing him in fear.

Ocean wasn’t planning to let Albin discover his identity so soon. He had no shortage of people who treated him with reverence.

But someone who dared to stand him up and treat him like an ordinary person… it had been a very long time since someone like that had appeared.

He casually picked up a wide-brimmed straw hat from the stall and put it on to conceal his appearance.

“I want one too!” Seeing that, Albin immediately grew excited. How could anyone come to the seaside without wearing a straw hat? He grabbed a smaller one and put it on as well.

Adjusting the brim, he circled around Ocean while striking all sorts of bizarre poses.

“So stupid,” Ocean commented.

“This is a pose from One Piece!” Albin protested righteously. “It’s cool!”

Ocean looked at him strangely.

For a moment, he almost wondered whether Albin had somehow discovered his identity. Before becoming the Sea God, Ocean himself had once been a pirate who lived amid thrill and danger.

Had Albin not mentioned the word, Ocean might have forgotten those distant days altogether.

Like opening a long-sealed chest buried beneath the sea, old memories slowly surfaced once more.

Albin paid openly and cheerfully, though the stall owner seemed oddly hesitant, repeatedly lifting his head before finally quoting a price.

Ocean absentmindedly allowed himself to be dragged along. The boy’s radiant vitality was like sunlight glittering across the ocean surface—dazzling to the eyes, yet impossible not to be drawn toward.

By the time Ocean snapped back to attention, Albin was already crying out in pain.

When Albin opened one of the fishermen’s catch buckets, a crab unfortunately clamped onto his finger.

“Ow, that hurts…” Tears welled in Albin’s eyes like trembling drops of egg flower soup, his eyes glistening as he wildly shook his hand up and down, flapping around like a seabird preparing for flight.

“So pathetic. You’re getting bullied by a crab.”

Ocean mocked him mercilessly before extending a hand toward the crab.

The crab reacted as if facing a great enemy. Terrified, it instantly released Albin and scuttled back into the bucket, sinking to the very bottom.

“Don’t you know magic?” Ocean asked.

“There’s no magic that makes crabs stop pinching people, okay? Hoo…” Albin hugged his injured finger and blew on it.

It wasn’t as though he could unleash some ultimate spell on a crab. Besides, he had no idea what kind of magic would convince one to voluntarily loosen its claws.

Ocean didn’t dwell on the matter and simply asked, “Who told you to open the fish bucket?”

“I wanted to see if there were any fish. The uncle said he caught something good,” Albin replied guiltily.

To be more precise, he had wanted to see if there were any sea demons.

After previously encountering little sea demons every time he casually opened barrels or boxes, Albin had developed the habit of rummaging through containers like an RPG hero player obsessed with looting everything.

Still, it was strange. He hadn’t seen a single sea demon this trip.

The fisherman before them burst into laughter and reached into the bucket, pulling out a snake-like creature.

“This is the good catch.”

“Whoa—!” Albin instantly jumped behind Ocean, though he still peeked his head out curiously. “What is that? Why does it have so many teeth?”

He wasn’t afraid of snakes, but the thing before him looked far more horrifying—like something straight out of a horror movie. Not cool at all!

“That’s a lamprey. People love eating them.”

“I think I’ve eaten one before…” Albin recalled. He really had eaten lamprey, and it had tasted quite good. He just never imagined the creature itself looked this terrifying.

Ocean crossed his arms and sneered at him. “Coward.”

Albin refused to accept that. “I just wasn’t mentally prepared! I thought it’d be a normal fish!”

Squatting down, he began inspecting the other catch buckets with eyes full of curiosity.

The sea by the coast was teeming with an unusually rich variety of seafood. Albin dragged Ocean around from stall to stall, his excitement almost like visiting an aquarium. He tugged at Ocean’s sleeve, eagerly sharing every new and strange discovery.

Ocean was long since bored of these fish, yet following Albin, he still couldn’t help glancing at them a few more times.

He inwardly cursed himself for being so dull.

In addition, Albin was especially interested in merchandise related to sea demons.

However, when selling such goods, merchants usually labeled them as “merfolk” to reduce customers’ resistance.

“You like sea demons?”

Ocean recalled that he had once kept a group of sea demons in the ocean. Though he had long since lost interest and no longer paid attention to them, he vaguely remembered they were living quite well.

Even sea demons originally transformed from humans were, in his eyes, nothing more than pretty ornamental fish.

If Albin liked them, he could easily get some real ones for him.

He remembered that the Sea God’s Holy Son of this generation even kept a few.

Albin examined a sea demon figurine in front of him.

“I’m just a little curious. If sea demons could live together with humans, that would be interesting, wouldn’t it? I wonder if sea demons also sell little human figurines?”

Ocean had no interest in his question. He couldn’t understand Albin’s way of thinking.

Why would humans want to understand the thoughts of fish? As a god, he had never cared about human thoughts either.

He picked up a small crab figurine from the stall, made it “pinch” Albin’s finger, and watched with amusement as the boy nearly jumped up in surprise.

Albin, annoyed at being teased, stomped his foot and grabbed a sea cucumber figurine, mischievously stuffing it down the back of Ocean’s collar.

“Bleh!” he laughed, watching Ocean angrily pull the sea cucumber out and step back.

“Brat!” Ocean gritted his teeth.

What an arrogant, reckless little fool.

Just wait until he learned his identity—Ocean looked forward to seeing this brat kneel and beg in fear!

After their chaos, they bought both the crab and sea cucumber figurines.

Of course, Albin still paid.

This made the stall owner glance suspiciously at the composed Ocean. After they left, he muttered in disdain, “The father actually lets the child pay… tsk tsk.”

Albin didn’t hear the comment, but Ocean, as a sea god, heard every word clearly.

He immediately grew irritated.

In his position, people normally rushed to pay for him wherever he went. If they knew he was a priest—or a noble—no one would ever dare question him.

Yet that stall owner seemed to think they were father and son?

Father and son…

Ocean’s mood shifted abruptly as he looked toward the white-haired boy, who was cheerfully pulling him toward an apple stall, both of them wearing matching straw hats.

He had never had a child. He had never even managed the Sea God’s Holy Son, not even bothering to remember his name.

Yet at this moment, a thought quietly surfaced in him.

Having a reckless little brat as a son… might actually be somewhat interesting.

Although he suspected he would eventually be annoyed to the point of a headache, he liked this kind of liveliness.

The life of a god was extremely dull.

Though he was aligned with the Sun God and others, gods were far from true companions; within their factions, there was little harmony.

Those who seized godhood and climbed to the present were selfish beings. Expecting camaraderie among them was a joke—it was all alliances of interest.

An anomaly like the God of Love would never survive to this day.

He had once been lovers with the God of Love, yet he could never understand their claim of “loneliness.”

He already had everything he wanted—how could he be lonely?

Yet after centuries of repetitive days, everything within reach, he had faintly begun to understand why the God of Love constantly sought lovers, and why the God of Night slept for long years.

Even so, he still did not believe this state was what the God of Love called loneliness. It was simply boredom—a lack of novelty in an unchanging existence.

Ocean looked at Albin again.

Human life was so short. Even if he made this child his son, he would likely grow bored of him someday.

Just as he was thinking this, Albin suddenly asked, “O, what do you want for dinner? I heard there are a lot of amazing restaurants in this city! I said I’m treating you, so order whatever you want~”

Because many nobles came here for vacation every year, the city had developed many high-end restaurants and was even known as a food capital.

Ocean had little interest in fine cuisine. He had long grown tired of such things.

Gods didn’t even need to eat—only the God of Love believed food expressed affection.

After thinking for a moment, Ocean casually said, “I want pickled herring.”

“Huh?” Albin looked at him strangely.

Pickled herring—wasn’t that the famously smelly canned fish?

Still, since Ocean wanted it, Albin accompanied him in search of it.

He assumed it was some local specialty restaurant dish, but after searching for a while, they actually found it in a small corner of the market.

Curious, Albin examined the fish laid out on leaves—head and innards removed.

“It looks raw… how do you even eat this?”

Ocean directly grabbed a herring by the tail and swallowed it in one bite.

He licked his fingers, a flicker of complexity briefly hidden in his eyes, then mocked, “Brat, never had it before?”

Since Albin could use magic, Ocean assumed he was likely from a privileged background.

Pickled herring was food for the poor. Long ago, when he was still a pirate, he often ate it.

Centuries had passed; now pickled herring had been largely replaced by pickled cod, just as he himself was now a sea god rather than a pirate.

Still, occasionally eating it again had its own flavor.

Seeing him eat so eagerly, Albin tried a bite himself.

“It’s actually not bad,” he said. It didn’t taste as scary as the internet had made it sound at all.

But when he tried eating it with salted raw onion, the intense spiciness made him stick out his tongue in shock.

Ocean curled his lips slightly, laughing at him without restraint.

The dark clouds over the sea dispersed, and the warm orange sunset fell over them. His hair tie swayed gently in the breeze.

Ocean thought to himself that he might truly be insane—because he actually felt an indescribable sense of pleasure from eating cheap pickled herring with this annoying little brat.

In a manor somewhere in Pearl City.

A noble pushed open the door and looked at the sea demon in the pool.

“In a few days it will be the merfolk salon. We’ve just obtained a new sea demon—he’ll go with us this time.”

He instructed the servants nearby: “Keep an eye on him these next few days. The Sea God’s Holy Son will also attend this time. We might even trade him for something…”

In the pool, the sea demon’s expression flickered.

The Sea God’s Holy Son… Albin?

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