Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss-Chapter 248: Old Willis

"Not to be a downer, but why should we be concerned about monsters in the deep?" Thorn piped up.

Ren took a moment to survey the docks before answering.

Moored at the pier were different sized fishing boats. None were big enough to be used as a smaller ship or something.

But that was to be expected. This was a fishing town.

"I'm curious too." Lilith frowned slightly. "Haven't there always been monsters in the sea?"

"Yup." Ren nodded. "The sea is one of the most dangerous places to be caught in and there are monsters that no one has ever seen within them."

"But this one's different."

"How so?" Lilith asked.

"If I'm right, this is the Hungering Deep."

"The what now?" Thorn raised a brow.

Ren glanced back at his companions with a grin before moving again. "Come."

He led the way down the pier, searching for the distinctive boat that had been described to them.

"I'm not sure yet. Let's talk to Old Willis first."

After the whole thing with the Red Plague at Edenhold, he'd led the way down to Steadfast. He could've gone home, but there was no need to.

He needed to be in a place where he could easily move towards whatever new calamity, and his move had paid off.

The rumors had been circulating among the fish merchants and Thorn had brought it to him.

A fisherman down at one of Albion's port cities had gone fishing and had seen the sea open its mouth, drinking in the water around it.

A very peculiar rumor, especially when one wonders why the sea would ever need to drink itself.

But something about the rumor had struck Ren. The sea opening its mouth. That was very specific.

And he knew of something very similar.

And so, they'd traced the rumor to this particular town. Fortunately for him, it was only a day's journey to the south from Steadfast.

And right now, they were currently on their way to meet the man who had experienced it himself.

His eyes roved over the boats until he found the right one. A boat that had been painted the same shade of blue as the sea.

Sitting inside the boat were two older men, the both of them hard at work, fixing their nets.

One of the two was significantly older than the other, and had a head full of white hair. But even with the sign of age, he still looked agile and spry.

That had to be Old Willis.

Ren stopped in front of their boat with a bright smile. "Hello sirs."

"I ain't no sir, boy." Old Willis said as he looked up, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. "I'm a fisherman and will be nothing else till the day I die."

"You're not dying anytime soon, Willis." The man at his side chuckled, eyeing Ren and the group behind him.

"Already saw my death." Old Willis chuckled. "And it told me it's coming soon. Why else would I have seen that?"

Ren's brows rose as Willis' companion shook his head in exasperation. They must be talking about what Old Willis saw.

"Apologies." Ren crouched on the pier, in order to bring his eye level to their own. "I heard a rather… interesting story, and I just knew I had to come listen to it myself."

Old Willis' eyes narrowed in suspicion as he eyed them from head to toe. "What's it to you, boy? I reckon you're one of those stuffy nobles."

Ren dipped his hand into his spatial pouch, keeping a friendly smile on his face as he retrieved a gold coin.

"Aye." He admitted. "We're nobles chasing adventure, you know."

He tossed the coin at Old Willis, who snatched it out of the air.

"Tell me what you saw in the sea and you'll never have to fish for a few months."

Old Willis examined the coin, before biting it. He held it up to the sun.

"By the sea." He breathed. "It's actual gold."

"Never seen one before." His companion whispered in awe. "I reckon you're the richest fisherman in town right now."

Ren cleared his throat loudly. "About that story."

"Oh. Yeah." Old Willis nodded to himself.

"Twas about a month ago." He started. "Was bored, ya know."

"Took out my boat for a wee bit of fishing. Just for myself, ya know."

Ren nodded to show he was listening.

"The sun was just right. Not too hot and not too bright. Good enough for relaxing. And then I dozed off."

"When I woke up, my boat had drifted far into the sea. So far that I couldn't see the shore again. Had to use the sun to find my way."

"But there I was, all alone, rowing back home, when I heard it."

He lowered his voice as he delivered the punchline. "The sea screamed."

Ren raised a brow but said nothing.

"Don't believe me?" Old Willis scoffed at the expression on Ren's face. "Heard it myself. Twas like when the best singer is singing and screaming at the same time."

"Beautiful." He had a faraway look on his face as he turned to stare at the sea. "But Terrifying."

The silence stretched around them.

"What happened next?" Thorn couldn't help himself.

"Ah. Yes. Where was I?" Old Willis cleared his throat.

"Then, the mouth of the sea opened." He said, his voice tinged with awe.

"It was so wide, it could swallow a ship whole. Just one tooth was bigger than my whole boat."

"The water around it began streaming down the open mouth and everything around it was swallowed up. Luckily, I was far enough to not be swallowed too, ya know."

"I could only watch, waiting for my death as the sea began to drag me towards its mouth. Then, faster than you can blink, it disappeared."

"Just like that?" Thorn asked, voice incredulous. He'd been expecting more.

"Just like that." Old Willis nodded. "And then I rowed home."

"Greatest thing I've ever seen I tell you."

"I see." Ren nodded.

"So, you gonna chase after it?" Old Willis asked, curious.

"Maybe." Ren stood. "Maybe not."

He dipped into his pouch and brought out three gold coins. He tossed two to Old Willis. "A deal's a deal."

Then he tossed the last one to Old Willis' companion. "It's your lucky day."

As both men crowed over their new wealth, Ren led his group off the pier.

"The sea screamed and swallowed everything?" Thorn scratched his head. "He probably encountered one of the deep sea monsters passing by."

"No." Ren spoke. "That wasn't a deep sea monster."

"You mean…"

"Yes." Ren nodded, his voice grim. "That was the second Minor Calamity."

"The Hungering Deep."