The first hurdle in subjugating the monsters terrorizing the fishing village was actually finding them.
The ocean was vast. Locating a monster that could be lurking anywhere along the seabed was a near-impossible task.
No matter how enormous the monster was, and no matter that Rest had magic to sense presences... finding it was no easy feat.
So what Rest came up with was to intercept the monster as it approached the fishing village.
Fortunately, there had been a clue — the destroyed oyster farm.
The monster, surprisingly, was capable of understanding the subtleties of human emotions.
It had attacked the oyster farm precisely because it understood how important that place was to the people of the fishing village.
If the monster had that kind of personality, then where it would strike next was predictable.
The other farm in the village — the pearl farm.
Unfortunately, they were still in the trial-and-error stage and the farming wasn't going well, but the monster wouldn't know that.
So... Rest decided to hide near the pearl farm and lie in wait.
(But... there was no guarantee it would definitely attack here. So, I need to get under its skin and provoke it into coming.)
On the beach... he would deliberately hold a raucous feast in plain sight of the ocean, where the monster could see it.
For a mean-spirited creature like this, watching humans happily carrying on would surely be an eyesore.
Sure enough, it launched a raid out of spite. It had come to destroy the fishing village's farm to vent its frustration.
(If there was one concern, it was the possibility that it might attack the beach where the feast was being held directly, but...)
At that point, he planned to use his presence detection to sense it in advance and give the villagers the signal to evacuate.
The fact that it had bypassed the feast and targeted the uninhabited farm instead... that meant this monster wasn't just mean-spirited but cowardly as well.
(It can bully those weaker than itself, but it won't risk facing retaliation... what a textbook nasty piece of work!)
"That's the fourth one!"
"GYAAAAAAA!"
As he drove the barbed harpoon into its tail, a piercing shriek rang out.
What he was thrusting into the monster wasn't some divine harpoon once wielded by a legendary fisherman — it was a mundane one he'd borrowed from a villager in the fishing village.
The queen dowager had apparently purchased it out of her own pocket for the villagers' benefit. It was a decent piece of gear, but nothing special in its own right.
If there was anything special about it, it was that Rest had reinforced it with magic. And that he'd threaded it with poison conjured through magic.
He'd slathered the harpoon generously with venom, then fired it at the monster's tail using wind magic at bullet-like speed.
"Gya! Gya!"
"Oh no you don't."
The moment it sensed danger, the monster tried to flee.
But — the rope attached to the harpoon yanked it back, preventing a clean escape.
The other end of the rope was tied to a tree trunk. That too had been reinforced with magic, so it wouldn't be easy to snap.
"Let me cut off your escape route while I can."
Rest rose into the air with magic and flew over the monster.
"[Earth Wall]"
Then — from midair, he cast a spell down toward the water.
The seabed swelled upward, forming a small wall.
Naturally, a wall this small wouldn't be enough to stop a monster of this size.
"[Earth Wall][Earth Wall][Earth Wall]"
So from here on out, it was going to be a battle of raw force.
Rest channeled his infinite mana, continuously casting spell after spell, working to fill in a portion of the sea.
Fortunately, the aquaculture farm was located in an area that wasn't particularly deep. Forcing soil in to encircle it like this wasn't impossible.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The monster thrashed its tail back and forth, finally managing to yank the harpoon free from its tail.
Despite being poisoned, it didn't seem particularly affected — its frenzied roar was still full of vigor.
"Still… looks like it bought us some time. Construction's complete on our end."
However, Rest's work was already finished.
Mountains of earth had been piled up in a fan shape around the aquaculture farm, cutting off the monster's escape route.
"Well, what'll you do now? Going to try running for the hills this time?"
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The monster let out an especially enormous roar, thrusting its head above the surface of the sea.
A long, serpentine form reminiscent of a snake. Covered in scales of a color close to blue, with savage shark-like fangs jutting from its gaping maw.
"So it really is… a sea serpent!"
The enemy was exactly who they had expected.
A sea serpent — tyrant of the seas.
A massive monstrosity rivaling a dragon in size lunged toward Rest.
—————————— I'm posting continued episodes on my limited status notes.
If you're interested, please give those a read too!